Bally's again...and the pool was open!

First off: last night I realized I have these nice big scabs on the sides of my thighs were my thighs were rubbing against the heart-rate handles around the bike seat yesterday. Ouch. I knew it was hurting a bit while I was riding, but I didn't know it actually tore into the skin.

I dropped DH off at work and the gym wasn't AS busy today, which was nice. I went on the bike for 15, but after about 5 minutes, I upped the level from 4 to 6, then I realized that the reason I don't feel like I get as much of a workout on the bike is because my heartrate doesn't get really that much higher...it's around 125 when I'm just cruising along at my normal pace and level. I had to fix that! I cranked the level up to 8 after 5 more minutes at 6 and peddled my little heart out. For the last minute or two, that baby was up to 10. My heart rate went up to 140. It was great!

I did more weights today. One of the machines I like was being used by some guy so I did one of the ones I did yesterday, then I experimented a little. I did two other upper-body weight machines and one leg machine. I really want to add weights into my normal routine, I think it will help. Unfortunately, there are no leg machines at my office gym.

Then I got on the "ramp" style elliptical, but I left the incline nice and high and had the resistance on 10. I did 5 minutes on that, with the last 30 seconds as 15 resistance.

I really need to figure out why it's always my FEET that hurt when I work out. I could actually go a lot longer if my feet didn't start to kill me, whether on the bike or elliptical.

After my nice sweat-inducing workout, I got to use the pool! It was absolute heaven to get into the cool water when my body was so hot. I tried to do a few laps, but I noticed a few problems if I ever wanted to make laps a part of my regular workout: my swimsuit is NOT suitable for doing laps. My swimsuit, to be perfectly honest, doesn't fit me right. It's too small. So much goes around my hips/stomach that there isn't much left for the top. What this means is that when I'm swimming, the water wooshes into the top of my swimsuit and it the fabric goes away from my gals. I feel REALLY self-conscious and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing laps like that knowing what my swimsuit is doing without my permission. I'd have to get a new swimsuit that fits better. The other problem is my body floats too much. This should be a good thing, right? Nope. My BUTT floats. So it's hard to make a straight line out of my back; which means my face is up out of the water when I swim and that curves my back. It gives me horrible swimming posture. Plus I think I'm a little afraid of swimming with my face in the water, I always feel like I'm going to swallow water and drown or something when you lift your face sideways to breathe. Either way, it still felt great to get in the pool after working out. The whirlpool was huge, bigger than some hotel POOLS, and it felt like heaven. I just sat there for maybe 15 minutes before they shut it off to start closing up for the night. I could have stayed in there for an hour!

I need to find a gym to join to supplement my office gym. I've been toying with several different gyms around here. I like the machines they have at Bally's and I like the pool, but I don't know how much I would actually use the pool. I absolutely hate trying to dry off and get back into clothes after swimming, everything just kind of sticks to you because you don't have much time to let your body dry off completely. Plus, since they have a steam room off of the locker room, it's always kind of humid in there, which doesn't help trying to dry off. My free guest pass ends Friday, so I won't be able to go back next weekend unless I join. I'm going to talk to DH and see if he thinks the extra $15/month is worth it for a gym because of the pool, or if I'd use the pool enough to make it worth it. Plus, a friend told me that Planet Fitness doesn't have the "ramp" ellipticals. Hmm.

I love how my attitude has changed towards working out lately. I look forward to it.