I just ran the worst race of my life and I am mortified, frustrated, and upset. I honestly want to die.

0/10

It’ll happen homeboy. Sometimes you’ll bomb, I’ve done it many times. Just keep consistently running, work on long runs, and steadily increase the mileage. Don’t stress it, just run and train & rest when needed. You’ll probably pop under a 20min 5k this season if you stay consistent and stay relaxed.

This race should just be motivation to get better, and you will. Someday maybe you’ll be shooting for 16min and an 18:03 will feel the same way. Just keep rockin dawg.

Maybe you over trained a little in the days leading up to the race?

No one died, get back on the horse.

You’re too dramatic. The drama is taking it’s toll.

Lighten up and put it in perspective. You’re just running.

You might be sick or something. Maybe covid? You'll get over it, it's just one race.

Hey you’re fine dude. We all have bad races. Senior year I ran 17:2x one week, 18:5x the next, 17:17 after that, and then 16:07 after a bit more than a month without training. It’s just not there sometimes. Don’t get too down on yourself over it. Use it as motivation to work harder and prove the people that doubt you wrong.

*a bit more than a month of just training*

You will not PR by not training for a month my bad lol

heartfoundation wrote:

No one died, get back on the horse.

He is a runner not a cowboy.

Literally wrote:

heartfoundation wrote:

No one died, get back on the horse.

He is a runner not a cowboy.

He is a girl

Keep the ball rolling…

Don’t stop believing…

No pain no gain…

The only thing to fear is fear itself…

My favorite Jesus is baby Jesus…

For anyone who’s saying this is too dramatic, you just don’t understand. OP is not being too dramatic at all.

OP—if your training has been going well, don’t change anything. But think back to the last workout you did before this race. If it was a barn-burner, all out effort, chances are you just did yourself in. Especially if the race was in hot conditions, hilly, etc. All that stuff aggregates. For the next race, take it EASY on your runs leading up to it. Maybe even take one workout off between now and then.

Sometimes your best days come right after your worst performances. I know when I ran a 5k TT and it went horribly wrong, the next day I was able to cruise to 14 miles at sub-6 pace like it was nothing. If that’s a similar case to you, then this race was definitely just a rust-buster, a shock to the system.

If instead you’re feeling very fatigued the day after, then you probably hit it too hard leading into the race, so just chill out in workouts and easy runs and you’ll be fine! The fitness doesn’t go away with one race.

Nope, OP is way too dramatic. So are you. It’s just a bad race. As they say in NZ…harden the F up.

Bro, listen.

I was a high level HS distance runner. When you're that age nothing else seems to matter.

I've been there.

Now I'm 37 and don't even really care much about running, just keep tabs on the message boards. I guarantee you'll one day feel similar.

I know it seems impossible, since you are young and naive, but try to take a step back and just understand running isn't everything. Try to have fun and keep grounded.

A bad race happens to everyone. There is a cause, but it's not always apparent. It could be low grade flu, mono, tiredness from an unfamiliar workout the day before, overtraining, lack of sufficient warmup, poor fueling, too little to eat, too much to eat, or low iron levels. Lots of threads here mention low iron as a problem for women, even when the iron level is normal but on the low side of normal.

Do you have any minor signs of the flu? Sniffles? Scratchy throat? A few more aches than normal? A flu so minor that you don't notice it can devastate running performance. Same for mono.

If the problem continues, get your iron level checked. Ask your coach how to get it done.

Regardless, it's one race. A bad race can make you stronger. It's in your head. Make this a motivation. You're making it a defeat. Defeat doesn't happen unless you quit.

If you're contemplating suicide because you ran a 5K in 24:xx, which is faster than a very large majority of people can run, and you by far are not an elite runner with elite expectations upon which you make you're living, then you seriously have other problems and should find mental healthcare immediately.

The fact that you made a troll post to make fun of people who are actually suicidal is disgusting.

It's just one race. We all have bad races. We all have bad days, speeches, performances, games, events, and bad everythings. But it's temporary. Most every other time things go much better. A low point is called a low point for a reason: Because everything else is higher, better. Your next race is likely to be much, much better. Don't focus on your PR, just focus on finishing faster than you did during this last race. It's highly likely you will.

It happens to all of us. You're human.