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Outside talks to the man who kick-started the minimalist revolution
Is it true that if I abstain from caffeine before I race, it’ll be more effective during the race? How will it help me, and how much should I take?
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2012 Summer Buyer's Guide, including 2XU's 3/4-length compression tights.
I'm looking for a way to determine how fast I should be running.
Merrell just completed a new study on barefoot and minimalist running that inspired the company to redesign its barefoot runners, making them wider so that your foot has more connection with the ground. It also inspired Merrell to introduce two new minimalist collections: done-in-a-day Mixmaster shoes (below)…
Merrell Pace Glove for Kids. Photo: Katie Arnold Minimalist shoes are the hottest—most hotly contested—development in running these days. For every convert who swears that running “barefoot” (in zero-drop shoes with flexible soles and little or no arch support) has made them faster, more efficient, and…
What's the best leash for running with my dog? I run on a mix of trails and roads, which means I end up carrying the leash quite a bit.
Early morning burn at the Jemez Mountains Trail Run. Photo: Mark Schraad I was going to write this post last week, but I was too busy eating my weight in chocolate chip cookies and lentil salad to get ready for the…
Everyone loves Smartwool. The company wormed its way into our hearts straight through the soles of our feet with its merino socks. It took over both our closets and our dresser drawers with socks, underwear, long underwear, hiking apparel and even wool-insulated jackets. Now, the company is…
When you're 29 and single and live alone in a house with your dog, you surf Twitter, hoping to find someone worth talking to. Maybe even hoping to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. You know this. You do it—or your brothers and sisters do it, your friends from…
I'm looking to maximize my triathlon training days. Could you recommend a few places?
Pounding pavement can leave you cramped after a hard run. These four stretches will remedy those tight hips, calves, and IT bands to keep you going.
I'm looking for ways to gauge improvement. If I can soak through my wicking base layers, I call that a good day. Do better athletes sweat more?
True in Copper Canyon. Photo: Ryan Heffernan Ultramarathoner Micah True died of heart disease according to an autopsy released today, the Associated Press reported. The 58-year-old went…
My Vibram FiveFingers and Merrell Gloves are so different from the traditional high-drop running shoe that it can be hard to figure out when to turn them in
Before our first daughter was born, I obsessed over what kind of stroller to buy. I coveted the fancy designer Bugaboo with a quilted bassinet attachment for strolling around town during naptime. (I found a used Frog on eBay.) I wanted a knobby-tired jogging stroller for getting…
Frank Quan at China Camp Village Photo: Mary Catherine O'Connor I found Frank Quan at a picnic bench, just off the beach, as the waters of San Pablo Bay lapped gently on the shore. It was an unseasonably warm, windless April afternoon and…
Wilson Kipsang & Mary Keitany 2012 London Marathon champions, courtesy of Virgin London Marathon Athletics Kenya announced their Olympic marathon teams today, and in what may be the biggest surprises, they left off world…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/SurbrF-HrZA In the days after ultrarunner Micah True’s death, remembrances of his life sprang up all over the Web. Ultrarunners offered their condolences to the friends and family of the man known as Caballo Blanco, runners inspired by the description…
Fluorescent colors and reflective stripes certainly make you more visible to drivers when you're running at dusk or in the dark. But a new study by Brooks Running shows that low light perception is more scientific than just throwing some glare at oncoming traffic. Brooks Running product…
12:13 Update: Wesley Korir wins the men's race with a time of 12:12:40. A Kenyan sweep on the podium. American Jason Hartmann takes fourth. 12:12 Update: Wesley Korir's brother was killed by a black mamba snake. Korir has started a foundation to raise money to build a medical…
1. Commit to your goal. “The secret weapon is making the race a priority,” says Sarah. “You have to commit to the goal and find the time to train. This absolutely means checking in with your spouse, and telling him [or her]: ‘This is my…
Photo of Vibram Sprint FiveFingers via stevendamron/Flickr A Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against Vibram USA alleging misleading advertising in promotional materials for the company's FiveFingers line of shoes. The plaintiff, Valerie Bezdek, accuses Vibram of inflating…
When you're coming back from injury there is a moment when you are finally healthy, everything is fine, and you're badly out of shape. Nate Jenkins, whom I've written about in the past, and whose struggle to become a very good marathoner I find…
Kate Kernerman on her way to a campground. Photo: Ryan Branciforte It was a brisk and sunny morning, typical for the dry winter we're having in San Francisco. As I locked my bike up to a sturdy fence and started down the escalator to the 24th…
Get ready to maximize the endurance, strength, flexibility, speed, and power you never knew you had.
