2019 is my favorite color

[Happienumber]

I’ve never done a daily battle log thread, and I’m not sure if I’m going to use it “properly” as I’ll most likely be doing the bulk of my updates in my four week challenges. But I wanted to start a thread I could refer back to regarding my big picture, year long goals of what I want to achieve by the end of 2019, and updates of how I’m moving forward towards them. If I’m not doing a challenge (missed the start date, felt like too much pressure, Ect) I’ll try to keep updating in here to keep momentum going.
 
The title is a reference to the fact that due to my synesthesia (associating colors and numbers) 2019 is a very nice bright shade of yellow. So I’m going to make it a good year.
 
My big goals:
 
 
Atain a B1 level in French
 

 
I have many reasons for this, practical and personal. I live in an area that’s bilingual French/English. More than Half of the customers at my job speak French. My coworkers first languages are all French. I am able to get by because my small town is pretty anglophone and almost everyone ALSO speaks at least a little English (and I have about a two year olds ability in French and we get by) But there’s definitely like 15% of our customers that don’t speak any English and I struggle.

• I want to be able to really serve our full customer base in a complete way. I’m sick of having to ask coworkers to help me translate things. Since I’ve started working there, job descriptions have come to say “bilingual French/English mandatory” I’m not going to LOSE my job over this, but it’s telling to know that if I was reapplying to my job now, I wouldn’t get hired.
• I have one coworker who hates me, and one of the things she complains about is my lack of French. I want to prove her wrong (petty reasons count!)
• I have a friend who is francophone and although her English is fantastic, I want to talk with her in her FIRST language.
• Also her family only speaks French and her mom just seems SO NICE and I want to talk to her SO BADLY??!
• My area is pretty anglophone but the town nearby where ALL the fun things are is super francophone. I want to go take art classes and parkour classes and all this super fun classes and workshops but they are all in French.
•  

I set B1 as my level goal because it will be a comfortable level for conversing and functioning, and also because a B1 score is usually a requirement for college studies and if I decide to go take some courses at the CÉGEP I’ll need that level of proficiency.
 
On a bigger picture note, I’ve always wanted to be fluent in at minimum five languages. French was never on that list, but given where I’m living now, it seems only logical that it become one of my five languages. So working on this goal is working towards my big picture life long “who I want to be as a person” goals.
 
 
Improve my mental health
 
 
I wish I had a better SMART goal for this, but I’m kind of new to the idea of my mental health and I don’t really know what specific things I can work towards.
This wasn’t really something I’d realized I needed to work on until recently. I had a really, really bad last summer. One of my friends has been saying for the last two years that I should really consider therapy (one late, sleep deprived night she got me talking about stuff I don’t usually discuss. I told her like 2% of my history and she was like “sweetheart that’s some pretty serious trauma” and I was thinking lol yikes that’s nothing.)
I finally caved and went to a psychologist and I found out I really do have a lot of things to work on (apparently having suicidal thoughts multiple times every day is not something everyone does?) I’ve been diagnosed with C-PTSD which is a subtype of ptsd, and the treatment is very long but there IS treatment. For years I’ve oscillated between “there’s nothing wrong with me” and “I’m so fundamentally flawed there’s not point in trying to fix it” but I’ve finally come to “there’s definitely stuff wrong, but I can do something about it”
I don’t really have any specific goals, but it’s important to me that I keep working and making steps toward improving in this area. This past summer was very bad and I barely survived it. I don’t want to slide back to that again. Loose set of ongoing goals:

• Continue going to therapy regirally
• Stick with/improve my meditation habit
• Have regular, ideally daily, physical activity that involves skill-building
• Pursue potential medication (this is nearly always an early part of treatment to go on meds temporarily until the skills to cope are developed in therapy- I’ve hated the idea of meds but as part of a bigger picture treatment, I’m trying to be more open)
• Get a pet or volunteer with animals
• Cultivate my friendships

 
 
