Pumping Irony

Just back from my fourth acupuncture session, during which I noticed that the cicadas between my ears had shifted slightly to the right (an ominous sign for the Obama administration?), leaving my left ear mostly quiet.

I'm sitting at my desk on my front porch this morning watching the October rain threaten to become snow, the kind of weather that correlates nicely with my current mood: Is the bug that hit me yesterday going to morph into something more serious today?

A gorgeous autumn morning for a bike ride. The trees along the Mississippi are beginning to turn and the squirrels in Minnehaha Park are frantically building their winter food cache. The chill in the air gives me permission to pump a little harder on my way over the bridge and up the big hill to the office, but I…

Back to the gym last night after a couple of weeks away, and I have to admit I was a little apprehensive when I climbed on the scale before my workout.

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 to the gym every day on a regular schedule since then, but I have been getting in some good workouts when I’ve been down there. Most notably, I’ve taken my young PT’s advice about lengthening…

It’s been about a week now since I made it downstairs to the gym (lots of evening work recently), so I can’t say I’ve been very diligent on the exercise front. I have been bicycling into the office every day, a practice that has been made more challenging by winds that have threatened to sweep…

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 has forced me to become a bit more mindful of my eating decisions even as it has revealed how circumstances can alter intentions. Exhibit A: On Day 1, I enjoyed a nutritious breakfast (yogurt, granola…

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. Well, at my age it’s hard to get bored by anything. (You know, you wake up in the morning pleased by the fact that you woke up. . . .) I make it to the…

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 old hockey skates and get out on the ice this winter. (I had actually communicated the resolution to my fitness guru, SW, in a moment of weakness — making it all that more difficult to…

Three items to report on this glorious autumn morning (blue sky, a wisp of a breeze from the west, 33 degrees), two of which vindicate my urban walkophile-ness: 1. I couldn’t help but notice while I ambled, capless, along my route this morning that the three bicyclists (pedal-philes?) I encountered were bundled up against the…

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 awkward morning is better than a boring night.”  I’ve had a few awkward mornings since I last posted — though not for the reasons his T-shirt is implying. I spent last week with My Lovely…

OK, this is weird. Against my better judgment, I shuffled my pathetic ancient body downstairs to the gym after work last night and went through a slightly truncated version of my normal goal-averse routine (elliptical danger machine, lifting, etc.) expecting to pay the price this morning. But instead of feeling worse, I felt better! There’s…