My Story of Cross-Country Skiing

I write this because I am extremely thankful.

My daily winter exercise of taking a walk didn't happen this year. I only did it once and here's why.

It started with a suggestion at a meeting with my nutritionist eighteen months ago. I was pondering the first winter of the new me and the anxiety I felt about how I would stay active during the cold months. I was confounded by the suggestion that I take up cross country skiing. I thought, "Me? Wasn't skiing for the very fit and very dedicated?"

I thought back to grade five when our class took cross country skiing lessons. At first it was tedious, but after a few sessions and some downhill thrills, I loved it and vowed very sincerely that I would do it again one day, even if I had to wait until I was an adult.

I always intended to, I didn't forget. However, the years of descending deeper and deeper into obesity eroded any ambitions I had to keep past promises.

I still remembered the promise to myself 35 years ago and the fond memory when the idea of cross country skiing was suggested to me as a middle-aged adult. I tried to picture how it would work, where I would do it, and what it would look and feel like. I was told there is an annual ski swap where used equipment could be purchased and that there were groomed ski trails in some central city parks.

I still couldn't imagine it. It wouldn't come together in my mind.

Skiing couldn't be for me. Not for now, anyway. It was a misguided idea, I concluded.

One Year Later

Winter was approaching once again and my last gasps of cycling season were taking place on cold, barren trails alone, without my son or my wife. During my previous fitness quests/weight loss periods, winter was always the time when I failed. I couldn't stay active and I struggled to maintain my summer weight while my physical conditioning reversed. Winter was a period of remorse. I impatiently waited for another summer to restart my physical activity and, thereby, my success and well-being.

Cycling was big for me last summer and I wanted something fun more than ever to replace it for winter. I saw a poster for the ski swap and took the family to check it out. We realized that we actually had ski equipment in the shed and remembered the many times we almost threw it out. The staff was helpful and I left with skis for my son and a determination that I was going to try skiing this year, one way or another.

The snow came early and heavy. I decided to test out my equipment by the light of the moon so I wouldn't be seen. I can barely remember what that was like. I took one timid, wobbly step at a time and formed a straight line between my back gate and a group of trees off in the distance. I'd turn around and return, slowly. I wasn't skiing as much as snowshoeing with skis and trying desperately just not to fall over.

It wasn't coming to me after several days of attempts and I couldn't shake my tentativeness. I was determined to keep trying and trying until I got it. Night after night I'd go out and make tracks. After a week or so my son came out with me and we made a triangle track that was longer. And then, like so many other pivotal points in my fitness quest, my nine year-old son showed me the way.

We went to a quiet novice ski trail at a small city park. His first times skiing were nothing to him. My top-heavy body struggled. My knees buckled slightly under my weight when flexing my knees. But I had to keep up with the boy so I endured until, after a couple outings at the public trail, something clicked and I found myself more or less...skiing. I knew that day that I could do it, that I was capable of it, if not now than soon. That realization changed everything.

My boy and I started making 1/3 KM trails on the pipeline easement behind our home. After a few passes we realized that we had made a pretty usable cross country ski trail. It wasn't as perfect as a groomed trail in the city parks but it was good enough, especially because it was just out our back gate. No fifteen minute drives and stuffing skis into the car to get there. In fact, it was incredible.

We built something that we enjoyed and had all to ourselves. It was there to use anytime we wanted. That was a tremendous feeling for our whole family. It was like our very own winter amusement park. The kids were happy, my wife was giddy, and I had figured out a way to stay active and have fun all winter.

We've often lamented how our home is many busy city streets away from bike trails but it makes up for it by having this winter wonderland right at our doorstep.

Letting Go

So I began skiing by loading up the car and taking a fifteen minute drive to an unfamiliar park. Then, suddenly, I was doing it out my back gate. No drives, no loading and we were never far from the water tap or the bathroom. We even started leaving our young kids at home alone on days they didn't want to come. We were always within earshot if they had a problem.

But sometimes they'd join us and we spend a weekend afternoon gliding down hills and making new trails. My son would produce maps of our current trails and copy them for the family. More often than not we'd spend an hour and a half or two hours at play. Other than cycling, there's no activity where I can let go and have fun like that--not realizing that I'm exercising. You wouldn't find me on a treadmill for two hours, or even going for a walk in the city for that long.

• Watch a video of my family skiing

A book on skiing that my wife brought home from the library advises you to let go and just play, the same approach a child would have. Children don't worry about technique they just have fun.

