And while in theory I like the idea of winter as a quiet restful at home low key season, nestled on the sofa with a stack of books, thanks to the pandemic I’ve spent quite enough time at home. Thanks to recovery from surgery I’ve also spent enough time on the sofa.
I also know it’s better for my mental health and energy levels if I keep moving. Rest sounds good but it doesn’t always make me feel good.
But when to workout? At 6 am in the dark? At 6 pm in the dark? Neither seems to be working right now.
It doesn’t help that my big busy job is also extra busy right now with lots of days starting at 8 and going into the evening.
The one time that’s been working for me is lunch hour. Meg and I meet for personal training then and I’ve almost always got lunch hour booked off. It’s also nice to get out of my building and walk to the gym when the sun is shining. Yes, there are complications around work clothes and gym clothes but end of term makes that less of a conflict. I’m going to try to make the lunch hour workouts a thing in December. Wish me luck!
When do you workout in the winter? Does the dark affect your ability to get out in the evening?
Last week, a new study came out on the effects of high-intensity exercise on metastatic (late stage) cancer. Medical news sites and medical Twitter have been all abuzz about the results. Take a look:
From Medical News Today: metastatic cancer risk reduced by as much as 72% with high intensity exercise.
For those of you who know me or have read some of my critiques of medical journalism, you might think I’m about to lower the boom on the journalists and twitterers who are very enthusiastic about the results of the study. I’m not doing that. Not today… But, a little unpacking and clarifying of what we now know (and don’t know) about exercise and cancer is in order.
Please, take a seat. But I promise not to be long.
First of all, what were the researchers looking for in this multi-part study?
Researchers hypothesize that exercise-induced metabolic reprogramming of organs transforms them into metastatic-resistant metabolic micro-environments by limiting nutrient availability to the cancer cells thus creating a metabolic shield.
That is, they were investigating whether the metabolic effects of exercise might increase the likelihood that our organs would consume more glucose than usual, depriving tumors of the nutrients they need to grow and migrate.
Spoiler alert: the results of their study suggest a “yes” answer.
Exercise protects against cancer progression and metastasis by inducing a high nutrient demand in internal organs, indicating that reducing nutrient availability to tumor cells represents a potential strategy to prevent metastasis.
But (and as RuPaul says, it’s a big but), the details of the study show the results to be promising but still preliminary.
from the study:
Epidemiologic data from a 20-year prospective study of a large human cohort of initially cancer-free participants revealed that exercise prior to cancer initiation had a modest impact on cancer incidence in low metastatic stages but significantly reduced the likelihood of highly metastatic cancer.
In a 20-year prospective study of 2734 men and women in Israel, researchers found that high-intensity exercise lowered the relative risk for more advanced/metastatic stages of cancer (e.g. spreading to other sites in the body) 72%, compared to low-moderate exercise. Note, this is relative risk, not absolute risk. And, this is population-level, not taking into account other factors that strongly influence individual baseline risk. One more and: the researchers say that much more research is needed to know more about which particular cancers respond to increased exercise. All of this is TBD, if incredibly promising.
The study also included an analysis of this effect in mice.
In three models of melanoma in mice, exercise prior to cancer injection significantly protected against metastases in distant organs.
Note, this experiment was done with melanoma, one form of cancer. It’s well known that different cancers set up shop, as it were, in the body in very different ways. Again, the effects of increased exercise on other cancers is still TBD.
There were other analyses done, and if you’re up to the task, you can access the whole paper here.
The authors themselves issues a bunch of caveats at the end of the article. For instance, the literature doesn’t show how long the tumor-starving effects of intense exercise last. They also point out that high-intensity exercisers, like Olympic athletes, are not themselves immune to various cancers. This suggests to them that “a personalized exercise regime for each patient might provide better clinical outcomes.”
Yes, I fully concur. Until we know more– a lot more– we can conclude that all forms and intensities of exercise are, in many ways, good for health ad longevity. A Healthline article on this study agrees:
High intensity also might not be possible depending on age and other factors. For these people, even moderate exercise still has a protective effect against cancer, Hicks said.
