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Transitioning from a traditional office or job site to your living room takes time to perfect. Your home office is rife with distractions and booby traps: TV, pets, kids, and, yes, that 55-ounce container of peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets. I started working from home about six months ago and there are still some things I find quite difficult. If you’ve recently found yourself in a remote working situation, you may be having a hard time, too. So let’s learn from the experts: some of Popular Science and Popular Photography’s most experienced work-from-homers. Set reasonable expectations When you no longer have to leave home for work, it can be tempting to fantasize about all the extra time you’ll have to cross things off your personal to-do list: cleaning, learning to cook, and reading shelves of books, to name a few. But it’s important to set realistic expectations about non-work activities, says PopSci’s tech editor, Stan Horaczek. “I think a lot of people are finding out they really don’t have that time, and it’s really disappointing and upsetting,” says Horaczeck, who has worked from home since 2008. You may also feel guilty about not having to leave the relative comforts of your…

Runners at every level have one thing in common – malfunction. Here's how to fix your broken body. Running gets a bad rap for causing injuries, but the truth is that a lot of those injuries are down to people doing running wrong, rather than the sport being particularly risky. By “doing running wrong” we mean not obeying two golden rules: increase the amount and intensity of running you do slowly, and take your rest days seriously. Generally it’s wise to stick to a distance increase of 10% more than your previous week’s total. This might feel like painfully slow progress when you’re new to the sport, but going from no running at all to logging 50km weeks is a recipe for injury disaster. You should also be wary about suddenly adding in a lot of speed work, because short fast intervals will put extra pressure on your body that it might not be used to. Stick to one speed session a week at first, and give your body time to recover afterwards. Rest days are to be savoured – put your feet up as much as possible to let your body adapt to your training and recover, rather than…

Ease your aching muscles with this accessible flow. Most runners finish a training session knowing that doing some kind of stretching or recovery work is a wise move, but knowing something and actually doing it are very different things. It’s hard to motivate yourself to do anything other than slump on the sofa when you get home, especially after a long training run. You can make it easier on yourself in a couple of ways. First, don’t try and do too much – a solid five to 15 minutes of stretching will work wonders, you don’t have to spend ages on your immediate recovery. Second, it doesn’t even have to be immediate. Have a shower and some food and generally sort yourself out. Then, before you completely crash out, try this five-move yoga sequence created and explained by Gemma Soul, head of yoga at Psycle London. “Yoga is an excellent form of exercise for recovery after long runs as even a small amount of movement can go a long way towards getting you to your next starting line, or regaining that bounce in your step,” says Soul. Make sure you do all stretches on both sides, and try to stay…

You probably haven’t considered making your own hand sanitizer. Stores sell it for cheap, in a variety of scents and styles, and it’s basically as good as it can be. But if you’ve been to a pharmacy in the midst of a viral outbreak like the one currently gripping the nation, you’ve likely noticed that shelves empty as anxiety levels rise. Right now in New York City, for example, it’s not easy to get any disinfectant product (wipes, spray, etc.), and the fish bowls full of hand sanitizer bottles you would normally find at the checkout counter aren’t even there anymore. So, if that old bottle of hand sanitizer you’ve been carrying around is half-empty, don’t panic. You can make your own sanitizing gel with supplies you can find at a drugstore or may already have at home. There are two main formulas out there: one, recommended by the World Health Organization, is closer to liquid than gel and is harder on your hands, while the other will be gentler on your skin and closely resembles the feel of store-bought hand sanitizer. Which one you make depends on your personal preference. But before you start, it’s crucial that you understand…

As the temperatures begin to plummet here in the Northeast so too does the desire to head out for a run. It’s cold. It’s dark. Your bed is warm. Thoughts of hopping on the treadmill float through your mind, "The treadmill will be fine today" you think.  Or perhaps you even go so far as, “Maybe I’ll just take the winter off.” However rational these thoughts may seem in the moment, it's possible to keep running through the cold and snow—especially with pro advice about how to make it less numbing and more appealing. Native Vermonter and ultra-runner Aliza Lapierre runs between six and 30 miles a day, six days a week, even when the temps hover around zero. Sponsored by Salomon, Drymax, and Petzl, she has run more than 50 ultras, with seven of those coming in the past year alone. A hockey player turned runner, Lapierre is no stranger to the cold. "Running in the winter is more relaxing for me," said Lapierre. "It’s a fresh start with the first couple of snows. My mentality shifts from specific workouts to logging miles with friends and exploring new places.” Aliza Lapierre enjoying her winter runs up Camel's Hump. Courtesy…

