A new gym experience at Puregym

After several months of waiting my gym finally reopened this week after its refurbishment. Previously it was a LA Fitness gym but now it has reopened as one of the increasing number of gyms owned by the no frills chain Puregym. 

I was curious to find out what a Puregym would be like and what a 'no frills' gym experience was going to be all about.

The build up to the opening of the gym this week has been pretty impressive and hard to ignore, Great Portland street tube entrance has been plastered in advertising, there have been people distributing leaflets right, left and centre and mobile adverts going around being pulled by bikes. 

And thats on top of the regular emails I have been receiving bigging up how great the reopening is going to be.

A new gym boasting 220 shiny new bits of kit in brand new fully refurbished premises, it was hard not to be excited to come and check it out.

Giving it ago

I decided to ignore the opening evening as I thought it might be a bit too busy full of eager beaver types so I popped in for an early morning session on the second day after opening. I wasn't really looking for a hard gym session as I was meant to be on a rest day but I thought it would be a good opportunity to just check out the new gym and to see what was like, heres how I got on...

The gym is certainly impressive, its new, fresh and shiny which makes a change from the usual drab and dirty central London gym experience.

The first noticeable change with the gym experience I am used to is the entrance, no reception, no receptionist, no membership card but instead a pin number pad and some weird Dr Who type capsules that you enter the gym through. 

To be fair the process is simple, each member has a PIN number which they enter onto the number pad, the capsule door then enters, you step in, the door behind you closes and when its closed the door in front of you opens and off you go.

I liked the experience, not just because it felt like being in a sci fi film but there was no fake customer service from a disinterested receptionist and no having to remember your membership card!

On entering the gym its clear to see a good job has been done on the refurbishment as everything is clean and crisp.

I like the motivational sayings plastered over some of the walls, especially this one:

The only slight glitch I encountered wondering round with another first time gym user looking for the changing rooms as there were no signs to point anything out, a minor issue which I am sure will be rectified soon. 

As for the gym itself its pretty impressive, well set out with plenty of kit without everything being crowded on top of itself. 

You forget about the 'no frills' aspect as everything is so impressive and it feels the same as any other gym chain with the usual kind of up tempo music and people sweating and gurning in every corner. 

Its only when you get to the changing room that you realise the effects of the no frills aspect as the little things like no shower gel and no plastic bag to put your sweaty kit in are a bit of an annoyance, and thats on top of having to bring your own towel. 

For £29.99 on a flexible no contract membership though you cant really argue with the service being provided for the modest amount being charged.

I look forward to being a regular visitor in the coming months and incorporating some gym work into my routine can only help my running. 

And I cant wait to knock out a few miles on these bad boys!

Day 10 Morning treadmill running and hitting some landmarks

Todays run - Morning (Early!) - Speed/Fartlek - Treadmill - 5K - 26mins

This morning I hit the gym for the last time in a while, due to a few personal issues as well as a decision to run more and train differently I am cancelling my gym membership and today was the last I will be using my membership.

I had planned to have an intensive week of training to really utilise my membership in the final days with plenty of weights sessions and perhaps a dip in the pool but the week hasn't quite worked out that way. 

With my main focus this week now being Friday's boot camp session in Birmingham for Runners World's Target Asics 26.2 competition  I have scaled back my training and decided to focus just on running this week. 

So my run this morning was some fartlek and speed work with the majority of the session ranging from 11.0 km per hour and 14.0 km per hour after a few minutes of gentle jogging at 10.00 km per hour.  

Overall I was quite please with how I got on and felt comfortable at the top speed of 14.0 km per hour which is usually about my top speed. I do need to be more disciplined in doing more specific interval training both outside and on the treadmill. I cant say I am a lover of treadmills but I am certainly not scared of them or against using them and in the past I have done some serious mileage on treadmills including a couple of half marathons.

Today was a significant landmark in my training for three reasons, firstly it is day 10 of my runstreak so now I am a third of the way through and also into double figures. Secondly this is the first time I have ventured into double figures for consecutive running days. Thirdly and most importantly todays run means I have now completed over 900km for 2014 and am therefore have under 100km left to go this year to hit my target of 1000km for the year! 

Tomorrow (Thursday) I plan on an early morning run to then give myself as much recovery time as possible before Fridays boot camp session. I will also be concentrating on plenty of stretching and recovery type work to get my legs in the best possible shape! 

One of my best ever running experiences

This morning I headed out for a little run before work, I just wanted a gentle few kms as this is my first run post marathon. 

I toyed with the idea of getting involved with run2work and running part of my commute but decided against it as I just wanted something short and gentle. 

I headed out from my gym in central London and decided against my usual kind of route along the river.

Instead I headed towards Trafalgar Square, it was nice to experience one of London busiest tourist attractions in the stillness and quietness of 7.30 in the morning.

