surveillance security cameras: July 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

If your Windows chops extend in any capacity beyond novice, you’ve no doubt encountered the ever-cryptic Windows Registry, DLL files, User Account Control, and other tools with seemingly dark and mysterious powers. Here, we’ll explain some of Windows’ most confusing features, so you know exactly what’s happening when you go to edit them.

Blast from the past is a weekly feature at Lifehacker in which we revive old, but still relevant, posts for your reading and hacking pleasure. In honor of the Windows 10 launch, we’re revisiting one of our favorite Windows explainers.

Some of these things you may already know about, but others may be unknown to even the tech savvier among you (I know I learned a few things writing this piece). We’ll be covering 5 different Windows tools here: the registry, DLL files, User Account Control, drivers, and the Group Policy Editor. Scroll down to see more about what these things are, how they work, and what you can do with them.

The Registry

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

The registry is one of Windows’ most confusing tools, but it can also be very powerful if you know what you’re doing. The registry is, essentially, a hierarchical database that stores settings and preferences for nearly everything on your system, from drivers and services to your user passwords and user interface. In the old days of Windows, application preferences were stored in text files with the INI extension, and while some still are, they’ve been ditched for the faster, unified registry.

You can edit the registry yourself, if you wish (though you usually need to know what registry “key” you’re tweaking before you go in, since they aren’t very descriptive). Just open the Start menu and type regedit into the search box. From there, you can navigate the tree in the left sidebar, and double-click on the desired key in the right pane to edit it. You might also find, in your daring travels, that some people try to save you trouble by creating .reg files that make the desired registry tweaks with a double click. I’d recommend opening these up with Notepad to make sure they’re actually editing the right registry keys (after all, it’d be pretty easy to muck up one’s computer this way if one was so inclined), but as long as everything looks kosher, they’re a quick and easy way to tweak your system.

Examples of Registry-Related Life Hacks

These are just a few of our favorites; you can see a lot more on our top 10 list of the best registry hacks that power up Windows.http://ift.tt/1IzDHsh...

Problems That Can Arise with the Registry

While the registry offers some advantages over INI files (mainly speed), it isn’t without problems. Putting all your eggs in one basket always poses a risk. If something were to damage the registry, it could potentially cause problems with your entire Windows installation, not just that one program—which means you’d need to repair the registry or reinstall Windows altogether. This is why registry hacks, though useful, always come with the disclaimer to back up your registry first, as things can go very, very wrong very, very quickly. The registry can also build up a lot of junk if you don’t uninstall applications properly, or if the app uninstallers are poorly written.

That said, there isn’t much you can or should do about these problems, save for backing up your registry before you go a-tweaking. Registry cleaners are rarely a good idea, and backing up your registry is as simple as creating a restore point, so just stay safe and don’t mess with the registry more than you have to. It may be a faulty system, but it’s not something you or any other program can make better.http://ift.tt/1eI2hLd...

Dynamic-Link Libraries (DLLs)

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

Dynamic-Link Libraries, usually found on your system as .DLL files, are libraries of code that any program can use. They serve two purposes:

Since multiple programs can use them at the same time, it encourages people to reuse code, meaning your RAM has to load fewer things and your computer runs a little faster. Dialog boxes are a great example: Since the Comdlg32 DLL can be used by any program, you don’t need a bunch of programs loading their own dialog box-related code; they just use the code built into Windows.
DLLs allow programs to be modular. That is, it allows a program to call on only certain pieces of code rather than loading everything at once, which can slow the program down. You’ll find this a lot with plugin-based programs, like Rainmeter or foobar2000. They’ll only load the features you actually use, which they can do because DLLs exist separately from one another. You can also add more features to them by adding DLL files of your own.

DLLs can also make updating a program simpler, since you won’t always have to reinstall the program from scratch—it can just update the necessary DLL files. But, all in all, it makes your system run a bit faster and it allows for customizable, plugin-based programs, which we’re pretty big fans of.

Examples of DLL-Related Life Hacks

Problems That Can Arise with DLL Files

The most common problem people see with DLL files is that they go missing. This problem isn’t quite as prevalent as it used to be, at least in my experience, but it’s good to know what to do if it does happen. If you get a “____.dll missing” error from a program, you’ll probably be tempted to go find the DLL file and download it, but that isn’t always the best idea. Instead of heading to a site like DLL-Files.com, you’re better off reinstalling the program from scratch, or at least running the “repair” option in its installation (if it has one). Usually, it’ll replace whatever it needs, unless there’s something wrong with the program itself (which a quick Google can help you figure out).

