How I've Completely Changed My View on Winter

Courtesy the Internet

Like most people, I've often complained about winter being too long on the Canadian prairies. I may have even agreed with other people saying, "Well, maybe we could have one month of it at Christmas, just for variety." No one likes scraping ice off their car in the mornings and slipping on sidewalks, but I've changed my negative thinking on the subject of winter.

There's no question I froze my face and my legs some days walking to school when I was a kid. Winter could be painful and miserable. There were, however, some magical moments I can remember. I'm not talking about snowball fights or playing hockey at the local outdoor rink. I'm thinking about really harsh winter nights that I decided to venture outside out of sheer boredom.

I remember the utter quiet of it all. The fresh snow absorbing what little movement there was outside on those cold nights, or a howling wind whipping through power lines and creating a certain haunting feeling inside of me. The worse it was, the more alone you were in it. There's something about the winter landscape that's welcoming. It's like we humans were meant to exist here. It's not unnatural at all.

Decades of sedentary adult life have faded those rich memories and the feelings that accompanied them. Only now have they started to reappear as I try so hard to use winter to my health's advantage.

The other night my son and I embarked on a short trek away from the car to see if a bicycle bridge had been constructed before winter set in (he's has an unnatural interest in new roadways and related construction.) It was a Saturday night that was cool and windy with fresh snow blowing around. We walked away from the safety of the street lights and behind the houses onto the bike path that I had discovered only this summer.

It was beautiful in summer with lots of mature trees and a serene landscape that reminded me of a provincial park. When the leaves fall off the trees in September and everything is brown around here, I stop enjoying nature. But what I discovered that night was that once the snow comes, everything is beautiful again.

In the city even a moonless night can provide for a bright landscape in its darkest corners when there's snow everywhere. The green fir trees stood in stark contrast to the white waves of virgin snow around the familiar paved pathway.

Everything is quiet and peaceful in winter. Every movement and sound is amplified. The stars are brightest in the dry winter air. The cosmos is so vivid in winter it feels like it's painted onto the heavens just for you, almost within arm's reach.

We found the bridge. It was in fact there, but abandoned before completion when the snow and cold temps set in.

The field behind my house has the same beauty to it on a winter's night. Previous to now, I wouldn't have dreamed about venturing out there in winter. The idea never even crossed my mind. In spite of being surrounded by houses, the snow-covered field remains quiet and the sky brightly detailed. When the moon comes out and lights up the snow, it's feels almost like daytime.

My epic walk in -45 degree windchills last year also had me thinking about winter's beauty. In spite of the fury and the supposed danger all around me, I enjoyed the crisp fresh air and the serenity. It's not like anyone else was out there.

Now that I'm learning to love cross country skiing (can't get enough of it but I have a ways to go to master it well) I find myself having a completely opposite view on winter.

The other day I caught myself thinking, "Why is winter so short? It's only 3 good months of snow, why can't it be more?"

If I could only figure out a way to enjoy the "brown" seasons, those weeks of cold weather without snow or foliage, life would be perfect.

Strategies for Staying Active in the Winter

Mount Pleasant toboggan hill, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

I'm eighteen months or so into my new life as a healthy human being. It started with short walks and eventually took me places I thought I'd never go. In fact, there's so many things I've surprised myself by doing, I now refuse to rule anything out when I imagine my future. 

My second summer of fitness was a very active one. I took up mountain biking and cycled on hills and valleys for long periods of time (for an obese person). My fitness level was surprisingly improved when I returned to the gym in the fall. But I hated not being outdoors. I hated not having a sport to pursue when the leaves started to fall off the trees and it got cold outside.

I welcomed the snow when it finally came last week (in mid-November.) It gave me an opportunity to go tobogganing and even to try something new: cross-country--or "Nordic", as the kids call it nowadays--skiing. I hit the annual ski swap and outfitted myself and my son.

