Success and Failure on the Trace

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.

Dale Carnegie

I had 16 miles @ marathon plus 30 seconds scheduled for Christmas Day. I had some worries about this run. It wasn’t anything in particular but just a lot of little things.

· 16 miles is a long way – I have not run that since Boston (April)

· While 7:30 pace is not difficult – it is for 16 miles

· It was 50 degrees outside (not a big deal)

· It was raining outside (not a big deal)

· It was cold and raining outside (VERY BIG DEAL)

· I had run 10 miles the day before at a very easy pace (not a big deal)

· It was Christmas Day (can be a big deal)

So I suited up with a long sleeved shirt, gloves, compression shorts (since it was wet), running shorts, a running hat, and sunglasses. I walked the 1/8^th mile to the trace. I was high stepping and loosening up the legs. I decided to run towards campus for two miles (slight downhill) and then I would run to Epley Station and back. Running the slight downhill allows for me to get on pace easier.

I had a couple of gels stuffed up on my quads under the compression shorts. This has been working for me lately. But today, I had on a different kind of compression shorts. As soon as I started running the gels started to slip. These compression shorts were not compressing. This was 200 feet into 16 miles run.

Equipment failure - Strike 1.

Next, just walking and starting to run, I was hot. Not overheating hot but enough to know that I would be burning up at the end of the run. I took the gloves off and stuffed them into the waist band of the compression shorts.

Overdressed – Strike 2.

I only gave the run a quarter of a mile. I could not get on pace. I was running around 8 minute miles (for a quarter mile) but I was losing ground to the virtual nemesis. I know that running this route I can usually run 7:15ish at a conversational pace. My legs were tired. A much bigger factor is that my mind was also tired. Not to go into great detail, while Christmas used to be my favorite holiday – not so much anymore. The past few years I have scheduled large training sessions on Christmas Day to shut the mind down. It has been successful in the past. Not today.

Mental / emotional failure – Strike 3.

I walked home in the drizzling rain. I took a few minutes to regroup. I decided I could still go for a less demanding run. I changed the compression shorts. I ended the virtual nemesis 16 mile workout. I was going to go for a 4 mile run at any pace and see where I ended up. I secretly hoped that I would feel great at the 2 mile turnaround and continue the effort, maybe even push the pace! That is when the sky opened up. While not a thunder storm it was raining very hard. It was still cold. I watched the rain for a good five minutes. I put the bike on the trainer and changed clothes again – cycling shorts!

I have not been on the bike much since I have been concentrating on marathoning. I was not sure what was going to be possible on the bike. I wanted a solid effort but I did not need a failure. I programmed up a solid hour long (55 minute) workout with the working session being 3 x 10 minutes @ FTP (functional threshold power). I was using old numbers from the before the marathon training so I was not completely confident that I would be successful. It would be a challenge.

55 minutes later I was drenched in sweat. I was satisfied with a solid workout. My body and mind were quieted.

 

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The next day, the weather conditions were the same; cold, drizzle and occasional rain. I still had the 16 miles on the schedule. I wore my tighter compression shorts and less clothing. My mind was into the run. I nailed it!

While the run was still challenging I had sorted out my failures from the day before. I had eliminated the strikes one by one and hit this session out of the park. I have had a lot failures in my training.

Failure is just another chance, an opportunity.

2011 First Light Half Marathon Race Report–FAIL

“The middle is part of the race” – running legend Jim Coll

As I have mentioned a couple of time, the volume portion of my running plan is over. I have switched to the intensity phase. I had a solid tempo run on Thursday – 6 @ 6:31 pace. That was strong for me. It was a hard effort but not a race effort. My heart rate for this tempo run averaged 174 BPM. For reference, my heart rate at the Steam Whistle 12 (7.45 miles) the prior weekend averaged 176. In addition, at the Ole Man River Half my heart rate also averaged 176 BPM.

So, at the First Light I can only ascertain that I did not want to run fast. My heart rate averaged 170. Not only that but I lost this race in the middle. I had been running hard and losing ground and then just gave it up at about 8. If you look at the chart below I was actually within 9 seconds of my PR race at the Ole Man River at mile 8. However, I felt like I was over extended and fading. This is where I gave up the race.

Chart of running paces at Ole Man River and First Light Halfs.

As you can see, at mile 8 I gave it up.  I though the race was over. 

I just wanted to finish.  I allowed my heart rate to drop. 

I turned this RACE into a training run – FAIL.

 
 

Chart of heart rates at Ole Man River and First Light Halfs.

My heart rate does not indicate that I should have felt like

I was running as hard as I thought I was.  The wind did slow the pace,

however, I was simply not running hard enough – FAIL.

