FitSugar

Learn to Love: Running and Biking in the Wind

FitSugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:30:00 PDT

Riding my bike into a strong headwind used to make me irritable, but lately I have learned to love it. Nature is providing me with an extra challenge for free. Talk about seeing the glass half full!

Running or biking into the wind provides resistance, thereby forcing you to work harder. It's like adding some resistance training into your run, similar to using a parachute strapped to your waist. I've seen Tyra Banks do it, so I know it can be done. On a windy day, you don't need extra equipment, and you get some resistance for free.

It is important to train in all types of conditions, so come race day, you are prepared for all types of weather. Especially windy days are one such adverse condition. When I am running into the wind, I focus on how fast I will feel on my next run on a windless day. So don't let a blustery day keep you indoors running on a treadmill. Embrace the elements and the chance to challenge yourself.

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Casa Quiz: LA Gets Windy

CasaSugar — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:00:49 PST

Last week, I told you about a wind farm initiative in Los Angeles, which was written about in the LA Daily News. Can you remember some of the details about it? Take this quiz to see how well your memory serves you.
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Take the Quiz

Casa Verde: LA Gets Windy

CasaSugar — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:15:20 PST

While most folks think of Hollywood decadence and glamour when they think of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the US has pledged to procure 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. According to the LA Daily News, one critical part of this renewable equation is the construction of a wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 100 miles north of the city. Costing an estimated $425 million, the 120-megawatt facility will feature 80 turbines as well as a new high-voltage transmission line. The wind farm will essentially double the amount of electricity that the city currently receives from wind power. While this wind farm was slated for opening more than four years ago, delays (very possibly related to earthquakes) prevented its building. LA's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has also announced plans for another wind farm on a nearby site. This boost in wind power would result in enough electricity to generate power for almost 130,000 homes. The project has the support of environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Winter Exercise Tip: Head Into the Wind First

FitSugar — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:00:00 PST

A lot of us run in one direction for 15 minutes then turn around and run back for the remaining 15 minutes. For those of us who live in windy places, this means that half of our runs are done into the wind and the other half are done with the wind at our back.

When it's especially cold outside you need to protect yourself from the elements, so start your outdoor jogs by heading into the wind on the first leg. You'll be less likely to get over chilled (and even frostbitten) on the way back (when you're wet from sweat) if you end your workout with the wind at your back.

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Dumbasses Of The Day

GiggleSugar — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:00:00 PDT

Our dumbasses usually hurt themselves, but these dudes hurt something a little more valuable here-- their egos. A couple of "Spencer Pratts" set out to demonstrate how a condom can hold up to the mighty thrust of the wind. What kills me is how excited they get during the demonstration, as if their own equipment is in some way responsible for the overstuffed condom we see before us. Dream on, boys.

Style for Style: The Wind Beneath My Minidress

FabSugar — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:20:22 PDT

Has anyone else been hiking up their hemline this Summer? With the plethora of dress options, I can't resist! It was time for me to show off my stems and I think every woman should chuck their jeans aside and give a dress a twirl. After all, Fall is right around the corner and fresh variations of hosiery are soon to be all the rage so let your legs BREATHE!

However, there is an enemy when you choose to don a loose trapeze dress or sassy mini dress: a mighty wind. While some people probably wouldn't mind a little sidewalk show, it's a major fashion fax paus to flash your under-business (as exhibited by too many starlets in recent years). I say: be prepared for the wind beneath your mini dress with some cute, flirty under options.

My fail safe is to wear a pair of full-coverage bootie shorts, or cute girlie boxers, underneath my skirt and over my underwear; I never want to be that girl who trips and falls on my ass, baring my ass. Plus, you can play with patterns and show a little something unexpected - in a good way.
If your skirt is light colored, wear a pair of nude boy shorts.
If you don't mind a little peekaboo, a pair of ruffled panties are certainly more acceptable than commando!
A super cute option: bloomers! They evoke a sweet sultry farmer girl vibe.
For a more street or casual look, bust out a pair of denim cut offs.

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I now send you off in your little skirts fashion-ready and wind-ready!

