What do you do when you have a bad run? I don't mean just a sub-par run - I mean a BAD run.
Well, on my long, two-hour, run for the week on Saturday, I had a BAD run. It was bad from the start: I didn't feel great, I was tired, I never seemed to get into a rhythm. In fact, I ran about ten minutes longer than I had the week before...and covered about a mile less total. That's bad.
But what do you do with a bad run? Do you give up and try again tomorrow? Give up and just keep following your regular schedule? Tough it out no matter how bad it gets?
Well, unless I'm fighting an injury, I always try to tough it out. I think you can learn quite a bit about yourself on a bad run. Staying out there for two hours when you're ready to go home after ten minutes is a "teaching opportunity," there's no doubt about that.
Hey, we'd all love to bust a perfect run every time out, but that's just not going to happen.
Next time you have a bad run, learn a little something about just how tough you can be.
Well, you still burned 1600 calories, taught your body to tap into fat reserves instead of glycogen, got stronger (mentally and physically) and learned a lot. Worth every tough minute! Recover well, try and figure out what went wrong (nutrition, a cold, tired, overtrained?) and next week will be even better!
ReplyDeleteAnd in the meantime you help inspire others that have a bad day out running too! Thanks for posting local races.
Looking forward to how next weekend's long run goes.
Hey NSR, thanks for the comment - it's appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's no doubt that next week's long run will be better...it really has no where to go but up.