This weekend I decided to take advantage of one of my fringe benefits at Microsoft for the first time: a free membership to the Pro Sports Club. This place is a little odd in that it’s basically an extension of Microsoft-land. It’s right on the outskirts of the main campus in Redmond, and given that Microsoft provides all employees a free membership, odds are you’re going to be working out with Microsofties. The fees for those who aren’t on a corporate sponsorship are purportedly sky-high, which exacerbates the situation.

Regardless of who I’d meet there, the place is amazingly large. It’s like a maze in there – I wandered around with Nick for about 15 minutes just to find where the pool was. Not that I minded wandering around a place that reminded me of a Casino without the smoke or gambling.

I eventually settled on one of the 4 pools, two of which seemed dedicated to lap swimming. I got a measly 1500 yards in:

1. 200 warm-up
2. 4 × 150 SKIPS (swim-kick-pull-swim)
3. 4 × 100 SKIPS
4. 4 × 50 I.M. drill
5. 100 warm down

After my workout I saw the Master’s swim workout written on the whiteboard, which was exactly 4000 yards. That made me remember the time I was capable of a 2.5-hour, 8,000 yard workout. I know I’ll probably never get back to that kind of shape, but being able to do 4,000 yards again would be nice.

After the swim I went back to the locker room and enjoyed a few minutes in the steam room (the sauna was broken). If there’s anything good at getting that chlorine feeling out of your skin, sweating up a storm in a few minutes will definately do it.

With any luck, Nick and I will manage to make this trip a weekly thing on Sundays – it’s a good productive use of an afternoon, and you always have a good feeling after working out.