Year: 2015

Sat with Nat

Last rider on a 100 km cycling event

natalieh (she/her)7 Comments

Warning: the post contains swearing my lovely feminist friends 🙂

On Sunday July 5 I participated in the MEC 100 km bike ride. Sam, Jeff, Eaton and David were there too. Days earlier I floated the idea that Sam and David did not need to go slow with me as I typically putter along at 20 km/hr. You can read about Sam’s experience here.

I didn’t train for this ride. Lately I’ve been taking it easy on short, social rides with friends along the bike paths, nothing too strenuous and not very regularly. I figured the nicer weather and light winds would make for a much better experience than my first 100 km ride, which took 7 hours including stops. I was thinking I could do this ride in 6 hours but, honestly, my heart was set on 5:30, even 5 hours seemed plausible.

I’d raced in triathlons but being a slower swimmer most folks are out of transition when I get there so it is very different to roll up to 150 or so folks queuing up to ride. It was a lot of people but the weather was SPECTACULAR, sunny and calm, a cyclists dream!

Michel agreed to ride with me and I’m very thankful for his company and his knowledge gained from a few brevets he’s done with Randonneurs Ontario.

The event had promised a staggered start, by that they meant the 100 km event started at 9 am and the 60 km at 9:30. I had thought it would be like a triathlon where we’d start in waves like cyclists over 30 km/hr then 25-30 km hr, that kind of thing.

Like Sam mentioned in her post the course went onto the local bike paths, a busy time at 9 am on Sundays: runners and walkers and children OH MY!

Michel whipped past a turn off but we got on course. We passed a few skilled cyclists with flats early in the course and there were two women (names forgotten now….they were lovely) that we would see off and on throughout the trip.

The course was filled with lovely rolling hills and we got to the first check point at the Delaware speedway in 90 minutes. I was feeling good but the gravel from the road to the track meant walking a bit and riding in the grass. Roadies hate loose gravel and I didn’t want a flat as I knew the event 6 hr end time might be a challenge.

Back on the road, around kilometer 35, the sag wagon caught up with us. CRAP. I found out later his name was Adam, a super lovely human. He asked if Michel and I were the last riders, he was picking up the signs. Fuck. “YES. I’m the last rider.” The damn sag wagon. So I didn’t stop at the next check point. “Screw that, let those nice ladies be hounded by the sag wagon.” I thought as we rolled by.

We rolled along and I was feeing super pumped as we hit 50km and the Garmin said 2:30. Oh my goodness! Maybe I COULD do 5 hrs!! It wasn’t until kilometer 60 that Michel told me the time on the Garmin was moving time and my heart sank. I wasn’t keeping a 19.5 km/hr pace including stops, that was WITHOUT stops. fuck.fuck.fuck.

Just a kilometer short of the third check point a huge cramp shot down my leg from my groin to my toes. I pulled over and another sag wagon was right there, the fellow doing the 60 km route. “The next station is just 1 km away, do you need anything?”

I got some water and popped in some Nuun tabs I had with me. Michel knew this meant I needed to stop with water altogether, eat what food I had left and just keep to electrolytes and food, no more straight water. It was pretty hot, 27 C and high humidity.

The sag wagon driver for the 60km was SUPER nice, I think his daughter was driving with him and really, he was so kind, it suddenly became really ok that he was there. He only let me take his pic after the event as I begged him and told him he saved my ego from a total shit kicking.

sag wagon friend
The awesome MEC staff who gave me water when I needed it most. it took cajoling to get this pic and I’ve forgotten his name. Mark? oh dear.

When we rolled into the third checkpoint I called out “Is this where all the cool kids with the electrolytes hang out?” The volunteers and staff all laughed. There was a young boy and his dad riding the 60 km and I made a deal with him that if he rode really fast I’d try to catch him. Adam rolled up in our sag wagon so I knew it was time to go. I was feeling much better after eating a banana and a cliff bar in addition to the bar and bananas I had earlier.

Michel kept the conversation light but I knew I was slowing down, I had the Garmin and I kept seeing well below 20 km/hr so I would push harder. My perception was off and I had a headache. It was mild heat exhaustion, the rural roads didn’t offer much shade and the lack of headwind meant no free cooling that way either.

As we pulled into the last checkpoint the folks were chipper and Michel told me Sam and company and finished already. I knew I was an hour out at least and my heart sank a little further. I’d be lucky to make it under 6 hours and I was feeling drained. We rolled into London and I looked down 92.2 km. Oh I was so doing this! What happened next I swear is true. I biked for what seemed an hour and I looked down 93 km. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

The stop and go of traffic lights at the end was nothing short of soul crushing. I openly wept for no reason off and onto blind rage to sobbing, I was a wreck.

I rolled in with Michel, the last riders of the 100 km around 5 hours and 50 minutes to cheers and nice people.

Garmin

Moving time 5:21, which was much faster than my first 100km ride in April that was 6 hours moving and 7 hours in total. I chalk it all up to the weather and certainly not to any training regime.

my friend Adam
My new friend Adam, best sag wagon driver there is!

I was tired and grumpy after the ride but I felt the need to be a good fattie and smile for everyone. The nice ladies were still eating when we got upstairs and a couple of randonneurs Michel knew were there too.

I was embarrassed about being last but, like many friends pointed out, riders in my speed range stuck to the 60 km ride and I chose to challenge myself. I’m very grateful to my partner Michel for riding with me, I would have peeled off and headed home at a few points if it wasn’t for his playful companionship. I’m pretty lucky to live with a fellow cyclist. Our oldest son is peddling an ice cream bike for the summer and our youngest is ripping around town on his orange fixe. The family that cycles together stays together?

I was tired after the ride but not injured. The next day I was tired and had little patience but I didn’t even have a saddle sore. I can definitely do a 100 km ride at the drop of a hat and that feels pretty cool.

Guest Post

The therapeutic value of feminist self-defense, part 1 (Guest post)

Sam B4 Comments

by Grayson Hunt

Preamble/Warning: This is a post on the value of feminist self-defense training for survivors of sexual abuse. I will discuss in some detail a recent encounter I had with an abuser. I encourage readers of this blog to read my post alongside Ann Cahill’s recent post, “What (Feminist) Self-Defense Courses Can Do.”

Last month I went to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky for a day of boating and swimming with friends. At one end of the lake was an amazing waterfall. As I was swimming near the falls, I looked up and saw a man 30 feet above in the bushes on top of the falls. He waved. I waved back. I’m not up on “boating culture”, but apparently that’s what white people do when out boating: everyone waves to each other. Only he wasn’t boating; he had gotten to the falls by foot from the access road up top. So I stared at him, wondering what the hell he was doing up there. Then I realized he was masturbating. I was stunned. I turned away to swim back to the boat and I could feel shame sneaking into my chest and face. I began to feel responsible for what was happening to me, which was the very message I internalized after being sexually assaulted as a teen. But then something changed. As I was swimming away from this man I realized that if I wanted to say something I could, and that it would probably make things better for me. I needed my life to continue, and with as little shame and self-blame as possible. So I yelled. I yelled loudly, and he heard me. I pointed up at him and said three things:

1) “PUT YOUR DICK IN YOUR PANTS!”

The masturbating man retreated backwards away from the ledge, but was still in view.

2) “I CAN STILL SEE YOU!”

The man disappeared completely from view. Then, bizarrely, I finished with:

3) “GET A LIFE!” (Who says that?) As a recent transplant to the South I have learned that people down here don’t curse in public,, and I guess I didn’t want to attract any negative attention from the other boaters. I needed to keep my righteousness intact!

I swam back to the boat, and told my friends what had happened. They hadn’t heard me yelling.

What does this have to do with self-defense training? The encounter was a perfect example of “stranger danger.” It is an example of a woman defending herself in the face of a random attack, which is what self-defense training courses claim to teach women, where the value of defending yourself is to prevent the attack by a stranger. I took a self-defense training course when I was 7 years old. I thought we were learning to defend ourselves against robbers until it became clear that we were learning to defend ourselves against sexual predators (what a shameful realization to make in front of all your friends!). One of the things they tell you to do is to yell and make a scene, but also to kick, scratch, and gauge eyes (something I would have been too scared to do anyway).

Before I go further, I think we can and should distinguish between feminist and non-feminist self-defense approaches to sexual violence and abuse. Non-feminist self-defense courses actually communicate rather disempowering messages to women. The American Woman’s Self Defense Association, for example, communicates the message that an attack is inevitable, while The National Riffle Association’s “Refuse to be a Victim” training uses victim-blaming and rhetoric (are you the kind of woman who gets abused, or do you defend yourself?). Yikes. I’m not interested in the fantasy of single-handedly preventing rape, nor of possibly deflecting blame onto untrained women.

Feminist self-defense training is grounded in a political and social understanding of sexual violence. Feminists condemn the view that rape is a natural (if regrettable) phenomenon. One version of feminist self-defense training is called Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD). It is an alternative to the fear-mongering approaches espoused by non-feminist conservatives. Empowerment self-defense is informed by the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which states that “accountability for violence lies with the person who commits it and that everyone has the right to make choices about whether or not to fight back,” (my emphasis) and that “good self-defense programs do not ‘tell’ an individual what she ‘should’ or ‘should not’ do,” but offer “options, techniques, and a way of analyzing situations.” Feminist self-defense training rejects the inevitability of rape, the inherent aggressivity of the male body, and the inherent vulnerability of the feminine or female body. Feminist approaches to self-defense training view misogynist societal and institutional practices as the central causes of sexual violence, and offer options for acting within that reality. Feminist approaches recognize rape culture – the practice of shaming and doubting the testimonies and character of victims who seek criminal charges and police protection. So, what might a feminist, empowered self-defensive response look like? Well, I think my response is an example. Here’s why:

When I turned around and yelled at that masturbating man, I felt capable of externalizing my anger verbally, which left me feeling that I had a say in the matter; that I was not going to passively receive, but could active engage with, this man’s abuse. And the fact that I was able to act out of fear and anger at all (instead of shame) was different from when I was first assaulted by an acquaintance many years ago. That seems key – self-defense courses that teach you to kick and scream aren’t helpful when it comes to acquaintance rape, marital rape, date rape and family child abuse. (I really don’t think there is a form of self-defense training that can protect against those forms of abuse, which prey on intimacy.) Also notice that screaming at this man in the bushes *did not prevent* the abuse. But it did allow me to act and respond in ways that I couldn’t in the past (even after my initial self-defense training as a child). That’s what I would call its therapeutic value. Screaming this time meant that I was not paralyzed by a traumatic cycle of abuse.

I view the anger and resentment provoked in feminist self-defense training as accomplishments, not weaknesses. The value of feminist self-defense training is that it communicates the message that even within a culture of violence against women, you can act. As a survivor of violence, I find that message both therapeutic and empowering. Within a culture that silences victims’ and survivors’ stories, externalizing anger reverses the more common responses of self-blame and shame. It is in this sense, that I think feminist self-defense training should be measured. That is, for its ability to “thwart the cultural forces that keep women from experiencing their bodies as powerful” as Ann Cahill said in her recent post, and not merely by its preventative promise.

Resting bike face
Resting bike face

 

Grayson Hunt is a professor of philosophy at Western Kentucky University and an avid cyclist.

fitness

Why I Don’t Want to Be a Precision Nutrition VIP (But the Temptation Is There Anyway)

Tracy I10 Comments

Just to be clear: I am not signing up for Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating Program again.  Like any program, they have a lot of repeat customers. A few women from my team have been struggling to stay on track and, coming on seven months since our year ended, have either signed up or are considering signing up for the year of coaching that starts later this month.

As former clients, we were all sent a special offer — a VIP offer, no less. Instead of the regular price of $229 US if you pay monthly ($2199 US if you pay all at once), former clients are offered the special price of $137 US monthly ($1319 US if you pay all at once).

I have nothing against PN LE (other than that I despise the photo contest, which is their big promotional campaign that goes against everything they teach all year about what’s important, but anyway–see my post “When Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating Program Lost Me”). As I said in my review of my PN LE year, I learned a lot and developed some good habits. But I’m faltering a bit, feeling not on top of the habits.

And I’m not the only one. Lots of my “team” feel that way. And that’s what makes the offer so tempting. Something about paying the money provides an incentive to stay on track. Just having the knowledge isn’t enough.

In this respect, though I had high hopes for PN LE, it’s not so different from any other program or plan or (dare I say) diet. The info is good, the habits are great if you practice them, but it’s hard to practice them alone. And they know that. Like Weight Watchers and its Lifetime Membership status, PN LE’s VIP category counts on your needing them in order to succeed in the long run. It’s a huge frustration that they don’t publish any longterm results. They just play up the “after” pics of the people who are in the final two months of their PN LE year.

And the VIP price is a full $37 US (almost $50 CDN) more per month than I was paying when I signed up for $100 per month in January 2014. The “regular” price of $229 per month is unbelievable. It’s just not sustainable to pay that kind of money to “stay on track.” When does it end?

What makes me think that if I do it again I’ll be able to go it alone after that if I can’t do it this time around? Am I going to have to sign up for PN LE (and pay the ever-rising price) every time I feel as if I’m struggling? And what, exactly, am I struggling with? I don’t even know sometimes. The whole idea of intuitive eating? Keeping on top of the habits and the workouts? Life and the various challenges it throws my way?

So no thanks. It’s a tempting offer (because it’s so tempting to think that this time it will be different). The allure of leanness, as advertised in the “after” photos (that the clients are encouraged to have done by professional photographers, providing free advertising for PN’s recruitment purposes), can draw in the desperate (a feeling I am all too familiar with). But I don’t want to be pay a monthly fee for the rest of my life to to keep me on point.

fitness

Doing the Rounds

Tracy I18 Comments
Amanda Bingson, hammer thrower, USA track and field team.
Amanda Bingson, hammer thrower, USA track and field team.

This morning at 8 a.m. (because doctors meet really, really early) Sam and I met on the fifth floor of St. Joseph’s hospital to give at talk at Grand Rounds in the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department.

We were invited quite some time ago because our friend, swimmer, and guest blogger Dr. Savita Dhanvantari has taken an interest in our feminist approach to fitness and thought we might have something worthwhile to share with the group.

I ran into Sam in the corridor, both of us looking for the classroom in the Diabetes Education Centre, having parked our bikes at different entrances.  The hospital is a bit of a maze but we found our destination with a bit of time to spare, just enough to set up the slides.

About 20 people attended the early-morning presentation. The plan was that we’d talk for about 30 minutes and then have a Q and A.

Here’s what our objectives for the talk were:

1.     To consider some of the barriers to women for participating in fitness activities
2.     Provide a feminist context for the discussion, focusing on social attitudes, cultural expectations, conflicts between athletic and aesthetic values, assumptions about fitness and fatness.
3.     Engage in a discussion about how to perpetuate positive messages that encourage women to get active.

Now, to readers of this blog, all of this is old hat. But most of the people we were addressing aren’t readers of the blog. They’re MDs who don’t usually spend a lot of time in sessions with philosophers, let alone bloggers, as the main speakers.  Nevertheless, they were an attentive audience, with lots of nodding as we spoke.

We focused on five specific barriers:

1. Making fitness about weight loss

2. Focus on aesthetics instead of athletics

3. Gender gap in sports and fitness activities that starts in childhood

4. Unjust gendered divisions of work time and play time

5. Feeling excluded from gyms and other fitness spaces because of weight, age, lack of knowledge/skill, gender, clothing (a general perception of not belonging).

Then we gave a bit of a summary about why we consider our approach to be feminist. Apart from a consistent gender analysis, we think of our approach as feminist because:

  • we talk about social attitudes that create barriers for women’s participation in physical activities (e.g. boys are encouraged to be more active than girls, women’s fitness focuses on weight loss and thinness, etc.)
  • we talk about the social and cultural expectations and values that get in women’s way of pursuing fitness activities (e.g. obligations to put “family first,” gendered division of labor in the home shrinks available time, etc.)
  • we shift the focus from fatness to fitness, from the aesthetic of normative femininity to what the body can do

We ended by making a few recommendations for how to shift the conversation in ways that might be more encouraging for people who have never been physically active, ways that might make them feel more open to trying to introduce physical activity into their lives. Here’s what we recommended as positive messages:

  • Promote inclusive fitness
  • Starting small is okay
  • Find things people enjoy
  • Make fitness a family thing
  • Everyday exercise
  • Stop focusing on weight loss as a measure of success
  • Use your influence as MDs to shift to a message that works for more people

The Q&A was interesting for us. In addition to the usual sorts of questions about whether we thought things were any better today than, say, 30 years ago, quite a few people shared their experiences as clinicians. We heard the frustration they can experience when working with patients who, for their health, need to get active and yet don’t. But here’s where starting where they are, encouraging small steps, and being sensitive to the sorts of barriers that may stand in the way of people’s willingness to incorporate activity into their lives may make a difference.

My ears perked up when one of the doctors suggested that she was working towards getting rid of the scale in her clinic altogether (not quite there yet, but that it’s even being considered is amazing).

We just scratched the surface in the hour we were with them. There is so much more of a conversation to be had. Nevertheless, we appreciated the opportunity to talk to a group of physicians who work with people whose health is in peril and would improve if they became physically active. We hope our feminist approach made sense to them and gives them a different perspective, while also offering something useful and practical.

body image · fitness · swimming

Starting to swim again and the first trauma is bathing suit shopping

Sam B7 Comments

Trauma?

Okay, that’s an overstatement.

I know. It’s weird. I’m happy naked. I wear a bikini without any issues. I’m pretty comfy in my skin. Generally speaking I’m at peace with my curves, my rolls, my cellulite, and even my stretch marks. But put me in a sports store changing room with a stack of speedos and other name brand serious swim suits, and ugh. Just ugh.

I’ve written before about bathing suit anxiety and why it’s different than evaluating and reflecting on the way one looks naked or in lingerie.

And it’s weird too b/c generally I like the way in look in sportswear, in active clothing. I love my bike shorts and jerseys and sleeveless running tanks and lifting shirts. I even liked my rowing clothes. So while lots of women don’t like to play sports for fear of wearing tight fitting sports clothing, that’s very much not me.

I like being identified as an athlete and given my build that’s often not clear if I’m wearing dresses and everyday clothes. But put me in bike shorts and jersey and it’s clear I’m a cyclist.

So why the swimsuit angst? Again, I suspect it’s all about identity.

Consider the comparison class. Women who wear bathing suits like these ones I’m about to try on at Sport Check look long and lean. They’re swimmers. They look like swimmers. They don’t look like me.

With my bikinis I’ve managed to change the comparison class. My newsfeed has so many cute women in fatkinis that I’ve come to see the fat girl in bikini as normal. They do look like me. They’re everywhere on body positive and health at every size websites.

But racing speedos? Scary!

And actually, at the end of the day, I’m not sure my self esteem is any worse. I’m able to say, “It’s not me, it’s them.”

I have a long torso and short legs. That’s part of my preference for bikinis over one piece suits.

Maybe I’ll look for an athletic two piece and make that my lane swimming suit. Or maybe I’ll start to think of myself as swimmer again and think of myself as belonging in that Speedo. Maybe.

fitness

10K! WOOT!

Sam B3 Comments

image

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 now today, the big 10K

How our blog community has grown!

Why do we care? See here.

 

fitness

Road Trip! Sam, Tracy, and their badass friends and relatives head off to the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon

Sam B5 Comments

We are going on a road trip!  Saturday, July 11th is the2015 Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. This is perhaps our favourite event, certainly the one we talk about the most. Why? For both Sam and I (Tracy), it was our very first multi-sport event.  Kincardine is a small town on the Ontario shore of Lake Huron, about halfway up the lake. It’s got a beautiful harbor, excellent sunsets, and pristine beaches.

The Kincardine Women’s Triathlon is a well-run, relatively small event (they cap it at 300) that fills up quickly. We mean super-quickly. This year, it sold out within two hours of the on-line registration opening at 10 a.m. on January 1st. You have to be ready, at your computer, at 10 a.m., or you can pretty much forget it. That’s how much women love this event.

This year we’ve got a kick-ass group going. Some first-timers and some more experienced.  Some of us registered for the triathlon (and are crossing our fingers that the water is warm enough!), others the duathlon. We’ve rounded up some of the group to post about their feelings before the event. Sam put three questions to everyone:

What attracted you to the event? Is this your first triathlon, duathlon or your 50th? What do you hope to get out of it?

Here’s what we got back:

Nat (friend and regular weekend guest blogger):

I’m super pumped about traveling with Anita and Kristen for my third ever triathlon. Having volunteered last year I have a pretty good idea of the traffic flow. I’m not loving the idea of renting a wetsuit but the water temp is not looking promising. I haven’t really trained but hopped back in the pool last week and can do 500m non-stop so I won’t be winning any records but it will be in my comfort zone. As for the cycling, I’m super pumped having just completed a 100 km event. I know I have the endurance in the bank to do this mini sprint event. As for running, who am I kidding, I haven’t run regularly at all. It’ll happen, I’m not worried. My goal is to have fun, complete the race and eat a big meal after!

Anita (Sam and Tracy’s friend and Tracy’s running buddy):

I’ve been running for seven years now, with little to complain about. I am fine with my slow running pace because the camaraderie of practice runs and the collective joy at races more than make up for any individual personal bests. But I sense the same joy among my cyclist friends. In particular, there seems to be a lot of excitement around the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. I got curious after a friend told me that doing a Duathlon at the event was also possible (thereby avoiding the dreaded swim portion). And this is a short race! 3K run, 12K bike, 3K run. I could ‘tri’ it, right?  I signed up to experience something new in the company of some great women.

I am doing this in a very low key manner. No new gear at all, even when the guy at the cycling shop told me that my bike was too big for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever do a duathlon again, or a triathlon for that matter. What I do know is that right now I am loving the double workouts (bike ride followed by a run – Brick workouts, I’m told). I love the way they challenge my body in a different way than a long run can. I’m also amazed that I’m not as achy and sore as I usually am after a long run (duh, low impact bike rides!).  And I’ve found pleasure again in riding my bike. I’m not fast – my bike is heavy, my legs are short– but that’s okay.  Surprisingly I am also sort of enjoying the challenge of learning how to master of my gears; I still fall to the side on short, steep hills but I’ll keep trying ’til the day before the race.

Tara (Sam’s cousin in law):

I’m not a big cyclist.  I commute to and from work inconsistently a few days per week but I do push myself to go fast – my ride is 8K each way.  I have been quite vocal about my lack of interest in running anything more than 5K and I have the same lack of interest in doing long bike rides or races.

This will be my first duathlon and the Kincardine Duathlon allows me to do both a short run and a short bike race and pushes me to balance my inner rabbit so that I can perform each leg of the race strong….or at least that is my hope.  I’m not sure what to expect yet.  I have biked to work, run 3, 4 or 5K on my lunch and then biked home but I haven’t yet done a back to back 3-12-3 (run, bike, run) and am not sure how my body will handle it.

I enjoy being part of a large event and I like the energy and the camaraderie that these events bring.  I want to finish strong (with a good finish time based on my personal goal), fatigued (knowing I pushed myself hard) and happy!

Leslie (Tracy’s friend since they were 4 years old):

This is my first triathlon. I am excited to be sharing this with my long time friend Tracy, who inspired me to challenge myself for registering and training for Kincardine women’s sprint triathlon on July 11th. There have been numerous moments since spring that I have questioned if I can or even want to do this, but my ‘can do’ voice has won out. Regardless of the outcome, I feel it’s about showing up. I don’t care if I am last across the finish line, my goal is to finish. I have enjoyed the spin offs of increased fitness, better sleep, better fitting clothes, the ability to make healthier decisions. I now feel “unwell” if I do not do some sort of run, or cycle or swim every 2 to 3 days. Thanks to my friend Tracy.

Kristen (good friend of Nat’s who Tracy met at last year’s KWT and has been in touch with ever since — and she won a free registration!)

This year’s Kincardine Women’s Triathlon race will be my third triathlon and first of the year.  I did this race for the first time last year and am thrilled to do it again.  The whip cream on this treat is I happen to have won my entrance this year as part of their 10 year anniversary celebrations.  The cherry on top of that is I think I’m finally healthy enough to do it.

I loved last year so much that I had my heart set on it for this year even before I left that day.  However, this year has been one injury/ailment after another.  January started with tendonitis in both arms, wrists and elbow so double whammy.  Things progressed so badly I was not allowed to train and at one point I wasn’t even allowed to use my right arms – it’s a much longer story. The short version I was back to about 80% in May and could in earnest get active again, slowly.  Then a groin pull and a brutal time with seasonal allergies. With almost no training by mid June I really started to question if Kincardine was even smart to still be thinking about it.

Truthfully it’s been talking to Nat and reading Tracy’s and Sam’s posts these last few weeks that I realize I’m healthy enough to complete each sport even it’s not the pace I’d wanted to do or even that I did it last year, there is no reason to throw away a fun day with friends and activity.  My goal as always is the start line, the finish line, and anything in between is just bonus.

Tracy:

I love the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. I like that it is a short sprint triathlon in a beautiful location on the shores of Lake Huron with tons of local support all along the course. I’m a huge fan of women’s events and don’t think I’d have tried it in 2013 if it hadn’t been for women only.  In 2013 it was my first triathlon. This year will be my third KWT and my seventh triathlon in total. It’s super-exciting to be doing this with friends, including my childhood friend, Leslie, and also longtime friend and recent running buddy, Anita. What I want out of it this year is fun, fun, fun. It’s my only triathlon this summer (see why here). And I’d love to PR my swim and run. No comment on the bike (see why here).

Sam:

Like Tracy, I think this is a wonderful event. It’s lots and lots of fun. I blogged about my various attempts at the triathlon, the duathlon, and the relay here. I don’t have big running ambitions other than running rather than walking. I’ve been running-injured for most of the past year. (I hate knees.) But I plan to be speedy on the bike. I’d like to beat my past bike time which I did as part of a relay time. Given that I didn’t have to run first, that might be unrealistic. We’ll see. It’ll mean maintaining an average of speed of above 30 km/hr. I’ve done that on some time trial courses and this is pretty similar. No big hills.

cycling

Letting the racers race and the riders ride at the MEC Century

Sam B10 Comments

For years road cyclists have complained that we don’t have mass participation events like the sort that are enjoyed by the running community, events that have something for both the competors and the completors. Marathons are tough but they’ve grown in popularity with many people now running them to complete the distance, not to win the race.

Why not something similar in cycling? Then the Gran Fondo movement got going with the motto, “let the racers race, let the riders ride.”

I’ve done two of the Fondo events, Niagara Falls in 2013 and Halton in 2014. And I loved them. But they involve travel and they are expensive.

I was super happy to see last year that Mountain Equipment Co-op was starting to organize local century events. I did the first local one in October 2014 with my friends Dave and David. For that story, see here. They’re terrific community events, reasonably priced, and a lot of fun. There’s still some tension between the language, is it a race or a ride? , but really the MEC centuries seem to have something for everyone. See MEC Century ride hits London.

This time I rode with my partner Jeff, and friends Eaton, and David. Natalie rode with her partner Michel. And there were two other local fitness bloggers there, Cheryl of Happy is the New Healthy and Zig of Three Zigs and a Dog.

Zig even blogged about the event right away. She wrote, “Today I did my first 100 km century ride at an event organized by MEC London. I had been eyeing the event for some time, but was worried about my ability to complete that distance, and do so in a decent amount of time. After chatting with the staff in the store, I decided to give it whirl.

Well, I did it….and lived to tell the tale. It was a terrific event that had a big impact on me (a full recap/review to come in a couple of days). As a bit of a newbie road rider, I have been nervous to ride distances on open roads. Today, I got a lot of practice that left me feeling more confident in my riding abilities. And tonight, I am celebrating my thick thighs, instead of cursing them. They carried me far, and in better time than I thought. Tomorrow, I might be back to cursing them when I can’t walk, but tonight I will sleep well with this new adventure under my belt.”

My gang had a fun ride, we rode for three hours and fifty minutes (moving time) plus a couple of short pit stops. My favorite bit was the lap of the Delaware Speedway. I wish we could race bikes there. I also really liked that the organizers separated out the 60 km and the 100 km starts. For the 100 km pretty much everyone had a road bike and seemed comfortable with the mass start. No crashes or low speed collisions. The atmosphere near the front was happy, calm, and controlled. My least favorite bit was getting out of the city on the multiuse pathway. (I’ve written about my woes riding on the multiuse pathway here.) Too many people going too fast, amid geese, skateboarders, runners with ipods, and casual cyclists, for my taste. But I’m not a fan of riding on the path at the best of times.

Beautiful roads and great people out there. We all suffered a bit in the heat (my suffering was “extreme” according to Strava’s heart rate analysis, see below) and with managing to eat enough while riding. That’s hard too in the heat. The last 10 km were tough and we all appreciated the lemonade and frozen yogurt at the finish. I skipped the bar where the event ended as I don’t drink but it looked like people were having a lot of fun on the patio.

Instead, I opted for a soak in the hot tub and time on my back deck with Nat, Michel, David, and our friend Rob who helped make the day possible by driving teen athlete son to Waterloo for rugby practise.

I’m hoping this is the start of a more participatory bike culture with racing and riding at all levels. Lovely to see so many people out there. Let’s do it again MEC London!

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My Strava “suffer” score…based on heart rate zone analysis

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Sweaty and tired post ride selfie!

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Bikes at rest after the 100 km

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The start!

Kayak Love: the Early Days
Weekends with Womack

Kayak Love: the Early Days

catherine w2 Comments

These days, seems like several of the Fit is a Feminist Issue bloggers are engaging in a variety of summer water-related activities. Natalieh just blogged about her love relationship with swimming here. Samantha, too, is testing the waters of her local pool. Her recent blog about her relationship with swimming is here. Tracy has blogged about the sheer joy of swimming here.

I agree with Tracy about how swimming can bring back those childlike feelings of freedom, a time to “shed or at least park my worries”, as she said in her blog. For me, swimming feels like a way to defy gravity—when I was younger, floating or swimming underwater, I pretended I was flying. And these days, floating in the middle of Walden Pond, looking up at the sky, I feel like I’ve stepped outside of time, suspended in a moment of pure satisfaction.

walden

But in practice, I’m not a great swimmer; my breathing cadence is not as easy and regular as it should be, and although it can get better with practice, I’ve not yet done the work to get to that point. Sometime…

But right now, my attention has been caught by kayaking (again). I blogged here about some experiences with kayaking years ago. Thanks in large part to the efforts of my friend Janet, I’m back in the cockpit again! We signed up for a 2-session intensive sea kayaking course that includes navigation, sea rescues (less dramatic than it sounds), and techniques for handling kayaks in the ocean. It starts in a week and reports will be forthcoming.

But today was all about the kinder, gentler side of kayaking. My friends Janet and Steph and I rented kayaks for a lazy trip down the Charles River on July 4th. I packed a picnic lunch, and we set off. There was no agenda other than a bit of forward progress and a lot of idle conversation. Much of it involved pointing out the many ducks, geese, herons, egrets (and one swan) whose routines we were rudely interrupting. We didn’t even bother taking many pictures, although Janet snapped this one of Steph and me:

kayak-gals

The Charles River twists and meanders its way throughout greater Boston, so much of our 8-mile round trip was by parks (both municipal and trailer) and also alongside wetlands, industrial areas and people’s backyards. We saw a Dunkin Donuts on our way back, so pulled the boats ashore at a park across from it for our picnic lunch, a pit stop, and quick caffeine hit. This was not exactly an experience of nature at its most pristine. Still, urban outdoor experiences have their virtues, among them that they are easily accessible to lots of people, many of whom we greeted as we paddled.

When we returned the boats a scant 4 hours later (the time had floated lazily by), the kayak outfitter pointed out to us that IF we purchased a season pass, then if we booked this trip here, we’d break even on the cost of the pass. And we could use it for as many times as we liked, taking out single kayaks, double kayaks (thus bringing more friends into the mix), canoes, and stand-up paddle boards (an activity I’ve yet to try).

In our post-trip, floaty, holiday euphoria, how could we argue? We all three ponied up and duly purchased season passes. And I’m happy to report that no buyer’s remorse has set in—in fact I’m psyched to get back out there on the water.

In case you’re interested, here’s a short article on some of the health benefits of kayaking. This is good news, of course, but today, it was all about the kayak love.

peace-kayak

fitness · Sat with Nat · swimming

I love to swim!

natalieh (she/her)2 Comments

Yoga feels really great and I have nice lateral flexibility that makes it fun. I’m a bit better on my bike and feel good in the saddle. Running, well, I run because it is an effective way to meet some goals. I mostly tolerate it. I enjoy walking but I LOVE TO SWIM!

intruder-clipart-swimming-icon-md

It’s the deep breathing, the muffled sounds, the splashing, all of it. I’m lucky enough to live in a city with several outdoor pools and the ripples of sunlight across the bottom are mesmerizing, the epitome of summer.

The past week I got out 3 times. Last night with Sam, Mallory, Terry and Phyllis. We each did our own thing in the lane and it was fun to see us bobbing along in the leisure lane.

It’s just a week away until Kincardine and I can’t wait to get out with my friends!