It’s winter where I live. Cold. Damp. Icy. Earlier this week, we got a dump of snow.
How much snow? Quite a bit. The picture below shows my backyard. The snow-covered object is a claw-foot tub that serves as a planter. It’s about three and a half feet high. There’s a lot of snow.
Luckily, the street has been cleared. It’s very tempting to stay inside but with clean pavement, sturdy boots, and little wind, a short and brisk walk is enough to get the cobwebs out. Besides, having a good stomp in the winter will also do wonders for your mental health. Check out this post and learn about the eagle going on a walk!
Fitness doesn’t have to be complicated, and it should be fun. Even shovelling works! Check out Christine’s post on shovelling as fitness here.
I love a good group post. Last month I did a three part series called “Thirsty Thursday”. It got a lot of traction, especially from friends and colleagues, people want to talk about other options than drinking alcohol while out on the town or celebrating at home. Here’s our favourites.
Catherine
Honestly, right now I’m treating myself to the occasional fresh-squeezed orange or grapefruit juice. Several evenings this week I poured myself a small glass half-full of OJ, and drank it with great pleasure. The tart citrus, the texture of pulp, even the bright orangey-yellow color are sensory delights during the dark cold winter. It’s intense, so it’s perfect for sipping. I am squeezing grapefruits myself for the next round of after-dinner citrus concoctions. Yes, you add grenadine for color/flavor-sweetness, and/or seltzer or tonic for fizz, but at the moment I’m into the pure power of citrus.
Sam
I’m a big fan of Geez Louise. The company is Canadian and women-owned. The drink is prebiotic sparkling water with 5g of plant-based fiber, zero sugar, and no sweeteners. I like Melon Mint best, Lemon Lavender second best, and Grapefruit Basil third.
There’s a lot I can’t drink now, coffee after noon, very carbonated beverages any time. Luckily I’m happy with plain water most of the time. Also, mint tea. But the Jeez Louises taste good and don’t upset my stomach so they’re a win.
A picture of four cans of Geez Louise Melon Mint.
Elan
I haven’t tried this yet but the Juicer at Pearl Morrisette, One of only a few two Michelin star restaurants in Ontario, creates a tisane with herbs infused in water, then mixes with a fresh pressed juice. The result is depth and complexity without too much sweetness. Try infusions with basil, nettle, sea buckthorn, oregano, or lavender!
Martha
The Carbon Bar has a great mocktail menu. My favourite mocktail is any variation of a Moscow mule. I love the zip the non alcoholic ginger beer gives to fruit syrups!
It’s in Toronto. It’s also quiet, conducive to conversation and the meal we had there a few years ago was lovely.
Diane
I love my sparkling water with a splash of flavouring. I use a SodaStream because it creates less waste, and preferred flavours are lemon or some sort of shrub (an old syrup recipe that I make using fruit, vinegar and sugar). You can find the recipe here:https://siglindesarts.wordpress.com/2024/01/01/rhubarb-shrub/
A funnel shaped crystal glass containing a drink the colour of ginger Allie on a white lace tablecloth.
Tracy
Day to day I like flavoured sparkling water. But my favourite two mocktails are both at Planta: the cucumber mule and the cosmic colada. So good.
Nicole
I have had some good shrubs and similar in restaurants, but really, I’m happy with good coffee – or – a Diet Coke!
Cate
I like RISE hibiscus kombucha for a sparkling middle of the day treat.
Nat
There are so many great mocktails. My favourites are Edna’s mojito. It’s crisp and served over a glass full of ice so the tall can goes far.
Clever G&T is available at grocery stores in Ontario and is a modest price point.
Chill Street Gin Fizz from Nova Scotia is tangy and blueberry flavored.
As a side note, I loved reading everyone’s go to drinks. I remember the first fresh squeezed orange juice I ever had. It was in Florida and it tasted like sunshine.
Often I’m looking for complexity or intensity of flavour, a different kind of stimulation than water, tea or coffee.
I hope you found inspiration to try something new!
Friend of the blog Alex Boross-Harmer was on CP24 on Wednesday morning doing pushups and promoting The Push Up Challenge, an initiative to do 2000 pushups (or alternative movements) between February 5 and 28, to raise money and awareness for mental health.
The mental health of Canadians is worse than before the pandemic, and stats show that only one in three Canadians who need mental health care can receive it. The pushup challenge is raising money for the Canadian Mental Health Association, but is also reminding people that movement, community, fun and purpose are key factors in reducing stress and improving mental health.
Blogger Nicole and I have both signed up for the challenge. Well, Nicole is organized and trained for it. I signed up when Alex reminded us in a group chat on Monday that they were going to be on TV doing pushups.
