The 2 hour and 30 minute gym visit

Its that time of year again, when I end up finding myself inside the confines of a gym more than I would like.

Why 2 hours and 30 minutes?  That's just about the amount of time I have to pencil in to feel like I have had a good workout.  I encourage anyone to go to the gym for even 30 minutes if the alternative is sitting on the couch, but for me I need some serious time to get a workout in that rivals  7-10 miles of running.  So why bother with the gym?  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  The times being when you are tired and banged up from a season of ultras and road races, the weather is cold and icy, and there is little daylight to be found after work hours.  The measures?  Treadmills, arc-trainers, spin bikes, and weights.

The always infamous "dread-mills".

So why do this to myself?  After years of cyclical injuries that require weeks if not months of time off, I'm finally staying conservative with things.  Recovering right, and if things start to feel off cutting back on the running in favor of other cardiovascular activity.

I tried to recover correctly after JFK, taking some time off (well, basically a few days) and then just running easy.  It was probably a mistake to work back in some speed work and shorter road races, but hindsight is always 20/20 and I thought I had rested back up to 100%.  The result was some lingering soreness in my lower left calf around the achilles.  Achilles - a word that brings shivers to the spines of all runners.  It wasn't the achilles injury where you can feel it "crinkle" around in the sleeve, the kind of pain that can drop a runner to their knees and end their career.  It was however annoying enough for me to nurse it back to health, running every-other day, mixing in cross training, and backing off the speed work.  And of course the atypical RICE routine.

I should still be able to mix in some faster tempos and short road races, but nothing on the track, no focused hills, and I won't really be able to run my races all-out.

Enter: The Gym.  The non-running winter solution to getting cardio.  I must admit it is at least nice to have people around and not be freezing.  I'm trying to mix a little strength training back in too, which I usually ignore during nicer seasons.  Its good to keep your running muscles strong, work the stuff that running doesn't hit, and high-rep/ low-weight activities are great for staying lean.

Whats my 2.5 hours at the gym look like?  Really, it takes even longer when you add in time to change, walking around time, cleaning off the machines, and showering:

Arrive.  Find a locker.  Change into gym clothes.  Start workout now.  Hop on arc-trainer (the better alternative to an elliptical).  Get going with enough resistance and incline to keep my heart rate up.  Do this for about 30 minutes while listening to iPod to prevent getting bored out of my mind.  Stretch out for 5 minutes.  Hit the weights for 25 minutes.  Keep it high reps and low weight.  Today lets focus on core (back/abs, chest, and quads/calves/hammies).  Next time we will work on arms, shoulders, and do squats.  Go to locker and put on cycling shorts, grab shoes.  Spinning class for 55 minutes.  Sweat a lot. Pedal really hard.  Keep pedaling hard on my own when instructor calls out annoying (and useless) jumps. Cool down.  Hydrate.  Stretch out for 5 minutes. End workout now.  Shower, change, leave.

Then get home and not feel bad about my lack of running since I still burned 1400 calories.  Here's to a combination of running, spinning, ellipticaling, weight training, and stretching when the weather is dark and cold and your soleuses are feeling tired.

Spinning - still probably the best indoor workout I can find.