Do your race times mean a lot to you?

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mas_runner
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Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby mas_runner » Wed May 28, 2014 8:10 am

I was asked an interesting question in my journal as to whether validation of race times was important to me. Got me thinking.

I would say race times are very important to me, I want to get faster and set goals so when race day comes around the clock is what I am looking at. I don't think I have run a single race with the mindset of "just run it and have fun", instead I feel like I am all business trying to eek every second off the previous PB.

That said, when I don't get a PB I won't get mad or anything, instead I will try and break it down and figure out what might have gone wrong so that I can try and fix it for next time. Sure I might be disappointed if things don't go my way, but I can still enjoy the race experience and chat with other runners afterwards etc.

I have seen some poor behavior at races, like a girl that was absolutely swearing her head off at the finish blaming everything from the water stations to the road condition, she was furious. Another time, a guy finished his race ahead of me and a bunch of others, and while we were all saying "hey great race" to each other, he decided to let everyone know that this was his personal worst and he wasn't supposed to be finishing here with all the slow runners, he's usually near the podium. Real classy.

So I guess I am competitive with myself, my race times are important to me, but I don't get mad if I don't do as well as I would have liked, i.e. I can still enjoy the race.

What about everyone else? Are race times important to you, or do you have other motivations for running a race. Have you ever got really mad? It'd be interesting to hear your opinions.
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La
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby La » Wed May 28, 2014 8:25 am

Sometimes they are, sometimes they're not. :)

They are when I've set a goal for myself for a particular race, and if my training has been going well, and I feel like I'm capable of attaining my goal on that day.

But sometimes I set a goal of just having fun, or running with a friend, or just "going the distance" (e.g., the 50K race I did last fall).

Though I find that when I have a time goal, I am far more stressed about the race than when I don't have a goal. Last spring before the Yonge St. 10K I was very nervous. Of course I knew that I could run 10K, but I'd set a very aggressive time goal for myself and that caused me pre-race stress. I do find, though, that the stress goes away as soon as the gun goes off.

I had a time goal for the 5K at Disney this past January and I didn't achieve it. I didn't really make excuses, but there were definitely reasons (mostly not within my control) for why I didn't hit it. I was mildly disappointed at the end, but it didn't take long to get over it.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Jwolf » Wed May 28, 2014 8:26 am

I am at a point in my life now where I need different reasons for running other than trying to set new PBs each race. Still- the time does matter to me because it shows how I ran the race and what it means about my fitness.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby purdy65 » Wed May 28, 2014 8:26 am

The older I get, the less important they become.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby temporun » Wed May 28, 2014 9:27 am

They are important to me because they show improvement and when you set a new PR you feel great for the next few days. Having said that, I never get mad when I don't meet my goal time in a race. I find the mistakes I made during the race and try and correct them the next time.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Dr. S » Wed May 28, 2014 9:48 am

5 years ago my answer would have been that time was very important and that I would do anything to improve.

Now, I'm grateful for running, period. After all the injuries I've sustained and all the time off I had to take because of the dumb things I did to improve my running.... My times have slowed down considerably. Even though, I'm still in my thirties, I see races as a way to push myself but I am not looking back at my old time or else I would be having personal worse all the time.

There was a half-marathon where I finished dead last and a woman just zoomed past me... I can't say I had the best attitude about it after we crossed the finish line. But I try not to be an a-hole like that anymore! lol
Last edited by Dr. S on Wed May 28, 2014 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Robinandamelia » Wed May 28, 2014 9:56 am

Sometimes but not always.... Some races I target a goal time, others are used to gage a pace for another event, experiment with different racing techniques or just to cover a distance for the first time. So for me it really depends.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby ian » Wed May 28, 2014 10:11 am

There's going to be a bit of selection bias asking this question to experienced recreational runners, as most of us have been through the rapid improvement phases and injury setbacks yet are still running, therefore race times tend to be put into a larger perspective. Conversely, I know some runners who are so singlemindedly focused on their race times that it's likely that they will stop running completely as soon as they start to slow down.

Personally, my generic race goal is to have a "good run". Sometimes this means hitting a fast time. Sometimes it means finishing on the verge of collapsing. (Note that the first two options don't always go together.) Sometimes it means working with another runner. Sometimes it's as simple as enjoying the surroundings through which I run.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Jwolf » Wed May 28, 2014 10:23 am

ian wrote:There's going to be a bit of selection bias asking this question to experienced recreational runners, as most of us have been through the rapid improvement phases and injury setbacks yet are still running, therefore race times tend to be put into a larger perspective. Conversely, I know some runners who are so singlemindedly focused on their race times that it's likely that they will stop running completely as soon as they start to slow down.


This is a good point.

Being a "late onset runner" (started entering races in my late 30s), like many of us I spent my first few racing years hitting PBs in almost every race I entered. It gave me a huge sense of accomplishment and was very motivating, but I knew I couldn't last forever. I remember wondering what it would feel like when that stopped happening. Now I just have different reasons for racing each time. If time and beating PBs and continued improvement is the only important factor to someone they will likely just stop racing. I did my first 10K with a friend back in 2002-- for me it was an empowering experience, while she couldn't stop comparing herself to the 20-something university track runner she used to be. She never entered another race.

Some people like to compare to age-graded performance scales, but there still comes a time for many people where they will not keep improving. Maintaining and running for health and joy becomes more of a factor than improving times-- but that doesn't necessarily mean we stop paying attention to the time on the clock.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Joe Dwarf » Wed May 28, 2014 10:31 am

Times for me are personal goals, so like mas_runner if I don't hit them it's time for analysis. Racing is a motivator for training for me, if I don't have a race on the horizon I definitely run less.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby 5km » Wed May 28, 2014 11:31 am

Do my race times mean a lot to me?

In a word, yes.

They are important to me and always have been. It’s all about matching or beating my previous times. Age has, predictably, taken its toll and I can no longer match my times from my 30’s or 40’s. After an almost ten year hiatus, I returned to running and racing. I still try to run races as fast as I can and match or beat my recent times. Some success with AG placement has been a great motivator also.

Am I disappointed if I don’t meet my race goal? You bet I am, but not for too long. I have to keep things in perspective and just be thankful that I can still run at my age.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby alexk » Wed May 28, 2014 11:33 am

I feel like I've finally matured as a racer, at the age of 43 :). While I love to train hard, set aggressive goals and dream big, I don't feel the pressure of the clock anymore. The younger me was often heavily burdened by the numbers and racing, at that time in my life, wasn't always fun! I don't know when the shift occurred but, I can say, the moment I stopped putting pressure on myself, racing became a very rewarding and enjoyable experience (and I got better at it). I still get some PBs but I don't sweat it if I have a less-than-perfect race. They're all equally as meaningful, for me.

Having said that, I like to set goals to motivate myself to dig deep and see where I might end up! I still have some numbers left to chase. But the challenge of the attempt is just as rewarding as reaching the goal.

To answer your question more directly, the race times I've achieved are very meaningful to me. I see them as a tangible measure of my effort and hard work. I think they reflect the value I place on running in my life (which might be too much, at times, but that's another topic altogether :)).
We train more joyfully and productively when we focus on the now, rather than on our future race day performance. It's a long road from here to there with many miles to go. We need to run each one. Accept where you are today and simply be thankful for the work you've accomplished. KA

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Dstew » Wed May 28, 2014 12:17 pm

YES and NO. It is called a race for a reason and why there is a start, a finish and timing chips. But on the other hand, it is a nice illusion for a hobby whose primary goal for me is health and fitness. I have had times where I lost that perspective and ended up pushing myself past the breaking point but as I get older, that is happening a lot less.

It is the reason I will not run a half marathon race. I enjoy a comfortably hard 21 K run and it can be an enjoyable experience for me so I will do that distance for "fun" on a Sunday afternoon but as my times and placement relative to my age group and the field are not that much different then if I were to race that distance, I do not see the point.

