Perfomance in different parts of the world

Lots of variables there. My guess is it was related to recovery, or lack thereof, from your Ironman, or possibly some fitness lost during taper and recovery, rather than location of the race. It's pretty common for people to have a prolonged recovery from an event of that distance, even if they don't feel too sore or exhausted initially. It seems to show up in more subtle ways, like ability to tolerate training, mental state, need for sleep, heart rate, etc. I haven't done full IM (have done several half ironman races), but I know personally that even after I no longer feel obvious fatigue or soreness (which for me is really just a matter of about three or four days), I'm still not back to normal in terms of training paces, and, when left to my own devices, tend to sleep about 1 to 2 hours more per night than usual. This lasts for as long as 2-3 weeks--after a half-ironman. I'm guessing full recovery could be a matter of a month or more after full IM.

As for location, maybe I'm a good test case. My job requires me to spend about 10 1/2 months a year in SE Asia, where I train and race in a very hot, humid climate. I have done races up to and including half ironman both here in SE Asia (very hot, very humid) and at home in the Pacific Northwest (typically cool to moderate conditions). While cooler weather is conducive to running somewhat faster, it really doesn't seem to make as much of a difference to overall race time as one might think. Last year, I posted nearly identical splits on the bike on two flat, windy seaside HIM courses six weeks apart in conditions of 36C and 10-15C. There has been very little difference in splits for shorter races, unless the conditions here were really extreme (as in close to 40) and then only on the run, not for swim and bike. The key variable seems to be fitness, not climate.

Edited by Hot Runner 2016-05-21 8:14 AM

Thanks a lot for this feedback, I was always thinking it might be the lack of proper recovery but still bothered me, that it made such a huge difference.
I´m guessing it was the lack of training afterwards aswell, which led to the worse marathon time.
I never stoped training but back home I have a really different job and it´s hard to find time for training. So compared to the schedule I had in Australia it was a walk in a park.

Work stress, sleep, etc. can be HUGE in terms of your ability to tolerate training, recover from events, and peak for races. I'm an international teacher, so for me, those 6-7 weeks at home in summer are really more productive for training than when I'm working full time. I can usually get in workouts any time I want to, join local groups that will push me harder in training, make sure to consistently do the "extras" like stretching, massage, and strength work, get off my feet when I'm tired, and sleep as much as I want. Essentially during the summer, I'm living the lifestyle of a pro athlete (except I don't get paid LOL). That's simply not the case when teaching fifth grade! I typically schedule an "A" race or two toward the end of the summer to take advantage of that; my first month back at school is also very busy so I tend to use that period as a recovery time to take a break from serious training.