Share: Summer's running + reading is fine

Summer's here, and more time for hitting the open road on holiday, family vacation or a long weekend of racing.

What to slip in your carryon?

Two new books that I’ve been toting around with me lately (and returning to again and again) are Kara Goucher’s Running for Women: From First Steps to Marathons” (Touchstone, 2011) and Martin Dugard’s To Be a Runner: How Racing Up Mountains, Running with the Bulls, or Just Taking on a 5-K Makes You a Better Person (and the World a Better Place) (Rodale, 2011).

Both ‘chunk’ content in quick-to-read and digest bits, so they’re perfect for tucking away in a summertime travel or gym bag. Have a minute and want to get inspired? Pick up one of these volumes, flip it open to a page and set out to explore another topic or chapter.

They’re ideal for the time-crunched reader and running enthusiast.

See my reviews at dailymile.

Nature: Take experiences over things

My latest dailymile blog post, Why exploring a new trail beats a new iPad every time, is the first in a new series over there called Destination: Run. The issue of what we as humans value more, experiences or things, has been a subject of debate for eons probably.

Interested in which of those you'll get more out of when it comes to a little thing called long-term emotional happiness?

Well, modern neuroscience is finding that experiences (such as exploring a new trail, taking your family on vacation or racing in an important-to-you event) offer a lot more for you in that department than the tangible items you buy. In the dailymile piece, I share a few bits of a recent TIME magazine article that explain the science behind this theory. But, the story's been in the news for quite some time. Last summer the New York Times reported:

[T]he practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could — as a raft of new research suggests — make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses. ...

Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, recently published research examining nine major categories of consumption. He and Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacations, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles.

More at dailymile.

Discover: Running's hand in evolution

Last year, PBS presented a fascinating series on The Human Spark.

In this short clip, narrator Alan Alda and Harvard scientist Dan Lieberman explore why our ability to run (specifically, long distances) may have been the catalyst for the evolution of our bigger brains.

Running clinched our predominance as swift and crafty hunters. And it also secured our dominance over large game, which, in turn, supplied our hungry ancestors with a steady stream of brain-boosting protein.

I find all of this fascinating, as it combines two pastimes I love: running, and ruminating over the many ways and whys re: the functioning of the human brain. Lucky for me (and you, if you're into these things, too), Dr. Lieberman has written more on these matters in a just-published book, The Evolution of the Human Head.

Sleep: Getting enough zzzzzzz's?

I've been a night owl all my life.

As a flight attendant in my 20's and 30's, I used it to my benefit. When others bid for trips that left and returned home at a decent hour, if I worked under a moonlit sky, I'd snag a better schedule (with coveted or more days off) those senior to me didn't want to fly.

Assigned to the int'l division in JFK, I didn't bat an eyelash at working starry transatlantic flights filled with snoozing passengers. Flying over the pitch black Amazon to South American ports of call? A cinch.

As a domestic stew, my nocturnal nature paid off, too.

Discover: Healthy trends + topics - Feb11

First up, from Dakshana Bascaramurty, Globe and Mail:

Tabata, a type of high-intensity interval training that was originally developed for Japan's Olympic speed-skating team, is fast gaining popularity...Named after Izumi Tabata, a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports, the compressed workout has a simple format: Do an exercise (such as push-ups or jumping rope) for 20 seconds at full intensity, and then take a 10-second break. Repeat seven times, varying exercises, for a total workout of four minutes. ...

Tabata training is effective, despite its brevity, because the body continues to burn calories at a high rate during the recovery period, says Martin Gibala, chair of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton.

In a study published last year in the Journal of Physiology, Prof. Gibala and his research team found that participants who did high-intensity interval training for just 1½ hours total each week enjoyed the same physical benefits as those who did 4½ hours of endurance training on a stationary bike. Both groups had similar levels of muscle development and lipid oxidation (which improves endurance and reduces the risk of developing obesity and diabetes).

Research: Diet and exercise for your heart

Every day, your beating heart thumps away 100,000 times, circulating anywhere from 2,500-5,000 gallons of blood throughout your beautiful body.

What better day than Valentine's Day to give your heart a little bit of extra attention? Off you go to the latest in heart health research:

• Do you down a diet soda every day? Stop.


• Think you're OK if you're male and obese, but healthy in every other way? You're not.


• Skipping daily exercise? You lose(r).


• Not getting enough fiber from grains in your diet? Tsk, tsk.


• Think cardio's the only thing good for your heart? Weakling.


• Think high-caffeine energy drinks are fine for your kids? You may be wrong.


• Steelers fan? Oh, boy.

Love hurts. But your heart shouldn't have to. :-)