In a few days, I will be on vacation to use up accumulated leave before my official retirement date at the end of July. It is time.
A balloon bouquet from my work team.
I thought the changes of adolescence and early adulthood were huge, but somehow I don’t remember them being as profound as what I’m going through right now. Is it because we’re just too young to recognize how big those changes are? Or too excited? Or too resilient?
Maybe it’s because we have changes happening in the rest of the family too. My role as a daughter has been shifting as I take on more responsibilities to support my parents. Nothing too serious yet, but I am doing the gardening, washing windows and filing taxes and medical claims. at the same time, my kids are moving into new phases of their lives; nothing absolutely confirmed yet, but I anticipate being an empty-nester soon.
I don’t have any big fancy plans – next week I’ll drive up to my cottage property to retrieve a tent for my daughter. There will undoubtedly be a group bike ride, and an extra swim practice.
I’m looking forward to the luxury of picking daytime dance classes for the summer. And going to swim at the Pond, which has very limited hours, any weekday morning instead of hoping the weather is nice on the weekend. And doing a deep clean of some part of my house (closets? All the windows? TBD).
And I want to read – just sit back and dig through a large stack of unread magazines and books. I’m really curious to see how much simply relaxing will affect my sore shoulder and neck. They are already feeling better than they have in months.
In case you can’t tell by the title of this post – I LOVED THIS BOOK!
I confess, though, when I first got an email offering me a review copy of Tough Broad, I thought it had been sent to me by mistake.
I mean, I can be a pretty tough broad but the book’s tagline ‘From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking – How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age’ did not seem to be relevant to me at all.
I like being outdoors but I don’t consider myself to be particularly physically adventurous.
Is that a weird thing for a martial artist to say? Maybe. But TKD is just part of my routine now so it doesn’t register as requiring much adventurous spirit at this point.
When I thought about it, though, I realized that I was probably just the right person to read it for the blog. I’m not adventure-seeking but I’m not totally averse to trying new things and maybe this book would help me consider being a little more adventurous.
Gold star for Caroline Paul and Tough Broad! Image description: a photo of the book Tough Broad leaning against my monitor stand. There is a metal gold star ornament on the white desk in front of the book and the word Fun can be seen on a small piece of paper to the left of the book. The book’s cover features the title, the author’s name (Caroline Paul) and the tagline ‘From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking – How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age’ as well as a photo of a person in a harness standing atop the wing of a small plane.
That being said, I was expecting to enjoy the book but to have to dig to find connections to my own life. I assumed that the women Paul profiled would be VERY different from me, inspiring as all hell, sure, but they would probably be lifelong adventurers, wired for being outdoors and for staring danger in the face.
Instead, Paul’s excellent writing offered me instant connections, showing me a range of women who were adventuring at their own level and facing challenges in very relatable ways. Sometimes she’s introducing her readers to women just like them, making adventures seem like something they could start right away and other times she is showing those adventures as just out of reach right now – but definitely possible with some focused effort.*
And Tough Broad is not just a series of examples of inspiring, adventurous broads. Paul weaves key elements of research on aging into each section, making herself and the various adventurers examples of the research results in action. It’s much easier to understand how the value of play factors into the aging process when you’re reading about a 97 year old boogie boarder than when you’re just thinking about it in the abstract.
I took over 16 pages of notes, connected so many dots, and had so many insights while reading this book that I am going to have to write separate posts about different aspects in order to keep my ideas organized. For now, though, let me say that if you think you want to shake up your activities a bit and try something new, Caroline Paul’s Tough Broad is an excellent place to start.
Personally, I’m already considering what more ‘outdoor adventure’ might look like for me right now. I have no plans to become a daredevil but Paul’s book has me fired up to find ways to get outdoors to have even more fun even more often and, as she recommends, to do it completely on my own terms.
*To be clear, she’s not suggesting that we all can or should run out and learn to skydive or do other intense adventures. She clearly recognizes and states that we all have different abilities, capacities, and resources, and that everyone’s adventures will be different. But she IS reminding us that adventuring is not just for the young and she’s inviting people of any age to be open to finding their own adventures.
