Steady progress

This was a good week for me. I didn't swim, though I've been reading up on Total Immersion swimming, hoping to improve my technique and thus efficiency and thus speed. (At the moment I'm probably the slowest swimmer in the pool at any given time - if not the slowest in three counties.)

But I did 2 days of spinning, yesterday did Pilates, 20 minutes on the elliptical, plus a 7 mile bike ride with A. It was tough going for her, and definitely got me breathing hard in parts - the slow steady uphill coming back into Millerton from Coleman Station. Going slow so she could keep up is almost harder than going fast.

Then today I ran. It was my first time not on the rail trail, thus my first time on hills. Downtown Sharon has a few, and going past the clocktower up Mansion Row there are several steep ones. I was hoping to go for 26 minutes, but worried I couldn't even equal the 24 I did last week. I encountered a new obstacle: phlegm. I couldn't get rid of it and started to feel like I was choking. After I went up a fairly steep hill, coulnd't catch my breath, and couldn't swallow the phlegm, I turned back, figuring I'd just hobble home and drink some water. BUt I rallied, and ended up doing 30 minutes with only 2 very brief (20 second) breaks to walk. Via car odometer I figured it to be 2.4 miles (give or take.) That's - what, a 13 minute mile? But hey, it was hills, I was phlegmy - I feel quite proud of that.

My weight has started to go back down after Halloween hell (though I haven't done myself any favors with this weekend's cookie baking festival.) If I can hang in there through Thanksgiving, maybe I can get a few more pounds off by New Year's. I'm far from where I thought I'd be, but still, far from where I started.

I'll swim tomorrow, spin Tuesday, then travel Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I'm sure I can sneak off to the hotel gym or pool to at least maintain. By Sunday I'll be ready for another run - 32 minutes this time!