Recent quotes:

The air has come out of the virtual meeting bubble

Another star that burned brightly during the pandemic and dimmed just as quickly is virtual event software.

The State of the Industry: 2022 RaceTrends Report is Here! – RunSignup Blog

Largest races were the hardest hit, with races of more than 5,000 participants averaging 19% fewer participants than in 2019 while races with fewer than 500 participants actually grew 3.4% […]20% of 2019 events did not take place in 2022, including 14% that did not take place in either 2021 or 2022 […]Just 14% of participants from 2021 repeated the same event in 2022 (down from 19% in 2018)

Steve Schallenkamp: Race entries down sharply from pre-pandemic levels – Daily Freeman

Runsignup, the largest race registration company in the United States, used data from 68,000 races to highlight running trends in 2022. Its data shows that race entries were down anywhere from 10% to 24% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019. The data also highlighted that there are now more running events than previously, but the average attendance or size of races in 2022 was smaller than in 2019.

Is Zwift racing 'cleaner' than pro road racing? Dissecting the furore around cheating in virtual cycling | road.cc

Is it fair and justified? Not exactly, according to Snook, talking about the recently banned Eddy Hoole who was caught hacking data during a UCI eSports World Championships qualifier, putting in a seemingly other-worldly peformance last month: "He would have eventually been caught, but this instance was so far in the extreme that the question wasn’t if he was cheating," says Snook.  "All we needed to do at that point was figure out how."  The incident and its repercussions were covered extensively in cycling media, as is the case whenever there's virtual cycling fruit to pick. DC Rainmaker was the first to press with a detailed account (link is external) and hack theory earlier in December, deftly outlining the banned rider's offence. It attributed it to a well-known hack vector revealed in 2019, stating: "Now, not only are people using it, but someone that had won an automatic ticket to the UCI World Championships used it."

Game on: Game-based program boosts physical activity among diabetes patients -- ScienceDaily

When each group's performance was analyzed, the researchers saw that the step counts for those who participated in the competitive and support arms of gamification significantly increased their step counts over the year they participated. The support group increased their steps by an average of 503 steps more than the non-gamified control group; the competition participants increased by an average of 606 steps. The collaboration participants increased their steps by 280 compared to the control group, but that was not enough to be considered a significant finding.

Salad or cheeseburger? Your co-workers shape your food choices -- ScienceDaily

When co-workers are eating together, individuals are more likely to select foods that are as healthy -- or unhealthy -- as the food selections on their fellow employees' trays. "We found that individuals tend to mirror the food choices of others in their social circles, which may explain one way obesity spreads through social networks," says Douglas Levy, PhD, an investigator at the Mongan Institute Health Policy Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and first author of new research published in Nature Human Behaviour. Levy and his co-investigators discovered that individuals' eating patterns can be shaped even by casual acquaintances, evidence that corroborates several multi-decade observational studies showing the influence of people's social ties on weight gain, alcohol consumption and eating behavior.

Videoconferences more exhausting when participants don't feel group belonging: Being on video didn't impact feelings of fatigue, study finds -- ScienceDaily

"We expected that aspects of being on video would be related to fatigue, such as watching everyone's faces closely on a screen or even watching yourself, but we didn't find this to be true in our study. Longer meetings also didn't impact fatigue," Bennett said. "However, the importance of feeling a sense of belonging or connection with the group really minimized fatigue after a videoconference."

How to Start Liking Running - The New York Times

Finding a chill community like Coffey’s “run crew” near you can be a godsend. They’ll hold you accountable without getting competitive. And for some, having that group to run with in person is motivating simply because it’s social. But if you are like me, and running with other humans creates more pressure to perform, join up virtually. Lurk in an online running group to see if you become inspired reading about others’ experiences. Ms. Birney, who is the chief executive of Cultivate Health Coaching, said people have been in her Facebook group for two years before actually deciding to start running.

Effectiveness of fitness-boosting strategies may be linked to personality traits: Approach could help identify subgroups likely to benefit from competitive, collaborative or supportive activities -- ScienceDaily

By reanalyzing the trial data, the researchers found that the competition-based strategy was effective in boosting physical activity for extroverted and motivated participants, but these participants were less likely to stay active after the program ended. Competition-, collaboration-, and social support-based strategies were all effective for less active and less social participants, who all stayed active afterwards. None of the strategies were effective for less motivated and at-risk participants.

Social connection boosts fitness app appeal -- ScienceDaily

This study shows that the social components of physical activity apps are particularly beneficial in promoting engagement in physical activity due to their capacity to facilitate social support, and positively influence motivation and beliefs in one's ability to perform physical activity.

