Dear all - Happy Friday!
I completed my first 10K on Sunday which I found very enjoyable and have been on a high ever since. However, went out for my first run since the race lastnight (5K) and it/I was awful to put it mildly! Could not get into a rhythm and I'm sure my arms and legs were flailing about wildly. My calf muscles felt like they were made of stone also. Afterwards I was glad I had made the effort but felt rather disappointed with my performance.
Has anyone else experienced this post-race hell?? Any advice?? I'm going to try again tonight so any advice you can offer me would be much appreciated.
Thanks
M
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Comments
Congratulations on your first 10k, I'm glad you enjoyed it - it's a great buzz isn't it.
Don't be disappointed, it's a fairly natural reaction to both achieving a major milestone and also (I guess) running harder than you do in training (races usually feel more focussed if not actually faster/longer).
Allow yourself a couple of easier sessions & find yourself another race to aim for - I think the Events tab in this forum is great in finding things within, say, 20 miles.
Enjoy yourself tonight - good luck
Don't rush to blame the race, and don't let it put you off racing in future. Your bad run yesterday could have been pure co-incidence. One well-known running coach (was it Shelly-lynn Glover?) has gone on record as saying that out of every 5 runs you do, one will be brilliant, three will be OK, and one will be a bummer. Yesterday you had the bummer. I did my first 10K on Sunday too, and had a crackingly good run on Tuesday.
Do try again tonight and you're likely to surprise yourself.
Cheers, V-rap.
V-rap - think you are right about it being a co-incidence. Had probably put too much pressure on myself to be brilliant too!!
Am definitely going to race again and am quite looking forward to my run tonight - can't be any worse than lastnight!(better not speak too soon!)
Have a nice day.
M
The strange thing is, even a bad run can feel a lot better than not running at all, especially when it's over.
Hope you have a good one tonight!
Cheers, V-rap.
Well done with the 1/2M - how soon did you decide to go for a 1/2M by the way? I've been running a while but have only just done a 10K - would love to build up to a 1/2 M though.
I totally agree with the mental thing - if you don't have the motivation in your head you are sunk
M
Are you doing London next year?? I fancy trying the Loch Ness Marathon next year - would be good scenery to plod along next to anyway!
M
Have entered London but will only do it nest year if I get in the ballot - had to work hard to get £1400 sponsorship this year which took a lot of time. I facy Dublin Marathon either this year or next - a 4 day trip perhaps to make the most of the Craic !!
Thanks for all your advice.
M
Brand new marathon in Edinburgh 15 June 2003, what a excellent target to take part in the first running of a race.
(If you fancy doing it for charity - Hope for Children are one of the official charities, more than happy to get you info if you email me).
http://www.edinburgh-marathon.co.uk/
Will give it some thought. Does it sound realistic to be prepared for a marathon by then ??? - always said I'd like to have done a marathon by the time I'm 30 and i'd only be reaching 29 shortly after that!
M
Gareth - glad to hear i'm not alone - I mean that in a good way of course! It is sooooo frustrating that we undoubtably have bad runs but I guess it's part of the parcel. Stay positive and good luck with your next races.
M
Ignoring any personal interest I might have in promoting Edinburgh - it is totally realistic for you to do a Marathon next June.
Loads of people who will be doing London in April are only just thinking about starting now (not that I would advocate that approach) and lots of them won't already have a 10k under their belts.
With a sensible training plan (keep going through the winter & build up through the spring with a few organised races sprinkled in to keep motivation & focus) and avoiding accidents you'll be cresting the line with the best of them by June.
Nick
You are slowly persuading me! There are a few marathon runners in my family so hopefully there could be a marathon-gene in me! You make it sound so easy - have you done many?
M
Two - both in 1984!
Earlier this year I set myself a goal of raising £20k for Hope for Children by completing the 2004 London Marathon in under 4:22.
Why 2004 not 2003 I hear you asking, given that he's been prattling on at me to go for it?
- 20th anniversary of my other runs (London & Berlin)
- 10th anniversary of founding of HOPE
- it was a big step into the unknown and I wanted a conservative goal (I now firmly believe I could do 2003 in under 4:22 - 10 min mile for 26.2 miles - but will need at least another year for all the fundraising things I wanted to do).
(If you have doubts - I remember an item in the old forum where someone had seen a local news item where a woman entering FLM 2002 was reported as saying that she had got up to 8 miles in training for it!)
Nick
What does the charity do?
£20K is very impressive - good luck with that. 2004 sounds like a good year for you with all those anniversaries to spur you on.
HOPE supports lots of small projects around the world (inc a few in the UK). The thing I like about the charity is that they fill in the gaps that other larger schemes can't cover. So, for example, they support schemes that help say 6 mothers in a village to set up a micro enterprise in Sri Lanka and a place in Zambia (from memory) that has places for a dozen kids to get them off the streets. The Oxfams/Save the Childrens do brilliant work on large projects but sometimes can't get to help people who fall between schemes - HOPE tries to plug some of those gaps working with local projects rather than competing with them.
Its amazing how little it costs to make a real difference in some of these projects (£3 to provide the equipment to allow a street kid to attend school for a term).
Why not have a browse round
www.hope-for-children.org.uk
Thanks
Have a good weekend
M