Friday Thrive
Happy Friday and Happy May! (And, while I’m at it, Happy Cinco de Mayo!) May is like flipping a switch in Seattle; everything goes from gray and rainy to beautiful, sunny, and spring-like.
This weekend is the Snohomish Women’s 10K, which is a big race for a couple of reasons. It’s my first 10K in years and it’s the first race where Ryan will have an expo booth set up for Gear Well!
Savor
Spring flowers have bloomed in the Seattle area! I guess it’s true that continual showers in November through April will bring May flowers. The PNW turns into a wonderland in May: blue skies, evergreen trees, and flowers in stunning shades of pink. These vibrant flowers (dogwood, I think?) are my favorite.
Wear
It was warm on my run yesterday (55 degrees but almost 100% humidity), which meant no more long sleeves! My mom gifted me this Patagonia Nine Trails t-shirt as an Easter present and I finally was able to run in it. Patagonia is quickly becoming my favorite brands for running shirts because of how comfortable, odor-resistant, and aesthetically-pleasing they are – not to mention that Patagonia is environmentally friendly and socially responsible. The fabric is soft yet breathable and the cut is slim yet non-restrictive. Plus, I like the dusty rose color that bright without being over-the-top girly – all the colors are pretty!
Watch
Is anyone watching the sub-2:00 marathon attempt this weekend? Runner’s World will be streaming it. Granted, even though it begins at 8:45 PM, I probably won’t stay up to watch it… Sunday will be an early morning with my 10K race and helping Ryan set up a booth for Gear Well at the post-race expo! Actually, I’m usually asleep by 9 PM most nights anyway. We runners need sleep, right?
Even though the viewing times aren’t optimal for those of us in the US, it will be interesting to wake up on Sunday morning and read what came of Nike’s Breaking2 effort. The record attempt isn’t occurring in a road race, which sets it apart from the current men’s record set at the Berlin Marathon and the women’s record at the London Marathon. Rather, the runners will be running on the Formula One 2.4-km race track in Italy.
Nike has been, for lack of a better term, grooming some of the world’s top marathoners for this record on their own terms; during their test half marathon on the same track, they received aid on demand, had rotating pacers, and followed a vehicle. According to Runner’s World, if the runners do break two hours, it may not be eligible for a world record if these conditions occur during the race.
Run
Even if you run flat races, hill repeats will improve your running economy, VO2max, and endurance. Short and fast hill repeats will improve speed, but long distance runners will benefit from going longer and a little easier on the hills. My latest weekly workout for Runkeeper is long hill repeats done at a moderately hard effort (approximately threshold pace) for 2 minutes.
As I’m shifting to base building after this weekend, these hill repeats will be part of my training. They are an ideal way to build speed during the base building period or early season training because they don’t wear and tear on the body in the same way that track workouts or mile repeats do.
Read
Ollie and Charlie both love to run – and Ollie is quickly becoming my little endurance machine running buddy for most easy days. Ollie may be able to run 10 miles straight now, but he didn’t start out with that distance, nor did he start out as the best four-legged running buddy. Over at Rainier Fruit’s blog, I am sharing about how I started running with my dogs, from the gear to the commands I use on a run.
Did you know that dogs should not eat within 2 hours of starting a run and should wait an hour after a run to eat? Be sure to check out these safety tips for running with your dog!
[Tweet “What to savor, read, run, and more this weekend via @thisrunrecipes #fridaythrive #runchat”]
What spring flowers are your favorite?
Do you run with your dog?
What’s a recent workout you’ve run?
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17 Responses
Cute shirt! I have loved Patagonia for years but even more so now that I saw a short film that showed the behind the scenes of one of their factories/suppliers. I knew they were fair trade and socially conscious but had never really paid much attention. Very cool stuff from a very cool company. Good luck this weekend!!!!
I love how on their website they share exactly where each piece is made. And thank you!
If I could live in Cherry blossoms, Azeleas, purple hydrangeas, and pink and white dogwoods (aka Atlanta in spring time), I would never need anything else, lol
I have mixed feels about the way that Nike is going about this whole sub 2 marathon thing. It is a little too constructed for me. Almost like having an artificial flavor in your mouth. You are okay with it… ish, but you would really prefer the real thing.
That’s exactly how I felt – it felt a bit too controlled. But it was really amazing to see what Eliud Kipchoge ran – wow!
humidity is the worst! wishing you the best of luck in the 10K! that’s so exciting that you have the booth there too!
Thank you! Humidity is the worst – I was so glad it wasn’t humid on race day!
I’ve got a gorgeous Pantagonia coat–it’s grey with a purple zip-in down (feathers) underlayer. Both coats are super nice to wear on their own and super warm worn together. The grey outer coat looks dressy! BUT. The top of the zipper that goes under my chin pokes into my chin in a way that is very irritating. AHHHH! It was over $400 with tax!!!! I didn’t notice how annoying this was until I wore it a few times. I could easily sell it on Craigslist, but I still really like the look of it. Maybe I have a really short neck? Or maybe bad posture.
That coat sounds gorgeous – Patagonia makes such beautiful stuff!
Love your shirt!! And YEAH for May flowers!! See you Sunday!!
Thank you! SEE YOU SUNDAY!!! 😀
Those flowers are really pretty. I never realized you guys had 100% humidity there though, when I was in Seattle last summer it was really chilly! The only time I was really warm was when I was at the football game and that’s because I was surrounded by people. We haven’t had any 100% humidity days here yet, mostly 90-95%. It’s so muggy.
I think the 2 hour marathon experiment is fun to watch but even if they do it, it’s so manipulated that it won’t mean as much. But maybe it will open the possibility of someone doing it in a more legitimate race someday.
It will be chilly here with high humidity – some of our most humid days are in the 40s and 50s in springtime! Unlike the Midwest or how I imagine the South, the humidity manifests as a thick, heavy, chilly fog – about an hour before my run, the fog was so thick that visibility was limited!
I agree – I feel like the 2 hour attempt is too controlled and manipulated. That’s what makes Paula Radcliffe’s record so fascinating – it occurred in a regular marathon!
There was basically no sun to be seen when I was running my trail race last weekend in Redmond (but plenty of rain & mud). Grumble, grumble. And I’ve come home to more of the same!
I do run with Bandit & know, I actually didn’t know that about eating. Good to know!
I didn’t know about the eating since I usually run them before breakfast, until I fed Ollie one morning without thinking! Poor guy was bummed not to get to run. I’m sure the mud helped the trail race live up to its name (if you ran the Mud & Chocolate, which I think was last weekend).
There is some kind of tree planted along a lot of the sidewalks around here that has flowers that smell sooo bad – almost like a stinkbug smell! So I’m glad those haven’t started blooming yet. I like the wildflowers better anyway 🙂
We had trees like that in front of the library at my undergrad…they were so foul smelling!
That shirt is great. I’m sure you like it so much, I also like the light tones so it looks very similar to the flower you just took 🙂 wish a great 10k race