Month: September 2015

fitness · Guest Post · triathalon

Trials, Tribulations and Triumph: Lakeside Olympic Race Report (Guest Post)

natalieh (she/her)7 Comments

IMG_3960[1]
In Nat’s yard, ready to drive to Lakeside!
Anj & I were pretty pumped about attempting out first Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. You can read our pre-race ponderings here.

Anj: My text reply to friends who asked how it went is that conditions were “Unfavourable”.

Nat: The weather was cold! As we drove out the car registered 14C but over the day the temperature dropped to 10C. It’s hard to believe 6 days earlier we were sweating in 40C weather. I knew Mallory and her brother Miles would be working the event. It was great to see familiar faces.

 

pre-race candid
great photo taken by the event photographer as Nat and Anj roll into transition to set up

Anj: Let’s start with the water – the grass was creeping me out to the point that I couldn’t relax and swim. Ok, I think I was actually panicking – implement Plan B – Breast Stroke.  Attempts to crawl resulted in gulps of water due to the high waves, so I decided to limit breaths to the leeward side – but the waves would break over my head mid-breath so I still ended up with mouthfuls of water.  This did nothing to appease any panicking so I resorted to the breast stroke a-lot.

Nat: The swim was going great until the second lap after the first turn (~1,100 m) then I realized I was getting too cold to move my arms and I could no longer feel my legs and feet. The race officials had warned us the combined air and water temperature scored 14.5C, the cut-off for optional wet-suit. I’ll never do a long race again without one. I took off my cap and flagged down the rescue boat. I spoke with the Triathlon Ontario Official and indicated my wish to continue with the race even though I had DNF’d.

I was under dressed and cold the whole ride. The wind was gusting strong enough to make eating or drinking a real challenge. I never did get the circulation back in my feet so when I rolled in from the ride I decided not to attempt the run portion.

Anj: The bike portion managed to be more challenging than the swim.  I repeatedly thought “this tri is kicking my butt”.  The bike tested my mental capacity the most, where I remember giving myself permission to pull out.  Trying to make muscles work like that when you are so cold.  My feet were still numb from the swim even after two hours of cycling.

Nat: I know it’s impossible but that ride felt like a continual fight with the wind. I was surprised how lonely 40 km can be since I now always ride with other people. I’m sad now I didn’t at least try the run.

Anj: I didn’t expect my body to run – but it did.  The body can do amazing things.On an uphill grade I learned about cramps.  I hobbled my way to the turnaround and found out that I was able to run again on the downhill.  The next time I got to that steep of a grade and felt the quad quiver – I switched to a fast walk.

anj finish
If you look closely you can see the muscle cramp in Anj’s leg!

Nat: Would I do an Olympic triathlon again? Yes! Would I do Lakeside? It’s too cold for the time it takes me to do this kind of distance. I definitely need to stick to a training regime for this distance.

Anj: Lessons learned: consider investing in wet suit & tri suit; train in many water settings and train to spot and keep direction while swimming; train in all weather conditions and learn what gear works best in all of them.  I would totally do this distance again – and hope to continue working toward longer distances.  My favourite part was being passed by a woman with a gorgeous body – chatting with her on the bike and then seeing on her calf that she was 71.  I remember wondering – does that mean if I keep doing tri’s that I will have the same longevity, health and body?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anj is now an Olympic Distance Triathlete and is planning all kinds of fitness adventures including a cycling tour in Florida!

fitness

Wow. That was the hardest race I’ve ever done! (Guest Post)

Sam B5 Comments

by Tara Phipps

I just finished the Lakeside Sprint Duathlon – run 5K, bike 20K, run 2.5K. My second duathlon ever, the other was the Kincardine Duathlon which was much shorter than today’s race.

I’m not sure why this race was so hard for me but psychologically and physically it was tough. I realized too late that the start of the 5K race didn’t have a timing mat so I put myself at an automatic disadvantage by starting at the back of the pack. I think it cost me time and it hurt me psychologically to see so many people ahead but I forged on and refocused on setting a good time for me.

