Jen Matheson does everything she’s supposed to do to set herself up for race day success: She trains appropriately, runs the course before the big day when possible, sleeps sufficiently the week prior and orders the same sushi roll from the same restaurant for dinner the night before.
But no matter what, when Matheson — who lives in Cambridge, New York, and has completed dozens of 5Ks and other relatively short races since taking up running more than 10 years ago — wakes up, she’s terrified. “Every race, I get really nervous and I can’t even form a sentence,” she says. “I’m a wreck.”
One race day morning, for instance, she could barely think straight enough to park her car and haul her shaking body to the start line. “I felt like I was going to vomit,” Matheson recalls. She then panicked about her other end (“I’m going to mess my pants,” she thought), which led her to worry about water (“Did I hydrate enough?” she wondered). But thanks to a high five and “good luck” from someone she recognized, Matheson calmed down enough to compete. “And I actually did really well,” she says. And so, she races on.
[See: 12 Psychological Tricks to Get You Through a Workout or Race.]
Athletes of all levels experience performance anxiety, although why, how and how severely it manifests differs widely. For Jonathan Levitt, a 26-year-old sales manager in Boston who’s run five marathons, concerns are mostly bowel- and bladder-related. “Did I go to the bathroom enough times?” he worries. “That’s the only thing that stresses me out.” For David Reich, a 54-year-old software professional in Boston who’s competed in cycling competitions and triathlons for about 20 years, nerves are mostly situational. One post-hurricane ocean swim in Florida was so choppy, for example, he had to stop, tread water and catch his breath. “Just keep your head above water,” he told himself.
And then there’s Dr. Mimi Winsberg, a psychiatrist and Ironman triathlete with offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park, California, who actually has to convince herself to be nervous prior to races because she knows she’ll benefit from the adrenaline rush. “Most of the time I have to will myself into that state,” she says.
Indeed, pre-race anxiety can be both harmful and helpful to athletic and other types of performance. If uncontrolled or severe, it can cloud your mind enough to lead to injury, fuel you so much you run out of steam too early or become a self-fulfilling prophecy that causes you to “choke,” research suggests. But feeling so relaxed that you become careless can also lead to injury or a disappointing race time or game score. In fact, one study even found that reminding basketball players of their mortality — a clearly anxiety-provoking thought — improved their performance on the court.
“There’s a sweet spot of nervousness that’s useful,” Winsberg says. If reaching that spot for you means tamping down on anxiety, follow these expert tips:
1. Prepare.
Long before race day arrives, give your future self as little to worry about as possible by following a training plan, joining a group whose members share your goal or otherwise making sure you’re physically prepared for competition. That also means testing out what foods and drinks do and don’t help fuel you, what attire and gear supports (not chafes) you and what sleeping routine best recharges you. Come game day, you can cruise. “I like to look at race day as a celebration,” Levitt says. “You’ve already done the hard work and now you get to have fun with it.”
[See: 10 Themed Races That Make Getting in Shape Fun.]
2. Embrace rituals.
The night before each race, Levitt sets multiple alarms (he has slept through a race, after all) and lays out all of his race-day gear. The scene is not only ripe for a social media post, it’s “incredibly useful” for a more relaxed race-day morning, he says. Even pre-race rituals that have no apparent usefulness — say, braiding your hair a certain way or drinking coffee out of a particular mug — can pay off, Winsberg says. “If you look at professional athletes, you see irrational behavior all over the place,” she says. “It isn’t that the ritual itself is helpful, it’s just that it’s mentally calming.”
3. Get perspective.
Before his first triathlon, Reich’s more experienced friend calmed his nerves by helping him understand that the cycling leg, Reich’s forte, has the biggest influence on any racer’s final time. “I asked a lot of friends for advice,” he says. Now, Reich dishes out his own: “I say, ‘Look … you are doing something that 99 percent of the population would never even think of trying, let alone compete. So just do what you know how to do.'”
4. Reframe.
The difference between negative anxiety and positive adrenaline is largely in your head. Research has shown that simply telling yourself “I’m excited” in a threatening situation can reduce anxiety — even if you don’t fully believe it, says Nick Galli, an assistant professor of health, kinesiology and recreation at the University of Utah. “If we can get people to reinterpret those feelings … we can harness that and use it to our advantage,” he says.
5. Talk to yourself.
“I’m going to trip over my shaky legs!” When negative thoughts run through your head, first do what a meditator would do: Recognize it as merely a thought, not reality. Then, do what a cognitive behavioral therapist would have you do: Challenge and replace it with something more encouraging and realistic, like that your shakiness is actually a good sign that your sympathetic nervous system is gearing up to help you succeed. “You can play a little ping-pong in your head,” says Galli, a certified consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. “Treat yourself as you would your best friend.”
[See: Mantras That Get 11 Diet and Fitness Pros Through Their Toughest Moments.]
6. Breathe.
Just as changing your mindset can calm your body, calming your body can change your mindset. “Practice some of that deep breathing so that when you’re getting in a place where you’re getting tight and tense, it will calm you down and bring you into the present,” Galli says. Winsberg recommends listening to a song before starting your race — and matching your breath while on course accordingly. “It helps people get into a rhythmic breathing and focused state of mind where they’re tuning out what’s happening around them,” she says. Before you know it, the starting gun will go off. “Once you start moving,,” Reich finds, “the nerves completely dissipate.”
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6 Proven Strategies for Crushing Athletic Performance Anxiety originally appeared on usnews.com