Letting go started to happen with me when I was out enjoying the fresh crystalline air with my family. (SO much better than a stuffy gym.) I'd just let go and play. I'd worry about what my next objective of fun was instead of thinking about how I was doing. Without realizing it, skiing got easier for me.

My Long Torso

But it's still a challenge. I'm still very overweight and I'm top-heavy because of that and because of the proportions of my legs and torso. Either I have short legs or a long torso. I like to think I have a long torso (I have to buy tall-sized shirts even though I'm barely 6'0".)

I was finding that when I bent my knees, as you do when you ski, my left knee was a bit wobbly. My legs were strong but just not in a specific skiing way. I approached my exercise counselor to help me address that shortcoming at the gym (two days a week at my clinic still.) I started using the vibration trainer. I basically maintained the ski stance on it and then I also incorporated balancing on one leg at a time. This quickly got me into the condition necessary to ski. This problem may be unique to me. Nevertheless, spending time skiing would have also strengthened my knees as well.

Fat People Don't Ski

I had a hard time finding out online if an overweight person can ski. There's hardly any mention of it on the internet. I certainly didn't see any overweight people skiing on the public trails. Everyone is tall and lanky, like competitive cyclists, it seems.

Ski shop staff didn't have answers on the weight issue. There's a scale you step on at the ski shops that resembles the Threat Alert system in the United States. It's basically got three colours that the needle goes to to tell you which skis to buy. Naturally, the needle went of the charts for me, implying that I was too fat to ski.

From what I gathered, they make skis for different weights (this is important to support you on the surface of the snow and to allow you to glide easily across it). The heaviest weights are up to around 200 pounds. Apparently, no one could possibly ski who's over 200 pounds. When I started, I was closer to 300 so don't let your weight stop you but I wouldn't use skiing as your first exercise because you'd risk not enjoying it. Most professionals advise to start with walking and move on to other activities you enjoy. For me, in the wintertime, it's definitely skiing.

Of course most people know skiing is a good exercise because it's gentle on your joints and it uses your upper body as well. I've actually had people gasp when I tell them I ski. "Why would you want to do all that work?" one person asked. Don't believe it. It's a myth. It's fun, not work. No one would do it if it were work. Runners don't run because it's work. They run because it feels really good to them. The sedentary often think of everything as work but it's not. The only work involved is in changing your attitude.

When I went to the ski swap in November, four months ago, I knew nothing about skiing other than what I could recall from grade five (basically how to turn was about it!) Now I'm familiar with the different kinds of bindings, wax and waxless skis and I'm a connoisseur of all the different kinds of snows that nature produces and how to wax my skis in different temperatures. It all just came to me because I enjoyed the activity so much.

Winter is Your Friend

Winter is four or five months long where I live. It's often more cold than snowy. People complain about winter endlessly here. Even many active people restrict themselves to indoor exercise. I've written extensively on how my attitude toward winter has changed. This affects more than the amount of fitness I can achieve in the winter, it affects my whole approach to life.

I'm no longer caged indoors. I've been out there on the coldest of days enjoying the fresh air without pain or suffering (other than that skiing in cold weather is more tedious because your skis don't slide easily.) People don't even want to drive to the gym on cold days but I've been able to enjoy all variations of winter weather and I've made many discoveries.

I'm more in tune with nature now. The vast, barren area behind my house is alive in winter. There's dozens of rabbits (who like to poop on my ski tracks and only on my ski tracks) as well as packs of coyotes who go shopping for the rabbits, I presume, and a crow who knows me by name. There's also snowmobilers who wreck my trails, but we've learned to live with each other. I've discovered that frigid cold howling winds will create snow drifts that are so hard I can walk on them even at my weight. I've learned that the natural world is still natural and inviting even on the most uninviting of cold winter days.

This year my family cheered when there was snow in the forecast. To the chagrin of my friends, for the first time in my life, I don't want winter to end.

Imagine that.

Now I have the unexpected challenge of trying to find a way to stay as active in the summer as I do in the winter!

Didn't see that coming.

Information

"Cross-country Skiing: Building Skills for Fun and Fitness"
by Steve Hindman  (2005)

The Regina Ski Club (Ski Swap is every November)

"The Jaw-Dropping Benefits of Cross-Country Skiing"
The Globe and Mail (News Article)

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.

