Nerves.

FixUpLookSharp

Hello all,

I've just finished writing up a race report on my blog, and it got me thinking about nerves and nervousness. I get so nervous before a race that I can hardly talk, and frequently hope the race will get called off or something so I don't have to compete. I actually really enjoy racing, once I've begun, but the run up to the race is miserable for me. I was just wondering if anyone else out there felt the same? How nervous do you get before a race? Does it ever make you want to stop racing?

My team mates don't seem to suffer from nerves to the same degree that I do, so I'd love to hear a few other people talk about how nervous they get in the run up, at least so I know I'm not the only one!

Cheers!

easton

Yeah, same thing used to happen to me untill I realised that I always did better in races that I didn't give a $*+t about, but the races I really wanted to succeed in and was wound up about, I would generally underperform. After this realisation I really tried working on being as calm as possible for all races and ended up being alot more consistent. There were a few factors that helped me chill out: 1) Ensuring EVERYTHING needed for the race was sorted the night before, 2) travelling to the races with one of my team mates, 3) Sign on early (but not too early) to avoid any rushing. This is probably stuff you already do but if not I hope it helps.

OffTheBackAdam

I've been completely stuffed by nerves before a club track champs, I was unable to turn the pedals during a sprint and nothing I cold do about it.

GeorgeShaw

I can't speak for cycling, but I used to play football to a fairly high level. One thing to realise is that everybody gets nervous. It's just that some hide it better. And after all, what is it that makes you do a 10 a minute faster than in training. It's the extra adrenaline from the competition. The point really is to be able to channel your nerves into constructive adrenaline, and away from letting it paralyse you. As easton has said, getting organised and into a routine helps, as does talking to friends and not getting into a situation where you can get flustered. Slow, calm, organised, thorough. Then you can unleash the adrenaline at the start line.

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

I suffer from this really badly... It starts from 3 or 4 days before an event, then the pressure just builds and builds. It never used to bother me when I was cr4p, but once you start placing highly and winning stuff then I found performance anxiety kicks in big style.

What I've done is find ways to take my mind off things. Inevitably before a major event I'll find myself with more time on my hands as I'm doing less training - or maybe I've travelled abroad and am hanging around in hotel rooms. A good book usually does the trick - something fictional and nothing to do with sport - hopefully a decent page turner that will have you glued to it. Otherwise a stack of dvds or computer games might do the trick.

Come the day of the race, preperation is key. I'll have visualised every point of the race, from waiting for the start to crossing the line. Visualise the bad stuff as well as the good stuff. Dream about leading from start to finish, but also run over in your mind what to do when things go wrong. The unexpected puncture, being dropped from the break, or (my favourite) getting kicked in the head at the start of the swim. I try to deal with all these problems in advance - how I'll feel, what I'll do next and how to stay in control.

Staying in control is the main thing - I think nerves are largely down to not being in control - you're nervous 'cos you don't know what is going to happen next. Control this by running through _all_ the options in your head - nothing should be unexpected and you should have a game plan for every eventuality.

I differ from those above in that for the few minutes before a race I don't want to talk to anyone. When the nerves hit me, they hit as waves of nausea - I have been physically sick before a race before. In these few minutes what I need to do is deep breathing, calm myself down and run through the visualisation scenarios again. Although by this point I'm only hitting the positive pictures - leading from gun to tape, etc, etc.

Lets face it - for a lot of us, racing is what it is all about. Racing is why we're training so hard in the wind and rain, knocking our pans in. Come race day I like to think of the performance as being an expression of the training - it's not a final exam, more like an opportunity to show the fruits of your hard work to the rest of the world!

Apologies for the long-winded rant - I have had a beer tonight...

Cheers, Andy

off the back

I think you should try to understand what is making you so nervous. Most of the time the reason for nerves is because you stop focusing on yourself and start worrying about external factors. Put the focus back on you - you have no control over others. Start to think about what u need to do to have a good race - waste as little energy in the bunch as possible, hold good position, eat/drink correctly. On a given day you cannot change your fitness all you can do is exploit it to maximium effect - that is in your control!

If you are taking a step into the unkown - racing 100miles for first time, stage race, higher category etc then remember it is a learning experience. Dont look for or expect perfection everytime you push the boat out. Again focus on yourself and doing the basics right and getting the most from yourself.

FixUpLookSharp

Thanks for the responses, and the advice. It's good to know that other people get as nervous as I do, now I just need to learn to get focused properly. I think getting organized early will help, I do tend to be a bit disorganized and I suppose that's contributing to my loss of focus in the run up to the start.