Sam invited me years ago to guest blog on FIFI, and back then as someone in her late 30s I’d wondered how my musings would fit as a not-quite-yet “midlife” feminist. Aside from her forward thinking (as of course we all grow into middle age), while planning for holiday travel recently I’d realized that perhaps I had finally made it to mid-life. Why? Because I was, for the first time, packing two of things.
I like to exercise to music, but what if my lightning charge cable breaks? Solution: Bring two. What if the busted sneakers I usually bring don’t have treads for the hike I want to do? Answer: Bring a second pair. What if the luggage with my swimming towel doesn’t arrive? Remedy: pack my microfibre travel towel (when I know towels will be available). What if I run out of face 60 SPF while I’m out in the sun. Yes: Pack a second bottle.
A few years ago I blogged about treetop adventures and my reflections on realizations about value of preventative injury measures and safety thinking. Admittedly, for most of my life I have never had a “safety first” attitude (sorry mom). Due to youth, inexperience, and limited financial means I’ve usually winged it with what I had, or I just went without.
These days, in contrast, I’ve noticed my brain has been thinking ahead: planning back ups and paying more attention to minimizing risk. Is it because I can financially afford doubles of stuff, I’ve become wiser in my older age, or I’ve eventually learned from my mistakes?
It’s probably a combination. It’s pretty neat, this sudden impulse to be more prepared, because I know as I grow older I know I can less afford to be injured, and the added preparation measures give me more piece of mind (even with slightly heavier luggage).
My goal is not to reinforce stereotype about middle age. I can see how these “solutions” tend towards comfort, even excess. And I am sure there are plenty of free spirits who are reading this and, out of necessity or confidence, connect with very little of it. I celebrate you!
But today, I recognize it’s a privilege to be able to bring two of what I might (or might not) need for my holiday fitness activities, and I am appreciating that, for probably the first time, I am caring for myself in this new way.
So, as I move steadily into the middle of my midlife, I find myself twice grateful for such abundance. 💜
Most of my blogging these days is over at my solo-venture, Vegan Practically. And occasionally I write something there that may be of interest to readers here too. Such was the case this week when I posted about a recent study that indicates that protein, especially plant-based protein, helps women with “healthy” aging. In my post I say more about why I don’t often focus on the health arguments for plant-based eating and I also express some possible concerns we might have about the concept of “healthy” aging. But the study does offer a further argument for incorporating more plant-based protein into our food choices, and that’s a great thing!
I hope you this makes you want to read more! If so, please follow the link to this post, and I encourage you to explore the blog further while you’re there 🙂
Image description: Tracy, smiling and wearing a winter hat, black winter jacket, black pants, and mittens, standing beside a trail map and a sign that says “Altberg Wildlife Sanctuary Nature Reserve.” Dried leaves and trees in the background, with a little bit of snow in the foreground. Photo credit: Leslie Orr.
Sam and I started the blog way back in 2012 because we were approaching our 50th birthdays. We launched it as a place for us to talk about our “Fittest by 50 challenge,” which we later documented in our book Fit at Midlife: A Feminist Fitness Journey (2018). Lately I’ve been reflecting upon how different I feel now, in the year that I am about to turn 60, than I did 10-12 years ago, in that exciting period of trying to be the fittest I had ever been in my life.
Back then I was training hard for my goal: an Olympic distance triathlon. My life revolved around swimming, biking, and running, trying to get comfortable with the requisite distances (1500m, 40 km, 10 km) and with that distinctive element of any triathlon, the “transition” from swim to bike, bike to run. Looking back, I don’t even know how I fit all the workouts and training sessions in each week.
Now, with my 60th not quite nine months away, I’m not swimming, I’ve given up cycling, and after a spate of injuries that started in 2019, I’m on the fence about running. My goals for 60 are more about sustainable routines. I want to do things that I can realistically expect to be doing for at least another decade and likely more: yoga, walking, and weight training. I am aware that I can put swimming back into the equation at any time and likely one day will. But right now I have settled into a good rhythm with yoga, walking, and weight training (the EPIC program I blogged about recently).
