“It’s kind of a miracle I haven’t just passed out.” That’s how Lael Wilcox described the heat exhaustion that ended her bid to break Mark Beaumont’s around-the-world cycling record this week. A European heat wave did what training and grit couldn’t. Reading her words, I felt the particular dread that’s become familiar lately — the recognition that the conditions we plan our riding around are no longer the conditions we actually get.
The increasing summer heat is terrifying, and people are dying. Probably, when there are health warnings against outdoor exercise, it’s not the best time to try to break a world cycling record. I know the loss of summer riding is a small thing compared to all the horrible effects of our warming world.
Me, I’m planning my long-distance rides for the fall. I’m switching it up and moving some of my exercise indoors in the summer. That feels strange and awful, but it’s where we are.
I don’t really know why I was out of sorts because nothing went particularly wrong.
In fact, lots of things went right – I had two terrific Zoom conversations with friends, I spent some time drawing and writing, it was sunny out for most of the day – but I felt a little under the weather, I couldn’t really settle into my work, and I had to push myself to do even the simplest things.
I even had to push myself to go for a walk this afternoon – an activity that is automatic about 90% of the time.
I’m sure Khalee would have forgiven me if we didn’t walk today but I didn’t like the idea of her missing out on a walk on a warm, sunny day.
Since I was having trouble with the push to walk, I decided to try to add a ‘pull’ factor – I challenged myself to take a photo as many beautiful things as I could without Khalee losing her patience.
And that worked out pretty well – it made my walk into a series of small strolls between photos and I was reminded of how many lovely things I can see even on a short walk.
All in all, this small photo challenge was a good way to finish my Monday.
And if you’re having trouble getting out for a walk, I highly recommend going off in search of beauty.
I really liked seeing all of these clusters on white flowers on the tree branches reaching toward the path. Image description: a cluster of small white flowers on the top of a tree branch that has relatively small green leaves. The background is out of of focus but there’s grass and trees and the sun is shining through here and there. I really liked the contrast of the green branches and the purple cones with the blue sky in the background. Image description: a photo of the underside of a spruce tree looking up towards the sky. another set of branches, up very high, is visible at the top of the photo and the deep blue sky is visible on several sides. The tips of the spruce branch are laden with new cones that are growing. Some are green and others are a soft purple.When I was young, my friends and I played ‘spies’ in the small wooded areas along this path. Little alcoves formed by the trees were our favourite hiding places. Image description: a photo of a wooded area with a clearing between the trees, the entrance to which is partially blocked by trees that are leaning far to one side. Khalee, my light brown dog who is wearing a blue neckerchief is in the bottom of the photo.I take so many photos of the sun on the greenery and the river in this particular spot on the bridge. Image description: a photo of a river that is so overgrown that there are just two or three pools of water easily visible between the greenery and the rocks. The sun is shining down on all the trees and shrubs and grass making it area look very lush. Something about the shape of this cloud was really pleasing to me and I also loved how looooooong the street looked in this photo. Image description: a photo of a street near my house that seems to be leading me right toward the most prominent long white cloud in the bright blue sky. The sun is a bright shape with a kind of aura around it in the top of the photo and there is a series of trees, houses, and cars, as well a sidewalk along the left side of the photo, and a few houses, trees, and cars on the right.I took this photo on my front lawn where this lilac tree keeps blooming despite (because of?) my benign neglect. Image description: a close-up photo of a lilac branch with bright green leaves and with the lilac flowers still closed up in dark pink buds. There are houses and cars out of focus in the background and blue sky above.These small orange flowers are apparently a type of poppy and they also thrive under my benign neglect in a planter next to the lilac tree in front of my house. I will be pulling the grass out of the planter once I get around to it. Image description: a top-down photo of some small orange poppies amidst a variety of green plants and leaves and a smattering of grass stalks. On the right side of the photo there is the edge of the wooden planter and a few rocks scattered on the dirt that is part way under my front steps.I think Khalee is just as beautiful as the trees, the flowers, the river and the cloud, of course. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a medium-sized light brown dog whose face, paws and chest are white. She is wearing a jaunty blue neckerchief with blue daisies outlined on it. She is standing in a shadow on a patch of grass with a sunny spot just past her. Only her front paws and her head is in the shot and she has her head turned slightly towards us so she is looking into the camera.
Maybe you’ll recall that’s basically the 30-30-30 thing, the nine morning movements, and an after-dinner walk.
I’m happy to report that I’ve done some combination of these most days — the morning movements, 30g of protein at breakfast, 30 minutes of morning cardio, and an after-dinner walk.
All the walking is pretty familiar. I’ve got a dog, after all, and Cheddar loves an after-dinner walk. The morning cardio is also part of my usual routine, since I usually bike to work or go to the gym.
Thirty grams of protein has made me more mindful of breakfast choices. Lots of my usual go-tos fall short and so this has been a good reminder.
The most surprising thing is how good the morning movement routine feels. It’s energizing. I’m ignoring the woo talk that comes attached to all of it.
