Month: October 2022

A person doing calf raises on both feet while standing. Is the soleus pushup the key to health? Catherine has thoughts
fitness · research

Is the soleus pushup the key to health? Catherine has thoughts

catherine w4 Comments

In case you’ve been outside or busy with other things non-internet this weekend, a) good for you; and b) a dense but very interesting research article came out; and c) this article has made otherwise sensible science journalists go hog wild. Researchers Mark and Deborah Hamilton and Theodore Zderic found:

…the human soleus muscle could raise local oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours without fatigue, during a type of soleus-dominant activity while sitting, even in unfit volunteers. Muscle biopsies revealed there was minimal glycogen use. Magnifying the otherwise negligible local energy expenditure with isolated contractions improved systemic VLDL-triglyceride and glucose homeostasis by a large magnitude, e.g., 52% less postprandial glucose excursion (∼50 mg/dL less between ∼1 and 2 h) with 60% less hyperinsulinemia. 

Very roughly, this means:

  • Our big calf muscle can work continuously for long periods, without fatigue
  • This process doesn’t use much glycogen, as it’s not intense muscular activity
  • But, it has some surprising beneficial effects (insert technical stuff here about V-LDL triglyceride levels, glucose release after meals, and insulin levels related to insulin resistance, a condition that is considered a precursor to type-2 diabetes).
  • Also, this is a surprising result, which is cool.

They were also nice enough to provide an illustration. So, if you like pictures:

The research results, complete in illustration.

But of course, the internet wasn’t satisfied with my explanation from above. Oh, no, that boring information won’t do at all. Here’s what they had to say instead:

Doing this small movement while sat at your desk can boost your metabolism and burn fat.
No no no–they’re not saying we should all do calf raises to burn fat.
groundbreaking discovery of special muscle can promote fat burning while sitting.
Definitely no no no– they didn’t discover the calf muscle; that once was well-known already.

The producers of the second article also got a little confused about where the “special muscle” was:

So many things wrong here, but for starters: the "special muscle"-- large calf muscle-- is not around her waist, but rather in her lower leg. The picture shows a woman with a tape measure around her waist. Sigh.
So many things wrong here, but for starters: the “special muscle”– large calf muscle– is not around her waist, but rather in her lower leg.

To be clear, the researchers tried very hard to stave off a new Tik-Tok calf-raise-at-the-desk craze. They say in the article:

This study was not a clinical trial. This was an experimental physiological study, conducted in highly controlled laboratory conditions. This study also did not test effectiveness of a free-living lifestyle intervention. 

And this:

One should be cautious when interpreting the relative effectiveness in subcategories until follow-up studies with a large sample size are performed. The practicality will also depend on implementation in large parts of the population. The practicality will depend in part on evidence that people are capable of successfully performing SPU contractions outside of a laboratory without EMG feedback. There is a need to test when this could be integrated within the lifestyle without disrupting various seated behaviors.

But the science journalists ignored all this. All they saw was that maybe this– the fancy lab-telemetry-enabled calf raise– could potentially reverse the death-encroaching effects of sitting for too long. So they wasted no time in putting that message out to the public. Even though one of the articles showed the illustration below, it still trumpeted the result as instantly available to office workers everywhere.

I'm not sure I can even do email under these conditions, much less serious work. What about you? The picture shows a person hooked up to machinee with a face mask measuring CO2 output in a lab.
I’m not sure I can even do email under these conditions, much less serious work. What about you?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with calf raises. I do them on airplanes to help circulation (and also pass the time). But the soleus is not the “special muscle” that the internet is all in a swoon over. It’s just another one of our hard working body parts that help us get through our day.

Readers, did you see the calf-muscle-fever articles this weekend? Were you swayed for even a minute? I didn’t think so….

fitness

October Surprise: Finding the Joy in Walking

amandalynnstubley3 Comments

This month I have something surprising to report – I’ve been walking to work, 2-4 times per week, and I have been loving it. This comes as an absolute surprise to me! My first writing on this blog was about my relationship with walking. The link is here – let me tell you the short version though – I have always struggled with walking or doing anything “exercise-y.” Most of my life when I’ve done something active, it’s been a matter of dragging myself.

My husband has walked to work for as long as we’ve lived here. It’s about 2.5km to the university where I now work, and I remember when we moved in 20 years ago, it seemed incredible to me that someone would walk to work that far. I just didn’t grow up in a world where people chose to walk. More recently, hasn’t seemed inconceivable in the abstract, just for me.