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All That Fluff and Your Seasonal Allergies

FitSugar — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:30:00 PDT

You might have noticed some puffy, fluffy, white stuff floating through the air and lying on the grass? You might have looked at it and anticipated your allergies going haywire. But here's the good news - it's NOT pollen. These fluffs are the seeds of Aspen trees and each piece of fluff contains a little seed. The wind carries the fluffs, dispersing the seed in a similar fashion to dandelions.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you now know Aspen fluff is harmless. The pollen that aggravates you, is very tiny - it has to be in order for you to breathe it in through your nose, and those pieces of fluff are definitely too big for that.

Interested in knowing the current allergy levels in your area? Then

read more Check out the pollen.com website. You can even sign up to have "Allergy Alert Emails" sent to you with daily 2-day forecasts if the allergy conditions in your area reach moderate levels. This is great to help manage your allergy symptoms.

Snowkiting - Wind and Ice Unite

FitSugar — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:45:00 PST

Imagine being able to snowboard or ski without the mountain or the chairlifts. It's possible when you're snowkiting, holding onto a kite and using the power of the wind to propel you. It is the snowy version of windsurfing.

The wind pulls you along at amazing speeds and you can get lifted and jump and spin in the air like you're flying. You can lean your weight and adjust the position of the kite to help direct where you're going. It's an incredibly fast and weightless feeling like no other.

Look for free snowkiting demos at a frozen lake near you, where you can get a 3 hour lesson for about $85. All you need to start is what you already own if you ski or snowboard, and they'll provide everything else you'll need from the knees up.

Fit's Tips: You may want to check out the Stormboarding Kitestorm happening on Feb 24-5 on Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT.

You can also take a snowkiting lesson through the Boulder Outdoor Center on Lake Dillion in Frisco, Colorado. A beginner lesson costs $249, but it's 4-5 hours long and if you love it, 15% of that price can be applied to purchasing your own snowkite.

Want to see another video? Then

Creatures of the Wind Gets Twisted For Fall

Annie Tomlin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:21:57 PST

Creatures of the Wind, a Chicago-based fashion duo, is quickly picking up buzz as they continue to show at New York Fashion Week. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runners-up presented their Fall 2012 collection at the Desmond Tutu Center, and the beauty look was just as creative and offbeat as their designs. The hair alone was dramatic, complex, and remarkable - making it the perfect pairing for these rising stars.

Kristen Stewart Talks Badass Fairy Tales, Bella Swan, and Her New Leading Man on Snow White Set Visit

Molly Goodson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:01:00 PST

Last October, we were so excited to pay a visit to the set of Snow White and the Huntsman outside London. We got a sneak peek into the amazing world Kristen Stewart and her costars, including Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Charlize Theron, and more, inhabited while shooting the action-packed fairy-tale movie. We have tons to come from our day poking around the remarkable set and learning about everything from the costumes to the fight scenes. While we were there, we even got to see the aftermath of Kristen accidentally actually punching Chris Hemsworth in the face filming a scene. Check out our chat with Kristen and stay tuned for lots from the set:

Is there something you admire about Snow White?

Yes. It’s strange playing a character that you actually could never truly embody. Her spirit affects people. . . I can’t have Snow White’s effect on people. I can’t actually be completely selfless because nobody is. You can only really play a character like that in a fairy tale and play it with an awful load of integrity. She’s very fully formed, but very farfetched-from-the-reality-that-we-live-in type of person. She also is strong in a very different way than you’d expect. Strength, yeah, but also gusto. I mean, she’s strong. She can kick ass. It hurts very much to do so and so it’s not like you’re watching her go take down a kingdom. You’re not watching going, "Yeah! Kill him!" Really it’s more like you’re watching someone having to do something that doesn’t just go against your sensibilities or that you agree with. It’s gutting. It’s physically gutting, literally. A million reasons, but she’s special.

Do you like that she’s not like your prissy fairy tale?

