The muddiest uphill is where you pass people. Hard sections are where the race actually moves.

On easy ground everybody performs about the same, so nothing changes hands. The difficult section spreads the field, because that is where preparation, pacing and willingness to be uncomfortable actually differ. Races move on the parts people dread. The same holds for a term, a season, or any group doing something hard together.

Identify the hardest stretch of what you are in, the week with everything in it or the final third of the session, and plan for that specifically rather than hoping to survive it. Decide in advance what you will do once it starts to hurt. That is where ground gets made up.