“Hundreds of epidemiological studies, comprised of millions of participants, provide strong evidence that regular, daily activities like brisk walking significantly reduce the risks of many cancers,” he said. “These results show 10 to 20 percent risk reductions for bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal adenocarcinoma, and renal and gastric cancers.
Well, yay for that! Reading those words has given me enough energy to maybe do this high-intensity move:
Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador, November 21, 2022.
The weather is chilly (1 degree Celsius, 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit), there’s a wind warning in effect (80kmh with gusts to 95, 49.71mph with gusts to 59mph)
There’s no rain here at the moment but otherwise this feels about right. Image description: a cartoon drawing of people and animals being blown around in the wind. Text on the image reads “It’s just a little rain and wind. We’re fine.”
My house is noisy from the wind but it’s warm and cozy.
I’m a bit off track because several of my usual Monday things got changed and because I spent a good part of the day in waiting mode.
Why waiting mode? Tomorrow is my youngest son’s birthday and his present was due to arrive sometime today. Our address is often mixed up with a similar address nearby so I was on alert in case it was delivered to the wrong place.
Waiting mode is one of those situations where a neurotypical person (at least one who wasn’t anxious) would probably be able to put thoughts of the possible mix-up aside and carry on with their plans for the day. And if I had a strict schedule today, my neurodivergent brain *might* be able to do the same.
Alas, my schedule today was flexible. So between that flexibility, the loss of my usual Monday anchors, waiting mode, and the windy weather, I spent my day puttering from task to task.
And then, once the package arrived (yay!), I wanted to settle into my work.
That’s when this process started:
This could be a depiction of my brain during the following though sequence – if all of those formulae were related to the timing of going for a walk. Image description:GIF of a woman looking slightly to one side of the camera. She looks intent and focused while a series of mathematical formulae appear in white in front of her. The formulae calculations for area and volume of various geometric shapes.
Khalee would need to go for a walk later so my brain was telling me that I probably wouldn’t want to dive too deeply into whatever I was doing right now.
So, maybe we should walk now. After all, the weather isn’t going to improve until tomorrow – and at least it is still light out.
But if I walk now, I might not be able to switch into work mode when I return.
So maybe I should skip the walk, right? After all, the wind warning clearly states that outdoor objects should be tied down. It could be *dangerous* out there, couldn’t it? Stuff could be flying around.
Hell, Khalee and I could blow away, couldn’t we?
Yeah, it’s often like this inside my head – it’s not all that fun.
But then, luckily, I saw a post on Instagram from someone local who was out for a walk, wearing their mask because it was the only way to keep warm – and probably the only way to catch their breath.
That’s when I remembered that I have fleece lined pants to wear over my jeans. And I have a warm coat and my hatphones. And a scarf my sister made. And I could wear my favourite mask.
So, I bundled up, got Khalee into her harness (today was apparently NOT a day for a dog to wear a sweater – I have to give the pup some autonomy, don’t I?) and headed out.
And, like most things – it was far worse to think about than it was to do.
It was stupid windy out. It was quite cold.
It is hard being things glamorous all the time but I have gotten used to it – ha ha! Image description: a selfie of me wearing my green winter jacket, a black hat, my glasses (which are a little steamed up) and a black and white half facemask that has a depiction of a martial artist on the white side. I am also wearing a blue scarf that my sister made for me. My eyes are almost completely shut, the wind is blowing my hood backwards, and my hair is sticking out on one side and blowing in the wind as well.
But it was manageable. And it wasn’t totally awful.
And Khalee and I were both so very good for dragging ourselves outside even though 50% of us were not keen on it.
I mean Khalee is automatically good, obviously, what with being a dog and all, but she bravely forged ahead into the wind until I called out to her so I could take a photo.
Image description: Khalee, a light-haired dog on a neon yellow leash and a blue harness, looks back toward the camera as she stands on the edge of an asphalt path next to some grass. Her right ear is blown backwards, her eyes are slightly squinted, and her fur is ruffled from the wind.
So yeah, she’s super-good but I’m pretty damn good too – overcoming so much resistance even though it would have been much easier (and quite understandable) if I had decided to stay home.
(And, I’m sorry to report, that I did indeed feel better after being outside and zipping through my walk. It was worth getting out for Khalee’s sake but, damn it, it was apparently also worth it for my own sake, too.)
Anyway, long story short (too late!), Khalee and I both get gold stars for our windy walk.
Image description – two hastily-drawn gold stars, one each for me and my dog
How about you?
How have you triumphed over resistance lately?
Was it worth it?
Would you like a gold star? Khalee and I will share!
PS: Happy Birthday to my youngest son, J, who is my baby but is not, apparently, actually a baby at all any more. In fact, he’s a newly-minted adult.
It’s 12 weeks past knee replacement now and I’ve riding my bike on the trainer, with the seat even at its usual height. It seems like I’ve got pretty good range of motion in my left knee. I’m ready to ride outside (just once or twice even) but the weather isn’t cooperating. I don’t want to risk falling on the snow or the ice. It’s also very cold out there. Brrrr.
I might have to wait until spring if I don’t make it somewhere warm to ride bikes this winter. But in the meantime I am bike browsing and thinking about my options.
Let’s recap last week’s ups and downs while recovering from knee replacement surgery (12 weeks ago).
I began last week declaring that I was back to training again and not just doing physio. Life could be about more than range of movement and balance. What this means is that I started riding in Zwift again, watching my avatar and the related metrics, not just watching My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or Never Have I Ever. But then I managed to hurt another muscle. See Sam discovers another weird and painful muscle .
So I spent part of the week back on crutches and back to all the physio. Bah.
But that setback didn’t last long and now I’m riding again in Zwift actually watching the screen, which means that I can see I’m gradually getting faster.
Here’s my time on the Fuego Flats spring three times since surgery:
But just as it’s nice to see I’m getting faster, I’m nowhere near as fast as I was. That’s to be expected but I am trying not to care! I’ve ridden that particular sprint segment 171 times and my fastest time was 41 seconds.
The fastest time ever for a woman is 27 seconds. My fastest time puts me in the 16,479th spot of the 127,073 women who’ve ridden it.
I’m trying to take pleasure in getting faster in my recovery from surgery while not caring too much about not being as fast as I used to be and not being as fast as some of the women out there Zwifting,
Wish me luck in the return to bike training and wish me luck finding comparison useful and motivational in some contexts and ignoring comparisons when they’re neither of those things.
Today is Sunday, November 20. At the moment, I’m keeping track of numbers. For example:
how many workouts I need to finish up the 222 in 2022 challenge (46)
how many days until my sabbatical is over and I return to teaching (60)
how many minutes I have to finish this post before I have to get in the shower and go to church (30)
I’m also reading about numbers. A popular science news outlet reminded us this week of the results of a 2020 study showing that we need to do 30-40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity to offset the mortality risk conferred by sitting all day (at work, etc,) Here’s an excerpt:
The analysis found the risk of death among those with a more sedentary lifestyle went up as time spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity went down.
“In active individuals doing about 30-40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, the association between high sedentary time and risk of death is not significantly different from those with low amounts of sedentary time,” the researchers explained in their paper.
Okay, so now I guess I need to count the number of minutes I sit during the day and then count both a) the level of vigorousness of my physical activity; and b) how many minutes I do that activity in order to reduce my risk of early death.
Or not.
What? What about the whole “risk of early death” thing? Don’t we need to step up our game to avoid the grim reaper?
The big message in the article (both the science one and this post here) about counting, is that everything counts. Here’s an actual scientist saying so:
“As these guidelines emphasize, all physical activity counts and any amount of it is better than none,” said physical activity and population health researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis from the University of Sydney in Australia.
“People can still protect their health and offset the harmful effects of physical inactivity.”
