"Stay off Your Feet"

The whole "stay off your feet as much as possible" plan is really putting a damper on my training. The arch supports and ankle wrap seem to be helping, but I'm not going to put my ankle/foot to the test until mid-late next week. I don't want to push it. It's hard for me to be motivated to swim though because I'm not that great at it. I swam "competitively" when I was in middle school, but truth be told I was never that good. I know, practice...it's just hard to stay motivated when swimming is really my only option these days. Well, that's my short update on what's been going on...sorry I feel off the face of the earth there!

Off to the ice bucket of doom!

Ankle and Asthma

Today was the day! I got to run again!! Yayyy! I hadn't run since last Monday (2/8/10), so today was very exciting for me! Over the last 12 days I've really noticed a difference in my ankle. It was never swollen, but it always hurt at the weirdest times and was just annoying. It hurt less, I needed my ankle brace less often and I could get through work without needing extra Tylonol (bonus).
I started working on the Bosu ball last week to strengthen my ankle, and I love it. The first time i was wabbling all over the place, and had to have the wall as support pretty much the whole time I was "balancing." Today, all I had to do was use the wall to get up on the ball then I balanced on my own for at least a minute on each foot. I could feel the tendons activating, so I know that my ankles are getting stronger. And, finally, today was my first run in for-ev-er. I made sure I was warmed up and stretched out before I headed up to the treadmills. I got settled in and set up a "5K loop." I told myself I wasn't going to go all out today...that was a lie. I started out at 5.5 and was up at 6.0 after a quarter mile. Then at the half mile I started upping the pace .1 every half mile. At 2.5 miles I picked it up .1 after another quarter and then another .4 or .5 through the end of the workout. My ankle felt amazing (and still does) and my IT bands didn't hate me either. I can't wait to see how tomorrow goes. I hope a little sleep doesn't aggravate my ankle again!

So, what I did notice while I was running...is my lungs were super tight. After not running my lung strength was pretty much gone. Yes, I have to strengthen my lungs...they are very tiny. And...I'm exercise asthma prone too. Fun times, right? I've got my work cut out for me, that's for sure. I'm going to have to sing more while I run (not kidding) and hit the pool for laps. Can't wait to get back into running though! =)