But the upshot is that my feed is now full of morning movement routines — and the number of movements keeps climbing. This one’s 16! (Ignore the weight loss messaging, please.)
On Saturday Sarah and I set out for our usual morning ride. Another beautiful June day, another beautiful ride. Once again, so many people out there.
I decided to wear my new Herd bike kit.
Who are the Herd?
“The Herd is one of the largest and most popular virtual cycling communities on Zwift, known for its welcoming, inclusive, and highly social environment. Founded as a grassroots group, it focuses on compassion, encouraging riders of all fitness levels, and its members frequently shout “MOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” in the in-game chat.”
Trips to see family are, for me, a time when I speed up rather than slow down. I have a lot of relatives I want to see and do things with and for. These relatives live as far as three hours away from my home base, which is my sister’s house. And at this point in family life and history, a bunch of my relatives are of an age where a) I come to them rather than them coming to me; and b) our visits include/consist of my helping them with tasks.
None of this is a problem. It’s life, and I am privileged to be able to travel and help and enjoy their company. Plus, I have lately gotten a fair amount of family swag, the results of relatives downsizing and cleaning out (no one in my family would consider calling this “death cleaning”, even though I’ve mentioned the lovely book that Samantha read and blogged about here). I am, in the interests of paying attention to my own management of stuff, working on the “one in/one out” method, which is going more or less well.
So, what kinds of cross-training have I been doing? Here’s a short list.
Home organizing/clearing out: my mother’s house is a constant battle zone for clutter. She is that person who keeps salad dressing jars and lids “just in case”. Sigh. Every time we visit, we go through drawers and cabinets to clear out expired and unused stuff. We tend to tag team: one of us will talk with my mom about something hopefully interesting while the other (generally my sister) will grab a black contractor bag and rapidly sweep things into the bag.
Personal shopping: my mom doesn’t drive anymore, so trips to the pharmacy and grocery and hardware stores are a regular part of visits. Some things can be delivered, but my mother likes doing the shopping herself and in person, so we go from place to place, armed with lists.
Packing and moving household items: in addition to the constant attention to managing my mom’s shifting household inventory, my sister and I helped my aunt Cathy, who is downsizing from a four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom house. She has a lot of breakable antique doodads– art and pottery and rugs and misc items– which require careful packing and moving. I’m happy to report that a three-foot-tall painting of a moose was successfully moved and placed over the electrical panel in her new hallway.
Efficient personal inventory management: I never stay in one place for long while I’m visiting, so I have to be nimble, with quick turnaround as I move from place to place. I’ve gotten good at literally compartmentalizing my stuff and making sure I keep things together in their compartments and putting everything back at the end of each day. It takes mental effort, but pays off in terms of the security of always knowing where my toothbrush is.
Nutrition and exercise and mindfulness practice: thank goodness for my meditation app, which I use every morning when I wake up, regardless of where that happens to be. I also carry my large and gaily stickered Hydroflask everywhere with me. Exercise is sometimes catch-as-catch-can, but I do get to swim and walk and dog-walk with family, which is fun.
Driver/navigator/tour guide: on this trip, my sister and I logged more than 1000 miles of car travel, zooming to and from various family locations. She prefers driving, so I come up with interesting (read rural) routes, keep us on track (we go through many places where cell signal is nowhere to be found) and offer commentary to entertain my mom or others in the car. Reducing cartime crabbiness is an important job, and I do my best.
Now that I am back home, I can resume my regular schedule of nutrition and physical activity and mindfulness and life tasks. However, I’m taking today off. After being away for more than a week, I need a mini-vacation!
Thanks, Bradley A from Unsplash for the advice to enter a laptop-free zone. At least for a while…
Somewhere along the way strength training fell off my routine over the last six months.
I injured my lower back in the winter. Part of my recovery was limiting some types of movement. I had to be very careful with what activities I did to not further aggravate my lower back.
While strength training helps recover from and prevent lower back injuries I found myself sticking to my physio but not much else.
Dumbbells with rubber coating are nice a quiet when I put them down.
Michel and I started back with a Peloton 30 minute full body class on Sunday. He loves Andy as an instructor and I love heavy metal music. Thankfully Andy has a few heavy metal workouts so we were both pumped to get back at it.
I prefer my workouts to feel like a rock concert.
The first class I used three pound dumbbells to warm up and five pounds for the core movements. I focused on form.
Two days later my pecs were tender. What? Even with that light of weights?
Last night we did the same class again right after work. I bumped up to 10 lb weights for some exercises but stuck with fives for the rest.
I caught sight of my reflection during a suitcase squat. I appreciated how strong I felt and how quickly my body was responding to training.
How I feel in strength class, jacked!
Michel looked at me. “I love you so much. Thank you for doing this with me.”
He is starting to hate strength training a bit less. He credits that to us making it a date. I love that we can modify moves, swear and complain in our basement without bothering anyone else.
It is no small feat, to regularly carve out time for strength training. I had thought with me being retired I would feel an abundance of time. It is surprising how many demands are on my time. My expectations have also changed. I suffer from being an optimist and underestimate how long a given task will take.