We asked four top fitness coaches for their tape-it-to-the-fridge-door advice. Here's what they told us. (Bonus: We kick your excuses to the curb.)
To keep a workout program fresh, you need to make it your own, and some days you need to break the rules—within reason.
In our obsession with minimizing exercise damage, we may have lost sight of the reason we exercise in the first place: to force our bodies to adapt and get stronger
Medical malpractice is scaring physicians away from popular sporting events—and leaving racers facedown in the dirt
What are the best running pants to wear in the dead of winter when the wind is blowing and the snow is flying?
A close up of the spikes On Sunday, I (sort of) ran from Vail's Lionshead base area up 2,200 feet to Eagle's Nest. This is not how I normally travel at ski mountains. The run was the final of three events in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge and part…
Duct Tape Then Beer captures five days of backpacking in the Wind Rivers. Here’s how you can repeat the trip.
Everything you need to run a personal best, including a 12-week training plan, a race-day nutrition plan, and advice from U.S. record holder Ryan Hall
On Tuesday, Russian marathon runner Tatyana Aryasova was stripped of her 2011 Tokoyo Marathon title after she returned a positive test for a banned drug, hydroxyethyl starch, that is commonly used to mask doping in endurance athletes. The news broke on Japan Running…
Photo by eviltomthai/Flickr After finishing ninth in the 2008 Olympic marathon, Dathan Ritzenhein was fourth, and first man out, in Saturday's Olympic marathon trials in Houston. It was his seventh career marathon, all seven of which have been mild disappointments: excellent…
Shalane Flanagan, photo courtesy Erik van Leeuwen/flickr If my enthusiasm for tomorrow’s Olympic marathon trials is a bit tempered, it’s because the entertainment specialists at NBC have declined to broadcast the race live. That should strike you as scandalous:…
Training with a monitor can be daunting to master, but it’s the best way to make the most of your workouts.
Australian Pat Farmer is on track to finish a ten-month pole-to-pole jog—without taking a single day off
A combined heart-rate monitor and GPS watch will supercharge your training. Motorola's Motoactv is one of the best on the market.
In a week, all of the outdoor gear companies will convene in Salt Lake City to introduce their new skis and boots, jackets and baselayers, beacons and solar powered iPhone devices, sleeping bags and packs, trekking poles and tents, and all sorts of other outdoor gear and gadgets. We’ll be…
Hurdler Lolo Jones was the feel-good story of the Beijing Olympics, until a tiny mistake cost her a medal—and made her tale even more compelling
Behind the scenes with Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones and photographer Robert Maxwell for the February cover.
Outside picks the biggest people, places, and events of the last year
New workouts, a marathon birth, and revolutionary new studies: Here are the headlines that defined health and fitness news in 2011
From bureaucratic wrangling to the death of the sport's most exciting star, the sport of running was in flux a year before the Olympic Games
By guest blogger Meaghen Brown Montana’s Mike Wolfe won the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile on December 3rd in 6:19:04, beating what some called the best ultrarunning field assembled in 2011. Both Wolfe and 21-year-old Dakota Jones broke the old course record—Wolfe by 15 minutes—after running…
Trail shoes: minimal or maximal?I’m sponsored by Pearl Izumi, so I run in their Fuel XC or the Peaks, which is their lighter trail shoe. Sometimes I run in the triathlon shoe—it’s a very lightweight with holes in the bottom. I’m…
Photo of Nick Symmonds courtesy Phil Roeder/Wikimedia For years, U. S. Track and Field has imposed strict rules on how athletes can represent corporate sponsors on their jerseys. Permitted logo size is small—a maximum total area of 40 square centimeters—and athletes can't have more than one logo.
