June 02, 2016

Global Running Day

Apparently, yesterday was "Global Running Day". I have no idea what that means, except that people were posting about running all over social media--I loved it! ;)

Bart Yasso, from Runner's World magazine, posted about making yesterday the "World's Biggest RUNch"--meaning, everybody running at lunchtime, globally. I did run at lunch time, but my reasons were more for procrastination than the camaraderie of a group virtual run, haha. I didn't have anything going on yesterday until the afternoon, so I really enjoyed a quiet morning.

Finally, at around 11:30, I headed out for a "RUNch". I did a running workout I haven't done in a very long time--if ever? I think maybe I've done it once or twice. Anyway, I'm talking about a Fartlek run. Fartlek means "speed play", and a Fartlek run is basically where you vary your speed during the run without rhyme or reason.

You might sprint to the mailbox, then jog to the corner, then run moderately until you see a blue car, etc. Very spontaneous and unstructured.

I don't know why I don't do this more often! It can be as easy or as hard of a workout as you want, and it's a great workout for runners who are just starting speed work. Instead of having them do 8 x 400 meters at 5K race pace or something, you just tell them to vary the speed whenever they feel like it, including hard and easy running.

During my 10K training, I did a LOT of very slow running, with a sprinkling of very fast running--but nothing in between. I almost forgot what a 8:30-9:30 pace felt like! I did several hard short-interval sessions at a 6:00-7:00/mile pace, a few 10K race pace sessions at 7:55/mi, and about 10,000 very slow sessions at 10:30-12:00/mi (10,000 might be a small exaggeration, but that's what it felt like). Yesterday, I decided to just try out different speeds and see how they felt.

First, I started with a true tempo pace, which is 8:10-ish per mile. It felt hard after the first quarter mile, probably because I haven't been doing much speed work lately. After about a half mile, I thought, I wonder if I can finish this mile under 8:00--so I picked up the pace to 7:45 ish for the duration of that mile (which felt much harder than I remember!) and clocked 7:56 for the first mile. I was happy to see that I still had a sub-8:00 mile in me!

I walked for a few seconds, then alternated jogging and moderate running for the whole second mile. At about mile 2.25, I decided to run at a pace that felt like what I USED to call "easy", even though it was actually moderate. Remember how I wrote about the importance of the easy run? (If you haven't read that post, go read it now--it's one of the most important posts I've ever written.) I used to call a 9:30 pace "easy", until I started heart rate training, and I realized my actual easy pace was 11:30--big difference!

Anyway, I started running at the effort level that felt like what I used to call "easy", and it ended up being about a 9:15 pace. My heart rate was at 162 bpm, but I think it would have been lower if I hadn't run that first mile so hard. Also, it was like 80 degrees outside because I waited until midday to run! I picked up speed for the last quarter mile to about a 7:40 pace, and finished the run at mile three.

It was actually really nice to go for a run without a real purpose and just run how I felt! I had turned off my heart rate alert, otherwise it would have been beeping the entire time, and I just ran at whatever pace I was feeling in the moment. A pretty fun way to run for Global Running Day.


For dinner last night, I made one of my favorites--Cabbage with Sausage. It's ridiculously easy, with only a few ingredients, but cabbage is my very favorite vegetable. Even when I was a kid, I would get really excited when my mom would make cabbage casserole.

I made Cabbage with Sausage one day when we were running very low on groceries. I had a smoked turkey sausage and a head of cabbage in the fridge, so I just heated up some butter in a large pan, cooked the sausage for a minute and then added the cabbage, salt, and pepper and cooked until it was soft. So few ingredients, super fast to make, but it tastes so good! I wish it was prettier to photograph, but judging by the ingredients, it looks just how you would expect. Like cabbage and sausage.


My kids really liked it, too, thankfully. They never used to be picky eaters when they were little, but as they get older, they're getting harder to please.

Tonight is going to be crazy busy, so I'm not sure what we'll do for dinner. Noah has a track meet from 3:30-5:15, Eli is performing a concert at school at 5:30, and both the boys have baseball practice at 6:30. I'll probably have to pack something to eat in the car between track and the concert. Today is the last day of track, so things will be much less chaotic from now on! :)

2 comments:

  1. I love sausage and cabbage too! Have you ever tried kielbasa and sauerkraut? Its so yummy and has such a flavor punch. Plus, my boys inhale it whenever I make it :)

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  2. I always forget about including cabbage in meals, but it seems like such a good and inexpensive addition. Those recipes look really good too!

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