The Green Girl Sprained Her Right Ankle

Bleh. I twisted my right ankle pretty badly in my boot camp class this morning.

I was doing those sideways suicides where you squat and move as quickly as you can back and forth. As I was trying to speed along, I tripped and twisted my right foot. Pain shot from my ankle up to my lower back but I kept on going.

According to my self-diagnosis, I am suffering from an eversion injury because my foot twisted outwards as I tried to "glide" across the gym. I believe I sprained the inner ligament which is called the deltoid. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be swollen and I am able to limp around so it's most likely the mildest kind of sprain, a Grade I. I've been icing it and wrapping it when I walk. I hope it heals up quickly.

The Green Girl Has A Stability Ball Now

After mentioning I don't own a stability ball, I discovered Kmart has Weider stability balls on sale right now for $6.00. And we all know how much the Green Girl loves a bargain.

The ball comes in 3 sizes: 55 cm, 65 cm, and 75 cm. Since the Green Girl is only 4' 10.5", I purchased the 55 cm ball.

I'm really glad I was able to get such a good deal on the stability ball because I must admit I had no idea how I was going to improvise the exercises that required the ball. I was thinking I could probably prop myself up with my couch for some of them but I wasn't sure.

SparkPeople New YOU Bootcamp

Thank you, Tricotine, for letting me know about the SparkPeople New YOU Bootcamp Challenge.

It's a 4-week fitness program that involves less then 10 minutes of daily exercise. I love that SparkPeople will provide daily workout videos for this challenge.

The only equipment that is required for this challenge is pair of dumbbells and a stability ball. We'll pretend the Green Girl owns these things.

The Green Girl Home Gym consists of:

• an exercise mat
• a foam roller
• ankle and wrist weights
• a jump rope
• a resistance band
• a circle resistance band

For those of you who have invested in home equipment, what do you own? I also have kickboxing gloves, helmet, mouth guard and shin pads.

I'm really looking forward to this. I love learning new exercises and I think this is going to be a lot of run. And it doesn't hurt that the grand prize for this challenge is $500.

The Green Girl's First Run of 2009

The Green Girl did her very first run of the year on yesterday.

I've been averaging a 15-16 minute mile on my Saturday morning runs. Since this was an 'Active Recovery' week and we would only be running for an hour, I was determined to pick up the pace.

I set Mr. Green Garmin's 'Virtual Partner' to a 12:30 mile. The Virtual Partner appears as a little runner that 'runs' with you.

For the first time since Mr. Green Garmin came into my life, I beat my Virtual Partner! When I saw my little digital body ahead of my Virtual Partner, I got so excited that I had to slow down and take a picture. Ha.

The group I run with trains using the Chirunning technique. Part of Chirunning is maintaining a steady cadence. To achieve this, a number of us carry a Seiko DM-50 Clip-Style Metronomes with us on our runs. I typically set my metronome to 82 but sometimes I will increase the speed to 85.

I found the continuous beeping to be an annoyance at first but I've grown accustomed to it and it really helps me maintain the cadence throughout my run. When I'm feeling tired, it's soothing to just zone out and just keep my feet moving to that beat.

I really pushed myself. I was getting pretty tired after 25 minutes and thought about taking a walk break but for some reason, I kept going. It was exhausting but it was a lot easier for me to push myself than it used to be. I think all the short, fast runs really are helping.

According to Mr. Green Garmin, I did a total of 4.84 miles in 59:01:24. The thing I am most proud of is the fact that I even managed to do negative splits. I did not think I'd be able to pull that off because I had pushed myself so hard going out. I averaged a 12:11 minute mile going out and a 12:09 coming back!

After the run, Coach Steve Mackel modified our usual post-run yoga to a standing-only session because the grass was too damp for us to use our mats.

The Green Girl's 2008 Running Meme

1. How many miles/km did you run this year? 405.6 miles in 87:01:08

2. What were your highest/lowest weekly mileage results? 26.9 miles / 0 miles

3. What was your best mileage month? April - 91.3 miles

4. What was your longest run? 26.2 miles

5. How many races did you enter in 2008? What were your best and worst race performances? I did 6 races this year. I am proud of all my results.

• 03.16.08 Coach Pat Connelly's St. Patrick's Day 5k
• 05.17.08 Palos Verdes Half Marathon
• 06.01.08 San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
• 08.31.08 Nike+ Human Race 10k
• 10.12.08 Long Beach Half Marathon
• 10.26.08 The Pumpkin 5k

6. Do you have a favorite/memorable run from this year? The San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon will always hold a special place in my heart because it was my very first marathon.

7. What was the craziest weather or other type of adverse conditions you endured on a run in 2008? I live in Southern California so I've never really run in crazy conditions. Once, when I was out of town, I ran in 36° weather. That was cold for me.

8. What were your goals for 2008? To complete a marathon.

9. What are your goals for 2009? To become a faster and stronger runner.

10. Do you have a favorite running-related quote you would like to share? The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. Unknown