How to deal with a bad run (or month of bad runs)

I’ve had times (as i’m sure my coach/ family/ significant other) can attest where I have dealt really badly with my running not going well.

I’d like to think that i’ve improved but it is definitely a work in progress.

Right now I am recovering from a stint of overtraining, which I did not deal with well to begin with…and I can’t help but wonder if i’d be further down the road to recovery if I had.

Here’s some strategies I employed:

• I cried - running has always left me a little prone to emotional outbursts. In normal life, I rarely cry… but running can turn me into a human water fountain

• I threw my toys out the pram - I am ashamed of the tantrums I have had about/ during running. Pedestrians have suffered. My phone has suffered.

• I threatened to take up fencing instead - telling everyone I am hanging up my trainers and taking up another sport. Anyone who has seen my badminton, pool, darts (insert any sport involving coordination here) will know this isn’t going to happen.

• I went out of contact - disappearing from social media, avoiding talking to my coach and running at an hour when no one is likely to see me or join me isn’t a cool strategy. No one is going to call 999 and report a missing runner. People will just be a bit p*****d off.

I think you’ll agree this isn’t a good way to deal with things.

Here's a better way to react:

• Put a limit on crying and tantrums - okay, having a minor meltdown for a short amount of time in non- judgemental company can help. Just get it over with and then move on.

• Talk to your coach - when things aren’t going well, that’s when you really need the advice.

• Talk to your friends/ other runners - they’ve been there…and they probably have cake/ wine.

• Run with people - but only nice, positive people who won’t try and initiate a race in your fragile state.

• Don’t spend all your non-running time thinking about how badly you are running - focus on your work or a home/ art project.

• Leave your garmin at home for a bit - focus on running by effort and time.

• Make sessions fun - try new routes, make it a game (Dave and I played a game of making a bet on how many dogs we’d see during a run when I was feeling particularly bad…yes, really)

We all have times where we are struggling with fatigue, slowing paces or a nagging injury. 

Sometimes, that’s beyond our control…but we can (atleast to some extent) control how we deal with it.