Wednesday 25 September 2013

Winter is Coming


Even I will admit, this past Sunday was COLD in Toronto. The sudden drop in temperature and bitter wind was a sad reminder that summer is over, or for all you Game of Thrones fans “winter is coming”.  Cold weather, dark mornings, and lack of sunshine can make anyone want to curl up and hibernate for the winter. It’s much harder to tell yourself ‘let’s go for a run’ when you step outside and are immediately freezing. However, bad weather should never be an excuse for being lazy, but dressing inappropriately for the weather is. To get you ready for Fall fitness here are some tips.

Dress Warm. The MEC store on King Street is one of my favourite places to shop downtown. They have EVERYTHING you need to stay fit and active under all weather circumstances. I managed to go for a long bike ride Sunday, with a little help from my neck warmer, fleece lined vest and winter biking gloves from there. Without these items, there’s no way I would have ever left my cozy apartment. If you go and feel lost in the sea of overwhelming products, snag a staff member ASAP as they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. My latest find? An awesome front light for my bike that is USB rechargeable, great now that the days are getting shorter.

Prepare yourself mentally. This may sound a little silly but seriously, telling yourself ‘you can do it’ and setting a fitness goal pre-workout (ie. I will bike for one hour or run 5 miles) can help you stay on track and forget about the fact you can no longer feel the tips of your fingers.

Be safe! Coming from experience, there are countless ways you can injure yourself biking in this city. If you are new to cycling and unsure of how to navigate within the city, here are two super nerdy but helpful links from the City of Toronto listed below. The first one talks about general bike safety in the city, and I personally wish I had read the part about crossing street tracks before I wiped out and destroyed my elbow this summer. The other is a cycling map of bike friendly routes and location of bike lanes in the city. You can also use the bike route function on Google maps to find bike friendly roads and planned routes when inputting directions. Guess you no longer have an excuse to drive that car huh??







Safe and happy workouts :)




No comments:

Post a Comment