Thanks, everyone, for chiming in. This has been really motivating food for thought, and I feel a little better about my approach this weekend.
So my answer is...don't do that. Don't reign it in only because that's what you think you should be doing. it's been an issue for me in the past. Now if you are in major pain, or your breathing is just really uncontrollable, or if you are getting dizzy, etc...yeah reign it in.
Thanks! I think I just have to get comfortable being uncomfortable (but not in major pain!). Before this year, I never considered races to be well... races. They were just training runs where I got a t-shirt. So I ran them the same way I ran everything else... nice easy runs, just taking it all in. Since then, I've had one race where I worked hard (my 5k PR earlier this year) but still probably had more in the tank, and one where I pushed hard for distance but didn't press for speed (the half). So, this'll be new, because I know I have the endurance for a fast(er) 10k and I've certainly been better about training. We'll see!
Remember what tempo felt like. You can push that.
That's true. I've been pushing tempo paces for a while now. This is a good way to think about it.
It also helps that it is 10k because I KNOW you can do a 10k at race speed. I KNOW YOU CAN!!!
Well, you just gave me an excellent example to follow!
You can also swear at your inner gremlins...I've heard that works for some of us
Oh there will be swearing... believe you me.
Going for broke pretty much means you run as hard as you can and you don't care about what happens next.
Thanks for this. I'm trying to internalize that this is a really good opportunity to try this. My next half isn't until May of next year, and this cycle was all about maintenance and building endurance. For this particular race at this particular moment, there's no harm in really testing my limits... no fear that if I overdo it, I risk throwing off training for some other, more important race in a few weeks/months. So it's a really good opportunity to say "eh, whatever, just GO FOR IT and see what happens." And I will!
Just look at how relaxed Usain is running faster than any other human ever.
TRUE! And he usually looks like he's having a blast.
Like imagine Billy yelling "YOU'RE CRUSHING IT" or me yelling "I AM MOANA!"
Remember how in the half I dedicated miles to certain people to keep me motivated when my legs got tired? This race, I'll think of super awesome things like these. In other news, I legit had a dream last night that someone was literally chasing me to the finish line with a giant fritter (why I was running from the fritter is beyond me). So that happened.
Turns out, I was probably overthinking it a lot.
Me too, for sure. I think I "listen to my body" a little too much in these situations, too.
no big deal if I crashed and burned. So what really? I was only ever going to find out if I could do it if I tried
YES. THIS. Even if I do crash and have to walk at the end, the race has a generous time limit compared to my current fitness. So I try hard and don't get it done? I come back here, I report what happened, and figure out how to do better next time. As much as it would suck to have to come back with a defeat instead of a victory, that's part of growing, right?
like Roxy said, that passed quickly and was replaced with sheer happiness.
I love that feeling of sheer happiness when you finish a race that you were daunted by. Fingers crossed.
I'm always fearing pushing too hard and getting hurt too. The recent race accomplishments of
@roxymama and
@ZellyB have been very inspiring, and I would really like to try a 5k or 10k sometime next year after marathon recovery, with the "let it go" approach as well.
SUPER inspiring! Honestly, reading the accounts here is what makes me want to be more brave than I normally am in a race, too! But I have also been really inspired the races where people missed their goals but had to really dig deep to push through and keep going. That mental toughness, the ability to keep pushing and grinding even when you KNOW that that day isn't your day... that takes guts too. So I think that's kind of my goal on Sunday, especially since I'm racing blind. I'm not shooting for a sub-1, I don't think I'm there yet in my training. So instead of a time goal, I'm going for a mental goal of really pushing myself beyond my comfort level and really learning about how to race with a true racing mindset (rather than a "hey i'm going to just do my LR with 40,000 other people today). Whatever happens with the time, happens. It'll be a piece of data to use in the future.
My mantra on Sunday. 100%.
