A view of my little workout facilities

Whoo Doggies, the temps were lower than a gnat's belly this past week. It was one of those weeks where every time I walked outside, it forced an exclamatory statement (or an expletive) - even if no one was around. That is how cold it was.

I'll run through a lot of weather, but when the temps go below 15F (or 25 with some wind), I'm staying indoors and 'running' on my little Nordic Trak. I usually hit it for 25-30 minutes. Next I move to the rower for the hardest 5 minutes I can stand, before doing push-ups and sit-ups. On alternate days, I'll add anther 20 minutes on the bike.

When the workout is done, depending on how I feel, and if I have time, I'll do 20 min in the sauna. I've had the sauna about 6 years. In the summer it sits idle. But in the winter it is nice to use a few times each week. It is an infra red model which is supposed to somehow penetrate better. It was one of those single-guy purchases. If I had a family, there is little chance I would've blown the money on such an item. But I'm glad I did.



I hate weight training, and rarely do it. I do a few curls and presses. But my weight bench is relegated to a rarely-visited corner of my basement. Even though it is used less than a freezer at the pole, you'll note that it has not become a shelf or a laundry rack. I am a huge believer in using (at least infrequently) all of the equipment I buy.

So anyway... running was out of the question for most of the week. The indoor skiing was its sad replacement. Yesterday, however, I popped out during the KU game for a 10K run. The weather was nice and it was easy to fall into a natural flow. The highlight of the run occurred when I had my MP3 player set on random, and at one point Black 47 thundered into my head with the song, Big Fella, which turns out to be a nice song to run to.

I'm going to head out and do the same run today, and take advantage of the weather before the snow descends upon us again. This post sounds pretty upbeat, but I will confess to having a continuously difficult cold season, psychically. I did start on a new regime of anti-depressants (very light dosage and for not for too long I hope). For the first couple of days I seemed a bit out of it; not myself. Things were a bit hazy and I was not doing my regular routine (I even stayed up until 2 a.m. one night - very unusual). But all seems to be full-speed ahead now. I took anti-depressants for a few years a while ago when I had been suffering through years of depression. They worked well, and I haven't needed a booster in years. But stress and seasons can bring it out in me...

Enough about that. I did want to plug a show on the Science Chanel called, An Idiot Abroad. Ricky Gervais and his writing partner have put together a show that really isn't nearly as stupid as they think it is. It is oddly informative in the realms of travel and the human psyche. Catch it if you can.

I'll post more if I get the chance. Keep running.