Q: How to Bounce Back from a Bad Race (like a Badass)
Hey Lauren,
I am a collegiate runner in my last season of cross country, so it’s really important to make this year special. I just had a race this weekend and I went into it sick. Mentally, I just wasn’t there, knowing that my performance would not be where I would want it to be. I ended up going through the race really slow and ended up dropping out with about 1500m to go. I had some issues with mental confidence last year and I’m really not hoping to go down that road again. Have you ever dropped out of a race? How do you mentally recover from something like that? I really would appreciate your help. We are traveling in two weeks to compete again and I want to be ready. Thanks.
Caitlin
A:
Hey Caitlin,
Thanks for posting a question and I’m REALLY happy you asked this. My first question for you is this: Why is it important that this year be special? So what if it’s your last year of college? What does that matter? For best results, let’s start by getting specific.
Just because something is the “last” of something doesn’t mean it will summon greateness. Forget the timeline. It only adds stress and pressure. Pretend you will run forever, and that this year matters because you’ve worked hard and you’re ready to experience the high of a breakthrough. Think about the specific things that motivate you. Is it your team? Do you want to leave a legacy? Do you want to be a contributing part of something special? Do you want to look back on this year and say “That was the year I really gave it my all. I was so determined and tough and had fun every single race, taking nothing for granted.”
Spend five minutes thinking about that and write down your own reasons why it matters to you. Narrow it down to three things you can control. Being specific is helpful. It’s like zooming in on google maps…you want to get close enough to see the street names so you don’t have to guess where you’re going.
We already know that one of those things that you care about for this year is being mentally tough. You struggled with it last year, and I’m gathering that your last race is getting under your skin because you’re worried the “old you” is still lurking there, waiting to ruin your season. Oh man, I totally know what that’s about! 🙂
Let me assure you that no matter how long you run, you’ll always have at least 2 or 3 moments per season where you think you’re screwed. These moments make you feel like you’re really just the same old weak athlete with yesterday’s issues. Why does this happen? As athletes, we are very accustomed to looking around for external evidence that we are progressing towards our goals: faster workouts, easier efforts, more mileage, a higher finish. This is an easy way to build confidence. The problem is we get too used to looking at external things to determine our confidence, and when those two or three bad things happen per year, we can let them ruin everything. We give too much weight to these bad races, or moments of weakness. The solution? In addition to external sources of confidence, we need to develop strong internal sources of confidence. This is done by subtly shifting the way you think about things.
Personal Example: I remember in 2006, I had trouble doing 1k repeats at racepace. I was doing GREAT at all my other workouts, but 1k reps were terrible every time. In my mind, I let those 1k reps be the big bad wolf, blowing down the house I built all year; it destroyed my confidence and season. I dropped out of three races that summer. Knowing what I know now, I would have given more weight to the things I was doing well, building a house out of bricks instead of sticks, and that way when the big bad wolf came, my house would be unshakable. Who cares if 1k reps weren’t going great. EVERYTHING ELSE WAS.
This is the type of mentality you need to develop this season. Don’t let this one race ruin everything. Put it in it’s place. Take away it’s power by filling your mind with positive things. Notice every good thing that has happened this year and give it weight. Then you’ll see the last race for what it really was: you were sick and it kept you from being your normal badass. That’s not who you are. End of story.
If I were you, I’d make some affirmations like these (but personalize them for you), put them on my mirror and inside my training log and read them every day til my next race.
“I am a better athlete than last year.”
“Fear is natural. I’ll be fine because I want it more than I fear it.”
“I am a badass. Pain’s got nothing on me. I want to see what I can do!”
“I’ve built my season out of bricks. Nothing can shake it.”
It sounds dorky to say these things to yourself, and you should make your own, but it really works. Even after nine years of running professionally, there are still those moments every year that try to ruin things. I’ve learned to expect them. Just knowing they are coming helps me prepare for them, and they have less and less of an effect on me now. I say “Ah, there you are, you little jerk face. I know what to do with you.”
