hitting my old stride..

I accomplished my goal of 22 miles last week. The fastest pace I hit was above my mark, I ran 4 miles in 35:20, 8:50 minute miles. Yee-haw.

I am slowly, but surely hitting my old stride. Its funny, but I was telling D the other day that I feel as if I am actually becoming a faster, stronger runner after my 2 1/2 month sabbatical my broken toe took for the rest of my body.

I have incorporated light weights into my short days of running, as well as 100 abs on the balence ball, and 5 minutes of stretching before and after. Also, I am planning to add one day of kickboxing class, or bike riding, to my 5 days of running.

I hate to lift on my legs as I feel that I am doing enough on my poor appendages, in addition to the fact that my legs build muscle like a mutha and I hate to get bulky and have to accomodate my running style for some man legs. heh. However, I am considering adding squats and lunges to help with my balence and strengthening and stretching. Hmm.

I am also in the process of losing the 5 or so lbs. that I have put on my frame from my complete inactivity from my broken toe. I actually have not really gained that weight..but it has shifted from being lean muscle mass to just plain mass. When my poor piggie was wrapped in a black cast, I could not physically do much. At all. All I could really do was sit down on my ass. Seriously. The first couple of weeks I had to get the hang of my crutches and those muthas bruise you like youdont know..but the one good thing is that carrying my own body weight for 2 1/2 mos. gave me some buffness in the guns..whoo-hoo. Bad news is, my legs and "pack" turned to mush. It sucks so bad to work so hard to get to a level where you feel strong and fit, then to have it kick you in the ass, literally.

So now I am in the process of turning mush back to hard steel. heh.

I am slowly getting back my endurance and my speed. In fact, as stated before, I feel I am getting stronger. I run faster at a longer run..and upon completion, my body is telling me to keep going.

This week: 23 miles again..with a long run of 7 miles.

So there..lol.