I have to say, I’m not loving this idea of counting the minutes I’m sitting as edging closer to death, and the minutes I’m engaged in physical activity as dragging myself back from the brink of oblivion. That sort of motivation doesn’t work for me. But hey, YMMV.
I like the idea that I can consider a 30–40 minute break (or 2 15-minute ones, or 3-4 10 minute ones, however you count it is fine) as a pleasurable time for me to do something I like– yoga, walking, strength exercises, short bike ride, spinning on the bike trainer. It’s not offsetting risk so much as offsetting work with play, concentration with relaxation, obligation with liberation.
Maybe some of these contrasts will appeal to you. They make life seem more pleasurable and less perilous to me.
And now, I must go– my number is up, and it’s time to shower!
Welcome to November! This month I’m thinking about alcohol – it seems like between shorter, colder days in Canada, and the approach of the ‘holiday’ season, I often get inundated with articles like the ones in this list. Celebrating “the holidays,” it seems, is synonymous with drinking booze.
In truth, I have been thinking about alcohol for quite some time. Before COVID changed my life, I was a busy performer in a local band, playing bars and other establishments. I’m not usually a big drinker, so I felt pretty agnostic about it. I would have a drink or two at a gig, especially because we were often given a pitcher or two of beer on the house. I don’t have a problem with alcohol, so it didn’t bother me for the most part. The truth is the music industry in North America is closely tied to alcohol sales.
When COVID came, it must have been close to two years where I didn’t set foot in a bar, let alone play music in one. At some point, maybe six months into the pandemic, I started hearing about overconsumption in the news and in my social media feeds. I definitely was indulging in potato chips, but I was surprised that alcohol might be appealing to folks stuck at home. Then I started thinking about how much I was really enjoying not being around alcohol consumption as a main activity, and how truly uninterested I felt in having a drink.
I don’t really know why that is. I actually love well paired wine with food, and a nicely mixed cocktail, but I can go two or three months without having a drink and not notice. One thing I do notice is that often I get a throbbing headache from drinking wine or beer (although not with food, or in most social situations!).
About 90% of the time, I just can’t be bothered to drink alcohol. It’s not a ‘treat’ for me and it’s not comforting. (That’s a cookie and a cup of hot tea with milk for me!) Occasionally I will enjoy a drink, but I really don’t like is a sense of obligation to drink – the implied or even overtly stated requirement to join in on the “party.” I also can’t stand the staggering, out-of-control energy that sometimes comes in the crowds.
Increasingly, I just avoid settings like that. I do love that there are growing non-alcoholic ‘fancy’ drink options and cultures, although I haven’t really explored those either.
I’m writing about this this month because, as the holiday drink season is upon us, I want to be a voice that encourages healthy and intentional consumption of alcohol. And as women, I want to call out the culture that pushes women to drinking and sees us as a “growth market” for alcohol sales. This is not a new position for this blog – Sam and others have written about it here: Women, Wine and Alcohol and No Alcohol for 40 Days.
I am likely to have a few glasses of wine over the Christmas season, and perhaps a whiskey sour. If that’s your thing, great! But I hope that all of us can make conscious and intentional choices on what we consume. I would love to be a part of a push-back against this boozy trend.
I’m searching “ways to make physio less boring” and found this.
“1. Link the rehab exercises to something that you love. If you’re in the habit of watching TV in the evening, do your exercises while your favourite shows are on and never allow yourself to watch them unless you are doing your exercises while watching. In my case, I pick some of my favourite albums and only listen to them if I’m doing a workout at the same time.
2. The “brussels sprouts” method. In other words, get them over with as quickly as possible before moving on to something that you love. Don’t think about it, just do it. No dessert until all the sprouts are gone.
3. If you are in the habit of exercising regularly, create pairs of exercises where the second one is an exercise that has been assigned to you by your therapist. For example, if you are doing sets of pushups, follow each set with a gait exercise rather than just resting between sets. This is called the “bi-plex” hybrid method and is my personal favourite.”
