As you set your goals for the New Year, consider planning beyond your next race or even your next season and choosing an ambitious long-term target. Read the full article in Runner’s World.
psychology
Be Your Own Coach
Learn mental cues to help you jump higher, run faster, and hold a wall squat longer. Plus, choose tunes that make workouts feel less strenuous and learn how fitness gives you a leg up while job-hunting, in this month’s Fitness Scoop. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
Can Doctors Recognize Depression?
Whether they come through a public service campaign or a pharmaceutical commercial, messages about depression always end the same: Talk to your doctor. But new research begs the question of whether or not that works. Read the full article in Men’s Health.
Work Your Happiness Muscles
Find out how moving more improves your whole life. Plus, learn the perks of building stronger breathing muscles, the perils of fitness-related food labels, and where to put your activity tracker for the most accurate results, in this month’s Fitness Scoop. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
Find a Better Exercise Partner
Consult this checklist to find a gym buddy who pumps you up rather than dragging you down. Also, outsmart your couch-potato genes, train your body and your brain, and learn about the new breed of fitness pro charged with delivering your perfect exercise experience, in this month’s Fitness Scoop. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
Chasing Z’s
The secret to a good night’s sleep may be a good day’s sweat. Also, power your performance with tomato juice, and how exercise boosts your self-discipline, in this month’s Fitness Scoop. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
Fit Disposition
Fitness Scoop! for July 2013: Are extroverts better athletes? Also–find out how many carbs you need to fuel your workout, and learn how to loosen up. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
The Calorie-Free Snack that Improves Your Mood
Chew on this: Gum could help ease some symptoms of depression, according to a new study in the journal Appetite. Read the full article in Men’s Health News.
Wins and Losses
I usually post links to my work on this site and let them speak for themselves. This time feels different.
Since I ran the Boston Marathon as well, this article was very personal for me. I can’t share it without expressing tremendous gratitude to everyone who helped me put it together. My editors had the faith to assign me a topic a bit outside my typical realm. The experts took my calls and offered their insights on extremely short notice. And of course, the runners I interviewed trusted me with their deep and sometimes uncomfortable thoughts—a confidence I don’t take lightly. I sincerely hope I did right by them all.
As you’ll know if you read the contributors page of the print issue (or if you know me as a runner and not just a writer)—unlike most of the people I spoke with for this article, I finished Boston but did not have a good race. In part, I blame a developing injury that has since worsened. I haven’t run for almost a month now—a particularly difficult month to spend sidelined.
But having this chance to help tell the story of Boston reminded me of what writing has in common with running, and why both remain so important to me. At times, you struggle and hurt and cry, and you don’t think you can finish. In the end, though, you do. And it is redemptive.
Here’s the full article, in Runner’s World. Thank you for reading.
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(Also, I can’t share this without thanking my amazing husband Matt—who always believes I can finish and helps me do it, whether it’s mile 22 or somewhere around 4 a.m. on deadline.)
Ride the Wave
Fitness Scoop! for June 2013: Steal surfer’s fit bodies with these landlocked moves. Also, find out why it’s so hard to count during your workout, and find the best sports bra for full figures. Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).