Making progress, slowly, on the GGNC greenway project. Between the nont-so-friendly-for-greenway-mapping weather and and my ineptitude with technology, well, it’s not a good combination for progress. I do have a prototype ready for your scrutiny, however.
Running barefoot: Dipping your toe
There’s nothing like good news from the scientific community to spur interest in a given exercise: We’re all open to the latest magic bullet when it comes to getting in shape or improving performance. We’re even more susceptible when that magic bullet includes the promise of health minus hurt. Which is why a study appearing last week in the journal Nature suggesting that running barefoot may help prevent injury has caused the sports medicine community to respond with an optimistic cringe.
The barefoot runner: Coming in from the cold
In the midst of Saturday’s snow and ice storm, Jon Hayden of Holly Springs went for an 18-mile run wearing a pair of $5 water shoes from Walmart. The water shoes, a thin glove of rubber and mesh intended for a hot summer day at the beach, were a concession: Hayden, a marathoner, prefers to run in his bare feet.
Saved by the Groundhog
The kids are home from school — again — and the prospects for them going back tomorrow aren’t so swell, either. The snow that kept them entertained the past three days has either melted or turned to ice. It’s cloudy, dreary, you’re staring at one another like members of the Donner party probably did. You need to get out of the house —
Recent news on the fitness front
High pulse, higher chance of fatal heart attack, especially in women: Women with a high pulse rate may be particularly prone to fatal heart attacks, according to a study of 50,000 adults in Norway. Researchers found that with each increase of 10 beats per minute, a woman’s risk of dying from a heart attack increases by 18 percent. The trend was consistent among women up to the age of 70. For men, the odds of dying from a heart attack only increased by 10 percent for every increase of 10 beats per minute. A normal standing heart rate — that is, the heart rate at reast — for adults is 60 to 70 beats per minute.