I’m already doing 1 and 2, so I think I’ll give 3 a try, work some of the physio into a routine of regular exercises that I’ve been missing.
In the last couple of weeks, Sam and Catherine have written about the no-buy project they started July 1. I joined in, because why not? I have been working on being a more aware consumer, looking at limiting my carbon footprint, and reducing waste, recyling more, and repurposing what and where I can.
I have so far stuck to my goal and made only two unplanned purchases. After I rolled my ankle pretty badly in August, I was advised to wear shoes with proper support for my active days. I ended up buying a pair of heavy duty walking shoes and a decent pair of workshop shoes. I was assured this was an acceptable exception.
Truth be told, the no-buy challenge has meant I haven’t bought shoes. Sure I bought two pairs as a result of my rolled ankle, but they were serviceable, not pretty. I really love shoes. It hasn’t escaped me while I am stuck with size limits when it comes to fashionable clothing, footwear doesn’t really discriminate against anyone. There’s no plus-size shoe section with dull colours. No one says you can’t wear a slingback if you are a size 18; no one has pronounced an edict against Lizzo for her fantastic heels.
My other unplanned purchase came on holiday. A friend took my mother and me shopping. I bought a top and my mom bought one for my birthday. I had a pang when I realized I had broken my no-buy pact but the fact is where I live it’s hard to buy nice clothes for the curvy body I have been blessed with and I was really happy to find something lovely that made me feel good when I wore it and didn’t cost me my first-born. I realized that often I buy clothing because it fits, it’s reasonable, and is available not because I feel good in it.
So when Sam shared this article about progress vis-a-vis curvy models and plus-size clothing, I was intrigued and puzzled. Apparently, there’s been a resurgence in fashion houses focusing on very sleek, lithe, very flat bodies with prominent ribs and pronounced abs. While there has been an increase in designer clothes offering plus sizes, they tend to stop at size 20, and the curvy models they have been showing on the catwalk are around size 12 or 14 (think Marilyn Monroe). Some chain stores like Old Navy have stopped carrying plus sizes in-store and online access has been challenging as well.
Haute couture has focused on how the fabric looks on the human body. It certainly can inspire and support innovation. However, we cannot ignore the fact that fashion’s extreme focus on thin, almost anorexic models has been a constant. What’s still most attractive, most acceptable, and most desirable are not rolls, folds, and soft bellies but sleek limbs with tight planes and angles.
We also know that in many spaces, training and fitness activities are not seen as a path to wellness but as the route to thinness. We may be seeing defined abs on the catwalk but with what effect? If only certain bodies can meet the criteria for what is fashionable, what does it mean for those bodies who do not? And by extension whose communities are represented and whose are ignored?
One of the things I really like about the article is that it recognizes the complexity of the issue. We need more conversations on what this means for fitness, body image, consumerism, and representation. We need more choices we can consciously buy into on multiple levels.
Shoes
MarthaFitat55 is enjoying all the things she’s learning.
This time I’ve irritated the Tibialis Posterior. According to Wikipedia it’s the key stabilizing muscle of the lower leg.
For a few days it’s been painful putting weight on my left foot and then the cane wasn’t enough to make walking possible. For a couple of days I’ve gone back to using crutches. I was worried at first that I’d done something to my knee. But my knee is fine.
My physiotherapist says it’s the Tibialis Posterior, which certainly hurt when she put pressure on it. So for now I’m back to aquafit and physio exercises, including new exercises that target that muscle. So much for my plan to return to bike training…
She says that the muscle hasn’t been used in a bit and I went from asking nothing of it to asking a lot. Fine!
I’m in “take it easy” except for aquafit and physio mode. Bah. Grumble. But also I’m just relieved it’s nothing to do with my knee.
Crutches
This happened to coincide with our first serious snow so I’m actually glad to have the crutches for navigating my way through that. The bright side is that they’re much more stable than just the cane.
Sam’s street with snow
Here’s a video about how to strengthen the Tibialis Posterior:
