Have you ever had such good training that you expected your race to be easier than usual?
How did that turn out for you?
Probably not well. This is a mistake we who have been around the sport for quite a while have probably seen multiple times, maybe have even made. People have great training, then melt down on race day because they thought the race would be easy.
The truth is that, in a race, you’re giving it your all. It doesn’t matter how good or bad your training has been. When you’re pushing to your limit, the race is hard. If your training has gone well, you’ll run faster but if you’re giving it your all it’s still going to be incredibly challenging.
Make sure you’re setting your expectations accordingly. Accept that the race will be hard. Expect that the last mile of a 5K or the last 4 miles to 10K of a marathon are going to be incredibly challenging. They are going to hurt in ways that you only experience on race day. Whether you’ve had excellent or terrible training, pushing to your limits is still pushing to your limits and will be extremely difficult.
True but a race can be even worse than that if the training is bad and you start harder than you should, then the last 4k of a 5k will be incredibly hard.
So true, though I would argue your fitness doesn’t matter in that scenario either. Go out too hard and you’re going to be in a world of pain no matter what shape you’re in.