I then struck upon the idea of heading towards Buckingham Palace as I often forget to realise how close and accessible to Central London it is.

Running along the mall with the queens residence in my sights I realised I was of course running along the world famous finishing straight of the London Marathon, poignant as only yesterday I received my London Marathon rejection magazine.

The highlight of my run and one of my best running experiences occurred on the return journey. 

After a quick pic of her majesty's pad, with the fear of trying not to look suspicious like I might be a terror crazed jihadist in these security conscious times, I headed back along the Mall adjacent to St James Park.

All of a sudden the chimes of Big Ben rang out, it was one of those movie moments where the traffic seemed to quieten and time stood still for a few seconds. It just gave me a moment to reflect on how lucky I am to be a runner and how lucky I am to experience these kind of moments in World famous areas that I am fortunate enough to have on my doorstep.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my running experiences. 

Todays blog - Football, hill running, PB and Parkrun

Today's running blog, three points to discuss.

1    1. Last nights run

Last night before the crushing disappointment of England losing to Uruguay in the World Cup I headed out for a bit of a quick run.

My route was one that I have done several times but not recently and is a bit of a hill run. It’s basically running up out of a dip, back down into and then up the other side and down again and repeating this three times. The elevation of the course looks like this:

Although they are not massive hills and there isn’t a massive elevation rise it’s a testing run to try and run at speed and it keeps you working the full course.

Last night feeling good and running well in my new trainers I clocked a time of 32.49 with an average Km split of 4.31min/km which is the fastest average split I have run in a long time! 

Really pleased with the result I have looked over my previous times from early this year or in August and September last year when training for my last marathon in October and my time compares really well. Generally I was running the course in about 34 minutes so I am really impressed in knocking around 2 minutes off my time and it is a good indication that my training is progressing well.

2    2. Tonights gym session and burrito

Tonight after work I am heading out to watch the football and tonights match France v Switzerland is an entertaining prospect. But before the merriment of watching football out in a pub with the associated accompaniment of drinking I will be hitting the gym followed by treating myself to a burrito as a way of refueling after the gym and lining my stomach ahead of the drinking.

I am planning a core and ab circuit session with some body weight resistance exercises focusing on press ups and maybe some kettle bell work as well. I haven’t hit the gym in the evening for a long time and am looking forward to an afternoon session where I am a bit more awake and invigorated than what I sometimes am when training at 7 am in the morning.

Not wanting to curse myself now but I am also looking forward to the gym being quiet as it hopefully will be on a Friday evening, we will see….

3    3. Tomorrows Parkrun

Buoyed by feeling fitter and stronger and the success of my quick run last night as outlined in point 1 I am hoping for a good time in parkrun on Saturday morning. This does of course factor heavily on what happens tonight staying out watching the football as outlined in point 2!

Seriously though I know I have a good time in me and want to rival my PB which is around 21.55, my new trainers are also adding extra speed to my run. I know realistically new trainers will add a little bit of speed as they are firmer and stronger etc but they also add a big mental boost as I feel so much more confident and quicker running in new trainers.

Fingers crossed for some great weather and a great run tomorrow morning!

All the best to everyone else giving parkrun a go this weekend or running an event, run well everyone! 

2 for the price of 1

Yesterday didn't quite go to plan but still worked out really well. 

I got up early at 5.30 so I could head to the gym and head out for an early run around London along the Thames.

However things didn't work out that way, problems with the tube meant I was severely delayed getting into London. So at around 7am I was on a train looking like this:

When I should have been looking more like this:

The frustration at the time was depressing as I was so annoyed at getting up so early and having specific plans and this being ruined by problems outside of my control. 

Delays on public transport are frustrating at the best of times but non more so than when they prevent you from your training plans.

Anyway I managed to turn things to my advantage, I got the train into London and then took a brisk 25 minute walk to the gym.

Heading into the gym at around 8am out of breath and sweaty when I am usually heading out of the gym at this time was quite weird.

I then did a quick workout on the rower before I quickly got changed and headed off to work.

Lunch 

I have been keeping up with good healthy lunches at work as well.

Sticking to my training staple of brown rice with different beans and vegetables, today I had tomatoes and chick peas.

Second training session

Despite the frustration at missing out on my morning run I was pleased I had managed to get in some kind of workout and was excited at the prospect of now being able to train twice instead of the once.

So in the evening I headed out for a run, the aim was for around 10K on a route including a small trail run. I was planning to run a hard pace and to try and knock off 10K in sub 50minute pace.

I ended up covering over 11K in just over 53 minutes and estimated I covered 10K in around 48minutes which I was very pleased with as its the fastest I have ran over this distance in a while.

It was a really good run and I felt so strong, fat and fit. Its great when you have a training run where you really feel the benefits of your training regime and really feel the positives of what you have been doing.

