The marine layer rolled in this morning so we couldn't see nearby El Toro mountain: I was out walking when it burned off and forgot to bring my camera. This is about an hour later after it burned off, quite a difference: The early morning fog kept it from getting hot today, high if 80 … Continue reading Working Out in The Fog →

Ryan Hall's story is an interesting illustration of the argument about too much cardio interfering with strength and muscle gains. He is the Boston Marathon American record holder, where he ran the fastest marathon time ever by an American. It is not the American record for the marathon because Boston is not a ratified course … Continue reading Ryan Hall: Transformation From Marathoner to Strength Trainer →

A nice rural ride of about an hour one way takes me to Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park. This was historically the village of Chitactac, the dwelling site of members of the Ohlone tribe of Native Americans for more than a thousand years. It was later the site of the one room Adams schoolhouse, which was … Continue reading Country Bike Ride and Visit to Chitactac-Adams County Park →

Day to day challenges like fighting off indulgence in junk food and having the discipline to exercise regularly provide plenty of opportunities for working on our willpower, the importance of which I reviewed here. This is a key aspect of training our brains so we can live free from compulsions. For this reason, Eknath Easwaran … Continue reading Training the Senses: Freedom From Compulsions →

About a month ago, I described a visit Mt Madonna park to which I vowed to return. But the fires and bad air intervened, so I did not get a chance until yesterday. Again I rode out the beautiful Redwood retreat road. This time I left enough time to get some hiking in, an out … Continue reading Finally- Return to Mt Madonna →

I recently read Mimi Anderson's fascinating and inspiring account of her ultramarathon achievements. The story is told in an interesting flashback fashion: The main narrative is recounting the 12 plus days of her attempt to set the Women's world record for running the length of Great Britain from north to south, from John O'Groats in … Continue reading Beyond Impossible- Mimi Anderson’s Story →

Most of my local meetup groups are still avoiding group hikes, but one here in Morgan Hill usually has small groups like 5 or less, so we decided we could go again and do social distancing. So yesterday was my first group hike in months. It was very enjoyable, with delightful weather and clean air … Continue reading Hiking With Friends Again (Carefully) →

Lots of Cardio Makes Your Muscles Waste Away and Makes You Get Fat? Hmmm... what about "Ultramarathon Man" Dean Karnazes? The "Too Much Cardio is Harmful" Controversy I promised, in my recent post about shorter more intense training, to talk more about controversies over excess cardio. Much of the discussion is about too much volume of … Continue reading Is Cardio Useless Or Harmful? Will It Make You Fat? →

I recently discovered a book I highly recommend: Strength Endurance: Reflections on the Legacy of Dr. Leonard Schwartz  by Chuck Huckaby, on Amazon. Like me, Chuck is a long time fan of the late Dr. Schwartz's work and the "heavyhands" approach of simultaneously exercising the upper and lower body with hand weights (which I described … Continue reading A Nice Find- More on Heavyhands Pioneer Dr. Len Schwartz →

An example of an isometric exercise Isometrics is a strength training technique in which the muscle being loaded does not actually move, such as if you stand in a doorway and try to push the frame apart. Or you can try to flex your arm and resist with your other arm as shown in the … Continue reading Isometrics Revisited →