If you find this happens more than once in a blue moon, there’s probably something else going on. Make sure you have good antivirus software running and that you perform regular scans—if DLL files are missing left and right, it’s likely that you have some malware on your system, and replacing the DLL files is just going to be a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.http://ift.tt/1eI2fmx...

User Account Control (UAC)

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

User Account Control is a security feature in Windows Vista and above that only sort of does what it sounds like. Essentially, User Account Control (UAC) is a way for certain programs to ask your permission before performing system-level changes—like if you’re installing a new program or editing system files. That way, malicious programs can’t just run without your consent—you’re forced to more closely pay attention to which programs have permission to tweak the system.

By default, UAC is set to always notify you when programs try to make changes, but not when you make changes to Windows settings. By heading to User Account Control Settings (which you can search for in the Start Menu’s search box), you can make UAC more or less strict, the least strict option being that it never notifies you of any changes. I like to slide it down one notch—to the second from the bottom—since my screen usually takes a long time to dim when popping up UAC prompts, and lowering the UAC level fixes this. Turning it off completely isn’t recommended unless you really know what you’re doing, since it can let any program run without your express permission.

Examples of UAC-Related Life Hacks

While you can’t do much with the UAC, it is something that a lot of tricks require you turn off, so it’s important to know what you’re doing when you bring that slider down. Here are some examples of hacks that require UAC to be turned off:

Problems That Can Arise with UAC Tweaks

Changing the UAC level isn’t going to ruin your computer like a bad registry or missing DLL file might, but installing something you don’t trust will—and UAC makes that just a little bit easier, since it won’t require those programs to prompt you. The best thing we can say is that UAC is not a sufficient security tool—always remember to keep a good antivirus program around. Even at its most strict, UAC won’t be able to tell viruses from regular programs; it just asks you whether you want to run certain things or not. Responsibility is the best protection against malware.

Drivers

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

Many of you may already know what drivers are, though they are still considered a “dark corner” by many—and it’s important to know not only what they are, but how to manage them properly. A driver is a piece of software that allows your hardware to communicate with Windows. So, whether that means helping your computer communicate with your network card to access the internet or communicate with your webcam so you can broadcast video over Skype, nearly all the hardware on your computer has a Windows driver that allows it to work. Many drivers are built into Windows, while some you need to get from that hardware manufacturer’s web site. Sometimes Windows has a barebones version of the driver built-in, and even though your hardware will work out of the box, downloading the official manufacturer driver will give you more features.

Examples of Driver-Related Life Hacks

While I don’t really recommend using all-in-one driver update utilities, there are still a few useful tricks we’ve learned over the years when it comes to dealing with drivers:

How to Correctly Manage Your Drivers

When you first install a new piece of hardware, head to the manufacturer’s web site and download the latest drivers (don’t install the ones on the CD that came with it). This ensures that you have the latest ones, and that you have the official ones from that company, not the half-assed Microsoft drivers that may not update as often or come with extra features. That said, for certain things—like printers—the Microsoft drivers can be better since they don’t install tons of other unnecessary software. You need to judge it on a driver-by-driver basis depending on your needs.

When it comes to updating drivers, don’t do it willy-nilly. If your driver is working fine, then there’s no reason to upgrade unless the new version has some awesome feature or speed enhancement you want. That means video card drivers are often the exception to this rule—each upgrade usually comes with speed enhancements and profiles for new games, so if you’re a gamer, you’ll want to take advantage of new video card drivers when you can. Of course, if the new ones start to cause problems, you can always roll back, so make a note of what version you’re currently using every time before you upgrade.http://ift.tt/1eI2hLn...

To check your driver version for any particular driver, just head to the Device Manager (by going to Start and searching for Device Manager), right-clicking on the hardware in question, and going to the driver tab. That will list your driver version, and you can compare that with the current version on the manufacturer’s web site to see if there’s a newer version available. You can then download the newer version from the manufacturer and install it. I usually avoid updating drivers from the Device Manager, since I never really know what I’m getting—I like to download it straight from the manufacturer itself.

The Group Policy Editor

De-Mystifying the Dark Corners of Windows: The Registry, DLLs, and More Explained

The Group Policy Editor is a tool you may have heard less about, but it does come up from time to time. It’s only available on Windows Professional and higher, so not all users will have it, but it can do some pretty cool things. On the surface, its purpose is to control what users can and can’t do, usually in enterprise situations. If you have a computer and you want to block its users from editing the registry, changing security settings, or installing software, the Group Policy Editor is how you would change that. We’ve featured a few of these features before—namely creating an application whitelist and blocking certain hard drives—but it can do some other cool things, too.

