cycling · fitness · Zwift

Sam’s eventful Sunday morning Pride ride on Zwift

It’s almost June and that means Pride on Zwift.  You can read about it here: All About Pride On with LGBTQ Zwifters 2026 on Zwift.

“After having proudly supported Zwift-owned Pride On campaigns every June in recent years, Pride On on Zwift is now fully owned and hosted by LGBTQ Zwifters. This is what to expect this June: entertaining group rides, exciting races, runs, a new Pride On kit, legacy unlocks and – most of all – a lot of fun on a daily basis!”

It’s also cold and rainy this weekend in Ontario, and I’m feeling pretty grumpy about not riding my bike.  Two weekends ago we went car camping with Mallory and Cheddar, and we couldn’t bring our bikes because Sarah’s car, the one with the bike rack hitch, was broken.  Last weekend, Sarah got to ride her bike at the farm, but I was sick. There was also a heat alert. And then this weekend, I’m better, and I have a bike ride marked on our weekend to-do list. It’s cold and miserable. Grrr.

So instead, I got up Sunday morning and joined the 730 am Pride Ride, before church.

Well, that was a very eventful ride. Wowsa.

Zwift has lots of gamified features and I feel like on that ride, I hit all of them. So many medals and prizes.

First, I won every sprint, segment, whatever because they are given out to men and women separately and I think I was the only woman in the ride, hence the fastest woman on all the segments.

Second, I met my weekly distance goal during the ride. That required a small animated digital celebration.

Fitness tracker interface displaying weekly training goals and scores, showing a training score of 11, a weekly goal of 50 km, and a current distance of 52 km along with a week streak of 16 days.

Third, I completed a new route and got a route badge for Scotland Smash.

Graphic displaying an achievement notification titled 'Scotland Smash' with a scenic background featuring mountains, a winding road, and a water body. Text reads 'Achievement Unlocked! Great work! Keep exploring!'

Fourth, for completing the Pride Ride I got new socks and new kit.

Image showcasing an unlocked item labeled 'Pride 2023 Socks' with a blue sock icon and the phrase 'Flow as you go'.

Graphic showing an unlocked item, featuring a blue shirt icon with the text 'LGBTQ Zwifters'.

Fifth, during the course of the ride I levelled up to Level 53. Cue more streamers and confetti. Read about Zwift levels here.

And here’s my playlist for the ride from Spotify.

Playlist cover for 'Pride Party 2026' featuring a rainbow gradient and the Spotify logo, listing popular songs like 'Hung Up' by Madonna, 'Can't Get You out of My Head' by Kylie Minogue, and 'Stateside' by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson.

I don’t think I’ve had a much fun on a Zwift ride since I got my flaming socks and my pocket Scottie.

fitness

What “Fits Into a Bandeau” Actually Means

A woman in a striking black bandeau dress with an open side, posing at an event. The background features a crowd of elegantly dressed attendees.

If your social media newsfeed is all fitness, all the time–welcome to my world–you’ve likely seen this post and many of the responses to it. Most of the women’s strength groups I follow have shared it, with rebuttals in favour of deadlifts and functional strength, and against aesthetic thinness goals.

And yes, I’m also on Team Strong over Team Skinny, though, truth be told, skinny was never on the menu for me. Strength is, and I delight in it, and in the way I feel when I’m strong, Muscles!

So regular readers know both that I’m a fan of muscles, and also that I pledged here on the blog not to skinny-shame. See (from many years ago) Fear of frail? In which Sam pledges not to body shame skinny runners…

Here’s some of my thoughts about the image and this issue.

🏋️ First,  lots of thin women might also care about beating their deadlift PR. There is no reason to think the woman in this picture doesn’t care about strength.

🏋️  Also not everyone who “fits” into a bandeau at 76, worked for it or had it as a goal. Some people just are thin,  just like others are fat.

🏋️ What do you mean “fits into a bandeau” anyway? Doesn’t that matter what size the bandeau is? We would all fit into bandeaus if they were large enough, right?

🏋️  Ah, what they really mean is “fits into a bandeau’ and looks a certain way. What way? Skinny.

