I went to the gym yesterday and worked out on the bike. I set the machine on a “fat burning” preset work out for 60 minutes. I didn’t want to set it for 75 minutes because I wasn’t sure how hard it was going to be and I didn’t want to set myself up for injury or failure. 60 minutes sounded reasonably doable.
I completed the workout and it was hard, but I think the hardest part was being at the gym. I have said before one of the reasons I like the pool is because I feel like no one can look at me. On the bike, there, in the middle of a room filled with other machines and other people on those machines, it was intense for me. I would look up, pouring sweat, face red and breathing hard, and accidentally lock eyes with some random dude who was lifting weights across from me. It was awful. And that happened multiple times. I just tried to close my eyes and imagine I was home alone, safe from prying eyes, as much as I could.
The workout itself was nice, but the bad taste I was left with from all the forced human interaction, might have undercut any real enjoyment I got out of it. There is another room in the gym that I might try next time. It is a dark room. It has all the same machines the other rooms have, but the lights are turned down real low. I assume it will be occupied by other people who find the idea of eye contact with a stranger as horrid as I do. I don’t know if it will do the trick, but I think it is worth a shot.
As for today, I think I will be staying home and recovering from all of … that. I may even binge a new TV show.
Rey Wright 