Well, I trained hard but missed my goal…. What now?

I’ve been there - you put in 16, 18, 20+ weeks of work only to show up on race day and have everything go sideways. Maybe the day was warmer than you expected. Perhaps that tried and trusted GU didn’t sit right this day. Maybe you were getting sick the week of and it’s catching up to you. There are so many factors to consider on race day and they all impact us differently.

First - Your race result is not your worth. Repeat that again. Whatever happened during that 13.1 or 26.2 does not define who you are as a runner or your ability. (Did you know there are strong and fast runners who never put a bib on or cross a finish line? Does that make them any less strong or fast?)

Let’s dive into some of the most common reasons our race goes upside and some tactics you can use to manage/adjust. Throughout our race our mindset will change and we will need to know how to adjust on the fly. Those crappy workouts you had? Those are going to be the workouts that create your mindset when the race gets tough. Those workouts that you felt like you were floating? Those are the confidence boosters you need at the start. Let’s dive in:

Training did not match the goal

Let’s get the uncomfortable statement out of the way. I see this all the time, first time or new-ish (1-3 events) endurance athletes over estimate their ability due to running every workout a little too fast and think they can throw down a number that they’ve never hit in training. Fun Fact: If you’ve never been close to that number/pace in training, you are not going to hit it on race day. There is magic in the taper but not enough magic to take your marathon pace to your threshold pace in two weeks of recovery. I would so much rather an early marathon/half marathoner go out a little slower than they are capable so they learn what happens to their body as the race progresses. Stay in control vs letting the race control you. Maybe you missed a few key workouts, no biggie. But if you missed a significant amount of runs - no matter what your time trial results say, that marathon time is probably not going to happen.

The weather was HOT

This is the worst, you register for a fall race expecting a perfect 50 degree day on race day. Only to be met with 80 degrees plus humidity which feels cruel. That long run you did in August, well that’s gonna be race day. A hot and/or humid day can add up to 30 mins to your race time! There is no hack to running your 50 degree marathon pace at 80 degrees - unless you trained in a sauna and did extreme heat adaptation. You will be slower - you are not slow, you are running slower to accommodate the added effort of running in the heat. For some of us (many) we find this out the hard way. We bonk. Hard. We vow to do better next time.

Nutrition went wrong

You didn’t do anything wrong, you used what you trained with but for some reason it didn’t work. This can happen most often when we travel. There are more nerves more anxiety. This is all felt in the gut. Some of us are more naturally anxious than others - me telling you not to be anxious is like saying don’t breath. I get it. This is when my principle “know thyself” is super important. If you are more anxious then do not plan a PR when you have to travel half way around the world for a marathon. Save it for a race that you have more control over - a local one or minimal distance. Yes it’s fun to run your best time or make the trip (and money) “worth it” by hitting a PB. But if that’s not you, stop forcing it. Instead shift your focus to a PR effort - know you ran with smarts and took in the course. Soaked up the experience.

But Coach, what do I do when I’m in the race and I start to feel the wheels come off??

How we start the race does not need to be how we finish the race. We are not a loser or less than if we make adjustments. I love to remind athletes to borrow from the Pros - they adjust when the day changes and do not force a square peg into a round hole because they proclaimed a PR at the starting line. (OK some do, but that’s a very small group) Making compromises on the course to meet the demands of the day is the smartest thing you can do. Check in with yourself - have you experienced this feeling in training? Yes? Ok, how did you react. What did you do? Can you replicate that? HR feeling super high and getting nauseous? What happens if you slow to a recovery jog like in a track workout? Can you find control?

One of my favorite reminders to athletes is that they don’t need to walk when it gets tough, they need to slow down and find control. They get fixated on a pace that they “have” to run. So they run that pace, then walk. Instead finding a pace in between that isn’t that hard of an effort but they can get into a rhythm can be a huge confidence booster. (Plus let’s the body reset as you aren’t pushing the HR to the max doing intervals)

I’ll leave you with this..

Look, sometimes a race sucks. We’ve all been there. When it starts to suck I like to turn my watch to time of day or time elapsed and tap into my effort. Am I giving what I have to give in this moment for this day? That is what my mindset goes to. It may not be what my body is trained for but it’s what I have to give that day. The smartest thing you as a runner can do is finish a race without breaking yourself for a time that honestly, not many people will remember. Yes your ego might be bruised but at the end of the day your fitness is improved, you are hopefully healthier and you gain joy stepping out the door for the run.

Happy Running - Coach D