Increase my cardio to be able to run for one hour straight
 

 
This one isn’t really a running goal, but the running aspect is more of a benchmark to test.
I do enjoy running, but I wouldn’t call myself a “runner” as my main sport. However, cardio is my weak area in everything I do (parkour, staff spinning, hockey) I hate having to stop my skill practice because I’m wheezing. I want to improve my stamina both by doing these sports more intensely and also by running, to the point where I can run for one hour straight without having to stop for a walk break. I know I can accomplish this easily in this year if I don’t slack, as when I finished zombies run 5k, I was running 50 minutes straight, and that’s an 8 week program. I haven’t run in like....months so I’m starting from scratch, but I can do it.
Since I’ve moved to the frozen north, my outdoor sport has been basically zero for 9 months of the year, and that’s not enough to build stamina. I’ve now bought myself some solid winter outdoor gear and I’m ready to start just going out there anyway.

• Restart and complete zombies run 5k
• Do lots of stamina skate drills
• Basically if it’s warmer than -16 and the wind isn’t blowing, I GO.
• Develop some plan for when it IS colder than -16 and still doing SOMETHING inside to keep the habit flowing.

 
 
Finally get my splits
 
 

 
Getting full front splits (striving towards middle splits too, but I’m farther away in that one) is my specific and measurable goal. I’m about six inches off with my left leg and four inches off with my right. I think this is realistic and attainable in a year. Big picture reasons for this is that I need to stretch every day for injury prevention. I’m super, super tight in my entire body but mostly hips and shoulders. Because of this my body is not very resilient to issues in my sports and the slightest mishap can cause injury and it’s super frustrating. (Also, I learned that this muscle tightness is a symptom of my C-PTSD and regular stretching is part of my treatment plan so it’s also working on goal number 2. Multitasking for the win!)
 
 
 
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[Jean]

I love your goals, and I'm pretty fond of bright shades of yellow too so I'll be cheering for you. Petty reasons are the best kind of reasons when it comes to motivating us to stick to it and yup, not everybody has suicidal thoughts on a daily basis (or at all, for that matter) but as you've come to realise, you don't have to have them yourself too. It's a long hard road but there's freedom and peace of mind attached to it so I wish you success on your endeavours.

 

French speaking swiss person here, si tu as besoin d'un partenaire pour pratiquer ton français (écrit ou occasionnellement par Skype), n'hésite pas.

 

Courage and persistance.

[Happienumber]

Merci beaucoup!
I’m so excited that I understood your whol sentence without needing my dictionary [emoji1787][emoji23]


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[Happienumber]

So, this morning when I got up, my phone weather said it was -18 so nothing happened fitness-wise. When I got in my car it said -6 farenheight (my car thermometer is in farenheight and I can't seem to figure out how to change it) and that was even COLDER (I think that equals around -21?). I'm trying to think of indoors things I could do. I'm kind of interested in like, animal flow or MovNat kind of stuff for indoors because parkour is really my favorite activity and those things kind of work on movement efficiency and mobility. And are also quieter than trying do do parkour in my aparement   . I do not want to anger the neighbors with jumping about in here. 

 

I'm going to spend my afternoon setting up my spare room into an office/workspace/art room? and I think i'm going to try to find a french audiobook to listen to while I work. Not that I will understand much, as my auditory comprehension is for the trash, but it will be practice for my ears. 

 

I'm starting to brainstorm some ideas of what my goals can be for this upcoming 4 week challenge. 

[Happienumber]

So this is what I found to listen to while cleaning today.
Oh.
My god.
This woman CRACKS ME UP.

IM DYING!
(Mort de rire?)

Before dinner I was like....screw it, and I walked down to the rink even though it’s still -18. Ive missed skating so much since I’ve been sick (the past week) and I really wanted some exercise. It wasn’t bad. Not too cold at all. So I may lower my cutoff temperature to -18. It was the kind of cold where your parka gets all crinkly lol. I’m so thankful to finally have a decent coat that’s like SOLIDLY WARM. (Très chaud! Yay I know a word)

I did only about 15 minutes of stride skating drills and 10 minutes of one foot balance drills and then I was wiped. Idk if it’s from the week off or if I’m just still a little sick.

Plans for the evening:

Hot bath, 20 minutes stretching, watch treasure planet in French. Big, nommy salad for dinner.


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[Jean]

11 hours ago, Happienumber said:

(Mort de rire?)

