Gym and treadmill: review

Today I went to the gym to have a go at running on a treadmill.

I went to Hengrove Leisure Centre which isn't the closest gym to where I live but possibly the nearest that didn't require a contract. I'll be investigating this more closely soon as it is a drive away. But, all good experience. I've been there before a few times to swim so know how it all works and know the layout.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle as I had to have a gym induction before I could use the gym. This was fine but did involve a small amount of rigmarole. The induction wasn't too onerous and I was introduced to the cross-trainer and the treadmill. Times have moved on since I was last at a gym - they now have touchscreens, Iphone jacks and pictures which tell you the muscles you're working. They also gave me static shocks every time I touched them.

I started off on a cross trainer. This was quite different to trainers I'd previously used but I got into it. It wasn't really clear which buttons did which, in spite of just being shown. Oops!

On to the treadmill to attempt a run. I always believed that running on a treadmill was a lot easier than running on the road. Previous attempts at running on a treadmill led me to believe running was pretty straightforward. That was quickly cleared up once I got out on the road. Road running is so much harder, right?

WRONG.

My legs were killing me after a few seconds! I don't think they ache like that on the road. They continued to ache the entire time I was on the machine. It was really hard to force myself to keep running but I managed a few longer sections before the relief of walking.

I found the experience quite odd. When I'm out on the road there are so many things to think about, I don't find that I need concentrate on anything in particular, just keeping going. There's the traffic, looking out for people on the pavement, thinking about the route, looking out for trip hazards or dog mess, the weather, keeping breathing...All of these things to think about. But on a treadmill it's just you. And the telly, or music or whatever which I mostly just found distracting rather than helping me to focus. I found it really hard to get into a rhythm. It didn't help that the machine squeaked the faster I went! The other problem was the speed. My phone app tells me my averages but the treadmill tells you how fast you're going to the tenth of a mile. I'm not sure I found that useful, at least for the first twenty minutes! Usually, I can just speed up/slow down/regulate my pace as I wish, bit more complicated when you have to press a button each time. I finally got into my groove when a song from one of my favourite bands came on to my MP3 player. I'm not sure what it is, it's quite rhythmic perhaps, but it finally got me into the zone and I managed a longer section of running without wanting to stop and walk.

After I'd finished on the machine, as I would do after a normal run, I wanted to stretch. And that was when I remembered the other thing that puts me off gyms - the blokes. Ok, ok, this is probably a bit sexist, but bear with me! Any gym, it seems to me, however new, or established or whatever, will attract a significant number of men who attend very regularly, in small groups and work on their muscles. It's great, I'm glad they're taking care of themselves and socialising off the streets. It's just rather intimidating for a woman on her own. Well, this woman on her own. I'm sure if I was with a friend we'd have found a space to hunker down and get those inner thigh muscles firing but today? No thank you. Each stretching area seemed to have a group of young men stretching together, or just sprawled out and I didn't fancy joining them. Even down in the changing rooms I felt like a weirdo for stretching out. I'll be honest, I ended up locking myself in a loo! Again, this may just be my extreme introversion holding me back but I'm just not confident enough to crack on with it in that sort of situation. I missed my comfy living room then, I can tell you, particularly as nearly every part of my legs were aching from the machine.

So, on reflection, I'm not sure I'd go again. It wasn't actually that cheap to get the induction, plus getting there in the car. But perhaps if April brings torrential rains, ice and hail, it'll look a little more attractive. I'm actually keen to get out for a run round the block soon for a nice "easy" run. Who would have thought?