One foot in front of the other.
I headed out my door this morning at 5:30 AM. At that time, it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 85% humidity. My run was to be:
Keep heart rate in zones 1-3 on a rolling course. Allow heart rate to gradually rise to zone 3 as pace builds, but don’t force it up. Duration 1:30:00
As I began, I felt decent if a little tired from waking up at 4:30 AM. I started on my favorite route and by the time I got about 1.25 miles into it I noticed that I was literally pouring sweat. This continued until I got about 27 minutes into my run when I decided to turn back. Up to this point, my sweat rate had been epic and this is considering the fact that I am a heavy sweater to begin with. My heart rate had also been jumping far higher than it should. Basically, my effort was far more than it should have been.
Once I turned around, these things were only compounded by my mental state and the fact that I even found myself walking a couple of hills (not sure if the walking was an effort thing or a screw it thing). Once I got home, it took me ten minutes of standing in a cold shower with my clothes on to get my heart rate under 100 and to get me to a point where I didn’t feel like I was going to overheat. This run officially ranks as #2 on my list of all time worst runs (just behind my first marathon) and is certainly my worst ever workout run (that I can remember, I’ve never walked part of a workout).
This brings me to my question. How do you mentally recover from a bad workout? I’m not worried about the physical part, I don’t have time for that. It the mental thing and the fact that I can’t say, “well, I’ve had worse runs”, because I haven’t had worse runs. So what do you do?
Thanks so much for visiting my site! My name is Brandon Wood and I am the social media manager and a customer service rep for Newton Running. This site and podcast follow my adventures on the way to competing in and training for all kinds of endurance events, especially triathlon and running. Click the "About Me" tab for more info!
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I have to keep in mind that sometimes it just happens. No reason, no bad karma, nothing I did…it just is what it is. I also have to believe it happens to everyone…elites included. I spent 3 mos. in a bad mood because of a miserable marathon (ironically my PR…it was fast but a hot day). Since then I sometimes say “I’m a leaf on the wind” and try to let it go. Its not always easy, that’s for sure, but the longer I run the better I get when it does happen.
The beauty in today is that you now own your worst training run.
It’s the bad weather Brandon…Nobody gets a quality run with an MI index > 160. Factors outside of your control caused you to have a bad run today. So just acknowledge it and move on. No reason to get down on yourself. You’ll kick it next time out when the weather’s better!
I agree with Lam. The weather is definitely a factor. Just forget about it and kick your next workout in the ass.
Blame it on the weather if you’d like… but eventually you’ll have a bad workout in perfect weather. It happens. Then you won’t have the weather to blame it on. Just know that there are strong days and not-so-strong days. The good thing about having a crappy workout is you know the next workout is almost guaranteed to be a good one. Just put it behind you and move forward. Onward, my friend.
The way that I get over a bad workout… I think to myself, wow, thank goodness that didn’t happen in a race. Then I think… wow, what if that happens in a race?!?! Then I realize that I made it home, I’ll make it home in a race and there are always other workouts and other races. Remember all the great workouts you’ve had, forget the yucky ones, unless there is something to learn from it.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brandon Wood, Brandon Wood and fatlosstips4u, Goultrasports.com. Goultrasports.com said: I use wine – sometimes Peanut M&Ms RT @ironbrandon How do you mentally recover from a bad workout? http://su.pr/199W8N [...]
Brandon,
Outstanding sight and articles. I will be back. Best Wishes in your athletic pursuits.
Nate
http://www.teampennington.net
Thanks so much, Nate!
Dang, this sounds like my run this morning. One week after a great race, and a week to go until my next one, and I had to have a run like this. First 4-5 miles okay, but the last two were just awful. I chalked it up to being out of my routine, the heat/humidity, and it just being "one of those days"