Night Fever

So... a marathon starting at 4pm in temperatures nudging up towards 30C; obviously the sensible approach would be to start well within yourself and proceed cautiously until the heat subsided to a more comfortable level and then push on to the finish without any target time.  Only a complete idiot would storm off at quicker than PB pace and think he could maintain that level.  Guess which option I took...

My plan had been to follow the run for nine minutes, walk for one minute approach which had worked so well in hot conditions at Viking Coastal.  What I failed to do was reign in my early exuberance with the result that between my walk breaks I was actually pushing pretty hard and was up with people who are a fair bit quicker than me on a good day.  I had in mind that I am now able to complete a marathon in four hours and should start to improve on that mark.  What I had completely forgotten was the wisdom of the countless marathon running guides I have read over the years which assert that at 30C you would expect up to a 20% reduction in normal pace.  It was a pretty stupid display and did I pay for it!  By 15 miles I was spent and the race became a real grind to the finish, most runners were suffering but I was still being regularly overtaken, it actually became impossible to walk fast without going dizzy and regular rests on convenient benches became necessary.  I was amazed that I didn't record a 20 minute mile at any point.

I don't think I need to highlight what I learned from this experience!  Still, another marathon in the bag and with potentially six more in the next seven weeks, I hope the message has lodged in my brain now!

25th July 2014  Enigma Night Fever  5:24:41  #40