The main difference between approaching 50 and approaching 60 is that my focus has shifted squarely onto sustainable activities. By “sustainable” I mean things I can keep doing well into my later years. I am not trying to be “the fittest.” When I was training for the triathlons I was in really strong form with a capacity for endurance that I’m not sure I will ever again attain. For some years into my 50s, even after I gave up triathlon to focus mainly on running, I kept increasing my distance (with several half marathons, a couple of turns at Around the Bay 30K, and even doing one dreaded marathon in 2015).
I realize that lots of people do continue to do those things into their sixties, seventies, and eighties. But I came to realize that I’m not interested in that kind of activity anymore. And though I may re-introduce running at some point, if I do, it will be for moderate distances, maxing out at 10K. For now, I’m enjoying walking, yoga, and weight training at home. I have a good set of dumbbells ranging from 2 pounds to 25 pounds, a couple of kettlebells, and a great solid rack to keep them all off the floor. My set-up for home workouts is great. The majority of my yoga is also at home, with occasional (sometimes weekly) trips to the hot yoga studio. Every Sunday I go for walks with my running group (some of us run, some walk, and we all go for breakfast after).
It all feels very integrated into my lifestyle. Yes, I need to carve out the time, but it’s time I’m enjoying carving out. I love going on trail hikes, whether locally or abroad. I can maintain a decent pace but being in nature has other benefits so I’m rarely in power-mode when I’m hiking.
When I was approaching my fifties, I had an intensity and focus around my fitness activities that was extremely goal-oriented. I had an eye on one thing and one thing only: the Olympic distance triathlon. Though of course the goal yielded some internal change (mostly in the form of perseverance), the goal itself was external.
Looking ahead to my sixties my goals feel closer to home: I want to live with ease, joy, and energy. My word of the year this year is “STRONG,” and I do feel super-energized with the reintroduction of challenging weight routines that are once again making me aware of my muscles. Instead of “product” goals, you might say I’m entering my sixties with the idea of “process” goals about how I see myself living my life.
I don’t think I was worried about turning 50. Nor am I worried about turning 60. It’s an exciting time, with retirement in view, and an evolving vision of what that will be like. In every scenario I am imagining, walking, yoga, and some resistance training are an easy fit.
In the end I’m not sure I’ve successfully articulated the qualitative difference between the last time I was a “nine-ender” and now. But what I can say is: it feels more peaceful.
Who else is approaching a new decade? Do you have a different attitude about it today than you did ten years ago?
I’ve been thinking about it lately in the context of aging and strength training. I know protein needs go up as we age, partly because our bodies are less efficient at using protein. We need more of it.
I also know that for most women, the opposite happens. Protein consumption goes down. That’s part of the story about aging and the loss of muscle mass.
And then I ran across this story in the New York Times.
“Protein recommendations for older adults are currently the same as those for younger adults, but some evidence suggests that those 65 and older may benefit from consuming more — at least 0.45 to 0.54 grams per pound, said Denise K. Houston, a professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
For a 185-pound adult, this higher recommendation translates to 84 to 101 grams of protein per day. You can get about that much if you eat one cup of cottage cheese, a cup of tuna salad on whole wheat bread, and a six-ounce chicken breast in one day. As with younger adults, regularly lifting weights, running or doing other vigorous activities will further increase the protein needs for older adults. You’ll also require more if you’re recovering from an infection, hospitalization, surgery or a period of bed rest, Dr. Phillips said.
Once you reach your 50s and beyond, you start to lose muscle mass, Dr. Phillips said, which can increase your risk of falling, bone fractures, hospitalization and earlier death.
A lack of physical activity is the biggest cause of muscle loss, but studies have also shown that aging muscles are less efficient at using protein to make new muscle fibers, Dr. Phillips said. And among those aged 71 and older, about 50 percent of women and 30 percent of men aren’t meeting even the lower federal recommendations for protein.”