 

Mort de rire = mdr = lol. So, yes.

Pété de rire = ptdr = rofl. (Roughly)

This woman cracks me up could have been translated into "Cette femme me fait mourir de rire", which combines the two.

 

Also, congrats on getting out by -18. I've met a few canadians who, by -6°C would say "I've come to Switzerland for the climate" with a big warm smile and I would be like "what!? It's freezing out here!" You people are made of stern stuff.

 

[Happienumber]

 
Also, congrats on getting out by -18. I've met a few canadians who, by -6°C would say "I've come to Switzerland for the climate" with a big warm smile and I would be like "what!? It's freezing out here!" You people are made of stern stuff.
 

Haha by -6 I’d be getting out my “lightweight” coat [emoji23]

It’s all about what you get used to though. When I lived down south, anything below zero was considered VERY cold and below like -5 schools would be closed, you’d go into work late, Ect. When I first moved up here I was like “WHAT IS THIS MADNESS THIS IS INHOSPITABLE WHY DOES ANYONE LIVE HERE” and I would basically hibernate half the year.

I don’t know if I’m just acclimating (it’s year three) or if it’s my new cold weather gear (I used to only have that “lightweight” jacket and layer it with a billion sweatshirts but that’s not sufficient. I finally got a GOOD Michelin-man-shaped winter parka) or if it’s my frame of mind (I’ve decided this year that I cannot just pause my life for 6 to 9 months every year. I want to do fun things year round) but I feal like I’m tolerating the cold WAY way better this year. Probably a combination of all three.

I’m so excited to tri out my new gaiters? Gators? The plastic things you put over your legs. I got my first pair and we are supposed to get over a half meter of snow today so I’m going to to on a hike with them!

I have no idea how to put them on.

I thought it would be fairly obvious but there’s like a hook at the bottom (I think it’s the bottom?) and like clips and things. They should have come with a manual [emoji23][emoji1787] they probably didn’t think there would be anyone like me who is too dense to figure out how to put them on.



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[Jean]

You probably have this figured out by now but the hook is probably tied to the strip meant to go under the shoe:

 

 

I don't know for sure but I think it's to prevent them to go up and let snow in. The clips and things are probably there to tighten them, much for the same purpose (avoid the snow getting in).

 

Those are called "guêtres", in French, BTW, very close to gaiters. I wonder who stole the word to whom. ^^

 

Hope you had a nice hike.

 

[RogueLibrarian]

Hey, look who's back! So great to see you online again!

 

I love your big goals. I'm also working on a much smaller scale language project, brushing up on my rusty Thai for a trip this summer, and you've reminded me to make a note to add it into the next challenge.

 

Have you tried either Mango Languages or DuoLingo? I get ML access through my public library, and last year I tinkered with the DuoLingo Spanish program a little and it was fun (not sure if there is a subscription cost if you stick with it, or what).

 

I'm working on some different mental health stuff than you are, but I have found that my exercise routine plays a huge role in my overall mental health situation. If I'm not getting my regular exercise, I really start to feel it drag me down until I get back on the fitness routine again. It's wild how much mind and body can affect one another. (And your weather would kill me, so I congratulate you for having the toughness to push through it to get more active again.)

[Happienumber]

On 1/29/2019 at 11:29 AM, Jean said:

You probably have this figured out by now but the hook is probably tied to the strip meant to go under the shoe:

 

 

I don't know for sure but I think it's to prevent them to go up and let snow in. The clips and things are probably there to tighten them, much for the same purpose (avoid the snow getting in).

 

Those are called "guêtres", in French, BTW, very close to gaiters. I wonder who stole the word to whom. ^^

 

Hope you had a nice hike.

 

 

I stil didn't totally figure it out LOL. The hook wasn't part of the strap, i think maybe it's supposed to hook onto my pants or mayBE MY SHOOLACE!! That makes sense! I'll try the shoolace when I get home.  But they worked fine without the hook connected so *shrug*

I would assume probably English stole from French because that's what English does LOL but I could be wrong.

