The start of the reverse cardiac drift does line up with finishing the first lap and I did feel more comfortable on the 2nd and 3rd laps. Shame that I couldn’t push harder on the uphills but altitude be altituding.
I think the 1st vs 2nd half speed difference is moot. I gave it more thought and looked at the elevation change. The 1st half was 1900 ft with a avg gradient 0.8% compared to the 2nd half which was 1200 ft and -0.8%. I suppose one has to compare full laps to determine splits. Wasn’t thinking straight last night…