A Look Back at November

Happy December! I said last month that I wouldn't be doing monthly goals anymore, but I still want to report on running stats and my progress on my challenges.

In November I ran 90.1 miles. My total mileage for the year is 1,235.1.

I wanted to focus the rest of this year on building strength and getting back down to my goal weight. I set two challenges for the rest of this year to keep both these things top of mind: Do at least one plank a day and track what I eat in Weight Watchers every day.

I maintained my weight easily in my last training cycle, even though I was eating a ton and not tracking what I ate in Weight Watchers, but as soon as my training load lightened I gained 9 pounds! Usually my weight fluctuates by about 5 pounds, so this was a lot for me. Daily tracking always helps me lose or maintain, so I knew tracking was key to getting back down to goal weight. I tracked everything I ate this month except for two days--Thanksgiving and the day after, when I fell off the wagon a bit. This year I found that I can't lose as easily as I used to thanks to getting older, so while my progress has been slow, I lost 4 pounds in November. I'm very motivated to keep it up, and I feel good about getting at or close to goal weight by the end of the year. I started a new training cycle yesterday, and while losing weight while training isn't a good idea, the first four weeks of my training will be fairly low mileage and mostly easy runs, so I won't need extra food to fuel my workouts until January.

I've also done great with strength training, getting in at least two and up to four sessions in each week. I tried a new workout using the Pilates ring. I really like it and plan to do more Pilates workouts. The DVD that came with the ring has upper and lower body workouts that I haven't tried yet. Even though I love strength training and credit it for losing weight and maintaining the loss for almost five years, my last training cycle was the first time I like strength work slide. The Hansons' plan I did is very tough and tiring, and I just couldn't find the time or energy to fit it in with six days of running. I'm doing the same plan this training cycle, so my plan for December is to try to find the right balance to fit in strength training while running six days a week.
Tried to get a pic of my Pilates ring last night.
This is what happens when I try to use my phone camera
in the house. :(

I've been doing planks most days. Some days I just forget. But it's still been good for me to do them most days, and my abs have responded quickly to the planks and the core work I do in my strength training sessions.

Overall, November was a good month! How was it for you? I look forward to more good things in December!

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