August mileage challenge

Today I saw a cool challenge on It's What Moves Me, one of the running blogs I read. Whitney is 6 months pregnant and has accepted the challenge to walk, jog or run 80 miles in the month of August!! I was pretty impressed. I ran 87 miles back in March when I was training for my half marathon but that's when I could run double digit distances and before I was pregnant.

I love the idea of having a mileage goal though so I've decided to adjust the challenge to be more realistic for me considering my current fitness level. In June when I was nauseous all the time I ran a sad total of 16 miles. In July, feeling a little better, my monthly total was 25. I figure if I shoot for 50 miles in August that will still be a heck of a lot more than I've been averaging and be a pretty worthy goal for me. That means I'll have to run/jog/walk an average of 2.5 miles 5 days a week for the rest of the month. Much more than I'm doing now but totally doable!!

I started today with a 2.25 mile jog/walk on the treadmill. I jogged the first mile but was having really tight almost contraction like cramps the whole time so I slowed down and walked the rest of the way. Once I started walking the cramping stopped so I was glad I listened to my body and backed off. I walked at 4mph and a 2.0 incline and was still able to work up a good sweat! Next time I think I'll start off right away with walking and then when I warm up I'll attempt to speed it up. I think jumping into it too fast is what caused the cramps.

Anyway, I'm excited to have a solid goal to work towards this month. Wish me luck!