🏋️ Skinny is having a moment right now. I didn’t blog about Demi Moore and the debate over her “toned” arms, but that certainly fits into the same context. See my post from a last spring, Thin being in again and the rise of authoritarianism.

🏋️ There is something to the idea that at 76, if we care about not breaking bones when we fall,  we ought to be strength training.  It’s not necessary to care about your weight-lifting PRs though, but it is necessary, if you care about retaining muscle,  to train for strength some of the time.

As usual, there’s a lot more nuance here than Team Skinny versus Team Strong. 

Where do you land? Does framing this as “different goals” let the original post off the hook too easily, or is that the right response?

Also, whatever your goal, remember it may not be something you have control over. See What does 74 look like? And how much choice do we have really?

sneakers beside arrows
Photo by Ann H on Pexels.com

fitness · season transitions

It’s almost June– time to get ready for sweating!

As I write this post on Sunday May 24, it’s 53F/11.5 C and raining in New England. This is not the May weather I grew up with, having been born and raised in South Carolina. However, after several decades of calling the Boston area home, I know that late spring doesn’t let go of its fickle grip on northern regions without some pushback. However, it does eventually become summer, and with summer comes… yes, sweating.

We at Fit is a Feminist Issue have written about sweating. Here are a few posts to check out:

Gonna make you sweat

Air conditioning and exercise: Sweaty Sam has some thoughts

Sweat first, glow later

A feminist guide to mid-life sweating

Catherine complains about sweating again, but this time there’s science involved

Basically, Samantha is accepting of sweating, Mia is a sort of a sweat advocate, and I sweat a lot and complain about it. Until now.

A local mental health clinic in my area put up this public service list of things that are good about sweaing. I took this in, and am working on being more sweat-positive this summer.

Sweat positivity list-- memorize this before the weather really turns hot and humid.
Sweat positivity list– memorize this before the weather really turns hot and humid.

Okay, I can see that sweat is another occasion for appreciating my body. And it signals that I’ve done something (mostly; although I can sweat copiously while not moving an inch). Yes, sweat is a sensational experience (in one sense of the word). And it keeps me cool without having to start panting all the time.

Fine, sweating is good for us. Happy now?

I will be once I find myself in proper sweating weather. Which I hope will be this week. Will post a perspiration update (or not) later…

Happy sweating 2026, everyone!

fitness · research · Research Roundup

Exercise Snacks: What the Latest Research Actually Shows

I love the term “exercise snacks.” It sounds fun, it’s easy to remember, and it reframes movement in a way that feels less intimidating than “you need to work out more.”

I mean on the one hand, there are gruelling ultramarathons of longer and longer distances, and on the other, there are snack-sized bites of exercise.

What’s not to love? Who doesn’t love a good snack?

(Actually the blog’s usual Sunday morning writer Catherine isn’t such a big fan.  She’s written that there is something about the term ‘exercise snack’ that rubs her the wrong way. )

Two new meta-analyses just came out with some solid findings on exercise snacks, and I followed up after they floated by repeatedly on my social media newsfeed, which is heavily fitness-oriented.

Here’s what I found, including what the research actually supports and what it doesn’t.

First, what counts as an exercise snack?

  • We’re talking genuinely short — 2–5 minutes of movement, repeated throughout the day
  • Activities using large muscle groups work best: stair climbing, brisk walking, bodyweight moves such as squats
  • The sweet spot in the research: moving for 2–5 minutes every 30–60 minutes of sitting
  • So basically: get up, move, sit back down, repeat

What the research supports

  • Exercise snacks improved cardiorespiratory fitness in physically inactive adults — and this finding had moderate-certainty evidence behind it, which in research terms is genuinely meaningful, not a hedge
  • Breaking up sitting improved blood flow and caused a small but real drop in systolic blood pressure — and these effects showed up acutely, meaning during a sitting session, not just over months of training
  • I find this part kind of amazing: your blood vessels respond to movement pretty quickly. You’re not just banking future health credits. Something is actually happening right now, while you climb those stairs.

