DNF or Did Not Finish

I had a serious issue about this last year, I was super frustrated about it, because it had happened to me in almost half my races.  They ranged from 50k to a 4 mile race that I had an anxiety attack around mile 2.  I was battling in my mind whether I should keep racing or just drop it and pick up a new a hobby, but with me being the competitor I am, I snapped out of that thought and got right back to training.  So far this year I've had much better luck, only "DNFing" one race which was a 24 hour race last week, but I was actually really happy with my decision to drop and the week after it.

The reason I bring up this subject is not really about me, is more about an article I read that was about one of the athletes I started following this year, Tejay van Gardaren, that I thought had a good shot at the Yellow Jersey in Tour de France this year.  For those who do not know what the Yellow Jersey stands for, it is the Jersey that the lead rider on time gets to wear during the each stage of the competition.  Well, a couple days before the end of the race, he had decided to drop out, he was currently in 3rd place and was the lead rider for USA and Team BMC.  The reason he had pulled out was because he had a lingering cold and it was getting worse.  It was causing him to fall further and further behind, so if he would have stayed in he most likely would not have finished where he wanted or close to and risked causing himself more problems in the future, like getting sicker or causing an injury from the lowered immune system and or more than usual difficult breathing.  Pulling out in the end was probably the best thing he could have done, for him, lowered his risk of becoming more sick, causing an injury, and shortened recovery time from the race and sickness so he can get back to training sooner and get a jump on the next race.  If you want to read more on the article, here it is: Why Tejay van Garderen Made The Right Choice

We have all battled the idea of DNFing in a race, thinking if I do it now it will make easy to do it in the future, or it will make me look weak.  Both are a possibility, but most competitors are not going to just drop out of habit, the hardware, goals, and the race is usually enough to keep us rolling after a DNF.  Yes, some people who may not understand why you did not finish, may joke that you are weak, but most people that have been doing it long enough are going to understand because we have dropped out a few times.  Stopping a race or never starting a race because of injury or sickness, is going to almost always prolong your racing career, you have to listen to your body, you don't won't to end it all over one more mile do you?

Training schedule for this week:

Monday - 1.5 hour run

Tuesday - 4 x 1 mile repeats

Wednesday - 1.5 hour run

Thursday - Sprint ladders 2 miles worth - 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 200m, 100m; repeat till distance is met

Friday - off

Saturday - 10k race (Zack Hummer Memorial 5k/10k)

Sunday - 14 mile run