Or to put this another way, there is a duality to my approach to racing. During the training and at the start of the race, the time goal is the most important thing in the world to me and yet in reality, it means absolutely nothing. The illusion that it is important makes the training and picking up the bib fun and exciting and a good thing to help motivate one to push themselves, to find their limits whatever those limits may be at the time but it is also a quaint hobby and so failure means nothing. I am reminded of the later when the other day I was heading out for my 16 K taper run when my neighbor with wife and daughter on their bikes were to escort him for his 5 K run and they were very impressed with the distance. A couple of days later I was asked about that run and how impressed they that I would run that far and even more about my upcoming 50 K race. It reminded me that sites such as this, we are comparing our performance to the top 5% and not against the 100% of the population where running even "just" 10 K is something most people cannot even comprehend.

A US Marine general during the Korean war was quoted as saying, "we are not retreating, we are fighting in the other direction" and so although times are important, they are also very flexible and fluid to me. There is a running philosophy that "the more you put in, the more you get" with the unspoken that the "get" is certain theoretical time. But when I was looking into this matter for my own sake, there are so many other factors completely out of our control that the theory does not always translate into reality. For whatever reason, my 10 K races are my worst. I set my personal best in the half marathon after I had stopped running for weeks after suffering from burn out and had placed myself about 75% the way back from the start. The pace drove me crazy, I sped up and drafted my way to about a 10 minute personal best when every indication was it was going to be a 10 minute personal worst. A 5 K race where my training with as close to perfection as it could be, a great start to the race and about a kilometer into the race, ran into the back of the 10 K race and that time the weaving slowed me down. There are the obvious factors that affect our times that we have no control over such as genetics but also the accumulation of training and/or damage that one may not appreciate, etc. So I enter a race with the intention of racing and reaching a goal but I am also pragmatic enough to know that the best laid plans of mice and men ... so if the goal is not reached, I shrug it off and move on.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Jwolf » Wed May 28, 2014 2:56 pm

Dstew wrote:YES and NO. It is called a race for a reason and why there is a start, a finish and timing chips. But on the other hand, it is a nice illusion for a hobby whose primary goal for me is health and fitness.


It's an "illusion" that is not unique to running.
In many sports people want to see how they measure against others, or just a measure of how they compare themselves to their last outing or game. That's why Strava has become such a popular app for cyclists, especially. Even in untimed sports-- ask any recreational golfer and I'm sure their scores and yardage matters to them. :) Many recreational skiers now enjoy tracking their runs with GPS apps or watches. The list goes on....
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby chunkymonkeymelonhed » Wed May 28, 2014 3:08 pm

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I enjoy setting goals and seeing if I can meet them. I enjoy trying to better my times. The PB I set on Sunday was a feel good moment that I won't soon forget.
If it hadn't been a PB however I wouldn't have been upset. Like many others injuries have taken me out of my training more often than I'd like. Right now I am happy to be able to race. I like racing. It's the atmosphere, the nerves, the start line, the "can I? " , the finish line.
At 47, I think I still have some PBs in me and I'm excited to work toward them. I am not driven by this alone but I do enjoy the "numbers".
There have been races where I wasn't going for the PB, where time for time's sake wasn't really what mattered. Those races have been just as important to me as the PB races. The half I raced with Tikey, the one where she got her PB, that was one of my best race experiences by far.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby richie-rich » Wed May 28, 2014 3:44 pm

times used to be important when i was running races and trying to hit time goals. When i realized a couple years ago i wasn't going to get any faster times were not important anymore. now i run to get out and enjoy it.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Dstew » Wed May 28, 2014 5:17 pm

Jwolf wrote:
Dstew wrote:YES and NO. It is called a race for a reason and why there is a start, a finish and timing chips. But on the other hand, it is a nice illusion for a hobby whose primary goal for me is health and fitness.


It's an "illusion" that is not unique to running.
In many sports people want to see how they measure against others, or just a measure of how they compare themselves to their last outing or game. That's why Strava has become such a popular app for cyclists, especially. Even in untimed sports-- ask any recreational golfer and I'm sure their scores and yardage matters to them. :) Many recreational skiers now enjoy tracking their runs with GPS apps or watches. The list goes on....