From Laura Baldwin - O’Reilly Media

Today, we’re sharing the news that we’ve made the very difficult decision to cancel all future O’Reilly in-person conferences and close down this portion of our business. Without understanding when this global health emergency may come to an end, we can’t plan for or execute on a business that will be forever changed as a result of this crisis. With large technology vendors moving their events completely on-line, we believe the stage is set for a new normal moving forward when it comes to in-person events.

Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness

Social network analysis has been used for health-related problems including mental health [4, 6], physical well-beings [1, 2], and illness [8, 27]. Most of the work has largely focused on social networks as a diffusion mechanism of health [1–5] or emotions [6–9]. This paper provides a novel perspective on the value of social network structure in not only understanding our health behavior but also in predicting the wellness states, above and beyond what the data from wearables or demographic tells us. Clearly, social networks are an important piece of the puzzle about our health and wellness. We showed that by including features derived from social networks, accuracy increases significantly and at times using only social network features adds more predictability. Specifically, we find that happiness and positive attitude have the most significant jump when using social network structure features in addition to health behavior and demographic data. This clearly demonstrates that it is the tight coupling of an ego’s social and health behavior that result in improved understanding and predictability of the ego’s wellness state.

Want to quit smoking? Partner up: Couples who attempt to stop smoking together have a sixfold chance of success -- ScienceDaily

At the end of the programme, 64% of patients and 75% of partners were abstinent -- compared to none and 55% at the start, respectively. The odds of quitting smoking at 16 weeks were significantly higher (5.83-fold) in couples who tried to quit together compared to patients who attempted it alone. "Previous research has shown that ex-smokers can also positively influence their spouse's attempts to quit, but in this study the effect was not statistically significant," said Ms Lampridou. "As for non-smoking partners, there is a strong risk that they will adopt their spouse's habit." Ms Lampridou noted that research is needed to confirm the findings in smokers who are otherwise healthy.

The Races Are Virtual but the Running Is Real - The New York Times

The New York Road Runners’ virtual races are free, unless runners are using them as a way to get into a sellout race. In 2018, the organization opened 500 spots for runners to run a virtual marathon, which, if they completed it, would get them a race medal and guaranteed entry into the New York City Marathon this year (it cost $150, compared to $295 to run in the actual marathon; they also got a finisher medal but no finisher shirt). For guaranteed entry into the 2020 Brooklyn Half Marathon, runners can sign up for and complete each of six virtual races, at $20 per race. They also get access to a virtual trainer as part of their fee.

Effective self-control strategies involve much more than willpower -- ScienceDaily

They observe that in some cases the best self-control strategy involves us changing the situation to create incentives or obstacles that help us exercise self-control, such as using apps that restrict our phone usage or keeping junk food out of the house. In other cases it's more effective to change how we think about the situation -- for example, by making an if-then plan to anticipate how we'll deal with treats in the office -- so that exercising self-control becomes more appealing or easier to accomplish. Other strategies work better when someone else implements them for us. For example, our electricity company might use social norms to prompt a change in our thinking, showing us how our energy usage compares with that of our neighbors. And policymakers often use situational constraints to prompt behavior focused on the long-term. Examples range from incentives (e.g., tax rebates for eco-friendly building materials) to penalties (e.g., raising taxes on cigarettes and alcohol). Employers are increasingly using another type of situational constraint, defaults, to encourage employees to save for retirement; many are requiring people to opt out of an employer-provided retirement plan if they don't want to participate.

Does the 'buddy system' approach to weight loss work? A new research study says, yes, but it's not that simple -- ScienceDaily

The researchers found that the showcasing of average weight loss among a peer group can have a negative effect on an individual participant's actual weight loss. More specifically, when an individual compares himself or herself to their peer group, it can be discouraging. On the other hand, when the results of top performers in the weight loss program are showcased, it can have an encouraging effect on other participants' individual weight loss. Individuals tend to be more inspired by those who have achieved the most significant results.

Subtle visual cues nudge users to reveal more in online forum -- ScienceDaily

The researchers used a dynamic graphic representation of people standing in a crowd to convey crowd size. The size of the crowd suggested by the icon changed randomly for participants so that they were not merely jumping on the bandwagon of a large crowd, according to the researchers. The connectivity icon showed a network map with one circle labeled "You" to suggest the participant's place in the network. This icon also changed randomly. The researchers, who report their findings today (November 6) at the Association for Computing Machinery's annual Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing in Jersey City, NJ, tested the icons on a sexual health forum because while people tend to be reluctant to share information about their sexual behavior, disclosure is important to help them access health information, as well as help them make better health decisions. "In a marginalized -- or stigmatized -- group, it's often hard to get people to talk or to reveal personal information. However, we found that once the users got the sense that they were in the same boat as others, or that they were connected to others in the same network, they were more willing to disclose their private information and revisit the forum." said Andrew Gambino, doctoral student of mass communication, Penn State. "What we've found is a very basic design solution to increase participation in this group. This might be a way for small groups, particularly ones that deal with stigmatized or marginalized topics, to survive."

