What do you do when you're having a Bad run??

Bad runs - we have all the time. Today was probably one of the worst I can remember in a long time. Besides the drizzle, warm temps (63F) and soul (sole) sucking humidity (98%), my legs just didn't want to go this morning. I kept telling myself one more mile and it will be worth it later, and yes, I'm glad I ran the prescribed distance albeit it slower and a lot more painfully (metaphorically) than it should have been.

So what do you do when it just isn't your day? Do you gut it out? Pack it in and go home? Do you have a mantra that helps you through it? Just curious and would love some thoughts.

I do pretty much what you did - I gut it out, so long as that doesn't seem like a health issue.

My mantra gets pretty simple at that point - either "just keep going" or "stop whining and get it done".

Fortunately, I don't have a lot of them!

Depends on what's on schedule that day:

If its an easy/short (which it sounds like today may have been for you), I try to slow my pace and just finish it. One trick I have used is to turn my watch off. I'm also not afraid to cut a few miles off though, for example, turning an easy 8 to 5 or 6.

If its a long run, I'm usually willing to cut it short and log it a different day. Long runs aren't my strongest suit, so I typically want to perform well on them, and if my body is telling me its fatigued, I try to listen. The times I have finished a long run when feeling shitty, my training in the subsequent days has taken a major hit.

If its a workout, I try to gut it out, and tell myself that the benefit of the workout is gained by effort level, not pace. So though a tempo may be slowe than planned, if I'm still workout hard its probably worth it.

Lazy Jerry would love to have many bad runs. Yesterday, he got up 5:00am,used bath room, watched TV while rolling his feet, then went back to nap 6:30am.

He did have 10 miles this morning though.

Nice timing on this one. Yesterday I did a speed workout at lunch and a recovery run last night. I didn't eat or drink enough in between and about 3M into my 4+M recovery I started getting light headed. So I stopped and walked for a few minutes until I started feeling better and then I jogged it in. If I had been on a treadmill I would have cut it short.

If it's not a health thing or overtraining thing then I'll push through on speed or long runs. For an easy or recovery I'll just reduce pace and finish it up.

Had the same thing last Friday, Michele, minus the humidity. Unseasonably warm, and I was bonking from the beginning... and had 2hrs to do. If it's a long run like that where there's no goal other than to get the time/mileage done (meaning no fast-finish, intervals, anything like that), I just use it as a mental challenge. I think my weakest link in regards to running and racing is that I give up pretty easily (OC being the one exception) and make caveats for myself so I can ease up when things get hard, so turning a training run into an end-of-a-race simulation is good for me.

I usually have to continue because my runs take me away from my apartment by about half the distance I'm going to run, so I can't stop because it'll delay me getting ready for work.

Michele, I think you and I have experienced the 'winter's over and the humidity is a factor' in our respective parts of the country.

Spring has sprung!

For me it all depends on the type of run and what else I have planned that week. But in general I would say I gut it out and just focus on getting the miles in by slowing down, if necessary. I get the most confidence from knowing I ran relatively high miles week in, week out. So unless I'm just dying, which happens every couple of months, I'll stil try to get the miles in.

I always try to bring a gel too. Other than long runs I rarely take in carbs during runs but having and taking a gel has saved me more than a few times. I can always log 3-4 more after taking a gel even if things are going poorly.

Thanks all - just the perspective I was looking for. This type of feedback is more than helpful.

I hear you Michelle. Yesterday was a bad run for me. When I'm having a bad run I stick it out (may cut it a mile or two short like yesterday), but I don't worry about the time. I finish the run (unless there's pain) b/c I know I'm going to go trough tough spots during my marathons and ultras that I need to push through. Sometimes I stop and stretch or take a quick walk break, which may help. Mental training at its best.

If something hurts, I cut it short. If the conditions are bad, I gut it out and know that next time it will be better. It helps to have someone to complain to. It also helps to start planning the next run and imagining how much better it will be.

Dave said my answer.....turn the watch off. If I know it is going to be a suffer-fest, I find it easier to take if I just ignore mileage and pace etc and "just run" or even slowly jog if that's all I've got that day. No time or distance goals, just out there getting something done.

I look at the context of the bad run: Am I insufficiently recovered from a hard workout? Is my fueling/hydration/electrolytes screwed up? Does the weather stink?

My response depends on the answer to those questions.

Insufficiently recovered? Shut it down. It's not going to help to keep going, and it might well hurt.

Bonking/dehydrated/electrolyte deprived? Eat/drink/electrolyte it and see if it helps, and turn off the Garmin if it doesn't.