In fact what got my walking started is my new job is at the university where my husband works. We have one parking pass for our car, and often have to drive a child somewhere before school for an activity. (THAT is another story – one teen has music at 7am, four days a week!). So when I started having to get to work but my husband had driven in early, I was a bit stuck. I decided to walk.

Honestly, that decision was pretty scary for me. That might sound a bit ridiculous, but really, I felt like it was way beyond something that I could just… do. But it was the only option that seemed reasonable so I set out.

The first day was a disaster that involved me bailing on the walking and deciding to talk a bus. But then the busses were already full of students and didn’t stop for me. I ended up walking anyways but being 10 minutes late for work (terrible in a new job). The next time I walked I decided to give myself 45 minutes. I was entirely shocked, because I made it in 28 minutes, and I didn’t feel overly out of breath or unable to manage my day.

photo of river with steam rising from it, trees are yellow and red with fall colours. A bridge railing is in the foreground.
Here’s a photo of the Thames River yesterday – I’m looking forward to seeing it in winter!

In fact my hips (operated on in 2021 and 2019) were feeling quite good. After a couple of walks I started paying attention to my Fitbit and realized it is only about 3500 steps to work. Most days I walk close to 8,000 steps, mainly from dog walking. If I’m hiking it would be maybe double that. Obviously with the walks to work it’s also 10-12,000 steps.

So I guess my takeaway message this month is that what previously seemed insurmountable is actually, in some ways, not even that remarkable. I can walk my dog through the neighbourhood but the idea of walking-as-commuting method seemed far out of reach. Truly that’s a mind-bender for me, and has me wondering what else isn’t nearly as hard as I have believed it to be.

Selfie Photo of Amanda Lynn smiling with red glasses and a blue jacket, in front of a building with grey stone pillars.

As it happens, this week I didn’t have a chance to walk to work. I was nosing around for a chance but our schedules meant I had to be driving and I was bummed. Friday morning I made a point of walking and wow did it feel good. I’m almost 52 years old now. I didn’t really expect to be taking on new physical challenges at this point in my life, but here I am!

This is me at the top of the hill at the end of my walk to work, feeling a little out of breath but victorious.

fitness

The lights are bright …

marthafitat55

We are moving steadily into fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Soon we will roll back the clocks and it will be dark by the end of the average workday. Factor in rain, sleet and snow, and both mornings and evenings will be darker earlier and longer.

Rainy window at night with lighter blue lights in the distance. Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash

This isn’t a post about depression and managing SAD, although there is way more written about it now than when I first learnt about it 30 years ago. No, this post is about safety and outdoor fitness.

I used to be a runner. My favourite time to run was early in the morning around 6 ish. But when I first learned to run, it was in the evening and in a group. Nonetheless, one of my running classmates gave me a safety vest to wear after the first week as I had nothing reflective. Even in a group, safety and visibility was paramount.

A few years after, when my knees said enough, my running days converted to trail walking. Other family members took up walking or biking to get to work or school. I could walk mid day but other family members encountered less than stellar conditions before nine am and after 4 pm in the fall and winter.

One evening I was leaving the supermarket and encountered a group of runners wearing a variety of neon tubes that changed colour. I was entranced. The runners were lit up like Christmas trees and there was no overlooking their presence.

I rolled down the window and asked where such wondrous items could be found. On the Internet of course. Thus informed, I went home, searched, purchased, and duly waited for its arrival.

There’s any number of styles and sources available now. Mine is easy to put on and easy to use. Not only do I get a choice of colour, I can also set the lights to flash intermittently.

Now I am fully aware that I cannot rely on my light-up vest to be 100% responsible for my safety. Like any person who identifies and lives as female, personal safety is second nature when engaging in the activities of daily life including fitness. Individuals who identify and live as men have only visibility to worry about for the most part.

For example, if you are a runner, you may think about changing your route or letting someone know your route and the usual time it takes for you to complete it. You may decide to rearrange your work schedule so you can work out at mid-day instead of the early evening or morning. Perhaps you plan your workouts to coincide with the best bus schedule or maybe you have been eyeballing the new safety alarms that screech louder than a toddler thwarted on the playground.

We worry about safety when we take on new fitness activities. Have you got someone to spot you with weights? Have you learned how to use the machines properly? Do you understand how to adjust for modifications in yoga or Pilates? But how many of us engage in safety practices without consciously thinking about them?

