Got some better photos of the fish today and was able to get an ID. These are American Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum).

D27-shad.png

I was afraid when I saw such a tight accumulation of fish it would turn out to be an invasive species. I mean: these fish are packed into this spot so tightly now, many of them are swimming around with their dorsal fins out of the water! Surely that cannot be healthy, I thought. But once I had an ID, I was able to do a big more digging.

American Gizzard Shad are native to Ontario waters. So no issue there. But we are at the northern end of their range. Gizzard Shad do not especially love cold water, and are susceptible to die-offs during cold Canadian winters. So they congregate in warm spots such as this one, which is a stream which empties storm water drains into the Thames River. The storm water, having collected in an underground drainage system, is significantly warmer than the open water on the river. The shad are choosing to remain there, even though they are so tightly packed together they are sustaining injuries (note the tears on their fins) from being pushed up against the sides of the stream bed.

Here is a video, done by our local conservation authority, which explains the phenomenon:

 
December 27:

Cardinal Points:
First Thing Water: :v:
10 Minutes of Mindfulness: :v: (focussed attention in nature)
Dance / Yoga: :v: (dancing, restorative yoga)
Gratitude: :v:

Group of Seven:
hands & wrists: :v: (Power Grip)
calf raises: :v: (1000 Calf Raises)
plank: :v: (60 sec. forearm plank)
feathered peacock: :v: (60 sec. dolphin practice)
hip flexors: :v: (Daily Kicks, high knees)
hip abductors: :v: (Daily Kicks, Iron Core)
glutes: :v: (Glutes of Steel, Iron Core)

Fit December: :x:

Challenges:
Push & Pull (modified to body rows in place of pull-ups): Day 28
Better Arms: Days 27-28 (Day 27 covered by a Secret Santa gift)
Flex Hang (modified to active hangs): Day 28
Power Grip: Day 28
1000 Calf Raises (modified to do one-legged calf raises, doing all the reps on both sides): Day 28

Daily Kicks: Days 23-24 (did some extra Secret Santa kicking to cover the 2nd day)
Iron Core: Day 16
Glutes of Steel: Day 16
Daily Gratitude: Day 30 - :completed: (30th day logging this. But I have been doing it for much longer and will continue doing it going forward.)

Mileage:
running: :x:
hiking: 14.9 km

Another long hike up the TVP. Saw the fish (American Gizzard Shad--see my post above) plus many birds. The usual suspects for this time of year: Mallards, Canada Geese, and Herring Gulls. Also saw the Bald Eagle again (sadly without lunch this time, but I "got the record shot" as they say), plus two more eagles near the forks, three Red-Tailed Hawks, one American Kestrel, both Common and Hooded Mergansers, American Crows, and, I think, a Winter Wren. (I did not get a good enough look or photo to say for certain. House Wren is not out of the question, but Winter Wren would be much more common here in December. The bird did vocalize. But I am no expert at distinguishing between House Wren and Winter Wren calls.) Heard Belted Kingfishers again but could not get eyes on one this day. Got some decent photos. But you may have to wait a few days to see them. (I have lots of work to do this weekend. Plus today we have one more nice day for hiking, which will be followed by two days of rain, then back to cold. So I don't want to waste it!)

Other Stuff:
Squats, a few burpees, some balancing, forward folding, and locust.

Writing:
day off*
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 158,530 + ? (still have some hand-written stuff to type up)
story-a-week challenge: 49 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 49 of 54 completed
writing days this week: 0/5

* Yeah, yeah, yeah. But nice hiking weather in December!

French:
CBC Gem

Scheduling Habits:
GOBOT: :x:
SOOT: :rstar::rstar::rstar:
GBOT: :rstar::rstar::rstar:
GR: :rstar::rstar::rstar:

Cumulative Habit Scores:
Gaming Rules: 83
SOOT: 71
GBOT: 72

Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 110
Consecutive days of French study: 1502
 
London is not exactly known for super challenging hills. But when the hills we do have are covered in ice and super slick mud...

D28-hill.jpg

I definitely relied on Shelby's strength to help me stay on my feet climbing up some of these slopes today!
 
