There’s nothing worse than a race that goes badly after months of training and making sacrifices to prepare for it. During tough workouts and early Saturday nights, we remind ourselves that it’s all worth it on race day when we get to meet our goal and revel in our accomplishments.
So what happens when you don’t meet your goal and you fall short of your expectations?
Your support circle will urge you to find the silver lining, but you won’t want to hear it. While the Hallmark moment you wanted was to cry tears of joy at the finish line, you may have to settle instead for the tears you cry in your car while driving away from the train wreck that was your race.
Here’s what happens next.
You make it home alive.
That’s right, you’re still here. And that’s good news because it teaches you that there is life after DNF (the term used for those who don’t complete a race, meaning “Did not finish.”).
It’s important to realize that failing is a huge part of athletics and competition. When the outcomes are “win or lose” you are constantly facing a 50/50 shot at failure. In endurance sports it’s a little different because the athlete is competing with potentially hundreds of other people for a win, but most triathletes would consider a DNF to be the ultimate “loss” because it completely removes you from the possibility of success. It’s the medical equivalent of “pulling the plug” on your race. But remember, just because your race died, that doesn’t mean you have to go with it.
You stop being angry, and start being thoughtful.
At some point you realize you can’t change what happened in your race, and in order to make the experience worth something you begin to obsess over every move you made that day.
Before you know it, you’re fully aware of what you ate for the past week, how you slept the night before, the workouts you skimped on in your last month of training, and the song that was on the radio while driving to the race that morning. A theory starts brewing and you can pinpoint some reasons for your sub-par performance.
You uncover new information.
They say the truth will set you free. If you can zero in on why a race went poorly, it immediately lessens the blow of the initial “failure.” As Type-A personalities, us triathletes seek some sense of accountability when things go wrong. When that thing happens to be our most important race, we are relentless with our pursuit for answers. New information helps us to piece together how the race could have gone if we had prepared differently or executed the race another way. This thought process enables us to renew faith in our abilities.
You become inspired.
Each failure should be considered an opportunity to learn. To be angered by our performance in one race is to be inspired in the performance we seek in the next race. Without failures in training and racing, we wouldn’t be able to establish benchmarks within our progress as athletes. Being thoughtful about what went wrong, identifying ways you could have been better in your race, and using that information to fine-tune your needs for the next goal is an essential part of your growth.
You plan.
Now that you know what you need to meet your previous goal, you are equipped to plan a more effective route to meet it in the future. You will go down the path toward that goal again armed with more information than before, and a better plan to achieve success. You come to the table more organized, with a razor-sharp focus on what needs to happen.
You race again.
Time has passed and you’ve done the homework to figure out what went wrong and how you could improve your next performance. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by the past, instead focus on the moment and be inspired by your preparation for the future. Remember that every race, no matter how it unfolds, is an opportunity to learn and grow as an athlete. In that respect, there is no losing.
So what happens when you don’t meet your goal and you fall short of your expectations?
Your support circle will urge you to find the silver lining, but you won’t want to hear it. While the Hallmark moment you wanted was to cry tears of joy at the finish line, you may have to settle instead for the tears you cry in your car while driving away from the train wreck that was your race.
Here’s what happens next.
You make it home alive.
That’s right, you’re still here. And that’s good news because it teaches you that there is life after DNF (the term used for those who don’t complete a race, meaning “Did not finish.”).
It’s important to realize that failing is a huge part of athletics and competition. When the outcomes are “win or lose” you are constantly facing a 50/50 shot at failure. In endurance sports it’s a little different because the athlete is competing with potentially hundreds of other people for a win, but most triathletes would consider a DNF to be the ultimate “loss” because it completely removes you from the possibility of success. It’s the medical equivalent of “pulling the plug” on your race. But remember, just because your race died, that doesn’t mean you have to go with it.
You stop being angry, and start being thoughtful.
At some point you realize you can’t change what happened in your race, and in order to make the experience worth something you begin to obsess over every move you made that day.
Before you know it, you’re fully aware of what you ate for the past week, how you slept the night before, the workouts you skimped on in your last month of training, and the song that was on the radio while driving to the race that morning. A theory starts brewing and you can pinpoint some reasons for your sub-par performance.
You uncover new information.
They say the truth will set you free. If you can zero in on why a race went poorly, it immediately lessens the blow of the initial “failure.” As Type-A personalities, us triathletes seek some sense of accountability when things go wrong. When that thing happens to be our most important race, we are relentless with our pursuit for answers. New information helps us to piece together how the race could have gone if we had prepared differently or executed the race another way. This thought process enables us to renew faith in our abilities.
You become inspired.
Each failure should be considered an opportunity to learn. To be angered by our performance in one race is to be inspired in the performance we seek in the next race. Without failures in training and racing, we wouldn’t be able to establish benchmarks within our progress as athletes. Being thoughtful about what went wrong, identifying ways you could have been better in your race, and using that information to fine-tune your needs for the next goal is an essential part of your growth.
You plan.
Now that you know what you need to meet your previous goal, you are equipped to plan a more effective route to meet it in the future. You will go down the path toward that goal again armed with more information than before, and a better plan to achieve success. You come to the table more organized, with a razor-sharp focus on what needs to happen.
You race again.
Time has passed and you’ve done the homework to figure out what went wrong and how you could improve your next performance. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by the past, instead focus on the moment and be inspired by your preparation for the future. Remember that every race, no matter how it unfolds, is an opportunity to learn and grow as an athlete. In that respect, there is no losing.
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