With the London Marathon just over a week away and plenty of other big events right around the corner, if you’ve got a race in the diary you might be starting to feel the dreaded pre-race nerves building up. Now, it’s important to say that nerves to an extent are a good thing. They show that you care and that you’re excited deep down. Plus they’ll help to give you the adrenaline you need on race day to find that extra 1%. But when nerves start to get out of control they can be exhausting, suck the joy out of the event you’ve trained so hard for and in some cases – stop people from even getting on the start line at all.
With long distance triathlon being my personal sport of choice, I’ve experienced my fair share of pre-race nerves. Laying awake the night before a race with my heart pounding and thoughts racing about what could go wrong, what I might have forgotten and building up a whole bunch of fear about precisely how much 140.6 miles of swim-bike-run is going to hurt. In general, I’ve been able to get these nerves under control in time to hit the start line. But then a DNF disaster happened at my main race of the year in 2021. Without boring you with all the details, let’s just say my race ended up going something along the lines of ‘swim, safety boat, medical tent’ instead of ‘swim, bike, run’. Stubborn as ever, I immediately entered myself for a half Ironman the following weekend as soon as I’d found my way out of the medical tent and been reunited with my credit card. I needed to get back on the horse to prove something to myself, and I wanted to at least make some sort of use of the fitness I’d built up over the summer training for a full distance Ironman.
It seemed like a great plan until it was 2 days before the race and the nerves I’d been able to keep a lid on before were threatening to eat me alive. I had two choices: abandon the race and let my fear win. Or, look that fear straight in the eye and find a way to work through it. I chose the latter, and learned a few helpful coping strategies for pre-race nerves in the process. I’ll get on and share them with you now – but I just wanted you to know that if you’re reading this and you’ve got that horrible sick to your stomach nervous feeling, I’ve been there. And – as someone who could probably get a PhD in Being Very Worried – if I can find a way to navigate my nerves, you absolutely can too!
HOW TO COPE WITH PRE-RACE NERVES
Write down your fears, worries and anxieties
Often when we’re nervous, we can be tempted to put all our energy into not thinking about it. This can lead to mental exhaustion and even self-sabotage. Furthermore, studiously ignoring your fear can actually give it more power over you. By not looking directly at it, you can imagine that it’s this huge all encompassing thing. A lion in the dark corner waiting to pounce. But shine a torch towards that corner – look directly at your fear – and you might just discover that your lion is a kitten. The first step to getting your nerves in check is acknowledging them.
In her book ‘Performing under pressure: psychological strategies for sporting success’, Dr Josephine Perry sets out a strategy called ‘brain drain’, designed to help athletes work through their pre-race anxieties so they can focus their energy and attention on the physical event ahead. Doing so, Josephine says, can help us to unload some of the mental burden that comes with having all of these worries flying around in our heads. Seeing what we’re nervous about written down can also help us to realise that it might not be as terrible as we’ve built it up to be. Plus, it gives us a practical list to work through to identify anything we’re worried about that we might be able to take back some control over. Say for example one of the things you’re nervous about is your train into London for the marathon getting cancelled: now is a great time to take back some control and formulate a back up plan so if that happens, you can spring into action instead of panicking.
Visualise the race
Now we’ve emptied out all the negatives thoughts, worries and the fears from our minds, we can start to think about the positives that race day will bring. I read somewhere that Katie Zaferes, Olympic triathlon medallist and former ITU World Champion, will write down how she pictures her race going the night before. This is something I’ve tried for myself to cope with my pre-race nerves. Not only does it help to put me in a more positive mindset, it also helps me to anticipate any adversity I might face and to address my fears so that I can reframe them as something I can cope with. I remember before my ‘comeback race’ in 2021, I was terrified about having issues in the swim again and ending up hitching another ride on the safety boat. So I wrote something along the lines of: “Jenny enters the water at the start of the race. She feels fear, but she controls her breathing and focuses on staying calm. She doesn’t panic. She glides smoothly through the water, giving herself permission to find her own space and not worry about the time if she needs to. She starts to enjoy being in the water. Before she knows it, the 1.9km loop is complete and she’s heading into T1 feeling strong.” I know, it all sounds a bit woo-woo unicorn land. But honestly? It really did help. It helped me to set my intentions about how I would face certain scenarios and how I wanted to feel. Which made me feel like I’d taken back some control. Writing in the third person also helped me to feel like it was a story I was in charge of – but if first person works better for you then that’s totally fine.