Be careful on those icy hills! I'm glad you have Shelby to help you with balance.
Just read the past two pages and am so happy to see you putting so much reflection into your past goals, and to see you really thinking about what you want to do next year to be successful. Give yourself leniency! It's okay to miss a few days here and there of your daily goals, or to change your goal to doing it maybe every other day.

I've recently been interested in bird watching, so I will definitely be using inaturalist as per your suggestion!

For your birthday, I will gift you 54 bicep extensions!
 
Mamatigerj said:
Well done, Miss Shelby!
Click to expand...
Indeed! She has to be at least 13 years old now. And she just keeps going and going and going.

princess_sarena said:
Did anyone gift calf raises yet? If not I claim 54 calf raises as a birthday gift :hello:
Click to expand...
Thank you!

PetiteSheWolf said:
Yay for our Quat Hero and her Hill Queen Doggie!
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Thank you.

PetiteSheWolf said:
Not difficult, but with what you already have, LOL!
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Thank you, Wolfie! Punches are a fine gift. I need a few exercises I can bang off quickly. Because the run and the dancing and the push-ups (I'm confident someone will gift me push-ups) and the burpees will take me a while to get through. This is my 11th year doing this workout. And already I will have to roll out of bed in the morning and immediately start doing push-ups. Just imagine what my day will be like in another 11 years!

Fitato said:
Be careful on those icy hills!
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Always.
Fitato said:
I'm glad you have Shelby to help you with balance.
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Yes. She has saved me from more than one fall already. I think I am getting crampons as a birthday gift to myself this year. I had forgotten how much worse the ice is here compared to where we were living before.

Fitato said:
Just read the past two pages and am so happy to see you putting so much reflection into your past goals, and to see you really thinking about what you want to do next year to be successful.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I find it is helpful to re-assess where I'm at periodically. I've been through some huge life changes in recent years. So definitely my plans need to adapt. Finances are a lot tighter now. But my headspace is much, much clearer. And my time is now mine to do with as I please. (Which is a huge blessing if I successfully figure out how to use it wisely to accomplish things that matter to me. But actually a curse if I allow myself to drift in all of that freedom without direction.) So yes: though I am self-directed out of necessity, my aim is to put that privilege to good use. I always seek to play the hand I'm dealt to the best of my ability.

Fitato said:
Give yourself leniency! It's okay to miss a few days here and there of your daily goals, or to change your goal to doing it maybe every other day.
Click to expand...
Nope. Definitely not going to be that lenient. I considered doing the G7 only 6 days a week. But it's only 7 minutes a day. For me, that is child's play. It's been two decades since I was injured badly enough I would have been unable to complete the G7. (And I know better than to do that to my body again!)

The running plans are simply what is necessary if I want to see improvements there. I've been a runner for a long time, and was a serious competitive runner in my youth. This is an area in which I know both my body and my mind extremely well.

Fitato said:
I've recently been interested in bird watching, so I will definitely be using inaturalist as per your suggestion!
Click to expand...
It is a great resource!

Fitato said:
For your birthday, I will gift you 54 bicep extensions!
Click to expand...
Thank you!

MadamMeow said:
Congrats for Squat Hero & Daily Gratitude! :move: :move:
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Thank you!
 
December 28:

Cardinal Points:
First Thing Water: :v:
10 Minutes of Mindfulness: :v: (focussed attention in nature)
Dance / Yoga: :v: (cherry picking)
Gratitude: :v:

Group of Seven:
hands & wrists: :v: (Power Grip)
calf raises: :v: (1000 Calf Raises)
plank: :v: (Iron Core)
feathered peacock: :v: (60 sec. dolphin practice)
hip flexors: :v: (Daily Kicks, Secret Santa)
hip abductors: :v: (Daily Kicks, Secret Santa)
glutes: :v: (Glutes of Steel, Secret Santa)

Fit December: :x:

Challenges:
Push & Pull (modified to body rows in place of pull-ups): Day 29
Better Arms: Day 29
Flex Hang (modified to active hangs): Day 29
Power Grip: Day 29
1000 Calf Raises (modified to do one-legged calf raises, doing all the reps on both sides): Day 29

Daily Kicks: Days 25-27 (Day 25 covered by Secret Santa)
Iron Core: Day 17
Glutes of Steel: Day 17

Mileage:
running: 5.52 km in 35:21
hiking: 20.1 km

Long hike with Shelby in a very muddy but peaceful conservation area. (Photos still to come, but maybe not today.)

