Running Pumpkins - Halloween Run Challenge

Hey guys,

It's up to all of you, of course.... but I recommend that Lisa (losta) be your team captain. She's going to be involved in the updates anyway, so she can just remind everyone when it's time to update the spreadsheet, and check that people are making progress towards their goals.

Hi Team 2! Welcome!
Any ideas for team name?
What are your goals for the month?
Looking forward to hearing from everyone and having fun!

Hi all. Good luck for the challenge. I'll be going for 11.5 hours running this month. I'm happy for whatever name and whoever as team captain. Hoohah!

Your goals should be something that challenges you somewhat yet is obtainable. You can raise your goal if needed but I don't think the rules allow for lowering it unless injured or some other major life thing gets in the way.

Your goal can be time based, distance based or session based. You can also have multiple goals. I think I am planning 3 short runs and one longer run per week. I will have 2 categories. Also from what I understand of what Dee wrote you could walk, ellipticize etc so that could be another category. Most of all it should be fun as we encourage eachother to meet our goals.

Edited by losta 2009-09-26 11:13 AM

Lisa had some good suggestions.

Here's what Cat wrote (and I "borrowed") with suggestions for setting running goals:

1) If you have a plan, list the time/distance on the plan as your goal, and use the challenge to keep you accountable.

2) Look at the distance/time achieved in your last month of running and add no more than 10% to it.

3) Look at your last week of running, multiply by 3 and add 10% to that.

4) Look at your running last month, and determine the average per week. Aim to repeat your average weekly volume for each week of the challenge, and work out a total based on that.

Yes, you can always raise your goal.

If you are sick, injured or have "a major life thing" going on, you can request a goal reduction.

Yes, your goal can be time, distance or session based. We even have one person who is setting a goal of "4 runs of more than six-miles each."

You determine what constitutes "running." If you define it as walking, elliptical work, jogging, skipping, etc. -- then all that counts. (On the other hand, some people specify that it must strictly be running. It all just depends upon what's best for YOU, and where you are with your training.)

And definitely, as Lisa said, the challenge should be FUN as everyone encourages one another to meet their goal.

Dee

I need to think about my goal.

I ran 120-125 miles July and August, but took 4 weeks off wiht no running after IM until today when I ran 2 miles. I need to be cautious building up my mileage plus my plantar fascia is acting up a bit.

Looking forward to a fun month supporting everyone and lots of running!

My marathon training program calls for approximately 23 hours of running in October.  These are runs of varying lengths of time and types (strides, tempo, long run, or whatever).  I think I will just have my goal be 23 hours of running that I will log and the sub-goal, that would be impossible to put in a challenge spreadsheet, that these 23 hours follow the plan. 

This challenge will, in turn, cause me to lose six pounds in four weeks for another challenge. 

Does someone know how to make those little charts that have your team member's names that link to their blogs?  Those are sooo useful. 

I haven't thought of any cool names yet, but I do agree that Lisa ought to be the team captain. 

Hey team #2!

I'm starting my 20(+) wk half marathon plan on monday, so my goal will be 25 sessions for October. 

If I do 25 - 30 min sessions I'll be happy. If I do 25 - stick to plan sessions I'll be ecstatic. A session for me will either consist of run/walk combo or just walking as I'm still building up run only mileage from 5k.

go team!

Yes we can make a team chart but we need a team name first.

Nutty Runners?

Silly Striders?

Team blah blah blah?

Just trying to get the ball rolling....

Any ideas?

I forgot to introduce myself.  I'm Kate, I'm 38, and I live in Arizona.  I have two small children ages 6 and 4.  I am training for a HIM in March.  As part of my training I am doing a Marathon in January.  Of all 3 sports I am the most comfortable on the run but I am slow.  I hope to use this challenge to drop some weight and improve my times.  Run More Eat Less is kind of our montra right now. 

My goals will be to do 4 runs a week.  One of those runs will be a long run or a race run. 

Looking forward to "meeting" the rest of you!  Go Team 2!!

Hey good people!

