Pumping Irony

Before Monday’s workout, I’d been away from the gym for a couple of weeks (vacation + procrastination), and I’m feeling the effects today: sore shoulders and arms from lifting, mostly.

I put about 20 miles on the Schwinn on Saturday, running various errands with My Lovely Wife.

The holiday weekend lacked fireworks, though our neighbor outfitted his front yard with a red, white and blue light show featuring the music of John Phillip Sousa, Bruce Springsteen and Ray Charles (the latter singing his own stirring rendition of “America the Beautiful”), which debuted the evening of July 3 with much fanfare and, perhaps owing to a visit or two from less patriotic neighbors, did not favor us with an Independence Day encore.

So, as promised in my earlier post, I’m reporting back. And as I suspected, I haven’t been able to get…

It’s been about a week now since I made it downstairs to the gym (lots of evening work recently), so…

I was back in the Pit Monday, lifting and sweating and feeling generally OK about this fitness thing, when I ran into Robyn Wells, an LTF personal trainer who I met recently through my rugby-playing colleague JS. Robyn is a 20-something powerhouse athlete who specializes in teaching us lesser beings how to get the most out of their workouts. And she generously offered to help me out.

No offense, Tony. As promised, I’ve spent the last few days faithfully chronicling my entire food intake, an exercise that…

As previously noted, I’ve been avoiding the free-weights area in the gym because it’s just a bit intimidating — all those large ripped and tattooed guys hoisting megatonnage of iron.

This is fun. Really. Lots of fitness experts suggest that you “shake up” your workouts so they don’t get boring.…

A mysterious pain in my left ankle has had me scratching my head lately.

I recalled on Saturday morning that, contrary to the post below, I had sort of resolved to drag out my…

Three items to report on this glorious autumn morning (blue sky, a wisp of a breeze from the west, 33…

It occurred to me on the walk into the office this morning (glorious blue skies, soft NW breeze, 32 degrees) that I’ve maybe been beating myself up a bit too much about this running thing.

Motivation is a mysterious phenomenon. After a pretty sedentary week (a little commuter cycling, no lifting), this morning I climbed out of bed, unfolded my exercise/meditation mat and slid inexplicably back into my routine: a few sun salutations and other pretend yoga poses, some stretching, 30 push-ups, a little zazen.

One of the buffer guys at the gym on Monday was wearing a very tight T-shirt with this message: “An…

OK, this is weird. Against my better judgment, I shuffled my pathetic ancient body downstairs to the gym after work…

Remember the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart’s sitting at Martini’s bar and prays for deliverance from…

I climbed on the treadmill last night and, after a five-minute walking warm-up, jogged a mile at a 4 mph…

It’s a muggy day for a bicycle commute, even one that lasts only 15 minutes, and this morning it’s made…

I’ve been riding my bike into work recently, but today, which promises thundershowers after work, I decided to hoof it.…