Oh man, October was crazy!  Let’s get on with it…

1. Train smart.  Do your 5-6 runs per week and check the boxes.  Easy on the easy days.  Speedwork on the speedwork days.  Go into tempo days and focused long run days with a plan in mind and communicate that to Zliten ahead of time to not disrupt marital bliss.  If things start to fall apart, first drop back to easy, then drop mileage, then miss runs.  Missing runs = more bike, not buttsitting, unless the only option is buttsitting.

October was a great training month.  It was LOVELY not to race and know I don’t race for a month.  I missed a few miles either due to time constraints or body starting to show wear, but maintaining almost 40 miles two weeks in a row + a 32 and a 28… very happy.  October was my highest mileage month EVER at 123, and November isn’t going to be too shabby either.

2. No getting sucked into racing anything this month. Use the money and the time to plan for next year’s race schedule.  Keep adding to the list of ALL THE RACES and try to consider what my goals are before signing up for a bunch of races that I have to try and train around.

Check on the no racing, but I haven’t really had much time to work on next year’s race plan, except that I am really considering chasing some scary running goals early in the year, depending on how I feel about a month from now.

3. Eat what fitbit tells me to.  It’s actually pretty magical, fitbit tracks my steps/activity, and translates that into calories.  I set my weight loss goals to the “pretty hard” setting (-750 calories per day, losing 1.5 lbs per week), and it changes my food goals throughout the day depending on my activity.  It has more than once made me get off my ass so I can eat more.   So, that being said… the goal would be at this point to get back into the low 170s by the end of the month.  I’ll be more specific next month.

Check on generally eating what fitbit says to, but my weight doesn’t seem to be going down.  Low of 174.8 this month.

4.  Also track food quality as a secondary measurement.  While keeping calories in check is what makes me lose weight (and I will overeat whether you give me carrots or chocolate after running, I have talent), keeping that DQ score up will make me feel better.

I have not done well at this.  I have been skipping the apple for the fun size candy bar of the same calories.  I need to get back to this next month.

5.  Get the Halloween costume settled (almost there).  Sew the patch on the shirt.  Since you have to sew the patch on the shirt, also mend the items piling up on that table.

Halloween costume rocked, but I didn’t sew anything.  Hoping to fix that soon.

6. Probiotics and digestive enzymes for the rest of the month starting today.

Meh, about half the time.  I need to get back on at least the digestive enzymes (not sure that the probiotics are doing all that much for me).

7. Finish this book, start the next.

I suck at reading lately.  Next.

8. Stressing recovery.  Ice baths every week after 15+ miles.  Compression sox/sleeves the day before and after long runs if not during.  Stretching after weights sessions and after long run.  Shockies and foam rolling as necessary.

I have been rocking this.  If I can keep this up next month, I may get out of marathon training uninjured…

9.  Make progress on the story I’m supposed to be writing for our gaming session next month.   I’m going to run a game for the first time for people sometime soon and it’s scary!  I love telling stories for people in text, but I’m terrified (in a good way) of doing one interactively.

Nope.  Crazy life has been crazy.  Next.

10.  Write stuff on the blog that’s not a status report.  I’ve found lately that I’ve thought of nifty things to write about and by the time I get to do them, I squeeze them into these long posts and don’t give the thoughts the time the deserve.  I still feel like it’s important for me to catalogue my weeks of training and eating for posterity, but I also feel like maybe I should spend some more time refinding my writing voice.  I used to be a decent writer!

I did some of this, and I want to do more.  I’m liking doing the “status report” type posts two weeks at a time so I can write other stuff more often.  I hope to keep not sucking at this!

11.  Quarterly maintenance – nails, toes, and brows.  I’m getting scruffy and since I live in Texas, sandal season doesn’t end for another month or two.  On the upside, my nails are in lovely shape since I cut them all down to nubs for wetsuit ease a few weeks ago, so they’re mostly all the same size (minus the index… always the index).

Done!  My nails are already getting a little raggedy again, but that’s easy to fix.

12.  While I’m not confident I’ll actually settle on a theme for my blog this month (and who knows, maybe I’ll keep switching it around!), I want to update my pages, especially my RACE RESULTS page, I haven’t done that since tri season.

Total oops.

13. Make some sort of healthy pumpkin spice desert thing.  Tis the season.  If I make it at home I’ll be less tempted to eat the pumpkin everything out there in the world.

I made some pumpkin spice protein cookies and they were delicious!

Well, I didn’t do so great in October, but let’s see what I can do with November’s 30 days…

1. Keep up the awesome training momentum.  Hit the last high mileage week.  Taper well.  Recovery is key.

2. Eat the number of calories fitbit says to eat, and track diet quality.  Try to lay off the sweets and eat lots of nutritious foods.  If I can lose 1 lb per week, I can run this marathon close to 170, that would be nice.  Take my digestive enzymes.

3. Sew something.  Anything.

4. Finish the current book, start another.  This should be a done deal since I’m traveling.

5. Frame some of the art that’s sitting in the tube in the closet.

6. Go through my cold weather clothes and put away/give away the stuff I don’t like.  Hit up the thrift store and get some stuff I like better.

7. Writing: work on my savage worlds story, and write non-status report blog posts.

8. Get my hair trimmed/layers redid.  Cut Zliten’s hair, it’s a mess!

9. Swim at least once, I shouldn’t go two months without hitting the pool.

10.  Try to use up the food that’s already here instead of buying stuff.  My fridge and freezer are bursting with stuff and I keep going out and buying new stuff to cook.

11.  It’s almost vacation time!  Get together a list of stuff for Florida (restaurants, things to do, packing list, etc).

12.  Drink more water.  I’m not as good about this in the colder months, and if I forget about it too much, I get chapped lips.

13.  Between more work deadlines and family obligations, make sure to take enough time to relax and destress.  Don’t let shit get to ya, woman.