Corona Canceled your Race? In Tough Times be the Eye of the Hurricane

As many of your upcoming races are canceled, other events are postponed, training runs are changing forms, you may be struggling. There is lots of unknown right now. It’s easy to get swept up in the news and paranoia, I have been doing it too. Some fear is good and healthy and helps you survive, but do we need to live in constant anxiety each day? You’re asking yourself things like, “Well now what?”, and maybe thinking “all that training was for nothing,” and “Of course this would happen to me.” I would like to try and convince you to reframe your thoughts. Turn off the news for a minute. Stop scrolling on your IG, FB or news feed and re-focus. These trying times are the ones that bring us closer together, make us stronger, and teach us more about ourselves and those around us.

So, back to running: Get back to the basics. Why do you run in the first place? Maybe it’s time to refocus your intention. Of course it is normal and expected to be disappointed when something you have worked towards gets taken away. You may not have even really been looking forward to that race in the first place. Maybe you were actually dreading it. Perhaps during your next training block remembering this can help you enjoy your training and race even more as you find gratitude for the opportunity. So, really think about this a bit more. Why do you run? What excites you about running? How can you build off of the foundation you have built?

Establishing some new temporary goals in the meantime can be helpful. If your race was recently canceled, I recommend doing your own mock race. Maybe you don’t do the full distance, but you can still run a hard effort for a pre-determined distance or amount of time to take place for the missed race. This can help you complete the training cycle you were in and allow for some needed recovery time. Go ahead and complete the cycle and be ok with with it feeling different. There won’t be the hype and production around a race, but thats ok. It will offer a different value.

During the following 1-2+ weeks take some down time. I understand this might not be ideal as many folks are forced to stay home, and need to get outside for mental sanity. Perhaps you can go for hikes, walks, or do some yard work for a week. This will help you from burnout as your training was planned with this downtime. Pushing through can be a mistake. It can make it tough to maintain fitness and energy to last until the new race date. So, it’s really important to take the downtime for at least one week.

Shift to focus on time on feet. Maybe its finding new places to run, maybe its running a certain number of days or hours per week. You can still workout of course, but give yourself time to build back up your mileage and intensity.

Find time each day for gratitude. I’ve found myself getting caught up in the fear and emotion of something happening to me or my family, and I start feeling depressed and hopeless. Get outside for a bit! You don’t have to sit inside all day. You don’t have to watch the news all day. Go for a walk, take your pet outside, pick up your old instrument you haven’t touched in 6 months, call your relatives. We spend most of our lives wanting downtime, and when we are forced to sit with it like we are now, we freak. Find what is good in your experience and focus on those things. Its not always easy. Reach out to your friends and family to keep connected. Maybe doing a virtual run or event isn’t the end of the world. Remember that these times can bring out the best and the worst in people. Others are probably scared too and might be acting out of fear or desperation. What can you do to help? I’ve heard the saying a few times, “Be the eye of the hurricane.” Think about what that means. In the middle of the most intense and dangerous storms is a place of calm. Find this place for yourself in our current “hurricane.”

Trail Roots is adding in some virtual runs and workouts in the next weeks, so make sure to follow us or join our club on Strava to tag along. We’d love to hear your stories throughout this time, and remember we’re here with you too. Please share some comments below!