(English isn't really a language, it's six languages piled on top of each other wearing a trench coat)

 

2 hours ago, RogueLibrarian said:

Have you tried either Mango Languages or DuoLingo? I get ML access through my public library, and last year I tinkered with the DuoLingo Spanish program a little and it was fun (not sure if there is a subscription cost if you stick with it, or what).

 

I've got memrise and duolingo, and I also get ML through work (I work at a library lol) And I really like that theres a specifically "canadian  french" section on ML which will help with terminologies and idioms and stuff.  I just need to set up a study schedule and actually USE these things. 

 

This is the first language I've really had to WORK at. I've had more frustration with French than any other language. Where I am in French right now, after being surrounded by it for three years, is about where I was in Spanish after about 3 weeks. Casually playing on Memrise like 2 or 3 times a week and just hanging out with people was enough to be comfortably conversational in a little over a month.  Reading 1 vocabulary sheet and listening to 1 pimsleur lesson before an event I attended in Swahili and I was able to greet everyone and limitedly participate in the discussion at the event even. I spent about a half hour cramming as much Farsi into my brain as I could, like 5 years ago before meeting a refugee family, and still I can greet people, introduce myself, ask basic directional questions, ect. 

Even Russian, which was the only one I really felt I needed to do book learning in a textbook with,  never felt difficult to pronounce and I felt I could make steady progress, like every single day I was better than the day before. Every time I learned a word, it STAYED in my BRAIN.

 

French is like chasing a wet bar of soap! I learn a word and then instantly loose it. I can't pronounce sounds. My accent is atrocious and I roll all my R's (because all my other languages have R rolling and I just...can't....stop. I got yelled at for the same thing with German LOL) I recognize that i'm going to have to put in a lot of leg work that I'm not used to to learn this. I have to actually make a study schedule, and stick to it, and actually put the time in. I'm clearly not going to osmosis this language. 

 

Quote

I'm working on some different mental health stuff than you are, but I have found that my exercise routine plays a huge role in my overall mental health situation. If I'm not getting my regular exercise, I really start to feel it drag me down until I get back on the fitness routine again. It's wild how much mind and body can affect one another. (And your weather would kill me, so I congratulate you for having the toughness to push through it to get more active again.)

 

Sorry to hear that you're dealing with stuff too! But I totally agree- the exercise routine makes SUCH a difference! On days when I've felt like absolute subterranean dirt muck, if i managed to get my butt outside and go for a run or go to the rink, it's been a 180 degree emotion change. It's so crazy what even just 15-20 minutes can do, like a complete brain powerwash. 

[RogueLibrarian]

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

(English isn't really a language, it's six languages piled on top of each other wearing a trench coat)

 

And holding a blackjack in its pocket looking for naive tourist languages to happen by.

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

I've got memrise and duolingo, and I also get ML through work (I work at a library lol)

 

Oh, fantastic! Either I had not known this last time you were hanging around, or somehow I forgot.

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

And I really like that theres a specifically "canadian  french" section on ML which will help with terminologies and idioms and stuff.

 

Very cool. I like Duolingo a lot, but they don't have a Thai course, so I switched.

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

 I just need to set up a study schedule and actually USE these things. 

 

Ditto.

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

French is like chasing a wet bar of soap! I learn a word and then instantly loose it. I can't pronounce sounds. My accent is atrocious and I roll all my R's (because all my other languages have R rolling and I just...can't....stop. I got yelled at for the same thing with German LOL) I recognize that i'm going to have to put in a lot of leg work that I'm not used to to learn this. I have to actually make a study schedule, and stick to it, and actually put the time in. I'm clearly not going to osmosis this language. 

 

It's probably doubly frustrating since you seem to have a knack for languages! I have to fight with every language I've studied.

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

Sorry to hear that you're dealing with stuff too!

 

I'm in a good place lately and have a self-care regimen that's working well for me. No complaints. (Only mentioned it to express empathy for the struggle and exhaustion of it all, not to make anything all about me. ) 

 

1 minute ago, Happienumber said:

But I totally agree- the exercise routine makes SUCH a difference! On days when I've felt like absolute subterranean dirt muck, if i managed to get my butt outside and go for a run or go to the rink, it's been a 180 degree emotion change. It's so crazy what even just 15-20 minutes can do, like a complete brain powerwash. 

