It is bad to make quitting a habit.
But I look at a race as being kind of like a work of art.
Sometimes it gets so f# up, that the work really can’t be salvaged.
And that it better to through it away and start a new.
I know that there are many out there who adamantly oppose this theory. And would go nuts if one were to “through away” a kona race.
But why?
Some people work really hard and make a lot of sacrifices to get to the start line. Anything less than a finish makes all that dedication and sacrifice seem a lot less meaningful.
It is bad to make quitting a habit.
But I look at a race as being kind of like a work of art.
Sometimes it gets so f# up, that the work really can’t be salvaged.
And that it better to through it away and start a new.
I know that there are many out there who adamantly oppose this theory. And would go nuts if one were to “through away” a kona race.
But why?
Racing to me is getting the best out of myself on the day. If the best I can do is crawl to the finish then I will crawl.
I think it’s difficult to prevent yourself from being bothered by what other people think, but you should probably still try to do it.
If your race isn’t matching the fitness gains that you know you’ve made, you can either quit and get yourself geared up for a subsequent race, or suffer to finish and put yourself in a position where you lose additional fitness as you spend extra time recovering… Make a rational decision, or make an irrational decisions based on some hypertrophied image being projected on you… The answer seems pretty obvious to me.
Some people work really hard and make a lot of sacrifices to get to the start line. Anything less than a finish makes all that dedication and sacrifice seem a lot less meaningful.
The quitter probably trained hard and made sacrifices also.
Maybe more than normal- after all they did qualify.
It is bad to make quitting a habit.
But I look at a race as being kind of like a work of art.
Sometimes it gets so f# up, that the work really can’t be salvaged.
And that it better to through it away and start a new.
I know that there are many out there who adamantly oppose this theory. And would go nuts if one were to “through away” a kona race.
But why?
Macca…is that you?
It is bad to make quitting a habit.
But I look at a race as being kind of like a work of art.
Sometimes it gets so f# up, that the work really can’t be salvaged.
And that it better to through it away and start a new.
I know that there are many out there who adamantly oppose this theory. And would go nuts if one were to “through away” a kona race.
But why?
Racing to me is getting the best out of myself on the day. If the best I can do is crawl to the finish then I will crawl.
Interesting.
To use the art analogy it is as if all previous works do not exist.
And that all art is created only in the “now.”
Very zen.
I like it.
Do whatever makes you happiest! (Given what has already transpired).
If I’m having a tough day, I HTFU and finish. The only reason I’ll quit is because of an injury that will get worse if I continue and said injury will cause future problems (blisters and boo-boos are not injuries). If I have the lowest cost per mile of everyone out there, so be it, someone has to finish DFL.
When I have those kinds of races (well, participation events, let’s get real), I look for learnings. What can I learn from this crappy event? Can I enjoy the weather or something else. At the very least I’m getting some exercise and burning some calories.
I did an Oly Tri this summer. Felt fine on the swim, crap on the bike and was being passed by everyone, yes even those on mountain bikes. The run was worse and I walked a lot of that. I thought about quiting on the run as it was a 2 loop course but at the end of the first lap, as I slowly jogged / walked around the pylon to start lap 2, I had made up my mind to continue. At that point I was cursing my body for having failed and was telling it that “tough shit, you get to finish anyway”. I eventually finished. It was later that I found out that, much to my surprise, I wasn’t DFL, there was 1 other person behind me. This was his first Oly Tri and as he came into the run turn around, he was going to quit but he saw a lonely figure in front of him do the turn around and keep going. Apparently that was enough incentive for him to keep going. Now, knowing that, I am really glad that I decide to keep going.
Most of the time, the challenge is simply to see how strong you are, physically and mentally. Quitting says something about both and you may not like what it’s saying. Just because you don’t like the message doesn’t mean you should stop listening.
Meh. I dropped out of Eagleman in '08 because it was hot as f-ck and 6 weeks out from IMLP. I had barely 500 miles on the bike for the year and still decided to hammer it. Add in that it was over 90 degrees and I came off the bike barely able to run. So to ensure that I didn’t have a 2 week recovery before I could even train again I decided to drop out. Actually a very easy decision as I was simply using it as a training day.
First reason I won’t quit, race day is the one day I have to tie all my training together at efforts beyond that in which I train. Because of that I learn more while racing (even a local sprint) than I do in training.
Second reason I won’t quit, I’m a cheap bastard. Outside of of an injury or “act of God” during the race I’m going to cross that finish line one way or another. I didn’t pay to not finish.
Third reason I won’t quit, if I feel a race may go so horribly wrong I’d rather suffer a DNS than DNF. But that takes me back to reason #2, I’m too cheap to DNS. If I paid good coin to race I’ll do everything I can top be fully prepared.
whether to quit will always be a personal and circumstance-based decision. I do, however, think it’s important to line up at the starting line with a healthy bias against quitting. There are very few races that go perfectly. We’ve probably all had great races with significant rough patches and low points. As you mentioned, it’s bad to make quitting a habit, and I think that can easily happen if you aren’t determined to finish. I’ve known athletes who have fallen into this trap, even DNFing races where they could probably have salvaged a good result. Basically, it’s really hard to finish, so it can’t be easy to quit.
I pretty much agree with you, except I don’t think people should quit just because they aren’t going as fast as they hoped.
My most recent DNF came about halfway through a mountain bike race that was so muddy, much of the course was unrideable. Add in some chainsuck, and I was literally hiking with my bike (wheels would not turn because of the mud). Most of the other racers were in the same boat, and I questioned why they were even bothering.
It wasn’t an A race and I regret even starting. I hosed my bike off and hit the road for some more miles so that the day wouldn’t be a total waste.
-Physiojoe
I don’t see a race as being a work of art. But I’m not against quitting either. I only actually do quit if either
a) I am injured and continuing would make it worse
OR
b) The race is a long race like a marathon in which there is a big price to pay for finishing and I’m oinly doing it for a fast time, not a team score or anything.
I’ve dropped out of two marathons in my life for reason B. Both times it was the right decision and I was able to come back 3 weeks later and crush a different marathon.
If I’m having the crappiest 5k of my life and I’m not injured, I’ll finish the thing.
Quitting gets a bad rap. Sometimes it is better to bail and fight another day. I had a pain in my Achilles at mile 11 of a 1/2 marathon but decided to finish anyway. 4 years later, it is still not the same. If I was winning an Olympic medal it might be worth it. For me the injury was to high a price for an AG 3rd place.
The people who run an open water swim event really encourage people to get into a support boat if things start going bad. Trying to be a hero in open water can be a really bad idea.
On the other hand, I once had a flat in sprint tri and no functioning flat kit, not being able to finish left a bad taste in my mouth.
I have a sticker at home in my training room that says “Death before DNF”. I don’t do long-course racing (not my thing), and I don’t give a crap where I place in the grand scheme of things…but I will *always *finish, even if I have to crawl across the last timing mat to do so. My personal opinion is that it’s not worth throwing in the towel just because you’re not hitting your race day goals or targets. Finish, have fun, and learn for next time.
there’s a stupid stigma about dnf. if i’m hurt, if i’m compromising future goals, i pull the plug.
how long do i want to pay for my stubbornness for? the fact that we do this stuff in the first place ought to be enough for whatever ego issue is at stake, of course we could finish, but if that requires being an idiot, then why do it?
also, and tangentially related some of the efforts i’m most proud of happened alone, training, on some dumb road in the middle of nowhere on rep 8 of some horrible interval set. pulling out of race doesn’t take that stuff away.
It is bad to make quitting a habit.
But I look at a race as being kind of like a work of art.
Sometimes it gets so f# up, that the work really can’t be salvaged.
And that it better to through it away and start a new.
I know that there are many out there who adamantly oppose this theory. And would go nuts if one were to “through away” a kona race.
But why?
Macca…is that you?
10/10
I race to compete. There are lots of times where I both quit and finished the “race”. There is no shame in either quitting or not completing the race.