I might start tracking protein consumption again, aiming for 125 grams daily. I’m doing more strength training these days. I want to build muscle.
It’s part of my gearing up for turning 60 (in 244 days–why yes, I’m counting!).
Do you have a strategy or plan for eating enough protein?
Back in the blog’s early days when it was a Sam and Tracy blog that focused on our fittest by fifty challenge, we spent a fair bit of time thinking and writing about what fitness meant. See here and here and here. It was inevitable. We’re philosophers and analyzing concepts is a big part of what we do professionally.
These days, as we and many of the bloggers here hover around 60, we’re definitely thinking in terms of fitness as successful aging. We want to be able to do things as we get older. For some of us, that’s bike traveling. For others, it’s canoe camping. But we all lead pretty active lives and want to keep on moving.
That’s why the Twitter thread above (I know it’s X, I know, but I just can’t) caught my eye.
Dr. Paddy Barrett writes, “I base my goals on lifespan and healthspan: to be an active and capable 90-year-old. I want to win at the ‘game of life’. If I have the extreme good fortune of living to 90 years of age, I do not expect to be exercising at my current level. Still, I do hope that I will be able to pick up my grandchildren or put my travel bag in the overhead compartment of an aircraft unassisted.”
Being in the top percentile for V02 max and strength matter more than just about anything else when it comes to longevity, he writes.
“Think of it as the height needed for a plane to glide to the runway if it lost its engines. It will continually lose height, just as you will likely continue to lose athletic performance over time, even with the best exercise regime. Most people are in an aircraft with minimal altitude and are likely to land well short of the runway they are aiming for.”
“If your goal is to be a kick-ass 90-year-old, you can’t settle for being an ‘average’ 50-year-old.”
I’m still wondering about my 60 goals. It’s definitely all about setting myself up for success in the (I hope) decades ahead.
I know what the pieces are. I want to be able to walk and bike long distances. I want to be able to go on back-country canoe trips with long portages! I want to be strong. And I want to have good mobility and balance. I’m thinking of setting some swimming goals, too.
“Setting myself up for successful aging at sixty ” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “fittest by fifty” but in reality, the idea is the same. Start from a higher peak so that to the extent that fitness decline with aging is inevitable, you land at a place where you’re happy to be.
For me, I’m mixing all of this aspirational thinking with the realization in light of knee replacement surgery that we don’t have as much control as we might think over health outcomes.
So, it’s this balance between aspiration and acceptance that I’m interested in attaining. I don’t want to acceptance to stop me striking out for new future fitness goals and plans. But I don’t want the striving to get in the way of acceptance where that’s the thing I need to do.
A woman in a pink sweater and pink sneakers and black tights in a standing yoga pose. Scopio.
Imagine my surprise when I heard from a fellow blogger that today, October 18, was World Menopause Day! Also imagine my confusion–exactly what is the nature of this special occasion, commemorating menopause (with a side shout-out to perimenopause)? How am I supposed to feel about this holiday?
Here are a bunch of options for emotional responses, in case you’re also at a loss.
it might help if we knew what exactly World Menopause Day is all about. According to this site, it’s “a day dedicated to raising awareness of the symptoms and effects of menopause.” Okay, I can get behind that. Of course, there are loads of symptoms and loads of effects, so we might need more than one day to cover all of them.
Never fear, the World Menopause Day (let’s now call it WMD, for fun) organizers have anticipated this issue, so they pick a different set of symptoms or medical theme each year. This year’s theme is: Cardiovascular Disease!
The flyer for the 2023 WMD celebration on cardiovascular disease in women before, during and after menopause.
Here’s a list of themes from recent yearly WMD celebrations:
All of these themes refer to ways women’s health heads south before, during and after menopause.