My decision to purchase a light-up vest was a conscious safety decision. My need to be visible and safe was not just rooted in wanting to avoid being hit by a car, but it was linked to all things I do to be personally safe, many without consciously realizing why I was doing them.

I’m curious: what are some of the things you do to be safer when the seasons change? Let us know in the comments.

MarthaFitat55 lives and works in St. John’s, NL.

Getting My Courage Up For a Spooky Ride
fitness

Getting My Courage Up For a Spooky Ride

Diane Harper

Do one thing every day that scares you. I don’t follow Eleanor Roosevelt‘s advice every day, but I did last week When I went for a night-time bike ride. I haven’t ridden at night since sometime in the 1970s when I was trying to beat curfew: even then, it wasn’t by choice.

The ride took place on a very dark and rainy night, and our little group rode to a part of the city I had never biked through before.

There were puddles. The paths were covered in leaves so that it was hard to see where the edges were, let alone stay on my side of the yellow line. Wet leaves are slippery. I was super nervous about sliding and falling.

At first I had minimal peripheral vision because I had my rain hood so far over my face to keep my glasses dry. My bright headlight failed in the first half hour; thankfully I had my old one as a backup.

I survived and actually had fun. It was quite magical riding between trees that arched overhead to form a green/red/yellow tunnel. We even stopped to admire Halloween decorations.

Halloween-themed lights in various colours glow on a dark night, with bicycles and cyclists barely visible in front

That night ride was enough of a confidence boost that a few nights later I rode downtown to an evening ballet performance.

I am as prepared as I can be: helmet reflective vest, and cycling pearls.

Diane Harper lives in Ottawa, where she commutes to work by bicycle and is trying to live a mostly car-free lifestyle. Longer rides, just for fun, are a relatively new adventure.

Two women riding Icelandic horses, red and orange fall leaves in the background. Charity riding– on four legs, not two wheels or feet
charity · fitness · Horseback riding

Charity riding– on four legs, not two wheels or feet

catherine w

Many of us have done charity rides or runs. We blog about it frequently. Samantha most recently did her PWA Friends for Life Bike Rally, as well as other more spur-of-the-moment charity riding. Amy has walked for Alzheimer’s research, Out of the Darkness (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and North Shore Juneteenth Association. Nicole has raised money running for the Canadian Diabetes Foundation as well as the Odette Cancer Center and spinning for Michael Garron’s Ride for Mind in Toronto. I’ve done the Bikes not Bombs ride in Boston a bunch of times, and others of us have done lots of charity events. Diane, our aqua-blogger (among other things) does a vampire swim every Halloween, with a donation to Canadian Blood Services (actual blood) or the Red Cross (money instead). Here she is with some water-loving friends, all dressed up for a swim a few years ago:

Diane (far right, with bandage from actual blood donation) and friends getting ready for their vampire swim.
Diane (far right, with bandage from actual blood donation) and friends getting ready for their vampire swim.

However, my friend Felicity did a charity ride recently, using a mode of transport that none of the bloggers has tried: on horseback. She and a bunch of other equestrian philanthropists did the Ride for the Cure in Woodstock Vermont, raising almost $40K for breast cancer research. She (and almost 50 others) rode 10 miles on a beautiful October day.

Felicity (right) and Alice (left, on their Icelandic horses, with bright orange and red fall leaves in the background.
Felicity (right) and Alice (left), on their Icelandic horses Segall and Hrollur.

Segall, Felicity’s horse, got a pink ribbon on his hind flanks in honor of the day.

Segall, having a snack, sporting a painted pink ribbon for breast cancer research.
Segall, having a snack, sporting a painted pink ribbon for breast cancer research.

Other horses were decked out for the occasion.

This pink tutu'ed horse and rider won for best pink outfit.
This pink tutu’ed horse and rider won for best pink outfit.
This woman's horse had things to say during her interview with the local news.
This woman’s horse had things to say during her interview with the local news.
Bigger and smaller people took part in the charity ride.
Bigger and smaller people took part in the charity ride.

If you want to watch a short video clip about the event, check it out here. Felicity herself says it was an easy, fun ride. If I find myself with horse transportation next October, maybe I’ll do it, too.