My second error was not having the sound turned up on my running app. I’m a “measurer” and when I don’t know how fast I’m going I find it hard to know whether I should push myself harder or ease up a bit. With all that being said, I’m very pleased with my finish times! Would I do it again? As of today my answer is NO.

I’m not a long-distance/endurance athlete. I like to play “fast and hard”. I’m going back to my 5K races and am going to work on getting faster. This was one of the first races I’ve done having my husband and two sons (ages 4 and 6) there cheering for me!

 

Even though I race fairly regularly, I don’t usually bring my peeps to the race and it was a great decision today. I teared up when I came in from the bike leg – I could hear my kids cheering for me over the whole crowd. It was awesome! At the end of the race, my six year old ran up to me, gave me a huge hug and told me that he was proud of me. How much better can it get? Haha, not good enough to do it again anytime soon .

My next 5K race is in October and I’m soooo looking forward to it.

Tara Phipps is a runner and soccer player, a fan of short distances, a mother of two active boys and cousin-in-law of Sam!

cycling

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Halton Gran Fondo

Sam B3 Comments

This is a very short report on the Halton Gran Fondo. It’s very short because classes start tomorrow, for me, and I’ve got two hours of meetings and five hours of teaching and lots of preparation to do for all of that before I sleep. (See And so it begins, but with a new start!)

Phew!

Here we are at the start! #hardcoredrownedratselfie

First, the good:

  • Friends! I did the event with Susan, David, and Eaton. We hot tubbed together the night before, we had a breakfast together in the morning and spent a lot of the time riding and chatting.
  • Beautiful scenery, amazing hills. I’m getting faster and more comfortable on hills, partly it’s because I’m a bit lighter and partly because I’m a bit more powerful. Either way, it’s all good.
  • Super well organized event. Great signage, police at major intersections, some roads closed to traffic.
  • There were CIBC minions cleaning bikes afterwards!
  • And maple syrup makes for a great alternative to energy gels. A friend gave me a couple of these for my birthday and they worked great. The taste is much better than the usual chemical goo that has the texture of toothpaste. They were also selling them at the event and you can order your own here.

image

Now, the bad:

  • Rain, “light showers”? No. More like a downpour at the beginning, letting up to showers, but never completely stopping
  • Cold, 9 degrees C when we started, and never got above 12. Brrrr.
  • Wind, the kind of wind that goes with cold and rain in September. Ugh.
  • Hills (I know, see above, but it’s truly a love/hate thing)
  • And a broken spoke about 50 km in. Luckily we were close to the mechanic’s van and they got me back on the road pretty quickly. (We had signed up to do the 110 km but given the weather we switched to the 80. Good choice on any number of fronts as it turned out. I’m still shivering.)

Here’s what it looked like out the car window while we were leaving Susan’s house.

My Facebook comment: “Rainy 10 degrees. Perfect day for a 110 km Gran Fondo. Yikes.”

And for the truly ugly:

  • David and I got back to London to a broken hot tub…. That was the thought that had sustained us. Hot tub hopes dashed, I opted for a hot bath and nap with Cheddar, the dog instead.

Hard to believe that we went from last week’s heat stroke weather to hypothermia cycling conditions in just a few days.

Last year we also dropped to the 80 km–due to injury, not weather. You can read about the ride here. Maybe someday we’ll get to ride the 110 km version!

 

blogging

13,000 followers! Thanks everyone!

Sam B4 Comments

Thanks everyone for reading, following, sharing, liking, and commenting.

Welcome to our blog!

Here’s a little history of our ever-growing blog community:

We started the blog at the end of August, 2012.

Things were quiet in those first few months.

On May 13th, 2013 we welcomed our 500th follower.

On November 28, 2013, 1000 followers.

I think we lost track of 2000 somewhere in the middle.

On December 25, 2014, 3000 followers.

Then on January 27, 2015, 4000 followers.

Sometime in February we hit 5000 and then 6000 on March 28, 2015.

And April 29, 7000.

At the end of May, 8000.

On June 26, 9000.

And in July the big 10K.

In August, 12,000.

Now halfway through September, 13,000.

YAY!

Why do I care? See Why I Love Our Blog.

Oh, and you can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

But why do that, you ask, since you can get the blog posts here.

