Hills, Hills, Everywhere

So, today I got brutalized by a hill. The reports of the race were not exaggerated. The hills on the run were insane. They just kept coming and coming and coming. By the time I hit the 2 mile point, and was up over the hills, my legs were gone. I knew I had 70 minutes to do the 10k to break the 3 hour mark for the race. On fresh legs, I can run a sub-50 minute 10k, but this was neither fresh legs, nor flat.

Dug in, dropped into my zone, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Managed to choke down some water/gatorade at the water stops. Finished a Gu energy gell at mile 3 as a little pickme up. Passed the 4 mile mark, grabbed some water, and promptly got a wicked cramp. Had to walk for about a minute until it subsided. Then picked up running again. Decided at that point, no more water stops, just get home. Dug in again, and just plowed on.

The big hill was no fun going down, as due to the steepness, it blasted my knees. Fortunately, they are a in pretty good shape so they were able to take it. Just kept turnover high so I wasn't hitting too hard. Picked up the pace the last mile and ran it about 8min and change, which is how I pulled off my time.

Here's the breakdown:

Swim 1500m: 25:51
Transition 1: 2:08
Bike 40 km: 1:20:12
Transition 2: 1:03
Run 10 km: 1:01:09

Total Time: 2:50:21

And now that that's done, I'm going to go take a well deserved rest.