The Unexpected Value of the “Bad Run"
Not every run feels good. Every experienced runner can relate to their legs feeling heavy from the very first step, or weather getting in the way, a route not going as planned, or the run feeling longer than it should. While we run to chase that runner’s high, enjoy the outdoors, and get exercise, we also have to deal with the occasional ‘bad’ run.
During marathon training, I had a few of these. I felt discouraged and downcast when I couldn’t hit my goal pace, finish grueling threshold workouts, run at 6 am in the rain, or felt burned out and questioned why I was even training for a race in the first place.
Even if you get everything right, like a full night’s sleep or adequate recovery time, you can still have these runs. I felt that I had to make up for the runs by pushing myself harder, when I really should have been more forgiving with myself.
What Bad Runs Actually Do
Over time, I started to see these runs differently. Bad runs don’t ruin your training. They reveal your resilience. They indicate what it feels like to keep going when nothing is working. They force you to rely less on pace, splits, or metrics and more on effort and mindset. It prepares you for the inevitable pain you’ll feel on race day. It’s almost guaranteed that by mile 20, you’ll feel like giving up, like there’s so much left to run and you’re not strong enough to complete it.
Knowing how to handle this feeling (and overcome it) is one of the most vital takeaways from marathon training. It prepares you to run all the way to the finish line. Not every run has to prove something. Completing a run is about showing up, getting through it, and continuing to show up for yourself. Marathon training isn’t built on perfect runs. It’s built on accumulation.
Looking back, the runs I remember most aren’t the fast ones. They’re the ones where everything felt off, and I finished anyway. Those were the runs that taught me something I didn’t expect: Not how to run better, but how to keep running when it doesn’t feel good.