Progress on the cross-trainer

When I first start swimming from a state of unfitness then each length of front crawl exhausts me enough that I need to take a short breather in between. This last time, at the gym in Perth, it was probably several months before I was fit enough to sustain a decent speed among the lap swimmers.

As is common with exercise, initial progress is rapid. I am using the cross-trainer's calories estimate as a convenient proxy for how much I worked out. Last Sunday I managed 307kcal followed by a ten-minute rest to catch my breath. Six days later, in the same time, I managed 355kcal this morning and can hold a conversation afterward.

Mattresses and backache

While I remain suspicious of the current quality of my bed's mattress, my experimentation in recent weeks suggests that it is sleeping on my front that causes my lower back to ache. I sometimes do it anyway because it feels as if it will be the most comfortable next position: in repositioning I am often following a specific urge toward the next. Still, I am now trying to reduce my time on my front; it's cheaper than risking a new mattress.

Sunny day

Another thing I miss from central Ohio is the weather but it is lovely here today. I was able to mow the lawns recently and yesterday I took a lunchtime walk from campus into Dundee's city centre. Too often lately it has rained at some point most days or nights and not been very hot so, even if it mostly sunny, the grass often isn't dry. As last year was the same I am minded to buy a heavier-duty gasoline-powered mower to replace our cheap electrical one.

We used to make a few visits to the beach over the course of the summer. This past couple of summers, not so much. I hope that this isn't due to a climate change phenomenon that increasingly tends toward this disagreeable trend of coolness and rain showers.