Pop Quiz!

POP QUIZ: Why did I buy these gloves?

• A) To take hot items out of the oven
• B) To prevent leaving fingerprints during my next murderous rampage
• C) Because they’re all the rage in Milan
• D) None of the above

The correct answer is…

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Setting StairMaster Records AND My Goal For Vegas

Scale the Strat is less than a week away! I’ve been training like crazy, and it’s paying off. I’ve never been more prepared for a stair climb race than I am for this one, and I’m glad that’s the case, because I have generous donors and my first-ever corporate sponsor – StairMaster! – and I don’t want anyone to think I’m slacking. Speaking of StairMaster, I’ve set some personal records at the gym, and I’m proud and excited about that!

As I explained in my last StairMaster training post, I’ve been

Pan-Seared Balsamic Artichokes

Artichokes are one of those vegetables that just seem like a hassle. Artichoke hearts are delicious – I buy them in cans or jars a lot – but getting a heart out of an actual fresh artichoke takes roughly 23 steps, and it’s a mess. Similarly, cooking fresh artichokes takes forever, and the payoff, while delicious, is small. Most of an artichoke is inedible.

Despite all this, when a friend

How To Get Started Using a StairMaster

Today’s post tackles a question from a reader! A friend of mine named Judy (not her real name, but I just watched “Judge Judy”) asked me this:

“Stairs are my biggest fear and nemesis and I am determined to conquer them this year. Do you have any tips on how to start stair climbing and maybe what worked for you when you started out? I am doing stairs at work when I can, but my max is 2 floors. I am back to the gym next week and thought I would try StairMaster too, even if it is only 30 seconds at first, just to get started.”

Great question, Judy, and before I answer let me

Three Times (!) Up the Aon Center

My training for Scale the Strat continues!

In addition to regular sessions on the StairMaster at my gym, I’ve been hitting actual stairs as much as I can. I did some outdoor stairs after a hike the other weekend, climbed a brutal staircase 6 times at dawn on Sunday, and, a few days before that, climbed 36 floors while running 2.9 miles (a workout I never blogged about).

Despite all that, I haven’t done any training in an actual skyscraper stairwell. The Aon Center, a 63-story skyscraper that I’ve raced up twice (recaps here and here), offers practice time every week to train in their stairwell, so the other night, I headed downtown to work out in the second-tallest building in the state.

It wasn’t just a training session, though – it was also a lesson. I had asked my pal Jeff, a nationally-ranked tower runner, to give me some pointers, and he happily obliged. Now that I have a few of these races under my belt, I want to work on strategy and technique, so that I can really improve. I got a few pointers a few months ago from another tower running pro, my friend Madeleine, and it totally whetted my appetite!

Kale Chips…in the MICROWAVE?!

This post is about food, and I need to fess up and say that my eating hasn’t been great lately. I’ve been exercising like a madman, and while I want to be capitalizing on the calories I’m burning to lose a few pounds, it’s not happening. But I’m not beating myself up over it. Just trying to make better choices and do the best I can.

Moving on…

A few years ago, I had a little kale chip kick. I was making them left and right. Kale chips, which are simply kale leaves that are roasted until they’re crispy like chips (see how to make them here), are very satisfying and super healthy. But

Stairs at Sunrise

I can’t remember the last time I was up early enough to see a sunrise. Yesterday, though, I saw a beautiful one… while in the middle of a fantastic stair workout. Here’s the sunrise…

…and here are the stairs:

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These awesome stairs are known as the Culver City Stairs, and they’re at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. How I ended up there was a happy accident.

StairMaster Training Update

My big stair climb race up the Stratosphere in Las Vegas is less than three weeks away, and I’ve been working hard to get prepared. I feel like my training got off to a slow start, thanks to my having to recover from a bruised rib, but it’s been picking up, and I still have a few weeks ahead of me.

I’ve spent a lot of time using the StairMaster at the gym. Check out what I did last night:

I climbed 113 floors in 20 minutes! More importantly,

A Fresh Take on Tuna Casserole

A few weekends ago, while flipping through the channels, I settled on a PBS cooking show called “Pati’s Mexican Table,” and for a few minutes I watched host Pati Jinich make a tuna casserole that I wanted to eat right then. It stuck in my head for two weeks. A couple friends came over for dinner the other night, providing me the perfect opportunity to try it out. I modified the recipe somewhat (like I always do, with mixed results), but it still turned out pretty tasty. It starts, like a lot of good recipes do, with onion and garlic.

The recipe from “Pati’s Mexican Table” is called

A Shameful, Embarrassing Admission

I’ll warn you now: the title of this post is a complete exaggeration. But it stems from a truthful place – a little nugget of shame that actually exists within me. And that little nugget is this:

In the nearly 12 years that I’ve lived in Los Angeles, I’ve never been to the Griffith Observatory.

Shocker, right?! The Griffith Observatory is