Just gave up (Read 191 times)

temperature and humidity? And have you run races in similar temperatures before?

Thanks guys...

The Temp and humidity was a major issue for all runners that day.

Have been running close to 17 Kms almost every Sunday for the last few weeks. Tapered to about 12 km on the weekend prior to race day.

Travel fatigue... well the race starts at 5:30am and had to start from home at 3:30am to reach the venue in time :-)

We all have a bad day.  A HM race I expected to be 1:52-1:54 ended up being closer to 2:10 (day heated up very quickly), and another race where I was hoping to run sub 50:00 ended up a bit over 55:00, no real reason for this except I just could not get my legs to move.

Our former resident philosopher Jeff said that we should measure our running in months and years not days, weeks or certainly not weekly miles.  Months of consistent running leads to breakthrough races.

...The Temp and humidity was a major issue for all runners that day....

That's what it sounded like.

Here's the crux of the matter. When we go out and do a race, we are setting several challenges. On one level, we are running against ourselves ( previous race times and against our expectations based on our preparation). We are also racing against a bunch of other runners. And lastly, we are running against ...wait for it..... nature. 

If you evaluate your outcome/performance based on the first - running against yourself, you really only can do that if there's a level playing field. And that would mean under the same conditions, including course, temperature, elevation changes, etc.

If you evaluate your outcome based on placement against the other runners, you could actually do that fairly well by estimating what percentage of the field you beat this race as compared to previous races. After all, everyone had to battle the same heat and humidity, so everyone would probably have been slower as you were. But if you found that you beat a higher percentage of runners this race as opposed to previous ones, you may find reason to be encouraged.

Lastly, if you evaluate your outcome based on how you weathered your battle with nature, well, you might take some pride in knowing that you just faced perhaps the most challenging conditions you've ever faced in a race and just about ran through the whole thing.

So, my main point here is that it all comes down to how you frame your performance. It just doesn't make sense to evaluate it only in so far as compared to previous times, becuase you've probably never run under those conditions before. So, since the conditions were the same for everyone, you might get a better sense of how you did by comparing how you did to the field. And lastly, (and this has been the revelation for me), as runners, we are battling nature - a certain distance, with unique terrain, and previously unforeseen weather conditions that will permeate the fundamental character of the experience. While we don't truly know what will be thrown at us, the fact that open ourselves up to accept it is what makes it truly worthy challenge. So nature, this time, just needed to remind you a little bit of of how formidable it is, and why you shouldn't underestimate how significant is your willingness to take it on, each and every time.