MY £8.5k GYM FOR MARATHON FITNESS
SUSIE CHAN (below), 45, is an endurance runner who lives in Bordon, Hampshire, with husband Shaun, 40, an IT specialist, and 19-year-old daughter Lily. She says: Pre-PAndemIc, I was training six or seven days a week. I’m a serious runner on the ultracircuit. I’ve completed the fiveday, 156-mile marathon des Sables, through the Sahara desert, four times. On average I run 50 miles a week. I used to be in the gym all the time.
Last spring, I panicbought a treadmill and stuck it in the garage, next to the lawnmower and old compost. But there was no natural light and it was such an uninspiring space I barely used it.
I used garage conversion company Garageflex to transform it, but there was a long waiting list. When they finally got to us, they said they had spent all of 2020 converting garages into gyms. We had a gym floor installed and the walls were panelled.
I put in a rowing machine next to the treadmill, which is a noble Pro elite e8i, a turbo trainer to turn my road bike into a stationary exercise bike, some weighted ropes, and a rack of weights. In all, I spent about £8,500 on it. I use an iPad with Zwift, Strava, Peloton apps to access lots of different classes. The things I thought I’d miss the most were the sense of community and friendly competition, but you can get that easily online. I do yoga via Zoom in there, too.
I use my gym six daysa-week. It has been a brilliant investment. Without it, I think I would have gone crazy in lockdown.