My aim was to complete it in around 4h30m. I did it in 4h27m, so pretty pleased.

Couple of things learned:

BJJ does work quite well as a high intensity conditioning exercise. I’m sure this would break down if I was trying to run a better time (and probably also if I was a bit better at BJJ and so expending less energy at it). But for ‘get around without being embarrassingly slow’ combining a long run at the weekend with BJJ in the week did okay.

The long run, however, does a number on your ability to recover. Once I get over the half marathon distance I really feel it during the week. I had to cut the number of BJJ sessions and basically give up on the weights for a bit to make it through (although part of this might also be laziness and lack of organisation). I’m going to try to keep up some running, but I’ll be glad to stay under 21k for a bit.

I picked up a fitbit with a HR monitor recently. It’s fascinating to see how long your heart rate stays elevated post-maraton. Mine was still 100+ hours later and was about 90 when I went to bed. It’s now back to normal.