Step it up (Part I)

Hello Dear Reader,

I'm happy to say that, after a week of playing catch up, my ankle is doing well and I ran every day this week for 35 minutes. It felt good to know that I (was forced) listened to my body and am now back and (almost) better than ever. My running confidence, which started to sag last week, is growing and I am determined to commit more time to running.

Prior to my ankle troubles, I started to have the feeling that I was not doing enough to prepare myself for the big day...March 20th. It seemed as though a great deal of my time spent at the gym was dedicated to strength training instead of running. We both know that strength training will help my endurance and (hopefully) prevent injuries...but still! Now that I am back in the game, I want to run at least 30 minutes (45-50 minutes would be nice) a day (except Saturday) and keep Sunday as a "long run" day. It's officially time to step it up!

Yesterday evening at the gym, Mad-dog trainer echoed my sentiments. Because New (old) Trainer is so focused on weight training (woohoo...I'm starting to see results...toning), Mad-dog wants me to run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for an hour each day. Tuesday and Friday will be spent toning my core and legs, and running for 30 minutes as a warm up. She also set a goal for me to lose about 10 to 12 more pounds. Ooookay!

Speaking of last night, I ran for about 45 minutes (6.5K/ 4.05 miles). My time was a bit slow..but next week, I'll get back to my regular pace. Hopefully, I'll be able to run 10K in a little over an hour (maybe for tomorrow's long run?). You know you'll be the first to know if I do...(after me of course)!

While taking a break for a week was a good thing for my ankle, it's almost as if my body forgot all of my months of strength training...I'm super sore (stretch, stretch, stretch). Luckily it's Saturday so the only exercising I've planned is to think about tomorrow's run...that and doing a little dancing tonight at a charity concert featuring Grammy Award Winning "Freshly Ground"...a super dope South African pop/soul/jazzy fresh singing group (did I rub it in enough?)! Oh, and don't worry...I learned my lesson from my marathon dance weekend (which resulted in a sore ankle)...I'll take it easy!

Well, until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it moving!

Yours in (step it up) training,

Dani

P.S. Since you'll have to live vicariously through me tonight while I'm at the Freshly Ground concert...enjoy!