A few months ago, the folks at Woven Society, a start-up e-retailer that aims to “simplify your life, one item at a time,” approached us about featuring some of our favorite possessions on the website they were creating. The site, which just launched in beta…
A collection of the web's best running blogs, from journalists, fans, and runners
The best sites for health advice and commentary, so you can get online and go outside
It’s dark outside when I go running after work. How can I avoid getting hit by a car?
Love the idea of modeling, but don't have time for the agents, the makeup trailers, the long days on set in Hollywood? Send in a photo of yourself stripped down to your favorite Smartwool layer and a one sentence write up of what inspired you to do…
At a certain point in 2008 I lost interest in professional swimming because every major race yielded a new record and the records began to feel cheap. The swimmers, of course, were wearing swimsuits that made them faster, so in some sense the records really were cheap.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2012 Winter Buyer's Guide, including the CW-X Insulator Stabilyx tights.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2012 Winter Buyer's Guide, including the Casio ProTrek PRW-5000Y-1 watch.
I'm a runner and a breast cancer survivor. What's the best breast-cancer-awareness-branded running gear?
Salomon-sponsored Jennifer Pharr Davis broke the Appalachian Trail speed record on July 31, 2011 when she hiked and ran the 2181-mile trail in 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes—26 hours and 11 minutes faster than the previous record holder, Andrew…
Photo of Aspen Vista trail by taylorandayumi/Flickr The other weekend I ran a trail race for the first time since moving to New Mexico earlier this year. It didn't go well. I'm not in good shape, which I blame on adopting a puppy who likes to chew…
Six exercises to help you strengthen your body's weakest links
There’s no reason to be sheepish about switching those synthetic baselayers for a more natural alternative.
And if the South African track sensation makes it to the start line for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, we may never look at disabilities—or competitive sports—the same way again.
Photo by Stewart Dawson/Flickr On Wednesday, author Chris McDougall posted a critique of Lance Armstrong's running form on his blog. McDougall is famous for writing Born to Run, the 2009 bestseller about Mexico's Tarahumara Indians and barefoot running. It's hard to…
How does ultrarunner Ray Zahab—who became famous for expeditions traversing the harshest terrain on earth—up the ante? By taking high school kids on his next series of trips.
Want to make this year memorable? Start training now and destroy your office mates in a 10K.
Image by fergie_lancealot/Flickr Last month, the International Association of Athletics Federations decided that women who run alongside men in road races cannot set world records. The IAAF now believes that male pacers give women an undue advantage, and have made the incredible decision…
I'm running a marathon this fall, and I want to bring my toddler with me while I train. What stroller should I buy?
Photo by informatique/Flickr Does the way you run determine how fast you are, or whether you get injured? Since 2009, and the publication of Chris McDougall’s book Born to Run, that’s been one of the most popular questions in distance running. Form is paramount in most…
Big-city marathons, triathlons, and adventure races have never been more popular. Here's why it's time for you to line up for the starting gun, too.
Or, Why is running compelling? I followed last week's world track and field championships obsessively, something I have done since I was 14, and rarely to my benefit—there's always something more valuable I should be paying attention to, like work, or homework. Over the weekend I came across an essay…
Barefoot running is all the rage. Enter the counterpoint. Hoka One One says that fat, squishy soles are the true path to success. We've tested an ultramarathon of running shoes, and we've gotta admit that Hoka One One has some cushy merits. Though the marshmellow-soled shoes look…
Blair Beakley Guest Blog by Emily Brendler Shoff With young kids, it can be an accomplishment to get out the front door. So when my husband, Andy, and I decided to take our girls camping and meet up with some…
Photo by Victah Sailer/PhotoRun.net Before Thursday, I doubt that many people would have picked Jenny Barringer Simpson to end the title drought in American distance running that has persisted, stubbornly, since the mid 1980s. When Barringer Simpson went wide into lane three in…
We've heard of sport specific footwear, but this shoe takes the cake. As you can see in the video below, the testing sessions for the Five Ten Atlas Pamplona resulted in more than just blisters. The company sent 150 runners out with red kicks at this year's…
Last Thursday, the IAAF, track and field's international governing body, announced a plan to drug test every single athlete at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea later this month. It will be the first comprehensive testing ever performed at a world or Olympic final in track…