Colour me stupid. No, frozen. No, stupid and frozen.

I have a long post in mind about the peculiarities of paying to do things in a gym that could as well be done at home or on the streets, and that will be written another day (probably), but this morning I gained insight into at least one of the reasons: gym is warmer.

As of today I am giving up my usual, self-devised workout routine for an eight-week Fat Loss Cross-Training Programme, courtesy of Shape (hat tip to Faye Sooth). On Day One, I am instructed to 'walk, easy to moderate, 25-50min'. Ok, I think, but 50min walking on the treadmill will be terribly boring and will attract scorn from the well muscled personal trainers and similar who understand that treadmills are for running on, as fast as possible. But wait! There's a perfectly good park not too far away! So I'll just slip on my light tracksuit top (since my heavy jacket is too warm for exercise, and I don't want to sweat in my heavyduty fleece, cos that's icky).

First mistake: thinking Regent's Park was 'not too far away'. Well, it's not, but it's a good 20 minutes of rather brisk walking. So: arrive at nearest gate, enter, walk to the next best gate, exit, walk home.

Second mistake: thinking light tracksuit was in any way suitable attire for a December day when I wasn't planning to take my pace above a brisk walk. Running, maybe, though I still woulda fruzz, I think. A beanie and gloves woulda helped. But I had none of these. By the time I got to the park, hands were bright red and numb. My pace was indeed brisk enough to be keeping me mostly warm - which was a problem in itself, because by the time I entered the park, I'd broken a light sweat. Which then rapidly became an icy chill. The homeward walk was not pleasant. Actually it wouldn't have been pleasant anyway, because I was travelling north of Euston Road, which is just that bit more dismal than the other side. Which isn't great either.

Moral of the story? Next time, I'll be on the treadmill, and snotty personal trainers be damned.

PS. Beloved Consort points out that the cold probably helped freeze off a few extra calories. Damn near froze off my fingers too, though. Not sure it's enough of a plus.