Friday Thrive

Happy Friday! How has your week been? Each week, Friday Thrive rounds up the some of my favorites of the things that keep us living well – good food, good runs, and more. 

Be the Good

The recent events of Hurricane Harvey have devastated many of our fellow Americans in Texas. As simplistic as it sounds, donating money is the best way to respond in a situation like this – organizations do not always have enough room for clothes and money allow them to purchase fresher food rather than canned goods. This article from the New York Times lists the best charities for donations to aid humans and animals in the Houston area, including the American Red Cross, Houston Humane Society, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Houston, Samaritan’s Purse, and Save the Children. 

Eat

We brought the berry crumble from Run Fast. Eat Slow to dinner with some friends this weekend and it was a hit – not a bite was left by the end of the night. I followed the recipe exactly as written and cooked it in my cast iron. Fruit crumbles are one of my favorite desserts (along with chocolate chip cookies). This recipe was deliciously buttery from the almond meal, sweet but not saccharine, and crunchy from the oats and pecans. The entire recipe came together in under 45 minutes, including bake time. 

Brew

Ryan and I ferment our own sourdough starter, beer, and kombucha. I shared safety tips for a successful homebrew over on Rainier Fruit’s blog and the recipe I use to make blueberry kombucha. My most recent brew was apple cinnamon and it tasted like the essence of fall in a glass.  

Run

The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research recently published a study on the relationship between perception of time and intensity of a run. The trained participants ran on treadmills for three 30-minute runs at “somewhat hard,” “hard,” and “very hard” efforts and estimated durations ranging from 1-20 seconds. The study concluded what we all know: the higher the intensity of the run, the slower time seems to pass by.

This explains why short and hard intervals (such as the workout below) seem to last forever, as an easy run can fly by. Although I would argue that the study does not account for the treadmill’s unique ability to cause time to slow down for any run. 

Train

My latest workout over on Runkeeper’s blog is short and fast 2-minute repeats. Two minute repeats are just long enough to reach your VO2max (meaning: long enough to be lung-burning hard) but short enough to make them manageable. This 2-minute repeat workout can be done in 30 minutes, although you can extend your warm up and cool down and add another interval or two if you want a longer workout. 

To all my American readers, I wish you a happy Labor Day weekend! I will be posting my weekly training recap on Tuesday instead of Monday. In addition to being a holiday, Monday is my birthday! September is always an exciting month for us: this year, we celebrate my 28th birthday, the day we adopted Ollie, our third wedding anniversary, and Ryan’s 30th birthday, along with a family wedding. 

I will leave you with this photo of Charlie after a 6-mile run (which is the farthest we run him). If he thinks we are not watching, he will climb onto the back of the sofa and nap in a sun spot. I love his sleepy squishy puggle face. 

[Tweet “Running workouts from @runkeeper , how to make kombucha with @rainierfruit , and more in @thisrunrecipes #FridayThrive! #runchat”]

Does time pass more slowly on a harder run for you?
What’s your favorite type of dessert?
What are your plans for the weekend?