I don't know if I can spare a week to make it up one 14er in CO, given the limitations of life. I thought the following was decent lead time and exertion at altitude before attempting PP by way of easier hikes and acclimatization activities.

Day 1: Flew to DEN, drove to Frisco (~9K') for overnight. Previous highest sleeping altitude the day of leaving home was ~7K' where I've had no problems at all and was able to handle activities at 10-12K' next day with no physical ill-effects. But my sleeping alitude delta threshold must be somewhere between 7K'-9K'. I had a mild headache by the time I reached Frisco and it was still there when I fell asleep. I had stayed hydrated all day and didn't do any sodas or alcohol.

Day 2: Planned to do some hiking as acceptable to the body. Went up the North 10 Mile Creek Trail in Frisco. Went up about 800' (of the ~1K' total) and had to turn back at a stream/creek/waterfall. I wasn't carrying my poles and I felt I may not be able to cross it back safely, though crossing it on the outbound seemed doable. Didn't want to slip/injure myself so close to the PP hike. Mild headache stayed with me the whole time but nothing worse than that. The headache was gone by late afternoon. Slept in Frisco.

Day 3: Hiked up Mt. Sniktau, to the summit. No problems. Breathless, yes, but otherwise fine. Gorgeous day.

I don't recall if I ever needed to come to a full stop to catch my breath like I was doing on PP after Barr Camp. Met a guy shortly below the summit who said there was a summit marker. I don't know what that means as I couldn't see anything that I'd call a "marker". I made sure that there was no more up to go in any direction. I had already come up and down a summit-ish hump before reaching the real summit here.

Due to my limitations, coming down took as long as going up. I also lost the trail a few times when it dead-ended into a bunch of rocks/boulders, once on a very steep slope. But I knew where Loveland Pass was so I wandered around in the appropriate direction till I could see the trail again. It was a bit disconcerting since going up was not as confusing. I wasn't delirious or anything . Good that there were no deadlines, so I could take my time as needed. From there, I drove to Summit Lake and hiked up for ~30 mins along the road (closed to vehicles) before turning back. Drove to CO Springs. I had some pain in my knees that evening (definitely from the descent on Sniktau) and wondered if I had been unwise to do it. Was exhausted by bedtime but felt fine otherwise. Slept in COS (6.5K').

Day 4: Day of rest and light activity. Knee pain was gone. Drove up to PP summit. Hiked about 200+' down Barr Trail and back up. Seemed easy enough on fresh legs and body . But I was glad even then that I would not be hiking down that trail. No headache or any other altitude issues. Felt very optimistic for the PP hike next day. Slept in COS.

Day 5: PP hike. Could not reach my goal.

But I had a nice trip otherwise. On my drive back to DEN via scenic routing (nice fall colors), I drove to Guanella Pass to see how high I could go on Mt. Bierstadt. Made it more than halfway up (13K' per the altimeter on my watch) before having to turn back to catch my flight home.

I could do that kind of descent but I had not quite reached the scree on Bierstadt, nor did the trail have big rock "steps" that totally kill me while descending.

I know the rest step but don't have the discipline to practice it, probably because I don't need it normally. When time is of essence, it's even harder to choose a technique that slows you down further. When I turned back on PP, it was not because my body was tired but because I could not see me having the pace to make it in time. That's why it was emotionally hard to turn back as I felt I could do it, if not for the time risk. Rest step would probably have made it even slower.

I am a slow and steady hiker with well synchronised deep breathing, both of which I have developed over the years of lots of hiking. I don't need to stop in 6, 10+ miles of uphill hiking (below 8K') at a decent pace for reasons of exhaustion or fatigue. My quads, hamstrings, calf muscles, glutes don't complain (next day either).

I will need to move to a high altitude place to gather empirical data about the overall pace when hiking long distances, with or without the rest step.

Thanks.