Mysterious good and bad runs...why? (Read 1307 times)

We all know that, once in awhile you can feel pretty lousy and end up having a fantastic run, and then every so often you think you're fine, feeling strong, but the wheels fall off and you end up walking home? WHY??? You would think that there was an explanation for this. Frequently I see posts where someone asks, " had a bad run, what's wrong?", and everyone answers "that just happens sometimes". Really? I don't believe that just happens. Is the physiology of exercise THAT poorly understood? Arla

The first answer definitely had it right, with the huge number of possible variables. Over time though, I've noticed enough patters to figure out what often causes my own bad runs. 1. Not enough food/water in the preceding days 2. Not enough variety in the exercise. Sometimes if I'm dragging, a good hill, tempo run or race will paradoxically feel much better than an easy run. Overall though, each person will have their own individual weaknesses that add up to bad runs.

I think this is a great topic, but I'm not positive that I have any answers. I also think that Nate and Berner did a good job of explaining something that is a little hard to explain. Normally, I can take a good look at my running logs and know what to expect. Last week I ran 30 MPW for the first time (and 10 on Sunday - something that is a little new for me) and this week my runs have been a little harder (I expected it - it came true). Also on a bad run day, I try to remember what I ate the past two days (if I ate a McDonald burger instead of a good meal, or did I eat a bag of chips and a beer watching the game one or two day ago - it usually comes out in a run but not always the very next day). DidI get proper sleep (or did I toss and turn one night)......I usually find the answer, or at least a symptom.. If I ran hard intervals one day, sometimes two or three runs later I am tired and have a bad run (but not always the day after my intervals) Sometimes you just have a crappy run...... I dont think its a exact science...and even if it is it would apply differently to us all...

For me I find that there are three main factors that affect my runs. Nutrition Rest between runs Non-running related stress.

For me personally, nutrition - and consistency of mileage in prior weeks/months - is clearly the biggest factor. Inconsistency leads to bad races. Bad food choices lead to strange marathons. Sleep - or lack thereof - has zero effect on me. If anything, it seems almost beneficial. Strange. What I find most interesting are the unexpectedly good races or runs. If I have a rare bad run, I can usually point to a reason. But the good runs? They truly do seem to come from nowhere sometimes. My recent run in Tupelo was one of them. I did nothing right. At all. Yet the run was nearly effortless. (shrug). I suspect some of those good runs are the psychological result of having no expectations. If I don't plan to run well I relax; maybe that, in turn, leads to an unexpectedly good run? Or maybe its all the magical whims of the gods of running.

The more I run, the less bad runs I seem to have. Most of my runs these days are overall good runs and about 99% of the time, I feel better after a run than I do before. Even if I'm tired before.

Now THAT is so true, even a so-so run almost always makes me feel good in the end. Fortunately, I'm experiencing only about one truly awful run a year - awful as in I had to walk home. Arla

Last week I tried to beat my 5K PR of 25:36, and I thought I did everything right, I got good sleep the night before, and wasn't tired before the race. I was hydrated and had been eating right, the weather was good, the course was fast and flat. I struggled to a 26:57... Yesterday I was totally unprepared to run, I was sore all over from playing two baseball games right after running 4.5 miles Thursday. After playing ball I went right to work. I got bad sleep that day (I work midnights), went to work, then went right to the 5K. I seriously considered not running, but I wanted the T-Shirt, so I ran anyways. I was tired and sore, the weather was chilly, so I set out to just run it easy. The course was hilly and probably the toughest 5K of the handful I've run, yet I finished in 27:15. I'm starting to think that I run worse when friends or family runs with me because I lose focus before the race. Instead of preparing mentally and getting warmed up and stretching, I socialize and get distracted. Then I get anxious before the race, trying to impress people, instead of just trying to run the best with what I have that day. That's my theory, but its nice to hear what other people have to say about it. Its nice to know I'm not the only one. That great run you have despite feeling like crap when you set out... its like found money.

This is an interesting subject I was just thinking about because of my somewhat lousy run yesterday. I'm interested in the answers... I normally can run an easy 3-miler without any troubles or stops but yesterday for some reason was different. I was planning a long (for me) 7-miler and had to stop and walker after mile 1. Then I had to stop at 1.5, 2, and 2.5 for a rest but by mile 3 when I was back by my car I was feeling normal again so I kept going and managed all 7. Weird. Can I blame this on some politician?