January!

Yesterday I swam before work. The pool was a little more crowded -- the other three lanes each had two people in them at various times. Was thrilled when the whale singer arrived, about 20 minute into my workout. Listening to his bubbly melodies kept me distracted.

I swam 550 meters of freestyle, 550 meters with the pull buoy and my paddle gloves, 250 meters with the kickboard, and then 50 meters of freestyle to wrap up. 1400 meters, 38 minutes. Not the fastest performance in the world, obviously, but it felt good to just keep swimming. I'm excited at the prospect of open water swimming again -- though that might just be excitement at the prospect of warm weather...

Today I met Wil at the gym DT to run on the treadmill. The bones in my feet, and especially my left foot, have continued to feel a little odd, so I decided to change back to my nicer, more supportive, old Saucony shoes. I swapped the sensor over, knowing that it wouldn't be well calibrated, but figured I'd rather test it after meeting my monthly goal than before. (Stupid, I know...)

It was interesting watching the pace displayed on my iPod change from 9:06/mile to 23:18/mile in the blink of an eye. Sometimes the iPod didn't even read the sensor. But in the end, I ran for 40 minutes and it tracked 3.37 miles, which is 50% closer than it tracked on Sunday in the real world. Maybe it's the iPod, maybe it's the sensor. Who knows. But I didn't expect much while using the old shoes.

To add to my electronic amusement, I also wore my heartrate monitor. At least it was only broadcasting to the treadmill I was on. But it only rarely matched the rate displayed on my "watch", sometimes being off by more than 40 bpm. Oh well. I ran more slowly than usual, trying to keep my heartrate down, but it was difficult to know what the rate really was.

So January is at an end. I feel really proud of all the running we've done this month, and how far we've come since starting this journey. By the end of February we'll be running 9 miles in our "long runs". I hope to swim every Wednesday morning, and maybe to find another day when I can fit a swim in. I'd also like to start doing a little strength training, at least to strengthen my core. And I'd like to ride my bike more. Perhaps even daring to ride outside. Brrr.