Friday Thrive

Friday Thrive

Happy Friday! Each week, Friday Thrive shares my favorite articles, foods, drinks, and more from the week. This week I have everything from ultrarunning to homebrewed kombucha to share with you!

Run

In an article for Runners Connect, Allie Burdick examines how listening to your body, rather than basing your run off of your GPS watch, can improve your running. Regular readers will know that I’m a proponent of training by perceived effort (and I’m quoted in the article, which is such an honor!). The most interesting thing I took away from this article is how checking your watch disrupts your stride and form as you briefly process whether to speed up or slow down. When you think about it, each time you check a watch in a workout does disrupt the mental and physical flow of the run!

Friday Thrive

Read

Right now, there are two books on my currently reading list (not counting the Harry Potter books I am listening to on Audible). One is about nineteenth-century European history, the other is this one, Training Essentials for Ultrarunning. I am not currently inclined to run an ultramarathon yet and purchased this book for coaching, but regardless of what distance you are running, this books is fascinating. The author covers everything from gut training and treating blisters to developing a long-term training plan for distance running and creating race strategies. So many running books focus so much on the aspect of getting faster by running harder or more that they neglect the smaller things, while this book approaches training from the perspective of the small details mattering.

Friday Thrive

Workout

My workout of the week for Runkeeper is a five-minute fartlek run. I love workouts like these because the focus isn’t on distance, meaning that faster runners spend less time in the workout and newer or slower runners spend more time running. Since you are running by time and effort, the distances is adapted based on your current level of fitness.

The five-minute fartleks are done at 8K-10K race effort, or just a bit slower than VO2max pace but faster than threshold pace. The pacing makes these fartleks great for the earlier weeks of 10K training or for whenever you need a good boost of speed in marathon or half marathon training.

Brew

Kombucha! I have been wanting to brew my own kombucha for a few weeks now, so when we had to stop by the homebrew store for some sanitizing solution, we got all the supplies to begin to brew our own fermented tea. We made the kombucha on Sunday, using loose English breakfast tea, sugar, a scoby, and an unflavored kombucha as a starter. The process was really easy – I used this guide from the Kitchn.  Unlike beer, there is less concern for complete sanitization, although I still sanitized the jar and neutralized my hands with vinegar before touching the scoby.

Once it’s fermented, which can take 7-10 days, we will flavor it, bottle it, and let it carbonate. I’m debating between lemon and ginger and berries for the first batch.

Friday Thrive

Currently, there are three fermentation projects: my sourdough starter, the first batch of beer (which is partway through the bottle stage), and the kombucha. I need to get new jars so I can make sauerkraut again!

Eat

I baked the banana bread recipe from Run Fast, Eat Slow for the second time in the past couple weeks. The recipe is high in fat (one stick of organic butter and two eggs) and low in refined sugar (1/4 cup of granulated sugar – I used brown sugar) and the end product is incredibly delicious and immensely satisfying. I substituted whole wheat flour for spelt flour, since I didn’t have any spelt flour currently in the pantry, but I think I will have to bake it again with the spelt flour. (I made the substitution by weight, not volume, since spelt weighs less per cup than whole wheat).

Friday Thrive

I’ll leave you with this photo of Ryan with the dogs. Charlie may be a sweet and snuggly puggle, but as you can see on his face, you do not mess with him.

Friday Thrive

[Tweet “What to eat, read, run, brew, and more this week from @thisrunrecipes #FridayThrive @Runners_Connect @thekitchn”]

Do you like banana bread? What’s your favorite type of quick bread?
What’s your favorite flavor of kombucha?
Would you or have you ever run an ultra?

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17 Responses

  1. I find ultra running so interesting. I heard the recap of my friends Vermont 100 yesterday. She’s vegan too, which makes it even more interesting to hear what she eats for 24 hours of running. Carrot Ginger Soup is one thing – straight from the box. And she had dill pickles and chocolate almond milk at another aid station. So bizarre. It makes sense though! You are going to love having your own kombucha. So good!

