UVHM
I had an aggressive goal of 1:09 range today. I knew it would be a stretch but I thought there was a chance.
I met up with Riley, Brett and Taylor at the starting line. Taylor and I had similar goals and decided to start out together and take turns leading. The first 3 miles are net even. We were right on pace (5:17, 5:17, 5:25) for the grade but I could tell after 3 miles that the effort was too high. I thought about backing off but decided to go for broke; what have I got to loose?
The next 4 miles are the fastest and they felt good (5:13, 5:05, 5:13, 5:17). At this point it becomes a more gradual downhill and I started to feel a little lactate accumulation. 8 & 9 (5:19: 5:25) were still ok but by the end of 9 I was quickly moving into "hold on for dear life" mode. Scott was on the course at this point and ran with me for a couple miles. Benjamin passed me around 10 and I wished him well with his sub 1:10 goal. He just missed it.
The next 4 are were not very fun. I was out of gas by the little hill at 10 and couldn't get back to pace the rest of the race. (5:30, 5:41, 5:33, 5:38, :45). I was fighting off thoughts like, "remind me why do I do this again?"
I was clearly not fit enough to run that time and I paid for it the last few miles. It was worth it though. How can you know how much is there unless you lay it all out?
Lots of good performances and a well organized race. I'll back next year!
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