My name is Andy and I am excited to be joining you.  I am a pastor, dad, and occasional triathlete

I am prepping to complete a 1/2 Mary in January to raise funds for a pair of youth in our church using Galloway's training model.  That will call for 3 sessions of 30 min and one long run a week.  It will work out to 18 sessions in October.  I will commit to that as my goal, but may need to structure my scheduling such that I shoot for 4 a week, but may need to move the exact days around a little. 

I'm Leah and I live in California.  I'm almost 54 and not particularly happy about that and am doing everything I can to keep from getting old.  I think it is kind of working.  I've got the same HIM in March as Kate.  I am fantasizing about an IM in Nice, France, at the end of June, but am not sure yet that I can do it, either physically or logistically.  I live with a nice man named Chuck who is mildly supportive of my training, some of the time, although certainly not all.  Having a supportive mate or SO really does make a difference and I am jealous of those who do.  I have two grandchildren that I adore, ages 5 and 2.  The five year old and I did his first trail race today (we did 2.15 miles) and he did terrific. 

For training, I am doing the 20 week marathon training program, not because I have a marathon I want to do in 20 weeks, but more to help prepare for the HIM in March.  I just got a bike coach and we will see how that goes.  I am quite sure that will involve a whole heck of a lot more biking than I have done in the past.  Do I hear "indoor trainer" in my future?  Yes.  I swim twice a week with the local masters group.  And I go to Crossfit three mornings per week. 

I have lost a bit more than thirty pounds in the last year or so with about ten to go.  More like 15 pounds of fat to lose and 5 pounds of muscle to gain.  I follow pretty much the Paleo diet with a bit of Zone thrown in for real world.  The bottom line is that I eat very, very little processed food, really not since the first No Sugar Challenge that started last December.  And I don't miss it. 

I figure this challenge will go a long way to getting the running part of my training down, plus helping me to lose those last few pounds.  Look forward to hearing about all of you and your goals. 

I'm Lisa. I'm 51 years old and I live in the suburbs of New York City. Thirty years ago this October I ran my first and only marathon. During that time and the two years surrounding it I'd run 30-50 miles per week. In the 30 years between then and now I would occasionally get into some form of halfway decent shape but for the most part especially after 40 I gained over 100 lbs from my weight at the time of the marathon when I was 21.

In April of this year I signed up for a Sprint Triathlon that was in August. I came off the couch. I have trained almost every day since then and I have completed 4 sprint tri's though one (the first one) got changed to a duathlon (which was harder for me) due to bad weather. Since April I have lost over 35 lbs. I didn't weigh myself until a month into my program so I don't really know where I started but I assume it was 5-10 lbs more. I still have 65 until I reach my goal hopefully sometime next year.

For this challenge I plan to do the Hal Higdon 10K Novice plan slightly adapted for my schedule. I have a 10K event in early December which is in the name of a former boss of mine Joe Kleinerman. I would like to do to honor him as he was a good friend for 25 years as well as my boss for a few at the beginning. I also would like to do a 1/2 marathon in late winter next year as I will work it into my winter vacation as I am considering some events in Florida as my holiday destination.

Beyond that my tri plans for year are a Olympic early June and Half Ironman Distance August-September and some sprints too.
I do have an issue that impedes my running. I have arthritis in one of my knees and I have gel injections in it, it is 70% better than it was before. Yesterday I participated in a half day chi-running workshop to help my running.

I'm having lot's of fun, learning alot and enjoy being inspired by everyone at BT!

Team Gotta Run?
Team Run Run Run?
Team Can't stop Running?

Asked my kids for some ideas:

Ghost runners
Scary runners
Running Pumpkins
Speedy spiders
hell's bells
galloping ghosts


Edited by KathyG 2009-09-27 9:51 AM

I like Running Pumpkins!

Check my album for some possible team logos running pumpkins works visually:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/photo-thumbnail...

Hey team!

Some other possible names...

Ourageous Ogres
Pumpkin Posse
Running Ghosts

and if training isn't going well we could be the Panicking Pumpkins

Pumpkin Posse is good too! I guess I have a thing for pumpkins.

I like this graphic from your album for our team...so something with pumpkins would be good