Editing group policy isn’t all that different from editing the registry. Head to the Start menu, type in Group Policy, and click on the editor that pops up. You’ll have a sidebar on the left with a hierarchical listing of settings you can tweak, both for the computer and the current user, and when you find something you want to change, you can right click on it in the right-hand pane to create a new policy. Like the registry, group policy is also pretty darn cryptic, so you’ll probably need to know what you want to do before heading into the editor, so you know which settings to edit and what values to give their policies.

Examples of Group Policy-Related Life Hacks

Got any of your own tips related to the above features? Share them in the comments. And if you have any other Windows features you’d like explained, let us know—there are a lot more dark Windows corners to be explored!

Title image remixed from an original by Brett Yoncak.

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Remove Grass Stains from Your Clothes with Sugar and Water

Grass stains on your clothes can be challenging to remove. But, rubbing in a little sugar before washing can help break down those stains so they come out in the wash.

As HouseholdHacker shows us (at the 0:56 mark in the video), sugar contains enzymes that help break down the chlorophyll causing the green stains in your clothes. Just add enough warm water to 1/2 cup of sugar to form a paste. Cover the stain with the paste, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and then wash it as usual. And as always, check the garment for any remnants of the stain before you put them in the dryer, where the heat can set the stain permanently. If you need to, repeat the treatment and wash them again.

Awesome Sugar Life Hacks You Should Know | HouseholdHacker

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What It's Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco

I live in the world’s most famous tech city, surrounded by the most advanced personal electronic devices. None of them, however, grab quite as much attention as my own phone does.

My phone was already old-fashioned when I bought it eight years ago, and by now, even a drug dealer would be embarrassed to own it. This has many consequences—most of them superficial, some of them downright worrying.

I Hide My Phone, But Not For The Reason You Think

I bought my very first cell phone in 2007. It’s officially a Nokia 1208, but colloquially it’s what people refer to as a “candy bar phone.” It doesn’t flip. It doesn’t slide. Its screen is one-and-a-quarter inches wide and the only colors it shows are black, white, and variations of blue. It doesn’t even send texts, though it can receive them.

In the past, I’ve thought about asking tech-savvy people if they can fix the texts, but at this point, I try not to show it to people. Especially when I’m in a group.

Nobody has ever made fun of me because of my phone. At most, people ask tactful questions that amount to, “Are you desperately, desperately poor or something?” The problem isn’t ridicule. It’s that the moment anyone sees my phone, like when I absentmindedly take it out of my pocket to check the time, it becomes the center of attention. People gather around me, peering at it and asking me, shyly, if they can “see it for a second.” They hold it on their upturned palm and sort of jiggle it to gauge the weight. They exclaim over the fact that its keypad is made of one single piece of rubberized plastic. They peer at its little screen. Then come the questions.

“I bet you can just put it back together after you drop it.”

Yes, I can.

“How much did you pay for this?”

I think it was about seventeen dollars in 2007.

“Does it do anything?”

It has an alarm clock and a timer, and when you press the little button in the center it becomes a flashlight.

What It's Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco

That last one always gets a laugh. Then the phone gets passed to the next person. This can go on for half an hour. I guess I could ask someone, during these sessions, about setting the phone up so I can text, but . . .

It’s Way More Convenient Than An iPhone

I suspect that the reason I can’t use this phone to send texts is simply because it’s not part of my plan. My plan involves going into a store every five months or so, when my allotted minutes get low, and handing a hundred dollars to the person in the textured polo shirt. That sets me up for another five months. The most disagreeable overcharge I’ve ever had to pay happened when I was visiting Washington DC. They have a twelve percent tax on re-filling your phone—but that soured me on my country more than it soured me on my phone.

I don’t worry about dropping my phone, because there’s nothing on it I can’t fix by jamming it back into place with my thumb. I don’t worry about anyone stealing my phone, because the phone is not worth the effort it would take to run away from me after snatching it, and any thief in San Francisco can see that. The most I have to worry about is dropping my phone in a pool, because I don’t know which would be more expensive: buying a new phone or buying a bag of rice to suck out the water.

I won’t deny that the features on new phones are nice, but I will deny that they’re necessary. Once, a couple of years ago, a friend and I were lost in the Presidio at night. My friend used the GPS on her phone to guide us to our destination more quickly. About once every three months, I get turned around when I’m on a walk and it would be nice to look at a map to help me find my way. Sometimes I forget if a business is open on a holiday and wish I could quickly check their website before I hike a block out of my way.