We post lots of other fitness content on our Facebook page and there’s a lovely community of like minded people there. Come join in, if that’s your thing. We’d love to have you. Please share and help spread the word.

Weekends with Womack

It was the best of seasons, it was… the best of seasons

catherine w5 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about the end of summer. Yes, I know, it’s already over; do not remind me.

This summer has been a tough one for me. I’ve had some upheavals in my personal life and some serious medical scares for loved ones, resulting in a major bout of the blues. So I did not do a bunch of the cycling activities that I was planning to do—no charity ride in June, no big Vermont ride over Labor Day, and no NYC Century ride today (have fun, Tony and Jane! Sorry I can’t join you). I just didn’t get myself together to ride and train the way I like to in the summer. And I have been feeling regret about the lost summer, and lost opportunities.

Until I talked with friends and looked back at my summer blog and facebook posts. What do they show? I actually had a super-fun summer, doing all sorts of improvised and different activities—outings I would not have gone on if my situation had been different. For instance, I kayaked a bunch with friends:

kayak-friends

kayak-friends2

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I got some instruction and found I love kayaking, which opens up new sports and nature opportunities.

I also spent some time on the Cape with my friend Pata, cycling, wandering and hanging out:

pata1

Pata2

Then there were the adventures on foot in urban and suburban nature wandering: up the north shore of Boston, to Deer Isle near the airport, and in the city (both Boston and New York):

foot1

foot2

And yesterday was the cherry on top of my unexpected ice cream sundae of a summer—I had a lovely outing on a perfect early fall day on Cape Ann with friends. We cycled and were treated to sights like this:

sight

We went to Halibut Point State Park and wandered around on the rocks by the ocean:

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And of course we treated ourselves to ice cream (which we left undocumented).

So, it’s really been a superb summer, full of unexpected adventures. I am grateful for it, and looking forward to what the next season brings.

fitness · Guest Post · Sat with Nat · triathalon

Sister Time

natalieh (she/her)1 Comment

Nat: My sister Anj is in town for our Olympic Distance Triathlon tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to do a joint entry about our lack of training 🙂 , our goals and how committing to doing sporting events together has impacted out relationship.

1977
Nat holds Anj, Sept 1977. We are definitely up to no good.

Anj: When we admitted to each other we had ceased training as the date of the triathlon drew near, the big question was: “Will I be injured if I do the event?” And the answer is – the body will be fine, the ego might get damaged.  Without delving into the reasons why one would stop working toward one’s goal while being so close to completion, it was easy to review the big reasons for registering for a triathlon way back in January: 1) to get in shape [a.k.a. my coworkers don’t hear me huffing after 3 flights of stairs in the morning] 2) to be skinnier; and 3) to have a date that I would see my sister.  It is too easy to let the time pass by on the relationships with those we care about – but this is what brings us the most satisfaction in life.

2011
Anj & Nat re-united in 2011 for a Try-a-Tri

Nat: I definitely need events to ensure I do any working out. I’m leaning more towards the events being great experiences than necessarily hitting a goal of say, finishing in a certain time, its becoming more of an appreciation of what my body can do for me at the drop of a hat than sticking to my original training plans. I also told a friend that we were getting together to race because it was an excuse to see each other, if we were men we’d build a porch.

Anj: My inspiration for training is the level of fear I have for the distance involved. This is the longest we’ve done, I’m feeling the fear a bit. I pretty much need the shit scared out of me to train because I don’t have self-discipline.

Nat: Oh I’m definitely lacking the discipline. It was your idea in 2011 to do the try-a-tri in Woodstock. I just went along with it. I think this year you were the one to get me to commit. I think my goal was to do it and feel good about. So, I’m going, goal #1 met!

Anj: Being fit means being alive is just plain easier.  Goal #1 – complete.

Nat: My second goal was to be less afraid of events this year. I’m thinking, like Anita says, nothing is riding on this. I enjoy races, they are exciting. Worse thing to happen will be a DNF, maybe an injury.

Anj: This summer, I attended my 20 year high school reunion, and this training season resulted in being the same size as high school.  Goal #2: SURPASSED!

Nat: I try not to hate you for that. I think my upper arm would fit in my high-school dress. I love you anyway.

Anj: Face time with my sister: Goal #3: Priceless.

Nat: My third goal is definitely having something to do with you. I love sharing our training over texts from Ontario to New Brunswick. I think it’s a pretty awesome reason to visit. Doing a different distance has helped me keep track of the years too. I think it’s important to note you recovered from a car accident last year to being able to do this tri, that’s pretty amazing. My blood pressure is under control. We’re both better off than we were a year ago.

Anj: Upon putting things in perspective – without even competing yet – We are winners.

2012
Anj, Nat and Michel celebrate thier first Sprint Distance Triathlon in 2012.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Anj is a recovering butch – finding her feminine side in her 30’s and finally accepting that both femininity and butchiness can come in one package; she’s also a singer/songwriter/performer and motorcycle enthusiast.

fitness

Guest blogger update: Michelle’s surgery

Sam B2 Comments

I know lots of the blog’s readers have been following our regular guest blogger Michelle’s story and know that she had surgery this week. She’s also one of my Aikido friends and we’ll all be missing her at training tomorrow morning.

With her permission I’m writing to let you know that Michelle came through her double mastectomy surgery fine, and is resting comfortably at home with family.

Here’s her posts about her diagnosis and her decision:

boudoir photo shoot 3

fitness

My pre-mastectomy boudoir photo shoot (Guest post)

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow23 Comments

Boudoir photo shoot 1

As soon as I found out I had breast cancer, I scrambled to book a boudoir photo shoot. Topless. Outdoors. With swords. What was I thinking?

I discovered a lump in my right breast in early June, and on August 4th found out it was cancer. Rather than being devastated by the news, my analytical mind went into overdrive in the first few days after my diagnosis, strategizing and planning my recovery. This included the creation of multiple lists, including people I wanted to tell, questions to ask my doctors, things I needed to take care of before surgery, and rituals or inner work I wanted to explore if I was going to lose one or both breasts.

At the very top of the last list was a boudoir photo shoot.

The boudoir photo business seems to be a booming niche portrait market. Ordinary women of all ages are choosing to get photographed in various stages of undress, either to give the photos as gifts to their partners, or to celebrate their bodies or their sexuality. If getting photographed half-naked sounds like a spectacularly bad idea, you might want to read this list of 14 reasons why you should do a boudoir photo shoot. (Full disclosure: it’s by a boudoir photographer.)

Sam and Natalie have written about their own experiences being photographed by Ruth Kivilahti of Ruthless Images, and seemed to find boudoir photography a very positive, body-affirming experience, so I connected with Ruth and arranged a photo shoot within a week of my breast cancer diagnosis.

I was very clear in my own mind about why I was doing this. I didn’t want or need a bunch of attractive, soft-focus, soft-porn photos of myself to share with a partner, or pump up my self-esteem. I simply wanted to document my body as it was, before I had surgery or any other treatment that would change it. I already suspected that I would be having a double mastectomy, and I wanted to have some photos of my whole breasts, just for myself, for posterity.

I’ve had a real love-hate relationship with my breasts my whole life, and most of the time have felt like my breasts had no purpose except to make other people feel good. I’ve shared a few intimate pictures of myself with lovers in the past, but I didn’t want my breast cancer photo shoot to be about the male gaze and desire. I also didn’t just want a bunch of amateur topless selfies taken with my phone, which is why I chose a professional photographer with experience doing boudoir work.

I wanted to celebrate my body’s natural strength, power and form, as seen through the eyes of a professional photographer.

I knew from the start that I somehow wanted to incorporate my love of aikido. This martial art makes me feel strong and powerful like a warrior, and I wanted to celebrate that, too. So I took my aikido uniform and wooden training weapons to Ruth’s studio.

boudoir photo shoot 3

I also wanted to incorporate the outdoors somehow, since hiking in nature is so important to me. I noticed that Ruth offered a beautiful, rural outdoor location for her photo shoots, and asked for that.

Ruth made the whole process very easy. She sent me a very helpful email ahead of time, with suggestions for preparations I should make before the shoot (like drinking lots of water and not wearing undergarments the day of), and items (like scarves and jewelry, which I would never have thought of) to bring along with me.

I was pretty open to whatever happened at the photo shoot. The most important thing for me was to get some photos of my naked breasts. What I wasn’t expecting was how life-affirming it would be, and how powerful I would feel during and after the shoot. I also wasn’t anticipating Ruth’s reaction to the shoot, which she shared in this Facebook post of one of the first photos from my shoot.

Last night I shot a warrior of a woman, a true bright light… I was contacted by a gal who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, she wanted to book in for an intimate photo shoot to celebrate her body before she has a double mastectomy… With my heart in my chest I sent her over some dates, we got her in as soon as possible and we began the planning process… I knew after our second or third email that this wouldn’t be a sad shoot… It was in essence a celebration… A celebration of who she was, and who she is and where she is going… A celebration of her breasts. She’s a true fighter.

Last night left me with feelings I just can’t describe… admiration, joy, inspiration, presence, humility, gratitude are just a few of them.

boudoir photo shoot 2

I’m very glad that I had these photographs taken. Ruth got some amazing shots, and I’ll treasure them as the last record of my body before surgery. I’m also seriously considering a follow-up shoot in the future, of my post-surgery body and my mastectomy scars. I can’t help but think that I’ll look and feel like an Amazon.

She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away she adjusted her sails. ~ Elizabeth Edwards

This is the third of a three-part series on breast cancer, sports and body image.
Part 1: What martial arts taught me about fighting breast cancer
Part 2: Why I’m happy about getting my breasts cut off

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You may also be interested in these blog posts by Michelle about her breast cancer experience:

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow works in nonprofit and small business communications by day, and also enjoys writing, taking photographs, making art and doing aikido. You can find more of her work at michellelynnegoodfellow.com. Michelle has also written about her breast cancer journey on her blog, Kitchen Sink Wisdom.

aging · fitness · menopause · menstruation · sleep

Tired of Losing Sleep over Menopause? HRT Could Be the Answer

Tracy I10 Comments

Originally I was going to write a post about whether to try or not to try Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for relief of some of my menopausal symptoms. Most notably, the symptom that was doing me in was disturbed sleep due to hot flashes and night sweats. I used to be a great sleeper, but for the past few years my sleep has gotten worse and worse with no end in sight.

When I went to Kincardine for the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon I shared a room with a lifelong friend. At night, she just put her head down and slept, then woke up in the morning. What? When I asked her about her enviable sleeping ability, she attributed it to HRT.  She just slaps on a bit of estrogen gel in the morning, pops a progestin pill at night (to counterbalance the influx of estrogen so that there is no build up in the lining of the uterus, thereby minimizing the risk of uterine cancer), and away she goes.

Bam! No more hot flashes. No more night sweats.

Besides taking care of the hot flashes, HRT has a few other benefits. According to this article, the benefits of HRT include:

 

  • less vaginal dryness, bladder leaks and recurrent urinary tract infections
  • better sex drive
  • reduced risk of bone fractures associated with osteoporosis
  • reduced risk of bowel cancer

I’ve not had all of the issues they point to, but I have lost a bit of mojo. And who wouldn’t want to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and its associated bone fractures and of bowel cancer?

But there are also some risks associated with HRT.

 

I’ve had the conversation about HRT with my doctor in the past. She did her due diligence and explained that the current state of knowledge indicates some slight increase in certain health risks. The research shows that it slightly increases your risk of the following conditions: breast cancer, ovarian cancer, blood clots (embolisms), deep vein thrombosis, and stroke. That’s not great.

In the past, I decided that rather than take on any risk for symptoms that seemed, at the time, more like inconveniences than serious health issues, I would tough it out. But the fact of the matter is that over time, poor sleep quality has become more than a minor inconvenience.

So this time when I spoke to my doctor I asked her to candidly review the risks with me again.  Given my medical history and family medical history–no breast cancer that I know of in the family–the increase in risk is akin to the health risks associated with drinking two alcoholic beverages per day. My reasoning (specious, I’m sure) was that I don’t drink at all, so there’s room to take on a bit of risk.

When the research first came out, my mother had been on HRT for 15 years. Back then, it was thought to be a magic solution that women could stay on for the rest of their lives. But when news of risk came, many women, including my mum, abandoned HRT.

The latest studies suggest that there is a safe period of time–5 years–that a woman can be on HRT for menopause and have the benefits outweigh the risks. My doctor explained all of this to me and I decided I wanted to give it a shot. So she prescribed the same thing my friend was using: estrogel in the morning and progestin at night.

I started the very same day I got the prescription, not waiting until the morning. The gel dose is measured out in pumps. The recommended amount on the package is two pumps. My doctor recommended starting with one pump a day for a week. If that did nothing, then go to two pumps.

After a week, I was experiencing no change at all, so I increased the dose. Every morning after my shower I rub two pumps of estrogen gel over a large-ish area of my body, moving to different parts on different days on my doctor’s recommendation. Sometimes it’s both arms, or my abdomen, or my inner thighs.

Two weeks went by, and still it seemed not a lot better. Then, just this past week, I’ve been seeing a change. I haven’t had a hot flash during the day in over a week. And remarkably, I haven’t had my sleep disturbed by night sweats in a few days. And despite the flood that destroyed my condo on the weekend, I’ve been sleeping peacefully, not tossing and turning nearly as much as I have been for the past couple of years.

One thing I want to make clear is this: menopause is not on its own what I would call a health issue. It’s not an illness or anything like that. It’s a change that brings with it some inconveniences. I could have put up with the occasional hot flash and for a long time that’s exactly what I intended to do. But consistently poor sleep is, as far as I’m concerned, a health issue. Things came to head for me this spring and summer when I hit a wall. If I didn’t find a solution to my disrupted sleep, I could not continue with the training I was doing. And so for the summer, I’ve really backed off on my training in favour of sleeping longer to make up for sleeping poorly.

Now that I’ve had a few days of better sleep, I’m kind of excited at the prospect that the HRT will continue to help me in that area.  I’m really glad that I roomed with my friend in Kincardine or I may never have considered revisiting the conversation about HRT with my doctor. I’m also glad to have a doctor who is willing to take the time to explain to me the pros and cons of HRT. And what a gift to be able to live the next five years with good quality sleep!

If you’ve entered menopause and are suffering because you’re not sleeping, it’s worth having the conversation with your doctor. Not every woman is a good candidate for HRT — it depends on a lot on your and your family’s medical history. But those of us who can benefit from it with only a slight increased health risk may decide, as did I, that the benefits are worth the risk.

For more about HRT, read this primer on the Mayo Clinic website.

 

 

fitness

And so it begins, but with a new start!

Sam B

image

Yesterday was the first day of the term here at Western. Classes official began. Classes start on Thursday, a rather odd day when you think about it, of the first week mostly so students don’t spend the entire week partying.

The first day of school always make me think of academic journeys, where they begin and where they go. I started in Journalism at King’s College, Halifax, and then moved on to Political Science at Dalhousie and then switched to Philosophy (also at Dalhousie.)

I’ve been in Philosophy Departments for a very long time, from end of undergrad to grad school in Chicago, and a 22 year teaching career in Philosophy at Western after that.

This fall, although I’m still teaching Philosophy courses, I’m starting in a new department at Western, Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. The journey continues! I can now supervise students in 3 departments at Western: WSFR, Philosophy, and Political Science. It feels like a start to a new stage in my academic career.

I’ve written before about new routines and back to school. While I’ll certainly miss weekday daytime bike rides–they’re a summer thing for me–I also like the regular rhythm and schedule of the academic year. I’ve always loved September. This one especially is a lovely mix of old and new.

A friend calculated how many first days of school he’d had in his lifetime. For me it’s 13 years of elementary through high school, 5 years of undergrad (I moved around a lot, see above), 5 years of grad school, and I’m starting my 23rd year of teaching at Western. So this September is my 46th first day of school. (I didn’t subtract sabbaticals.)

Here’s my very first day of school.

First day of school, Notre Dame Academy, Grand Falls, Nfld.
First day of school, Notre Dame Academy, Grand Falls, Nfld.