 

I think outdoor exercise is extra effective, but it's hard to keep it going even in our mild winters. I cannot imagine what it's like trying to exercise outdoors up there. But yeah, I have an excellent gym at work, and when I can manage to get a workout break in after/during a tiring brain day, it makes all the difference.

[Jean]

I'm feeling you with French learning. I am SO glad I didn't have to learn it as a foreign language myself. The thing has rules, and exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions, and letters you don't pronounce, and letters you usually pronounce this way but no, not with this word, because reasons... I hear Russian is pretty difficult to learn too so, congrats on handling this one.

 

21 minutes ago, Happienumber said:

I roll all my R's (because all my other languages have R rolling and I just...can't....stop.

 

Rolling R's is sexy. The Spanish and the Italians do it and they have Salsa, Tango and Rocco Siffredi. They know their stuff. The people yelling at you? They don't. You'll have to forgive them. Both french and german people have a little trouble with romance (and I have trouble with capital letters, should I have put them here?)...

 

 

21 minutes ago, Happienumber said:

I stil didn't totally figure it out LOL. The hook wasn't part of the strap, i think maybe it's supposed to hook onto my pants or mayBE MY SHOOLACE!! That makes sense! I'll try the shoolace when I get home.  But they worked fine without the hook connected so *shrug*

 

Some gaiters are made for specific shoes, like (cross-country) ski- or snowshoes. I've found when I've tried it that strapping things to my shoelaces was a bad idea but things may be different up there in Canada.

[Happienumber]

4 hours ago, RogueLibrarian said:

I'm in a good place lately and have a self-care regimen that's working well for me. No complaints. (Only mentioned it to express empathy for the struggle and exhaustion of it all, not to make anything all about me. ) 

 

 

 

Glad to hear it's working well! And no worries, I certainly didn't think that. We are all here to support each other! Thats kind of the point lol. 

 

Quote

I think outdoor exercise is extra effective, but it's hard to keep it going even in our mild winters. I cannot imagine what it's like trying to exercise outdoors up there. But yeah, I have an excellent gym at work, and when I can manage to get a workout break in after/during a tiring brain day, it makes all the difference.

 

Yeah, I feal like the vitamin D or something is a major factor. Fresh air? I don't know. Theres some science to be found somewhere. 

 

4 hours ago, Jean said:

I'm feeling you with French learning. I am SO glad I didn't have to learn it as a foreign language myself. The thing has rules, and exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions, and letters you don't pronounce, and letters you usually pronounce this way but no, not with this word, because reasons... I hear Russian is pretty difficult to learn too so, congrats on handling this one.

 

That's what I always say about english- There's no WAY I could have learned this as a second language. (Interestingly, I don't even score as fluent in it, despite it being my first language. The CEFR test is HARD!!! English is Dumb! I only score at a B2 LOL.)

 

Russian is challenging I think because of the sheer vastness of new things- its very unleik the romance languages. Different alphabet. You conjugate verbs AND nounds. But what I appreciate of russian is the regularity. Letters sound like what they sound like. Learn them and you can read anything. there's no "this word sounds completly different for no apparent reason" Grammer is fairly consitant. 

 

Quote

Some gaiters are made for specific shoes, like (cross-country) ski- or snowshoes. I've found when I've tried it that strapping things to my shoelaces was a bad idea but things may be different up there in Canada.

 

HAHAHAHA canada has it's own physics. 

Idk actually, I still didn't try anything with the hooks but maybe tomorrow. 

[Happienumber]

So today was a bit of a let-down. I planned to start back up on running this morning so I set my alarm for 6am and then...

didn't

get up.

 

I was awake, but I had like negative 30 motivation. It was cold in my room and I was warm in the blankit and so tired.

I'm trying to be reasonable and consider the fact that i'm steal a little sick and probably tired because of that. But I am also 1000% not a morning person. So I have to find a way to defeat this in future days. 

I always think maybe evening workouts would be better, but it gets dark at like 3pm these days and I don't want to run in the dark. Also, I know that my entire day goes better when I get some blood moving in the morning. 

