Friday Thrive

Happy Friday! Each week, Friday Thrive features my favorite reads, eats, and more from the week. Here’s what I found interesting this week:

Race

Could the Olympic be adding cross country as a sport? Each Tuesday I read Mario Fraioli’s Morning Shakeout and this tidbit of information was in this week’s issue. Obstacle racing (think Amelia Boone) also is bidding for a spot on the Olympic roster, and it’s about time. I mean, handball and trampoline both are featured at the Summer Olympics – so why not reintroduce cross country?

And while we’re on the topic of cross country, let’s discuss the gender discrepancy in the sport. At both the NCAA Cross-Country Championships and the USATF National Club Cross-Country Championships, women race the 6K…. while men race the 10K. Excuse me? We have already well established that our uteruses aren’t going to fall out or float up to our elbows from running. That’s not to mention that men and women race the same distance on the track and the roads. So why aren’t the genders running the same distance in cross country?

It’s certainly not an issue of time, as some corners of the internet (*cough* Let’s Run) claim. I cross-checked my interferences with my alma mater’s cross-country (Divison 1), and the women complete their 6K in 23-26 minutes, while the men complete their 10K in 34-35 minutes. Yes, the women might be a few minutes slower when you extend their finish times to the 10K, but not enough to warrant a full 4K shorter. 

Friday Thrive

Run

“Sharpen Your Training by Understanding Your Unique Physiology” by Allie Burdick for Women’s Running

I shared my review of Dr. Stacy Sims’ ROAR already – the information contained in it is transformative for the female athlete. Sims eschews the “shrink it and pink it” mentality that dominated women’s running for decades. Allie has shared on her own blog how Sims’ advice improved her training, thus adding authority to her piece. In this article, she covers a few of Sims’ key messages, from the fact that low-carb diets don’t usually work for female athletes to dispensing the fear of training during the menstrual cycle. 

Celebrate

January was a surprisingly busy month of racing for my athletes, given the cold weather! 

Melanie ran a half marathon PR!
Melissa ran a 5K PR!
Jamala ran a 4-minute course PR in the 5K!
Pete ran a half marathon!
Annmarie ran a half marathon!
Rechell ran a half marathon! 
Jenn ran a half marathon

Eat

Chicken breasts are one of my go-to options for dinner. While the same seasonings can become boring, I also do not want to spend an hour actively cooking each night. I made this Meyer Lemon Roasted Chicken from How Sweet Eats this week and it was incredibly delicious – yet super simple to make. The recipe used chicken thighs but I substituted bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. I served it with roasted golden beets and green beans and pan-fried red potatoes. Definitely a meal to repeat! 

Friday Thrive

 

Read

I am currently reading Your Best Stride by Jonathan Beverly. This book is fascinating, especially as it debunks popular myths about form (that footstrike matters most) and focuses on simple mobility exercises and drills you can do to optimize your individual form. This is what inspired me to set my goal of improving my shoulder mobility

Friday Thrive

 

[Tweet “Catch up with @thisrunrecipes weekly Friday Thrive, featuring @WomensRunning articles, must-read books, and recipes from @HowSweetBlog #runchat “]

What’s a new recipe that you tried lately?
Would you watch cross country running at the Olympics?

Sign Up for My Newsletter for More Running Tips

* indicates required

Share this post

16 Responses

  1. That recipe sounds really good! Chicken can get really boring but its so easy to cook and healthy so I do like to eat it a few times a week. I need to look through that book again! I feel like I read it awhile ago and forgot alot of the info I read.

  2. Thanks for recommending Your Best Stride! I was on the fence about getting it but you sold me on it. And also thanks for sharing the chicken recipe. I really love her recipes for being easy and always tasting great. Have a great weekend!

    1. It is definitely worth getting – some of the best information I’ve seen on form and it’s very easy to read and accessible. I liked Anatomy for Runners a lot, but this book felt more approachable and practical. I hope you enjoy it! Have a great weekend!

  3. Thanks so much for including my article here! The more we spread the word to women about SIms and her research, the better off we will all be! And I absolutely love Amelia Boone! I interviewed her after she raced the world championships and she is just the most laid back, humble, amazing woman. Love her and would love to see her succeed in going to the Olympics. I’m now signed up for Mario’s newsletter too.

    – – > one note: I think you switched the times for the men and women 10K in CC. I’m sure someday we may be able to beat the men though and it’s absurd they have them running a 6k!? What the???

    1. Oh thanks! Yeah, the women’s time are for the 6K – not the 10K – and the men’s are for the 10K. Ha I wish we were that fast! But still, it’s absurd… If you predict the women’s 10K times off of those 6K times, it’s only a few minutes longer than the men. And the 6K is recent! Just a decade or so ago, it was the 5K.
      Your article on Sims was so good – thank you for spreading the word on her book!

  4. I haven’t heard of that book but it looks neat. I cringe every time I see people online saying that heel striking is so bad. People who midfoot or forefoot strike also get injured- they get different injuries. I think that changing gait and stride is something anyone has to do very carefully and not something to take lightly and just trust the internet on.

    I always thought it was weird that ladies ran shorter distances in XC. Seems like the longer the distance, the small the difference in the male/female times.

    1. I agree so much with your statement. Most form quirks are for efficiency and injury prevention, so changing something as drastic as heel strike is not good news. Yes, changing overstriding can modify a bad heel strike, but that’s not attempting to modify the strike, that’s smoothing up the stride and working on the hip mechanics.

  5. Re gender and cross country – seriously. You could maybe make a case for 9K, but not 6K. Sexism is alive and well in sport, and especially on sports message boards like Letsrun.

  6. With all the posts I’ve written lately about strength training, i’ve learned so much about the importance of training the upper body as well as the lower body! I think it’s fascinating how many runners don’t think about that. I’ve seen runners not even moving their arms when they run!

    Don’t even get me started on foot strike…

  7. I got 2 new cookbooks for Christmas, so I’ve been trying tons of new recipes recently!

    There are some bizarre holdovers from the days when women were thought to be too fragile to participate in the same sports as men – and it’s amazing how many people will still defend them!

    1. It is amazing! The argument for “that’s how it’s always been done” is brought up for keeping women’s distances shorter in XC, which just baffles me. It’s a total logical fallacy, especially when we’ve seen how women have excelled in longer distances over the past decade or so.

  8. I agree that is really silly why women get a shorter distance. Makes no sense.

    I love grilled chicken for dinner… it’s so versatile.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *