Melbourne Marathon

I decided yesterday to switch my entry from the half marathon to the full. Glad I did. Whilst I didn't run a PB or even a sub 2:40, I ran a satisfying 2:41:04. The conditions were generally not too bad. Temperature increased from 12.5 degrees to 13.9 degrees, but there was a bit of wind about and the humidity was high.

For me, the most pleasing thing was running a well controlled race with fairly even splits. The first half I covered in 80:30 and the second 80:34. The conditions were certainly tougher heading back with more running into the wind and a couple of smallish climbs that felt very tough at the time. 

I'm already looking forward to my next marathon and am keen to see if I can maintain the consistency or possibly even improve. My past 4 marathons have been within 84 seconds of each other. I still feel like I'm improving and am certainly learning more about myself along the way. Bringing the altitude chamber into my programme and experimenting with beetroot juice seems to have been a winner. I also feel the Carnova Special Blocks have been very worthwhile. 

Getting crook a few weeks back was far from ideal and it certainly meant I needed to adjust the programme on the fly and shorten the taper period to only 6 days. So whilst I felt strong enough today, I lacked freshness and ran on very heavy legs. Flying down the day before is a mistake I wouldn't repeat. Far too much walking around when I should've been laying on the bed reading or watching movies. 

So that's Melbourne Marathon #2 and #14 overall done and dusted. My enthusiasm is as strong as it was when I first started nearly 7 years ago and most importantly I'm still having fun. The friendships and experiences along the way have truly been wonderful. I wouldn't swap this sport for any other. I just love it!