Prologue
It began the end of last summer when my daughter and I met a couple of guys at the top of Mt. Antero who said they did the Pikes Peak Ascent half marathon a few weeks earlier. One of them got my attention when he said "And you can power walk it and still get a good time." Hmmm. So I proposed to Miranda that we make the Ascent our 14er for this summer. She's no runner, and I haven't done much running for years, but she assented.
I'm 56, never had a major injury (just the broken clavicle and ribs when I tried to combine mountain biking with holding a fly rod), and, according to a (former) girl friend "not an ounce of fat on me." That may not be true, but I'm pretty thin. In my distant thirties, I did one marathon, one triathlon at half the Ironman distance, and a few half marathons. I was never unprepared or embarrassed, but never trained as hard as the pundits said one should. I think a 1:35 half marathon at altitude was probably my best result. Miranda's going to go to Grinnell, to which we took a high speed road trip a few weeks back. She suggested we do a 5k to benefit Heifer International. I had not done a race in years--and actually never a race as short as 5k--but I did a 26:05, and in the friendly, funky atmosphere of this race, would have won my age group if I'd run 46 seconds faster (unrealistic). Currently, I'm swimming one to five times a week, doing very short (400-500m) workouts, trying to apply the Zen wisdom of totalimmersion.net.
The Pikes Peak Ascent half marathon is a monster: you ascend 7,815' in 13.32 miles, starting at 6,295'. The organizers suggest you train for it as you would for a tough flatland marathon, and that you plan to take a half hour longer than you would for a marathon. You have 6 1/2 hours to finish the race, or you're not an official finisher (there are intermediate cut-offs, too) and you don't get your finisher fleece jacket. It's a tough ticket, too. I had it on my calendar to sign up the beginning of March, and the race filled in just a few days!
But we're in, and I'd once again like to be prepared and unembarrassed. But I don't see monomaniacal preparation in my future. This blog will let you know how, and what, I'm doing, and how I eventually do on August 20.
I'm 56, never had a major injury (just the broken clavicle and ribs when I tried to combine mountain biking with holding a fly rod), and, according to a (former) girl friend "not an ounce of fat on me." That may not be true, but I'm pretty thin. In my distant thirties, I did one marathon, one triathlon at half the Ironman distance, and a few half marathons. I was never unprepared or embarrassed, but never trained as hard as the pundits said one should. I think a 1:35 half marathon at altitude was probably my best result. Miranda's going to go to Grinnell, to which we took a high speed road trip a few weeks back. She suggested we do a 5k to benefit Heifer International. I had not done a race in years--and actually never a race as short as 5k--but I did a 26:05, and in the friendly, funky atmosphere of this race, would have won my age group if I'd run 46 seconds faster (unrealistic). Currently, I'm swimming one to five times a week, doing very short (400-500m) workouts, trying to apply the Zen wisdom of totalimmersion.net.
The Pikes Peak Ascent half marathon is a monster: you ascend 7,815' in 13.32 miles, starting at 6,295'. The organizers suggest you train for it as you would for a tough flatland marathon, and that you plan to take a half hour longer than you would for a marathon. You have 6 1/2 hours to finish the race, or you're not an official finisher (there are intermediate cut-offs, too) and you don't get your finisher fleece jacket. It's a tough ticket, too. I had it on my calendar to sign up the beginning of March, and the race filled in just a few days!
But we're in, and I'd once again like to be prepared and unembarrassed. But I don't see monomaniacal preparation in my future. This blog will let you know how, and what, I'm doing, and how I eventually do on August 20.
posted by Reality Man at 10:20 AM
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