Learning from Races

Eight years ago I ran my worst half marathon. It wasn’t just one of my worst finish times, it was hands down the worst half marathon I ever ran — and I’ve run a few doozies! Including the race pictured above. I didn’t injure myself, but I had GI issues, which I never have — except for that one race.

I thought I trained really well for this race. Race day dawned with perfect running weather — and that has happened very rarely in the 20 or so halfs I’ve run. Mr. Judy, Chester, and Lola were with me at the start line — the only race the dogs were able to come to the start. The course was relatively flat for New England.

The catch? Despite what I thought was a great training cycle, two weeks before the race my knee started to hurt. I didn’t seek advice from anyone. I didn’t really have a running support system — I’d only been running halfs for two years and hadn’t had any real major problems before.

I decided on my own to just stop running the two weeks before the race in the hopes that whatever was bothering my knee would simply go away.

Big mistake. Huge.

**A beautiful day & dogs at the start. What could go wrong?**

So how’d the race go?
It started out just fine. It continued just fine for the first six miles. I remember running past a house with spectators on the front porch relatively early in the race.

By mile six the pain came back. By mile ten I was walking, and every step was more and more painful. Running was out of the question. I remember coming back by that same house with the same spectators still there, encouraging me to run. Except of course I couldn’t.

I actually called Mr. Judy. Not to come pick me up, but to let him know what was happening and that I would finish much later than expected.

Was it worth it?
In a word: NO!

We had booked an AirBnB on Cape Cod (remember, this is eight years ago!), and Mr. Judy was very excited to go to an ice cream place for a sundae post race. Except you had to walk to it, and I was in way too much pain to walk. No sundae for me.

I remember laying on the couch with Chester, my little shadow, curled up beside me.

It would be months, really, before I was able to run pain free again. I’d signed up to run with a group in the Fall, but I wasn’t signed up for a race. At first I couldn’t even run a mile without pain.

Every week, though, I was able to run a little bit further pain free. By the time I got to a 7 mile run, I knew I could do it and I signed up for a race. It was a redemption race, and I snagged a PR — pain free.

smuttynose — **I learned from this race and snagged a PR at the next. Run Happy, indeed!**

Final Thoughts
Your running support system is crucial. I should have seen a doctor or a physical therapist, although I actually never did — not for that pain. I should have already been going to a chiropractor for maintenance. I should have at least asked for suggestions online (although that can be a bit dangerous).

Most of all I learned that sometimes, it truly is better to never even start — to DNS. Ignoring problems don’t make them go away. Had I gotten diagnosed, I either would have had the advice to not run the race — or gotten the advice I might have needed to run the race without injuring myself.

Finally I learned that it is definitely possible to come back from a really bad race and have a great next race!

Was there ever a race you toughed out, but shouldn’t have?
What did you learn from your worst race?

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Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner

This week I am also joining up with the new Runners’ Roundup linkup.

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Five years ago I ran a half marathon with some fellow bloggers in Florida. At the time it was a long awaited PR — it didn’t even feel hard. It also kicked off a year of PRs in halfs.

It was also the start of a lot of turmoil in my life — the ongoing saga of my parents’ decline. At the time they were still living in my childhood home, but it became very clear right around that time that they couldn’t stay there after my mom had some surgery.

It was also not long after we had adopted Bandit, and we were embroiled in the mess that turned out to be. When we adopted him, we had Lola and Gizo, and they all had to be kept separate for months. We couldn’t walk Lola & Bandit together. He was a senior rescue and he had issues — he’s come a long way! — but at the time it was just another stress piled on top of the ongoing stress with my parents, not to mention the many years I’d just spent taking care of sick furkids.

Yet the race, which was in general was an afterthought for me, went well, and I learned a few things.

I learned my sweet spot
Everyone has a sweet spot when it comes to training. A certain weekly mileage they need to hit to be well prepared for a race, or maybe a certain length run — or a few of a certain length run.

Your body needs to be prepared both physically and mentally. I learned that I could definitely do well on lower weekly mileage — as long as I’d been consistently running. Running consistently, training or no, is like money in the bank. It’s the golden ticket to staying strong and (hopefully) uninjured (although many factors go into injury).

I relearned how important Nuun was to keep me running smoothly
If you care to read the recap here (warning: it’s long!) you’ll learn that I had really bad cramping starting at mile 10 and getting steadily worse until the end of the race.

When I started running, I used Nuun. At some point I got away from that — mainly because I don’t like to drink anything sweet on long runs. After this race I went back to Nuun. I won’t say I never cramp, but it’s pretty rare these days. #teamnuun for life!

Those saltstick chews I lost during the race? Yes, those have also become a staple because I’m a salty runner!

pcb1 — **You may recognize several of these runners. The rest no longer blog.**

I learned that it’s not so bad to be one of the slowest runners in a group
Because then you have a built in cheering squad, since the speedy runners have already finished and can cheer you in and take photos of you crossing that finish line.

Final Thoughts
I had been running halfs for about five years at this point. I trained consistently. I did all the things you’re supposed to do. I remained stuck at pretty much the same finish time. Deep down I knew I had a faster finish time in me. I just knew it.

I was right, too. In fact, I have had a lot more PRs since that breakthrough race. Not all the halfs have been PRs, of course, but somehow that one race cascaded into a lot of improvement.

Only it wasn’t really that one race, right? It was all the work I’d put in before that race, and continued to put in after it.