Looking this up online, there are (unsurprisingly) other horseback riding events for charity around. One of them is coming up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (where I graduated from high school): it’s the 41st annual American Heart Association Beach Ride, scheduled for early November. Wish I were there, with saddle and trusty mount. In the meantime, this will have to do…

Pretty impressive horse costume for bike, with rider dressed as jockey.

Hey readers– have any of you done horseback charity events? This was the first one I had heard of, but apparently they’re out there…

fitness · strength training

Checking in after total knee replacement surgery, 7 weeks out: Sam is returning to her Activities of Daily Living

Sam B2 Comments

First, I had my six week follow up with the surgeon last week. Everything looks good. Next check up is by phone at 3 months and we’ll talk then about the schedule for my right knee.

Second, the physio recommendation from the surgeon says to focus on five things: extension and flexion (bending and straightening of the operated knee), strength training, balance, gait, and a return to the Activities of Daily Living. It actually said “return to ADL” and I had the look up what that meant.

I think that means stairs, dishes, laundry, etc. I’m walking about the house now loudly proclaiming, look at me doing an activity of daily living. The thrill will wear off I’m sure.

Third, in addition to physio and my daily living activities, I’m busy with aquafit two or three times a week. I’m also riding my bike on the trainer 15-20 minutes a day. Cheddar and I are walking again. He’s such a patient lovely dog and great walking at my speed, whatever that speed is, and not taking off after squirrels.

Chase and Cheddar. My mum’s other dog Charlie is a little camera shy.

Fourth, I’m back at work and feeling happy to be re-engaged with the wider world outside my house, my left knee, and physio. The trick will be not over extending myself. I had the option of staying off work for 12 weeks, rather than 6, and so I am thinking of the first 6 weeks back as a chance to say no to some of the weekend and evening dean stuff and involve other people.

Sam in her office

I’m trying not to fret about late fall, and dark November days. I’m going to all the holiday parties this year, no matter how early. I’m going to enjoy the hot tub and sauna at my fancy new gym. It also feels good to be back in my office clothes and not just wearing shorts, t-shirts, sneakers, and hoodies. I’m also very much looking forward to extending my time on the bike. Right now, I’m spinning most evenings for 20 min or so, while watching campy movies with my son Gavin. But soon I’ll back on Zwift doing some of the slow social rides.

The tree in my front yard that’s gloriously red in October, stick like in November.

Here’s me checking in after Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week Four, Week Five and Week 6.

A short post about not very much
advice · fitness · illness · rest · self care

A short post about not very much

Christine Hennebury

I’m writing this on Monday night.

I’ve spent the day feeling under the weather (and appropriately it has been very VERY rainy) and trying to sort my to do list into:

– things that I feel up to doing today

-things that must be done today (by me or by someone else)

-things that can most definitely wait

-other stuff

Resting, very low-key yoga, and an online meeting made the cut…a lot of other things did not.

I can’t, however, tell you how I decided which was which. (It’s not a secret, I just have no idea!)

How do you decide how much rest you need when you don’t feel well?

How do you decide what stays on your to do list and what you can let slide?

PS – Here’s a useful reminder I drew a few years ago. You don’t even need to feel sick to take it to heart.

A photo of a small square card on a patio railing. The card has been painted yellow and has dark blue lines extending outward from the centre to create the impression of a top-down view of a flower. ​Blue text on the drawing reads “you don’t have to be and do all of the things. Choose the ones that feel right, the ones you know are yours. (That’s enough)”
Image description: a small square card on a patio railing. The card has been painted yellow and has dark blue lines extending outward from the centre to create the impression of a top-down view of a flower. Blue text on the drawing reads “you don’t have to be and do all of the things. Choose the ones that feel right, the ones you know are yours. (That’s enough)”

camping · cycling · fitness · holiday fitness · holidays

Cycling PEI: A Solo Trip 

Sam B1 Comment

by Mallory Brennan

Last spring I booked a number of flights for work and, as a result, started getting targeted ads for all the airline sales. So when a tremendous deal popped up for flights to Charlottetown (PEI) I booked flights for September, put the dates in my calendar and promptly forgot about it. 

Then summertime arrived. That’s when I work at Rainbow Camp, an overnight camp for 2SLGBTQ+ youth. This year was our first summer back in person since 2019, as well as our first time running a full summer of camp. This was also my first summer as co-director (shoutout to my amazing co-director Cal!). September was the last thing on my mind.