 

I think I probably would have gotten out of bed and done some MovNat workout if I had pre-selected one. I couldn't make the jump from chilly bedroom to going outside. But maybe to the living room would have happened, if I didn't have the mental effort of deciding some workout to do. 

 

My goal for this evning is to find a simple, short youtube video I can follow allong with. I'm AIMING for running tomorrow, but if my brain nopes out of it again, I'll have a backup plan already queue'd up on my laptop. 

[Happienumber]

So running didn't happen again today but I did toy around with some animal flow workouts and HOLY HANNAH

 

 

 

 

I  absolutely LOVE this. It was so very much play, not work. This is a heck of a lot of fun!! And I am out of shape. I only played for about 8 minutes before I was totally winded, lying flat on my back trying to catch my breath. But! That just means I have a lot of room for improvement! 

This hits so many important points for me. 

• Increasing stamina (i was so out of breath)
• Increasing mobility (Injury prevention)
• Is supposed to be very good for creating body awareness
• It's play!

 

I have been "prescribed" to do yoga-tipe things to develop body awarness (counteracting dissociation) but I don't like the "spiritual" aspect of yoga. I know you can do the stretches without all the chakras stuff, but I found it very distracting to mentally edit these portions out of a yoga routine, especially when I'm supposed to be focusing intensely on my body movements and sensations. This is like the best of all worlds! I had to be very focused on my body to do these movements and even after only 8 minutes, I felt much more mentally clear and physically like...activated. I feal like I warmed up all the muscles in my entire body for the day ahead, and had a lot more engergy to bounce up and finish the rest of my morning routine. 

 

My next step is to create a slightly longer routine to play with (around 15 minutes) now that I've messed around with the basic movements. It's -25 today with a windchill of -35 and I don't do wind, so my Thursday night rink time is canceled. So to have something to look forward to tonight, I'm going to do anotrher one of these workouts and come up with a routine to do tomorrow morning. 

[Happienumber]

Oh, and another bonus, I am super hungry for lunch! Working out in the morning is so helpful for this. I am surprised, though, that only 8 minutes of workout was enough to make me looking to eat lunch at 11h30.

 

(Those who have followed my challenges may remember that I have a major issue with never being hungry and chronically under-eating. So anything that makes me hungry is extra-good!!)

[Jean]

 

Tell us if those 8 minutes make you also extra sleepy tonight. I love how exercising makes our body and mind work well.

[RogueLibrarian]

I'm loving your sense of experimentation here. Dip toe into new technique, analyze results, hypothesize, change a variable, see what happens. And if it's leaving you out of breath, yeah, it's probably the sort of thing that will build your endurance, sounds logical. I bet Jean is right that it'll help your sleep, especially when you get into longer routines.

[Happienumber]

Looks like the hook does go on the shoolaces! Well, that’s where I hooked it on my walk to work anyway. It was really helpful and didn’t pull weirdly, so I think that was the intended design.

The guêtres really helped walking to work this morning, as we had about a half meter of snow between yesterday and today and the drifts were unREAL.

And I was wearing those dumb pants that don’t reach your ankles


It’s one of those fads where your like “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, where can I buy them?”

I want to do a little post on cold weather gear for outdoor sports and preparedness for those who are finding themselves in an unexpectedly cold time (Midwest us Im looking at you)

Canadians born here take it for granted, and newcomers have no idea where I begin. I think I’ve finally cracked the code after three years and I’ll be happy to share it with you but my sleeping meds are kicking in and I am crashing like a bad day In the stock markets.



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[Happienumber]

21 hours ago, Jean said:

 

Tell us if those 8 minutes make you also extra sleepy tonight. I love how exercising makes our body and mind work well.

 

Unfortunately it didn't do much for my sleep, but probably after I get into some longer workouts it will. 

 

18 hours ago, RogueLibrarian said:

I'm loving your sense of experimentation here. Dip toe into new technique, analyze results, hypothesize, change a variable, see what happens. And if it's leaving you out of breath, yeah, it's probably the sort of thing that will build your endurance, sounds logical. I bet Jean is right that it'll help your sleep, especially when you get into longer routines.

