When to DNF (Did Not Finish) -- By Jon L

Have a gander at the splits on the right.  Looks like a tidy little race with relatively even splits, doesn’t it? Too bad that it was a marathon and the last time I checked, they are longer than 17.57 miles.  What these splits represent is my recent race in Philly when a good day came to an abrupt end.

I chose to DNF as opposed to pressing on, and it was the right decision. I don’t think that any of us wants to DNF, but knowing when to do so is a good skill to have if you want to run long term. As a coach, I think that there is a valuable lesson here and I would like to pass along what I learned from this race.

Separating Injury from Discomfort

The decision to DNF is not easy. Runners are used to dealing with discomfort, particularly when racing. I don’t think that I have ever run a race where I did not go through a rough patch at some point, and have learned different approaches to working through these periods to keep a good race going. Mental tricks like setting incremental goals (get through the next mile) or focusing on the competition (pass that guy….he looks like he is in my age group) are part of the arsenal of tricks that I use. Separating the abnormal pain of injury from the typical discomfort of racing is difficult given that adrenaline is high and judgment is impaired by oxygen debt. I learned some techniques from a former coach to discern the nature of the pain that have served me well over the years, particularly as a masters runner when the it seems like the ‘injury fairy’ is always lurking around:

Learn to Read Yourself 

The coaching method that I use (Lydiard based) helps to develop attributes (Response Regulate Adaptation and Feeling-Based Training) that allow you to tune in to your physical state during a training cycle to optimize the gain in fitness while avoiding overtraining. This is not unique to the Lydiard method and really just a fancy way of saying ‘listen to your body.’ Knowing when pain in a joint is just a transient that will pass, versus an actual injury pain starts with paying attention during training runs (especially harder efforts like tempo and interval workouts). 

For example, I take a physical inventory after each interval during a speedwork session to make sure that I have not strained anything while training at a hard effort level. This approach has caused me to shorten a workout from time to time, but has generally resulted in solid training that has not been interrupted by injury. The training benefit from a completed 12x400 workout is really not much different that a planned 15x400. Pushing to finish the last few intervals when my body is telling me to stop is not a sound strategy to get to the starting line healthy. 

Train Without Distractions

The subtle signs of an injury in the making are usually there but are overlooked. While I do listen to music on training runs, I only do so during easy paced runs. During harder effort training runs, I focus on maintaining good running form and listening to the signals that my body is sending. On a recent tempo run, I became aware of some pain in my right calf in the later miles that was caused by my form getting sloppy as I became fatigued. As soon as a noticed this, I refocused on my form and was able to get the pain to subside. If I had been distracted from this early warning sign by music, I probably would not have noticed it until it was a much larger issue that could have caused me to stop the run or perhaps strained my calf.

Injury Assessment While Racing

When a sharp pain flares during a race, it needs to be evaluated immediately. Pushing ahead without a sober assessment of the potential injury will likely just make the problem much worse. As a general rule, it is OK to push ahead if you can run without altering your running form, but you need to be careful and continue to listen to the pain. If you cannot run without altering your normal form, it is time to slow down, evaluate the pain, and consider calling it a day. Beware the phenomenon of ‘race brain’ where high adrenaline levels and the urge to finish cause you to make bad decisions. Race brain is like that friend in college that convinces you to drive to the casino on a Wednesday night during finals……he is not to be trusted.

What Happened in Philly

I was on track through the first half of the race, coming within 7 seconds of the split time that I had planned for at mile 13.1 (1:37:37). Feeling good, I began to pick up the effort level on the second half only to have an old foot injury flare around mile 16.5. This is a soft tissue injury that has been dormant for a while, and typically only occurs when running at race pace when there is more sustained stress on the foot. While pushing the pace on a downhill section, I felt the injury give way and the pain level flared to make it very uncomfortable to bear weight on my right side. I went into assessment mode and slowed my pace immediately to allow for clearer thinking. Over the next mile, I varied the pace and gait to assess the injury and to see if the pain would subside. I slowed to a walk briefly as the course crossed the river, and thought that it might be OK to run again. 

Resuming running on a downhill, the pain level rose again to the point of causing nausea and I noticed how tight my foot felt in the shoe due to swelling. My ‘race brain’ informed me that all I had to do was loosen the laces on the shoe and then everything would be fine. This is when I knew it was time to stop. Nine miles to go with a rapidly swelling foot was not a good combination. There were too many miles remaining to safely continue. Satisfied that I was making the correct decision, I stepped off the course, and called it a day.

The Aftermath

The foot was very painful but responded well to both straight icing and contrast baths (continuously alternating hot and cold for 5 minutes at a time). After 48 hours, the swelling was gone and only the stiffness remained. As I am (unfortunately) familiar with this particular injury, I knew that it would respond well to active recovery and embarked on a slow 3 miles to loosen things up. Over the next few weeks, I slowly added mileage back and was able to maintain my fitness on a steady diet of very easy miles.

Along the way, I discussed possible factors that contributed to the injury with some running colleagues and had a gait analysis performed to assess the theory that my footwear choice has something to do with the problem. After a month of easy recovery running, I ran the Ted Corbitt 15K in my replacement racing shoe candidate and was pleased to run a smooth progression of paces with no pain (first mile 8:15, last mile dipping under 6:00). 

The Takeaway

When I stopped running in Philly, I was initially very disappointed. The first thought that jumped to mind was ‘all those miles in training and nothing to show for it.’ The reality is that I could have pushed on and finished the race, but it would have come with the high price of a much more severe injury. I likely would have been unable to run for a few months, and would have been forced to sit on the couch and watch my fitness erode. As it stands, I was able to resume running fairly soon after the injury, and plan to ramp up the mileage again in January once I am sure that the injury is fully healed. I may even consider a spring race if training goes well.    

If you do face an injury during a race, keep in mind that a DNF is a sound choice if it preserves your health. If you learn what caused the problem, you can refocus your training and will be a stronger runner as a result. There will always be another race if you run within your limits, and since none of us get paid to do this…..being able to run is our reward and being able to run healthy should be the primary goal. 

-Jon L.