Virtual runs from Acadia to Katahdin mark amazing journeys

Like so many of the participants in the Cadillac to Katahdin Virtual Run and other virtual runs, Popper has found meaning and camaraderie in logging walking, running or hiking miles. Popper, who goes by the virtual race name @jennsjourney, has appreciated comments on the race message board from fellow virtual racers, especially @Keefa and @FL2ME. “I don’t know who Keefa is, or Flamethrower,” Popper said, but the support has meant a lot as she’s on her trek to raise funds for the two nonprofits that have meant a lot to her and her husband, the East Coast Greenway Alliance and FreeWalkers.

Seniors stick to fitness routines when they work out together -- ScienceDaily

Over the 24-week period, participants who worked out with people their own age attended an average of 9.5 more classes than counterparts in the mixed-age group. Participants in the mixed-age group averaged 24.3 classes. Participants in the same-age, mixed-gender group averaged 33.8 classes, and participants in the same-age, same-gender group averaged 30.7 classes.

How Harry Potter virtual running groups helped me conquer my depression

I dread solo runs the way the average person hates tax time. The solitary nature of the run forces me to turn inward, and as a goal-oriented overachiever with a fear of failure, I hate the introspection that these runs cultivate. The thought of spending hours wrestling with my body, willing it to keep going, with no distractions and no community support makes me question my sanity. I've tried all of the recommended tips and mental tricks, as well as fitness gadgets and apps to make solo running for long distances better. Only one thing has done the trick: virtual runs.

Exercise contagion in a global social network : Nature Communications

Less active runners influence more active runners, but not the reverse. Both men and women influence men, while only women influence other women.

We're motivated to stay ahead more than to catch up? (Relates to fear of losing?)

Peer effects in running are also heterogeneous across relationship types. For example, runners are more influenced by peers whose performance is slightly worse, but not far worse, than their own as well as by those who perform slightly better, but not far better, than they do (Fig. 2a). Moreover, less active runners influence more active runners more than more active runners influence less active runners (Fig. 2b). These results are corroborated by heterogeneity across consistent and inconsistent runners. Inconsistent runners influence consistent runners more than consistent runners influence inconsistent runners (Fig. 2c). Social comparisons may provide an explanation for these results. Festinger’s social comparison theory proposes that we self-evaluate by comparing ourselves to others27. But, in the context of exercise, a debate exists about whether we make upward comparisons to those performing better than ourselves28 or downward comparisons to those performing worse than ourselves29. Comparisons to those ahead of us may motivate our own self-improvement, while comparisons to those behind us may create ‘competitive behaviour to protect one’s superiority’ (27, p. 126). Our findings are consistent with both arguments, but the effects are much larger for downward comparisons than for upward comparisons.

Exercise contagion in a global social network : 10% boost

strong contagion effects: on the same day, on average, an additional kilometre run by friends influences ego to run an additional 3/10th of a kilometre (Fig. 1a); an additional kilometre per minute run by friends influences ego to run an additional 3/10th of a kilometre per minute faster (Fig. 1b); an additional 10 min run by friends influences ego to run 3 min longer (Fig. 1c); and an additional 10 calories burned by friends influences ego to burn three and a half additional calories (Fig. 1d). This peer influence diminishes over time, with friends’ running today influencing ego less tomorrow and the day after for every measure.

Hogwarts Running Club launches world's biggest virtual race

“Games are not just a source of entertainment,” writes Jane McGonigal, who analyzed the power of game-power and virtual communities in her book Super Better. “They are a model for how to become the best version of ourselves.”

FitBit's new sleep tracker is pretty darn cool

imagine what we’ll learn as warehouses worth of enhanced sleep data like get integrated into drug trials, therapy, physical exams, coaching, research and even education.

The Liaison Amani 2017 Virtual Marathon - Update March -

I therefore saw this challenge as a reason to change, I would be making myself accountable, raise awareness of the charity and have some fun banter with colleagues along the way. It has in all honesty completely changed my lifestyle. I now absolutely love walking and while I have had to build up my fitness, I reached a milestone on Sunday and achieved a 25km walk. I am now walking each KM 2-3 minutes quicker than when I started. Alongside the fitness and 21lb weight loss, the mental changes have been the biggest and most surprising change. It keeps me alert, helps clears= my mind after stressful or busy days and allows me to time to think.  Who knows, one day I might break into jog!