The best way to prepare moving forward is to really take time to notice everything that is going well. Little things and big things alike. Give them a lot of weight. Write them down. In my training journal, I write a ++ next to all days that are above average, a + next to the normal days, and a – when things are worse than normal. At a glance, I can always see that there are WAY more +’s than -‘s, (unless something is really wrong) and this gives me confidence. My log shows an entire month in one view, so I don’t get over dramatic about the day to day.
This is a sample of how I build positive momentum (and catch overtraining before it gets out of control). Journal can be found at http://believeiam.com
Take time to look back on your past three months and notice them now. I promise you’ll feel ready to blow the bun huggers off all those chicks in your race next weekend 😀
Lauren
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Readers: got any more tips that can help Caitlin out? Any personal experience with rebounding from a bad race successfully? PLEASE post a comment. She’ll appreciate it (and so will the rest of us). To start things off, read Jesse’s last blog for a good story on “Getting Back on the Horse.” (Spoiler alert: he won his next race)
Wow I am so glad you posted this!!!
I am also a collegiate runner, but I run at a community college and it is my second year. This means I am getting ready to transfer and run at a four year school.
Last year I had an amazing season, and I am so much better this year than I was last year… I kill it in workouts every week, running splits that I even surprise myself with. But in races it hasn’t shown yet.
Last weekend, I had an especially terrible race where I just wasn’t mentally there. I ran almost forty seconds slower than the same race last year. I started wondering if my old self is back (the old high school me that was not confident at all), but this post was so helpful. It’s true. I’m not that old runner. There are more positives than negatives. And everything is NOT riding on this one season.
One race at a time, giving everything I have each time.
Thank you so much for posting this, and good luck Caitlin! Take that emotion and turn it into motivation during your next race!!!
Susanna
Well I’m a high school runner specific 800m, 400m and the mile
My track season always good but in the short stuff but still can’t run a good mile because of lack of confidence
My cross country season was just a bunch of disappointment ..
My workouts were great; I ran with the top guys in my team and with no struggle , completed sub 17min 5k workouts and make it look easy.
But my first race didn’t go as planed. That was the most confidence I ever had going in to a race and in great shape. I felt ready, But I didn’t finished the race Which took a big stroll on my confidence level. from a 10 to a 4 everything kinda start going downwards from there. I ended up running a best of 20:45 and dropping out from about 4 races . Doubting all my training and not believing in my self. Teammates that can’t even keep up with me during practice were running sup 18min and all, but I was having struggle finishing a race.
Now I stared my junior year XC season and really want it to be great. I have done some great workouts this past months, but I just don’t have the confidence I need to have. I just really want to run into the best if my ability. I’m like a completely 2different person at practice and on race day. u could even tell from the way I walk.
I ran my first XC 2mile race August 19th and it went great I had no preassure or what so ever because I just felt like it was my first workout coming back after my careless regretful knee hyperextension. But I ran my first 5k today August 28th and it was just a repeat of my first race last season all over again
I was feeling good and on pace until after the last mile. tho I kept pushing but kinda hit a brick on 800m to go my everything from my wirst upwards was good. Prefect breathing, but my leg just kinda give up seeing people passing by me, my teammates that can’t even practice with me, and my coach yelling at me, it’s was like a repeat of what happen all over again .. I had to stop and my coach pulled me out talked to me before I even finish the with a time of 24min on a flat no hilly course.. I just ran a 6mile hilly run under 45min without even trying 3weeks ago.
Physically? I’m in great shape not best but good enough to run a sub 18min 5k. Mentally? Not so much; but workout wise? I nailed everyone.
I’m really trying to bounce back from this one and not to let it define my season ..
Cause I’m a better athlete than last year and God have giving me the ability run.
Reading posts like this make surfing such a plaesure
This is a great post, and a really good question that runners of all abilities can relate to.