How This Fat Guy's House Has Changed in Two Years

It drives my wife crazy. They're everywhere in our house. You can't swing a cat with out hitting one. My house is cluttered with items used in the support of an active lifestyle.

The winter of two years ago was different. The house was much less cluttered by comparison. There were a pair of gloves, a toque and a standard winter jacket. That's all I needed. My big endeavors were to go to the grocery store. Maybe do a little fast food eating in the minivan. The rest of the time was spent on the couch or in bed, sore from a high-fat diet and jellified muscles carrying a ridiculous amount of weight.

Walk in my front door with me now, will you? I'll give you the tour.

The front porch is heavy with indications that I'm no longer sedentary. You'll notice two sets of cross country skis. I only started a week ago and I'm already on my second set. Picked up some waxless skis yesterday that are easier to use. Cost me $20.

Your eyes will no doubt dart towards the snow sleds sitting by the front closet. I have three, one for each particular sledding condition. My latest is soft to keep my spine from compressing and has a fin to guide it true.

On the floor you'll see winter boots for the first time in decades. I need these for tobogganing and winter hikes. A cheap pair of runners is dedicated to icy conditions. They have metal cleats strapped to the bottoms. Can't let ice keep me indoors.

Inside the closet you'll find drawers with not one, but three, sports balaclavas. Each for a different temperature range. Beyond that, there's an assortment of toques, beanies and skull caps for cycling or winter exercise. On the floor, runners for jogging, complete with orthopedic inserts that finally provide relief to my calves during vigorous exercise. And be careful of the freshly sharpened ice skates. They're waiting for December.

You'll have to forgive me for the bike wheel by the front door, I don't know where else to put it right now.

The open stairs as you enter the house are littered with Jameswear. Three sizes of fleece jackets, made for a man who sweats, all of which can be layered if necessary. There's T-Max Heat socks ready to go for cold days, long underwear (which I haven't used since I was a kid), ski pants for very cold weather, and layers of sweat pants for cooler weather. A heart rate monitor and watch sit at the ready, along with my iPod and headphones. Athletic shorts and shirts for the gym are also all over the place. All these clothes are at the ready. Every day some of them get used in the pursuit of fitness.

Which leads me to something else we have a lot more of: Laundry detergent. I'm washing a lot more clothes. Usually there's a fresh pile of clothes soaked with sweat that gets cleaned almost daily. Two winters ago, I rarely worked up enough heat to require clothes to be washed on a regular basis. Now, the washing machine is running constantly.

Entering the kitchen, there's a serving cart that couldn't be more full of bike helmets, sweat bands, cycling gloves, hydration back packs, water bottles and a few cycling tools and bike spare parts.

In the laundry room, more skis for the family, and a bike rack for the car.

The shed had bikes in it two years ago. Now it has twice as many. I picked up bikes on UsedRegina and at garage sales for me or the kids.

Our home and our life is hardly recognizable from two years ago. Thank god!

Eureka Moments in Sports: A Personal Story

My son struggles with a slippery hill on his first day but he did great.

It happened again: that moment when I knew I had mastered an athletic endeavor for the first time. I don't know many greater feelings after years of being sedentary and semi-disabled. Today, following several days of struggling, cross-country skiing finally clicked. I realized, I could--and will--do it.

It was a fantastic feeling, one that snuck on me and bit me in the ass.

In eighteen months these moments have come every now and again and put tremendous wind in my sails on this journey to change the course of my life.

It came when I suddenly got strong with walking, when I took my first bike ride in years, fell down and got up again, when I started to jog for several minutes at a time, and when I suddenly found myself jogging for twenty minutes. It even came when I realized I could go for a walk on a dangerously cold night and be perfectly warm. And it came this summer when I discovered mountain biking in a moment where I realized I loved it and I could do it. It was a new kind of fun for my long-time favourite activity: cycling.

They're moments of joy because I'm having a lot of fun when they happen. They're moments that open up a big can of hope because I can see my future ahead of me looking bright and the activity I've just conquered being a part of my success.

Today I took my son out to a city park several kilometers away from home where there was a groomed ski trail. It was his first time on skis and I did my best to impart to him what I had learned some 35 years ago when I was only one year older than him. I tried to teach him the basics of cross-country skiing that I had learned at school in grade five.

We headed out onto the groomed track and, unlike out in the field behind my house where I made my own tracks, everything began to work as it should after about 100 metres. Suddenly, I found myself gliding and kicking along as I should until my heart got pumping.

