Week 2 Recap - We're Breaking Three!
- Hailey
- Feb 11, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Feb 10
Alright, here is my training from Week 2 in We're Breaking Three. Make sure you read until the very end to see how this week stacked up on the Bop To The Top rating system!
Also, before continuing, it is important to note that this week's training looks different than a typical week, at least for me. This week does not have a long run scheduled for Saturday. That is because my long run has been pushed to Sunday due to a tradition that I do every year. I know that sounds vague, but I promise there is more info to come. I will release another blog post early this week that explains everything, so don't worry.
Enjoy this week's training recap below! And be sure to head on over to @imhaileymorgan on Instagram to see this week's Reel. There may even be a couple seconds of dog footage in it, which makes it worth the watch.
Best wishes!
Hailey
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Sunday - February 4th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 5 miles @ recovery pace (8:27-9:09/mi)
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:03
Avg. Pace: 8:24/mi
Route: local bike path
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary: Okay, okay, so I ran this one too fast. I could try to blame it on the fact that I ran with Maple and she is just so dang fast. Or I could try to blame the two guys on bikes that were semi-following us, but that was only for maybe a quarter mile, so I really have no excuse for the remaining 4.75 miles. Yeah, this one is pretty much on me. I was feeling really good, the weather was beautiful, and I just ignored all of the advice that I give others. Easy runs need to be run at an easy pace in order to give your body time to recover and heal. I know this. I have paid the price for ignoring it in the past. And yet, today was just one of those days where I could not get my legs to slow down. I don't regret it because it was a fantastic run and I don't have a hard workout tomorrow. However, this will be something that I focus on improving in the coming weeks.
Monday - February 5th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 12 miles @ easy pace (7:22-8:21/mi)
Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:32:26
Avg. Pace: 7:42/mi
Route: loops - lots and lots of loops
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: This run felt awesome, for the most part. I decided to do some mental training by making my route redundant. I ran the middle ten miles as a series of loops that were approximately one mile each. Do I love running in circles? Not really. But I know that if/when the miles get tough, the course lacks cheering spectators, or my music dies suddenly during the marathon, I will be thankful that I have trained my mind. There is something about running small loops for over an hour that can either be infuriating or meditative. Personally, I normally find myself in the infuriated category because I can't help but imagine all of the sights I could be seeing if I veered off course, even just a little bit. However, I made this route choice strategically today. I wanted to force myself to make peace with the redundancy and practice focusing on one mile at a time, rather than counting down the many laps I had left to go. And no, I am not above including a small teaser here too. I may or may not be registered for an event later this year that may or may not involve some loops. Don't worry, I'll reveal all of my future plans eventually, but for now I'm focused on breaking 3 hours in the marathon. Stay tuned! Anyways, back to the loops. I'm excited to say that running in loops actually worked for me today. Additionally, about halfway through each loop, I descended a small hill and then ran back up it at my goal marathon pace or faster. Seriously, the hill was pretty small, about 50ft in elevation gain, but it was punchy. I know that my goal race has hills throughout the course, so it will be important for me to train for those, as well as continue to train for the large hill in the later stages of the race. Overall, I was hitting my paces and feeling really strong. The only snag that I hit along the way was some minor tummy troubles. I'm not talking about anything extreme or graphic, just some nausea and cramping. To be honest, this is a familiar feeling for me and I instantly knew what mistake I had made. I didn't eat enough before I ran. This morning I had woken up, eaten breakfast, and intended to run shortly thereafter. But I maybe kinda sorta got distracted by working on a project. Okay, you got me. I was working on ✨designing✨ something and I just couldn't put it down until it was done. By then, I should've eaten a small snack before going to run, but I didn't. Instead I headed out the door, ran hard for six miles, and then got hit by the consequences of my actions. All things considered, this didn't derail my run, just made it a bit uncomfortable. Good news is, I saw a golden retriever in a yellow rain coat. And because I was running loops, I saw her not once, not twice, but three times! I would've taken a picture for you all, but I am not exactly a sneaky person, so all I would've succeeded in doing was taking a blurry picture of my own feet and freaking out what I am sure are two very sweet dog owners.
