Have you ever felt slow or you just plain know that you are moving slowly?
Let’s say this happens during a race or while in a group run. It is a common struggle for runners of all paces.
I feel this every once and a while. It happened the other week when I was doing a key 50 mi run for this training cycle.
My friend is preparing for Burning River 100 and I needed to get a 50 mile run in for Mohican 100. I did Burning River last year, so it was good to see the course again and to be able to help him.
My stats for the 50 mi run
53.08 mi
Average pace 13:57 min/mi
Elapsed time 12:20:34
Elevation gain 4,511 ft
How the day went and running slightly too fast
My friend and I followed the Burning River 100 gpx file on our watches. He used a Garmin and I used a COROS.
We had two crew who were a huge support. They crewed from a vehicle, stopping in some locations where an aid station for the race would be, and shared some miles to enjoy the trail, too.
The day was beautiful, cool, and partly sunny. The trail was probably 50/50 with mud.
For the first half marathon+, I hung with my friend. He is an experienced ultrarunner.
The pace was slightly faster than I wanted (his legs are also longer than mine), but I was okay with that and knew I’d eventually settle into my usual 50 miler pace once my legs gave me the cue.
Hitting a mental and physical slump
I ended up hitting a slump sooner than I expected. It happened around the marathon mark. For me, during 50 milers, this is normally around mile 30 or 40.
I knew that this early slump was likely due to doing fewer 50 mi races. Too much time has lapsed in between 50 mile runs. I had to be okay with that, otherwise, it could tear me up.
My friend and I split up. He was about two to three minutes ahead of me and I struggled along at a slower pace.
Now, we were in the hottest part of the day, running along paved roads and open fields. My hydration seemed to be okay.
I fell
As him and I were on the only gravel road, about to meet our crew, I fell hard. I bruised my ribs, shoulder, and had about a 10 in long scrape on the side of my leg and knee was dripping blood.
As a habit, I got up almost as fast as I went down. Then, I yelled up to my friend to let him know that I fell and was going to walk it off. At the vehicle, I slowly got what I needed.
Crew gave me a towel to wipe up the blood and 2 Band-Aids to put over the worst of it.
My friend took off and continued his thing, trained how he wanted. I left our crew feeling uncertain about how the rest of my run would go. It was rock bottom.
Could it get worse? Battling negative thinking
The answer was yes, but I could choose to think differently (realistically and positively (cognitive reframing, which is something that I teach my clients)) and to do my best to deal with whatever comes up.
There were several miles of being completely alone and potentially injured ahead of me, I was anxious for my safety to be completely transparent. I’m a petite woman.
This is a part of the sport. I knew that I could run, I had a phone, and that help wouldn’t be too far away.
Negative thoughts still flowed through my mind. Just like my safety concerns, I didn’t let them get to me. I leaned on experience.
Negative thoughts and how I reframed them
Negative:
“I’m slow, I will keep them waiting.”
“I’m too slow, they won’t invite me to run with them anymore.”
Reframe:
“I am moving slowly right now, but it usually doesn’t last forever.”
“They wouldn’t have asked me to come run with them if I wasn’t at a similar speed and ability.”
“They are my friends and said that this run was ‘about me’ as I prepared for Mohican 100.”
I carried these reframed, positive thoughts.
Other mental strategies
Two other mental strategies I used were counting the number of beeps (miles) on my watch and positive self-talk.
For covering distance, I never looked at my watch because I usually don’t when I’m doing a long run or race, but I kept a mental tally estimating how many miles until I’d see my crew again.
Additionally, I like to tell myself longer than what I actually have. That way it seems shorter and I feel mentally prepared for that long stretch of time. It is something a bit quirky that works for me.
Positive self-talk or mantras was the other thing.
“You’re fine.”
“You will get it done.”
“You’re doing it.”
“Keep moving.”
“If you keep moving, you will finish.”
“It’s only 50 miles.”
“You’ve done these 50 miles before and then went back again.”
When I’m running, sometimes these are the simple thoughts that my brain can string together, and that’s just fine. It works.
I don’t listen to music during races or these long runs, so how I talk to myself matters.
Times get really hard out there and I need to repeat these things to myself hundreds of times. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Over the hours, I continued to run smart and be consistent with fueling. I did the right things. I worked on myself, keeping in mind that I’d eventually see my crew again.
I even enjoyed battling the hills… and making wrong turns because I was following the Burning River 100 gpx file on my watch. My watch would notify me that I was off course about 100-200 ft past the turn.
Embracing the challenges and sticking to my guns was a big part of pushing through.
Recalling this run will be a strategy at Mohican. It is one of several reminders that I can overcome struggle and pain.
Coming out of the slump
As I came out of the huge slump, my body was “fine” from falling except for my bruised ribs. I figured out how to breathe and use my arms to hold my hydration vest tighter against my body, so that it hurt less.