I discovered two pair of skis in my shed that I had recently wanted to get rid of. The idea of me ever using them seemed patently absurd. But like the encouraging man at the ski swap said, "There  ain't no mosquitoes in the winter time."

I created a ski trail outside my back yard in an adjacent field so I can practice (I took lessons in grade five and loved it) but it's coming really slowly to me. I'm fit enough to do it, it's just that I'm having problems with technique. I can't really get going. Mostly, I'm walking on my skis and just trying to keep upright.

My ski trail got messed up by contractors installing residential fiber optics.

I also bought a pair of ice skates. There's a speed skating oval near me that I would love to skate on. But it's been a long time and my body doesn't bend or repair like it used to.

Of all the things I've done to improve my fitness, nothing kicks my ass like slogging my heavy body up the large toboggan hill over and over again for an hour or two with my kids. I show up at the gym afterwards and my heart has grown to be as big as a basketball. Everything else I do is easier.  My heart and lungs work even more effortlessly than before. In other words, tobogganing really improves my fitness--like nothing else I've tried so far.

I now look forward to winter. It's the "in-between" non-cycling, non-winter sports seasons I dread.

I Did What a Kid Would Do: I Kept Going

I declare myself fit.

After an hour at the gym this morning, I tobogganed for nearly two and a half hours tonight with the family under the moon and star, and nothing in my body told me to stop. It was my mind that did, after I looked at my watch. I outlasted my kids and they don't have 150 pound backpacks on their backs.

No looking at my heart rate monitor, no stopping to catch my breath, just constant climbs to get that next rush of flying down the hill. That's what a kid would do. If you're having fun, if the adrenaline is flowing, you just keep going. My body has never before cooperated like this, it's always been the party pooper.

It's no exaggeration to say that a year ago I couldn't sit for two and a half hours, let alone climb a large hill repeatedly.

It goes against good judgement, but we let our four-year-old go on her own sled down the big hill with us. There was rarely a concern but she did crash twice. Once was my fault and she cried after flipping at the top of the hill. But she was just crying because she didn't make it down the hill. Then at the end of the night my wife sent her flying over a big ramp (by accident) that the daredevil snowboarders had set up. Everyone ran in horror to see how hurt she was, but she lay there giggling.

I slammed into a pile of compost, which had my son laughing all night long, even after we got home and well past bedtime.

We'll remember these last two nights of our 2011 Christmas vacation for years to come. I don't remember much of the ones I spent on the couch.

Is My New Sport of Tobogganing Too Risky?

A sled for grown-ups that supports nearly 300 pounds. (New York Times)

I have to admit, sledding seems a little dangerous to my body. I weigh about 330 pounds, I'm middle-aged, and I hurtle down that hill uncontrollably with little hope of stopping or steering. On the icy slopes the other day, my back was compressed painfully over the smallest bumps on the surface of the hill. It's like re-entering the Earth's atmosphere on the space shuttle. Or at least I assume it is. 

Without my glasses--they fog up--I almost missed seeing two jumps some kids had built half way down the hill. Had I hit one of those I would have certainly injured myself, probably my back, possibly seriously, possibly permanently.

I've had adults tell me about their tobogganing injuries as adults. Tail bones that took half a year to heal, back injuries that never quite got better...it's all scary stuff. I currently use a large, basic plastic sled but I'm thinking about buying a foam sled for some padding protection for my back but that kind of sled is even slippery than what I have now and I'd go even faster. 

Another Eurosled adult sled. Weight capacity: 300 lbs. (Amazon.ca)

I have found some sleds that adults can use. I like them because they have steering and brakes--two things that are downright handy on a large toboggan hill. I'd opt for the "little kid" slope but my eight year old would probably be disappointed in me.

I'll be very careful. I'll check out the hill close up and try and find any problems. I might find ways of slowing down my sled and I might wait for softer snow instead of the ice that is there on our hill as of this writing.

My fitness comes from climbing up the hill over and over again but the fun comes from going down and spending time with my kids.