Tuesday - February 6th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 10 miles @ easy pace (7:22-8:21/mi)
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:23:17
Avg. Pace: 8:20/mi
Route: treadmill & 2mi with Maple
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary: I would say that today's run was average. I ran the first 8 miles on the treadmill because I knew that it would be incredibly important for me to keep my easy run at a true easy pace today. Yesterday I ran within the prescribed range, but definitely added some additional stress to my run with the intermittent hill sprints that I incorporated. Tomorrow I have a threshold workout, so I want to ensure that I take care of my body today, thus enabling me to perform well during that workout. I have always struggled to keep an easy pace on easy days. I get caught up in the moment, get distracted by a random daydream, feel the inexplicable need to run faster just because there are other human beings around, and yes, on occasion, I have run too fast out of insecurity. I have felt embarrassed by running a pace slower than I can run, which is ridiculous because running at any pace is something to be celebrated. It is something that I have always celebrated for others, but I struggle to give myself that same support sometimes. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I'm either all out or all in. So if I don't feel like I'm running at 100% capacity, I sometimes interpret that as a failure on my behalf, which it obviously isn't. I know I have to run different paces on different days to achieve specific training adaptations. However, as I human being, I sometimes struggle with the concepts of balance and moderation. Over the years, I have recognized these patterns in myself and I am actively trying to put strategies in place to help me think and behave in a healthier, more balanced, way. All that to say, I didn't want to risk overexerting myself today by falling into one of my old pitfalls, so I hopped on the treadmill, set the pace at the top of the prescribed range, and just cruised there. I then ran the last 2 miles outside with Maple and we also kept the pace nice and easy. I feel ready to take on the challenge of tomorrow!
Wednesday - February 7th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 11 miles threshold workout
Workout Description: 2mi warmup + 5mi @ 6:42/6:47/mi w/ 400m jog + 1mi @ 6:31-6:36/mi w/ 2:00 walk + 2x800m @ 6:06/mi w/ 1:30 min walk + 2mi cooldown
Distance: 11 miles
Time: 1:22:31
Avg. Pace: 7:30/mi
Route: treadmill & 1mi with Maple
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: I'll admit, I was nervous going into this workout. Speed or threshold workouts always intimidate me, to varying degrees. I know that they are going to challenge me, push me to maintain faster paces for farther as the weeks of training go on, and with that comes a healthy dose of nerves. I find myself wondering if I can do it. Can I complete this workout? Can I hit the paces? Will I have to stop midway to catch my breath? These are all questions that have plagued my mind in the past and honestly, they still enter my thoughts now. However, I approach them differently. In years prior, my confidence in myself and my running has ebbed and flowed, but it never was something that I could count on. I had never truly instilled it into my self perception. So then I must ask the question, was I ever really confident in the first place? I like to think that I experienced sparkles of confidence, sprinkled throughout, desperate to catch hold and flourish, but they never did. Not in any real, long-lasting way. This is something that I have worked hard to overcome and I'm still working on it. I think confidence building is something that will be a life-long endeavor for me and I've made my peace with that. I have learned that, by enduring and overcoming the periods during which I've lacked confidence, no matter how dark and endless they may seem at the time, I have come out the other side more resilient, tougher, and most importantly, more grateful for the lessons I've learned along the way. There is beauty in confidence and peace, but I have also found that there can be beauty in struggle, pain, and challenge too. It looks different, and it definitely feels different, but it is there too, woven into the very fabric of what it means to be a human being living in a world such as ours. All of this led me to today, when I put on my running shoes and faced this workout. Not terribly long ago, I was in a period of my running journey where I would have flat out skipped this workout. My self doubt was so pervasive that I wouldn't have even attempted it, but that is a story for another day. Today, I stepped onto the treadmill nervous, but confident. I knew that I had it in me to complete this threshold workout successfully. I clung to that belief the whole time and fully embraced it. It may sound cheesy, but I wanted to experience this moment of confidence to the fullest extent that I could. I wanted it to wash over me, bathing me in the knowledge that I can do hard things, things that I would have run away from in the past. My hope is, that by letting myself revel in this moment of confidence, I will remember how it felt when I undoubtedly waver in the future. I want to be able to look back on this workout and know that today's version of me showed up for myself. That means that any and all future versions of me can do the same.