The hills are another story. That'll take some practice. I fell over, to my son's delight, going down a hill. But that's a good thing. When you're tentative about something, it's good to wipe out so you know you're not going to die or break anything if you do. From then on you can be more relaxed. And I was.

I look forward to continuing to get competent at cross-country skiing with the old used equipment I have and one day venturing out onto a groomed country trail to take in some nature with my son. I might even scrape up some money for a lesson one day. It's kind of a winter replacement for cycling (and it's even done in some of the same places.)

What's next? Maybe winter cycling. My son is trying to talk me into it. Stay tuned.

For now, I'd like to give a shout out to my nutritionist who suggested cross-country skiing to me a year ago as a way to stay active during the winter. And my thanks to the Regina Ski Club for grooming the trails and providing this opportunity for me. Skiers we've encountered have all been very kind and encouraging.

• Regina ski trails maps and current conditions

Note: The Regina Ski Club puts on a ski swap in early November every year. Used sporting goods stores also have ski equipment.

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.

My First Winter as an Active Person is Now Over

Winter came and went and I regret it's over. Because it was an unusually mild winter, my kids and I didn't actually get enough of a chance to enjoy it. We could have done a lot more tobogganing.

From the onset of this attempt to reclaim myself from obesity, I dreaded the coming of winter. Even in my previous athletic/dieting periods I slowed down in winter and didn't do much. Having access to my clinic's gym helped this time out. It also helped that its not a regular gym. You make appointments and you feel obliged to keep those appointments. Even when I start to slip off the wagon, my appointment at the gym twice a week keeps me on.

It was a fun winter, much more enjoyable than any I've had--save one where I took up skiing--as an adult. I bicycled with the family on a cool night in November. I trained on a treadmill with the highest incline to get me ready for climbing our large tobogganing hill, then I climbed it. Then it became easier and easier to climb. Hill climbing became my winter exercise and it did wonders for futhering the improvement (fitness level) of  my cardiovascular system.

But the highlight of my winter was when I faced my fears and preconceptions head on by going for a walk in -45 wind chills. It was on my wife's birthday, we had gone out for supper and it was bitterly cold that night. The four of us huddled under covers for an hour just to warm up again. Walking from the car to the house was excruciating.

Yet I came up with the idea later that night to try out my MEC balaclava with my new warm gloves and layers of clothes. It was an amazing experience and I doubt I'll ever forget it. Obviously, it proved I could do anything in any weather, so winter was no longer an obstacle to staying healthy.

It was even enjoyable being out that night. The air, as cold as it was, was fresh and being in nature when it's fierce is still being in nature. My senses were heightened to the max and I loved it. My walk in -25 a few days later seemed like a ho-hum non-event.

Now I'm doing some time on a recumbent bike at the gym twice per week to make sure I'm ready for bicycle season, Chapter 2. Spring snuck up on me but I can't wait to see what this year brings.

I Coulda Stayed Home Tonight

Snow has been a rarity this winter around these parts. It's a shame that I take up a winter sport and we have a winterless winter. The sport is tobogganing, in case you're new here.

It started snowing today and, although there were reports of numerous accidents on slippery roads, my son and I went tobogganing at Mount Pleasant (not a real mountain, just an old landfill site but a significant hill for the large person nonetheless.)

The air was still and the temperature mild. It was perfectly still out there on the fresh powder. We had the mountain to ourselves. Wafts of wood smoke from fireplaces filled the air. Everyone else was keeping warm and dry in their homes. To punctuate the magical and surreal atmosphere, we could continually hear coyotes in the distance, not uncommon for our neighbourhood on the edge of town. I guess they were trying to find each other in the falling snow.

I can see why skiers love fresh powder and will pay for a helicopter to go up a mountain to get it. It's so quiet, so peaceful. Cutting into the fresh, virgin snow was a thrill for us on our sleds. You go down in a wavy but unbelievably soft motion, like skipping along the surface of a cloud.

Laying on my back, watching the snow fall from the sky, I noticed a light. My son told me it was the moon shining through the clouds. I didn't have my glasses on.

The lesson is obvious. Get out and enjoy life. Don't let anything stop you. You're missing so much if you stay on that couch. The greater the reasons not to go, the more amazing the experience will be.

(My) Misconception: Exercising in Cold Weather Means Being Cold

The Antarctic: Is he cold? Not in the least! He's dressed for the weather.

