100 Mile Challenge

Weekly Therapy: Crazy Pants Time (a salute to the hectic holiday season and the need for a little extra warmth)

- Mel

the week:
I completed the Capital Striders 100 miles challenge with 101.7 miles!

weekend:
This morning, I ran another trail race — the Sycamore 8 in Des Moines. Tonight, we’ve got a neighborhood holiday party and another invite to a fellow Rock Boater’s house concert party on Sunday!

I’ll be sure to fit in my 2-hour post-race nap though.

seven things, seven days:
1. Pretty sore for a couple days after running Hitchcock preview last weekend. Next weekend will be interesting!
2. One of my favorite food items on Thanksgiving is a gluten-free cranberry bread that my boyfriend makes. He made me a second loaf to continue my food coma into another week. ?
3. Where my Winter Warriors at?
4. This made me laugh: 18 tips to give a horrible presentation
5. The psychological benefits of endurance running {via Huffington Post}
6. Playing in the NFL at 38 {via NYT}
7. How to feed a runner {via NYT}

Accountability (b)Log: Fall Fun!

- Mel

When my coach inputted Fall Fun! into my training schedule a couple weeks ago, it made me smile so hard. So that’s what I’ll be dubbing the next couple months of my accountability posts. I’m not likely to post every Monday until I get back into marathon training next year.

Fall Bonus: I made the decision to keep my coach, despite not having any time goals for my Fall & Winter races. I really like having one less decision to make and, personally, having someone schedule all of my weekly workouts is very valuable to me. Plus, I like her a lot — she keeps me motivated, focused on my successes and she’s always available to ask on any question. 🙂

Even though I’m in some sort of “off season,” I’m using this “off season” to get stronger in preparation for marathon training next year. I still plan to run 4x a week regularly with long runs or races on the weekend, but amp up my cross- and strength-training (helloooooo, two-a-days!).

ALSO: As I’ve mentioned, I’m doing a 100-mile Challenge for November with the Capital Striders.

I hit my 50-mile mark at the halfway point!

capital-striders-des-moines-100-mile-challenge-half-way