Devil Bend Half....a disappointing effort (DNF)
In the past I have really enjoyed this run and was looking forward to it a lot as I missed it last year.
The nice Nike people were offering free demos of the Nike range so I laced on a pair of demo Nike Air Pegasus for the event - I tried to get any twists out of the laces but time was against me. CR's Kevin and Chilliman were at the event and we set off together but after 1km I realised their "easy pace" was a little faster than my PB pace so I bid them farewell and watched them ease away while I struggled on - by the time I got to the first turn around (5k) I knew something was not right (was it the twisted laces? was it the three bad night's sleep in a row? food, hydration and mini-taper seemed okay - whatever it was I felt bad)!
I was passed by an older guy who said he was also feeling terrible - but as he also started to ease away from me I started to think about him more - if he was feeling bad I should at least be able to keep up with him! I tried to catch him back up and after about a km was hanging on his tail for the next 4kms. Each of the rolling hills toward the dam were killing me and each step was becoming a real struggle.
I wasn't feeling any better (in fact I was feeling worse - mostly lacking in energy) at the 10km finish turn off.... so I quit! (insert audible sigh here) I feel really bad about quitting now - its the first time I have let my head take over like that in a race but I have done it now and can't undo it.
I have no idea what went wrong - my training has been going really well since May so I will just try to put it down to "one of those days". I have some speed work in my pseudo schedule leading up to the Melb half so hope this will give me a bit of a boost. I had been toying with the idea of doing the full marathon but not now.
10km 51:51
Next run: Monday am 10k
posted by Wobbly man @ 1:10 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Sorry to hear that you had a bad day at the office Wobbly. Between you and me, I think it was the laces!! Will definitely be straightening mine before the Blackmores 9km in 2 weeks...Keep smiling. J
You didn't 'quit' Wobbly! You simply made a decision that continuing to run the race wasn't the right thing for your body or mind to do today. Nothing would have been achieved by struggling on till the end just so you could say you had done it.
Oh and BTW! I think the DNF was definitely a case of Did Not Fix laces.
It was a bad day and as Bob says, we all have them. Yours was today. Its also just a run, there'll be other runs, so remember to keep the bigger picture in mind. Hope you're feeling better.
Hey Wobbly, It wasn't a DNF, it was a 10km by the sound of it :-) Remember what you keep telling me....'We all have bad days.....you can't expect a PB every time.' Sounds like the shoes were to blame.
Mate, really sorry to hear that - but you did the right thing. Once you're feeling tired like that, your running form goes out the window - you might shuffle, or swing your arms differently or your footstrike may be different. In my case at least, this is when you're more likely to get yourself injured.
So, always safest to be prudent - and now you know where you stand in relation to Melb Half. Best of luck with the training, and think of it like this - if you had continued on, you might not be training at all this week :)
Pfft, just a bad day at the office WM ! So what ? Keep chipping away at it mate. Gronk :)
Just catching up on your blog.
I have only had one DNF in my career and it was one of my better running decisions. I have never regretted it. I know some people are fanatical about this and would carry on under any circumstance but I am not one of them.
Better luck in your next race.
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