Notes
First time up to Mags for a true effort since last summer. We had a small group of me, Will, Syd, Jarrod and Brody. We all had the same instructions, "16 miles, strong effort, progress on the way back." I was feeling excited, but also nervous. The first mile is a gimme every time so we jogged down casually before hitting Firehouse Hill and I was immediately ejected from the back, despite working to keep the gap to a minimum, it was clear we were rolling early. In the use of a common tactic up here, I rolled the downhills to close gaps on Will and Jarrod, but the other two were already pressing further up ahead of us. I caught back up just in time for Guardrail Hill and that's where things really blew apart. I passed Jarrod early on but Will shot ahead and would catch Brody and Syd before the top. My legs were already searing from the climb and I reasoned I'd be no good on the return if I broke myself 4 miles in. I picked my way along the road and through gasping breaths and crumbing legs, I made it to the top. I stumbled down the next couple of strides before reconstituting to stronger mechanics. The 5-mile Hill climb came quickly and was a matter of survival as I realized I wouldn't bring the guys back before the flip, but I'd run the second quarter of this completely alone. Tried to get the pace back where I could, but didn't make too much of a dent as far as I could tell. 51:38 on the way out. Stopped for a quick pee at the turn with everyone else then set about getting back to the car. I wanted to run 6:10 pace or better for the average, so I would have to really move to get that. Brody was just doing 14 today but was on a mission and immediately dropped us again. I felt reinvigorated running with the guys and pressed the next climb to maintain my connection, but one thing became very clear, I was willing to bomb the descents and after coming down the 5-Mile Hill, I had about 100m on Syd and Will. They were eating into that gap on the next few uphills but I would extend every time we had a downhill section. I flipped around at the top of Guardrail since I realized I needed them to spur me along on the climbs. We rolled along together once more and the next break didn't come until Syd bolted from us with just over 2 miles to go. I gave chase and in the process realized how close I was to the sub-6:10 goal. I absolutely sent the Firehouse downhill and flew along at 4:50 pace for a bit before hitting the bottom of the valley. I had a single mile-long climb to the finish and my quick math told me I needed to run 6:40 or better, which given my bodily state was a tall order. I powered up the best I could but I was deteriorating and my knees weren't lifting particularly well so I relied on pushing off my calves even more than usual. I didn't check the pace but knew it was going to be a challenge so I put the pedal down just a bit more once I saw the cars. Managed to run 46:39 for the second half. Challenging run this morning and overcame an early shitty-feeling to roll well at the end.