The very large are full of misconceptions about themselves and the world, at least in my very humble, but always right opinion. So I thought I'd continue to write about misconceptions I had which I have since proven wrong to myself as I continue on my journey to "reclaim James."

Just because it's minus 40 outside, doesn't mean you have to be the least bit cold going out there. See my exciting recent post on the subject. I have proven to myself that you can stay toasty warm even in the coldest weather. The most important things are a warm pair of gloves/mitts and covering your face. I recommend a descent balaclava for that, one that blocks the wind (not wool.)

The other night I was out walking in -25 Celcius with woolly socks in all-leather runners (they weren't meshy so they could breathe) and my feet got too hot! If you're constantly moving to the point where you sweat, your feet don't get cold. For most of us, walking is enough to make us sweat. I switched to normal socks the next night and now I'm fine in all temperatures. No boots needed.

Avid runners, on the other hand, exercise at a higher intensity and they probably have to underdress and start off cold so they can work up to their "operating temperature."  Unless they want to be shedding layers as they run, which seems like too much of a hassle. I could be wrong, but I'm usually not. (Don't forget that I'm humble.)

I'm far colder sitting on the couch these days than dressing properly and moving my body outside in frigid temperatures. If you're worried about being cold, best get up and move.

I Just Did Something Remarkable, Surreal, and Previously Unimaginable

It actually warmed up an hour after I got home.

I went for a walk, but this post isn't about fitness. Hell, this isn't even about obesity, really. I headed out in a -31° C. temperature with a dangerous wind chill of -45° C. Let me quote to you from this evening's government-issued weather warning: "At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes."

Wow, what an amazing experience I just had! When you get older and you don't have a lot of money, new and amazing experiences are hard to come by. But they're what make life great. They're what slow down the ever-increasing speed of time as you age. They're what help keep you young.

Before you have me committed, let me explain. This is like petting a snake if you have a snake phobia. I have a bit of a winter phobia. It's more of a mindset that when winter comes, we have to cocoon. And therefore, winter is bad. That's a terrible attitude to have because winter is 2/3rds of our year where I live on the Canadian prairies.

Two reasons why I did this: Firstly, I bought a pair of traction aids for walking on slippery snow and ice today. They were on clearance for $8 from $25 (Bentley, Northgate Mall, Regina.) They're not the coil style, they're the cleat style. I didn't want to wait this cold snap out to see how they work. I have had lots of near-slips when I'm out walking because there's a lot of ice due to the warm winter (yeah, it's certainly not warm any more.)

Secondly, I wanted to see what the limits of my winter gear are, and find out how effective my layering method of dressing is. I hadn't planned on going past my driveway but when my traction aids made walking seem incredibly easy and secure (like walking on dry pavement), I had to see if I could go down to the end of the block. Then I had to see if I could go further. I felt like I was the first astronaut walking on Mars.

Earlier in the evening, we went out to a modest dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday. Most people in Regina  stayed home tonight. It's bloody cold, even for here. I was in pain from the cold wind just from the few seconds it took me to plug our car in and run into the house when we got home from the restaurant. Our whole family huddled under covers for an hour to warm up after the cake was consumed. So what on earth drove me to go do this? Curiosity, I guess. And a little determination.

The wind was strong coming off the open highway near our house. I didn't feel any discomfort so I kept going, afraid to stray too far from home under such adverse conditions. After a few minutes, my wrists started to get cold. I pulled down my sleeves a bit further and my gloves up on my arms a bit. Problem solved and I returned to my home but decided to keep going, right into the fierce, potentially deadly wind.

I was fine. The only part of my body exposed were my eyeballs. As I approached the open area around the highway, the bridge of my nose got cold. I pulled down my woolly toque over my eyebrows but it only partially helped. I decided to walk into the relative shelter of a street. From then on, I wasn't cold anywhere. My biceps, of all things, were a bit cool, but not uncomfortably so. There must be something weak in the lining of my coat. It could have been solved by wearing an extra long sleeve shirt or maybe a different fleece middle layer.

I was out in that for half an hour. The worst part was worrying that I may have died and it was all a post-death dream. It was just too easy. With ski goggles, who knows what I could have accomplished out there.

