Category Archives: Fitness

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. read more

Sled (& ski) the Triangle

I’m a sucker for a good snow forecast, and far more often than not I get burned. But on the off-chance the current forecast for a major winter weather event in the Triangle holds true, I would be remiss not to share some of the best places to take your boogie board on Saturday and repurpose it as a sled. Granted, just about any slope — and there are lots of ‘em in most Piedmont neighborhoods — will suffice. But for big hill thrills, try these: read more

A weather reprieve, a call to action

OK, I’ve heard enough kvetching of late about the weather. Or did I mean to say I’ve done enough kvetching of late about the weather? Either way, the weather of late has been less than inviting.

However, as it is wont to do, the forecast that midweek called for rain and cold throughout the weekend has changed. Today is now supposed to be sunny and seasonal. Based on the tinge of early morning sunlight I see over the treetops, it appears to be illuminating a near-cloudless sky: Bravo to the new forecast. And since the forecast still calls for rain tomorrow, it’s imperative that we make the most of today and get out and move. A suggestion or five: read more

One word: Greenways

On this morning’s ride at Umstead with Alan and Tim, the conversation ranged, as it will on a good ride, from “Avatar,” to dinosaur dung http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprolite  to, of course, biking. Alan and Tim are strong riders, and you might expect their end of the discussion to focus on training, technique, gear. And there was some of that. But what really got Tim going was a 25-mile Carolina Tarwheels group ride he’d done on Raleigh’s greenways. read more