Here’s Nicole’s description of her intentions and plan:
A gym acquaintance put out a call to join their team for this year’s Push-up Challenge, in support of Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). I was immediately intrigued for a couple reasons. I am aware of CMHA’s good work through my own work and through friends who work there and I remember when they participated in the challenge last year. I am very happy to support CMHA and any way that we can find resources for better mental health support. I am also pretty good at push-ups. I am not sure I will be able to do 87 full push-ups a day to reach my goal of 2000 for the month, but I am confident I can do a large chunk of them and the challenge allows you to supplement full push-ups with variations (hello eccentric push-ups) or other movements. I can report about my success at the end of the month. For me, posting about a positive challenge is a much-needed distraction in this time of constant, stressful news, for which I feel a bit powerless to respond effectively. I can do push-ups and try to support a worthy mental health agency.
As for me, I really don’t think it will be good for me to go from 0 to 90 in the pushup department in one day, so I’m going to mix it up with squats and assisted pushups of various kinds. (One time I did like 80 pushups without warning and cause havoc in my chest muscles to the point I thought I was having a heart attack. Good times!).
I’ve been “training” for two days now (as in, I do 10 pushups every time I think about it) and I’m psyched. You all know how much I love counting things, and I particularly love it when I can poke an app when I’m counting. Apparently there are different goals for every day, relating to stats about mental health and ideas about how to support each other.
It has been a hard year for me on the cycling front, so it has been exciting to rediscover the joys of winter cycling.
Diane in her blue and white helmet and black ski jacket, with her red bicycle and another winter bike in the background. It’s a sunny day and the bikes are parked in the snow at a bike rack outside a school.
Pros:
It’s often faster than driving or transit, especially for shorter distances.
It doesn’t require a lot of special gear (though I do not regret investing in studded tires).
Even on a grey day, that little bit of fresh air and sunlight will boost my mood.
My neighbours think I’m a bit of a badass, which is hilarious. I’m easing back into riding, so most trips are under 2 km each way.
It’s an excuse to indulge my inner child and buy all the bike lights.
No bugs.
I don’t overheat.
Cons: none that don’t also apply to summer cycling.
Photos from previous winters, showing off the bike lights and beautiful winter weather.
My favorite training coach of all-time is Steve Weller. We met in 2007 (I checked through emails to confirm) when he did some coaching for my cycling team, North East Bicycling Club. I was (and remained) a beginner back-of-the-pack racer, but I loved the feelings of speed and effort amidst the sounds of my breath and the spinning of the wheels on pavement. Steve and I worked together for several years during and after my days of racing.
I’ve had a lot of coaches and training and instruction in a lot of sports, but Steve stands out as the best. Why? He combines keen analytical intelligence with deep empathy, humor and a sense of perspective about training and competition. And he genuinely loves both the sports of cycling (road, cross, MTB) and the people who participate in them.
In case you’re wondering, I’m writing this because I’m still on his email list and he sent something today that I just loved and had to share with all of you.
Steve wrote in this post about a how he came across the phrase “a more dangerous animal”. And then he said this:
As you push through hard workouts and suffer to hang with the fast group, remember – you are doing this work to become a more dangerous animal.
I cannot tell you how much this tickles and pleases and motivates me. Some thoughts:
Do I want to become a more dangerous animal? Can I?
What keener capacities, what kinds of prowess do I want to cultivate?
In my new proposed powerful state, to whom/what do I want to present a danger?
The social status quo?
Our current national power structure?
The patriarchy?
Oppressive institutions?
Maybe my own complacency and timidity about change?
And, of course, there’s deciding which animal to embody/channel/aim for. Here are some suggestions, but please feel free to add your own ideas in the comments.
I know it’s midweek, but give yourself a moment to think about this. Rowr! Grrrr! Hissssss! Buzzzzz!
A gallery of dangerous animals: meerkat (apparently they get very put out if you approach them), jellyfish, bee, tiger, crocodile and shark.
I have not been flattened-out-sick since sometime before the pandemic. I’ve had covid twice and both times I was extremely lucky that the symptoms were so mild that I didn’t even stop working out. Then came this past Sunday. Flattened. Making it from the couch to the bathroom was a project. Retrieving my computer to watch a movie. A massive effort. My phone recorded zero steps. I thought I might have a sunburn, from spending so much time outdoors the day before on a sunny, frigid day (-15C), though I was careful with sunscreen. Then I realized that my face was fever-red. My head bursting. Coughing like my smoker grandparents. All plans (which I was so looking forward to) canceled.
At first, despite my level 9 discomfort, I didn’t want to believe I was sick. That’s why the sunburn theory, which lasted a red-hot minute (literally).
Even though I have an auto immune condition, I still want to believe that I don’t get sick. Oh, and I also don’t want to call my auto immune condition by its name, which contains the word disease. Addison’s Disease. As if, if I don’t say that word, then the condition will be less than it is. Which is medication three times a day for my life. Not to improve my quality of life. But to ensure that I live.
I especially didn’t want to be sick because on Saturday I ran a broken up 21k, which involved an outdoor run, followed by a treadmill workout, followed by two more blocks of running outdoors to get home. So, the run included all sorts of transitions from cold to indoors to subways to indoors to outdoors etc. I even finished the run with a pair of boots under each arm, that I’d picked up at the shoe repair 6 blocks from home.
