After a bad race, my initial thought is always “I never want to race again.” Shortly after, I realize that I cannot possibly end my running career on that bad of a note, so I have to do at least one more race. The question of when to do that next race becomes the main object of my rumination. The two options I always consider are 1) do the soonest race available to wipe the slate clean, and 2) do a race months away to allow a complete reset. These two options both have their positives and negatives.
Option one wipes the slate clean as quickly as possible and gets the bad race out of the center of my thoughts. However, there is the risk that if the “bounce back” race goes badly, it will add to the misery of the initial bad race and make the thought of retirement from the sport even more resounding.
Option two allows a complete reset and lets me adjust training and improve fitness before taking on another starting line. However, this means that I have to sit with the disappointment of the last race for an entire training block and ruminate on how horrible that experience was.
After my last bad race (Pikes Peak Ascent), I wanted to go with option two, but the race was so horrible that I knew I had to go with option one to escape months of being haunted by that experience. So, I ran another race 6 days later. Watch the video below to see if I was able to bounce back.