All of a sudden, my trip was three days away and all I had planned was my flights. No accommodations booked, no routes planned, no rental bicycle booked, no meal plans, no list of things I wanted to do, none of the stuff I would usually prepare in advance. Then all of a sudden it was the day before my flight and still nothing… The night before I left I hastily booked a rental bicycle and booked accommodations, picking places that seemed like a reasonable distance apart. Everything else I could make up as I went along, right?

Five Random Observations Post Trip:

  1. I’d forgotten how much I love the freedom of multiple day solo trips. I could wake up whenever I felt like it, stop for rests whenever I felt like it, spend hours reading, eat when I felt like it and basically do whatever I felt like. (It helped that I “planned” my route conservatively so I was never in a huge rush to get to my destination!)
  2. Rail Trails are not all flat. I knew this in advance but somehow forgot. Cue several hours of slogging along the trail, feeling like you aren’t going anywhere until you see a cyclist going the other way with a grin on their face and you realize you’ve been slowly going uphill for the past several hours.
  3. The roads in PEI are excellent for cycling. I did about ⅔ of my trip on the Confederation Trail and the rest on minor highways. Things I noticed about the roads:
    1. There were large paved shoulders on most roads
    2. Cars were clearly used to seeing cyclists and gave me lots of space
    3. There was signage for cyclists as well as for motorists 
  4. I much prefer my own bicycle over my rental bicycle. While I considered bringing my bicycle, I opted to rent a bicycle and panniers for the week instead. While it was a perfectly serviceable bicycle, I prefer mine. (I own a fancy touring bicycle that was a graduation gift the first time I graduated university so to be fair, the bar is high.)
  5. I enjoy having a baseline level of fitness (and possibly youth on my side) that allows me to pick up a rental bicycle, carry all of my stuff (including camping equipment!) and spend five days riding without any training. While I didn’t do any super long distances (my longest day was 70km), I also did absolutely ZERO training and in fact, hadn’t ridden a bicycle at all in the 12 months prior to this trip. 

PEI sunset
Rail trail
Nice wide shoulders and quiet roads
Mallory selfie on her bike
Tent!
Me, approaching on two wheels on flat woody path. Catherine gets acquainted with her new e-bike
cycling · fitness · gear

Catherine gets acquainted with her new e-bike

catherine w

With some relationships, you just swan dive in– no hesitation, no second-guessing, no shilly-shallying about. Other relationships, however, take time to develop. They require nurturing and cultivating in order to blossom.

Yes, I’m talking about my new Lemond Prolog e-bike and me. Oh, we both came into it with the highest of hopes– meeting in the Lemond factory on a hot sunny day in eastern Tennessee. Honestly, after taking the first tight corner with it, smoothly as silk, I was in love. We set out together back to Boston, with me driving and it resting in the back the whole way.

Once we got home and settled into the routine life of a woman and her new bike, I started to notice things. Of course I switched out the saddle for one I prefer, but the fit wasn’t exactly what I was used to. The Lemond Prolog is a flat-bar bike, with a monocoque one-piece handlebar and stem, which means it can’t be adjusted. I did get the wide wide handlebars cut at the factory, but they need to be much more narrow. After riding it a few times, it was also clear I need new grips with bar ends to offer more options for hand placement (I’m more used to the downturned handlebars of a road bike).

The bike with my saddle, new bottle cage, built-in fenders and lights, and too-wide handlebars. But it’s a beauty.

So far I’ve ridden it on the road, varied off-road paths of packed dirt, some muddy leafy sections in the woods and a teeny bit of twisty but smooth flat singletrack. Sarah was my companion for a lovely fall ride when I was visiting Ontario recently.

Sarah and me, happy and in the woods on bikes.
Sarah and me, happy and in the woods on bikes.
Selfie with Sarah, where you can see a little of the splendid fall color.
Selfie with Sarah, where you can see a little of the splendid fall color.

There’s a network of lovely paths that go by the rivers in Guelph and into some woodsy areas. My Lemond and I enjoyed trying them out, guided by Sarah and her trusty gravel bike.

Me, approaching on two wheels on flat woody path.
Me, approaching on two wheels on flat woody path.
Heading into a curvy bit of woodsy path.
Heading into a curvy bit of woodsy path.
Where's Womack? I'm in the background riding in the woods.
Where’s Womack?

I’m remembering how much I enjoy riding off-road; even gentle off-road paths are kind of thrilling for me, I admit. And the Lemond is definitely up for it. The carbon frame is strong and feels very responsive. I may get gravel tires for fall/winter riding, which is another option.

