MARATHON PB!

MARATHON PB

Today was my 4th marathon and my times have got quicker with each attempt. A lot of my best times recently have come early in the morning, but today I opted for a later start (10.30 am) to allow myself more time for nutrition and hydration. The truth is today I felt very strong for 37km, but my lack of endurance training became apparent in the last 5km.  That really hurt and my final split is evidence of that. Really wanted to stop with 3500m to go, but resisted. The last few km were a little ragged to say the least and recovery took a while.

My recent training has all been for the middle distances and have not rowed more than a half marathon in the last few months. I was dubious whether to have a crack at this as it is a real test of body and mind, especially in the final stages as today proved again. There is only a few days left of the rankings, so went ahead with it and a PB is happy days. Nice also to dip under the magic 2hrs 30mins.

I had fantastic support from Lee today, taking fluids and sugars on regularly which is always tricky. Congratulations also to him for his 60 min TT PB and for hitting over 16,000m. He did some digging in himself for that one. Thanks to my wife, Kirsten, for her support and for bringing the kids in to see me. Always gives me a lift.

Marathon personal best – 42,195m.