I like the plus/minus system you use. That would help in the bigger picture, since it is so easy to get lost in the details of one bad race or a workout. Also, it is so important to see that running is and can extend beyond whatever season you are in. There are always clubs and road races beyond the school years, and so many women peak at ages twice beyond when they were in high school or college!
I had a bad marathon in April, but it was a PR. It was a PR that didn’t meet my goal- and I ended up thrashed from it. So in my mind it was a “bad race”.
(Oops! I guess lost part of my comment)
Runners can be hard on themselves.
My solution was to shift focus to shorter distances for a while. I am enjoying learning new things for the time being.
Also, a good coach can be a valuable resource. So can a good sports psychologist. Sometimes they can help you see new ways to make big breakthroughs in your mental game.
Best wishes this season Caitlin- and in the next!
Awesome post. I’m a runner and international orienteer. If it’s possible to imagine orienteering is a sport that can be even more spirit-crushingly tough in it’s complexity than running. Even if you’ve been knocking the physical training out of the park there is the technical side most of which takes place in your brain at speed. If your brain is the part that’s messing with you a dream race can quickly turn into a nightmare. At least that’s how I felt 2 years ago. But then a friend gave me Jim Loehr’s book “The New Toughness Training for Sports” and things started to click. It could have been called “Toughness Training for Helen” -but would not have been as marketable ;). I worked with a sports psychologist too but between that book, the lessons from Lauren’s blog /Q&As and the Believe I Am training log I didn’t need the pro anymore and my journey towards being a totally badass athlete really started to accelerate! GOOD LUCK! This process is so worth all the effort to overcome the scary doubts! Being tough is just another skill that anyone can learn. 🙂
good timing… my daughter just had her first somewhat disappointing Frosh XC race – glad I can share this with her so she can see that she is not alone. All part of the journey. Fortunately she already has a “Believe I Am” journal which she has been using regularly. Good Luck to all!!
No personal experience off the top of my head to share, but it did make me think of this from “Golf is not a game of perfect by Bob Rotella”: “[Stuart is a 50% shooter from the floor, playing basketball at UVA] ‘Well, you have to understand. I’ve always been a 50% shooter….after I missed one, I figured my nxt one was likely to go in. After I missed two, I was overdue. By the time I missed five, I figured the next one absolutely had to drop’…Stuart had revelaed something very basic about the way good athletes think. They create their own realities. They think however they have to think to maintain their confidence and get the job done…If he misses a few putts, he has to believe that this only enhances his chances to make the next one..This may seem, to an outsider, to be absolutely irrational…The answer is that whether it’s irrational or not, it’s more effective than the alternative.”
If applied to running, it means having a bad race just increases the chance that your next one will be better. I guess you’d have to fake yourself into thinking (if you’re me), that you’re an awesome runner, the bad race was a fluke, and you’ll nail the next one for sure now that you got the “bad one out.”
I’m going to use what you suggested in this post for NYC marathon because I’m having a hard time shaking what happened last year from my head and creating new dreams, feelings, emotions, plans, etc. It’s like I’m trying to create my own personal groundhog day or something. Fingers crossed I can work on my mental game in 4 weeks. Struggling over here.
Lovely post, as always LFT!
This blog post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Thank you for this advice, Lauren. I am racing a half marathon this weekend, and my last two 5K races (run over the past 3 weeks) were sub-par compared to previous years, so I’ve been feeling pretty down about my prospects in the half, despite the fact that my training has been identical to, if not better than, my training last year before this race (I set a PR last year). I just took your advice and went back through my training log to check out my workouts from the past few months and you are so right…the number of “normal” and “better than normal” runs/workouts far exceeded the number of “worse than normal” runs. To top it off, most of my “better than normal” runs were long runs, which should hopefully equate to a strong half marathon performance! Thanks for helping me realize that I needed to focus on the positive!