What It's Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco

Most of the time, though, stuff just works out. If I really need to find an address or contact a business, I call Information the way everyone always used to before phones became computers. If someone texts me, I call them back. If I think they’re driving and can’t pick up the phone, I just wait. This has never not worked—and it almost always works within twenty minutes.

In fact, if you want to do a little experiment, spend one month keeping a tally of how many of the phone calls or text conversations around you amount to people confirming that they definitely will meet up with each other at the place they already agreed they were going to meet up with each other, within twenty minutes of the time they agreed that they were going to meet up with each other. You’ll come out of that month with a new respect for passivity. Seriously, people, it’s fine. They’ll be here when they get here.

But You Do Have to Plan Ahead

I will admit one thing, though—people with smart phones carry less stuff than I do. In addition to my little candy bar phone, I generally have at the very least a pad of paper and a pen or pencil. Flipping back through this pad will give you a running list of the addresses and phone numbers of the places where I was going to meet people, simple directions from a parking lot or bus station when I’m going to a place I’ve never been before, and the details of people I meet when I’m away from home. Interspersed with these will be ideas for articles, which I think up when everyone else is on their phone at the table (savages), or when I’m stuck on a train.

What It's Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco

I’ll also almost always have a book with me. I wish this weren’t necessary. As a frequent public transportation user, and a relatively tall person in a relatively short city, I would love to spend my rides on BART and Muni reading people’s texts over their shoulders. Alas, I have done a decade of research on this, and I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that people’s texts are boring. Furthermore, texting gives people boring, expressionless faces—although it does, thank god, stop people from talking on their cell phones while they’re on public transportation. Whatever you’re paying for your texts, it’s worth it for the wonderful hush that came over buses and trains when texting became more popular than talking. Still, when you’re not able to text, a book is mandatory.

The only times I truly wish I could use my phone as an entertainment device are on those rare occasions when I drive. I’ve seen a lot of hype about what the tech industry is doing to newspapers, to books, to television, and to movies—but I haven’t read much about the devastation it is wreaking on radio stations. Drive anywhere without your phone playing music for you and you’ll pick up nothing but barely-powered radio stations with “listen at work” playlists and ads for mattress stores that are having going-out-of-business sales. It is grim in radioland, people. If you can’t get your hands on a phone for car trips, dig some ancient CDs out of your closet. Or just stay home.

Technology Isn’t a Culture, It’s a Language, and I’m Losing Fluency

Some of you will think I sound smug, talking about how little I need an expensive phone and how little of a difference its fancy features actually make. You’re right—but that’s only half of the story. The other half of the story is what occasionally keeps me up at night.

Do you know how to use an iPhone? I don’t.

“That’s silly,” you think. “Four-year-olds can use an iPhone. When I get a new iPhone, with all new features and a new design, I don’t glance at a manual or get instructions. I pick it up and use it. It’s designed to be completely intuitive.”

No, it isn’t. Speaking as an outsider, there’s nothing about technology, no matter how well-designed, that’s intuitive. I routinely turn people’s iPhones off when they ask me to take pictures of them, because I mistake the off button on the phone for the “take a picture” button on the screen. When people hand me their phones so I can add my name and number to their address books, I can’t do it, and they can’t understand why I can’t do it.

Yes, I know that anyone could teach me to do any one of these things in a few minutes, but that isn’t actually going to solve the problem. When I look at how people use phones, pads, and even televisions, I can see that they’re looking at various aspects of devices and getting information from those aspects. A line at the top of the screen, the placement of an icon on the left or on the right, a slightly different color around a picture—it’s meaningless to me, but meaningful to them.

What It's Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco

The idea is reinforced whenever I go online. When I read about how this company is reintroducing this design feature from 2013, or ripping off that design feature from another company, or refining a third feature that they introduced last year, I look at two seemingly identical screencaps of two seemingly identical screens and have no idea what information I’m supposed to be gleaning from it. While I’m baffled, the comment section below is going nuts about what it all means.

What this means to me is that everyone in my city is engaging with companies, popular ones like Apple and reviled ones like BlackBerry, and they are all, collectively, learning to speak Technology. Once people gain fluency in that language, even if they’re just consumers, they use the language to have new ideas, and organize the world in different ways. It’s getting to the point where I literally don’t have the vocabulary to understand how other people see, and interact with, the world.

