You may have noticed that each and of season I do a re-cap post about all my new favorite fitness finds. That does mean it’s a little late but here are my picks for last spring and summer. I have more than what I need now so I’m not always picking up new stuff the way you might think. That’s why we didn’t get a fall post last year, no new stuff I loved. This winter looked like it might shape up the same but it turns out a few things made it into the list this year. Most of these do apply to other seasons this time and most are very inexpensive, a few are even free!
Reflective laces
Do you ever have one of those moments where you just want to buy something, something for yourself that you really don’t need. Well that happens to me too and when it does I do my best to keep the spend small. So that’s how I came to order my first pair (see what’s coming here?) Of reflective shoelaces. Hot tip if you wan to see how reflective something is take a picture of it with the flash on. Once I took that picture and laced up I bought two more pairs. They have a reflective strip of ‘paint’ and some color along the sides. The paint does chip off where the knot ends up with a few dozen runs but it stays well on the loops. So I bought 2 more pairs online and just put them into a new pair tonight. As I said in my post about how to run safely in the dark you never regret putting on the bright thing that prevents you from getting hit. At about a buck a pair if you ever run in the dark they’re worth it!
Do you ever have one of those moments where you just want to buy something, something for yourself that you really don’t need. Well that happens to me too and when it does I do my best to keep the spend small. So that’s how I came to order my first pair (see what’s coming here?) Of reflective shoelaces. Hot tip if you wan to see how reflective something is take a picture of it with the flash on. Once I took that picture and laced up I bought two more pairs. They have a reflective strip of ‘paint’ and some color along the sides. The paint does chip off where the knot ends up with a few dozen runs but it stays well on the loops. So I bought 2 more pairs online and just put them into a new pair tonight. As I said in my post about how to run safely in the dark you never regret putting on the bright thing that prevents you from getting hit. At about a buck a pair if you ever run in the dark they’re worth it!
Reflective thread
Three years ago I crocheted myself an ever so cute ponytail hat with heads up yarn by red heart which I think is still available. But yarn is something that is best if you can touch it before you buy it. Turns out I couldn’t find it again in town at the fabric store or the craft store. Instead the lady recommended a reflective thread you could just knit along with your project thereby making any warn reflective. It was pretty expensive at $12 for 50m. So I bought some online instead and made that headband I wanted in my favorite yarn I already owned. Because everyone knows that headbands get way more wear around here than hats.
Waterproof mp3 player
Didn’t mp3 players die in like 2012? Yeah they totally did but if you swim you might want to reconsider. A neighbor of mine was telling me how much she loved hers when she swam laps in the morning but it was a bit of a splurge. That’s all it took and I was interested, swimming laps is pretty monotonous after all. When I guarded and taught swimming lessons I had a lot of issues with ear infections and depending on how it worked for me with the earbuds it might cause issues or be just the right thing. So I tracked down a cheaper version down on eBay but here’s a similar one on amazon. It was so cheap I doubted it would work especially more than once. I figured if I liked the concept and it broke then I could invest in a better one. It clips onto your goggle straps and stays put. I’ve used it and charged it about 10 times now and I love it no reason to replace it yet! I’ll probably use it for lake swims this summer too and maybe while I’m paddling this summer. I will avoid immersing it in the salt water though.
weatherCan app
Alright I’ll cop it it I’m a weather nerd but aren’t most outdoor exercisers? So much so that I know that the data that comes on your iPhone is from the weather network. The thing with that is the data and forecasts are less reliable from there than Environment Canada. When I was commuting back and forth every weekend in the winter from home to school (a 3 hour drive) I realized this. Sometimes I think they all like to exaggerate to fill all that TV time. Anyway Environment Canada just launched their app and it’s freakin’ awesome! It does all the regular stuff, 7 days and hourly forecasts but it has some cool features too. It sends alerts to my watch about warnings and special weather statements based on my location data. But the best part is it has an easy to get to radar screen that is tight on your current location. When you’re trying to sneak in a run on an unsettled day radar is your friend. You can sneak your run in between rain bands or know for sure it’ll likely be raining by the time you’re dressed. Check it out it rocks and it’s free!
Water bottle with straw
Santa put a pink Nike water bottle with an integrated straw into my stocking this Christmas along with a whole new outfit. I was like okay, that’s cool I guess but there was nothing wrong with the recycled water bottles I’d been using for years now. PS Santa thinks I like pink running stuff in a bigger way than I actually do… Except that one run this summer I put the top on crooked and it took me a while to realize that and that I hadn’t in fact peed myself. Another time the kidney shaped one I had in a pocket froze during a race and I finished with a partial iceberg on my thigh. The key to this is the straw which flips up. No mores spilling and it’s easier to manage while you’re on the run. If you don’t have one check it out, pretty cool!
Multi vitamin beauty gummies
I used to take a multi-vitamin at least on and off for years. I also keep my nails painted but do a lot of physical work. At the end of last year I noticed my nails were thin, brittle and flaky. I was frustrated by the fact that the very moment I put polish on it would chip. So I decided to pick up a hair, skin and nails vitamin. I do think they are helping with my nails after taking them for a little more than a month but the cool thing about it is the fact that I’m taking them everyday. I picked up the Centrum multi+beauty which means I’m getting all the good stuff plus some extras to make it at least look like I’m getting my beauty sleep. I do think my eyelashes are more lush and like I said the nails look better. I love taking them every morning since they are yummy and good for me. Do keep them far, far away from kids though because I’m a grown up (allegedly) and I want to eat the whole bottle some days. PS it is possible to poison yourself with vitamins especially if you’re little!
Thin capris as under pants
This winter was cold!!! Even though the snow is gone and we’ve had a few double digit days there is still over 2 feet of frost in the ground. I honestly can’t remember the last time we dealt with a frozen well line so at least 5 years ago and it usually happens while you’re away and not using water. This year that exact scenario happened to two people and three more had their lines freeze while their whole families were home and using the system which is almost unheard of! Not off topic I promise, well sort of. That all means that a lot of runs this winter were done wearing two pairs of pants. I usually wear my softest cotton leggings under my Nike winter pants and it sucks. It sucks in an almost indescribable way it’s not really bunchy or sweaty or bulky exactly but it’s also all of those things too. It just kinda sucks and I think it’s part of the reason in the coldest months my pace drops almost a minute per km! For a moderately frigid run I decided to pull on my thinnest capris under those pants for a run and it was pretty awesome comparatively and I was warm enough. It worked particularly well for me since I tape my knee and it’s so much easier to get a shorter pant as a base layer to play well with that. These capris by the way are too thin now to even wear to my sparsely populated ladies yoga class where I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone directly behind me. Anyway come next winter this will be my go to base layer for cold days since it’s about 85% less terrible than the two ‘real’ pairs of pants approach.
So that’s it those are my favorite fitness finds from winter 2019. Nothing earth shattering but that water bottle and thin capri base layer really had me more comfortable by the end and all that reflective gear kept me safer on night and very early morning runs. What super cool thing did you discover this winter?
Sweat Sweetly 
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