On dealing with a bad race … You’ve done the training, it’s gone well. For a 50k, you’ve covered marathon distance, you’ve hiked hills with a weighted backpack, you’ve run up and down many other hills, you’ve tested nutrition and hydration, you’ve tested your kit.

The day arrives. All is going well. And then it all goes to shit.

This was me in July. And no, I haven’t blogged since then, not because of the trauma of a race gone bad, life got in the way.

To begin, this has nothing to do with the race itself, the Chiltern Challenge with XNRG – superb organisation, lovely folks, great support, great food! It’s a great race. I did it in 2017. I knew what to expect. For me though, to say it didn’t go to plan would be an understatement.

Thirty-one miles is a long way, though short for an ultra. On the day it got up to perhaps 25c, but I’d trained for it. It started off pretty well. I was feeling good… and then, at about the half way point I got thirsty, so very thirsty. Nothing I did could quench that thirst. I drank perhaps 6 or 7 litres at least of fluids.

I’d taken party bags to fill up at the ‘feeding’ stations. Awesome flapjacks, sandwiches. By mile 18 I couldn’t eat. I’d be shoving handfuls of preztels, flapjacks, sandwiches into my mouth. I chewed and chewed and couldn’t swallow. I discretely spat out food in the bushes along the way.

And then it got worse. Getting lost in the last few miles didn’t help. Some f***er had removed the marker arrow. This had been an issue earlier in the day. I headed straight instead of turning right. So that added a half hour or so. Eight and a half hours in total…a worse result than 2017.

To say I was in a shitty mood by the end would be an understatement.

So here goes. This is how I deal with a bad race. There’s lots of advice out there. Here’s mine.

On dealing with a bad race…

 

At the end of the race

Yep. It is the end of the world. There was sobbing in the shower. Just let it out though while in public I do at least try and be discrete about it.

 

Once home

Perhaps not the best recovery strategy but I did not care. But really, another shower, lots of food, lots of sleeping.

 

The next few hours

What others were saying

Thank you all for your support and lovely comments. They were very much appreciated. But how I was feeling, another story all together!

How I really felt

I do set expectations for races. Sometimes this is around finish times, other times it’s about having fun. For this race, it was about enjoying the day, completing and the finish time. And yep, I can be a little hard on myself.

 

Over the coming days

Yep, the universe hates me! I gave myself a little while on this one. This is what I fondly think of as my temper tantrum stage coupled with a sense of ‘Why me?’ Again, I chose not to share how I was feeling as I prefer not to sound like a petulant child.

While I’m in this headspace, I do appreciate how very silly I sound, hence the not sharing.

This lasted for a few days and then it’s down to business. With a little distance between me and the race, it’s time for the review.

 

The review

Yep, time to assess what went wrong. And to be honest, I’m still not sure. I drank, a lot. Perhaps I didn’t drink enough but I was a little concerned about drinking too much. I’ve never had problems with eating on long runs – I practice for this. The heat did affect me. I remember walking up some hills in the woods and getting the shivers despite it.

 

Time to reassess

OK, so I could have always done more training, more miles, more walking with a weighted backpack. But I had done a lot more training than the year before and was feeling strong before the race.

What would I do differently? One thing would be to add something with calories to my water. I used hydration tablets but there aren’t any calories in those… other than that, I’m really not sure.

Sometimes shit happens.

 

And onto the next question

Yep, time to set some goals. I’ve signed up for a few races. I’m still running.

The future

Ahh, the optimistic phase – I think this is my favourite.

 

And what I have to do…

Yep, this isn’t going to happen all by itself! The miles, the hills, the diet, there’s work to be done.

 

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Lessons learned on dealing with a bad race

1. Let yourself be a miserable git – Sometimes shit happens. It’s important to not wallow in self-pity for too long but do give yourself some time.

2. Review – What worked? What could you have done differently?

3. Goals – Set some – another race, hang out with your club, have fun running.

4. Do the work to get back on track.

 

Would love to know how you get over a bad race. Leave your comments below.

 

And while you’re here….

It’s that time of year when lots of us bloggers bug the crap out of you in asking for votes. Yes, I’ve been nominated for Favourite Personal Blog in The Running Awards. I’d love your vote.

 

 

Happy running all!