Winter Weather Wear

With the weather starting to turn cold, you can still exercise outside, you just need to have the right gear on.  Here, I am an underarmour beenie hat on that helps keep moisture off of my head when I am sweating, and helps to cut down on wind penetration.

The jacket is a goretex jacket, which when it is cold, and especially middle of winter, I won’t go outside to exercise without it.  It blocks the wind, yet breathes, so when I am sweating, it helps keep the mosture off of me to prevent staying cold.   The mittens I have on are also goretex, and keeps them very warm. 

The winter tights work well to about 20 degrees, then the goretex pants go on, for the same reason as with the jacket. 

The biggest thing to keep in mind is dress in layers, and have the base layer that is next to your skin be of a material that will help keep the moisture off of your skin:  underarmour, polypropylene…not cotton, as this keeps you cold and holds the moisture against your skin, so you lose heat faster. 

Remember, you can still exercise outside when it is cold, either running or walking, but you need to be smart, and dress appropriately.

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1508

Alternative Route for Exercise

I am afraid I am going to have to come up with some alternative routes for running, and later biking.  Here is one of my spots.  City Park.  The Lake has now completely engulfed the park and bike trail.  This is where we go along when we do the triathlon in July.  Went running along it this morning when it was still dark out…not a good feeling with all this water coming.  There are multiple sections along the bike path all through town that are under water.  At this rate, it will take quite awhile before we are even going to be able to be on them.

Sections like this are abundant.  The trail that goes by our cabin is completely under.  The Lake is still rising, and not sure when we are going to be done with this.  This is how flooding can impact us all.  Everyone who uses the bike trails will have to come up with alterative routes for awhile. 

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1290

Reality versus Fantasy

As if the weather has not been bad enough, we start getting more snow here today.  Combination of rain and snow, BIG snowflakes.  Sarah and I said “Enough” and we went outside anyway and went running, going for a 6 mile run.  Now, this is the type of scenery we had to look at during this run, but that did not stop us from actually having another image in our head to focus on during this run…That image is the following…

…pretending we were back in Mexico, running along their trail, among the palmtrees, feeling the sun shining, and not having rain and snow pelting your face.  Sometimes, you need to focus on the good things that you did, to help get through some of the bad things.  The weather here is definitely one of the bad things that just “keeps on going”.   So…put your head down, keep focusing, concentrating, get moving, and keep on going!

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1283

Winter Flooding

Efforts from the weekend of working doing sandbagging.  Lots of walking, lifting, shoveling.  Kids are still sore.  Hopefully with all the the rain/snow that everybody will be safe, and not be flooded out.  If you were here in 1997, you know what I am talking about.  It is not something I want to go through again.  Everybody keep their chins up…this weather has got to stop soon, right??

The only thing I want to accomplish yet out of all of this is having some other good workouts emptying all of these bags, hoping none of them are really going to be needed.  Stay tuned over the next few weeks…

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1274

Mexico Activities

Vollyball was one activity to help enjoy being outside.  There were some days that were more windy, and in the afternoon it did get really warm.  Did I just say really warm????  I would take that heat in a heartbeat right now.  With this sudden onset of a blizzard that was not even predicted for tonight, I will take warm and humid any day.  The weather was perfect to go out for walks, which we did plenty of.  This is a view of what we got to see daily….

Spring is coming, right??

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1263

Winter Escape

Sarah and I get to take off on Saturday on a vacation to Mexico…first time for us.  Time for a break from the snow and cold…Now that is what I need to help increase the motivation.  I will take lots of pictures of the scenery there to share when we get back.  Lots of food and relaxation, but we also still exercise everyday.  It would not be very difficult to let everything slip on vacation, and then come back with an extra 5-10#.  This way we can still eat and enjoy things, yet still keep our health in check.  Looking forward to a week with my best friend!  If I am able to send text messages, I will attempt to twitter the Mexico happenings!

Dr. Dan

Consecutive Exercise Day #:  1241