Pile on the Miles Challenge 2013

This month has been kind of crazy so far. I have been overwhelmed with work and not taking care of myself the way I'd like to. I rely too much on wine, coffee, and Boggle (the iPad app version) to calm me down or lift me up when I need it.

Also my nutrition has not been great. I eat healthy foods until about 5:30 pm, and then I start inhaling pretzels or crackers or goldfish or anything crunchy and carby that I can get my hands on. I am so busy during the day that sometimes I actually eat a toddler pouch for lunch because it seems like the fastest, healthiest thing I'm going to get!

Lunch is served! SUPER CHIA!

One positive thing I've been doing this month is the annual Pile on the Miles challenge, organized by Run Eat Repeat (you rock Monica!). I did it last year, and this time I've signed up for twice the mileage--90 miles!

Why double my miles? 2013 has been the Year of the Long Run. I had never run more than about 6 miles before 2013, but now I am consistently putting down 9 or 10 miles a weekend and it feels normal. To boost my monthly total to 90 miles this month, I've also added an extra running day. The average week looks like this:

• Monday evening, homemade boot camp with kettle bell, weights, etc.
• Tuesday morning, group track workout, 6 miles total
• Wednesday morning, Spin for cross training
• Thursday morning, 3 miles flat and easy (extra day for this month)
• Friday morning, 4+ miles with hills
• Saturday morning, sleep in
• Sunday late morning, 9 miles or more long run

In the past week I've also made a real effort to take better care of myself. Compare my post-long-run meals two Sundays ago (crackers, other crackers, pretzels, beer), with last Sunday (black beans, brown rice, salsa, goat yogurt). Woohoo!

I hope your November has been good so far!