You are speaking to someone who this winter spent over $1,000 on clubs to "buy" a few more yards and a little more forgiveness. So illusions can be both fun and healthy BUT ... I know a guy who manged to inflict nerve damage in his wrist in attempting to chase down the illusion that his golf score really meant something in the real world. As my dad when say when I was watching a sporting event, treat it like it means something but remember it does not.

After I ran Boston and started to win a few age group medals, people told me that I stood a little taller, had a little more confidence and maybe added a little more swagger to my step. So for me, a race provides real purpose, real meaning to a simple activity those benefits might otherwise not be so obvious. So it matters how I do. BUT ... my genetics, what is going on in my life and other factors I have no control over is also something I recognize and thus do not take my "failures" too hard. Or as the old saying goes, sh*t happens and sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad. I am really looking forward to Saturday because picking up a bib for a marathon or in this insistence, a 50 K race does make me feel like a rock star.

Going forward, marathons just have too much baggage for me to justify doing them or at least one a regular basis. The first few weeks is always rough and then the build up is great as I am full of energy and enthusiasm and then I start to peak with mileage and my mood turns sour, I am tired and sore all of the time and in taper I become a raving lunatic who cannot do simple math. And with my prior health issues, no matter how small the risks they are not risks I can rationalize any more. So the next logical step is the half marathon but I look that times in my age category and I am not competitive. Top 25% or so but to spend the time and race fees and energy to go out and run hard and have "fun", something I can do on my own. Most 5 K races are boring for me because in most I can train fairly hard and run hard without really ever pushing the envelope and I am going to finish 2nd or 3rd in my age category. This is not a testament to my great speed but that for the most part, especially with my previous age category, most of the real runners were doing 10 K or longer races and so there was never really more then 3 or 4 guys running for 3 podium spots. But with the new age category, 50 - 54, all of a sudden the 10 K races present a unique challenge for me. If I can get back to my 10 K speed from about 8 years ago when I always had terrible tactics and strategy or did something really stupid in every 10 K race I entered, I can challenge for 3rd place if the planets align. For me, that would justify standing off the side of a track and hacking up part of my lung after a particularly hard interval. Plus, I like speed work and when frustrated with work have not been able to go out and do a punishing tempo work that would get rid of my stress as I had the 40 K run that weekend to do or I was recovering from the 38 K run with hills. The sort of workouts demanded by the 10 K race just suit my personality and are good for my health and fitness so add in the illusion that my time matters and everything is Zen.

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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Mark.AU » Wed May 28, 2014 8:15 pm

Generally, in terms of objective measurement, I'm much more interested in placement than times, age group placement particularly. I much prefer racing to time-trialing and have had some of my most satisfying race experiences in racing other people like with James at ATB and Jamie at Kingston.

I have been caught up in race times too (chasing down a sub-5hr HIM, for example), even in triathlon where times mean less... However, I get the most satisfaction of all from a well executed race - again, particularly in triathlon - where my performance is an accurate reflection of my training and the race plan that was based on it (case in point; Muskoka 70.3 last year where I was woefully under-trained but was very happy with how I delivered a race result according to the plan I put together for it).
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby Rick C » Wed May 28, 2014 9:34 pm

I'm 55 and the clock matters but only to me. My clock isn't relevant to anyone else.

Last year, I posted my best half marathon and 10 km times in about 15 or so years. But, this Spring, definitely slower. Naturally, I want to get back where I was. But, the truth is, I'm definitely one year older and definitely 55 so it's only going one way eventually.

Fun mind games with myself, trying to defy the weight of time.
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Re: Do your race times mean a lot to you?

Postby chunkymonkeymelonhed » Wed May 28, 2014 11:08 pm

Rick C wrote:I'm 55 and the clock matters but only to me. My clock isn't relevant to anyone else.


Swap out my age for yours (not that many years off :wink: ) +1
On the books for 2017:
50th Birthday!!
Boston Marathon- April 17th what a day- DREAM COME TRUE :dance:
Run for Water 10K- May 28th
Scotia Half - June 25th
Trail River Run half marathon- Sept. 30- CANCELLED
MEC 10K Race 10- Nov. 5


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