I started with a plan for about 7:07/km, which would bring me home in 5 hours - not my fastest, but not my slowest either. Positioned myself at the front of the field to get a good start, and quickly settled in with Cliff Harrison. The early kms were way to fast for my level of fitness, with the first three being 6:28, 6:43, and 6:31. Oh well, I might as well go with this and see how it would turn out. Through 10km in 1:06:28, a good 4 minutes faster than target. The hills after 10km were generally welcome, providing variety, although they seemed bigger than I remembered them!
Through 20km in 2:16:43, still 4 minutes faster than target, indicating that the last 10km was pretty much at goal pace. A quick toilet stop but I didn't lose much time from that. Down the hill, through the drink station, and turn on to the main road at around 25km. And all of a sudden it started to get hard. My pace was consistently slower than 7:00/km now, and slowed further going up the hill. I still felt ok heading up the hill, but didn't have the fitness to maintain my walking style. Down the other side of the hill I picked up pace again, but was unable to regain my style and slowed drastically.
Through 30km in 3:30:42, I was now on goal time for the 30km, but that meant I had lost roughly 4 minutes in the last 10km (24s/km slower than target). While "on goal time" sounded good, the reality was that I was feeling anything but good. Before long I was slower than 7:30/km and was getting quite sore. A stop for a glute stretch provided temporary relief, but before long I slowed again and ended up walking with my arms down. Another stretch at 36.5km , have a Gu and refuel at the 37km drink station, and stretch again at 38km.
From here everything slowly started to come right. Initially it was just mental, making myself walk with better form and at whatever speed I could manage. But the more I did that the faster I got. Back out on to the main road in to Rotorua, and I was able to accelerate the whole way up the gentle hill and all the way to the finish line. My finish time was 5:15:11, my slowest ever walking marathon.
Pace and elevation chart
In retrospect it seems obvious that going out too fast was a significant contributor to my performance. I had also been having issues with various muscles (lower back, piriformis, glute med) prior to the race, and these were the muscles that required stretching later in the event. But also of note was my significant loss of pace from 32km-38km. I was due to have a Gu just before the 32km drink station, but instead had a small amount of another product, intending to have more later. It looks like I was already fatigued and possibly needed to have an entire Gu right then, but I didn't. The next Gu wasn't until 37km, and I started to come right 1km after that.
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