FITNESS Free for All Fail

In celebration of their 20th anniversary Fitness is giving away passes for a free workout at a bunch of cool gyms around the country today. I was super excited to check out the 24 Hour Fitness Sport near my hotel because I'd heard they have the best spin bikes around.

I got up at 4:30, threw on my clothes, shoved down a banana since I was starving, gulped down some coffee and headed out the door. With my free pass in hand I skipped into 24 Hour super excited to try a new class only to be informed the class was full. Crap. And since I was planning on spinning I didn't bring my i-pod or a magazine, and I forgot my water. Boo. So I did a 20 minute leg circuit on the machines and then headed back to my hotel. I couldn't face an hour on the cardio machines without anything to entertain me.

I thought about running outside but couldn't get excited about it. It was still dark, rainy, and I didn't want to do the same route for the 3rd day in a row (but it's the only not horribly loud and trafficky, but still feels kinds safe) route I've found here. So hotel gym it was. But at least now I had a copy of Fitness and my i-pod. Since I have a tri coming up in 2 weeks, I started with 20 minutes on the bike and then hopped on the dreadmill. I was a little nervous about running since I'd done some pretty heavy leg work and I usually run on an empty stomach. The coffee I thought would be okay, but I had my doubts about the banana. I've stayed clear of pre-running bananas since puking up banana 3 times during a 5k in college.

But something just clicked. I did a 5 minute warm-up at 10mph and then did 4 repeats of 1/2 mile at 8:30 mph with 1/4 mile recovery at 10mph. 8:30 pace today felt easy-peasy-lemon squeesy. And time was flying by. I finished with 4 repeats of 1 minute @10mph, 1 minute @8:30mph, 1 minute @7:30mph, 1 minute at 8:30 mph, 1 minute @10mph. 5.56 miles in 50 minutes. LOVE IT!