Pikes Peak Ascent training – Week 2
The week 1 post is here.
Week 2 is five EASY RUNs with Monday and Wednesday off on both the Hanson Half and Full/Beginner training plans. This is the same basic schedule through Week 4 on both plans. Week 5 adds a tempo run on Thursdays. Week 6 starts the “run 6 days out of seven” putting a easy run on Monday and speed work on Tuesday.
My previous Hanson’s training started in August and ended in December, all in Houston…i.e., it went from too hot to run to good weather.
This time, I’m starting in April, running in Houston through the end of June, then running in Denver in July and August.
That previous week 2 post had some charts on running in the heat, which I won’t need this time (unless we get one of those Houston June heat waves) but you can review them at the link.
Week 2 schedule:
- Monday:off day – EASY RUN 4.34 mi in 40:42 9:23 min/mi
- Tuesday: easy 2 mi – EASY RUN 5.0 mi in 46:09 9:13 min/mi. The Hanson plan is to pace the easy runs 1-2 minutes slower than your projected race pace. Even though my real race pace will be 16-18 min/mi up the mountain, I’m training for an 8 minute pace. Given what I’ve read about training at high altitudes, it would be a good thing to run a true half-marathon after spending some time running in Colorado. These runs, though I am just loping along, seem easy…mostly likely due to the fact that I went through this same training August-December, and only took a bit of time off at the end of December and early January.
- Wednesday: off day
Thursday: easy 3 mi – EASY RUN 3.5 mi in 34:15 9:47 min/mi. I didn’t run far or fast, trying out my new trail shoes (with no trail or hills to be found). I did get a pair of Newton BOCO trail shoes, and man do they feel quite different from my other Newtons (Sir Isaac). You can click on the photos of the shoes to the right to see larger versions. These shoes have the normal Newton ridges across the front, but also have quite a bit more in the heel and across the toe, for gripping on the trail (I presume). It will take a bit to get used to these; I plan to save them for running trails when we get to Colorado. And yes, my Newton Sir Isaac’s are PACKERS GOLD, these we’ll just call PACKERS GREEN! The larger image below shows the tread of the non-trail vs. the trail Newtons (Sir Isaacs/Yellow on the left and BOCO/Green on the right). A lot more grip on the sides and the raised part of the BOCOs.
- Friday: easy 3 mi – EASY RUN 4.52 mi Run / Jog 44:02 9:44 min/mi.
- Saturday: easy 3 mi – EASY RUN 4.01 mi Run / Jog 37:02 9:15 min/mi.
- Sunday: easy 4 mi – EASY RUN 8.01 mi Run / Jog 1:18:14 9:46 min/mi. I tried a new running app today called “iSmoothRun” (not the best name for an app). I’ve been using MapMyRun and it has some accuracy issues – (a)it is inconsistent in pace, and (b)it is frequently asking me to spin the iPhone to calibrate, which does not exude confidence. MapMyRun is free, and iSmoothRun is not, but I’d read about its interval training, its ability to drop back from GPS, and the capability to automatically capture weather. It also has the capability to handle intervals, and has a built-in metronome (I was using a metronome app for pacing). Today I was running both programs together, to see what the different results were, and the results were not good. iSmoothRun has an auto-pause feature, and apparently every time I put it into the background (to change the music, for example), it apparently when into “auto-pause” (I knew this because when I brought it back to the foreground, it would say “auto-paused” and then quickly “resumed”. I contacted iSmoothRun support, and, on a Sunday, they responded very quickly…but they told me that the app should indeed work in the background. More experimentation with it tomorrow, as it has a lot of promise.
Total recommended: 15 mi (2+3+3+3+4 easy)
Actual: 29.4 mi (4.34+5+3.5+4.52+4.01+8.01 easy) (last time through – 22.5 miles in week two)
Next week’s schedule (week 3) is a total of 21 miles (5 easy runs, two off days) on both plans.