Yeah, because that’s just a very surface, though she is prissy sometimes. That’s the other thing. It takes her the whole movie basically to become who I’m talking about now. I’m really sort of talking in retrospect. It’s strange. It’s a total identity movie. It’s all about not finding yourself, but actually just being OK with who you always have been and not being ashamed of being the only one who sees the light. It’s an enormous burden and she’s so stunted. She was put away when she was 7 years old and your mother and your father were killed basically right in front of you. We’re not doing the version of a fairy tale that wouldn’t deal with all of those things, where you just sort of skim over all those things, and it's like all of these things are actually really important to the characters. She literally bleeds for her land and her people, and that’s just such a cool concept for me because it’s other people caring about people. It’s very simple, but it’s so common. Every day all the time you see people not caring about each other, and this is just about that.

She learns to be a leader or she’s born a leader inside, do you think?

She’s definitely a born leader. I mean, it’s literally pumping through those veins, but it’s been taken from her. She’s been so stolen from.

To read the rest of the interview, including her thoughts on Bella vs. Snow White and what it was like to punch Chris just

read more. Is it helping you get into the character's mindset to wear those cool costumes? Absolutely. If you look down and something doesn’t feel like you would definitely be wearing it, or if you go to grab your knife and it flops around or - basically [Colleen Atwood] thinks about every detail. It’s so wearable. I also have puffy sleeves. Somehow she manages to make puffy sleeves look butch. I was always expecting to personally wind up in a - basically what I’m wearing underneath it, like that little blue dress, which is just thin and wispy. I was really happy that she’s got something heavy on - a bit of armor before she actually finds her own armor. How did you feel the first time you put on the armor? Did you feel more badass? Yeah. That’s the first thing you want to [pound your chest]. Also, my armor doesn’t have a huge top on it. All the guys, unfortunately, they [raise their arms] and they hit themselves in the head. I can run around in mine. Somehow the armor on the men - unless they’re on horseback and they look amazing, but there’s also something kind of dainty about it, too, like pointy toes. It fits a woman’s body better, I feel. I don’t know, the guys running around suddenly look like little toys - slightly feminine little toys. Both Snow White and Bella had traumatizing experiences in the woods - being led out to die or have her heart broken - compare those two experiences? Well, it’s funny. I think [Snow White] genuinely lacks that innate fear of death that we all have. She’s got a serious, fierce survival - not skills, but insights. But she isn’t afraid of anything. What’s harder is to have dreams and hopes that you lived your whole life sort of be just shattered in front of you. So I think probably it’s totally impossible to compare the two. And I know that doesn’t make sense, but I kind of can’t compare. Can you compare the movies in general? Are there similarities at all? Bella and Snow White both come to find that they’re leaders. I mean, that’s definitely a similarity. They’re different. They’re very, very, very, different people. Also, I guess in a very sort of righteous way as well it’s all very like - everyone’s telling them “no” and both of them I guess see the light. Both of them are sort of a little more intuitive and spiritually, for whatever reason, connected and their gut is always sort of dead right. What about working with Chris surprised you? Did you have any preconceptions of him? Before I met him, I was like, "gosh, so charming." You know what I mean? Like he’s so ridiculously, seemingly nice. Movie-star caliber nice. But he really actually just is. But then again, it’s strange working - cause I mean it’s not a secret. It was completely different part before. It was totally like a rethought. So when he came in it was like "Wow! This is f*cking interesting!" I mean, it was like they really elevated it. Chris is an amazing, nice guy and also [has] great instincts and he can roll with everything on set. He’s really relaxed, whereas I’m always like, "oh my god!" I use my anxiety to do this and he’s always sort of like - he’s a good energy for me. I really like working with him. You actually punched Chris filming a scene and gave him a black eye? It’s actually a very confidence building experience. I don’t like punching anyone. So, you know, when you dream and your hand just slides right down their face, it doesn’t do that in real life. It really works. God, that really made me feel horrible, though. I mean, like instantly hot tears and I was like "oops!" We were watching it. It looks - it’ll be in the movie. Favorite fairy tale as a kid? I honestly don’t - somebody asked this the other day. I wasn’t here til the end of fairy tales. I really liked The Jungle Book. I was obsessed with The Jungle Book. Chris said Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and he was always like humming Enya as we were trudging up the mountain. I was saying basically, "You should make a remake of Lord of the Rings. Why are you doing this? . . . We’re doing Snow White and the Huntsman, Chris!" Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures