But, but, but..I did get to try my friend Alexis‘ folding bike. When she’s not riding her bike she is theorizing about social justice at Carleton University. She is touring around on sabbatical soon and taking the bike with her. I was impressed with the bike. It was quicker than I thought it would be. The very upright ride works well with regular street clothes. I’m riding in a leather jacket, skirt, and tights in the photo above.
I don’t quite have a need for one but it did pack up so very light and tiny that I’m tempted. Definitely, the Brompton is now on my wish list for my fleet.
Thanks Alexis!
Have you ridden a folding bike before? What did you think? Like, love, or not impressed?
We’ve blogged here before about power posing, speaking out in its favour.
Power posing is the subject of one of the most popular TED talks of all times. Quickly, the idea is that assuming powerful postures increases your confidence through its effect on testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain.
Here’s the talk:
But now there is a qualifier to the TED talk which reads, “Some of the findings presented in this talk have been referenced in an ongoing debate among social scientists about robustness and reproducibility.”
You can read Amy Cuddy’s response here. It’s an interesting case study about science and its popularization, also about scientific studies and what they do and do not show.
What scientists haven’t been able to replicate in subsequent studies is the affect on testosterone. When I shared the articles linked below on my Facebook page, friends chimed in that the felt more confident power posing and so there, it works. And that may well be true. That posing in a confident position makes you feel more confident sounds right.
Fake it til you make it?
Maybe not.
After all, the psychological finding that everyone knows to be true, smiling will make you feel happier, turns out not to be able to replicated either.
Last Sunday was a highlight of my cycling/social fall schedule: it was the day of the annual Orchard Cross Costume Race (along with all the other regular races for those not in costume). For those of you not familiar with cyclocross racing, it is a timed race on a closed course of 1–2 miles, combining dirt, grass, sometimes pavement, and a variety of challenges: barriers that require getting off the bike and jumping over them, hills too steep for most to ride up (called run-ups), stairs, mud, sand pits, and lots of twisty-turny maneuvering at speed.
photo by Jonathan Nablephoto by Jonathan Nable
This race took place at Applecrest Farm, winding through their apple orchard. This makes it one of the most scenic cross races ever.
photo by Jonathan Nablephoto by Jonathan Nable
The real appeal of this event, though, is the costume race. It takes place on the cross course itself, although it’s modified to take out some (but not all) of the most challenging bits. And they treat it in many ways like the other races. You have to go register:
I am the yellow banana costumed person, and my friend Steph is the inflated T. rex.
Then it’s time to pin numbers on your jersey, or in my case, banana costume:
Before lining up, there was time to observe others in their festive costumes:
My friend Karin as alien Elmo with the author as banana
The author and friend Stephtricked out dragon bike with ghoul
Before long, though, it was time to head to the start line. There were at least 60 people registered for the race, so there was some jockeying to find an optimal spot. For my friend Steph (the T. rex), her spot was on the side, because she could hardly see; she was limited to a clear plastic window (in the T rex. neck). A bunch of us were fairly sight-impaired, but that added to the energy level.
The countdown began: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… and we were off! And, doing our best to get around the course without a) falling over; b) running into someone else; and of course c) expiring from all the laughter and joking on the course. A speedy bunny passed me, yelling “your costume is very a-peeeeling!” hahahahahahahaha. A racer in a very elaborate skeleton costume for him and his bike passed me, calling out “I’m on your right.” I replied, “thanks, I can’t see anything either left or right”. He said, “yeah, me too. I wonder why I create such an elaborate costume when I can’t see a thing”. We both chuckled, and he went ahead.
The fact that we had this much time for a conversation during a race suggests that it was a rather mellow and lighthearted affair. Here are a few more examples of riders having fun:
It was almost as fun watching the race as riding it; at least this group’s attitude seems to suggest so.
photo by Jonathan Nable
Confession: the above photo is actually a group of fans during another race. Several of these folks in fact rode in the costume race (I know them). But it conveys the fun and frivolity, so please permit me some literary latitude…
For me, riding in the costume race was a great way to reconnect with some of my racing friends who I don’t see so often. It was fun (and a reality check!) to ride my cross bike on an actual course again. I forgot how important good bike handling was in order to navigate mud, bumps, berms, barriers, and tight turns. Even though I was enjoying myself, I was pushing very hard (you can’t really pedal in a leisurely way on a race course).
I also reconnected with my (former) racing self. It’s been very motivating to remind myself that I enjoy active and organized group cycling environments. It’s heartening to realize that I actually remember how to ride a bike in more demanding conditions. This doesn’t mean I’ll return to racing, but it does mean that I can and want to return to more ambitious rides– group rides with faster folks, off-road rides on my cross bike and mountain bike, and some winter riding too. Not a bad return on a total investment of $15 for the banana costume and $25 for the registration.
Sam recently forwarded this New York Times article to me, about the increasing numbers of women who are choosing to “live flat” after mastectomy, forgoing the reconstructive surgery that would give them artificial breasts. I’ve talked here and here about my own choice to live flat after a double mastectomy for breast cancer, and I continue to be completely comfortable – even enthusiastic – with “life after breasts.”
What boggles my mind is that the health professionals – including surgeons, oncologists and nurse practitioners – helping women through breast cancer treatment don’t see seem to realize that for some, the choice to live without breasts can be an incredibly satisfying one.
That’s certainly been my experience.
I love not having breasts anymore. I’ve never for one moment regretted my decision to have a prophylactic (preventive) mastectomy of my left breast at the same time that my right breast was removed for breast cancer. I feel sure that I would have been very, very unhappy with only one breast – or with reconstruction of one or both breasts.
In my case, I just didn’t like my breasts. They’d been quite large for most of my life, and I was uncomfortable with the way my body moved and felt with large breasts, as well as how I looked. If you’d come up to me 20 or 30 years ago and told me that I was going to get breast cancer, and asked if I wanted to have my breasts removed, I would have jumped at the chance even back then. I loved (and still love) being a woman; I just didn’t like having large breasts.
Lucky for me, I did get breast cancer, which came with a complimentary breast removal.
I love the way my body looks now. (With clothes on. Without clothes, I obviously have two huge scars across my chest, and a lot of the subcutaneous fat was removed on the right side where my cancer was, so that side of my chest is a little sunken. But I’m okay with how I look naked.)
I love how it feels to move through the world without 5 pounds of tissue hanging from my chest. Sports (running, calisthenics, martial arts) feel so much freer now. Before my surgery, I was always conscious of that weight bouncing uncomfortably up and down whenever I ran or jumped. I struggled to find sports bras I liked, and struggled even more to find sports bras that were easy to get on and off.
Not having breasts is fantastic. I wear tank tops under my shirts most of the time, just to keep my scars from being visible when I bend over in a low-cut top. The straps are also a visual clue to people that I’m a woman, which I found especially helpful during my chemo, when I was bald and looked very masculine. (I have never worn breast prosthetics, BTW – the idea of having fake breasts just doesn’t appeal to me at all.)
My mom met a woman my age at the cancer clinic one day, and this woman had had a single mastectomy when she’d wanted a double (without reconstruction). She was psychologically quite traumatized about her situation, and angry at her surgeon for refusing to remove her second breast.
I’ve also met another woman like me, who chose to have a double mastectomy and is living flat, and like me totally loving it. I wish I could counsel other women who are facing this choice, and let them know that not only can you live healthily with no breasts, but you can actually thrive – feel better than you did before.
I attended a workshop this past week headlined by Dr. John Arden, a Psychologist and author. His regular folk friendly book is called Rewire Your Brain (Arden, J. B. (2010). Rewire your brain: Think your way to a better life. John Wiley & Sons.). In it you will find all sorts of interesting things about brain anatomy, neurochemistry and the oft referred to “brain plasticity” that is all the rage in much of the literature on changing behaviours or understanding why behaviours may be hard to change.
There was a lot about the workshop I liked and a little chunk I hated. I will get that chunk out of the way first because it’s relevant to the blog and then move on to the things I liked that are also relevant to everyone.
Brain health, mental health and physical health are all related (no surprise here). He spent a lot of the time explaining the importance of “neurogenesis” which is essentially the production of new connections in the brain. Making new connections, especially in the front part of the brain and the parts of the brain important in regulating stress, contributes hugely to resiliency in mental health. His position is that without a functioning capacity to create these connections, people have a very much harder time recovering from stress and trauma, leading to various anxiety mediated and mood disorders.
So what inhibits neurogenesis? Aging, Chronically high cortisol, Pot and Obesity.
What promotes it? Excercise, Fasting, Fewer calories consumed, Food Quality (especially the presence of high quality Omega 3) and Weight loss.
Sigh. What is wrong with this list? He didn’t highlight the studies that he based this stuff on but I did pay very close attention to how he talked about these things. The thing that made me very miffed was his constant and consistent conflation of “Obesity” with lack of exercise and poor food choices. He went on for a while about the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by fat cells and talked about metabolic syndrome. It is believed that these chemicals are a big part of why our moods go to hell when we are chronically stressed and not doing enough good things for the body. The articles you see about depression really being about inflammation are based on this science. These are medical facts. But he basically said “tell your clients they have to lose weight to get better”. Great, a prescription with a 95% failure rate. Set ’em up for failure, I’m in. He didn’t acknowledge that BMI measurements of obesity often don’t mean squat. He didn’t acknowledge that fat people can be fit and lacking any other markers of metabolic syndrome. He even said (astoundingly) that if you are going to put on weight, you should put it on as a pear shape instead of apple, as if this is a conscious choice. I was so angry at this point I couldn’t speak. And what made me angrier was the fact that he was clearly utterly well meaning and a victim of the blank spots in his particular silo of knowledge. ON TOP OF THAT, he was talking to an audience of mostly women.*FEMINIST HULK SMASH*
Okay, enough of that. The good news here, however, was the reiteration of the connection of exercise with improved mental health outcomes. Exercise has been shown to have epigenetic effects on the brain, which means it promotes turning on gene expressions related to nuero-plasticity. It promotes the production of various growth factors in the brain which means more connections are formed. It promotes activity between those connections and, in a fairly dumbed down nutshell, the activity (especially in the left frontal cortex) allows for better mood, learning and adaptivity to adversity. Basically, it’s magic.
However, it is important to note that, like all magic, initiating it requires a clear intent. Lots of my clients tell me they exercise and nothing happens. They do not magically feel less depressed or anxious. That is because exercise is really good at creating optimal conditions for changes but if you just go brood about all the stuff you usually brood about or, more realistically, go back to your dysfunctional life and relationships without questioning them, it’s still hard to change. The role of therapy is to help people change both their physical condition (by encouraging more self care through movement, better quality food and sleep) and to help people reframe their understanding of what is happening relationally in their lives. Sometimes that reframing can be a challenge to a singular poor relationship. Sometimes it can be a more daunting challenge to a systemic adversity that blocks them in the form of racism, class inequality or sexism to name merely a sliver. I understand better than ever how these things work together now.
I wrote a sternly worded evaluation that took up the whole back page regarding my critique of the way he flung the word “obesity” around like we all knew what we were talking about. I hope he takes it to heart.
My partner was awarded a trip to Punta Cana! Wahoo! So Saturday morning I’m airborne and heading south to a week at a resort.
I’ve never chosen a trip to the Caribbean before. I have complicated feelings about flying for leisure, the environmental impact of all inclusive resorts and wealthy people’s entitlement about seeing/consuming the world. I didn’t let these complicated feelings keep me from joining my partner on the trip.
The last time I flew for personal reasons was before my now fifteen year old son was born. The last time I flew in the military was a year or two after that. It’s been a long time. I do love flying. It’s the sounds and smells of jet engines, the crackle of radios and the magic of escaping the earth through sheer thrust. Even if you know the math jet planes just don’t look like they should fly and yet they do. It’s marvelous.
During my time in the military I discovered I’m delightfully prone to GI distress. I once had a crippling boutin Florida. Sad really. So this is how I travel now:
Let’s start at the top left with a Diva cup because, thanks to middle age, any day can be a menstruating day. Next is antacids and antidiarrhea to manage my increasingly sensitive guts.
Next row blood pressure meds, these are simply not optional. Solid sunscreen for my face and a big tube of sunscreen. Preventing sunburns is just smart. Heat stroke, blisters and pain are just not necessary for my fun in the sun week. Note that the sunscreen is followed by after sun gel for the inevitable sunburn. Ibuprofen for menstrual cramps, sore back from a strange bed and, hopefully, to relieve any strains and sprains I might sustain from vigorous activities. I’m really hoping for a sex injury on this trip. It would make a great story.
Finally, antihistamines round out my travel pack. I’ve hay fever and am scent sensitive as well as allergic to most animals. I’m allergic to cats so much that when I hug my cat loving friends my eyes swell up. Yup. I’ve become this person who packs for every possible health concern.
There was a time I would pack a couple changes of underwear and two shirts for a week. I didn’t appreciate the ease of traveling when young without prescriptions or unpredictable periods and I think I just didn’t have a big enough bank of bad experiences to know all the ways things go wrong for me.
I’m so very fortunate to go on this awesome trip. I’m ready for fun in the sun with a wide brim hat and sunglasses.
My partner wants an active trip and I love swimming, snorkeling and kayaking but I’m also looking forward to sleeping, eating and drinking without caregiving or being in charge of meals.
It’s a once in twenty years kind of experience. Very different from my usual vacations to New Brunswick and I can’t wait to tell you how it goes.
The “dad bod” has been in the news again as Yale anthropologist Richard Bribiescas said that, contrary to what the heteronormative media will have you believe, women (code for “straight women”) are more attracted to the “dad bod” than the muscle-bound ripped men’s physique we thought they were attracted to.
What’s a dad bod? In the Maxim article I read on this, they identified it as a men’s body type associated with lower levels of testosterone, less muscle mass, and more fat.
Sam has already posted about dad bods and mom bods. And she already said “what about the mom bod?”
Now, I don’t know how solid the research is that says straight women are more attracted to this kind of men’s body type than they are the six-pack type. But let’s say there’s something to it.
My first reaction is, it’s not fair! I mean, like Sam said, there’s just no equivalent permission for women to relax into aging in quite the same way, permission to carry more body fat and less muscle. I mean, we do. But it’s a perilous and much lamented road to travel. Whatever else you might describe it as, “more attractive to men” is not among the descriptors that spring to mind.
My second reaction is, this says a lot about straight women. I’m going to assume that not all of them/us think the same way or are drawn to the same things. But I like to think that it means women are more realistic and accepting. Maybe it even suggests that we’re less superficial. And for sure it’s evidence that we take more qualities into account besides the physical.
Now of course you can’t draw many conclusions about someone from their bod alone. Not at all. But the fact that there are a range of attractive body types that men get to have while still remaining attractive to the women who would love them is less about the objective desirability of the dad bod itself and more about men’s desirability and attractiveness having a much more diverse set of metrics than women’s. It’s not just about where they rank, looks-wise, on a scale of 0-10. Apparently (and I’m paraphrasing a Maxim article here, not providing primary source material!), women think of the dad bad as indicative of faithful husbands and better fathers who are going to stick around. And those qualities are valued.
And that brings me right back to my first reaction: it’s not fair. Fair would be if body diversity and desirability without vigilant attention to the physical was as available to straight women as to straight men. Fair would be if women’s desirability to men covered a larger range of qualities that went beyond the physical.
A final point about this kind of report. Does it have to be that one type is better than another? Why can’t it be, as I have interpreted it here, that we’re open to more diversity…that we are open to being attracted to dad bods as well as six packs? I mean I get it, we want to reassure all the non-six pack dudes out there. But we don’t need to diss other types to do that, right? I think of the counterpart for women. It would be amazing if we started reading that more fat and less muscle was also found attractive in women. It doesn’t have to be more attractive than the thin, lean look to be cause for celebration.
Over at Impact Ethics blog I wrote a thing about women, wine o’clock memes, and feminism. Readers of this blog know that I’m bugged by wine marketing that relies on an appeals to women’s liberation, “me time,” and sisterhood as bonding over booze. It’s also the connection to running and yoga that gets me too, which along with women’s health, is the tie-in to this blog’s theme. Go read it and say hello over there!
There are friends who are looking forward to the end of daylight savings. Tracy is one of them. She can’t wait. Not just for the extra hours sleep but also because she hates the morning dark. The morning dark doesn’t bother me so much. Partly I think that’s because I’m an early riser. It’s always dark when I get up.
Me, it’s the evening dark I dread. More specifically, it’s riding home in the dark I really dislike. Come fall and winter evening dark, I find it hard to get out after dinner. Partly this is because I have Fuchs Dystrophy, a condition that makes driving at night tricky. You can read about it here, The four eyed athlete. It’s also the subject of a profile over at The Disabled Philosophers blog. The short version: Some nights are okay. It’s clear and my eyes aren’t acting up. But if there is rain and my eyes are going through a rough patch, I don’t drive. City streets are better than highways but dark country roads are the worst.
So if I have a friend who can drive me about, to Aikido, to cycling class, whatever, I’m good. Otherwise, I often choose to stay put. It’s not good for me and I start to feel a bit isolated. Why don’t I bike? I’m not sure actually. I ride home from work in the dark. But there is something about setting out after dark, in the winter, that seems worse. I should just get over that.
There are also fewer people in my house these days and that’s a struggle too. The son who usually watches shows with me, like Game of Thrones and BoJack Horseman is away at college. And the daughter who usually comes to Aikido with me and cooks wonderful vegetarian dinners is away on the west coast.
I have to say I’m nervous going into winter. Truth be told, outdoor sports aside, I’m not a big fan. Cold and dark aren’t my favourite things. I have to work to get out and make an effort. In the last few years I’ve tried fat biking and outdoor skating, in addition to winter running, snow shoeing, and cross country skiing. My big plan this year is to learn to downhill ski. Kim and I might even take classes together.
How about you? Are you with Tracy or with me? If we have to have less light, does it matter to you when it occurs? What strategies do you have for battling the winter blues?
So I thought I’d share my day and talk about the kinds of movement it includes.
It began with dog walking with my dog Cheddar and my mother and her new dog, Charlie, last night. When I track steps, I’m amused. It seems responsible dog owners don’t need FitBits. I get my 10,000 steps a day pretty easily in dog walks.
After the dog walking was evening grocery shopping. That’s on my side of the household responsibilities lists.
Then next up–after my mum helped me carry all the food in and put it away–there was some watching Black Mirror with my teenage son. There was also some snacking involved. He’d just finished his first shift at his new part time job.
Zzzzz. 7.5 hours sleep. I’d like more but on weekdays that doesn’t happen often.
The next morning began with more dog walking, a quick trot around the neighbourhood turned into an hour when I ran into a friend and her dog. It was a beautiful warm fall morning and we chatted about our different attitudes to Halloween. She got dressed up and decorated the house. Me, I was “meh” and I’m ready to move on. No candy at my house this year.
But after the extended dog walk I was now rushing to make it to class on time. Speedy bike ride to campus but with no time to change. I carried my bike up two flights of steps to my classroom and here’s what I was wearing to teach. It’s November. They know me by now. It’ll all be okay.
Class over, time for lunch. I wheeled my bike over to the grilled cheese sandwich truck and ate lunch while watching the annual Pumpkin Drop. It’s thing the engineers without borders do each year to raise money for charity.
I couldn’t find a video of this year’s pumpkin drop but this is from last year.
Work, work, work all afternoon.
But then at 5:00 pm, I got to ride home in 20 degree sunshine. Whee!
Next up, Aikido. One hour of hot, sweaty hajame training. That’s where you do the same technique over and over again without a break for an extended period of time. Exhaustion is one way to get you to relax and think about form, efficiency, and blending with your partner rather than making it work with strength.
It’s been a pretty good day, all in all. Dog time, family time, and lots of movement. The challenge? Finding people to train with in a more determined kind of way. I would have rather ridden my bike than gone to Aikido given the weather. But I hate riding alone. And my usual Aikido buddies were both away too.
Lots of everyday movement in my life but I need exercise companions for the tough stuff, especially for winter training.