Two things I experimented with that I need to learn a lot more about:

  • which level of assist makes sense for me on different kinds of terrain;
  • how the battery will do on different rides with different speeds and assist levels.

There are three levels of assist (plus a no-assist option) with the Lemond. I’ve mainly played around with the first level of assist, but I haven’t taken on more demanding terrain yet. I’ve also not taken any very long rides, so battery power hasn’t been an issue yet. I bought a battery range extender that plugs into the bike and sits in a bottle cage (very handy-dandy design, by the way), which I expect to use on longer, faster and/or more demanding terrain rides. So I’m fully equipped, and the Lemond is ready to go with me as far as I can take it.

Will we be speedy? Will we ride long? Will we ride hard? Yes, to all of these. But when and how– I’ll be finding this out over the next months.

For now, we’re taking it slow. I’m enjoying the process of just getting to know each other. For the future– que sera, sera..

Hey readers– any of you taken on an e-bike recently? Or not recently? How have you settled on speed, duration, distance, etc.? I’d love to know how things went for you.

competition · death · Fear · fitness · health · motivation

Pain and the Human Playground (a mini review)

Sam B4 Comments

We watched the first episode of a fun documentary series at my house the other night, The Human Playground. It’s on Netflix, narrated by Idris Elba. There’s a book project of the same name released to coordinate with the Netflix series.

Cover of the book The Human Playground: Why We Play

We watched the first episode, Breaking the Pain Barrier which included a marathon in the desert, bullfighting, a brutal bicycle race, and ice swimming.

What was striking was that three of the four athletes featured were women

The first was Amy Palmiero-Winters who raced in the Sahara Desert, in Southern Morocco in the most painful marathon in the world, Marathon des Sables, French for “marathon of the sands.” It’s a six-day, 156-mile-long ultramarathon, equal to six regular marathons. One marathon a day for six days over blazing hot sand and yet there are hundreds of participants each with their own personal reasons for taking on this very painful challenge.

Needless to say we weren’t tempted and I’m still shocked that there are that many participants. It’s not the back to back marathons that make it look impossible but the conditions including the bright sun, the heat, and the scorching hot sand.

You can watch the documentary or read An Amputee’s Toughest Challenge Yet: Her 140-Mile Run in the Desert in the New York Times to find out more about Amy Palmiero-Winters’ motivations.

Amy racing across the hot red sand of the desert

Next up was cycling and the story of the famous very dangerous Paris-Roubaix race and its first women’s event.

The episode follows Ellen van Dijk, one of the first women to ever compete.

Why is this race so dangerous? It includes sections on ancient cobblestones, the bicycle’s worst enemy. This race is so bad it’s called the Hell of the North. There are numerous inevitable crashes and broken bones and damaged bikes. It looks terrifying to me.

Ellen van Dijk with mud and dirt on her white jersey and helmet and her face

The episode also includes the story of a woman who swims below the ice in bone chilling temperatures. And there was a dude who did some sport that involved risking his life dodging horned animals while unarmed. I confess I tuned out about during that bit. Not because the athlete was a man but I’m not a fan of sports that involve animals in combat.

Back to the theme of pain and suffering.

Now I’ve written about athletes and pain before. See Are athletes masochists?, Greetings from inside the pain cave, and Why are painful workouts so much fun? (And other questions about suffering and athletic performance). Also Sam thinks about pain, endurance, and performance (Book review in progress).

And I’m someone who has enjoyed her fair share of punishing workouts and pushing myself. That said, this show did not really help me understand the athletes who seek out the extremes. The ice swimmer’s story involved recovery from sexual assault and she sought out very painful (and very risky) extreme cold swimming as a way of dealing with trauma. But I worried she was going to die beneath the ice from passing out from the cold the whole time I was watching her swim. I thought, “get a therapist!”

The scorching sand marathon? No way on earth. And even the bike racing–the least deathy of the activities and most in my wheelhouse–didn’t appeal even though the worst case outcome involved broken bones and not death and there is skill involved in not crashing. The bike race and the horned animal avoiding sport at least looked like there was more skill involved than just your body’s ability to endure the extreme conditions but still, no way on earth…

Watch it and let me know what you think.

I asked Sarah who watched with me if the show either helped her understand the athletes’ motivation or tempted her to undertake such painful and dangerous sports. She’s promised me her two cents in a separate blog post.

Stay tuned!