Why is it that so many hotel fitness rooms do not have pedal straps for their bikes? It's not so bad with a recumbent, but for an upright it makes the workout pretty annoying.
Maybe all those missing pedal straps are having a party somewhere...Even at the big health clubs, members often must request straps from the front desk. So along with the gym shoes, personal pedal straps are becoming a travel necessity.
In case you were wondering, we do practice what we preach. I just returned from a fabulous workout at the Holmes Place Athletic Club in Chicago. A couple thousand yard swim in a true lap pool and a quick free-weight strength session is a perfect start to my Saturday morning.
Access to this toney club was not granted to Erin and me because we're two famous travel experts--we wish. All Embassy Suites Chicago Lakefront guests receive the sweat perk for a $10 fee. And the club is less than a block away, so that walk over this morning in the below-zero wind-chill was no sweat.
Fortunately, my flight into Chicago?s Midway airport was uneventful last night. I wasn?t worried. But I did pay attention, for the first time, to the length of our landing strip. The recent Southwest jet overshooting the runway ?incident? was on my mind, so I stared out the window while we turned off the runway to try and catch a glimpse of its end. To my surprise, the barriers and fence were only a couple hundred feet away?and that was with a smooth and normal-speed landing.
My wife and I moved out to San Diego 4 years ago (2002) and we love, love, love living here 51 weeks out of the year. But during that 7 day period from Dec. 25 through Jan. 1, I think I'm realizing that I rather be somewhere else. As someone who grew up celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays in the midst of Chicago's taxing winters, colorful lights wrapped around a Palm tree just don't seem right. Call me crazy, but as I learn of the snow falling and the thermometer dropping in the Midwest and most cities across the U.S., I become envious of the locals this time of year.
We can all agree that drugs will always be a part of sports, right? No matter what rules are in place, someone in the peloton will always try to get away with taking the latest form of EPO, some football players will continue to beef up their bodies with steroids, and some Olympic athletes will take the latest undetectable drug to reach the podium.
Sadly, if you concede that someone in each sport will take drugs, then it is also likely that a few of these "cheating" athletes will succeed in their quest to win and not get caught.
We come into contact with hudreds, well probably thousands of people who are active, athletic, slim and trim. Some are marathoners, some are ironmen/women, some are century-ride cyclists, others are long distance swimmers. In addition to their love of long distance sports, many of these high metablolism athletes also LOVE to eat. And, they believe that since their workouts are so grueling or time-consuming (maybe 1, 2, 3 hours/day or more), they can take pleasure in eating whatever they want, whenever they want it.
As I sit here typing with bed head and bags under my eyes big enough to check on a plane, our website finally has been squeezed out of its cyberspace womb. If we were still in the roaring 90's, I'm sure our company would already have a 9-figure monetary value, an IPO scheduled, and a celebrity filled launch party.
Ok, so my title may be somewhat harsh, but I must admit, whenever I learn of a city banning smoking in restaurants, at beaches, and in the bars, it puts a smile on my face. Chicago is currently in a power struggle over pursed lip puffing. New York City made the headlines last year after enacting a ban. And, the entire state of California has been discouraging public display of the habit for several years now.
Since municipal bans make me grin, you bet Westin?s decision this week to make all of its U.S., Canadian, and Carribean hotels smoke-free had me jumping for joy.
Somtimes not knowing what is in something is a good thing. My brother for instance loves margaritas. Nothing is better than a night out with a few Cadillacs. One, two, three maybe four.
My brother also lifts weights and runs a little. He can't figure out why he the small rubber tire around his waist is inflating. Hmmm, well it could be the extra 1,600 calories getting sucked down. And that is assuming a pretty humble 400 calories per delicious cocktail. A large size margarita easily packs about 600 or more calories.