Thanks to Lauren, and everyone else who posted on helping me understand all this. It really means a lot! I wish the best to all of the other runners here trying to achieve something great. =)
Thanks for the advice – I loved what you said about fear and wanting it more than fearing it. “i want it more than i fear it” became my mantra yesterday in the Chicago marathon and it really helped get me through the last six miles. PR of over six minutes and a BQ! So happy! I’ve had so many bad or blah races in the last two years – at last, a victory!
I didn’t write this question but when I read it I thought it sounded so much like myself, that when I saw it was posted by someone with the same name as me I really had to think to make sure I didn’t post it! I just wanted to thank you Lauren for the advice. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself being a senior, and your point to enjoy every race really has changed how I’m looking at this season for the better :).
Love the post. It is so great to be able to look back in my Believe I Am journal to see all the ++ days I have had when I’m feeling more – than anything.
I want to love this article, I really do.
Lauren Fleshman you are a badass! I have never read your blog until now, but experienced all these things before. As a post-collegiate aspiring runner, life is hard and I can’t think of anything more special than honesty and practical advice. Thanks for taking time to answer questions and for being one of the best role models out there! GET IT.
love this response Lauren, I too am hard on myself and can let one or 2 bad races, erase the power of a good effort driven year of running, this has helped me alot as my mental game is what gets me, my resolutions this year:
not to overthink so much: just go.. running that is
not to hm and haw about how it is going to feel: just go!
not to wish it was warmer or not raining: just go!
cuz when i just go happiness confidence and amazing happens… thank you and welcome to the Oiselle team… your insight and column are truly helpful… and yes the sisterhood and women comradery in such a great sport, what also what I found so special about Oiselle… go Sally for such an amazing effort and vision!!
West Side Suzie
sorru for all the mispellings and bad grammar, trying to write this while taking care of my 4 and 6 year old… will go slower next time… just know i think you are full of awesomeness…
Really enjoyed the post and liked the idea of starring the individual runs so that you can see the great runs from the others. I find it difficult to sometimes bounce back from a bad run other than just trying to put it behind you and push through the next run and then that bad run becomes a distant memory in the rear view mirror.
I have found that in the past bad runs can further damage future runs. I found it was best to clear my head and to treat each run as a single event. I learned some valuable lessons from your running log that I plan to add to my personal tracking. Thanks!
Lauren,
Thank you for the tips. I am going to start taking each run as an individual run. I did not think of it in that way and I believe it will help me over the long term.
Thanks again!
Affirmations like that work. You are a great athlete. You are improving. You have to remind yourself sometimes – it helps keep the head high.
Great tips for sure but to me it’s all mental. Finding that inter strength from within is critical to bouncing back from a “not so good run”. Just don’t give in to the part of you that says your going to repeat a less than stellar performance.
You have everything there you just need to learn how to bring it to the forefront.
Been mentally tough for any sport is probably more important than being super fit. I’m a casual jogger for fitness but have a passion for racing cars. Last year I had an extraordinary experience of leading a race comfortably half way through. I guess because of this I buttoned off and relaxed a little. All of a sudden I could see the next guys catching me and there was nothing I could do I just slowly got whipped by three or four of them – all due to them having a higher mental winning capacity at that time than me.
I always wanted to take part in a race, but don’t think I am fit enough. I have done some training on the treadmill, but after 3 or 4 weeks I loose interest. Just when I think I am improving, I get a small injury of some sort that puts me off for a while. Recently I was running on the road and my knees started playing up. I got back into it after a few weeks and then I started getting really bad heart-burn. I don’t think I am made to be a runner. I am not overweight or anything, but I just don’t seem to be able to run at the same level as other people of my age. (36)
Hey Mark,
Late reply on this but just wanted to say that I’m sorry things haven’t been going so well. If you want to give running a real shot, I’d say your best bet is to start only doing it 3 x a week, keeping it short (2-4+ miles) and do something non-running on the other days. A couple months of that can allow you to build your ligaments and tendons in running specific ways without overloading them. Don’t be afraid to run/walk either. Some people take to running more easily because they participated in sports in the past that compliment running mechanics well, and their bodies have a head start.
