John E

This thread reminds me of one of our bike shop customers years ago. The guy walked with an obvious limp and some difficulty, but owned a nice mid-level road bike. When he brought the bike in for a tune-up, he said to me, "I can barely walk, but I can ride like the wind."

Because of lifelong coordination problems and "office progressive" glasses, I tend to descend stairs like an old man, always using the handrail. Going upstairs is an entirely different matter, as I leave some of the undergrads and younger faculty members in the dust. Different exercises require different skills and put different stresses on the body.

Although I used to jog up to 5 or 6 miles per day as part of my commute, I have pretty much had to give up running because of bilateral Achilles tendinitis. Last month I ran a 29-minute 5K on campus, and my "good" (now "less bad") left Achilles flared up again, and the pain lasted a few days. The problem seems to be impact-related, because it has not kept me from bicycling, which is now the only way I can get a good cardio workout.