Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Juiceheads Beware

In my former life, I was a gym rat. I lifted five days a week, consumed a huge quantity of protein and espoused about muscle groups with my fellow rats. Despite my best efforts, however, I never found myself particularly muscle bound.  Depressed with my permanent status as an ectomorph, I gave up on lifting and focused again on running. 

Winter in Vermont is brutal.  It is particularly brutal for runners.  We face ice, sleet and snow.  Sidewalks don't get plowed for weeks after a blizzard and if we don't run at noon, we are doomed to be creatures of the dark at either end of the day. Last winter, I ran outside almost every day as a matter of pride.  I have screws in my "ice" shoes, an indeterminate quantity of winter running layers and a healthy dose of Yankee stubborn in my blood.  This year, however, I broke down and joined a gym.  I still plan to run outside when the footing is good, but on days when it's slippery, you'll find me slogging away the miles on a treadmill.

Yesterday, I talked about how inclement weather is a good training tool for Boston.  Today, I'm telling you I joined a gym to avoid it.  So what gives?  Inclement weather is one thing.  Getting hit by a snow plow or breaking my leg is another.  Beyond bodily harm, a 6 mile run slogging through a foot of snow is not necessarily the quality I need to be putting in on the road to Boston.

What gym did I join?  None other than the juicehead haven of Planet Fitness.  With unbeatable low rates, few people doing cardio and 24 hour availability, it was the best choice for me. It looks like I'll start to get my money's worth immediately, with freezing rain on Friday morning in the forecast.

Happy Running all. Think of me fondly, running along side this guy:

3 comments:

  1. Interesting reasoning for choosing that gym, but it makes a lot of sense. I'm sure that the treadmill will come in handy when you have LT runs or intervals.

    Now let's hope that they do a good job on maintaining what is likely a seldom used set of equipment. While my gym isn't totally infested by juiceheads, they do exist in decent quantities. The few who use the TMs are either walking or running very slowly, so maintaining them apparently isn't a high priority. I sadly learned this when I tried to get in some running at HMP on a TM, where I had to hop around to 3 or 4 of them to find one that ran smoothly at HMP.

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  2. Walter, it is a runner's dream! I walked in to two rows of twenty treadmills that are clean and actually newer than I expected. I only ran on one, but the first one I picked ran smoothly. We shall see as the winter bears on...

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  3. I suggest you take my photo off this site immediately, as you didn't ask.

    Alright, I am not him.

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