Here's what I wore, from head to toe:

Thick woolly toque over:
MEC Outdoor Research balaclava with mesh over the mouth area
Wind River gloves ($45, Mark's)
Short sleeve t-shirt
Fleece jacket from Walmart as a mid-layer
Cheap Walmart winter jacket as an outer layer
Three layers of sweat pants, with the wind-breaking pants on the outside
Old fashioned thick wool socks (Mark's)
An old pair of worn out runners
Traction Aids pulled over my runners

My feet weren't the slightest bit cold, I swear to you. When your core is warm while you're doing the slightest bit of exercise, your extremities are toasty. It's one thing to read this, it's another to prove it to yourself.

So...I just kicked winter in the ass, maybe even K-O'd it. Take that, winter! That's for repressing me and all those I love for all these years!

It was remarkable. It's especially remarkable for the fat person who is always making excuses not to go outside in any weather, let alone this. Who in their right mind would go for a walk in -45 windchills? Certainly not the fat guy.

The obese person has a lot of voices in her or his head saying, "You can't." My perceptions of what are possible have changed once again, while I learn that those voices aren't necessarily right.

I'm still not quite sure I'm not dead. Will I do it again? Why not? The side walks aren't very crowded in this weather!

Shovelling in Cold Weather

In the interest of science (and fun, of all things), my 8-year-old son and I decided we'd go out tonight in -30 Celsius temperatures and do some recreational shovelling. I used it as my exercise of the day.

Shovelling snow as cross-training? Why not?  I came in all sweaty so I must have accomplished something. Last year I'd fear having a heart attack while shovelling. No so now.

It was another chapter in my fight to tame my winter cold weather fears and misconceptions. I dressed warm (something that's easy to learn with trial and error--layers make it easier) and I didn't feel cold. Instead of breathing stale air inside the house, I lived a little, got a couple tiny icicles on my eyelashes and felt like a hundred bucks. I got out there with my boy and breathed in some fresh winter air and moved my body a little to prove to myself once again that I wasn't dead.

An added side-effect is that my walk and driveway are clear.

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And now a video on how to dress in layers. It's good advice if you're running, shovelling your walk, or going to a football game in November. Although he's American, I can vouch that this stuff works in the coldest weather even here in Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eC5toC0vms

Tobogganing Video (my family at "The Bowl")

We joined some friends at a smaller hill in the center of the city. The benefit of a smaller hill is you get lots of shorter runs and, in this case, can park closer to your vehicle.

Mystery Cyclist in the Yellow Jacket, You Inspire

Not an actual picture of the person, that would be rude.

There is a man, roughly my age, who cycles every weekday morning on a road that loops around my isolated subdivision. I would guess that he makes several laps and spends 30 to 60 minutes each day riding.

It seems to me he was obese recently and he always appears to be getting smaller. This morning it was -15 C. with a cold breeze. I used to see him on frosty mornings in the Fall and greatly admired him even then. But seeing him today, and knowing that he's keeping it up, even on mornings with fresh snow and cold temperatures, is inspiring.

Many people quit walking in the winter (I was going to be one of those people until I came to my senses) but cycling is this guy's thing and he's hell bent on continuing it. Good for him.

Mystery man in the yellow jacket, keep going, keep inspiring!

My Big, Dumb--WRONG--Preconceptions

When I started to hit my exercise stride (so to speak) early last summer, there was one thing I dreaded: Summer ending.

I was focused on the silliest of things. I dreaded cool temperatures, let alone cold temperatures. I had it in my mind that I needed to accomplish much of my fitness and weight-loss goals by mid-August, of all times. That's not even the end of Summer, even in Saskatchewan.

Beyond that, I was hell-bent on getting my weight down to 325 pounds by October 30th. I had it ingrained in me that I couldn't be active after Halloween because the cold weather has kept me in in the past. 325 is the weight limit of my home treadmill and I wanted to make sure I could use it in time for winter. It was my summer ending safety net. I didn't reach that goal. I fell short by ten pounds.

But here it is, mid-December, and I'm outdoors getting my usual exercise and loving it. My only challenge is the occasional near-slip, but there are products (traction aids) you can buy to alleviate that problem.

With the right clothes and knowing how to layer, there's no reason not to keep living as per usual when winter comes.

However, deep snow and -40 wind chills are two things that I'll have to wait and see I how deal with those. But just remember, people do go on expeditions to the South Pole and sleep in tents. I should be able to walk around the block and not complain.

