When the going is easy it’s tempting to take it easy. My youngest has a Khan Academy project that she has planned to finish by Christmas. My daughter’s plan is to knock over two sections a day. Today was an easy day.
I once trained for a mountain race and learned from a friend of mine that you walk the tough bits, run the flat bits, and risk your life (and your quads) on the downhill sections. It’s a lot of fun.
The trap is to compare your uphill pace to when the going is good. But who does that? I can tell you it’s only novices. Anyone who has ever run in the mountains knows to work with the terrain.
To cover ground quickly you first need to be flexible enough to vary your pace.