{"id":33,"date":"2018-10-10T22:16:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T04:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ojennes.com\/wp\/?p=33"},"modified":"2018-10-24T07:31:35","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T13:31:35","slug":"pre-qualification-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ojennes.com\/wp\/2018\/10\/10\/pre-qualification-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Qualification Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have run before, but it was purely for regular exercise. I had never trained for a race, and had never run more than 10 miles in a single run. \u00a0So in May of 2018 when I decided to attempt to do the 2019 Pikes Peak Ascent, it meant I had about 14 months to get ready. The first step was to get into shape to run a half-marathon in under 2:25:00. The Ascent has a qualification requirement in order to register for it. There is a second option which is to sign up for the triple crown race series, which is a 10 mile race in June, a half marathon in July and then the Ascent in August. This format still requires that you have a qualifying time on the June or July race. \u00a0So my plan was to qualify in the fall of 2018 so that I could concentrate on training for the Ascent from November to August.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In order to get running again, I started with an 8 week 10K training program from\u00a0www.halhigdon.com<\/a>. After completing that and then taking a rest week. I started the Novice 2 Half Marathon Training program, again from \u00a0www.halhigdon.com<\/a>. I did have to adjust the training to remove one week in order to line up with the half-marathon that I registered for.\u00a0\u00a0I decided to remove week 10 from the training plan in order to match up with the schedule.<\/p>\n

I chose to have a goal of 2:10:00 for the half-marathon. My thinking was that this would give me some extra time in case race day was hot, or if I was not prepared for some reason and had a bad day. This goal is basically a 10 minute pace. During the training, I would set my goal at 10 minutes per mile for any run that was 5 miles or longer and would attempt to run faster on the shorter run days. I think this approach worked pretty well, although, \u00a0I would say that keeping a good attitude when I did not reach the goal pace was really a key. You can see in the image that many of the long run days I was not able to complete the run in the 10 min pace. I really tried to stay positive after those runs, often the weather was a big factor in those times, which helped my attitude. The worse times were often on days that were pretty warm out. The week 7 run was another big positive week. I completed the 9 miles at a 9:57 pace and felt great after finishing. We even went on a 6 mile hike just a couple hours after finishing that run! I must admit, I was a bit nervous after the 12-mile run, the pace was much slower than I wanted on that run, at 10:36.<\/p>\n

You may notice some much slower paces in the image. Since the Ascent is a hike up a mountain, I decided to do trial runs on Wednesdays, when I could. Some of those included long uphill sections, leading to much slower average paces.<\/p>\n

In the end this training led to a race day pace of 9:46 per mile.<\/p>\n

Here is the image of my notes from the training:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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