What the research doesn’t support (yet)

  • There isn’t strong evidence yet that exercise snacks improve other cardiometabolic markers like blood sugar or cholesterol. The hype sometimes gets ahead of the data on this one
  • Muscular endurance benefits in older adults were limited in the evidence
  • These studies focused on physically inactive people — if you’re already active, the cardiorespiratory gains are less likely to be dramatic for you, though the sitting-break findings apply to pretty much everyone

One nuance I think is really worth flagging

  • Reducing total sedentary time and avoiding long uninterrupted sitting may matter independently of whether you’re doing structured exercise snacks
  • In other words: taking three short walks doesn’t entirely cancel out eight hours in a chair
  • The duration of uninterrupted sitting itself seems to affect vascular function — these are related but genuinely separate things
  • I know that’s not the most cheerful finding if, like me,  you have a desk job, but hey, sometimes the truth hurts

The bottom line

  • If you’re not currently exercising, exercise snacks are a genuinely evidence-supported place to start — especially for your cardiovascular fitness
  • If you sit for long stretches (hi, fellow desk workers), building in movement breaks every 30–60 minutes has real short-term benefits for your circulation, even if you’re otherwise active
  • Use the stairs when you can — it keeps showing up in the research as a particularly good option, and now I feel vindicated every time I take them, now that I can post knee surgeries!
  • And as always: I trust research that tells me what it doesn’t know, not just what it does

What I read: Effect of exercise snacks on fitness and cardiometabolic health in physically inactive individuals: systematic review and meta-analysis

Rodríguez MÁ, Quintana-Cepedal M, Cheval B, et al, Effect of exercise snacks on fitness and cardiometabolic health in physically inactive individuals: systematic review and meta-analysis, British Journal of Sports Medicine 2026;60:133-141.

“Moderate certainty of evidence indicated that exercise snacks improved cardiorespiratory fitness in physically inactive adults. However, evidence for benefits on muscular endurance in older adults was limited, and the current data do not support their effectiveness for improving other cardiometabolic health markers.”

🥞🧇🫐🍒🥐

What I read: Acute effects of “exercise snacks” during prolonged sitting on hemodynamics and peripheral vascular function: a three-level meta-analysis

Wang, H., Chang, Y., Wang, H. et al. Acute effects of “exercise snacks” during prolonged sitting on hemodynamics and peripheral vascular function: a three-level meta-analysis. Nutr Metab (Lond) (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12986-026-01120-5

“Breaking up prolonged sitting with short bouts of physical activity (“exercise snacks”) acutely improves flow-mediated dilation and peripheral blood flow, and is associated with a small but statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure. Mean arterial pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and peripheral arterial diameter did not show consistent significant changes. Findings for shear rate and heart rate were sensitive to bias correction and should therefore be interpreted cautiously. Activity breaks involving large muscle groups (e.g., stair climbing), performed for 2–5 min every 30–60 min, may be particularly beneficial for vascular protection. Where feasible, reducing total sedentary time and avoiding prolonged uninterrupted sitting may also be important.”

Cover of the journal 'Nutrition & Metabolism' by BMC, featuring a red background with geometric shapes in various shades.
Sat with Nat

Nat’s no good at limiting gardening time

I swear it was just a couple weeks ago I Adopted a new motto of “little and often”.

This week flipped that upside down and lit it on fire.

I started on the holiday Monday with a list of things that needed to be done before fence replacement work would start on Wednesday.

My youngest kid, Jean, came over. We dug up plants to move them out of danger. We moved and flipped the contents of two composters.

Michel cleaned out our garage and mowed.

Dividing and conquering we got lots done.

Tuesday was even more frenetic gardening.

Wednesday my contractor arrived and I puttered around outside and kept myself available.

Thursday I gardened at my place for three hours before flitting over to Heather’s for some visiting, snacking and, oh yes, two solid rounds of weeding. Then back home for more outdoor work.

Nat grimacing at the camera. Her face says “not so little but very often”

Friday, more work on my gardens in the morning and time with my friend Phyllis in the afternoon. I brought her scant amount of transplants and in return she filled my car with plants.

I got home, had a light dinner then quickly set to work planting all my new plants so that Saturday’s rain will help them adapt to their new home.

This has been a boon to my average step count. I’ve been averaging 9,500 a day over the past year. This week I averaged over 13,000.

A bar graph showing values for each day of the last week ranging from 8,000 to 18,000 steps on a given day.

Somewhere in there I had physiotherapy and a massage. I’m taking care not to aggravate my lower back and stick to daily physio exercises.

It is pretty typical that I put a lot of effort into my gardens in the spring. This year I feel like I’m making fast progress. I want my gardens to be lush and full of life without looking unkempt. It’s tricky because my garden is informal and uses a lot of native plants, folks sometimes think it’s merely overgrown.

Here’s to my efforts reducing a bit over the coming weeks as I focus more on writing and crafting.

cycling · fitness · fun · holiday fitness · leadership

Scouts and Sweeps in Group Fun

In the Azores, on the volcanic island of Faial, 5 friends and I rented ebikes for what we thought would be a scenic and leisurely ride through part of the countryside.

But after a few hours, following stops for an ocean swim and a lunch, the wet and foggy weather started closing in. We had few route options and limited ebike battery life. The guy at the rental shop had warned us: use the pedal assist too much and we’d be pedalling our heavy ebikes home entirely on our own steam.

The team posing: we had cycle, rain, and swim gear all ready for this trip that day!
The team posing: we had cycle, rain, and swim gear all ready for this trip that day!

I am, by instinct, a middle-of-the-pack person. I’ve never been confident or experienced enough to lead a physical group adventure, though I’m not usually slow enough to need too much bringing along. Most of my athletic life has involved participating but mostly being accountable just to myself.

But after two years of riding with my local cycling club, I’d learned enough about how group rides work to provide some safety and support strategies. One person sets the direction and pace. They carry the authority and stress of being first. Another person holds the rear and watches for gaps. They make sure no one gets left behind and communicates trouble forward.

I didn’t know those roles had names until I talked to a friend who, as an avid hiker, described similar roles for groups on multi-day hikes: scouts and sweeps.

I took a photo of the ride routes map at the store, and I’m glad I did because my Ride with GPS app wasn’t awesome.
I had just happened to take a photo of the ride routes map beforehand at the rental store, and I’m glad I did because my RidewithGPS app wasn’t awesome in the Faial backcountry.

I was so eager to ride that day, I ended up at the front. It turned out that my first day as a group cycling scout was somewhat stressful: the weather was not improving and the road on those volcanic hills seemed to head ever-upwards.

A break in the hills and the fog allowed me to snap a picture of the road and town ahead.
A break in the hills and the fog allowed me to snap a picture of the road and town ahead.

By the time we got to the exact opposite part of the island from where we started, we had to make a choice: follow the shorter mid-island route the bike store guy had suggested…or take the longer, traffic-busy road near the water. Given the hills we had already faced, we chose the latter.

There were other experienced riders in my group, so we rotated scouts and sweeps as we made our way towards Horta. By finally hitting some downhill and conserving our energy and our bikes’!), we ended up returning to the rental shop with time and battery to spare. Our apps told us we had made speeds of over 50km and reached an elevation of 330m, a gain of nearly 1000m overall. Not bad for recreational cyclists!

Lots a of elevation along with the weather made this recreational ride a good challenge, even on e-bikes.
Elevation and weather made this recreational ride a good challenge, even on e-bikes.
Route around Faial Island
Our final ride around the island and back to Horta….the long way.

Thanks to the Scouts and the Sweeps

Since our Faial ride, I’ve been thinking about the contributions that scout and sweep roles play in group activities. Not just the formal leaders who are trained and hired to lead groups on trails and tracks, but the regular folks who volunteer their expertise to help move groups of people along together. Scouts and sweeps aren’t just coaches on the sidelines. They are part of the group too, and their labour can be invisible until you’re the one doing it (or you are the one being helped).

Elan eating a sandwich
Me (Elan) on a scout break eating a Nutella sandwich.

This holiday group ride, which was longer and more difficult than anticipated, made me grateful to have had so many great scouts and sweeps in my life, taking care of me and the rest of the group when I didn’t even notice it. And this time out, I appreciated being able to serve my friend group in that same way.

athletes

Go Sports Ball!

I’m writing this on my way to the Ottawa-Montreal hockey game. It has been an exciting season and series, and I can only hope that there will be one final game after tonight.

The Ottawa Charge celebrates a win at centre ice. Note the painted logo. It’s a big deal – really!

I didn’t expect to become such a big fan. I had watched Hockey Night in Canada as a kid because that was the only option in my two-channel, one TV household. A girls team was formed when I was in high school, but I wasn’t allowed to join. Later, I became a hockey mom for my son’s sake; but that wasn’t about the brilliant hockey – sorry kiddo!

As a feminist and a Canadian, I celebrated the achievements of Canadian women at the Olympics and other international tournaments. I was proud to see the achievements of some of those stars after their playing days ended.

I should have cheered even more for the dedication of those women who played for years with minimal sponsorship and no salaries, and only the occasional tournament to hone their skills.

But suddenly, women’s professional sports are having a moment.

The atmosphere at games over the three years of the PWHL’s existence has been phenomenal. It’s almost as much fun to watch the excitement of young girls dreaming of playing professionally as it is to watch the pros themselves. Attendance is skyrocketing (I expect a new playoff attendance record will have been set by the time you read this).

When the season ends, there will be options for the first time in my life: I can go to professional soccer games here in Ottawa, or follow the new basketball team in Toronto. New mixed team configurations in both traditional and para-sports are drawing my attention to things like curling, speed skating and athletics too.

Of course the women earn a pittance compared to their male counterparts, but there have been some modest moves towards parity in certain sports, and there is definitely a sense that the PWHL Players Association will be negotiating aggressively for more lucrative contracts now that they are a proven commodity.

Maybe that’s part of the reason so many of us older women are such fervent fans. We fought so hard for equality in our careers that we want to do what we can to help advance the careers of others.

I know for a fact that many of us are there celebrating a future our fourteen-year-old selves couldn’t have imagined.

fitness

A gym as private club? No thank you.

Gyms require membership. There are rules. There are private golf clubs and such (not my cup of tea either). In this year 2026, when we are already being inundated with such gremlins as an unwelcome skinnification resurgence which creeps into otherwise healthy fitness spaces, I say no thank you to a new trend that seems to be peeking into my social feeds – boutique gyms that require you to “apply” to be accepted as a member.

Text instructions for membership application highlighting the steps to submit an application and book a private tour.
Snippet from a swanky new gym’s website that says “Your first step to Membership is submitting an application”

Many years ago, I found out that I prefer smaller gyms that provide group fitness classes where the coaching is more personal, careful, friendly, and very important for me, not snobby. I don’t want to feel like I have to prove myself while I’m doing push presses. I don’t want to wonder if I am “enough” while I stabilize my hips for step ups.

Clearly, I am not the target audience, but it really bothers me that the “wellness” industry is finding more ways to lose the point of fitness. In a world where people often do not feel confident when approaching fitness for the first or tenth time, we don’t need more barriers to inclusiveness. In a time when we all could use as much strength as possible to support us as we age, we do not need to feel like we need to fit a certain profile to be accepted into the weight room. There are so many ways the current “content” culture tries to make fitness into something new that needs special instructions and private doors to walk through – with the right expert influencer to help you through the door – when it is just not necessary. It infuriates me because fitness should be accessible and welcoming to all. I was reminded of (good) information from a coach I read the other day, that actually does make sense – keep to the basics – practice “push”, “pull”, “hinge”, “squat”, “press”, “lunge”. You don’t need to be accepted by application to a secret club to do these things. I can only imagine what other crap lurks behind that secret door.

What about you dear readers? How do you feel about applying to a private gym for membership?

Nicole happy that warm running weather returned in her city.

ADHD · advice · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Be kind to yourself about frustration, please.

Hey Team,

I am solidly in the messy, frustrating middle of so many projects right now – fitness and otherwise.

And it is taking a lot of effort to keep working away at stuff instead of ditching everything and starting over.

