Happy Friday Everyone!!!
I hope you all survived the week and are looking forward to a great weekend! School is picking up for me, so I’m hoping to have a PRODUCTIVE weekend. I’m one of those freaks who likes to do as much schoolwork as possible on the weekend so that my weekdays and evenings are not stressful. I know, I’m fun.
One thing I do have to do this weekend is run 12 miles! That’s another Personal Distance Record for me! Unfortunately, I might have to do it on the treadmill again… I was REALLY hoping to take this run outside, however, I ran 3 miles on Sunday outside and it was so cold. I forgot how much the cold affects my run: my fingers literally went completely numb, my face was wind burnt and I had to really push to move my cold legs to just 9 min/mile… And that was just a 3 mile run…
I looked up the weather for this weekend and here’s what I saw:
Um, yea… HIGH of 24. Looks like the treadmill and I are going to be BFFs…
On to less depressing things…
I had 3 miles on the agenda this past Tuesday, and to make it go by faster (figuratively and literally!) I turned it into an HIIT run. For those of you new to HIIT, it means High Intensity Interval Training and is best for blasting fat and getting your heart rate up!
The key is to alternate back and forth between high intensity and a lower, or recovery, intensity. Some suggest doing a 2:1 ratio of recovery to high intensity, however I get too bored! Haha so I use a 1:1 ratio and slowly up the intensity.
For this run I kept my incline at 0.5 and I also walked at a 4.0 for about 3 minutes to warm up my legs a bit (they were pretty sore…).
3 Mile HIIT Run
| Distance | Speed |
| 0.00 – 0.25 | 6.0 |
| 0.25 – 0.50 | 6.5 |
| 0.50 – 0.75 | 6.7 |
| 0.75 – 1.00 | 7.0 |
| 1.00 – 1.25 | 6.7 |
| 1.25 – 1.50 | 7.5 |
| 1.50 – 1.75 | 6.7 |
| 1.75 – 2.00 | 8.0 |
| 2.00 – 2.25 | 6.7 |
| 2.25 – 2.50 | 8.0 |
| 2.50 – 2.75 | 6.7 |
| 2.75 – 3.00 | 8.5 – 9.0 |
For that last quarter mile, I ran half of it at 8.5 and then the rest at 9.0 because I really wanted to sprint out the last bit! By the last mile my heart was really pounding when I switched down to low intensity and just wanted to walk! But I knew I was almost done and kept pushing. It was a great run!
For recovery food, I made a really interesting new lunch using cauliflower as “rice.”
Cauliflower “Rice”
Ingredients:
1/4 head cauliflower
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1-2 large handful(s) kale
2 Turkey muffins (or any protein of choice!)
Balsamic Vinegar (or other sauce of choice!)
Directions:
Chop up cauliflower and place in food processor. Pulse until cauliflower is size of rice granules. Microwave for about 1 minute.
Steam kale and mushrooms (can also easily cook on a skillet on the stove) and place on top of rice. Heat up protein source (I broke up my muffins and microwaved them) and add to top. Add sauce of choice! You can also mix it all together on a skillet. I was just so hungry that I couldn’t wait!
What I love about this dish is how many ways you can make it! You could add an egg and cook it on a skillet to turn it into fried “rice”, you could use soy sauce to make it Asian inspired, you could use a creamy sauce to make it almost like a risotto (okay, almost), and you can change up the veggies and the protein source! This cauliflower “rice” is a great base for any dish!
How do you feel about running in sub-freezing temperatures?
Have you ever used veggies to replace carbs? (like my zucchini pasta!)
I also really want to try making a cauliflower pizza crust!