Saint George City Half Marathon Qualifier - Month Prior

The last few weeks before the race on January 16, 2016 were pretty rough. Obligations for work, hold-overs from family Christmas and New Years, a part-time job gone awry and rain/snow/sleet every other day got in the way of my last few weeks of training.

Running the Murdock Canal Rec Path, from a park near the Cedar Hills Community Center and UTA Commuter Parking

I ran a miserable half at an 11:32 pace with really sore feet four weeks prior, see Strava capture above. I needed to hit 11:00 in order to qualify for the Pikes Ascent. I learned a few things about myself, but was nervous about implementing them in the next month and still having time to taper near the end.

Weekly outdoor running mileage, 6 weeks to St. George Half Marathon

Then the snot hit the fan, so to speak.

The last few weeks saw my decreasing daily mileage from 6+ down to 2+. Even at that though I was trying really hard to make them quality miles and try to overcome the hills. On the rec path I followed for my most recent long runs there were a few hundred feet of rolling gain and those uphills really demoralized me at that speed.

In trail running, without an exact number for a pace goal, the uphills kind of worked themselves out in the big scheme of things. I discovered that on the road, shooting for that 11:00 pace, there wasn't enough time to catch up on the way down. If my pace uphill fell to 12:00 for three minutes, I'd have to run at 10:00 for six minutes to catch up. It spooked me a bit.

Quite a bit of elevation change at the St. George City Half Marathon

Course map from the St. George City Half Marathon Website.

Watching the weather for St. George, I was also a bit spooked. Here, at 5,000' above sea level, at 35F I was wearing a base layer, a thin jacket, and Wind Stopper tights. What would it be like at 2,500'? 

The course map showed no aid stations, and I had been training for food and water about every half hour. Would I have to take my own wearing my Ultimate Directions Scott Jurek pack?

The last week before the race

I finally got a map with the aid stations from the organizers in the Whova App they were using. I took the photos and map points and converted them to a Google Earth POI map for my wife to meet me at the aid stations with a drop bag filled with emergency items, food, drink, shoe changes, and clothing changes.

With that in mind I decided to go light, without the pack I usually wear in training. I was nervous about my shoes. My fastest 10 miles were in a pair of Altra Repetition. Most of my treadmill training lately has been in Altra Instinct 3.0. My good friend, ultra runner Jarom Thurston recommended the Altra Paradigm highly. Unfortunately, with all the mess going on in my non-running life right now I wouldn't be able to get a pair in time to break in and verify they would work.

My Brooks tights had two very well placed, properly sized side pockets that I could use to carry my phone, a jell, and a bag of Jelly Belly Energy Beans. I would pick up jells to replace the ones I consumed either at the aid stations or when I hooked up with my family.

FFKR Road Bike Training Camp in Saint George UT

My 15 year old son would be attending a road bike training camp with his FFKR racing team that same weekend, and on Thursday they announced the daily hours. He'd have to be at the meeting point at 1:00 PM, and since I had to finish prior to 11:25 AM to qualify, he would be able to go along to help at the aid stations if I needed him.

I packed up my bags on Thursday, since we were leaving right after work on Friday. I was really nervous about my lack of training the last two weeks.

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.

Black Diamond Spot Headlamp Review

Under Armour Gore Windstopper Tights Review

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.

St. George Half Marathon

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The St. George Half Marathon is January 16, 2015.

I'm preparing for a road half as a qualifier for the Pike Ascent so I have a time deadline to beat. Right now that's 2:25:00 which isn't all that fast, and I have done it previously, just not within the last two years.

Treadmill Pace Run

It's really odd to be training for a road half in the winter in Utah. I've been doing quite a bit of treadmill and road work. I'll need to maintain a 10:40 pace average while moving, to allow a few minutes here and there at aid stations and to allow a cushion for the Pike Marathon organization, which has a tendency to slide that qualifying time around to suit the most recent wave of DNF's.

I've done a 10 mile run at pace, 10:34 in this shot from Strava. It's mostly downhill, but is a proof of concept about 3 months out. One consideration is that at my height and weight and age, it's quite a bit of pounding on the old joints to run this far on pavement. Another is that I've had to endure a few injuries over the past few years since my year of big running in 2011. Since then I've had to slow down and take it quite a bit easier.

Running on the rec path. Training for my Half.

Now I need to reverse that trend and move for more speed more smoothly more consistently. At least to qualify for this one. Then I need to get back on the trails and work on my vertical. You have to adjust your training for your most immediate goals. For now, it's a faster half marathon.