Decisions, Decisions

Saturday I slept in and then went to the gym. It was the first time in WEEKS–maybe over a month–that I’ve been to the gym on a Saturday. Every Saturday this summer has been dedicated to long bike rides training for the Portland Century, or mini vacations. It felt really good to be back to the norm.

I started out with a run on the treadmill. I was feeling really good and strong during my run until about half way through. My right calf muscle got a cramp in it or something. I slowed to a walk to see if I could work it out — to no avail. 🙁 That cut my run short and frustrated me. The last thing I want to deal with right now is an injury. I tried to run after a few minutes of walking and my leg was telling me that wasn’t going to happen.

I was definitely disappointed. I moved on to the weight lifting. I was basically starting over in that department as well. I had not lifted weights properly in weeks! I’ve definitely missed that! I started slow and with light weights. I feel like I’m basically starting from scratch after taking the summer off from lifting.

It felt sooo good to feel that burn in my muscles after such a long break! I used the plated machines first, taking it easy and working my chest and then my back.

I hate to admit this because I was such a reluctant weight lifter when I first started last year, but I’ve been noticing that the toning I’d achieved has kind of gone to flab this summer. Focusing on something like the Portland Century was just too big in my mind and everything else fell to the wayside. Swimming turned into a recovery activity. Cycling was my focus. My legs got super toned, my thigh muscles bigger, but my upper body? It needs work again.

I switched over to the free weights and did some squats, squat raises, bicep curls, shoulder presses and worked my triceps.

After I finished lifting weights for about 40 minutes I spent a good amount of time doing some ab work with a 10 pound medicine ball, lots and lots of stretching. I used the foam roller to try and work out the knot in my calf and then I called it a morning.

Gym Stats:

Time: 1:33
Calories Burned: 661 

I have some decisions to make. My gym membership is up in a few days. I’m unhappy with my gym for a lot of reasons: it’s dirty, the machines I want to use are ALWAYS broken…they “upgraded” it last year but the upgrades didn’t make the gym a nice one. All the upgrade did was make it so they can double the price of membership. The only things I like about the gym: there’s a pool and it’s close by. Are those reason enough to resign for double the price I paid last time? I don’t know. I have to make a big decision by Wednesday.

• Do I suck it up and pay like $600 for two years membership?
• Do I go month-to-month so it’s more affordable for my budget right now?
• Do I quit my gym? That is a terrifying thought. What happens if I quit? Will I somehow lose my mojo and stop working out? Gain back all my weight?
• Do I quit the big gyms and just pay drop-in fees at nearby community pools?
• Do I quit my gym and test out other gyms in the area that are more affordable?
• Do I buy a bunch of the Groupon fitness deals for the local pilates, yoga, cross fit and boot camps to get me through?
• Do I just commute to work 3x a week to get in my fitness and drop in to a pool once in awhile?

A lot of questions. A lot of things to consider. I’ll be honest. It’s freaking me out. I do know a few things for sure:

• I can bike to work for fitness– UNTIL winter time when it’s too cold and/or pouring rain every day.
• I can go back to running during my lunch break.
• I have access to a track near my house, with stairs that I can run.
• I do have access to a small gym at work, plus yoga classes if I sign up for them.
• Michael has some free weights that I could do at home, even though that’s not ideal for me.

I have to admit: I kinda like having a gym membership. Somewhere to go for ME TIME. It’s ingrained in my routine now and I feel very uncomfortable changing my routine. I don’t know what to do.

I had a glass of chocolate milk for a recovery snack when I got home and found Michael chopping wood in the back yard (he burned over 1000 calories doing it!). It’s a project we’ve had to do for over a year but when Michael hurt his back this winter it took a back seat.

I helped out by moving the chopped wood to the deck. If you’ve ever thought chopping wood or moving and stacking a bunch of fire wood isn’t exercise, you’d be wrong. I was wrong! It was a nice little workout.

>We definitely have enough firewood for winter now. It feels fantastic to have one more project completed. See how many calories I burned just stacking firewood?

Not too bad for 39 minutes of work, right?  House cleaned, closet organized, showered and cleaned up we headed out to grab lunch and to go grocery shopping. We stopped in at Pogy’s Subs for lunch.

I’ve never been there before. Michael and I split an italian sub sandwich with Italian meats–salami and something else. Lettuce, olives, mustard, peppercinis, mayo. Yum! It was a great sandwich! And much better than Subway (can you imagine I used to eat a footlong Subway sandwich all by myself?).

It was a good day. Now if only my calf would stop aching.

QUESTION: Any thoughts on my gym dilemma? What gym do you belong to? What are your likes/dislikes about it?