Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
Friday Inspiration 470
|
 |
I found Robin Wilding’s Substack this week through her post about putting her senior dog down (which was wonderful but maybe not what everyone needs to read this week), and I clicked around a bit and found this gem she wrote last September, The 11 Traits of Utterly Unfuckwithable People. My favorite might be #5, They Treat Servers Nice.
Peter Bromka, who is one of the most compelling voices currently writing about running, writes about being injured, and although I wish he wasn’t injured right now and could run, this is a great piece of writing that came about because he can’t.
Would you like a guide on how to make the best coffee in a Moka pot? Here it is. (Also love the data distinguishing Moka pot coffee from actual espresso in this piece—it's not espresso, but it's fantastic).
Perhaps you heard about or watched Jamil Coury and Kevin Russ’s battle to run the furthest on one two-block Strava segment in Tempe, Arizona, in order to win 52 free Chipotle burritos in a year? If you didn’t, I won’t spoil it for you, but I really enjoyed this breakdown from Matt Trappe, which dived into some of the media and social media stats of the whole thing.
I got a sweat test done last week, not because I am an elite athlete looking for every piece of data I can get in order to perform at my best on race day, but because I am a normal person looking for data that will help me feel better during and after I exercise. It was honestly quite the revelation—not the fact that I have slightly below average sodium levels in my sweat, but the 30+ minutes I got to spend with Tom Robey, the guy who did my test, talking about how much sodium I should actually be ingesting during big days (and after normal-for-me workouts). It’s pretty fascinating: an electrode the size of a quarter makes a small spot on your forearm sweat, and that tiny amount of sweat is analyzed for sodium content. You then measure how much you sweat in a typical 30-minute effort and figure out what your electrolyte and fluid needs are. Let’s just say I have been pretty far off in my past efforts to hydrate and take in electrolytes. A couple articles from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel and Hydration's website about this (reminder: clicking on these links will apply a 15% discount to your first PFH purchase):
- The different types of Sweat Test and why you should have one
- Does consuming more salt mean you'll have saltier sweat?
I have never looked too much into thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or the PCT or the Continental Divide Trail, but this article had a bunch of interesting statistics about demographics and cost ($10,500 to hike the AT! on average).
From what I gather, these people were about to become grandparents, and wanted to record a short video message to their daughter, who was about to give birth to their grandchild, but they couldn’t keep from cracking each other up while trying to share a heartfelt message, which makes me think they will be pretty wonderful grandparents.
Lastly: A reminder that this coffee mug exists and is for sale in my DFTBA shop for $18.99:
 |
Semi-Rad
Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
Reminder To Touch Grass The snow felt like it was just going to keep coming, like the news has been, but at least you can ski on snow. I pushed our shovel down the middle of the sidewalk, clearing a path, heaving piles of snow onto the parking strip. I mean, somebody was going to have to do it. I usually shovel the walk of the house next door too, and the other house, the other next door, because I might as well, while I’m out there. Nathan lives four doors down, on the corner, and we don’t...
Friday Inspiration 471 I support Van Neistat on Patreon but I don’t always get around to watching every single video he puts out—which is a bummer, because there’s always a gem somewhere in most of his stuff. I particularly enjoyed the reference to “Eastern laziness vs. Western laziness” in this one, which you could probably alternately call “Eastern relaxing vs. Western relaxing.” (video) I assume that you, like me, have had no less than one thousand instances in your life in which you had a...
"I do." We had not died on the drive there, which felt like a small victory. When we woke up, it was raining in town, freezing a quarter-inch thick on every flat surface, including the street in front of our house, which I’d tentatively tried to walk on and pronounced it a skating rink. People on our local subreddit said it was treacherous out there, stay home. We discussed our options, wasting time and building an anxious feeling that maybe we wouldn’t get to ski at all that day, which would...