The Outdoor Edit Newsletter—What's New This Week
Hey everyone! I wanted to restart The Outdoor Edit Newsletter, so I decided this was a great way to do it—showcasing a few pieces of gear, articles, books, movies, whatever that I've found throughout the week. I hope you enjoy it... And I'd love to hear what you think!
XO, Molly
1 ULTRA-RUNNING
I’m gearing up to do one of the crazier things I’ve done in my life as an endurance athlete—attempting to set a Fastest Known (Female) Time on the 50-mile La Cloche Trail in Killarney Provincial Park in a couple weeks (assuming the weather cooperates). I’m super stoked on my gear for it, including my new kicks from On Running, the Cloudventure Peaks. They look bonkers, but they're super comfy. The whole ultra-run thing is kind of new for me, and so is doing this backcountry type stuff, but that makes it even more exciting, to be honest. I feel like this is one thing that's been missing from my athletic/outdoor adventure-y 'stable' of activities: The ability and interest in more backcountry off-the-grid adventures. So, I'm trying it in the only way I know how... By doing something a little ridiculous. So stay tuned for how this plays out.
(It's not that crazy, though: at least I've done this trail once before! We speed-hiked this trail a few months ago and of course I wrote all about it here back in May!)
2 GIRLS ON BIKES
I have my first feature article in this month’s Canadian Cycling Magazine all about what’s being done — and how we can do more — to get girls into cycling. Obviously, it’s a topic near and dear to my heart! (You can get the digital edition on iTunes or subscribe via Canadian Cycling’s website, or do me a HUGE favor and jump on Twitter and let them know how psyched you are that they’re giving girls on bikes a huge amount of space in the magazine. The editor there is fantastic and doing a great job!)
3 COZY BEANIES
Speaking of Shred Girls, now that it’s getting brisk again, I’m going to make a pitch here that everyone should be rocking a Shred Girls beanie… and you can get 15% off using code SHREDGIRLS through the end of September!
Get your beanie (or other Shred Girls swag!) here.
4 CLOTHING + GEAR SWAPS!
OK, this one isn’t strictly athletic… but it is a way to add a ton of clothing + gear to your setup without spending any $$! A couple of weeks ago, a few of my girlfriends and I did a girl’s night + clothing swap. Wine (and chips and dip) was consumed, and we had a blast trying on each other’s old stuff, and we all walked away with some new pieces and said goodbye to stuff that didn’t work for us anymore. (Somehow, I seem to shop for my friend Tori, not myself, since all of my stuff looked a million times better on her!) With winter clothing about to come out of the closet, I really recommend doing this. It’s so much fun and a great way to clean your closet and refresh your wardrobe for $0. (It’s also great for a group of athletically inclined friends—we traded A TON of bike gear, jerseys, shorts, and other athletic clothing as well as regular clothes. It was an awesome way to refresh my running wardrobe!)
A few tips:
Come in with a plan—know how you want the swap to work. We did it super casual with the understanding of ‘don’t be a dick.’ No one hogged all the ‘good’ stuff and it was super amiable. I know that the more people you add to this, though, the harder it can be to keep $hit civil. So know how you’re going to run it—maybe everyone takes turns picking one thing at a time.
Have a good full-length mirror somewhere accessible
Make it fun with food/drinks—not all business!
Have everyone lay out their clothing, but walk away. Sometimes, it feels a little weird to be rummaging through a friend’s things when they’re standing right there.
Have a policy that it’s OK to not take something. I think that was what made ours a success: no hard feelings if something wasn’t right for another person.
Allow more than just clothing: I don’t wear the same size as a lot of my friends, so we also all brought athletic gear, shoes, jewelry, and even some small household stuff, like throw pillows that I loved but that don’t match our couch anymore. That way, even if sizing is an issue, people can find some stuff they like.
Don’t forget that you can get stuff tailored, even athletic clothing. I’ve had vests and jackets taken in, bib straps taken up, etc. — so don’t freak if you can’t find exactly the right fit, but you love the style of something!
Plan to give extras to charity: At the end, pack up the extra stuff and send it somewhere—don’t take it back! (Otherwise, you’ll never get a clean closet…)
5 IMMUNE SYSTEM SUPPORT
After the last two weeks of super hectic travel right as fall weather started to set in, I’m trying really hard to avoid the tickle that seems to be lurking in the back of my throat. That means drinking a lot of tea, and adding a couple things to my daily routine. I swapped out one bottle of water that I sip in the morning for nuun’s new Immunity Support tablets, which have turmeric, echinacea, zinc, vitamin C plus electrolytes, and taste WAAAY better than Airborne, which I sort of hate. I also started using Thieves Essential Oil — basically a combination of Cinnamon, Clove, Eucalyptus, Lemon and Rosemary essential oils. My sort-of-hippie-ish cousin recommended this a couple years ago and I’ll try anything to avoid a cold. She actually just uses it in a dropper and does two drops down her throat, and I’ve done the same, but don’t recommend that as a rule, especially not for sensitive people! So I still do that, but I also have been using my oil diffuser with it, which has the added bonus of making the house smell amazing and fall-like. Double win.
Get nuun Immunity Support here
Get Thieves Oil here (and a diffuser!)
6 CX SEASON IS HERE
OK, one final thing: It’s CX season (as in, yay, let’s do fall $hit!) and if your remounts and dismounts need a tiny bit (or, OK, a lot!) of work, I’m a huge fan of this new course that the Ryan Leech Connection is offering (done by my amazing husband + fabulous skills coach Peter Glassford). For $20, you get a video series of tutorials about skills, drills and techniques that will have you getting on and off your bike SO much better. (I actually tried the whole course and improved, and I’ve been riding and racing for a decade.) So if you feel so inclined, check it out here!
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