Gym Etiquette

Last night I hit the gym again for my 20-30 minute recovery run on the elliptical and I have never seen the gym so crowded! All the machines were taken except for the upright stationary bike. So I decided that I would bike until one of the ellipticals opened up. I was a little bit wary of the bike though, because those stationary bikes tend to aggravate my knees a little, which would kind of defeat the purpose of me working out in the gym instead of outside.

Well, 10 minutes into my 20 minute workout, I noticed that the elliptical behind me was open. Hurrah! I jumped on and started programming it. I had just started working out, trying to make up for my time on the bike by jumping into a harder pace than normal when a girl showed up next to me. It was the girl who was on the elliptical before and she said "sorry" and I gave her her keys that were left on the machine. And she was like "No, sorry. I put those on there to save that machine." I didn't realize that you could do that. Every gym I've been to, if you hop off the machine it is fair game for everyone else. And it's not like she was gone for 2 seconds to get water or anything. I mean I had time to look behind me, see it was empty, program it and start my workout. I was ticked off, which I guess she could see, because as I got off the machine she said, "I'll only BE a few MINUTES." in an annoyed sort of way. I thought about saying something to her, but then I realized that I was in the gym with a bunch of other residents that I was sure to run into some other time in the gym and I didn't want to be 'that crazy girl who went bullistic on that other girl'.

So I hopped back on the bike for another 10 and irritated my knee, which I didn't realize until I was finished. Back to icing and anti-inflammatories. Tonight is a rest night and I am going to take full advantage of it.

Cheater

Last night I was a cheater and went to the gym instead of running outside. It's not even like it was that much colder than usual or even that the grounds were wet or anything. When I was walking to the subway I was just thinking "I REALLY don't want to run in this." In fact, I really didn't want to run at all, but I knew that I owed myself 40 minutes according to the marathon training schedule.

The last time I went to the gym was about a month ago. I wanted to try out the weight machines. I haven't been back because it wasn't a great experience. It wasn't really a BAD experience, it just wasn't great. I THINK its because some of the lights were out or dying, and I'm one of those people who thinks that bad lighting can actually make you feel bad (one of the reasons I can't shop at Walmart...they actually make the light bad so that you keep moving and get out of there faster).

Anyway, last night was actually quite pleasant. They fixed the lights which made all the difference. PLUS, since it is just a gym for the residents of the building they don't make you wear headphones to listen to the TV (which always annoyed me at the Y because they were always catching on things and making my ipod fall to the ground). In fact, Bill and I were the only ones in there most of the time that we were there.So we, of course, watched the Simpsons while working out.

Since I felt like I was cheating by not actually running outside, I set the elliptical program to the hill interval, which I think is the most difficult. I also set the resistance to 6 (I am usually a wimp and do about 2). It was also nice to wear my running skirt again instead of layers and layers of clothes.

At any rate, it's nice to know that I have a gym in my building. Because when I really really don't feel like working out, it's been all too easy to just skip. But having a nice, free gym just an elevator ride away would make me feel waaaaaay too guilty about doing that.

14 miles this weekend! If the snow keeps up I'll have a beautiful run in Central Park!

Back on the Bandwagon

DESPITE the fact that I worked until 12:30 am last night, I STILL went to the gym!!!
Hurrah! I am into cross-training now. I was on the bike last night and whoa, does my butt hurt today! I guess that's why cross-training is good for you.

They also have this cool thing at my gym where they have these monitors on all of the weight machines. You enter in your ID number (which I don't have, since I haven't really been in like 4 months) and it keeps track of your weight, your reps, etc. I guess I will have to ask more about that the next time I go.

This weekend I am going to try and run the Thanksgiving Day course. I really enjoy this course and think it is really fun. Plus, I've run it a ton in all of the training groups so it is a nice familiar run. (It was funny, I was telling Bill last night that you actually run some of the course during the Pig. But during the Pig you are like "wow, that was a nice little warmup" after you are done with that part of the course. When you run the Thanksgiving Day 10k you are like "WHAT?!!! That was only 2 MILES?! But I feel like I'm going to die!")Anyway, since it looks like I am going to be working this weekend as well I might try to get my run in starting from my office and then going to work in my stinky running clothes. :) At least I will be comfortable. It's just too bad for my team. (OK, really, I don't sweat that much. I'm not that mean.)

Oh yes! and did anyone catch that NOVA special on Tuesday? It was called Marathon Challenge . They basically took 13 people who were not runners and trained them for a marathon. They talked about everything that goes on with your body in training and followed these thirteen people through 9 months of training. It was pretty good. AND they explained why I didn't lose any weight from my 2 marathons (none of the other women in the group did either, except for the one lady who was 70 lbs overweight and changed her diet and went to an additional bootcamp.) Anyway, it was good, and if you missed it you should try to catch it (they run all of those PBS shows multiple times...and with all of the channels you are bound to catch it sometime.)

Oh well. Back to the grind.

Cancelling my Gym Membership

OK, so even though last night was a perfect night to run, Bill and I went to the gym to cancel our membership. Seriously, we haven't been in like 3 months, so we are just throwing that money down the drain.

So we planned on doing our final workout and then cancelling.

I got on the elliptical for an intense workout. My endorphins were pumping. I felt great. (OK, I also felt really gross. Because I was really sweaty. It was so bad that this woman got on the elliptical next to me, gave the guy next to her a dirty look, and moved to the other side of me. I wanted to be like "Nope! It's not him! It's me!...I know it smells like a gross old man, but it's me." I felt sorry for her.) ANYWAY I felt GREAT. I was like "Wow! This is really getting me out of my running funk!"

Then I started to feel sad. I didn't want to quit the gym.

The gym gives me cross-training. It has the weight machines I need to make sure I don't have knee problems. And it has treadmills for when it's too dark out to run.

Bill finished his workout first and came over to me on my elliptical. I was racing! (2.6 miles in 30 minutes...not a lot for running, but those stupid ellipticals never get you ANY mileage...so that was a good number). I grabbed the handles and pulled closer to him so I could talk to him. "I have a proposition...how about we don't quit the gym?" I listed all of my reasons.

I know. It was probably a stupid mistake. But we are really going to try and go every other day. I think that is reasonable.

So Thursday is the next gym day.

If I'm not blogging about it on Friday I will quit for real. :)