Sometimes, running can be like beating your head against the wall. The body is a complex organism with hundreds of complicated physiological processes occurring every second. On days when running feels effortless, all these elements “click” and you cruise through the streets. Unfortunately, sometimes you’re out for a hard workout or an easy run and your body just doesn’t want to cooperate and you feel like, well, let’s face it, crap. Having been a competitive runner for more than half my life, I know these days all too well and they can be some of the most confusing and frustrating parts of the training process.
So, what do you do when a run goes bad?
You have quite a few options when your body doesn’t want to cooperate with your training schedule. However, In my opinion, the two best options when you get to the middle of a workout and you realize you just don’t have it are to (1) slow the pace or (2) stop the workout and put it behind you.
1. Adjusting the pace
It’s better to slow the pace of the workout instead of lengthening the rest or shortening the interval.
The rest and the length of an interval tend to be more specific to your goal race and training plan whereas pace is typically more an estimation of the effort your coach thinks it should take to hit the specific physiological adaptation you’re looking for. So, the first step should be to slow your pace to keep yourself in that effort range.
To clarify, when your training plan or a coach assigns you a certain pace for a workout, they are estimating how fast you need to run to elicit a certain effort based on your abilities, fatigue levels, and progression in the training plan. When the body isn’t operating on all cylinders, the assigned pace is no longer a correct estimation of the effort level needed to accomplish the workout. By slowing the pace, you give yourself a chance to run within the physiological parameters of the workout and still get some benefit.
On the other hand, the rest and the interval length are usually a factor of the race distance or that physiological system you’re working on. For example, a workout like 6 x 1 mile at 10k pace with a short, 1 min rest, is working on your lactate threshold. Lengthening the rest takes you out of that zone and you diminish the benefits of the workout.
Of course, some days you just don’t have it and you’ll need to stop completely, but if you can complete the workout at a slower pace, you can usually get most of the benefits from the run and still keep the progression moving forward.
2. Stopping the workout
Sometimes you’re really having a bad day and everything feels off. If you feel sick to your stomach, you’re getting headaches, or you’re running more than 30 seconds slower than your goal pace for the workout, stop the run and jog back slowly to the car or house.
It’s definitely not an easy mental task for a runner to stop a workout, but sometimes it’s actually the best way move forward and get faster. When you’re struggling this much to hit a workout, it’s better to recoup, put the workout behind you, and just move forward with the training.
It’s important that you do not try to make-up a workout the next day.
This throws off the balance of the training program and could lead to injury or over training. This is the number one training mistake I see new runners make. Instead. evaluate why you had a bad workout – was it the heat? Stressful day at work or with the family? Went too hard on your easy day? Look for an answer and try to improve that fault for the next workout and put the bad day behind you. This can be mentally difficult, but in the long-term, it will keep you more consistent.
If you’re a RunnersConnect member, you can always log into our coach chat and ask one of our expert coaches how you should adjust your training schedule to account for a bad workout. Making these kind of adjustments is what can help take your racing to the next level, so don’t hesitate to ask. If you don’t have a coach, lean on the side of caution and give your body a rest and skip the workout – you’ll be stronger and more healthy in the long run.
Bad runs happen to the best of runners and it’s bound to happen once or twice in every runner’s training cycle. However, if you adjust the pace on the rough days and stop the workout on the really bad runs, you can stay consistent and ensure that the off day is merely a blip on the training schedule.
Have any questions on how to adjust your workouts on the rough days? Leave a comment and I’ll be sure to answer.
