How to bounce back after a 'bad' race

In May, a friend of mine, who has run several distance races before, including a half-marathon, ran the Broad Street Run. He had what he described as a "bad" run. He admits that he didn't train like he should have and then started the race too fast.  He asked me what he could do to bounce back and get over his "bad" race; here is my advice.

First of all, prior to the race, it is important to have run the majority of the race distance in training. This way your mind, body and legs are used to running for that distance (and length of time).  For a race like Broad Street, I generally recommend that people run at least 8 miles one or two times before attempting the 10 mile distance.  As a reference, the Kelly Drive Loop (starting from Lloyd Hall up Kelly Drive over the East Falls Bridge, back down MLK Drive, around the front of the Art Museum and back to Lloyd Hall) is almost 8.5 miles.

Another important thing to work on is finding a comfortable race pace for the distance that you are running.  Your pace for a 10k is generally going to be faster than your pace for a 10 miler – i.e. if you attempt to run a 10 miler at your 10k pace, you will most likely burn out before the finish.  One way to figure out your race pace is to determine what your mile time is.  Warm up by jogging for a half mile, and then run a mile as fast as you can.  You can then use a pace calculator, such as the one on the McMillan site, to calculate what your race pace is for various distances.

This race pace calculator will give you a general guideline to work off of. Some people are going to have slower or faster paces depending upon their fitness levels, race experience, temperature, humidity, etc., but it should at least provide a starting point for your training.  Knowing your pace is important as it will prevent you from running too fast at the start of a race, leaving you too tired to maintain. After you have trained for a bit and know what your baseline pace is, intermixing speed interval training is a great way to increase your pace.

Another thing that might have affected my friend's Broad Street performance was the temperature, as it was pretty warm this year, in the high 60s.  With the temperatures noticeably cooler in the weeks leading up to the race, I talked to a number of people who said that they felt affected by the heat and increased humidity, as they had only trained when it was cooler out, and that their run suffered.  Generally speaking, higher temperatures and humidity than you are used to will lead to a decrease in pace.  One way to combat this is to stay hydrated and make sure to refuel with electrolytes during the race.

Psychologically, there is the old adage that running is 90 percent mental.  As a running coach, I tell my clients that part of the reason that we run the actual distance we are training for (or close to it) is to "train" our brain that we actually have the physical ability to do it.  A way to "train" the brain is to make your race training part of a routine. For example, at 6 p.m. every day, you are either going to run, go to the gym or perform some sort of active recovery.  Furthermore, by having a constant routine where you are subjecting your body to stress (running, weight lifting, yoga, etc), you will mentally know that during the actual race, you will be able to handle not only the distance, but any of the "race stress" that usually occurs during a race – long lines for the bathroom, crowded start, etc.

Everyone has a "bad" run, it is part of running, and no one can perform at 100 percent all of the time.  Even the great runners like Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson, and Edwin Moses, have had "bad" races.  But they were able to figure out what went "wrong" and make the necessary adjustments to persevere.

David Wisniewski is a CrossFit Endurance certified running coach at Philadelphia Running Concepts and has been training runners of all levels and abilities.  More information can be found out at phillyruns.com.

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