Fitness Friday: Pile on the Miles Results!

A little over a month ago, I announced that I was participating in the Pile on the Miles challenge this November:

Not one to set goals for myself and never actually follow through and see if I achieved them….Here I am to report back on how I did!

The challenge was to walk or run more during the month of November, with a goal to pile on extra miles, not pounds, during this food filled time of year.

While I did pile on some pounds last month, lol, I think I definitely achieved my goal of walking AND running more. My goal for the month of November was to log at least 100 miles total on my Fitbit, and to run 40 miles. A big improvement on my New Years resolution to run 25 miles in a month, eh? I’m still kind of in awe at the improvements I’ve made in my running this year, even despite my month in a cast over the summer.

Let’s see how I did:

I get a weekly email from Fitbit letting me know my stats for the previous week and, upon looking at my emails from November, it’s pretty clear I crushed my overall goal…by 20 miles! I’m sure my increase in running helped.

I was pretty sure I would achieve this goal easily, but the running goal was a little more of a challenge…

BARELY nailed it! I definitely found myself increasing my mileage toward the end of the month. I remember not wanting to run more than 3 or 3.5 on my last run before my race, but I calculated This was A) to be prepared for my 10K on the 28th and B) to make sure I’d reach 40 miles. And I did!

Since I no longer have access to the Fitness Center in the building I used to work in, I have been focusing a lot more on my running lately (and the occasional living room workout with hand weights!) – needless to say, I have kept up with the running since Thanksgiving, and I already have 15 miles logged in just the first week of December!

I don’t know how I’m going to keep up as Winter approaches… I have been bundling up for my 40 degree morning jogs (which REALLY isn’t that bad, I know), but luckily I usually have sun…until now. It’s slated to SNOW tonight! In California. What the heck?!

This is my “I’m Makeupless and Frightened of Running in Cold Weather” face. You likey?

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Runners: How many miles to you run each month?

How are you staying active during the holiday season?

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Fitness Friday: Pile on the Miles Challenge

Happy belated Halloween and Happy Friday!

We decided to retire the Blurred Lines girls, so my costume didn’t make a repeat appearance last night. I did meet up with friends, though, and threw together a little plaid shirt + cutoffs + boots ensemble and passed it off as a cowgirl 😉 A lazy costume at its finest!

Tonight, we celebrate my roommate Hanna’s birthday with a HANNAween party at our place. I’ve got another costume planned for that, so stay tuned 😉

Just a quick post today to tell you about something else I’m excited about this month: the Pile on the Miles Challenge! Hosted by Monica at Eat Run Repeat, I was stoked to learn about this challenge that starts TODAY. Here’s the lowdown:

“Pile On The Miles is an annual event in blogland where we challenge ourselves to walk or run more during the month of November. The goal is to pile on extra miles, not pounds, during this food filled time of year!

What: FREE Online challenge to walk or run more during turkey month.

Who: Everyone is invited to join. Everywhere around the world!

When: November 1 – Nov 30.

Where: Virtual! Sign up on this form and come back to RunEatRepeat.com each week to stay accountable and be entered in a drawing for prizes.

Why: To challenge yourself and encourage others to move more this month. This is about setting a goal and staying accountable with check-ins. It is not a competition for the most miles any longer – it’s about YOUR GOALS.”

Essentially, the point of the challenge is to set yourself a distance or time goal for the month. It can be walking, running, you name it! The goal is to stay moving as the holiday time approaches (umm seriously? Holiday time already?!)

I was lucky enough to be gifted a FitBit Zip for my birthday, and I have been loving tracking how many steps I take each day. Additionally, I can track my distance too!

For instance, this is how much I walked yesterday (on a rest day that involved 8 hours sitting at my desk, no less). It even categorizes my activity from red (light) to yellow (moderate) to green (very active). So walking around my office is light (red), but walking the 10+ blocks to and from the bars is a little more on the moderate side.

And on a day when I ran on my lunch break, then played nearly 3 hours of dodgeball (!!!) later in the evening.

The app also breaks it down- so awesome.

I also get a weekly summary email telling me my most/least active days and my totals for the week. This weekly email gives me my total distance for the week, which I’ve used to set my total distance goal for the challenge: 100 miles!

Don’t I look excited about 100 miles? Haha. I average 3.5 miles a day (including runs), so I think I’ll be good on this goal!

My next goal is for running. I want to be active in general, hence the 100 mile goal, but I also want to keep up my running. When I looked at my MapMyRun totals yesterday, I was shocked to see that I actually ran just shy of 40 miles in October! This knocks my previous record of 32 or something out of the PARK! So I’ve decided to challenge myself to repeat this total, and have set my running goal at 40 miles this month.

I think that means my friends have more of these snaps in their future:

The challenge is just starting today, so I encourage you all to join in! You don’t even have to have a blog to join- my best friend Joanna is doing it with me.

Did I mention there are PRIZES?! If you check in at the blog every week, you’re automatically entered to win cool stuff like Quest Protein bars, workout gear, protein supplements, etc. There’s no reason not to!

And with that, I’m off to start my weekend. Have a great one!

Are you in on the Pile on the Miles challenge?

Do you use a pedometer or another kind of fitness tracker?