 

Well, I'm a scientist, I can't help myself LOL. I'm gonna start making spreadsheets here if I'm not careful. 

 

I did about 15 minutes of play with it this morning, with a bit of break in the middle. It's amazing how much effort it is! Good effort though, its SO fun and I really feal like it's working parts of my body that need work. Like when I do the "scorpion reach" (the one with the leg over your back) my entire back is like "thank you, this feals really nice" and the "crab reach" feals fantastic on my shoulders. That move is how I used to go into my back bridges, before I let my shoulders gets so tight. It's englighthing to see how much range of motion I lost, but I think that stretch will get me back to better back bridges eventually. 

 

I didn't even feal like there was that much leg work this mornig, but walking down my stairs my legs were a little wobbly haha. 

 

A bit of a "before" video of some of the things I tried this morning:

 

 

 

Hopefully I'll have some progress videos of getting more coordinated and flow-y!

[Happienumber]

Ok! Happienumber's breif run-down of exercising in the cold:

 

1. Choose your parka well

 

• Choose by feal:  Don't just go online and find a "good brand"  of coat and think that you're all set (and then wonder why your stiel cold and think maybe you just "can't handle it"- it's probably your coat, not you!) You also don't have to break the bank. I bought a 360$ llbean coat when I first moved hear and it never kept me as warm as my current $40 walmart coat. Go to the physical store and put the thing on your body. If you are instantly over-heated, that's the one you want. You want to be too warm indoors. If you can comfortably wear it in the store, it's too thin.  
• Look like the michilin man: You want an oversized, puffy thing. If you look like the michalin man or the white robot guy from big hero 6, you're on the right track. Air traps heat. You want to be able to layer under the coat and steil have air space between the coat and you. Winter is the time for doing what you need to to stay alive, not the time for fashion. You will look ridiculous. You will thank me for it. 
• Cinch-tie bottom: You want to be able to "seal off" the bottom of the parka. those eleastic cinch bottoms are a must. You don't want cold air just blowing right up the bottom of the coat. 

2. Skin-tight base layer

 

This was an absolute GAME CHANGER. I had previously been just wearing t-shirts as my base layer and your skin gets SO COLD. A completly skin-tight baselayer is a must. 

Preferably 100% merino wool, as these are quite soft, moisture wicking (sweat is your HUGE ENEMY.) and odor-resistant. The last bit is awesome, because merino wool base layers can be painfully expensive. You can find much cheaper deals on amazon or ebay than you can in a retail store, but you're still looking at about 40 bucks for one shirt. The good news, is that the odor resistance means you can wear it for a week straight with NO smell. It's naturally anti-microbial. So, depending on how often you do your laundry, you can reasonably get by with owning only one or two of them. 

 

As long as it's not cotton, though, any skin tight baselayer will help immensly. In a pinch, I have worn my surfing rash guard (swim shirt) under my other cloths and it's like 70% better than my big cotton t-shirts as a baselayer. You will not beleive the difference this makes. You can wear a t-shirt, but make sure it's your second layer, not your skin-layer. 

 

A top is essential, bottoms are also nice (I wear leggings under everything, every day in the winter. Our grandparents wore long-johns for a reason.)

 

3. Winter running shoes

 

Runing in snow with regular sneakers is a miserable experience, if not a dangerous one. Once it gets in the deep cold temperatures, you start toying with frostbite. Up until this year I only had summer sneakers, and winter boots. I didn't know winter sneakers were a thing. (and just try running in muckluks....you feal like you have boats on your feet.) 

 

Get yourself a pair of mid-hight winter running shoes. Almost all the sporty people around hear wear Salomon and that's what I got. They can also be used as trail running shoes in the summer. They are waterproof, warm, and have AMAZGING grip in the snow and mud. 

After you've clicked that link and got sticker shock, go over to eBay and set up a product alert for it in your size, then wait a week or two. I paid 30 bucks for mine, including shipping, and they look BRAND new. Perfect condition. 

 

They make me excited to go outside and conquer the snow.  Even if you're not a running, these will make any outdoor sporting endevours better.

 

4. Ditch the hat/scarf combo for a balaclava (not a baklava)

 

I get those two mixed up all the time lol. Yes I just googled it to be sure I had it right. 

 

The scarf will unwind on you no matter how tight you think you've tied it, and is unnessesarily bulky for monkeying about outdoors.  A balaclava is just as warm, if not warmer, with just a thin layer that doesn't get in your way. Doesn't get in your eyes. Doesn't get caught on things. Fits under helmets. 

 

• Get a nice, long one that layers down well into your parka. You want the bottom to come to the middle of your chest, about. 
• Get one with a sort of "shape" to the nose area and a breathable patch there. Breathing into it will get it wet, and if it's just a wall of fleece (like a turtle fur), once its wet every single breath will plaster it to your face and suffocate you. You're excercising, so you're going to be breathing hard. The breathable patch will keep it from getting too wet and the shaped nose will hold it up off your face.  This is the one I got and i'm immensely happy with it. 

 

5. Don't get too hot

 

As mentioned before, sweat is your enemy. Once you get wet, then it's easier to get REALLY cold. Hypothermia cold. 

• Merino wool base layer- pulls away sweat and keeps you dry
• Unzip your parka/get a parka with venting zippers
• Layer the heck out of things and take off layers as needed

 

I always remember the C.O.L.D.E.R. principle from my SAS survival manual when I was a kid. 

 

Clean, Overheating, Layers, Dry, Examine, Repair.

 

Keep your equpment clean from mud and salt/snow (which errodes it), Don't let yourself get overheated, Wear lots of layers, stay dry (from sweat or from melted snow, ect. If you get wet, go inside and dry off.) Examine your gear for damage, and quickly repair enything you find. 

[Happienumber]

I'm posting a lot today. It's D-E-D Dead at work, and I'm covering the circulation desk and I've done literally every bit of make-work I can even do. 

 

I'm brainstorming ideas for my next four-week challenge in a google doc. I have two goals solid, and I want to make a SMART stretching goal. I don't know what is measurable and attainable. Maybe 15 minutes per day? I can't really say like, 2 inches lower in split because I'm not sure if stretching every day will get me to that. But I can measure the time spent, I guess.  

[Mikey Fitpants]

Where do you live where its so cold? 

[Happienumber]

Where do you live where its so cold? 

 

Canada.

I joke around and hashtag stuff #ArcticLife but technically where I live is only subarctic. We do have decently hot summers (they are just not long enough to completely kill the permafrost)

 

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[Happienumber]

Today’s wrap up:

Workouts:
15 minutes of animal flow
40 minutes of stick and puck
20 minute walk (10 minutes to and from the rink, not really and official workout but I’m counting it LOL)
I haven’t yet but am going to stretch for about 10-15 minutes.

Food:
Lunch- clementine, 30g protein shake, handful of peanut
Dinner- this sort of chili-esque thing I cooked. Honestly I really really am craving normal, basic chili with ground beef and tomato sauce and beans. But I don’t feal for cooking. Nor do I have tomato sauce.
I found this....eeehhhh..... this has never happened before! I can only think of the French word!! Chou. (My francophone friend is the one who is teaching me to cook so we are only using French words for food!) I got a chou for a dollar so I had to cook lots of Chou. So I made this thing with chou and beans and champingons and bacon. It's got chilli powder in it, but it's more of a soup than chili. 

 

I had a cute interaction with this little kid (like 5 years old) at the rink tonight. He was putting on his skates to go out as I was coming in and packing up. And he's as outgoing as can be, sits down next to me and is like "How good are you at skating?" so i'm like "Not very good yet, but I'm practicing and I get better every time I come."

"Well, I play hockey. So I can skate ok." 

"Oh wow, I really want to play hockey someday on a team."

"YEah, it's a good sport! What's your favorite NHL team?"

"I like the Oilers."

"I like the Redhawks."

"I could tell!" (this kid had on like 3 things with the redhawks logo)

"Not many people around here like the oilers, or the redhawks."

"Yeah, they are from pretty far away."

"Ok, bye."

And he just skated away. 

 

I love talking to kids. The social awkwardness is just...not...there. When they are done talking to you, they just leave. I love that LOL why can't we be more like that as adults? Why do we have to be SO awkward?

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