Finally Friday gym: A tale of mostly highs.

Friday started off rather well compared to Wednesday and Thursday. I dressed swiftly and resisted the siren lure of the sofa. Neither my wife or I were late, so we weren't in one anothers way. I grabbed my prepacked items and uponn exiting the back door to get my bike, I asked Lynne to lock the door behind me.

Cycling to the gym went rather well and I made it in roughly 15 minutes. Imagine how good I felt in getting so far compared to the previous days miniture dramas. Propping my bike up on the rack, I took my lock half way out of my bag. Something was wrong, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As I pulled the lock out, my stomach sank synchronously as realisation dawned on me, that I'd forgot my keys.

I made the cycle ride back home in about 10 minutes, so's I didn't have to sit at work in cycling or gym gear, seeing how Lynne could be leaving for work at any time and I wouldn't be able to get in.  I Luckilly the door opened as I approached and my grinning wife handed me my keys.

So after nearly 45 minutes worth of cycling, I finally managed to lock my bike up and enter the premises. After 15 minutes worth of EXTRA FORMS I finally made it in to the changing rooms.

The gym itself is a cracker, and definately the nicest I've been to. It has a big free weights room, a massive cross training room (Weight machines and cardio equipment) with a studio for classes. The machines themselves are all either new, or just really well kept and two pools.

I figure I need to do a couple of months using just the treadmill, cross trainers, stepper, rower etc. Nothing too strenuous, just enough for a slow steady calorie burn. I received a free personal trainer session voucher when I joined, so after the first couple of months I'll use it and ask for a 2 day a week weights routine. I plan to loose as much weight as I can before I plateau and then hopefully a 'proper' weights routine should have more visible results.

So, "a thousand mile journey" and all that, I opted to go on the cross trainer first and enjoyed 15 minutes at level 15 (out of 25). Next came the treadmill for 15 minutes at 9K an hour, on a 1 degree incline, which I really enjoyed. Here I was plodding along, heart rate elevated without really pushing myself and I absolutely loved it.

Everything's 'simpler' when running, problems seem less stressful and easier to reason through. When I start road running again I'm really looking forward to thinking about nothing again, the sort of nothing you experience at the top of Blencathra looking out over the Lake District, or during the relaxation exercise at the end of a yoga class. It's almost an absence of self, an unguided meditation.

It sounds odd trying to explain this to people who think that running is all pain and unpleasantness. I've never been a competitive runner and most of my runs I didn't even time. It was all about covering the distance as comfortably as possible, without causing myself too much damage, so I could go out and do it again as soon as possible.

There's a time when fitness just seems natural, when the miles just seem to cover themselves and all you concentrate on is a steady pace and regulating your breathing. At some point everything just falls away and you're left with a deep sense of 'rightness'.

Obviously, none of this happened during 15 minutes on the treadmill, but I felt a brief reminder of what it can be like and got a nice motivatory boost in the process. Feeling rather chipper I approached the stepper, I've never found them too much of a problem until now. The best term I could use to describe this machine is 'malicious and vile' I managed 15 minutes at level 12 of 25 and it damn near unmanned me. I couldn't find a rhythm or maintain a set pace and at one point I noticed my forearms were sweating.

I did it though.

After I staggered off trying to look nonchalant I glanced at the clock and couldn't see through the sweat stinging my eyes. When I could see it was unfortunately too late on to do anything else. All in all, my first proper day at the gym (i.e. I actually made it inside the gym) went fairly well. Including the cycling there was at least an hour of cardio there and I even managed to eat sensibly. look forward to Monday gym and hope that the stepper won't do to me what Zed did to Mr Wallace.

Not an auspiscious start...

Soooo, one thing I forgot to mention about yesterday is that I forgot to mention that I got lost on my way to the gym. Having been assure that it was a mere 5-10 minutes from the hospital that I work at I assumed that a ruddy great gym with two pools would be easy to find. I set out with what I thought to be a fairly reasonable idea of where it was and ended up ringing for directions.

I should point out that not being a driver and being mostly housebound due to children and a severe lack of babysitters, my wife and I have never had much cause to go this side of the Hazel Grove area. Anyhow, I set off to where I'd been told to head, but gave up after 20 minutes extra walking or I would have made myself late for work.


Given that yesterday had got off to such a bad start I thought today I would double check where it was and cycle down this morning. If I'd only gone on for an extra 5 minutes I'd have found it!
I arrived at the gym at about 07:40, which only took me circa 20 minutes, so I felt quite chuffed. After swapping my SPD shoes for my Asics (Out of consideration for the tiled lobby), I approached the reception and inquired about joining.

"£25 joining fee and you can fill out the forms and get the tour" said a scouse chap who looked like a gym teacher.

Seeing as I'd only wanted the tour I had no cash to hand so I asked about a local cash point.

"5 minutes up the road on the left"

Leaving my bike locked up, 'cause I couldn't be bothered changing my shoes I again I set out at a slow lope. 20 minutes later I arrived at the Spar cashpoint to see a large out of order plastered across the front of it.15 minutes later (as I had a vague idea where I was going I entered the lobby and told them what had happened.

"Sorry, we'd assumed you'd be cycling"

The moral of this story is never be considerate of other people's tiled floors.

After partially filling in the joining forms, I agreed to return tomorrow morning, pay up and sign up.
Leaving the building I got lost on the way back and ended up in a very hilly place called Bramhall. It wasn't a total loss though I did see my first level crossing in years.

The other moral of this story is always go back the way you came and don't try any new routes without taking a sat nav.

Tonight I have returned home and have been thinking about the logistics of a daily training routine. It's what people usually leave out about going to the gym.

I will need:

1 pair seamless socks.
1 pair of pants
1 top suitable for the ride there and back
1 pair of shorts suitable for the ride there, the gym and an after gym swim
1 pair of shorts for the ride home
1 light emergency jacket
2 x Towels
1 pair trainers
1 pair SPDs
Water
Protein powder and shaker if weight days
Isotonic powder and bottle

I need to get all of this ready now and then it will be bed time, although it is NaN Thursday.
Hooagh!

Oh yes, this will be the ever present link to my just giving page

One last final hurrah!

Pizza (Dominos), sweeties (Jelly Jumble) and beer (Dab)!

A cycle to the gym tomorrow first thing. Up at 06:30.

I'm toying with the idea of posting a 'Before' photo, but I'm not sure whether it'll violate Google Blog's policy on 'Adult' content.