Notes
Just the best kind of trail day: weather and trail conditions. If anything, it was too perfect as there were a good amount of bikers out and about. My goal was to get two course records, which meant I'd be doing 1 lap tempo, with the first half a bit harder as I wanted to bit a mtb time.
I could tell from the warm-up that I wasn't going to feel great, I had that congested, hard-to-breathe feeling. Maybe not surprising as neither of the past 2 days of recovery felt good, or maybe it was something I ate or doing abs earlier. Nevertheless, my legs were feeling good and the sour stomach wasn't enough to ruin this day.
The first half of the loop was net downhill, and I felt like I was pounding a bit as I hit the turns hard. I worked hard but felt strong, 8 min didn't make sense to me as I was trying to break 9, but I was apparently rolling. I did take a step back after halfway to catch my breath, this included an uphill that I didn't take very hard. Then I gradually picked it up for the last mile. Ended up crushing the lap record too. I guess I was mistaken that these were 2 segments, I thought they were 2 that I've been unable to grab in the past, but now I'm thinking this was my first real go at them. Next time I'm going to the real deal.