thought I was stronger on the hills

Good thing it wasn't cold this morning. 25 degrees, little to no wind most of the way. Sure seemed to cool off towards the end of the run, though. Just me and the fast master this morning from Lascassas Baptist Church. I had a fast finish long run scheduled and he just wanted 22 easy miles. I compromised and ran his route, he compromised and ran my pace. Should have been win, win for both of us. Only problem, I couldn't seem to hold back in those early miles. Kept the heart rate at or below 150 bpm for the first 12 miles. (but still to close to marathon pace)

From the start, I knew we were going 22 miles. (good thing we actually only ended up with 19.8) So I was only drinking every 4 miles. Felt really good in the early miles. Pretty nice route, I'd ridden parts of it on the bike, but never ran the entire loop. It is one of the go to routes for the fast guys. Geez, I can see why they are so tough. The early hills are deceiving, no big climbs, just lots of little rollers. Good times.

It was at 12 miles in that I was going to click into marathon pace and then hold that for the last 8 miles home, or so that was the plan. First mile was tough to get into pace, looking at the map, I can see why, it was a slight rise to a monster hill. So much for marathon pace up the hill it wasn't happening. Really thought my lungs were going to explode. Coming back down the other side was the only thing that keep me going, next mile missed MP by 12 seconds. Arggh. Then another little climb. Only 3 miles into the MP effort and its all falling apart. The next little hill sucked the rest of the breath out of me and I caved. Stopped, tried to catch my breath and pee. Nothing coming out, guess I hadn't been drinking enough, and probably should have taken one more succeed cap.

Thankfully, the fast master hung around at the top of that little hill while I had my little pity party. We then slogged up the last Spain hill, coming from this direction, its the 3rd or 4th hill and the steepest. Decided to try and make the best of the workout and go MP home. It's all downhill so it should have been a piece of cake. Well, the heart rate said I was going MP, but the actual pace was slowing for the last 3 miles. Starting cramping in my neck and jaw in the final mile. So, I guess slightly dehydrated. I stopped when we got to the car. The fast master went ahead and tacked on the difference so he'd have 20 miles.