Is it odd that I like training more than racing?

Performance anxiety. You like training because it's a controlled, familiar environment. It's just you having to hit certain prescribed times for brief periods and failure doesn't have consequences.

You probably think too much during races. Start being an animal and race against other people like they just kicked you in the nuts.

I think you definitely suffer from some performance anxiety. Rather than having a frail ego, you probably have too large of an ego; one that can't stand the thought of losing face in the public eye. You self sabotage and dread the idea of "performing". What you probably need to realize is 99% of people don't get a crap what time you run. And the 1% that care probably just want you to run well.

Agree with what other posters say. Tune it all out and run on your instincts, just as you do in workout situations. Whether you have to have your headphones on until 5 minutes before the race, whether you have to have a couple brews the evening before a race, whatever it is that enables you to relax like you would for a tough workout, do that stuff.

When the gun sounds, just run as hard as you can.

I trained for four years and didn't race. Then I raced for 25 years, 500 races. Now I don't race anymore. It's been years since I showed up at a race and actually ran my balls off. Nothing wrong with either approach.

Are you the guy that tells everyone you are "just tempo-ing" this race?

People that cant race or dont like to race simply can't deal with the fact that when you race there's a good chance you will fail. They totally freak, cant take the pressure of putting it on the line.

Racing is sacred. Do not commit Sacrilege. Enjoyment is not the same as satisfaction.

Thanks hrrrmm, this hits hard at home. I will have to experiment with trying to turn on my instincts. hahha I will have to hide the fact that I had a couple of brews in the morning of a race from my coach though!

LetsRun is the best. Extremely supportive and helps another running mate out. Just when you think it is full of trolls this happens!

Bravo!

redux wrote:

You just don't have the killer instinct necessary to translate your training to racing.

What did Quenton quote Bruce as saying? "...you dont' become a runner by winning a morning workout."

Your killer instinct doesn't win races. It's all those workouts day after day, year after year.

Sounds like you enjoy running but aren't actually good at it.

sub 48 and 1:51 then come talk to me.

And without the killer instinct of a competitor all of those workouts are worthless if you never toe the line.

Sartor Resartus wrote:

redux wrote:

You just don't have the killer instinct necessary to translate your training to racing.

What did Quenton quote Bruce as saying? "...you dont' become a runner by winning a morning workout."

Your killer instinct doesn't win races. It's all those workouts day after day, year after year.

There are a few ways to look at this I think:

(1) You really are thinking/stressing about the race too much. Just go run them, run them often and run them hard. I think there's a fine balance between racing hard and enjoying the experience of racing at the same time, but if achieved, I think that's a good goal. If you have anxiety about racing, I'd say sign up for a ton of local races and go into them at various levels of fitness/tiredness. You might be surprised at what racing at less than peak will do for you mentally. "Victory loves company" is a slogan I've recently seen from New Balance. Perhaps that's the balance to strike. Run races hard, have goals and do all of it amongst friends/competitors in the spirit of shared experience.

(2) A lot of racing scenes have become toxic with respect to cost, time/travel, lowered expectations of competitors, entertainment racing, etc. For me this has become a significant downer and it's kept my racing schedule to a minimum of races that I truly enjoy. Otherwise I'm happy time trialling on my 7 mile trail run loop near my home. It's fun to keep whittling away at that and it's free!

(3) You're truly a lone wolf runner - tune out and enjoy your Zen or enjoy it with others who have the same ideas about running as you do.

I do think it's a bit odd to continue to push workouts and consistent mileage without some sort of goal, whether that be specific or loosely defined. At the very least I'd say do some time trialling just to see what the training is doing for you. Are you not curious? If I truly never wanted to race again I'd simplify it down to my favorite run (a 1 hour progression run) 6 days a week and call it good.