Utah’s Alta Ski Area near Salt Lake City is famous for some of the deepest powder snow and challenging terrain in the west. Many of the world’s best skiers cut their teeth at Alta, and come back to get their kicks on this classic mountain. It is the second oldest lift-served ski area in the west, and is still old school in many ways. Most famously (or notoriously) as the ski area that does not allow snowboards, Alta’s powder privilege is exclusive to skiers. Another throwback is that Alta does not differentiate between black diamond and double black, so the trail map alone won’t reveal the steepest of the steep, and with 35 percent of the resort’s nearly 120 named runs marked as expert, you could chase steeps all day without finding the best. You have to know where to go. Some self-proclaimed shredders will rag on Alta for being "flat," but these are the loafers who don’t know the mountain well enough, or can’t look beyond the chairlift to get the real goods. Alta actually has some of the steepest in-bounds runs in America, though it’s true that side-stepping and even booting are sometimes required to get to them….

From on-site childcare to indoor water parks, these winter destinations offer plenty of perks for the kids and you. Hold on to your snow hats. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, “Winter is back” for 2017, with the white stuff predicted to pile up higher than mashed potatoes on a holiday buffet across New England, the Northeast and the Western States. Luckily for working moms, there are family-friendly ski and snow resorts across North America that embrace kids as well as the snow. So put on your hats and gloves and get ready to hop onto the bunny trails with your young skiers at these top family winter resorts. You'll find fun extras like fireworks, water parks and sleigh rides—something for every interest and budget. Ski Resorts in the East Vermont Smuggler’s Notch To prove its self-proclaimed title of “America’s Family Resort,” Smuggs amps up the parents-and-kids quotient with a ski school named best in the East by Ski Magazine and programs for kids as young as 2½, a high-tech GPS tracking system that keeps track of the trails kids have run, and even babysitting for tots and toddlers. Uniquely, they also have adaptive snow programs so that kids and adults…

“Getting into” backcountry skiing is intimidating, and perhaps that’s a good thing. It’s dangerous, and untrained newbies wandering out into the wilds can put everyone in the backcountry at risk. Still, the barrier to entry is high even for those willing to invest time and money into the necessary gear and training. Then they still have to learn where to even go, how to get there, and how long it’ll take. In my earlier skiing years, I had friends who occasionally tolerated me tagging along. I was painfully, awkwardly aware of being the liability in the group. With a borrowed beacon, hand-me-down pack, and odd-sized skins, I didn’t get invited on many outings. I got so frustrated at constantly being ditched that one day I climbed Solitude’s Fantasy Ridge by myself. I’d done it before; my plan was to drop back down the inbounds chutes on the avalanche-controlled side of the ridgeline. But I met a guy named Chad at the top. He was surprised to see a 22-year-old girl alone at the summit. We started chatting and when he learned I’d been ditched by my posse so they could tour without me, he charitably offered to take me into…

Spend any time in Jackson Hole, and you'll quickly learn that the charming western town is full of people whose lives were changed by the pull of this legendary locale, those who migrated from all corners of the country to get closer to its surrounding mountains and wide-open landscapes. That's because in the winter Jackson Hole (the name for the valley between the Teton Mountains and the Snake River, which includes the town of Jackson and its namesake resort) is a bona fide skiers’ paradise, full of gorgeous scenery, long runs, and dry, fluffy powder. And that’s just on the slopes. The rugged western vibe, paired with a food scene that's surprisingly sophisticated for a mountain town and friendly locals, make Jackson well worth visiting, even sans snow (though winter sports enthusiasts shouldn't miss a trip during the cold-weather months). Here, an insider's guide on how to make the most of a winter weekend in Jackson Hole. Where to Ski Caution: skiing at Jackson Hole might give you a case of the powder giggles. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort For many visitors to Jackson,  Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), one of the best ski resorts in the country, if not the world, is the main event. And the…

Every resort has at least one: that inbounds run or area that skiers and snowboarders talk about in lift lines and over lunch. The one whose pitch, steeps, chutes, trees, or moguls cause heart rates to rise and knees to buckle. It's the part of the hill where you're a little more likely to rack up an involuntary ride in the ski patrol sled. Indeed, some inbounds runs can still give even the most most skilled skier or rider a serious shot of adrenaline—and give intermediate types a worthy goal to work up to. And with that, we’ve put together a list of the scariest inbounds runs in the Wasatch: a tested compilation of inbounds descents (plus one hike) that, if you haven't yet tackled, definitely deserve a spot on your Utah skiing bucket list. Take a deep breath, drop in, and get ready to earn your bragging rights. 1. Challenger Run at Solitude Resort The Challenger run at Solitude lives up to its name. vxla A groomer on the unobtrusive front side of Solitude’s mountain (alongside many of the beginner-oriented greens and blues), Challenger lives up to its name. It’s a sudden super-vertical dropoff from a shoulder ridge, slightly north-facing so always shady and often a…