  2. I love my own banana bread that I’ve posted to the blog (especially the recovery muffins with the chocolate chips). Any distraction while running is going to disrupt your stride. For my first marathon, I put my watch around my waist belt! That way I didn’t pay any attention to it until I was ready.

    1. I’ve put my watch on the opposite side of my wrist – less temptation to look and less alteration to form when I do check (no risk of chicken-winging and arm!).

  3. I have not run an ultra and will not run one. I won’t run a shorter race associated with an ultra either. A few years ago, I ran a 5K that was a part of a 10 x 5K race. Everyone asked me why I didn’t opt to run the 10 x 5K (which is a 50K that consists of one 5K every hour).

    I wanted to run the 5K to support a friend and benefit the charity, but a lot of the ultra runners seem to be so hardcore that I felt unwelcome. I mean, 50 mile races… 50 miles is a nice WEEK for some of us.

    I do want to run another marathon and attempt to BQ, though.

    I like banana bread but haven’t had it in a long time. I don’t eat a ton of bread but will eat it if it’s GOOD bread. That one looks good but you’re right, it does seem high in fat (I read that cookbook but really didn’t like how it had no macro/nutritional information).

    1. What’s interesting is that I’ve heard some people say the ultra community is more laidback, but you are right – a good training week for us is a race to them. Granted, in what I’ve read about training ultra runners (and in working with someone doing an ultra race), many of them don’t train over the marathon distance in training or they go by time, like 5 hour runs on the trails (which likely won’t cover the marathon distance because of the changes in terrain). I think the minimum maximum (lowest amount you can do for peak mileage) I read in that book is 6 hours when training for a 50 miler – so not that different than a 50 mile week for some runners! It’s so interesting.

  4. After I did the Door County Fall 50 relay a couple years ago I started dreaming about one day doing the solo race. It’s hard not to dream about it, but I don’t know how I could ever commit to the training for that. Back to back 20 milers on a weekend? NOPE. Just a little too much running for me. The dream will have to remain a dream.

    I almost never look at my watch during runs. If I do, it’s just to see the distance, and I cover up the time/pace with my fingers.

    1. It’s actually surprising how not insane ultra training can be (at least what I’m learning from this book). Back to back long runs are beneficial, but they aren’t necessary – one long run/hike and overall weekly training time matter most. Back to back long runs are one way to achieve that, especially for more weekend warrior types with limited training time during the week. It can be done!

  5. I wish I had the time and opportunities to run ultras all the time because my body is really built for that kind of mileage and I know how rare it is for someone to be able to run as much as I do for as many years as I have without any injuries or issues, so it feels like I have a gift that I’m not using. However, I do know that ultra runners often go well into their fifties and sixties with no problem so I’m hoping I’ll be able to do that when I’m older. You know, nbd. Ha ha ha! The book I used and the one that a lot of experienced ultra runners recommended to me was Relentless Forward Progress. FANTASTIC. If you can get your mitts on that one (probably used somewhere as it’s a bit older), do it!

    1. You would be stellar at ultras – and I think you will have plenty of chance to do them! Look at runners like Madga Boulet who is kicking butt and taking names at Western States at 43! And I will look for that book, thank you!

  6. Yay for kombucha making! It’s surprisingly easy! And I love grossing my girls out with the scoby, ha.

    That 5 minute fartlek is exactly what I need to be doing right now. I think I’m going to use it tomorrow- thanks!!

  7. Gosh, I totally agree about running by feel rather than by “tech gadgets.” I kind of figured this out on my own because I know if I had access to all that info on my wrist, I’d totally have a miserable time. Not my thing, though I know that instant info works great for others.

  8. That banana bread looks delicious. I usually opt for zucchini bread, because I am not a huge fan of bananas, but I will eat banana bread – haha 🙂

    An ultra sounds really intimidating. I think I will work myself up to a marathon first. 😉

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