By: Maddelynn Horn

After running a race, we often decide that we’re either happy with how we did or upset. If we don’t take the time to analyze what made the race go the way it did, then key insights will be lost. Learning from past competitions is crucial to replicating successes and avoiding repeating mistake.

Keep a detailed training log

In order to get a comprehensive overview of the factors that led up to your race, you’ll need to collect as much data as you can. So this part can be overwhelming and become excessive, but gathering data is necessary in order to analyze what happened. Mileage probably comes to mind here. But, many other factors go into a race before you even step onto the course--mindset, training, nutrition, weather, the list goes on. Now we can’t always control these factors, but we can prepare for them.

Keep a constant training log. Don’t just record your mileage, but include note about mood, sleep, how you felt, and anything else notable. Tracking your nutrition can also be helpful here. I know this can be a lot, if you can’t maintain it consistently, just aim to keep good records in the week leading up to your race. This will allow you to reflect back and identify what effected your race.

Log everything during your race

Recording everything can be a challenge when you’re in the middle of an ultra. This is where a crew could come in handy. Have your crew keep a tally of all of the nutrition and hydration that you take over the course of your race. Keeping track of your splits, whether on paper or just through your watch, will also provide helpful data. Consider having your crew track your mood at each aid stop too (just make sure they don’t annoy you). If you don’t have a crew (or they’re too overwhelmed with responsibilities) you can try recording voice memos during your race noting this information. Bonus: your mid-ultra delirium may even provide some entertainment later on.

Okay so you have all this data, now what?

I’m currently in a masters program for digital marketing and data analytics and if I’ve learned one thing it’s that data is useless if you don’t analyze it and use it to guide future actions. I promise you don’t have to take a statics course though: this can be as complex and in-depth as you want to make it.

Let’s start by looking at the weeks of training leading up to your race. Identify all of the days you didn’t feel so great. Go ahead and circle them, highlight them, or mark them somehow. Now review your notes for all of these days. Is there a common factor leading to feeling bad? Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep the nights prior, you were tired from the previous day’s run, or just had an emotionally draining day. Once you identify a factor that is holding you back, think about how you can avoid this.

Example problem: You didn’t sleep well the night before

Possible Solution: Set yourself a goal time to go to sleep and form a routine. Instead of scrolling on your phone, take some time to wind down before bed with a calming activity like reading or yoga. If a routine doesn’t cut it for you, try melatonin or sleepytime tea.

It’s important to solve these problems during your training so they don’t build up to effect you during your race. Don’t neglect positive factors in this process though. Identify your good runs and see what connects them.

Example Positive: You were in a great mood before your run

How to Replicate: Before heading out on your run, list 3 good things that already happened or you’re looking forward to. Or find something that lifts your mood like talking to a friend or listening to a certain song.

Identifying what makes you run better will give you more control over your race. Just apply these solutions or exercises to race day. To understand how to do this, first look over your race day data. Do you see you slowed down or just felt bad? Let’s say mile 60 is when you seem to hit a wall. Maybe you weren’t properly fueling before this and should focus more on nutrition around this time. If lack of motivation is slowing you down, come up with an actionable plan for what you’ll do at this time. This could be listening to a pump up song, having a crew member ready with a story, or anything else that cheers you up. Former olympian and author Alexi Pappas suggests using playable actions to get through pain in a race, for example shaking your arms out or smiling when you’re getting tired.

If you want to get more in-depth, try plotting all of your data on a line graph. Amount of water, amount of nutrition, mood on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best), splits, and anything else you find relevant to your performance. Looking at your graph, you can identify slower splits and see where the other factors fall at the same time.

Everyone’s data and analysis is going to look different, so it’s important to reflect on what helps you race your best and what holds you back. From there, you can implement changes into your training and race day plan.

Learning From Past Ultramarathon