Want an example? The last time I bought a television, the process for setting up a television was plugging the television into the wall and turning it on. When everyone was updating to “digital,” I moved my television into the closet (only to be exhumed whenever a DVD won’t play on my computer) and switched to watching Hulu. These days I know that there are boxes that attach to a television, and there are sticks that plug into a television, and there are companies you can call that will make your television let you watch shows, but I do not even have the words to ask people specifics about how to make a TV “go.”

So while my phone works just fine for me, I get the feeling that I need to hop over to some form of personal device soon. More importantly, I need to find some aspect of this new technology that I want to engage with. I need to find something that makes me want to play around with a screen (preferably something with a screen bigger than one-and-a-quarter inches). If I don’t, someday I’m going to be staring at a screen while people patiently explain things to me, not even realizing that every word they say is as meaningless to me as if they were speaking Hungarian. I have to do something soon—before the language barrier gets too high.

Illustration by Tara Jacoby

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Save $700 on the Remarkable, Full Frame Sony A7s

The Sony A7s might be the “new king of full-frame video”, but its price has remained remarkably stubborn at $2500 (for the body alone!) since it debuted last year. Today though, you can grab one for $1799, which is by far the best price we’ve ever seen. [Sony A7s Body, $1799]http://ift.tt/1LVfqz8...

More Dealshttp://ift.tt/1dJr9CX...

Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more. We want your feedback.

Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker and all other inquiries to Shane@Gawker.

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Record Videos of Apps in Windows 10 with the Built-In Xbox App

If you ever need to record a video of an app on your screen in Windows 10, the built-in Xbox app has a recording tool that may fit the bill.

The Xbox app comes already installed in Windows 10. One of its features is a video recorder tool intended to let you capture in game videos. It turns out the tool will work with just about any app. It won’t capture your entire desktop, so if that’s what you’re looking for you’ll need to turn to a more powerful screen casting app. But if you just need to record a specific app, give it a try.

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to run the Xbox app for the first time. After that, you can press Windows+G to open the Game Bar overlay, which includes tools for capturing an image or video of an app window. The first time you launch game bar for each app, you’ll get a message asking whether it’s a game. Just tell it yes and start recording. Captured videos are saved in the MP4 format in Videos/Captures.

How to Use the Hidden Screen Recorder Tool in Windows 10 | WonderHowTo

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Reset Siri's Training Data to Force It to Relearn Your Voice

Siri does a pretty good job of learning your voice and dialect so it understands you. However, if you’ve found that it’s not doing a its job, Mac Observer points out that it’s easy to reset and start anew.

All you need to do is turn Siri off and back on again. Head to Settings > General > Siri and toggle the Siri option to Off. Then, head to Settings > General > Keyboards and turn off “Enable Dictation.” After that, go ahead and toggle both of those back to on and you’ll have a clean slate with Siri.

iOS: Deleting Siri’s Training Data | Mac Observer

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Friday Squid Blogging: Russian Sailors Video Colossal Squid

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Deadspin The First Photos Of Jason Pierre-Paul’s Bandaged, Blown-Up Hand | Gizmodo What It’s Like to

Deadspin The First Photos Of Jason Pierre-Paul’s Bandaged, Blown-Up Hand | Gizmodo What It’s Like to Have the Oldest Phone in San Francisco | io9 Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home? | Jezebel Trump’s Terrible Lawyer Also Bragged About Ruining a Beauty Queen’s Life | Kinja Popular Posts

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How to Break Through a Running Plateau

It happens to all of us at some point in our running: our improvements stop. Our race times flat-line. And we wonder, “Is this all I’m capable of accomplishing?” Performance plateaus in running are common—but thankfully, almost all runners can reach new levels of performance if they work hard and smart.

This post originally appeared on Strength Running.

Before we get into the details of how to break through a running plateau, let’s first discuss the best way to continue improving: avoiding mistakes.

Earlier we talked about some reasons why you might be running slow. They are:

You’re not sleeping enough (negatively impacting recovery and how well you’re adapting to your training)
Your overall stress level is too high
Your diet isn’t helping your running (learn how to fuel right here)
The weather is poor for running fast
You’re not doing a regular long run
There’s no pace variation in your training
You don’t run enough – see how to increase mileage here

Once you get these things right, running becomes a lot easier! You’ll feel better, run faster, have more energy, and won’t get injured nearly as often. Sounds great, right?

I know I’m pumped just thinking about it! But even if your lifestyle promotes running success and your training is already structured well, you could still stagnate. You might still find yourself stuck on that dreaded running plateau. So what should you do?