Was tired after the hike. But could not pass up the opportunity to run in December in such mild weather. I checked out a possible route for my birthday run. There's a good chance I'll want to complete my run that day without leaving my neighbourhood. Today's run was simply two loops of our usual 3K neighbourhood loop. (The route is more of a "P" than an "O", with the loop part not starting right at our home. Hence the distance is a bit less than 6K for the double.) I have bifocal sunglasses so I can actually read my sports watch during the daytime. But this run was after dark. So I did not know when I had hit 5.4 km. I will create a "workout" to send to my watch so my actual birthday run will be the correct distance.

I kept a relaxed pace on my run, just because of being tired from the long hike. (There wasn't any ice left on my running route.) Still, my slowest km was 6:31. So not too shabby.

Other Stuff:
5 minutes of HIIT

Writing:
day off*
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 158,530 + ? (still have some hand-written stuff to type up)
story-a-week challenge: 49 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 49 of 54 completed
writing days this week: 0/5

* Definitely not going to get two stories written this week now. But I could not pass up the opportunity to do a big hike this day.

French:
CBC Gem

Scheduling Habits:
GOBOT: :x:
SOOT: :rstar::rstar:
GBOT: :rstar::rstar::rstar:
GR: :rstar::rstar::rstar:

I decided "relaxing in a warm, sweetly-scented bath" is one of the things I'm allowed to do that does not break GBOT. (After this day's muddy hike + run + sweaty workout, I needed it!)

Cumulative Habit Scores:
Gaming Rules: 86
SOOT: 73
GBOT: 75

Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 111
Consecutive days of French study: 1503
 
December 29:

Cardinal Points:
First Thing Water: :v:
10 Minutes of Mindfulness: :v: (meditation)
Dance / Yoga: :v: (10 min. restorative practice)
Gratitude: :v:

Group of Seven:
hands & wrists: :v: (Power Grip)
calf raises: :v: (1000 Calf Raises)
plank: :v: (60 sec. forearm plank)
feathered peacock: :v: (60 sec. dolphin + pincha* practice)
hip flexors: :v: (Daily Kicks)
hip abductors: :v: (Daily Kicks, Iron Core)
glutes: :v: (Glutes of Steel, Iron Core)

* got up into the balance with parallel forearms. But it feels better on my shoulders to do it with the v-shape.

Fit December: :x:

Challenges:
Push & Pull (modified to body rows in place of pull-ups): Day 30 - :completed:**
Better Arms: Day 30 - :completed:
Flex Hang (modified to active hangs): Day 30 - :completed:
Power Grip: Day 30 - :completed:
1000 Calf Raises (modified to do one-legged calf raises, doing all the reps on both sides): Day 30 - :completed:***

** My plan had been to continue with the Push & Pull protocol but to do it only 6 days a week going forward. But then I took a look at the new program. It looks excellent for hitting many of the areas I want to target in my fitness training. And it includes push-ups on every fourth day. Certainly I could also do the program only 6 days a week, to keep its push-up days in line with my push & pull schedule. But it's nice when doing a new program to do it "with" other Bees. Plus, with my new year rolling over in the middle of the month, and my writing schedule/plans changing at that time too, I think it will be helpful to have my main strength workout for the day already set for me every day, without the need to figure out each week what to do on that 7th day. So I'm going to stick with doing the push & pull protocol daily too, to keep it aligned with the program.

