So here I was in the best shape of my life. It's sunday morning, I just ran 9 Km in 54 minutes, I've lost 1.5 Kg in the last 6 months, and there is an upcoming 10K race in 2 weeks. Everything is looking good to beat my previous 10K time of 1:03:10. I'm excited and ready to beat the next race in 1:00:00 .. or as I tell my friends : "I will do it in 59 minutes".
Fast forward two weeks, I get home defeated with a time of 1:04:26. Analyzing the situation, I realized several things that led to my failure. First of all, the last time I ran was that bloody sunday two weeks before. I got caught up in several things from work and family while feeling confident that I was already at the required level and stopped going out for runs.
During the race I made a lot of mistakes too. I overdid the food routine by having the normal breakfast 2 hours before and then a protein shake 30 minutes before the race, as recommended in the trial gift given with the subscription to the race. With 2 breakfasts on me I wasn't feeling that light. Then for warmup there was an instructor guiding what seemed more like a crossfit routine than a warmup. Finally, since I was feeling overconfident (remember my practice routine in the previous 2 weeks = none), I started at the same pace with a friend who runs 10K in 55minutes.
At the 4K I was suffering from side stitchs, had no legs, no air and no desire to continue. At 6K I decided to stop and walk for a couple of minutes to recover, while wiping my sweat, tears and pride. Then at 8K I stopped again for 2 more minutes to ease the pain on the side stitch and control my breathing. I continued to run at a slower pace for the 9K while realizing I had to revert back to basics... smiling... I was losing and being taught a lesson.
I finished the race just having fun and enjoying the scenery. Here is how I looked like in the last 100m of the race.
The next opportunity to beat my challenge was in 3 weeks with the most important race held annually in Medellin (Maratón de las Flores). This time I really focused to continue my training with humility, keeping my runs 3 times a week and executing the distance and speed targets during the weekends. I got together my routine before the race with my usual breakfast, my usual warmup, feeling confident and realistic about my time paces (which I have determined with the training).
I learned from my mistakes, adjusted accordingly and succeeded with a time of 1:00:45, my all time record. I started the race a little slow, fearing a similar scenario to the previous race. At the 6K I felt in very good shape, looked at the watch to realize I was 1 minute behind my goal, so I had to push hard for the last 4K, hit my limit, ran faster than 6min/km as I do for short runs, not 10K. I managed to pull the last 4K at 5:45 min /km, the short run speed. Here is the picture in the last Km, where you can see focus and determination to win. I was all-in, adidas.
The point I want to bring to the table is: Why is it good to fail? The answer is so you can rise stronger. If you are humble and smart you will analyze yourself and make corrections after screwing up. If you have situational awareness you will not bring your guard down in the case of distractions. If you have a goal and determination you will adjust your daily activity to reach it. If you have a dream you will train hard for it. If you train hard you will know your limits and will develop a routine. If you have a routine you don't have to improvise something that you think will help.
It is as important to fail as to fail early. Make sure you are training and practicing scenarios where you can realize if what you are doing is on-track. At work, what are your training scenarios? are you always learning and analyzing yourself and your surroundings? I look back now grateful that I screwed up that race, which wasn't the most important race of the year. This brought me down to reality and allowed my adjustments for the big show.
What do you think about failing? do you have similar situations that has made you stronger? let me know in the comments so we can share and learn together!
