Notes
I've no idea how to gauge this effort. Went out much too hard the first half mile given what was coming. I tried to hang in on the first climb and did okay at continuing to run for about 2/3 of the 2.1 mile hill. After that I switched to walk/run as I could. The "road" was a minimum maintenance logging path. Much of it was good shape and like a gravel road, but some was pretty rutted and rocky.
I took a breath at the top and ripped back down the hill. I flew through so many runners I couldn't keep track. Only a couple of sections where I was truly out of control coming down, but I had to make up a little ground on others on the way down.
I paused at the turn to grab some chews and find a drink. This probably cost me at least a couple of minutes to work through the crowd, but it was probably worth it on the second trip. The second time up was MUCH more of a walk/run. I was pretty shot. About halfway up, came up on a woman who'd fallen and had blood streaming down her face. Not much to do...she was getting help, but it slowed down my second descent out of pure fear.
Still come down fairly hard on the second trip, but much more in control. Was difficult to tell where I was in the race. I knew I was in fourth overall, but apparently got passed somewhere by another person so ended up in 5th.
Fun to have a race effort in there.
Training Plan Entry
Strides
8 mi
7 miles at any effort that feels good and comes naturally to you Brian. Finish up the run with 8 x 15 seconds at a hard effort. 45 second jog recoveries.