I thought that the PR was out the window and I hurting. I had been running into the wind and this had taken a toll. At this point I was caught by my friend Neil. He had started much slower than I.  He had also maintained his paces. After a few miles I regained my composure but was still not running to my abilities. Miles 8, 9 and 10 each hovered around 7 minute miles.

I was able to pick it up a little bit at the end but the PR streak is over. I will have to tabulate how long it lasted but it was at least a half dozen 5k’s, 2 12k’s, 7 half marathons and various other races.

As a proviso, I think I could have run this race smarter and chipped away at my half PR by a few seconds, maybe. However, I really wanted to knock a big chunk off the PR – I wanted a 1:26:20. Oh well, there will be other races. My eye is still on the prize – sub-3 marathon at Mardi Gras. I will have to have a perfect race and the run calculators are still snubbing their noses at me.

Oh yeah, this race is not chip times.  My offical time was 1:30:00 - my Garmin indicated a bit quicker.  It is funny, that would have been a solid race last year but this year it is 10 seconds per mile slower - that is HUGE.

FAILED - again.

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. - George E. Woodberry

I went for another hot run today. And today I failed. I had a good plan but it just did not work out. I wanted to slow the pace down and run 6 miles in the heat. I was running just a hair faster than planned and my heart rate was in check. And then, suddenly, the run got hard. This was about two miles into the run. I started thinking about hunkering down and pushing through and finishing strong and all of that stuff. But I decided to take my own advice – I turned around early. I started walking in the shaded areas of the trace. It was hot. I was hot. I stopped and took my shirt off. I finished up the 6 mile run a mile short and a little bit slower. I failed.


Now, I read a lot of blogs and I see failures all of the time – especially lately with running in the heat. We, as a group, well; we fail a whole heck of a lot. I plan my training sessions and sometimes they just don’t work out. Sometimes these failures get the best of me. Sometimes I learn from them – like today – shutting it down – that was the right thing to do.

But why do we fail so much?

I think failure just comes with the territory. We fail because we are not afraid. We are not afraid to take a chance, to push our boundaries, to do things that we never thought we could. In our failures we are defined. Successful people look at failure as results and outcomes while unsuccessful people look at failure as permanent and personal. We grow from our failures.

Without the failures we would not have the achievements – the successes!

I so much prefer to have failed today –even on this little run all by myself that no one knows or cares about – then to have not attempted anything. The journey is the reward. The successes and failures of today are just the steps. You just have to keep taking the steps. We can do anything as long as we are not afraid.

Be fearless!

Short, fast, hard – FAIL

It has been a little while since I failed at one of my exercise sessions. It is frustrating but that is part of the game. I went outside this morning and wanted to put together a 5 mile run at a 6:30 minute per mile pace. McMillan says I should now be able to run it at a 6:22 pace (in a race and all of that) – in addition my 5k times are in the low 19’s (sure it has been a year but I am sticking to it). I set up the GPS ‘virtual nemesis’ guy for said distance and pacing. He did not start out as slow as he usually does but at a manageable pace. I thought, “Not too bad”. My legs were still sore from the speed work on Tuesday night but I have seen sore legs before. At the start of almost all of these races over the last 6 weeks my legs have been sore at the starting line. I have had my doubts at each of these starting lines but the legs have not let me down. And today it was a little warmer - the temperatures in Southern Mississippi have returned to normal – 65 degrees and 100% humidity.

I was just not on game today – not physically or more importantly mentally. At the mile and a half mark I was holding steady but then I let me slip away. I pulled up – I let the digital nemesis go – he had been holding my shoulder and waiting for a break - he passed with authority and never looked back. I turned around at headed back to base camp. I was a dejected. During the much slow run I was able to pick myself up by my boot straps. FAILING is part of the process. Every night I push that trophy just a little further away. I remember when I thought it was too far out of reach in the past. I look at those lines in the sand. Some of them took years to cross (breaking the 20 minute barrier in the 5k) – but I step over them regularly. They are easy now. Some of the milestones are now easy training days. I remember the fear and trepidation of swimming 10 laps in a row in the pool much less the panic of my first 1/3 mile swim in a triathlon. I failed in the pool way back when. I failed at my first open water swims. Those are nothing now – I mean not even a warm up!

We like to succeed. We like to succeed all of the time. It feels good to accomplish things. However, these days it seems like so many accomplishments now are so easily achievable. They require no real work and therefore they have no real value. The successes are only worth the effort involved! If I don’t push the trophy a little further away each day then what value does a trophy have if you only have to walk across the run to get it?

I failed today – I pushed the limit and came up short. I like to say – “I’m never down. I’m either up or in the process of getting back up!” Today I am getting back up.