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100 on 100 leg two

August 15, 2015 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: upper 80s, very humid and hot sun, nasty

Comments:
The three hours between first and second leg went by way to quickly. It was about 1:30 when I started the second (7th total) leg. I'd drunk two Gatorades, a bottle or two of water, eaten a banana, half a PB and J, yet I didn't feel revived or particularly hydrated. Most of the guys on our team were struggling in their first legs with the heat and humidity which were surprisingly nasty for Vermont, even in August. The legs were also hillier than hoped. My second leg was intended to be 3.5, but due to course changes it had turned into 6.6. It turns out they'd published the wrong elevation map for it as well. While there was significant downhill in the first 1.5 miles, flat for some time after that, and a significant 400 ft climb from around the midway mark up to the 5 mile mark, there was NO DOWNHILL FINAL 1.5 MILES! In fact, the entire final 3 miles was all uphill and that was irritating to say the least. In fact, I really despaired quite a bit on this leg. It was some of my most frustrated racing since the half marathon in Nantucket 20 years ago. I had so much negativity that I'd decided to try and convince my teammates that we should consider dropping out of the event before our third legs.

The mile markers (like the elevation maps) were really not to be trusted, but here are my splits with recollections from four days later when I wrote this.)

5:57 (Makes sense as it was down hill through beautiful but hot countryside, but I was generally holding back.)
6:16 (12:13) I was still mostly downhill but it could also reflect a low 6 average if the first mile was marked early.
5:36 (17:50) totally bogus as it was flat and may have even included the first truly steep climb which came after the covered bridge.
7:31 (25:22) If memory serves correctly, I was going uphill for a fair bit of this, so I it possible, but probably this mile should be averaged with the previous one as the previous marker was probably early. I'd believe I had a 6:30 avg pace for these two early hilly miles.
6:33 (31:55) Seems hard to believe I was going this fast as I felt awful and was just barely holding form. I'd completely despaired by now as every bend in the road brought more uphill and not the promised downhill for which I'd been praying.
7:23 (19:19) This seems about right as I know I"d decelerated noticeably... even if averaged with the previous mile, I was certainly around 7 flat by now.
4:07 (43:26) for the final ".6 mile" At least the exchange came a bit earlier than I'd expected. I was not a happy camper during or after this leg. Again, I refueled with the same regimen described earlier and I did find a shallow mountain stream about half an hour after racing in which I stood for 2 minutes up to my ankles. I had chosen to wear my yellow racing flats for this second leg, and while they were nice and light, I felt they made my lower calves fatigue and my left foot in particular felt like it was coming down off the side of my shoe with each step on the crowned roads. Shortly after my leg, the weather changed dramatically as storms moved into the area and the res of the day was chilly and rainy which certainly made all the remaining legs easier.