Plan was to do some tempo intervals up and, hopefully, sneak under my own FKT. Warmed up about 10’ easy jogging up the trail out/back and then came back and took off my pants and jacket as I was quite warm. Ran in just short shorts and a light t-shirt w/ jacket around my waist and pants rolled up into my belt so I could change into them on the top.
Workout ended up going great. I did 5’ reps and started out around 3’20-30/KSch and then settled in the mid to upper 3’30s for the “on” reps. This kept the overall pace around 3’40-45 including the rest. I knew my previous pace was 3’54, but I also knew that the last 200m or so would be quite a bit slower due to some rock scrambles.
Started out running the on reps and hiking the off reps, but that moved to just faster vs. slower hiking on the second steeper climb about 5100m. Still moving well and hit the ridge in maybe 31’ and from there kept it more or less continuous to the top. Very chilly and windy but moved well and hit the summit in 42’27 for a new FKT.
Erin was up there already (she got the women’s mark in 61’) so we hung around a bit, took some pictures, and then headed down. Met up w/ Chris about halfway down the ridge and did some sponsor shots w/ his nice camera and then walk-jogged all the way back down, scooping up Jim around 5000m on the plateau and heading down together.
Overall, this was an excellent run, especially after feeling so tired yesterday. Sometimes one good night sleep makes all the difference! This was also my first hard effort since Mera, so I’m feeling good about how the recovery is going. Excited for more to come!