One of my challenges to myself for this year is to run one 21k per month. Saturday (though the 31st) was my February 21k. Check. And then because that wasn’t enough, for good measure, I did a 2-hour walk with a friend in the afternoon. By the end of which, I was well and truly done with the cold.
I did NOT want to admit that my maximalist Saturday had turned out to be too much.
It was too much.
Can I allow that to be what it is? Penguin awkward! And not use it as something to criticize myself and my lack of fortitude?
A work in progress.
p.s this post is short and not polished as I would have liked, because … sick (I am, sigh) and out of energy.
After last week’s post about January’s experiments, my plan was to just explore the questions I was asking myself and then carry on with the same activities throughout February.
But then, on Sunday morning, I woke up with the idea that I wanted to add two things to my plans for February.*
Sure, this 2 is a little wonky but it’s grand that way. Same could be said for many of us, hey? 😉 image description: the number two drawn in red with gold trim against a background of red dots. The card the drawing is on is also trimmed in gold and it is resting on my black computer keyboard. I borrowed this drawing from my Dec 2 post.
My first instinct was to talk myself out of it – I’m already working on several things and I don’t want to overload myself – but then I realized that these two small things fit in quite nicely with the ways I am trying to establish practices and processes overall for myself in 2026.
So, that’s why I am going ahead with adding at least a 1 minute wall-sit and adding 1 more serving of veggies to my lunch this month.
These practices both feel like a good way to work on trying something imperfectly (which was the topic of one of my questions in last week’s post!) and they will be beneficial to me even if I don’t get to them every single day.
Both of these things can be helpful for my bloodpressure (I’m on BP meds already and just keeping an eye on my numbers.)
I really want to eat more veggies anyway so the structure of ‘1 more at lunch’ is a straightforward way to start.
The wall-sits will take very little time, they feel doable and they are good for my glutes and my knees – both of which need some attention.
So, even though these things are ‘extra’ they will help me with my big picture goals., they have lots of potential benefits with minimal effort, and if they don’t work out?
No big deal!
These are experiments – if they don’t work, I can try something else.
But if they do work I will have practiced more practices, strengthened my legs, eaten more veggies, had more satisfying lunches, taken good care of myself, and maybe even done something good for my blood pressure.
Let’s see how it goes!
*Convenient, hey? 2 things for the second month? Sometimes my brain is so TIDY!)
Here on the blog we’ve long been complaining that most fitness research focuses on young, able-bodied men.
But look! Here’s a research team looking at women, post-menopausal women even.
If we weren’t already physically active, we’d be giving them a call. Since you’re reading this blog, likely you’re also one of us, but if you’re not, or you know someone who isn’t, please consider giving the Ms FIT Team a call, and then let us know how it goes.
Wait, I should also explain that I am starting no-spend February today, February 2nd.
What happened to February 1st? I was caught off guard on a stop by Winners to get a birthday present for my eldest child. They’d just texted me a picture of something they’d found at their Winners, but not in their size. Middle child and I got the message while at the grocery store, and we stopped by Winners on our way home. No luck on the present for the eldest, but while there, we browsed the sale rack–because of course you do. I got a couple of things for them, but I also found a blue and green plaid sweater for me. Cute but also not exactly necessary. I shopped on the very first day of no-spend February.
Back to the rules. Gretchen Rubin’s worksheet is here.
I’m focusing on online spending–no clothes, books, or sporting equipment. (Books that I can charge to my research account don’t count.) I’m also not going to shop in person but that’s easier to avoid since I don’t do so much of that. Food is essential-even food I buy outside the home. If there are things I really want I’m going to keep a list and re-evaluate when the month is over. I will make an exception for gifts for other people.
This year we’re celebrating it, the sunny snowy days anyway. For three weekends in a row, we played in the snow between work things.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks away in Ottawa at academic administrators’ conferences. Week 1 was the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Development for Deans meeting. Week 2 was Higher Education Strategy Associate’s Re:University meeting. It’s been a very busy January and so this blog post is more photo essay than anything.
An ode to playing in the snow!
Weekend one was Sarah, Mallory, and me at Arrowhead and Limberlost on skis, skates, and snowshoes. It was snowy and warm, like almost too warm, just below freezing.
Weekend two Sarah and I spent at the farm between Ottawa conferences. Mallory and friends visited and so did Susan and Jeff. It was a bit strange weather-wise. In this part of Canada, we associate snow with lake effect snow, and that usually happens when it’s not that cold. When it gets really cold, people say it’s too cold to snow. Not this winter. As our weather changes, with climate change, we’re having overlap between days when there are record-breaking cold temperatures and record-breaking amounts of snow. What’s that mean? Toronto had -25 (feels like -35) and 60 cm of snow in 24 hours. Ouch!
