Would you bother running a race with a 20MPH headwind?

had to deal with this once, though it was just a time trial. I stuck it out. training needed to move on, and I can't just throw a half in anywhere, like a 5k.

first half was into a head wind and I think I held up around 20 seconds per mile. Hit a huge negative split with the wind chasing me back and probably made up 1/3 of the time I lost. Fighting a headwind like that can take a toll on your body for recovery as well.

I don't know. If you can reasonably fit it in some other time, do it. but if you can't, just do it and live with the results. Should be a good time to practice your drafting skills.

Yes, I would race. The first road race I ever won was a point-to-point 10K race with a massive headwind. I race for the head-to-head competition among the people I know (typically only race locally), and have never really raced for times since the early '90s. I most often race local trails/short cross country with approximate distances and courses announced at the starting line, so times are completely meaningless (except time back from winner).

We are getting more and more of these threads from people afraid to race. The canefis thread being the weirdest. But this one is just as wussy. Afraid to race because there might be 3 miles of headwind in a half marathon? What a wuss.

Dearest Abby wrote:

Godspeed, British Idiot Savant Guy.

Is this to imply British Guy and me are one in the same? That would be an odd implication and...a bit troll like.

cooling breeze wrote:

We are getting more and more of these threads from people afraid to race. The canefis thread being the weirdest. But this one is just as wussy. Afraid to race because there might be 3 miles of headwind in a half marathon? What a wuss.

Deciding not to do something and being 'afraid' aren't exactly the same thing... would you say that anyone not running 140 MPW is 'afraid' of 140 mile weeks or just that they know better than to do too much mileage and get injured? The point of the post is, I'm not convinced there's much point in running a race which is in poor conditions that will realisitically cost several minutes versus calm weather and a flat course. Sure I can say "oh, that's a good time considering the conditions" but is it really an indicator of fitness if you just have to guess how much the conditions slowed you down?

Others have mentioned running for position, but I regret not mentioning in the original post that this is a fairly local race and there's quite a good chance I could end up several minutes ahead of the rest of the field depending on who turns up, so running for a high finishing position isn't something I can really aim for. Unfortunately, 'bigger' races just aren't an option for a few more months.

The counter argument is it really is rubbish to train 5 months for a race only to not run it, hence my dilemma and subsequent LR post.

If it's a race rather than a TT, then run it. Keep an eye on the weather. The forecast a week out will change so I'd prepare as if it's going ahead and loon at the forecast a couple of days out.