Another suggestion is to get off the treadmill onto some soft surfaces outdoors if you have access to trails, etc. You will run more naturally outdoors. And if there is a local running store in your area that sponsors group runs, it’s always a positive to start integrating into the running community from the start. Runners are a wealth of knowledge and experience, and I have found that as a group, very supportive and helpful.
Great reply Lauren – and your advice could be used for many situations in life – not just running – very inspiring!
Great solid advice about giving more weight to the things that you do well. I really like your idea of a journal to write down and grade the type of day or event that it was and taking the positives from that. Awesome, thanks!
Exmeltery helpful article, please write more.
Hi Lauren,
Do you have a training plan for a full marathon? I have 2 months to go and I do not know what to do. 🙁
Ed
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Very inspiring blog post! I always like visiting your website, but this is the first time I’m going to leave comment.
You are very honest and helpful in your advice. We are faced with many kind of situations in our lives and your advice could also be used for those situations.
Lauren,
I love the way you have of balancing out the negatives and positives of your training schedule. Especially the ++, + and – notations to the training diary.
I’m going to start using that one straight away, hopefully I will not have too many weeks where the – outweigh the +.
Kim.
Hey, I like your website alot, keep it up, badass! 😀
You mean I don’t have to pay for expert advice like this anme?ryo!
Hey, I like your website alot, keep it up, badass! 😀
Happy Holidays !
This is inspirational, Focusing on your dream or goal is important but leaving aside your past performance. I am myself a physical trainer and have gone through similar situation. One should just believe in oneself that is a mantra I have been following.
Wow Rachel, I think I’ve caught your tornado over this end of the Atlantic now because tha1t#82&7;s how I’m feeling. Ideal time for me to read your post actually and take it on board.
this is really great, thank you for sharing. really helping me remember the mantra my coach set for myself last cross country season. I feel significantly better now, after reading this:)
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I just found this and it helped a lot. I’m a college athlete and struggle with doubting myself. I had a great freshman year, but my sophomore year hasn’t been good. I dropped out of the 10k with about 1 1/2 miles to go yesterday. It was probably the lowest I’ve ever felt since starting my college running career. I’ve been working even harder than I did my Freshman year(packing on miles and speeding up), but it hasn’t shown in races yet. I still have a few more races this season and hopeful I can shake the doubt. Thanks for writing this!
Great advice on the bouncing back. I feel like in the next 5 years the new generation (generation y) will be influencing the older generations with our upbeat, high tempo lifestyle that they will envy and really want to be a part of.
Thanks so much for this post. I found it because I was looking for help dealing with a bad race yesterday. I started running in my mid 40s with no previous sports experience and had a severe back injury after about a year (from martial arts, not running). I found a good PT, slowly recovered and started running every day about a year and a half later and things have been going great – lots of races, lots of PRs.
The race yesterday was my first trail 50K, and I followed a 4 month high mileage training plan to get ready. There was a wonderful, shady downhill stretch where I opened up and just flew, it was wonderful. It was early on, though, and by mile 6, I suspected some bad blisters. By mile 8, I was sure. Luckily I had a change of shoes and socks in my drop bag, but it was at the mile 21.6 station. In between, I ran as best I could, but I was limping and favoring my left foot, which got it the worst. Then I realized my back was seizing up. That was really scary, so I decided to let my time go and just focus on running straight (on the blisters) and not hurting my back any more. The race took me 8 hours, and I came in next to last in my division.
My policy with disappointing races in the past has been to wallow the day of the race, write in my training journal or call a friend, and then move on the next day… but this one really shook me up. I have a marathon in 2 months that I hope to BQ with, but now I’m having trouble deciding where the fault with this race lies so I don’t repeat my mistakes. Poor judgement, insufficient training, bad shoes, bad luck… or all of the above?
Thanks, as always, for your useful and enjoyable writing. Your RW cover was the best.
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