Now you might not want to spend time writing it all out. But even if you consider it as some form of pre-race meditation and mentally visualise your race – it’ll help you to feel calm and more prepared. Picture yourself feeling excited, instead of frightened. Visualise yourself going through the motions of getting your race kit on and getting yourself to the start line. Picture yourself out on the race course feeling strong. Imagine yourself encountering a setback – but overcoming it. Think about all the emotions you’re going to feel. Visualise yourself crossing the finish line with a huge smile on your face. Doing so will help to calm your nerves, re-centre your focus and set you up to feel prepared and in control of what you take away from the day.
Remember your ‘why’
In the days leading up to your race, it can start to feel like this Big Horrible Thing that you’ve got to go and do. It’s important to bring yourself back to why you chose to enter the event in the first place. Your race isn’t a mandatory root canal procedure or a stint of jury service that’s been inflicted on you. There was something about it that made you want to go and do it. That excited you and that’s driven you to get out there and get the training done. Ultimately, as nerve-wracking as race day can feel, this is something that we get to do. Whether you’re doing a marathon, a triathlon or a bike race. You get to go and do the sport you enjoy with a whole bunch of other likeminded people. How cool is that?
When you find the pre-race nerves getting all too much, bring yourself back to why you wanted to do the event, what you’re going to gain from it and how great it’s going to feel to reflect back on everything you’ve achieved.
Feel what you need to feel: accept your nerves
It might sound counterproductive, but this feeds into my first point about acknowledging and writing down everything that you’re worried about. Trying to fight against your feelings is exhausting, and it’s not going to help you work through them. It’s more than okay to feel nervous. In fact it’s a good thing – it means you care, and it means you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Don’t feel like you need to fall into the trap of toxic positivity and that you’re not allowed to feel nervous and worried. Stop fighting the nerves and accept them as part of the experience. Allow yourself to feel them instead of beating yourself up about having them in the first place. See them for what they are: a feeling that will pass. An emotion that doesn’t have to consume you. Fuel for the fire that will turn into adrenaline and excitement one that start gun goes. A line from Alexi Pappas’ book ‘Bravey’ (another great read by an incredible sportswoman which I would highly recommend) which I find useful to repeat to myself when I can feel my nerves threatening to take control is: “Why choose to be afraid, when you can be brave instead?”
This is your race. You’ve earned it. So go get it!
You’ve already done the hard work: the race is just the victory lap
The final thing to remember when the pre-race nerves are getting out of hand is that race day is just that: another day. We put so much pressure and weight on race day itself, and it’s understandable. When you’ve been training hard for months and made sacrifices all building up to this one day, it feels monumental. It’s natural that the race feels like it’s ‘make or break’ and the fear of it going wrong can become consuming.
But what’s important to remember is that you’ve already done all of the hard work. In fact, you’ve done the hardest part! The race is just your victory lap. Whatever happens on the day can’t take away from everything you’ve learned and achieved just to get yourself to the start line. In some ways, the race is the easiest part: you’ve got the support, the crowds, the atmosphere. You’ve got a finish line to aim for and a medal to look forward to. The hard part is all that training you’ve ticked off already. Motivating yourself to get out and train hard when it’s cold, wet and miserable. Pounding the pavements or pedalling for miles, all on your own. Getting home from a long training session and being presented with chores to get done instead of a medal.
Reflect on everything you’ve already achieved and know that even if for whatever reason, the race itself doesn’t go according to plan. You’ve already achieved something incredible just by being brave enough to try. Whatever happens, when the sun sets on race day you can be proud of yourself.
Good luck at your races, Herd! I hope my pre-race nerve busting tips help you to stay calm and enjoy all the amazing things that race day can bring. Don’t forget to tag Stolen Goat in your race photos – we always love hearing about your adventures!