I have excellent news, though mainly for myself: my season break is finally over! I hated being idle for the past three weeks, so I'm really happy that I can start my regular training again now.
My goal for this season is to finish the middle distance at the Cologne Triathlon Weekend next September, and I'll probably throw in an Olympic distance triathlon around the end of June (maybe 3MUC in Munich).
I'd been a little anxious about finding a pool and gym for swimming and weight training (roads for running and cycling are a little easier to find ;-)). But, as it turns out, no problem at all: a colleague introduced me to a really nice gym not far from my apartment where I can do both!
So on Monday we went there to sign me up. The joining process took rather long - about 30 to 40 minutes - because they wanted to know lots and lots of details, like my home address and phone, work address and phone, my yearly salary, who to contact in an emergency, whether I have tattoos or contagious illnesses, and much more.
But, at long last, it was done and I could explore the gym. As space in Japan is rather limited, the gym is spread out over several floors. The entrance area is located on the first floor (which is equivalent to the German ground floor). Several studios where they hold all kinds of classes are on the second floor (among the classes are yoga and aerobics, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the timetable is in Japanese... and anyway, I didn't join the gym to take classes). The fourth floor features the locker rooms, showers, whirlpools, sauna and swimming pool. It's only a 25m pool, but at least it seems that it's not very crowded in the evenings. Finally, the gym area with the usual amount of machines, free weights, benches, treadmills and bicycles is located on the fifth floor. Most of the signs in the gym are available in both Japanese and English, and the staff also speak a little English, so it was really no problem to find my way around.
I signed up for the night plan, meaning that I can use the gym between 8pm and 11pm on weekdays. Especially for the pool, these are the opening hours of my dreams! Very unlike those in back in Germany where the public pools closed at 8pm at the very latest.
