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Writer's pictureLucy Hurn

How to deal with race day nerves

Updated: Aug 6

Getting anxious about race day not only has the power to take the fun out of the day, but it can have a negative impact on the race itself. Here's some top tips to reduce race day nerves so racing gets easier and you can enjoy it more.


Triathlon coach Lucy Hurn at a race
Follow these tips to be smiling on race day

Impact of race day nerves on your digestion

If you’ve got a ‘nervous tummy’ it makes eating on race day and the night before so much harder. Given that we need carbohydrates to give us the energy for racing, not being able to get enough food down, or keep it down, can mean we’re underfuelled, which makes everything much harder.


Impact of race day nerves on your mind

Plus, when we’re scared, we don’t think with our rational brain. This is part of our evolutionary success, when faced with a sabre tooth tiger we didn’t have time to think things through rationally, we just needed to act on instinct and get to safety. But it’s not so helpful when we’re trying to deal with things rationally on race day and small things take on much greater meaning in our mind:

~ I cant find my goggles > oh no, it’s a sign, I may as well give up now.

~ those people have much better looking bikes than me > oh no, what am I even doing here? I’m going to be last!


Impact of race day nerves on what you see

And when we’re in this fear state, we go into tunnel vision – we’re purely focused on looking for the tiger, and struggle to take in other information around us.


So we run round transition like a rabbit in the headlights, unable to find our bike even though it’s right there in front of us (ditto the car keys on race day morning. Or the arrows marking the way on the race course, or the person calling our name or wave start).


So what can we do to deal with race day nerves?

There’s two main tools. Firstly dealing with the fears, and secondly calming down our nervous system.


How to reduce race day worries

1. Get out a pen and paper. Write down all the reasons you are worried about


Dont worry if they seem silly, if they are things that bother you then get them onto paper (when they stay in our mind they spiral and default to worst case scenario. When we slow down our thinking by writing things down our rational brain can get involved and helps us see some of them really aren't that bad).


Here’s some examples which I hear most often from clients:

  • What if I’m last, what if I’m the slowest

  • I don’t know if I can’t do it

  • What if I get lost in the race

  • What if I’ve forgotten some kit

  • What if I mess up transition

  • Everyone’s going to laugh at me/ think I’m too slow etc

2 . Now go through the list, and ask how likely they are / how much they really matter


You might find at this stage that you start to think ‘oh these aren’t so bad/ don’t really matter’. If that’s the case, great! Write down why they don’t matter so you have something to come back to next time your mind starts spiralling out of control.


3. For the ones that still worry you, ask which ones are in your control and then make a plan to deal with them (and each time your mind goes back to worrying about it, remind it you have a plan to deal with it).


4. For the ones not in your control, ask if worrying about them will make any difference/ whether the worry you are feeling is really proportional to the risk/ how bad it will be?


For example:

-          What if I’m last, what if I’m the slowest > there’s only 1 person who can be last so the odds it’s you are pretty low. What your mind probably means is ‘what if I’m slower than I want to be’ but our mind always goes to the worst scenario. So update the words and chances are now it doesn’t seem so bad.

-          I don’t know if I can’t do it > have you checked the time cuts? Most people will be able to get round by adding in some walking if things get too hard, so again update the words to something like “I don’t know if I can’t do it at the speed I would like to” to reduce their power.

-          What if I’m slower than I want to be > why are you racing? I presume it's not your job and you're doing it because you want to? So what’s the point of putting so much pressure on yourself that you aren’t enjoying it?

-          What if I get lost in the race / What if I’ve forgotten some kit / What if I mess up transition > OK, these might happen, but are they really that bad? As bad as your racing heart beat or churning stomach are telling you? Probably not! Think through what would actually happen in each of these cases (again, write it down to stop your mind spiraling) and chances are it’s not that bad.


Plus they are all made far more likely if you’re panicking, so ask yourself ‘is this helping?’ and commit to addressing it.


Each time you catch yourself worrying, go back over this process and your list. You need to change the script in your mind that says "race = panic stations" to "race = I'm doing this because I want to and I don't need to worry" and this takes practice, but each time you do it, it gets that bit easier.

 

How to calm down your nervous system

Practice breathing slowly. Count your breaths and aim for a few seconds longer on the out breath.


As you breathe out, walk mentally through your body, identifying where you are holding tension (e.g. face, jaw, shoulders, stomach, inner thighs, pelvic floor) and deliberately relaxing these areas as you breath out.


If your mind is just shouting ‘well this is pointless’ and you’re doing over the top ‘blowing out candles’ breathing, be patient, commit to giving it a go for a few minutes, and aim for slow, relaxed breathing instead. Visualise the tension and stress flowing out of your body on each out breath.


This is one of the most powerful techniques you can learn for reducing stress. It not only helps us feel less stressed, think more calmly in difficult situations and calm ourselves down before sleep, but can actually reduce the harmful impacts of stress on our health and even life expectancy. So it’s really worth practicing and learning to use it when you feel yourself get stressed or anxious.


How to get a good night sleep before race day

Make sure you have packed well in advance (it doesn’t take any less time when we do it at the last minute, it just stresses us more!) Use a kit list to tick things off.


Practice your breathing - either as you do some relaxing stretching or foam rolling, or as you lie in bed.


And each time you catch yourself worrying or wake up with your mind racing, ask why you’re worried. Don’t let your brain just spiral, ask for actual reasons, and then check them against the list you made above.


Want some help reducing race day anxiety?

I am the UK's only qualified Mental Health and Exercise Triathlon Coach as well as a Life Coach. Together we can turn race day into a day to enjoy! Give me a shout to discuss coaching options.


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