After Some Setbacks, I Now Feel Really Good

November was a tough month for me in that my level of hope was challenged by injuries to my knee and back. After an early November bike ride, my first that late in the year, the snow came and my back injury got worse. In September I had a ridiculous accent with cycling shoes indoors and fell on my ass. My back hurt but seemed to be on the mend, although ever so slowly.

I had a good jog in October that was 20 minutes, a very significant landmark for me. It was, in my mind, a real jog because that's what I used to do in the old days of being fit. But it was too much too soon. My previous record this time out was fifteen minutes and that was too large of a jump all at once. I did it because I felt so good up until the end of the run but I didn't stop when I got signals from my knee that it had had enough. It pushed it one minute further to meet my goal.

My knee has been troublesome ever since. Going up stairs and jogging seemed iffy on occasion. But I'm happy to say it's all better now. If anything, going up and down a large toboggan hill seemed to help. It certainly strengthened my legs in ways they weren't before. But I'm taking it easy with jogging just in case, doing intervals instead of one long jog. Even at home on my treadmill (my fitness safety net) I do a minute or two of jogging intervals to spice up an otherwise boring routine.

All runners will tell you it feels really good to run. Well, I'd imagine it feels even better for people like me who, less than a year ago, were confined to laying in bed most of the day. Doing it for even just a couple of minutes here and there, with ever-increasing speeds as my fitness improves, feels oh so good.

I should have seen a chiropractor from the beginning. I hadn't seen one before and I know more now about back problems and how chiropractors can help get things better in a week or two.

So I feel pretty darn good! The only problem is the snow is melting. I actually want it to come back. I was just getting the hang of sledding and I'd usually much rather go tobogganing than go for a walk.

Tobogganing Day 2

I'm okay!

I could walk on the treadmill for thirty minutes like a mouse on a wheel or I can say, "Hey kids, lets' go tobogganing," and get a high intensity workout while having lots of fun with the family. 

It's like walking on a stair climber for an hour with short breaks when you go down the hill. 

Forgive Me, I'm A Bit Eurphoric

Winter Goal 2011: Accomplished! (And I lived!)

We haven't had a whole lot of snow and it is nastily cold out but my son and I hit the slopes and I tobogganed today for the first time in 25 years.

It's a great workout. I strapped on my heart rate monitor and I'm glad I did. A slow walk up the hill easily gets my heart rate up to 85% of max, where I like to limit myself. I had to pause for a moment or two now and again and slow down to keep my pulse in check, but I was amazed at how well I did. And I expect, like any new exercise, it'll get easier and easier as my body quickly adapts.

Last year I thought I was a hero for walking up the hill a couple of times during the winter but I did it really slowly, pausing to "watch the sledding" every now and again. And I didn't dare put my sedentary body on a sled.

For the last five years, since my first born was old enough to go sledding, I stood at the bottom of the hill envying him, as well as my wife who did the tobogganing. I thought for the first time in many years about the last times I went. It was just after I finished high school and some of my friends would head to the very same hill my son and I went on today.

I remember being dragged there on a really cold winter night and we had the hill all to ourselves. Remembering that night, I'd always be impressed with myself for going out on such a cold night and having fun. Everyone had a blast and I thought of that night often. Today was almost as cold and, as an overweight middle-aged man, I certainly could have stayed at home and had another predictable, safe day. God knows most of the children of Regina opted to stay indoors and play video games. But not me, I got out there, not knowing what might happen.

I put on some cheap winter boots that I bought today from Walmart on credit (don't blame me for being poor) and my deluxe MEC balaclava, stopped by Toys R Us and bought a wide plastic sled and headed for the hill.

My first ride down was surprisingly non-eventful. I seemed to go slow (the snow wasn't very packed down and there's still some grass sticking through.). My son sped ahead of me on his Norwegian-made sled which I wish I had when I was a kid (It has a fun fur seat, steering wheel and brakes on a plastic frame.) I marched up the hill with lots of energy an zest. Really, you don't stop hill-climbing save for the few moments it takes to hurtle down the slope. The subsequent runs were much faster and were a challenge for my recovering back. But what a blast!

My son was nonplussed. I thought it'd be a big deal for him since he's always asked me to to do this (and cycling.) It was just another day on the toboggan hill for him. I'm sure he'll remember it though.

It occurred to me today, after I did the math, that my father was my age (46) when I was born. He died twenty years later and throughout that time, his health steadily deteriorated, mostly due to a weak heart. He was somewhat overweight and had smoked until I was five but he never exercised. That's going to be the difference maker for me and for my kids.

I couldn't have even imagined in my wildest dreams my father going tobogganing with me when I was a kid. I don't even think he went with my brothers who were born eleven and twelve years before me. And all this wouldn't be possible with just weight loss alone.

It's a common theme on this blog that exercise empowers me to do so much more than would be otherwise possible, even with weight loss alone. Just having the confidence in my body to sit down on a sled wouldn't have been possible without having changed my body with fitness and strength.

So the dreaded Winter season has arrived and the side walks are slippery or impassable for walking or jogging. But for a workout--a great workout--all I need do is grab a kid and our sleds and head a few blocks East to the toboggan hill.

I'll keep you updated!

Today I Begin My Intensive Mountain Training

How I envisioned our
tobogganing hill last year

Today, at my clinic's gym, I began my training for accomplishing my winter goal: Tobogganing!

I've never gone sledding with my eight year old son even though I've always wanted to. I would simply watch from the bottom of the hill or slowly make my way to the middle. Getting up the hill was too much of a struggle to do in public (heavy gasping of breath, moving very, very slowly to get there.)

I walked up the hill in question (known as Mount Pleasant, an old landfill site) a few weeks ago before the snow came. I seemed to do okay although I started to get out of breath and had to take it slow. It'll be more of a challenge finding my footing as I go up the snowy slopes with my son.

Today I did my first workout on the treadmill with a significant incline. I pumped that bad boy up until my heart rate reached 85%, about 8% incline for those keeping score. I look forward to gauging my improvement on this task by watching the incline get higher over time while my heart rate stays at the same level as it was today.

The other important part of my preparations for the upcoming tobogganing season is selecting a sled, one that won't break when I sit on it. The first thing that came to mind was a Krazy Karpet style sled because they're so thin, there's nothing to break. However, I've never been a fan of Krazy Karpets because you can't steer them and bumps can be painful underneath.

I think I'll go with something in a saucer.

The Weather Elephant in the Room

Ever since I hit my stride with exercise in June and July, it's been in the back of my mind that winter will one day come and put an end to my outdoor frolicking. I tried to make as much progress by the end of August because September can be unpredictable in these parts. Snow is even possible.

Fall has always seemed inhospitable to cycling for me. I would not have expected to have done all the cycling I did in the last two months. I embraced every chance I could, often in the evenings post-dusk. And tonight, I cycled for the first time in my life in November. It was also a first for my family who tagged along.

I'm getting used to knowing what to wear for what activity in very specific weather conditions. 0 C with a light wind is different than 0 C with a wind. Dressing in layers really does work the best. It keeps you warmer but you can also make slight adjustments if you get too hot or too cold. The old me would put on a light winter coat and sweat in it far past the point of being comfortable. I would have been hot and wet. Being wet would have made me cold even though I was hot.

The new me has invested in a few pieces of winter athletic gear and utilizes a pair of fleece jackets, size 5XL, that I got for five bucks a piece on clearance (I like to live beyond my means.) I no longer sweat to the point of discomfort. You can stay warm and relatively dry if you know what you're doing.

However, I'm still intimidated by winter and how it can put the kibosh on being active. (My neighbourhood has tonnes of walkers in the summer but you can't find a single one on November evenings even though the weather has been pleasant.) I had a goal of losing enough overall weight so that I would be under the limit of my treadmill that I bought a couple of years ago when we moved to our current home. I failed in that goal. I built up a great deal of muscle mass in the late summer and fall but neglected pushing my calorie restrictions. I lost some fat mass but not as much as I could have if I worked harder at it.

It's got mesh over the mouth and a nose flap that
directs breath away from your glasses (or goggles.)

I can still probably use my treadmill if it turns cold (I'm fairly close to the weight limit) and I have access to the gym at my medical clinic which I currently use twice per week. But I also spent some money on winter gear including a deluxe balaclava, a skull cap, and some light gloves that can be used for liners when it gets colder. From what I've read and heard, very active people like runners need surprisingly little to keep them warm because their bodies heat up so much, including their extremities because of increased circulation and blood flow.

Even when the streets are too icy and snow-covered for walking, I can use this gear to stay warm while tobogganing with my kids (a winter goal I'm looking forward to achieving for the first time.)

As winter comes, I'm going to try and face it head on, one challenge at a time. If I can beat winter, I can beat anything!