Training Goals for Pikes Peak Ascent

I've been wanting to do the Pikes Peak Ascent now for quite some time. I'm in the process of qualifying with a half marathon time of 2:25 or better. I'm shooting for the St. George City Half Marathon January 16, 2016.

As soon as that's done I need to start training for the Pikes Peak Ascent. I managed to get hold of the results from the past five years and compiled them into a spreadsheet of goal times.

Key	Age	Top 10 Finish	Top 10 Pace	Top 3 Finish	Top 3 Pace	Top 10 VAM
Averages	56.58	3:28:44	0:15:40	3:12:57	0:14:29	688.02

The above row is from my spreadsheet, and represents averages from the previous five years, 2010 - 2015 as found on the Pikes Peak Marathon WEBSITE. Now I realize fully that I am not in a position to train as much as necessary for a top three finish, let alone a top ten finish, but it makes for some admirable goal setting for training.

As you can see below, hitting a half marathon distance on an incline treadmill set at 12% requires about a 13:38 pace, slightly better than the average top three finish pace. It's been a long time since I've run at 12% so I can't say right off how doable it is.

On the other hand, if you look at the Stepmill calculator results, hanging out at 65 steps per minute for three hours is quite doable. I've done it several times while training for Elbrus Race. The problem of course is adding in the extra effort of moving forward, since the Stepmill comes in about 12 miles short of a half marathon.

Stepmill Training Goals: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Steps/Minute: 65
Vertical Feet: 7800.00
Miles: 1.66
Average MPH: 0.554
Average Pace: 108:18
Vertical/Hour: 2600.00'
Vertical/Minute: 43.33'
VAM: 792.5

Incline Treadmill: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Distance: 13.2
Incline: 12%
Elevation Gain: 8363.52'
Average MPH: 4.4
Average Pace: 13:38
Vertical/Hour: 2788'
Vertical/Minute: 46.46'
VAM: 849.7

Saint George City Half Marathon Info

As I've mentioned previously, I need to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent next August by completing a half marathon under a time goal of 2:25:00. That might seem easy to lots of "real runner" but as I've stated several times already, I'm not one.

I've been training during the week on a treadmill to hit my Pace and Tempo goals, and on Saturdays I've been doing my long runs outside, mostly in the early morning hours.

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Race Weather & Climate
Located in Utah’s southeastern corner, just over 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas, St. George typically experiences very hot summers, but moderately cool to cold weather conditions in January, when the city’s average monthly temperatures range between 29°F and 55°F.
On race day (Jan. 16), the average low is 29°F and its average high is 55°F, while rainfall totals average just under 1.3 inches and snowfall totals average about 1.5 inches for the month, making January the city’s wettest month of the year on average. From Half Marathons .net

I've been cycle commuting between my home and the Lehi Frontrunner train station, 9+ miles a few days a week. The amount of snow recently has slowed me down some. When I was much younger I was a year round cycle commuter, riding nearly 30 miles a day 4 days a week through the winter, rain, snow, ice, hail, whatever. I was much younger then. I'm much more fragile now.

I've had to dig around on the net some to get a course map and elevation profile, since the link on the official Half Marathon Website is broken.

Still no info on aid stations, etc, but I am planning on going self-sufficient, just like in training. That being said, the Pikes Ascent is best done self-sufficient due to the spacing between some of the aid stations. Unless you're doing a 3 hour ascent there will be some big gaps there.

Pikes Peak Ascent Registration Details Posted

Pikes Peak Ascent: Aug 20th 7:00AM

For 2016, runners will be assigned to a starting wave based on their qualification time.

There are three ways to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent:

Peak Rookies

Anybody who has not run either the Pikes Peak Ascent or Pikes Peak Marathon in the past 3 years (2013+) is considered a Peak Rookie for registration purposes.

To qualify, you must have completed a half-marathon in under 2:25:00 or a marathon in under 5:45:00.

Any full or half marathon run in the past 2 years (Jan 1st, 2014+) may be used. Longer races, splits from longer races, triathlons, ultras, etc, will not be considered. You can use either your "Gun" or "Chip" time.

11.4 miles long/slow run Saturday Dec. 5th at the crack of dawn

Registration opens March 12th at Noon MST

There you have it. Finally the details for the registration  for the 2016 Pikes Peak Ascent. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while now, but training for it and Elbrus Race in the same year has been difficult up to now. I was qualified for it up to 2014, having a good enough result in the Steamboat Springs Half Marathon in 2012. I'm planning on qualifying in January 2016 at the St. George Half Marathon. If that fails I have a backup plan in the Dogtown Half Marathon in southern Utah in February. Remember, results in the half have to be publicly available at the organizer's website. That cuts out a lot of the mom and pop fun runs, even some reasonable small local charity runs.