This also means that 5 of the exercises for my birthday workout are going to need to be:
  • side lunges
  • split lunges (@NancyTree gifted me with jumping lunges though. So I may just sub those in for the split lunges--unless I also receive split lunges as a birthday gift!)
  • push-ups
  • plank rotations
  • plank shoulder taps
*** I will be continuing these daily going forward, as part of my G7

Daily Kicks: Days 28-30 - :completed:
Iron Core: Day 18
Glutes of Steel: Day 18

Mileage:
running: :x:
hiking: 4.2 km (rainy day!)

Other Stuff:
Gaming with @'rin and @sleep_twitch in the morning: Took two big gambles in Carcasonne. Lost both. Twitchy wiped the floor with me. Fun game!

DAREBEE video meetup in the afternoon: Great discussions and just a really nice chance to connect with some fellow Bees in a special way over the holidays. Was great to see everyone who was able to attend!

Writing:
wrote my short story for the week
new fiction words: 2765
fiction YTD: 161,295 + ? (still have some hand-written stuff to type up)
story-a-week challenge: 50 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 50 of 54 completed****
writing days this week: 1/5

**** Okay. No more messing around. I am confident I will make the base challenge of one story a week now. But if I want to hit my 54 stories in my 54th year challenge, I need to knuckle down and write at least two stories this week!

French:
Fluenz

Scheduling Habits:
GOBOT: :rstar::rstar::rstar:
SOOT: :x: (-4)
GBOT: :x: (-2)
GR: :x: (-2)

Cumulative Habit Scores:
Gaming Rules: 84
SOOT: 69
GBOT: 73

Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 112
Consecutive days of French study: 1504
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon said:
This also means that 5 of the exercises for my birthday workout are going to need to be:
  • plank shoulder taps
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I would like to gift the 54 plank shoulder taps if nobody else has; although i will have to do mine in sets.

Cheers for completing the Push & Pull, Better Arms, Flex Hang, Power Grip, 1000 Calf Raises, and Daily Kicks challenges! :yes: :strong::perfect:
 
Congrats for all those "complete", Canadian Dragon!
Harry Potter Lol GIF by Sky
 
Thank you @JCU ! You may certainly gift me with multiple exercises if you like. (And multiple people are welcome to join me on the same exercise. This is why the spreadsheet has five columns for participants.) I'm not sure what you mean by Kapotasana, however, as there are several yoga poses that go by that name.

Full Pigeon (Kapotasana) looks like this: https://pocketyoga.com/pose/Pigeon -- My back is not bendy enough for this pose.
There is also King Pigeon (Raja Kapotasana), which looks like this: https://pocketyoga.com/pose/PigeonKingFull -- I am also unable to do this pose.

Since you mention doing the pose on each leg, I assume you mean one of the one-legged (Eka Pada) pigeon poses, of which there are also several.

One-legged King Pigeon (Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana) looks like this: https://pocketyoga.com/pose/PigeonKing -- I'm not able to do this one either.
There is also a variation of Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana called Mermaid Pose, which looks like this: https://pocketyoga.com/pose/PigeonFull -- This one I can do!

There is also Half Pigeon (Ardha Kapotasana) a.k.a. Swan Pose which looks like this: https://pocketyoga.com/pose/PigeonHalf -- This is to me a resting pose, not an active one. (But it could be an active pose if I don't use my hands.)

And how could I forget Flying Pigeon (Eka Pada Galavasana): https://pocketyoga.com/pose/PigeonFlying - which is super fun and which I can do. I likely would not be able to hold this pose for 54 seconds though (or even for 27 to do half on each side). But I could get to 54 seconds cumulatively with multiple attempts.

There is also the Figure Four Pose (Eka Pada Utkatasana): https://pocketyoga.com/pose/FigureFour - which is sometimes called Standing Pigeon (Hooking one's elbows on the front of the shin in Figure Four is the prep pose for Flying Pigeon.) This one is fun too, and I can hold it for 54 seconds per leg no problem.

And then there's Kneeling Crescent Lunge with King Pigeon (Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana B): https://pocketyoga.com/pose/LungeCrescentKneelingBind - which I cannot do. I don't think I can do this one with Mermaid arms either, although with a half Mermaid bind (reaching only the same side arm back to hook the foot in the elbow crook) I can do it.
 
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