The weather has not been friendly, so I got a 7-day free trial at the local 24-Hour Fitness Gym.
This morning, I packed my towels, drinks and iPod Shuffle and did my long run at the gym. Ironically, it did not rain at all. But that’s my luck. My goal was to try a long run at the gym to see if it could be a viable alternative to screaming at the uncooperative weather.
It was an okay gym. Not as fancy as the one at the Sheraton Taipei, but definitely not as run down as the Fitness USA in Milpitas (which I had visited previously).
The treadmills were at the back of a hall and there were a lot of people on them, even at 8am on a Sunday morning. Fortunately, I managed to grab a machine.
The treadmill itself was okay. Nothing spectacular. I hated the fact that it had a timer which limited you to just 60 minutes after which the treadmill would do a warm-down routine whether you liked it or not. Since I was going to run 14 miles, that meant that I was going to have to restart a couple of times.
The other problem was the ventilation: it was pretty warm and humid. Entertainment was in the form of music over the PA system and two TV screens. You had to have an FM radio to listen to the TV. Perhaps the gym should do a promotional deal with Creative’s music players. They at least have a built-in FM radio (unlike the iPods).
I had not run for two weeks because of the ski trip, and then because of the subsequent cold. So by the end of the first hour on the treadmill, I was a little beat. But I still managed to do about 2 hours and 15 minutes at a slower than desired pace. Maybe 12 miles in all. Nothing spectacular. Hopefully, I’ll do better next week.
I wore my Asics Kayanos this time and didn’t have the ITB pain that plagued me at Sawyer Camp. But running on a treadmill still posed it own problems: I had soreness on the plantar fascia (running tends to make laymen sound like medical interns…).
At the end of the day, the $2000 question is whether I should sign up as a member of the gym.
I think I need a coin… or an ROI calculator.
The gym is probably only going be useful when the weather interferes with my training plan. So it is probably not worthwhile throwing too much money into a membership. Maybe I should just spring for a low-cost 90-day or 1-year trial membership. These are really only good for first-time members as they are not renewable (at least not at the introductory rates). But after one year, who knows what will happen? Maybe I’ll damage myself beyond repair at Big Sur…