This post is related to the fact that:
1) I have moved and live in Houston now and
2) I now workout at Lifetime Fitness.
Woohoo. Sometimes going to new gyms can be overwhelming, intimidating, or even upsetting. It is human for us to never be welcoming to "change". In my perspective, this concept can even be related to the places we work-out at and thus, trying to get use to new gyms! Think about how many times facebook has changed and we have all put up a hissy fit, but in the end we dont really mind. We adapt. Yep, you just have to adapt. So, starting with
#1: well its summer, its
hot, and Houston is even hotter. I have been going through the motions ALOT with my runs lately. They are just suffer fest after suffer fest and you dont realize how much the heat really takes out of you until you have additional workouts you still have to do. On the schedule for this morning was an
8-mile tempo workout, a
90 degree heat index at 6am, and I was just not ready to kill my legs yet again. As much as everyone hates treadmill running, it really can save your legs.
Its a controlled environment.
Its a softer landing. It will
help you run slower and thus be able to
go longer without total demolishment.
6AM the alarm goes off, and its off to the gym for this workout. I had my choice of about 100 treadmills, and lucky for me I opted to get on the
Woodway!
Have you ever tried running on a Woodway before? They are amazing. Soft landing, quiet, and just make indoor running not so entirely painful! They are extremely expensive, hence why they are so great. If you havent tried a run workout on a Woodway before, you should really give it a "test-run"! Todays 8-mile run included:
3 x sets of [30 secs on, 30 secs off, 60 on, 60 off, 90 on, 90 off, and 2 min on, 5 min btwn sets] They were to be run at
5k pace and the rest of the mileage in my "zone-2". When I finished the workout I felt something new. My legs didnt feel like crap and I got a great workout in!! As much as running inside sucks, if you want to make sure you last for your entire workout, stay recovered for your next workout, and beat the heat- This is a great option. If you have a treadmill workout coming up, heres a little chart with speed conversions so you can find your "pace" and relate that to treadmill talk:
Moving on to #2, Though running on the treadmill does relate to this also, my next adventure was lap swimming. New pools = New questions.
Is this pool yards or meters?
Well my workout consisted of:
[6x300 descending 1-3,4-6.
Pick an interval with about 10-15 sec rest.
Followed by 8x100 @90% effort]
I did the first 300 and came in around 4:30. What the heck? I choose the 4:45 interval. I descended when appropriate and made it through the first half of the workout. Now it was time for 100s. First interval...1:25. Again, What the heck!? I usually swim my 100's with a 1:25 SEND-OFF interval, not swim interval! This pool must be meters? Please, be meters! How Could I get so slow. Well, In fact..the pool was meters. So phew, I am not as slow as I thought! Here is a helpful conversion chart for meters and yards distances:
So there ya have it! Even us triathletes have to adapt to silly things like going to new gyms, dealing with the heat, and trying to convert all your paces! Happy Training!