Up until a few minutes ago, I had NO IDEA it was National Running Day T-O-D-A-Y! Actually, I didn’t even know we had holidays for running until now. They even have an official website. Spiffy – and very exciting too! I wasn’t planning on going for a run today, but I will be now that I know I’ll be sharing the roads with countless others. We’ll see if Ronin is up for it on a hot, sunny day like today (Ronin is my “sorta-kinda-really-doesn’t-feel-like-running-THAT-far-today” dog) This event sparked a reminder for a little story about a recent road race I “competed” in with a couple of my brothers.
 Three goofy-looking people eager to lose a road race. I still remember my cross country running days like they were yesterday. The anticipation before a big race and the stomach butterflies that came along with the little mind gremlins. I remember the dry mouth, achy knees, and sweat tickling me as it dripped off the tip of my nose. I remember the determination I had to run as hard and fast as I possibly could every step – straight through the finish line. I remember the dizziness, wheezing and coughing afterward, and that I would lace up my shoes again the next day for more. I ran thousands of miles and dozens of cross country races before my body broke down and doctors told me I would never run again. That was about eight years ago.
But last month on a beautiful Saturday morning, I wasn’t experiencing any of that. I wasn’t nervous or tired. I wasn’t in pain or at all uncomfortable. I wasn’t even in a rush. I was relaxed and even comfortable as I bounded along the back roads of Bedford, NH – the town where I grew up. But before we get to that, let’s back up to the beginning of the race.
Continue reading How to Lose a 5k Road Race
This one is for my first serious training partner, Ethan. Good times, buddy.
 This is where Barney the dinosaur used to live until he got kicked out for singing too loudly. I used to have a gym membership. That is, until the day one particular “fitness” club kicked me out for… get this – working TOO HARD?!
That’s right. I was working out too hard for the management’s comfort zone, and they gave me the boot. But there’s a little more to the story.
This was your typical 24-hour health club. I signed up because they were running a special offer at a ridiculously low rate with a no-penalty “cancel anytime” policy. Their business strategy appeared to be “get as many signups as we can, and hope most of them don’t actually come and clog up the gym floor.” This particular gym was my go-to spot for over a year. I made some great gains there, and by anyone’s standards, I was milking my membership for all it was worth.
Now, when I say this was a typical health club, I’m sortof, kindof, maybe stretching the truth just a bit. This place was FAR from typical, and FAR from anything I’d ever want to encounter again – both as a customer and personal trainer. Let me paint a word picture for you…
Continue reading That Glorious Day When My Gym Kicked Me Out For Working Too Hard
Lately, I’ve seen articles, headlines, and advertising that all have one theme in common…
 The one thing you need to do to lose weight- The one secret that nobody is telling you for how to build massive muscles
- The one trick to jump-start your metabolism
- The one supplement everybody needs, but nobody knows about
- The one strategy celebrities use to build movie-muscles in just weeks
You’ve probably seen titles like this, too. Each one is boasting not just a solution to a modern problem, but THE solution. It’s like they’re saying, if you know this one thing, it’ll change your life for the better. Maybe true, but I think there’s a little more to this than meets the eye…
Now, let me get one thing straight before we begin. I am NOT against offering tips and solutions that provide tangible benefits to people who need help. You’ll find that I do this all the time on Physical Living. Good information is not the problem – it’s the misrepresentation or misapplication of good information.
Let me show you an example of how this “one thing” marketing technique can be abused…
The one thing you need to do to lose weight… is start the new ABC exercise program.
This may not be untrue, but it can be incredibly misleading. You see, this statement implies that if you only do one thing, you’ll lose weight. It sounds too good to be true, and often it is. What that statement does NOT indicate is that weight loss is a little more complicated than that. It’s not very complicated – in fact, it’s very simple – but not so simple that one minor change will produce the desired results every time. That statement doesn’t explain that almost everyone who starts a new exercise program also increases their daily calorie intake somewhat subconsciously. It’s the body’s natural way of finding homeostasis. If you start burning more energy, your appetite will increase to compensate for the immediate loss of energy in the form of calories burned. Unless you actively prevent an increase in daily calorie consumption in addition to your new exercise program, you have a very poor chance of losing weight. I bet you didn’t discern that from the ad, though.
The truth is that there are quite many things missing from one simple promise like that. Problems, and especially health and fitness problems, are very rarely solved by making just one change to our lifestyle, but from a combination of things.
Continue reading The ONE Thing You Need to Know About Your Fitness
 The view from atop Mt. Megunticook I just returned from a 3-day adventure in Camden Hills State Park in Maine (not far from Acadia National Park). Yes, it’s mid February, and yes I just got back from a backpacking/camping trip in the middle of winter. I spent the better part of the last three days with an aluminum frame pack on my back, hanging out with 8 other companions (9, including our dog), including the Tougas family, whom I introduced to you last year here. We spent the days lugging around our packs through the snowy hills and mountain in Camden – stuffed full of sleeping bags, extra layers of clothing, and most importantly FOOOOOOOOOD. I think I probably carried more weight in food than anything else. Some would argue that we ate better while camping than at home! Our weekend trip was a delightful adventure and it ended far too soon.
It’s impossible to encapsulate the experience in a single essay, but I will tell you that it included some of life’s simplest and greatest joys and a breathtaking mountain/ocean view on one of the most beautiful days we’ve had all winter (see video and picture gallery below).
Continue reading Different – That’s How I Feel: Lessons From Our Winter Backpacking Trip To Camden Hills State Park
Note: This is part 2 of The Problem With Research series. Part 1 is here.
The truth is more important than the facts. Frank Lloyd Wright
FACTS.
They’re everywhere. You can find facts in a book, in a magazine, or on the World Wide Web. You can find people talking about facts on the news, in a political convention, or at a health professional conference. You can find facts almost everywhere you go because our culture bombards us with facts supporting this and facts supporting that. Facts are literally being fired off in every direction just like free throws in one of Shaq’s basketball games.
Here’s a brain-crasher: facts aren’t always true. In fact, some facts are false… deceptive… even lies. Other times facts are an illusion of the truth, but have been skewed into half-truths (this means that they’re not true!). There are a great many things that differentiate the truth from the facts.
Facts can be interpreted many different ways. Truth is known.
Facts can be used as evidence to support an opinion. Truth supersedes opinions.
Facts can be used out of context to create the illusion of truth. Truth is absolute.
The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is. Winston Churchill
Now that we know facts aren’t always true, let’s look at how facts can be manipulated in the realm of research for health and fitness.
Continue reading Kick Research In The Butt and Break Free From Conventional Wisdom
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