Getting back after a setback

Hey Reader,

As you read this newsletter, I’m likely two hours into running the Rio Del Lago 100-mile race in Folsom, California.

If 2011 Huw read that, he’d think I was insane.

But here we are again.

I’m so excited, and I’m ready.

I’m in a very different place as an athlete than I was when I lined up at Leadville last year and didn’t have a good day, and even the year before, when I had a really great day.

Yet, in many ways, my why for running 100 miles is very much the same.

I think I’ve just learned how to execute it better.

So today is an experiment to see how I put what I’ve learned into practice, and how I respond when reality (inevitably) doesn’t match my expectations.

Interestingly, this ties in with a listener’s question that came up on the pod this week.

She’d been injured, and now she was scared to go back to running.

She wanted to know how you learn to trust your body again after a setback.

🧠 Setbacks can shake your self-trust

I haven’t had a big running injury in a while, but the question took me to a setback you may have heard me share before.

My first ever 100-mile race was Leadville, back in 2012.

I’d just run my first marathon there, a trail marathon, and at the end they drew a raffle for places in the 100-miler two months later.

My number came up.

So I trained hard for those two months and showed up on the start line.

At mile 56, I rolled my ankle coming down a big climb.

I kept going for a while, but once the adrenaline wore off, the pain set in, and so did the voice in my head telling me it was fine to stop.

Halfway up the last big climb, I gave in and quit.

I slowed down so much that I knew I’d miss the next cutoff, and I did, at mile 87.

The regret of quitting stayed with me for years.

❤️ Build the trust back one step at a time

It’s funny what a setback does to your head.

When you try to go back to the thing, there’s this panicky little voice in your head asking, “What if it happens again?”

So you just don’t quite trust yourself yet.

But I’ve learned that the trust comes back as you build back.

It just takes time and patience.

Every small step that holds up is proof you can trust yourself a bit more.

And all the work and experience you’ve built is still in you.

When I signed up for Leadville again, part of me wondered if I’d fold the same way.

But I trained better, with the lessons I learned from my first attempt.

I had an awesome running group around me, and a coach.

Bit by bit, I grew more confident.

Three years after that first Leadville, I went back and finished.

I’ve lined up for 100 miles a few more times since, on really great days and on not-so-great ones.

And right now, I’m hours into another one.

You can track me here.

So what’s something a setback has kept you from going back to fully?

What’s one small step you could take this week?

You’ve still got all it takes in you.

Start smaller than you think you need to.

A short, easy session.

Then another.

Focus on what you can control, and get a coach or mentor you trust in your corner.

You’ve got this.

With appreciation

Huw

P.S. Back in 2024, before Leadville, I wrote a few newsletters about why anyone would choose to run 100 miles, and a lot of what we covered still holds.

You can read them 👇

Why the hell would anyone choose to run 100 miles…?

Feel like quitting? Dig deep

"Everyone has a plan until they're punched in the mouth"

"I love it when a plan comes together” - the A-Team’s Hannibal on my Leadville 100 finish

We got into the setback question on this week’s pod, plus how to keep going when the running excitement wears off, and more great topics.

Worth a listen.