August 2008 Archives

The buff guy last night (is he at the gym every night?!?) had a T-shirt with arrows pointing to his biceps! Very subtle. . . . Of course, when you've built a body like this guy has, why not advertise? I'm actually surprised by how little muscle flaunting goes on downstairs, given all the ripped bodies that populate the place.

Anyway, I wasn't doing any posturing last night. I cranked out six 30-second intervals (with a minute between them) on the bike, while watching the Twins eke out a win against the Mariners on one TV screen and Democratic Party delegates nominate Barack Obama on another one. Sweating through history at an average heart rate of 110.

Maybe that all took too much out of me, or something, but when I shuffled over to the resistance machinery, I just didn't have much juice left. Usually I'll run through a 30-minute lifting routine, but last night I felt like a real wuss. I did a few reps here and there, but I was still sore from Monday's workout and my energy level was really low, so I retreated to the locker room after only about 15 minutes.

My Friday workout will include canoeing on Lake Hiawatha, so I won't  be back at the gym until Monday. Maybe that's a good thing.

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 Wife and the kids (Nora, 20; Martin 17) up north at the family cabin (Woman Lake, Longville, Cass County, Minnesota) fully intending to jog the mile to the lodge at daybreak each morning to fetch the newspaper (and donuts?) and then maybe walk/jog on the way back before doing some stretching/meditation/pushups on the deck overlooking the lake.

The first morning, My Lovely Wife and I did, indeed, rise at a reasonable hour, pulled on our sneakers, hitched up the dog and set out for the lodge. After a few minutes of walking, we broke into a jog that lasted about a minute. Hmmm. We walked awhile more. Jogged about 30 seconds. Hmmmm.

Did I mention that the lodge sells real tasty donuts?

I should point out in our defense a few mitigating circumstances: 1) The cabin's water heater was not in a functioning mode for the first two days of our stay, and My Lovely Wife prefers (no, strongly prefers) to end her run each morning with a refreshing warm shower. 2) She's accustomed to running alone (with the dog) and at a pace that favors her bum knee; I run a little faster, at a pace that favors my bum knee. 3) We were on vacation, for Godsakes!

Away from our familiar surroundings and freed from our daily routine of dog-walking, bike-riding and gym-going, we found ourselves slogging through awkwardly guilt-ridden mornings lounging with the newspaper (which, after that first day, we simply retrieved with the Crapmobile) and nibbling on the aforementioned donuts.

We did swim nearly every day, which for me is about as challenging a workout as I know (I tend to sink like a stone), and I did on a couple of occasions manage to crank out a  set of "Dr. Oz" pushups -- which are fast becoming my favorite basic exercise.

But mostly I sat on the beach, reading (Points of My Compass, by E.B. White; Messages From My Father, by Calvin Trillin) and enjoying the sun, sand and surf. We didn't even take the canoe out of the boathouse. At various moments during the week, I thought wistfully about the gym and the workouts I was missing, but it was never enough to get me to pull on my sneakers again.

Martin and I did play mini-golf. Twice. Didn't really work up a sweat, though.

Anyway, it felt good to be back in the old routine again on Monday. I weighed myself before the workout and was pleased to learn I was carrying around about the same load I'd been toting before all those donuts (162.5). I took it easy on the cardio side of things, opting for 20 minutes or so on the Elliptical Danger Machine (no heavy-duty interval stuff yet) before diving into a fairly ambitious 30-minute  lifting session that got my heart rate up and reminded me once again how much I enjoy this stuff.

I haven't had a donut all week.

I got back to the gym last night after a week away (sore back, summer cold, yada, yada...) and now I'm feeling creaky again -- but in a good way. My upper back is  a little stiff, but it's not so bad. It's just a little freaky how good it felt to punish my body again. I always come out of the gym feeling a lot better than when I go in.

It's not so much like a "runner's high" or anything, but it's clear that the endorphins are flowing and my blood is circulating and I walk out of there thinking, "Hey, I should do this more often" or something to that effect. It's like some weird conspiracy of chemicals designed to fool geezers into thinking they can do a pull-up, or something. (Confession: I wandered over to the clothesline pole in our backyard on Saturday and, after making sure nobody was looking, I cranked out three quick, surreptitious chin-ups. Not great form, mind you, but still....)

Anyway, this is just a round-about way of reporting that I'm back in the groove. More on Thursday.