Week 2, or thereabout

With no internet at home (and with an overriding sense of duty for my time at work), I post only from the library. So you get a week's worth of musings at once. Highlight of the week was getting running shoes via UPS (thanks Mom!), which I laced up and broke in on Thursday. I ran for 32 minutes, up and down Fourth Street, a distance of 3.4 miles that felt like about 6. A week ago it would have felt like 12 so I think I'm making progress.

Then it was on to a couple of firsts. On Friday I swam for the first time since Oct. 26. That swim was a triathlon in Tempe, Ariz. This time I hopped into Half Acre Pool at UW, which, surprisingly, was nice and cool for swimming laps. I did 1,000 yards, which is not that much though it felt like I was breathing through cellophane and my shoulders throbbed later in the day. Just like the beginning of swim season.

On Saturday I rode my bike for an hour in front of the 2004 Ironman Wisconsin broadcast from OLN (the network known now as Versus). Sometimes I wonder if we're too wired in to truly enjoy being fit in and of itself, and my preparations for 1 hour, 2 minutes, 10 seconds of riding seem to bear this out. There was the videotape, the iPod and the heart rate monitor.  All I needed was the cell phone next to the indoor trainer and I'd have been the consummate 21st-century athlete. Of course, answering it is quite another level.

The HRM gave me some interesting date, though I'm not sure what I can do with it. My average heart rate was 152, max of 171 (which is 92 percent of the 195 that is my drop-dead maximum). The manual says 129-147 is aerobic Zone 1, which is supposed to be ridiculously easy, like an easy jog or spinning your pedals on the small chainring. Not me. I spent 15:14 in Zone 1 and 43:37 above that. And I burned 800 calories. All this from my little watch and chest strap. Again, the next step is to figure out what to do with it.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Boulder to run without wind and see a friend. The goal is to not walk at all, something I can't seem to do since I've been here on the high plains. Sure wish I had a little more oxygen.