Here are my splits:
Warmup: 9:05/mi
5mi: 6:44/mi
400m jog: 10:00/mi
1mi: 6:31/mi
walk for 2 minutes (off treadmill)
800m: 6:00/mi
walk for 1.5 minutes (off treadmill)
800m: 5:56/mi
walk for 1.5 minutes (off treadmill)
.75mi cooldown on treadmill: 8:34/mi
1mi cooldown w/ Maple: 8:59/mi
Thursday - February 8th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 9 miles @ easy pace (7:22-8:21/mi) w/ last mile at an incline
Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:12:22
Avg. Pace: 8:02/mi
Route: 3mi w/ Maple + 5mi on local running path + 1mi on treadmill
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary: This run was decent. The weather was beautiful and the running path was really serene. My only complaint is that I started to notice a slight twinge on the front of my lower right shin around mile 4. I finished my miles, ran home, and quickly hopped on the treadmill for the last mile at a 3% incline. The grade felt easy, but the nagging issue with my shin prevented me from increasing it to a steeper level. My plan is to spend the rest of the day resting and icing my shin. Depending on how it feels in the morning, I may make adjustments to my scheduled workout tomorrow. I don't want to take something that is sore, run on it when I shouldn't, and end up injured. Fingers crossed!
Friday - February 9th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 8 miles @ easy pace (7:22-8:21/mi)
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 45:51
Avg. Pace: 9:09/mi
Route: 3mi with Maple & nearby park loop
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary: Today's run went really well. I did opt to switch the prescribed workouts for Friday and Saturday in order to reduce stress on my shin. I had zero shin pain upon waking this morning, felt none during my run, and haven't experienced any since. However, I wanted to keep the mileage and intensity lower for a day in order to ensure that I didn't cause the pain from yesterday to resurface. I believe that rest and icing yesterday was sufficient in taking care of the tenderness. Do I like switching my runs around? Not particularly. But do I believe this was the responsible choice for myself and my body? Yes, absolutely.
Saturday - February 10th, 2024
Prescribed Workout: 5 miles @ recovery pace (8:27-9:09/mi)
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:08:38
Avg. Pace: 8:34/mi
Route: beach miles
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: What a perfect way to cap off age 27! This was my final run as a 27 year old and it was wonderful. I may have made the mistake of not checking the tides before starting my run, but oh well. I got in about 1.5 miles of beautiful running on the sand before I decided that getting taken out by a sneaker wave during the King Tide was not the way I wanted this run to go. In that spirit, I look it to the roads that ran up above the waves and it was beautiful. It was also very hilly. Rather than get irritated by the fact that my original beach route was derailed, I embraced the hills as a way to get stronger. That, and there are some truly spectacular views once you get to the top of those hills, so all that climbing was well worth it. I do take my running and goals seriously, but I also love nothing better than a reason to explore and run in new areas. I never know what I might find and that is absolutely thrilling to me. Today's most shocking discovery was an adorable lil' fishing boat that was parked in front of someone's house. Now, on the coast, a boat sighting is not exactly something extraordinary, but this one was special. On the front of it was a bright orange octopus sculpture! Sure, it's not exactly how I would choose to decorate my driveway, but it definitely was fun to see. I love these little surprises that are tucked back along some of the most ordinary streets. Today was a total success and I am ready for tomorrow!
Overview
Training Phase: Preparation Phase
Training Block: General Conditioning
Total Distance: 60 miles
Summary: This week went pretty well. Overall, I am counting it as a success. There were multiple days where I encountered issues, some of my own doing and some seemingly appeared out of nowhere. However, what really stood out to me was how different my response was to these issues. I felt like I was able to look at the problems in a more logical, less emotional way than I have in the past. I diagnosed the problem, identified possible solutions, and moved forward. Being able to do that is a game changer in running and in life.
Highs: 1) beautiful run at the beach, 2) feeling confident in my ability to tackle challenging workouts
Lows: 1) the random shin pain
Things that went well: 1) using the treadmill as a way to help keep my easy runs easy, 2) continuing to stretch daily
Things that I will be altering in the future: 1) ensuring that I eat before I run, 2) practicing running a true easy pace outside, not just on the treadmill
Rating:
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