Weekly summary

What a week! Tried to semi-taper for the IM marathon and that went well, although I felt terrible at the beginning of the week but picked up towards the end. Managed 36k before the IM which I was happy with and would have got more however Friday got away from me and I didn't run.

Saturday was hot, hot, hot!!! Our swimmer (my Uncle) had a great swim with 54:xx and our cyclist was having a great ride for 160k then hit the wall big time and came in around 5:55. Now I mentioned it was hot and not long before I started I heard someone say it was 35 degrees - and it felt it too.

I had given up all time goals now and was simply looking to run how I felt. Started out at a comfortable pace going through 6k in 29:50, then I started to feel the heat and the legs felt so heavy. I felt like I'd been running hard for 2hrs and it wasn't even 1hr. I was throwing 2 cups of iced water on my head at every aid station to try to keep cool and it was working. But to give you an idea of the heat, I would be wet after every aid station but by the time i reached the next one (2k) I was pretty much dry!

Felt fantastic between 15k and 25k and put in some real solid k's and 3:20 was looking like a possibility, but then my stomach problems started. I was so hungry as I started just after 1pm and hadn't really had lunch. The unusual start time played havoc with my nutrition strategy so at 25k I decided to go into survival mode. I walked the aid stations and ensured I drank water, cola and had some food. This slowed me down a lot but I was still running well between aid stations. I was also beginning to feel the cumulative effect of the heat so drinking was my number one priority. I wanted to get through the run well but not spend a few days recovering.

I battled through to the 36k mark and was starting to feel a little better and with 6k to go I decided to lift the pace. I still stopped at one more aid station but only breifly and then I began my finishing run. I was flying over the last 3k or so and looking at my splits from the net I covered the last 6.2k in just over 28 minutes. I was very relieved to cross the finish line in 3:37 (3:39 including transition) and although thirsty, hungry and so hot, I actually felt pretty good. I ended up with the 13th fastest marathon time out of the 110 teams and we came 20th in 10:31, not a bad effort at all really.

I ran 7k the next day and felt good so will be back to training this week for six inch in 2 weeks time. All up I managed 85k this week.