September 12, 2011

dear annoying gym goers

Are you really working that hard loud breathing elliptical man?  Maybe you are, but I think your breathing is a wee bit excessive.
Seriously.  Every Sunday morning there is a guy on the elliptical.  He blows out EXTREMELY LOUDLY every third stride.  It kind of stresses me out.  I've considered going to the gym at a different time just to avoid him, but that is when it fits best in my schedule.  Boo.

Whoa, loud breathing elliptical man turned extra loud screaming while weight lifting man, I'm worried that you're over doing it.
No kidding.  Same guy.  One morning he was lifting weights and I'm pretty sure everyone in the gym was concerned with whether or not they should be spotting him.  I would have sworn he was picking up a truck or something.  Even the guy sitting at his office desk was leaned incredibly far back in his chair trying to figure out who the noise was coming from.

Excuse me, sir, yes you there on the treadmill directly behind me (even though there are a million other treadmills open, sorry another pet peeve).  Maybe you could take your phone call after your workout?
So I know sometimes people have to get in touch with you, but I was on the elliptical (which I hate, but my legs would probably shatter into a bajillion pieces if I ran everyday) and the guy behind me got a phone call.  It sounded like he was probably catching up with a friend or something, there was laughter and such.  Oh yeah, and the entire 25 minute conversation was in a language I couldn't even make out.  I tried to just tune it out as noise, but it didn't work.

Holy cow ladies on the elliptical across the gym from me!  I can't believe you spent $25 on your kiddos concert t-shirt either.  Also, thanks for sharing with me (and half the gym) your plans for the next month.
When working out can be a social event, it sometimes adds a bit of motivation.  I totally get that.  But some of us can't put in our headphones because our kid is in the child center and we have to hear the intercom.  So I can't tune out your entire life story as you try to yell it to your friend.  Last week there were two women attempting to talk over each other and every noise around them about what they had been up to and what they planned to do for the next oh I don't know, forever.  I wanted so badly to just zone out and run, but they were SO LOUD.

Really, I try to ignore people at the gym, not worry about anyone else and just focus on myself.  I try not to judge what other people are doing or compare myself to them, because I have NO CLUE what their story is.  But there have just be some people driving me nuts lately!  Sorry, rant over.

If you belong to a gym, what is your pet peeve with other gym goers?

Switching gears here... Yesterday I had 6 miles on my training schedule.  Wait, oops, 7.  Except I didn't look at my calendar until after I got home.  Whatever, I still have plenty of time before the race that I haven't even signed up for yet.  Mental note, do that.  ANYWAY...

I've been tired of doing odd loops around our neighborhood.  Weaving up and down streets for even four miles can get annoying, so thanks to some friends I located a trail.  When trying to look up where to park, I actually came across another trail even closer to our house, so yesterday morning I hopped in my car and headed out for my run.  It felt really weird to drive somewhere to run, but not having to battle intersections and crappy sidewalks is a HUGE plus.


I was a little nervous because I wasn't 100% sure where the trail went, but it claimed to be almost 17 miles long (as did the other trails, strange that they are the same length), so I figured I'd just hop on, run a little over 3 miles in one direction and turn around.  Everything started off just fine, the weather was great, I was feeling way better than I had in a couple weeks (funny what really eating healthy for a few days will do for you) and I was excited to get in six miles.  I had set my phone app to give a voice alert after every mile, so I didn't have to look at my phone.  It seemed like it took forever to hear the first mile, and when I did eventually check my screen out of curiousity it said I had only gone 1.25 miles.  Lame.  Boo.

Shortly after that there were a couple forks in the trail.  For the life of me I could not figure out how to stay on the actual trail.  I kept ending up on roads that led me up to the street.  I know for small parts of the trail you do go up on to the sidewalks, but there was no where to keep going that I could find.  I check my mileage again.  1.25.  WAIT WHAT???  Crap.  I'm assuming there was too much tree coverage and I lost GPS.  The trail had mile markers, so I could try to go off those, except, oh yeah, I couldn't find the stupid trail!  I got on the trail around the five mile mark and had passed mile marker 4, so I knew I still had plenty of room in the other direction to keep going.  If I could stay on the trail of course :).

I decided to give it a shot, turned around and kept on running.  Using my timer between two mile markers, I'm guessing I was averaging just under a 10 minute mile, so I decided I would just run for an hour and call it good.  It was a little sad to pass my car and know I still had 20 minutes to go, but the trail was much easier to figure out in that direction.  I should have started that way in the first place!  I guess I know for next time.

Besides the whole being lost and confused part, the run felt great.  I honestly got a second wind probably just after the fifth mile, and I felt like I could have easily ran another one or two.  Hopefully I'm feeling that good next week!

Did you have any great workouts this week?

4 comments:

Amy said...

Ha your gym rant is hilarious, I totally get it. I work at a YMCA and it drives me nuts when I can hear people banging weights upstairs, it's OBVIOUS it's too heavy if you are slamming them down every time!

Trail runs are great! They are actually harder for you than regular sidewalks and streets, so you should be getting a better work out. I myself cannnot run on the sidewalks, I prefer the road, but dodging traffic does get daunting at times,ha!

I waited to the absolute last minute to sign up for my half, like as in the night before it was set to go up another $10 in cost.

Love your blog Ashley!

Jennifer said...

oh I hear ya on the gym rant!! :)
The worst for me is yoga...we are all supposed to be in a relaxed state, but if there is a heavy breather in the group it totally irritates me!

Meredith said...

No, I did NOT have any great workouts this week, lol. I'd really been digging running outside, but it has just been too smoky, and I can't get into any of my videos right now. Boo.

@JessEsco said...

I just started reading thanks to the lovely BA. Are you training for a half?

I love running outside. I hate going to the gym because all the people drive me nuts and I can't enjoy my workout!