So a great run where I felt I was flying over the ground and its made be feel so enthusiastic to keep training hard and aiming to run well in my up coming marathons. 

Starting the week feeling strong

After my 17K run yesterday in the heat I expected today to be a struggle as I felt so exhausted yesterday afternoon and evening.

The plan today was a recovery session in the gym and maybe a weights circuit and then perhaps some kind of bodyweight circuit outside in the park in the evening.

Morning workout

My morning workout went well and although I hadn't planned to run I felt like I could. My legs felt strong and ready to go which bodes well for my run tomorrow.

Instead I did some time on the xtrainer followed by an ab and core circuit. I finished this off with a lot of stretching and some foam rolling.

Preparation and Organisation

I think this is the key to any training plan, diet or healthy eating regime. This is what I had prepared the evening before all ready to go for my day.

These are my snacks for my workout and day at work, whey powder, trail mix, bananas, apple and carrot&cucumber sticks.

Evening

In the evening I did get out for my second session and I mixed up skipping with upper body bodyweight ecercises for a quick high intensity burst.

I rounded off the day with a healthy nutrious and delicious snack:

Twosday Training

I have started upping my training by doubling up a few days a week to training in the morning and evening.

Tuesdays sessions yesterday were great.

1st morning session

In the morning I went to the gym before work and did a bit of cardio mixed up with a little weights circuit and a quick abs blast.

For cardio I did a couple minutes warm up on the xtrainer, 30 stroke sprints on the rower and 10 minutes pushing as hard as I could on the bike.

I then put together a couple of upper body free weight exercises and did three circuits.

For abs I did the same 5 different exercises done 3 times each.

I then finished off with a cool down and stretch.

Needless to say this all left me feeling really pumped and energized for my day ahead.

2nd evening session

My evening session I had planned to be a sprint session. I don't look forward to these and generally don't do enough of these in my training I think because they are hard and they hurt! 

To start I did a 3.5K warm up jog at a gentle pace.

Then on a bit of grass I marked out around 50-60m and did the following drill x2:

30 star jumps

50m sprint

50 rep lunge walk

50m high knees

50m bum kicks

30 star jumps

These were all interspersed with a 50m jog back to the start.

I am planning to get back into doing some interval work on the treadmill but I am loving training outside so much.

This is the view I had while training:

One side:

And this was my impressive back drop:

Pretty impressive isn't it? Much better scenery than most gyms I am sure you will agree?!

Do you like mondays?

I generally like Mondays, probably an opinion against the norm but heres why:

Usually I go for a long run on Sunday and I also like to start the week off with a pre work gym session. So this normally leaves me pretty buzzing both mentally and physically.

Today was quite typical, I felt good after a 15K run yesterday and a weights session at the gym this morning. 

The gym was good this morning, really good, it was a really good workout that made me feel good and and kept me alert through the day and helped me

get through a ton of work.

But what makes it feel so much better is all the moaning from my colleagues in the office about how tired they feel and about not getting enough sleep at the weekend. 

I also enjoy Mondays as its the prospect of the challenge of the week ahead. I like to plan out my training for the week ahead and look forward to what I have planned ahead.

Everyone knows its important to have a work/life balance and to not be solely focused on work and for me that means focusing on my training.

I like the idea that when I train in the morning I am getting up to train rather than getting up to work. When I train in the evening I am thinking about training after work while I am at work. And when I train in the morning and the evening I feel like my whole day is about training rather than work. 

I hope your Monday was good and you found the motivation to train today.

Early morning workout

I had forgotten how good it feels to workout in the morning before work. 

I am definitely a morning person and usually feel a lot sharper getting up earlier to train. 

This morning I got up around 5.30 left home soon after 6, after my commute into work I got to the gym around 7.15, did a 45 minute work out and still got to work around 8.20.

I felt really good from getting up early and felt a real buzz from my training, the only thing bringing me down was the general moans of colleagues complaining of tiredness from the weekend and towards the week ahead.

After my gym session this morning I realised it had been almost a month since I last went to the gym in the morning before work. I have been running once if twice but this was the first time since the end of March I had been to the gym in AM or in fact at all for a proper workout other than a warm up before going out running.

Different commitments and some time of work have meant I haven't been able to fit morning workouts into my routine and I have really missed them.

Thats not to say I have been doing any less training, I have just been enjoying training in the evening sunshine since the evenings got lighter and warmer.

I cant believe it has been so long as I really enjoy an early morning workout and really value the added sharpness and energy it gives me throughout the day. 

Over the next couple of weeks I want to start getting back into training twice a day a few times a week, gym in the morning and running in the evening.

I covered 12K again at the weekend and managed faster pace than last week and felt a lot stronger so I am starting to shape up quite nicely. 

I plan to cover 12K+ on Tuesday and am looking forward to the added mileage and feeling stronger.