At the time, I didn’t know that that’s what was wrong with my ribs. I was considering a side stitch and also remembered the last time that I was on the Burning River course, in the final miles, my vest was really hurting my body.
During this run, I ruled those issues out and decided that if I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
My focus was on the run and practicing the distance like I knew that I should. Going back to simply remembering that I’d see my crew again was also helpful.
The run went rather smoothly after the slump.
The next unexpected thing
Surprisingly, I ran into one of the crew sooner than I expected. She was out looking for my friend. His Garmin went wacky and he was about 1.60 miles off course. It lowered his spirits and he slowed down.
The lady who met up with me got a hold of him on the phone. She let him know that she found me and was going to run with me out to the car. We got part way to the car and she turned back to continue searching for him.
With about 5 miles left, and no longer being on single track trail, I was feeling great about having a strong finish. My ribs hurt, but I knew that it was a straight shot on a bike path to the invisible finish line.
I hammered it out. My friend was on my mind a lot because he is a very strong runner. I expected that he might try to catch up with me and we would potentially battle out the rest of the run.
– We had a little friendly competition last November at a local run club event.
There was less than a mile to go, my husband joined me. We ran to the park, around a baseball field, through a parking lot, and then back into the grass where the 50 mile finish line usually is.
Of course, I felt happy to be finished, and tried to not think about having to do double that distance in June for Mohican.
My husband and I walked to the Jeep and I got to sit in a chair and eat. We watched for my friend to come down the bike path. About 15-25 minutes later there he was!
After we were all back together, a coyote came through where our invisible finish line was. It appeared to be looking for food. As it got closer, we packed up to leave. It was going to be a long drive home, anyway.
It was a successful day out on the trail, and my friend and I accomplished the things that we set out to do.
Remember these tips
Here are a few ways to practice getting out of a “I am too slow” slump or just about any kind of negative headspace slump during a run or race.
- Think realistically and positively. – Cognitive reframing
- Positive self-talk and mantras
- Counting the beeps on your watch to signify completing another mile.
- Telling yourself that you have further to go than you actually do. – Mental toughness
- Looking forward to seeing crew or aid stations.
- Chunking down the distance.
Random Run Chat: Harder run day, prep for Mohican 100, and “feeling slow”
Running 100 miles is no joke and it takes so much preparation, so I’ve been leaning into my workouts and the smaller details. I’m also doing my best to love the journey in the process.
I’m busy and sometimes easily overwhelmed by everything going on, it is really the curve balls of life (like our Jeep having something wrong with it for the 7th time THIS YEAR) but it’s okay and is a part of it.
Making Random Run Chat videos cross my mind when I’m running, but isn’t as important as just focusing on the workout.
Ultrarunner, do you need some support? I’ve got your back!
If you are interested in working together on stepping up your mindset and mental wellness around racing and life, reach out to me. You can potentially unlock your ultrarunning potential.
I’d love to hear about your goals.
We will look at problem areas or where you’d like to see improvement, set a realistic goal, and then put those steps in place.
– I work with ultrarunners all over the United States who want to dial in their race mentality, mental strategies, and overall improve their mental wellness.
— My coaching services are fully on the mental side (I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Counseling, and well over a decade of experience working in the mental health field. Coaching is a non-clinical service).
Here are some things that I can help with
- Improve day-to-day mental wellbeing.
- Build better habits.
- Incorporate mindfulness
- Learn emotion regulation strategies.
- Set challenging, yet attainable goals.
- Discuss motivation
- Address body image thoughts or concerns.
- Talk about you! Who are you, besides a runner or athlete? – parent, sibling, entrepreneur, community member… What else do you do, and how does it impact training for races or vice versa?
- Coping with injury and setbacks.
- Juggling priorities and time management.
- Are you actively trying to find a mental health professional? I can assist!
- Are you searching for a running coach? I can provide pointers on how to go about finding someone who’s a good fit and what questions to ask the coach when interviewing them for fit.
- Mental strategies and mindset for racing.
- Training and race day visualization.
- General worries and race day stressors.
- What might you do if you encounter a problem during a race.
- Building trust with yourself.
- Improving self-care, self-esteem, and self-compassion.
- Knowing when to push yourself and when to be kinder to yourself.
- Why’s and meaning behind what you do. Passion. Using that as support and drive.
- On top of talking, I do provide resources and homework.
I hope that this paints a picture of the good stuff that we can work on together.
Contact me if you have questions or want to schedule.
Self-supported 50 mi runs and Burning River 100
How to Run a Self-Supported Trail 31-50 Miler
To Hell & Back, Women’s Unsupported Fastest Known Time
My Plan for Finishing Burning River 100 (2023)
Burning River 100 Race Report 2023
Stephen’s 54 Mile Run to Hell and Back (07/09/22)
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Happy running,
Shannon
Warning: Gross boo boo pictures from falling
