November Fitness Challenges Recap

Now that December is half way finished, it's probably about time that I recap the November fitness challenges that I did, don't you think!?

If you remember back a ways, I had decided to participate in two 30 day fitness challenges, one that called for doing planks every day, and the other asked for running a total of 48 miles in November. You can read about them in THIS POST I did in early November.

I know all three of my faithful readers have been just waiting in agony, wondering how I did on those challenges! Ha!

Well, here's my hand-written calendar that I filled in along the way, to show my results:

30 days closer to being a Badass!

It took me the full month to get all my miles in;  I actually didn't get the full 48 in until my very last run on November 30. But hey, I did it! It was also really great for me to see my mileage written out in a calendar like this. It gave me a visual of how much running I had done and when I could have done more. It's something I'm thinking about continuing. Does anyone else use a calendar or journal to track exercise? If so, what do you like to use?

Both challenges were fun and challenging but not deathly hard to accomplish. I am really noticing the benefits of the planking challenge in my overall posture, both running and non-running. And, the added core strength has helped my running form overall, in addition to just becoming stronger.

The 48 mile in a month challenge was really good for me, too. 48 miles in a month is more running than I had been accustomed to doing, and really helped me train and get in shape for the 10K I did on Thanksgiving, Huffing For Stuffing.

The running challenge was one that I actually paid money to do and came with great prizes. It's all on the honor system, so I just tracked my miles in a spreadsheet and emailed it to the race organizers at the end of the month. About a week later, I received my goodie bag:

The t-shirt is great, and the medal is nice too. The necklace was completely unexpected. I don't know if that's something they give everyone, or only some people depending on the event they do, or only women, or just at random, or what, but I got one. I never saw anything about receiving a necklace in the event description or anywhere on their website, but hey, it's cool.

Funk~N~Run events are all put on by these people who call themselves Flower Child Productions. The necklace is actually a little flower charm with stones (I'm assuming they're crystals of some sort or maybe even CZ).

The necklace was a nice surprise, but it's not really my style, and since I'm thinking it's not worth anything anyway, I'll probably donate it to the Prize Bin in my classroom at school. Some little second-grader would probably love that thing to death and would wear it more than I would.

All in all, the challenges were a great success and I'd definitely do another 30 day challenge in the future. I would also strongly consider doing a Funk~N~Run challenge again the next time I want to train for a specific race distance. It was fun, and the fact that I paid a little money and was going to earn some prizes helped keep me honest and consistent in training for the HFS 10K.

No races or events are on my horizon right now, although I'm thinking about doing a virtual run or two in the long winter months of January and February, just to keep myself motivated. Have any of you ever done a virtual run? Shape Up Montana starts in February, too, so that will help. I'm travelling to Wichita, KS in March and have already checked to see that they have a St. Patrick's Day run, so that might be the next actual race that I do.  Besides all that, well... SKI SEASON is upon us!!! Can't wait to go play in the snow! :)

What are you doing for winter fitness?

November Fitness Challenges

Has anybody else noticed that November is the new January?

It seems like everywhere I look on social media, I'm seeing people participating in 30-Day Challenges of one sort or another, resolving to be better, learn something, commit to something, for the thirty days of November. A mini- New Years Resolution... in November.

Pinterest seems to be the place to find yourself in the mecca of 30-Day Challenges. Here's where you'll find any challenge to suit your interests, each complete with it's own hashtag and social media accountability framework. By the way, 30-Day-Challenge does have it's own hashie--- #30daychallenge. (I was told that's what they're called now-- hashies. Get with it! Hashtag is so 2013!)

Sidebar: What happens in December? We have November to challenge ourselves, December to glutton, then January 1 hits and we're resolving away all our transgressions? 

After sorting through all the bajillion ways I could #30DayChallenge myself, I did settle on two fitness related challenges. I selected two that would actually challenge me, but weren't so unreasonable that they'd become something I'd dread and never complete. Reachable, attainable goals that can be achieved, but would still require effort, organization, and discipline on my end.

So, for the month of November, I'll be challenging myself in running and core strength. I'm participating in a plank-challenge via Title Nine, and also a running challenge via FunkNRun.

First, the planking challenge--

Honestly, I probably should have chosen the push ups or pull ups because I have pretty poor upper body strength, but I went with planks because I thought they would be the best for helping my running posture. There's no reward or prize or anything for completing this challenge, but I saw on their original blog post for this challenge, located HERE, that I am supposed to get a photo of myself in action, planking, and post it on social media with the hashie: #aintnoturkey

While I think I am actually OK at planks and secretly kind of enjoy doing them, in reality, this is what I actually think is happening when I am doing planks:

Some of you have probably seen that picture before. I'm definitely the elephant, not the gorgeous happy brunette who's looking up and saying, "I love planking! I'm already on minute 17 of my plank and feeling great! And the breeze is blowing my hair in a sexy, graceful way... and notice that I do not have a drop of sweat?! Isn't planking fun?!" That lady #isaturkey for being ridiculous. I'll probably not be posting a photo of myself planking. Anywhere. Ever.

OK, so the other challenge does not involve any photos in-action. I'm doing the Funk~N~Run November Running Challenge-- Win At Least A Medal. You can read about it if you scroll down a bit on THIS PAGE. I am doing option number 2-- 48 miles of running in the month of November. This would definitely be an increase in monthly mileage for me, but not unreasonable. Plus, I'd like to do a 10K for whichever Thanksgiving Day run I end up doing, so this will help keep me in line with training. So far, I've done 4.25 miles as of yesterday. Off to a good start. They don't mention on the website any hashtags for public embarassment for this challenge, but I'd guess I could use #funknrun or something like that and it would get the job done.

To keep track of both of my goals, I made a good old-fashioned hand-written calendar on PAPER (I know what you're thinking-- why didn't I just use an app on my smartphone? Paper?! WHAT IS THIS MAGIC?!) I'm just that kind of girl. Something about the act of writing with a pen onto paper makes it feel official. 

And, it's on the fridge. Staring at me every day. 

So, what about you, dear reader? Are you embarking on a #30DayChallenge of your own this month? If so, what are you doing? What are the silly hashtags you will (or won't!) be using?