Welcome Back!

The day started and I was trying to evaluate my ankle looking for a little running time. At first I was going to go to the CPF (center for personal fitness) and attempt to familiarize myself with the elliptical trainers. When I looked outside to let our dog out I noticed about 1/2" of ice covering everything! Not running or driving weather. I made use of our treadmill, and actually didn't feel so bad. I noticed my ankle sore, but no real pain involved with the movements. After warming up for 5 minutes I slowly ramped up the speed until I hit 8:00 min/mile pace and decided to keep it there. Just to be running was such a joy! I ran for 30:00 min. and walked for a bit. We got our batteries replaced in the heart rate monitor watch so I was able to track my hear rate during the run...133-143bpm. Much easier than in the pool. Total run 35:00, 4 miles running time. I am hoping for the best going into tomorrow.

Day #2 in Water

Today was much better than yesterday as far as pool workouts go. I did a little different program today...a 10 minute warm up followed by 35 minutes of intervals of 3:00 on, and 1:00 off, followed by a 10 minute warm down.

I think I am underestimating the power of a pool workout. Yesterday I was crazy dizzy when getting out of the pool and today my legs were like rubber! Both yesterday and today at work I was just wasted! It must be worth something!

The ankle sprain is coming along SLOWLY but surely. I did manage to jog from my car to the entrance of the hospital without too much pain. Hopefully things will look up after this weekend. As far as this weekend goes, I plan to do whatever running my ankle will allow and also experiment with an Elliptical trainer. This should be an interesting weekend.

Cross Training Time

Last Tuesday the 20th of March, I headed out for my morning 10 miler. I noticed a light dusting of snow on the road but didn't give it the attention it needed. One mile from the front door I hit a patch of ice and down I went, leaving my trailing leg and ankle well behind. The end result to a very short, interrupted run was the worst ankle sprain I've experienced to date. The Sports Med. doc I visited mentioned it took Randy Moss 6 weeks to rehab this kind of sprain!! YUK!

So I took a complete week off from any training and this morning was the first of many pool workouts to come. I purchased an aqua jogger, a new pair of "jammers" (long legged swim suit I guess), a swim pass to UMD, and off I went for this mornings 0600 swim. Since I haven't used an aqua jogger since 1991, it took me ten minutes or so to remember the proper form. I also forgot how hard you have to "jog" to get your heart rate up!

I did several 40 meter laps for a total of 50:00. Not too bad for the first official cross-training workout...I guess I will return tomorrow.

First Entry

I decided to start my own blog since I enjoy reading others... I still have a bit of work to do in editing. Once I am up and running, no pun intended, I hope to share my daily running experiences.