Simple: take the “next logical step.”

The Concept of The Next Logical Step

This idea is from University of Colorado Head Cross Country Coach Mark Wetmore. If you’ve read Running with the Buffaloes (highly recommended!), you’ll get even more insights into one of the best distance coaches in the country.

The idea is straight-forward: you must take the next logical step with one or more elements of your training. Those elements are:

Weekly mileage
Strength
Workouts
Long runs
Cross-training
Long-term consistency

Improvement isn’t necessarily doing more—you could simply do something different. After all, what got you here won’t get you there. And to do something you’ve never done before, you have to do something you’ve never done before (thanks for the insight, Jay).

Essentially, we’re discussing progression. The idea that training must progress from here to there. From position A to position B. If your 5k is currently 27 minutes and you’d like it to be 25 minutes, you must progress to that fitness level. Accordingly, your training must progress to get you there.

Let’s talk about each one of these elements and show you step-by-step how to progress to the next level.http://ift.tt/1I8d0t3...

Run More to Break Through Your Running Plateau

This one is simple: run more per week! When it comes to mileage, the general rule is that more is more (provided you can safely run more miles).

Higher mileage increases endurance, improves economy by making your running form more efficient, and increases your ability to tolerate longer and faster workouts.

Years ago, I wrote:

New runners are most limited by their lack of aerobic capacity. They lack endurance and staying power.

Beginners need to run more and patiently develop their body’s ability to run a little more this month than they did last month.

Once you understand that, your race times will improve dramatically from season to season.

A good goal is to increase your average weekly mileage by about 5-10 miles per year. So if you can consistently run 20 miles per week, try to run 25-30 next year and 35-40 the year after that.

Here’s how I used mileage to my advantage during the first 8 years of my running career:

1999: 20 miles / week
2000: 25 miles / week
2001: 30 miles / week
2002: 40 miles / week
2003: 50 miles / week
2004: 55 miles / week
2005: 60 miles / week
2006: 70 miles / week

Guess what happened? I got a helluva lot faster in three distinct years: 2002 (my senior year in high school), 2003 (my freshman year of college), and 2006 (my senior year of college) because I made bigger jumps in mileage.

If you’re struggling with running the same race times over and over again, dedicate yourself to running more miles. You will get faster.http://ift.tt/1O0lCmQ...

Get Stronger to Race Faster

Unlike some loonies, I think strength work can make you a faster runner. It will:

Reduce your injury risk (helping you run more and stay more consistent)
Improve your finishing kick (if you lift heavy)
Increase your running economy by improving your brain’s ability to recruit more muscle fibers

To me, it’s a no-brainer: strength training has tangible, real benefits to runners. So if you’ve hit a performance plateau, it’s time to evaluate your strength work. I recently wrote on Competitor about how strength work needs progression – just like everything else in your training.

If you haven’t yet begun any strength exercises, start with these routines 3-4 times per week:

Once bodyweight exercises are comfortable, you can transition to medicine ball exercises like the Tomahawk Workout. After this transition, you can start lifting heavier weights in the gym.

This simple progression allows you to adapt to strength work to reduce your injury risk and establish the habit before you need expensive equipment or a gym membership.

Do You Run Long?

Remember earlier in this article when I quoted myself (haha who does that?!)? I said new runners are most limited by their lack of aerobic capacity. In other words, beginners lack endurance. Besides running higher weekly mileage, the best thing a new runner can do to see continued progress is to run a regular long run.

Here are a few guidelines for the minimum long run distance for those who want to see lots of progress:

Training for a 5k? Your long run should be at least 7 miles.
Training for a 10k? Your long run should be at least 10 miles.
Training for a half marathon? Your long run should be at least 15 miles.
Training for a marathon? Your long run should be at least 18-20 miles.

Remember, these minimums are for those who want to break a performance plateau. You can certainly run a 5k with a long run of only 2 miles! But that’s not the purpose of this article.

Okay, we’ve talked about increasing your long run— is there anything else you can do?

Yes! Once you consistently run long, you can do more fun things within a long run:

Finish the last 2+ miles uphill
Run a fartlek during the last 2-4 miles that consists of 1-2 minute repetitions
Finish the last 2-6 miles at your goal race pace (this type of long run is best for those training to run a half marathon or longer race)

There are nearly limitless options for how you structure and execute long runs. For more ideas, check out my short book 52 Workouts, 52 Weeks: A Workout a Week for the Next Year.http://ift.tt/1I8d2Bk...

