Hit or Miss

Whenever we go into a race there are often only two possible outcomes, we will either hit our goals, or miss out. When we achieve what we wanted it is great, but what do we do when it is a miss?

Whenever someone comes to me and wants to have a chat about their fitness, lifestyle, or general health we start to discuss their goals. Goals are always important to have , as they give our training structure. Without a goal it is hard to know how to train and it will not be consistent.

Often our goal will be outcome based e.g. to run a half marathon under 90 minutes, or a sub 4 hour marathon.  While these goals help keep the athlete can keep the athlete more, as they know that they have to put the work in otherwise the clock will beat us.

However, in order to achieve these goals we have to go through a process. When this process works we are more often than not going to reach out outcome goal, but what if we don't?

Was all the work for nothing?

Did we miss our goal and therefore fail?

Not really.

There are a lot of things that can happen in a build-up or even on race day that we just can't control whether it is the weather, stress in your work or private life, travel, or issues on the course.  

When these things affect us it can greatly or even slightly hinder our performance, and there goes your time out the window.  

However, just because we didn't hit our time in the race despite being spot on in our preparation it doesn't make us less of an athlete or person.  

Of course this doesn't always make us feel better straight away.  If we break down and analyse our race and training it will lead us to the answers.  

The race analyse does not have to be too complicated:

• Did you eat your breakfast early enough?

• Was it something that you were used to?

• Did you get to the start early enough that you could prepare without stress?

• Did you get a good place to start?

• Did you start and stay at a sustained effort?

• Did you fuel and hydrate yourself enough?

• Did you have any issues with your nutrition?

• Did you have any issues with your clothes or shoes?

• Did you have any muscular pain?

• Did you have any nerve pain?

• Did you stay focused?

• Did you stay relaxed?

• Did you race to the line or did you give in during one of your low patches?

If you answered positively to all of these then you probably did all you could correctly on race day, which leaves your training.

Assessing your training is a lot more complicated and can not be done through an article, but there are a few points that should be in every plan.

• Did you Taper adequately?

• Did you have 2-3 long sessions were you covered 75-80% of your race distance?

• Did you include intervals or runs at race pace?

• Did you have a long enough build-up? No good build-up should be under 12 weeks.

• Did you get enough sleep during your build-up?

• Did you eat well? Don't forget you can't fuel a race car on rubbish. Our body is not any different.

• Have you been under any new and additional stress in your general life? E.g new job, new house or apartment, new relationship, new pet, lots of travel, sickness in the family, or a new child.

• Have you been sickness and injury free through the build-up?

• Have you followed a training plan? Did you do as it said or did you do more? Did you listen to your body? Did you discuss your training and have it adjusted to suit?

• Did you race before your event to get a feeling for an event?

If you covered all these things and had a good feeling about it then it can just be a case of it not being your day. During a long event something just needs to be a little off and it can change everything whether it be the weather, if your back and hips are totally aligned or whether you slept funny abs something does not sit correctly, or that your travel our taper was not perfectly timed.  

When that happens it is shit. When you have put in so much effort into your preparation and then on race day you feel like you can't deliver what you know you are capable of it can leave you a bit empty.

However, it could be worse. It could have been a lot worse, and at moments like this it is important to realise what important is and whether the outcome was more important than the process.

I prepared very well for my last marathon in Lübeck, and had covered everything in my build-up with the only set back being the I missed out on the second half of my last hard week due to pain and tightness in my calf. This meant I missed out on my last long run where I wanted to run 38km, but I only got 23km in , and even my four year olds can tell you that 23 is not 38.  Thankfully the calf problem was related to tension in my back, and after having a massage, which included having thumbs, fingers, elbows, and knees pressed into my hamstrings and back everything was ok.  I walked out feeling like a new person.

During the marathon I ran my own race and controlled myself through to kilometer 27 where I hoped to use my strength, but there wasn't any. Nothing. I could not even run a normal training pace.  The last few kilometers git harder, but not slower and I did not feel like I was dragging myself to the finish.

I ran 11 Minutes slower than I wanted, which was not that bad considering, but the real positives were that I didn't have any pain during the marathon, did not feel like I could not stay tall while running, and I didn't have any tightness in my calf or back.

Afterwards I was tired, but not overly sore and in the days following my legs felt better than I expected or was used to.  I even trained my group the day after the Marathon.  This shows that I was well prepared and that my body was able to recover quickly from 42.195 km of pounding.

So the process and the delivery was there, but the time not.  However, I did have positive results in that my body was fitter, more balanced, and stronger due to me not only focusing on running, but also doing Yoga, Pilates, and general strength exercises.  So in a way I won after all.

Regardless of what your next outcome based goal is do not let it consume you so that you can not appreciate the process.