You may wonder, is there any good news or important health advice to share with women during the WMD celebration? Um, well, the flyer does suggest “making positive lifestyle choices”, managing medical risk factors (e.g. high blood pressure) and communicating with your doctor about your medical history. Hmmm. That’s pretty generic. Is there anything more specific to menopause, like new drug treatments or other research results?
Glad you asked. It turns out that there is a new non-hormonal drug that was approved in May 2023 for treating hot flashes, a common and distressing symptom of menopause. The medicine, fezolinetant, marketed under trade name Veozah, significantly reduced the severity of hot flashes compared with placebo. You can look at the phase 3 study results paper here. It’s not known if Veozah is more effective than standard hormone replacement therapy, as those studies haven’t been done (yet? ever? fingers crossed…)
Oh, and it costs $550 USD for a 30-day supply, and (according to an expert quoted here in the New York Times) it’s unclear whether insurance will cover it.
Yeah, my head’s exploding, too.
However, it’s early days, so let’s hope both that the cost goes down and access increases. Hot flashes are a serious health and functionality issue, as 75–80% of menopausal women suffer from them, reporting difficulties sleeping at night and managing at work.
Maybe we should start planning for next year’s WMD celebration now. Clearly, women’s health has not been the highest priority for the medical industrial complex or Big Pharma. Perhaps a little more participation and communication are in order. Here’s an idea:
A lovely photo of pitchfork plus fire, by our friends at Unsplash. A fitting accessory for next year’s WMD, don’t you think?
Hey readers, what are you plans for this year’s WMD? Pitchfork parade? Bring your fan to work day? Display unfettered rage because it’s a special occasion? Let us know, and happy menopausal holiday!
First, a musical note: if you’ve never heard jazz immortal Ella Fitzgerald sing “A tisket, a tasket”, you are in for a treat. Listen up here.
This summer has been fun– celebrating family milestones and going on outings with friends– but it’s brought some annoying health woes for me. As I love lists, here’s my medical one:
recurrence of migraines
increase in reflux/gerd symptoms
flareup of sciatica
diagnosis of a DVT (deep vein thrombosis, or blood clot) behind my knee
None of these is life-threatening, and all of them are treatable. But, they’ve thrown me for a loop, upended mid and late-summer plans and demanded my immediate attention. The combination of them also makes my life more complicated. Because of the DVT, I can no longer take ibuprofen or other NSAIDs (anti-inflammatory medications) for conditions like, say, sciatica. Or migraine. That means more pain and discomfort day and night, which affects my sleep. Ugh.
Managing pain without the obvious choice in meds is possible, though. I’ve started physical therapy for the sciatica, which is helping. I’m doing all the exercises, which provide relief. There’s also heat (or ice, but I’m preferring the former) and everyday movement (other than driving, which is ouchy). Tylenol doesn’t do much for pain, but it’s better than nothing.
I’ve gotten some proper migraine medicine, which I now take if I feel a headache coming on. This requires attention and responsiveness, which I’m working on.
The gerd/reflux is the easiest fix. I’m on a six-week course of omeprazole, and adjusting my eating times and overall diet as well.
The DVT is the most sobering medical issue for me, as it means I’m now on anti-coagulants for at least the short-term, and possibly the foreseeable future. It affects my choice of activities and how I do those activities. I’ll post more about cycling while on blood thinners another time, but for now I’m riding on bike paths and quiet streets. I have flat pedals on my e-bike. And I always wear a helmet anyway, so that’s covered. I ordered a medic alert bracelet which I’ll wear (I got this one) and all my cycling friends know what’s going on.
In addition to the pain and discomfort and sleep interruption and trip cancellations (I really missed seeing you and yours, Sam!), there’s the disruption and shift in identity: I now have at least one chronic medical condition that requires daily medication and restrictions on some activities (e.g. mountain biking, skiing). Am I now a different person? How am I to think of myself moving forward?
I talked with friends who take daily medications to manage chronic health conditions like diabetes, depression, migraine, high blood pressure, etc. Turns out, these folks have been carrying their baskets full of health woes the whole time I’ve been skipping around without mine. They manage theirs, and I’ll manage mine. I’m getting support from these same friends, my family, my doctor, the very good physical therapy folks, and my acupuncturist.