The middle of any project is rarely fun but it can be especially dreadful for those of us with ADHD. The novelty has worn off, there’s a lot of trial and error, and everything seems very, very dull.

My brain really wants me to

  • start some new stories instead of working on ones that need revising.
  • try some new exercises instead of sticking with my walking/yoga/mobility routine.
  • buy new containers to store stuff instead of decluttering (decluttering = so many choices to make -ugh!)
  • try some new drawing techniques instead of improving my current skills.
  • invent different workshops and projects instead of finishing and promoting the ones I am already working on. 
  •  (don’t even get me started on my volunteer projects!)

But despite the noise my brain is making about this, I know that starting something new – in any category- will only be temporarily fun.

Pretty soon that new, fun thing will be at the messy middle stage and I’ll be annoyed all over again.

And, even though my brain has doubts, I know that I will REALLY enjoy when I finally finish something, when I can feel a difference in my body or my mind, and when I can see some of the progress I have made.

The only way to get to that real enjoyment is to keep inching everything forward, to add fun and novelty where I can, and to keep reminding myself that it is extra fun to actually finish something – even if that time feels very far away at the moment.

So, Team, even allowing for ADHD-related intensity, I’m pretty sure that ‘Why is the middle so annoying?’ is a pretty common feeling.

In fact, being annoyed with any part of any process seems pretty common.

You might be annoyed with the details required to get started or the details required to finish up.

You might find the middle incredibly tedious.

The unknowns at the beginning might get on your nerves.

Figuring out the last few steps might be frustrating.

All of it makes sense and it is all perfectly ok.

Sure, your frustration might lead you to use a slightly different approach or it could mean you need a little break or need a little more support.

But none of those feelings of frustration automatically suggest that this project isn’t for you.*

And when they arise, you can remind yourself that they are part of your process and then find a way to forge ahead – perhaps slowly, perhaps after a break, perhaps with a little more fun added to the mix.

I’m not saying that it is easy to do that, just that it is possible. 

And your effort will be worth it. 

In fact, speaking of effort, here’s our gold star for our efforts today – no matter which part of the process we are in right now. 

Go Team Us!

PS – Be kind to yourself out there, pretty please.  

*Meanwhile, if every part of the project is frustrating every single time, then it may be time to consider whether the project is a good fit overall.

dogs · fitness · goals · walking · WOTY

Expanding to Elora and beyond

Earlier this year when I was playing with my word of the year, Expand, I pledged to get to know the Guelph area better. See Expanding my horizons and my #26for2026 list before the year even really begins

More specifically, I said I would, “Here are some of the specific things I’d like to add to my 26 in 2026 list: Purchase a conservation area pass and visit all 11 local conservation areas plus the Luther Marsh, one per month, and a provincial park pass with the goal of visiting 6 new ones this year.”

This weekend, most other family members are off outdoor adventuring. Mallory and Gwen are backcountry canoe camping in Algonquin, Sarah is off with family in Prince Edward County, Jeff and Susan are both in Nova Scotia, and Miles, mum, and I are home sick. Blerg.

But even when you’re sick, the dogs still need walking, so we ventured out in the car to check out a new-to-us conservation area, Elora Gorge. (That’s different from the Elora Quarry where Catherine and I went swimming a couple of years ago.)

We had so much fun that on Sunday we did it again. This time we went further afield to Shade’s Mills Conservation area in nearby Cambridge. It’s more of a lakefront beach for families, less hiking. Cheddar went in the water for a bit to beat the heat, It got up to 30 degrees and we got heat alerts on our phones. That felt extra strange after the midweek frost alert.

Both days we logged more than 10k steps and enjoyed our days, talking, and hanging with the dogs.

Goal: 11 conservation areas + Luther Marsh

So far we’ve visited Rockwood, Shade’s Mills, and the Elora Gorge, and I feel like I’m getting to know the area better.

  1. Elora Gorge Walk with Cheddar, Chase, and Miles

2. Shades’s Mills Conservation Area with Cheddar,  Chase and Miles

A person walking a dog on a dirt trail surrounded by tall trees in a forest.