Working out at the gym is hot.

I never thought I’d enjoy exercising indoors all that much. The repetitive motion of machines and babble of television can’t compare to the freedom and beauty of the great outdoors.

On the other hand, I’ve seen some attractive sights at the gym, too, and the machines are tolerable for an hour or so, with an iPod for company. I find the numeric read-outs motivate me to more intense effort, too: strides per minute, calories per hour and all that. Outside, I prefer to go long. In the gym, I’d just as soon get it over and done, and I find myself setting goals: 50 floors on the stair climber, 10 miles on the bicycle without wheels, 600 calories on the elliptical – that sort of thing. Within 15 minutes I work up enough sweat to water the floor, which feels a whole lot hotter than it looks.

When I’ve had enough, I like to reward myself with something hotter still… a nice long sweat in the sauna. I have no idea just how hot the sauna might be, but I can’t take much more than 15 minutes before I’m cooked.

A cold shower shuts down the sweat valves, and leaves me with a mild euphoria that comes close to runner’s high. I miss those endorphins.