Bad weather? Throttle it back as needed and keep going.

This must be the week for bad runs because I had one yesterday! Or at least it seemed bad at the time. I went out for 14 miles with 60 degrees and sunny weather that quickly turned to an insanly high wind, cloudy and 40-45 degrees, with light drizzle, leaving me under dressed. Plus I was tired and my legs felt heavy for the first 5 miles or so. But I gutted it out and thankfully I had worn long sleeves knowing it would be windy. I ran most of the whole thing with my hands clenched inside my sleeves. I felt half frozen and was rather miserable by the time I finished!

But, today in hindsight, I feel like I had a pretty decent run! The fact that I stuck it out is a large part of that. If I had quit and gone home I would likely be feeling bad about it today and would be fretting over it. Instead, since I stuck with it, it gave me confidence. So, unless I think I am injured, I always try to gut it out on bad runs, especially if they are key workouts like a long run or pace run. On a short easy run though, I might turn back home early and knock a mile or two off with no worries since there is not as much to lose with that. But even then I try first to stick it out.

Can't stress enough though, if I think I am injured (ie something hurts such that it is making my gait different), I turn straight for home. I'm a bit injury prone, so I get paranoid about those things!

Reading over the other responses, I agree with turning off the watch too. I Usually leave it on so I can have the data later, but I quit looking at it or, like yesterday, I pull a sleeve over it. If things are bad, I just focus on running my planned route and not worrying about anything else. Funny thing with my "bad run" yesterday was that when I looked at my data after getting home, I actually had a pretty good pace, maybe even faster than it should have been given the headwind I was running into much of the time! It sure felt slower to me than it really was!

I either gut it out ( Good Lord I have had so many of those) or just back off the pace and stride it home. I have not had many where I just said, "the heck with this" and stopped. I have cut miles short.....We all have them..LOL.

Without trying to sound stupid, I really don't seem to have bad runs. I'd like to think it's because I am properly prepared for the runs that matter, and really don't care about the ones that don't. My schedule usually has two runs each week that I would say are key runs. The other days are just filler runs to get ready for the key runs. These easy/recovery runs might have been bad days if I had a particular time or distance I thought I needed to do, so I take that out of the equation and just run. Sometimes with or without a watch; measured or unmeasured courses. Seems I am usually able to show up on race day and key run day....

Dave Bussard wrote:Without trying to sound stupid, I really don't seem to have bad runs. I'd like to think it's because I am properly prepared for the runs that matter, and really don't care about the ones that don't. My schedule usually has two runs each week that I would say are key runs. The other days are just filler runs to get ready for the key runs. These easy/recovery runs might have been bad days if I had a particular time or distance I thought I needed to do, so I take that out of the equation and just run. Sometimes with or without a watch; measured or unmeasured courses. Seems I am usually able to show up on race day and key run day....

And here we have someone who sees the forest through the trees.

Most of my bad runs which is rare seem to fall on recovery days. Matter of fact some of my best runs are on hard days and long runs days and even after eating like Mexican foods.

That said, when not feeling 100% on recovery runs I slow it down and on hard runs I gut it out. I can't remember the last hard run not feeling good enough to at least gut it out and finish (Except when I had a stomach virus a year or so ago - I called it quits after 9 miles on an 18 mile run). That sucked!

Most of the time I try to gut it out and just finish no matter what the pace is. It's kind of a mental victory for me that I can finish a run when it is not my day. There have been times that I have shut it down, because I knew that I had an even more important run in the near future. But I finish them more times than I end them.

I tend to gut it out. I don't have a lot of bad runs unless I'm sick or a injured. I tend to follow a plan (Hal, Pfitz, Yasso) so I trust there is the right variety, rest, distances in there and so far they've worked pretty well. Occasionally, usually due to weather or partying the night before the pace is a bit slower. But I do try to get the run in. Too anal I guess.

Once I'm dressed for the run there's no turning back. If the schedule calls for a certain pace i try to hit it as best i can. Sometimes i plan ahead of time to flip flop easy, hard, or off days depending on circumstances like work or sickness, but usually gut out whatever is pre-planned ahead of time. It's like that for races too unless my legs are completely falling off, never in my life had a DNF.

Jumping in late here. The way my runs are set up, I'm either doing the treadmill or I'm 30 minutes from home running on the rail trail for an LSD. If I'm at home, I'll probably cut it short and do it the next morning (if that's an option). If I'm already 30 minutes from home I'll gut it out at whatever speed gets me through. In looking at old log books I have noted alot of those miserable summer runs. Slower but done!