To Run Fast, You Have to... Run Fast

Since 2011, I’ve written thousands of training plans. And many runners aren’t running fast at least once per week. But if you don’t ever run fast, you might ever run fast.

If you’re not yet running any fast workouts, here’s how to get started:

Start with strides (you can also run hill sprints if you have a steep hill nearby)
Run simple fartlek workouts based on time. For example, 6 reps of 1-minute at a hard effort, followed by 2 minutes of easy running
Focus on “bread and butter” workouts like tempo runs (about 85-90% of max heart rate or a “comfortably hard” pace)

Only when you are comfortable with these types of workouts can you progress to more race-specific workouts. What exactly is a “race-specific” workout? It’s simply a workout that looks similar to the race itself.

Training for a 5k? Try 3 x mile @ 5k Goal Pace with a 1-minute recovery jog.
Training for a 10k? Run 5 x 2k @ 10k Goal Pace with a 1-minute recovery jog.
Training for a half marathon? Try 4 miles at tempo pace + 4 x 1000m @ 10k Pace with 1-minute recovery jog.
Training for a marathon? Run the last 10 miles of an 18-mile long run at Goal Marathon Pace.

Do you see how these workouts mimic the specific demands of the goal race? That’s how you get specific. Just make sure you’re ready for workouts like these. They’re not easy!

Cross Train for A Boost in Fitness

I know, I know… cross-training sucks. Pool running, cycling, and the elliptical are all forms of torture for running purists. Why do something silly like swimming when you can run?! But for as much as we dislike cross-training, it has enormous benefits and the potential to completely transform your running.

It can add endurance with very little injury downside. It can even help prevent injuries as you develop strength and different movement patterns.

My two favorite forms of aerobic cross-training are pool running and cycling because they’re similar to running and much of the fitness gains you develop will carry over to your running. Plus, they’re zero impact with a tiny injury risk.

It’s best to add them to your training like you would mileage: keep it easy and stack it on top of what you’re already doing (don’t replace running with cycling, for example, or you’ll defeat the purpose).

During your next training cycle, try adding 2+ hours of easy cross-training to your weekly plan. Here are some guidelines:

Most runners should maintain at least one day of pure rest, so while you can cross-train on an off day, you can also double up with a run in the morning and cross-training in the evening
The effort should be easy or moderate, not “hard” – save that for your race-specific workouts!
Be sure to use good form no matter what exercise you’re doing

Even though cross-training can increase your fitness and lower your injury risk, most runners simply won’t do it. In fact, when I interviewed Matt Fitzgerald for the Injury Prevention for Runners program, he told me his book on cross-training didn’t do well because runners simply don’t like it! Nevertheless, it’s another tool at your disposal for breaking through a performance plateau.http://ift.tt/1Df8WJ0...

Putting it All Together

Now you’ve learned how to break through a performance plateau. You now know exactly what’s necessary to run your next personal best. But there’s a catch: to keep improving, you have to keep progressing.

If you run a new PR by increasing your mileage and running more race-specific workouts, you can’t go back to training the way you used to before the PR.

Here’s an example from my own life: my personal best for 8km cross country (26:19) required months of 80+ mile weeks, hours of weekly cross-training, workouts that made me vomit (literally), and a coach and team to push me every single day.

With two kids and growing responsibilities, I don’t have:

The time to exercise for two hours (plus strength work, dynamic stretching, and recovery work) every day
Teammates to push me beyond what I think is possible
Trainers to fix me when I break
The drive to run workouts that make me see God

I’m confident I’ll never run a personal best in the 8km distance. There’s nowhere else for me to progress to—I already reached the highest level for me. But for most runners who haven’t been training for nearly two decades and who never ran in college or professionally, there’s so much potential!

I’m so excited for you because of that reason. You have enormous potential to run faster than you ever have before. If you train smart, always think long-term, and focus on progression, you’ll get there.

How to Break Through a Running Plateau | Strength Running

Jason Fitzgerald is a 2:39 marathoner and USATF-certified running coach at Strength Running. Get his latest coaching advice and free injury prevention course here.

Image adapted from maximmmmum and Brian Erickson (Shutterstock).

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Showgoers Syncs Up Netflix So You Can Watch Movies with Remote Friends

Chrome: Sometimes you just want to watch a movie with a friend who lives in another state. Instead of trying a countdown to sync up your viewing, Showgoers syncs up Netflix for you.

