A different - and very fun - swim

[susandennis]

This morning, using my free day pass, I went to Seattle Athletic Club which is the gym ljtourist goes to. It's an old club - 35 years old - just beside Pike Place Market. It opens at 7 and I got there at 7:15. I was greeted by a really nice and welcoming guy who had me quickly signed in with a key to a locker and I was off. The place seems gynormous with a bunch of different rooms on at least two floors. I didn't do a lot of nosing around (I have two more day passes so I can nose nect time), but at quick glance they had rooms for every thing - weights and pilaties and massages and machines and lordknowswhatallelse.

The women's locker room is a giant maze but I found my locker and put my stuff away and then went to find the pool which turned out to be right next door but I didn't realize that until I had trotted around the downstairs for a while in my swimsuit. You are welcome early gym goers.

One of the many things I did love is the carpet. Carpet everywhere. 1. sound muffled and 2. feet love.

I found the pool - 5 very skinny lanes. It would be hard to split share a lane but maybe it's not that busy. There was no one there but me for the first 30 minutes of my swim. One guy came in for 20 minutes and left. Then about five minutes before I was done, two more swimmers came in. The water was a bit warmer than I really like but not bad and was salt. It was saltier than most salt water pools I've been in. It was lovely to swim in and now, a couple of hours later, my skin feels amazing. I love salt water. The pool is short 20 yards (my regular pool is 25) BUT once I'd gotten a few laps under my belt, it was not so bad and turns out I think the shorter pool caused more effort on my part and so gave me a better workout. It's an old pool with that pebble surface that old pools used to have before they found tile. Hard on your hands if you, like me, grab the side to turn. BUT I had my gloves on so no biggie really.

When I finished my hour, I just kept going for another 15 minutes because I had a day pass and why not. It was great.

The showers and bathroom areas are pristine and they provide all kinds of cool stuff like q-tips and plastic bags. (The showers at LA Fitness, only 2 years old, are never that clean and they provide just the basics - shampoo, conditioner, soap and sometimes body lotion and sometimes tissues.)

There were two guys at the front desk as I left and they were both very nice and friendly. I could not help but compare to LA Fitness where the staff makes you feel like you annoyed them by showing up.

It's a pricey place but it's also pretty clear you get what you pay for. They have a lot of pool activities - classes and stuff - that prevent just plain lap swimming a lot of the time. And currently I get LA Fitness for free through my insurance. So I'm not switching but if something happened to that insurance deal and I had to pay, I'd seriously consider paying Seattle Athletic Club rather than LA Fitness.

I have two more passes - one for March and one for April. I will absolutely be using them. Sunday morning was a great time to test. There was ample free street parking when I got there. When I came out of the gym, I headed up the street to a favorite breakfast place that I knew opened early. OOOOps. Apparently not early enough. It was 8:40 and they didn't open til 9. Next door was open and they had breakfast sandwiches nd coffee so I gave them a whirl instead of waiting. Good decision. Good sandwich.

Home now and looking forward to a lovely Sunday. Sewing and baseball and TV and knitting. Nice.

Oh, my tracker loves that pool. It measures distance and effort. So I can swim 1 mile one day and get 1200 points and the next day, swim 1 mile the next day but with more effort and get 1400 points. I generally swim 1 to 1.4 miles a day and usually get anywhere from 1300 to 1600 points for it. Today, in the short pool, I swam 1.4 miles and got 1732 points - that's my personal best points for one swim. Nice way to start the day.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I so glad you had such a good time! It's also *super* interesting to get your perspective on things. I figured there might be some things I was taking for granted there and it seems like I was! Although it sounds like the womens' locker rooms are a little nicer than the mens'.

[susandennis]

I'm guessing this is ljtourist? Yes, I was really surprised at how very nice and nicely appointed it was. Also the lighting was really interesting. None of the harsh white lights of LA Fitness but way more of a calm, mellow, warmer lighting. Which made me wonder that while excellent for feeling nice about a place, was it the best for exercise?

The womens' locker room was just a huge rabbit warren. not enough surfaces to put your stuff on but clean and well appointed otherwise. The showers are a bit tight but the water pressure was excellent and the soap/shampoo/conditioner were above average. The plastic bags for my suits were my clear winner.

Yeah, I think I'd be tempted to try out some of the other stuff they offer. I plan to poke around a bit more next time.

And if I lived as close as you do to the place, I would not even ponder. I'd join right this minute.

I did laugh at myself this morning. I had the opposite of your issue. After I got done, nothing I wanted was open YET (instead of your problem of open STILL).

[ljtourist.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was me! How weird that I didn't notice I'd been logged out. I was wondering why I didn't get an email notification of a comment reply. :)

The vast majority of the classes and other extra stuff they offer does not hold my interest in the slightest. I eagerly await your reports in the coming months. The one thing they have which does sound interesting, that I haven't tried yet, is this room with some sort of video+bike setup which 2 other gym members have recommended.

The little feature that I do really like is the centrifuge for bathing suits, which sadly has been on the fritz for a week now in the mens' locker room.

If you're open to a carb-heavy breakfast, the Crumpet Shop around the corner opens at 7am. There's also another place I've never tried called "cycene" that opens at 8, and allegedly has grits and other southern food.

[susandennis]

Oh yeah we had a suit spinner, too. They are always broken.

Excellent info on available breakfast. I did not want to scale that hill on spec :)

[meowmensteen]

I always like to eat breakfast at the place on the corner of Western and Virgina(?) I think think it's on the same block as the fitness club, or the next one. It's that intersection where the brick road ends. I go there on my days off and sit outside if the weather lets me. The make me my own little urn of coffee and I can sit there for a while doing my crossword puzzle. I just love the way they do scrambled eggs.

Is that the same place you were talking about?

[susandennis]

Seatown is on the corner of Western and Virginia and the wine shop is on the other corner so you must mean Seatown? Nope. They don't open til 9.

I had coffee and a breakfast sandwich at the Rub with Love Shack which is in between Seatown and Etta's (all three are Tom Douglas places).

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

In all the years I spent in The Market, I have no idea where this gym is!

[susandennis]

Know where Etta's is? Directly across the street from Cutter's? If you face Etta's, the gym is the door just to the left.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. I rarely went down to that end of it!