Our goal is to lift weights three times a week. I do love it. I feel badass and the heavy metal music makes my heart sing.
Metal is working class opera. I love the big feelings, intense vocals and shredding guitar. The music gives a place for my effort filled grunts and complex thoughts about my fitness to go. It’s a winner.
This year five friends and I tried to repeat a two-day cycling tour some of us had attempted a few years ago: the Guelph to Goderich rail trail, which is just short of about 150km of gravel path through scenic rural Ontario.
The first time, it was my first multi-day cycling tour ever, and I didn’t even own my own gear. We’d unknowingly scheduled the original ride during a derecho storm, so we made it most of the way until the rain, the cold, and the trail that had turned to a sandy stream made the ride not fun anymore. After getting 2/3rds to Goderich, we stopped at a brewery in a small town called Blyth and called it a day.
This time, the rain and the cold were back, fortunately only during the second day. But with the dramatic turn in weather from the first sunny day, so once again we found ourselves soaked, muddy, and at the brewery, warming up with a beverage and deciding to end the ride there.
Sun and shine and smiles on the first day….
In the car on the way home, I thought about what it means to progress in a sport or exercise activity. Typically, to me it has meant faster times, more goals, or better scores. Really, though, the goal posts are always moving as we age. The same journey gets harder over time, even with more experience and better gear. Not even considering an adjustment for age, we chose not to feel bad that we didn’t finish at Goderich but good that we got as far as we did. As my friend Lisa said with a smile, “I’m confident there weren’t many 60 year olds out doing as much as I did today.”
Lisa and me riding into town, soaked but happy. Photo by GA Koops.
Progress was being able to get the same thing done even after a few years of creaky bones, knee problems, more stiffness. Fun and accomplishment were our goals. As I enter mid-life, that kind of relative thinking gives me a new and better way to measure my own success, one that acknowledges what I can’t control and focuses on what I can (like chasing joy rather than results).
For long-time readers, this blog is itself a testament to this kind of context-based thinking about fitness and aging. As we write, over the yesrs, what is maturing along with our bodies is our sense of what progress means. We can give ourselves permission to move at a pace that reflects the time and space we’re in, rather than set ourselves up to fail with ever-higher expectations that don’t appreciate where we really are.
The Guelph to Goderich rail trail line is referred to fondly around here as the “G2G.” Now that we’ve made it as far as Blyth, twice, it’s now sort of a new tradition for us, our “G2B.” And if we can get even that far again in a few years, rain and/or shine, we’ll all be happy with that.
Gotta keep your strength up! Delicious pie and tarts at the end of Day 1.
Move over cottage cheese! Apparently sardinemaxxing is now a thing. Maxxing seems to be a thing more generally. I wrote about nonnamaxxing , but there is also looksmaxxing, proteinmaxxing and mommaxxing, and probably more. Sam even sent me a poster of Guelphmaxxing from the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences at University of Guelph. Canada’s intermittent cottage cheese shortages are attributed to the proteinmaxxing trend.
Now sardines are all the rage on places like TikTok and Instagram, and a friend tells me that there are shortages in Portugal (possibly because the trendiest sardine brands are from Spain and Portugal). At least sardines are a good source of protein and fatty acids, and are relatively inexpensive.
This was a silly trend I could happily jump on as I learned about sardinemaxxing the same week as a friend posted her weekly crazy recipe (usually something vintage with terrible food photography). It was Sardine Stuffed Lemons.
The recipe comes from New Creative Cookery with Davis Gelatine (an Australian company), published in 1985.
I love experimenting with ridiculous vintage recipes and I like sardines and horseradish. I skipped the gelatine and cream, choosing to use mayonnaise instead.
Homemade sardinemaxxing attempt. Sardines with horseradish, lemon juice and mayonnaise in two half lemons, with some fennel leaves to decorate and lemon wedges on lettuce leaves at the side.
As I was finishing up, I realized I had eaten the last of my bread at lunch. Undeterred, I dumped the contents of half a lemon into a bowl full of greens. It was actually quite tasty and I would eat it again. It did remind me of the green salads topped with cottage cheese or tuna or chicken salad that were popular in the 60s and 70s.
I’m going to call my effort a gimmick because it was more effort than it was worth. But simplified a bit? That’s a trend I could get behind.
2. Cheddar likes the after dinner digestive walls. No issues. Done all three days.
Cheddar!
3. I’m not so sure about the 30-30-30 thing. That’s 30 minutes of exercise and 30 grams of protein 30 minutes after waking.
West’s the wrinkle? I take medication that I need to take first thing in the morning and not eat for an hour. So 30 grams of protein in the first 30 minutes isn’t happening. I do have 30 grams of protein when I do eat though.
The 30 minutes of exercise is also hit or miss. It’s easy on Mondays when I ride my bike on Zwift. Tuesday is personal training very early. But I missed Wednesday because I had to travel to Toronto on a very early GO train.
