As race day nears, even the most experienced racers get some race day anxiety and nervousness. Much anxiety can come from either feeling unprepared and/or putting too much pressure on yourself to hit a certain goal. What is a runner to do? Check out these top tips on how to handle race nerves so you can hit that starting line a little more relaxed.
How To Handle Race Day Nerves
For many of us that are not typically anxious, the prospect of race day can bring out nervous energy and self doubt. Try some of these techniques leading up to your next race.
Trust your training
Review your training either in your head or by examining your actual data from your watch or Strava etc. Look back on how you have trained and the successes you have had leading up to race week.
Preview the course
Check out a map of the course and imagine yourself at different milestones of the race. (Running over the 5K, 10K, or 10-mile timing mat for example). Think about your race from start to finish.
Create a Race Day Plan
Some find comfort in writing out a plan for the entire race day to include: wake up time, travel time, fueling strategy, pacing strategy, all gear and apparel needed, etc.)
Lay out your flat runner
Laying out all of your clothing and gear for the race days before can give you peace of mind and allow you to double-check that you have everything you need.
Stay in the present
Stay in the moment of your race: “Stop time traveling into the past thinking about the training you think you should have done. Stop traveling into the future worrying about the outcome of the day. Stay right here in the conversation of the race and you’ll be more likely to adjust and adapt to the race day challenges that come. Breathe, stay in the moment, and enjoy (source)
Set multiple goals
Many runners find it helpful to set an A, B, and C goal for each race and envision how each of those goals will play out,
Evoke positive mantras
It is never too late to adopt a running mantra. Repeating positive phrases can help to reduce nerves and power you through your race. Need some ideas? See here.
Dance it out
Music can be a powerful relaxation technique and popping on your favorite playlist and singing along is a great option.
Embrace the nerves
Much of the nervousness we feel pre-race, is our body’s adrenaline pumping through. Embrace those feelings and use them to power you through.
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How to use a race as a training run
Tell me: how do you deal with race day nerves? What’s your strategy?
Thanks for helping to make the Runners’ Roundup a huge success by visiting all of the hosts: Laura, Me, Debbie, Jen, Lisa
Such a timely post, Deborah!
My race is a little over 2 weeks away, and I’m already freaking out!!
Staying in the moment will help me. And I’ll need to get a nice, simple mantra ready. Thanks for the link!
I get super nervous too! Hope the mantra helps 🙂
I get really nervous before races, especially now because I don’t race very often. But I’m an anxious person in general. I do like to look back on my training and visualize the race to help myself feel more prepared!
It does help to do that. I get anxious as well
I’m the queen of pre-race jitters, but for me, a lot depends on the race and my goals. It’s gotten better over the years because I don’t feel that I have a lot to prove anymore. But before my marathons, my race nerves were off the charts! I’ve done all of the things you suggested. Mostly I reassure myself that I need to enjoy the ride. Usually once I start running, the nerves go away.
Yes, I agree once I start running that nervous energy just gets channeled into my run
I have run hundreds of races but yes I always get nervous.
Thanks for tips. I think I do them all. I guess if I didn’t I’d be even more nervous.
The most important is to remind yourself why you are there. And enjoy it no matter what the outcome is. There will be other races.
Yes, that is the ultimate goal but not always so easy
I’m wondering if I’ll actually get nervous for my race on Sunday- considering that I haven’t done any speedwork and have no illusions of running fast, I might be pretty relaxed! But yes- I have gotten nervous in the past. I remember one year I was truly frightened before our Thanksgiving race (which seems funny in retrospect- aren’t Turkey Trots supposed to be fun?). These are all great tips!
yes, they are supposed to fun! Why do we do this to ourselves?? 🙂 Good luck this weekend and have fun
My biggest race day anxiety issue is getting to the race itself. Making sure I leave on time, hoping for zero traffic issues, finding the location (if it’s a new-to-me event)…ugh! Once I’m lined up, bib in place, all is usually well, LOL.
Waking up and getting to the race on time is always one of my anxiety provoking issues as well!
It will definitely be interesting to see how I feel when I do get back to racing! I definitely like affirmations for running — I’ve worked up quite a few recently. I’ve been working with affirmations in general.
I am interested to hear how those go for you on race day
I used to get very nervous but once i started thinking of races as fun runs, I started to enjoy my runs
That is really hard for me to do!
Hmmmm. I have never tried dancing it out. I might need to add that to the list!
Hey, you never know!