Yup, terrain, construction zone level is a nightmare. I usually savescum a lot there, besides game has some kind of antisoftlock feature, which heals you up to 25 hp, if you have less, after load. Also, good tip, if you saveload after using health pad it can buffer and continue to heal even if you move away from pad (mouse should be pressed). I also wanted to route slides, but speed seems very similar to usual strafe jumping, but it is much easier to fail, and in crouch position you lose your speed completely, which is very annoying. The best way to route it is to found optimal balance between strafing and sliding, maybe some specific level sections or etc. But don't count too much on my opinion, I'm new to this game too.

Not sure about it, but most runs on board had modified FOV. So I do runs with tweaker. I don't think it affects the run at all. Sliding sloppy by itself, inputs very shitty and don't always work consistently even with 120+ frames. But its good to cut corners, or jumping into tight spots. There are many other things that can be optimized besides slides.

two leaderboards, lol https://www.speedrun.com/the_maidclothes_and_machinegun