Just open up the movie you want to watch together in Netflix, then click the Showgoers link. You’ll get a URL to send to a friend, and when they click it, you’ll start watching the movie or TV show together.

Showgoers | via One Thing Well

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Pocket Beta Adds New Recommendations Tab to Find New Articles

Web/Android/iOS: Pocket has always been a bookmarking service, but they’re experimenting with a new way to find articles in a public beta, which is available right now to check out.

The beta includes a new recommendations tab where you’ll find popular articles that other people are saving. It’s still in early beta, so they’re looking for feedback about how it works and what types of articles should be included. That said, it works pretty well for finding popular articles when you’ve already read everything on your reading list. You can check out the beta for your device of choice at the link below.

Introducing the Pocket Beta Channel

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Schneier Speaking Schedule

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This Infographic Shows What 25 Grams of Protein Looks Like

·Most of us need at least 50 grams of protein a day, and significantly more if we’re working out a lot or trying to lose weight. This graphic shows what 25 grams of protein looks like in a variety of foods, so you can eat a few of these portions and know you’re on the right track.

Athletes need between 0.5 and 0.8 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day (so, 75-120 grams for a 150-pound person). Eating more than this is okay, as long as you’ve budgeted it into your calories for the day.

You can get a 25-gram helping of protein from a small portion of meat, four hard-boiled eggs, or a cup of lentils. Check out the graphic for more examples from the plant and animal kingdoms.

Infographic: What 25 Grams of Protein Looks Like | DailyBurn

This Infographic Shows What 25 Grams of Protein Looks Like

Vitals is a new blog from Lifehacker all about health and fitness. Follow us on Twitter here.

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Make Mac and Cheese Muffins for Easy Kid Lunches or Adult Snacks

Foods made in muffin pans make great bake-once-eat-all-week treats, from mini omelets to bacon cups. Add to your muffin pan repertoire: Macaroni and cheese lunch muffins.

Kids can help put the ingredients together for their school lunches or for yourself and friends. Whole Food Market’s version includes three different kinds of cheeses: Cheddar, goat, and Parmesan, but you can adjust the cheeses you use and make any kind of mac and cheese you prefer. Add a cup of acorn or butternut squash puree to make it a little more nutritious (or bits of bacon to make it even more decadent).

The best thing about these is their convenient grab-and-go form for taking on the run.

Macaroni and Three Cheese Lunch Muffins | Whole Foods

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What to Look for in a Polo Shirt, Based on Your Body Type

The polo shirt is a classic wardrobe piece, thanks to its combination of comfort and “smart casual” style. But no two polo shirts will fit or flatter the same. So Bloomberg looked at 200 polo shirts from 32 brands and how they fit on eight different-bodied men to help you find what would work best for you.

The body types are various combinations of tall, average, or short plus attributes like skinny, athletic, “Dad bod,” and more. For each body type, the site recommends four polo shirts (ranging in from $16 to a couple hundred dollars), but more importantly, you can hover over the shirt photos to see specific shirt feature recommendations.

It’s a little annoying to try to hover around to find the clothing tips, but worth it. Some sample tips: Jersey is a good material if you’re in shape, while a thicker weave is more flattering if you’re concerned about looking heavy. If you have muscular arms, look for sleeves that hit mid-bicep for “maximum muscle flattery.” If you plan to wear the polo untucked, ideally, the bottom of the shirt should hit just below your belt.

Although the shirt suggestions are geared towards men, many of the clothing tips could be universally applicable—depending on your body type, that is.

The Perfect Polo for Every Body Type | Bloomberg Business via The Wirecutter

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You Can Order and Pay for Drinks Ahead of Time With the Starbucks App

iOS: Starbucks has had a mobile app for a while, but it didn’t offer much more than keeping track of card balances and looking up stores. But its latest iOS version allows you to pay for and order coffee in advance, skipping the line at your local shop.

If you already have a Starbucks account and a linked card, setup is really easy. You just download the app, then login with your credentials. If you don’t use a Starbucks account, you’ll have to create one and link a new card, or, if you have a Starbucks gift card lying around, you can link that. From there, just tap on “Order.” You pick your store, then pick your drinks and food. You can customize your oder, of course, and then pay via the app. It then tells you when you can expect your drink to be ready. The app also remembers your frequently ordered drinks and customizations.

The function is still in beta, so it’s pretty basic, but it does the job. It’s a fun feature, and probably works best for customers in busy areas. Give it a try for yourself at the link below.

Starbucks | Apple Store

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Today's Best Deals: Running Shoes, Speakers, Screen Protectors, & More

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