We’ve all got baskets of stuff to carry around. How we carry them depends in part on how heavy they are and who we have to help us. Writing this helps me realize my medical woes aren’t that woesome; they’re manageable, and in fact they might even fit in here:
A jaunty yellow woven basket, with a long handle for easy carrying.
On one hand, we can celebrate new gains for representation and inclusion: Martha Stewart has cut through the spandex ceiling, making it possible for “older women” to be cover photo-worthy by Sports Illustrated (SI), a magazine whose annual swimsuit issue authoritatively confers the status of beautiful to its models. As an octogenarian swimsuit model, Martha Stewart brings diverse body image to popular media (and to the news media that reports on popular media).
As well, this development signals a growing acceptance of older women’s sexuality. Martha Stewart has left the kitchen and entered the swimming pool. According to a CBC analysis article, Martha Stewart said on Today that she increased her exercise regime and cut out carbs (but didn’t starve herself) to show that “You can look great at pretty much any age if you put your mind to it.” If Martha Stewart can put her mind (and enormous wealth) towards looking sexually alluring at 81, isn’t that permission for us all?
On the other hand, scholar (and aspiring clairvoyant?) @tracyisaacs might have foreseen Martha Stewart’s gracing of the cover of SI’s Swimsuit issue when she wrote about what she describes as inclusive objectificationhere at FIFI and in The Conversation. Tracy acknowledges that commercializing the sexual attractiveness of a wider spectrum of women’s bodies seems, on the surface, to be a good thing (or at least not harmful one). However, mainstream media, embodied by the swimsuit issue (pun intended),
“continues to promote sexual attractiveness as women’s main currency. […] (It’s) it’s not clear how the swimsuit issue, the very essence of which is to represent a particular type of sexualized bodies, could morph into something that celebrates the body in a different way.”
From this perspective, it may be said that Martha Stewart has escaped one form of traditional female currency (homemaker) to another (swimsuit cover model). SI has shown us that Martha Stewart is worthy of sex appeal, but nothing has fundamentally changed the “relentless message about what makes women worthy,” as Tracy notes.
The CBC analysis article quotes Anna Murphy, who finds it refreshing that Martha Stewart refuses to “age out of the public eye.” (This is a return to modeling for Martha Stewart). But the SI issue heavily suggests that, in order to stay in the public eye, Martha Stewart must, in her own words, continue to “aspire to look great.”
Let’s also note that Martha Stewart doesn’t look great on her own. The are four covers of the same magazine issue —featuring Megan Fox, Brooks Nader, and Kim Petras, singer and transgender model (perhaps the most interesting and progressive choice). So conventional sexy and controversial sexy can remain in the public eye together.
Author of the CBC article, Jenna Benchetrit, concludes her analysis with an unanswered question initially asked by Tracy: “It’s breaking barriers, yes. But are these the barriers we want to break?” We at FIFI have many diverse voices, so I speak for myself when I (and maybe some of we) say no. Or at least, certainly not only.
Another Jenna, Jenna Peterson, happens to answer Jenna B’s question in a humorously memed social media post. Jenna P doesn’t want to continue to “aspire to look great” as she ages. Jenna P sees “aging out” of sexy as precisely what she wants to accomplish.
“I hate this whole “women can be sexy at fifty!” narrative. At what age will society stop demanding I try to be hot and just let me turn into an old swamp witch, as nature intended.”
As a cis-woman who is just over half Martha Stewart’s age, I’m inclined to agree with Jenna P. Aside from discourse of what is “natural” for women (for instance, it doesn’t matter much to me whether or not Martha Stewart has had body modifications), women can transgress their worthiness via sexual objectification…by letting themselves just get (and look) old.
Perhaps Sports Illustrated might have photographed an 81 year-old, swim-suited Martha Stewart emerging from a witchy swamp? Well, maybe next year.
Readers, what perspective do you take on this issue?
