Managing Pre-Race Anxiety

The finish line is sometimes merely the symbol of victory.� All sorts of personal triumphs take place before that point, and the outcome of the race may actually be decided long before the end.� ~Laurence Malone, U.S. Men�s Cylocross Champion 1974-1975

Pre-race jitters. Almost every competitive athlete experiences them. The jitters affect our ability to get a good night�s rest the night before a race, to eat the morning of a race, or to venture too far away from the port-a-potties until the start of the race. At its worse, pre-race anxiety can destroy our performance. And yet, without some anxiety our chances of racing at our best are small.

It is not the absence of pre-race anxiety that determines how well we perform. It�s how we manage anxiety that is the critical factor. To manage anxiety successfully, we will need to do four things. We need to determine our optimal level of pre-race anxiety. We need to decrease outside influences that increase our anxiety. We need to take control of the elements of racing we can and have a disaster plan for those we can�t. Finally we need to accept pre-race anxiety as an organic part of the triathlon experience.

Pre-race anxiety is a topic of great interest to sport psychologists and our understanding of pre-race anxiety, or excitation, has increased substantially over the years. At first, psychologists viewed the relationship between anxiety and performance as relatively straight forward and hill-shaped. The start of the slope represents a condition of little or no excitation and poor performance; if we are not feeling any excitement about the race we will not be energized enough to race well. The other side of the hill, the downside, is also a state of poor performance; if we are over-excited we will �choke.� The top of the hill marks the state of optimal performance � it�s not too much, not too little, but just right.

More recently, sport psychologists have modified this model by incorporating the finding that there is no �one-size-fits-all� recipe for optimal excitation. Much to many team-sports coaches� dismay, the most effective level of pre-competition excitation for some team members � what will get them �pumped up� � proves to be way too much for others. The key is for each individual to determine his or her optimal level of excitation. The level of anxiety an elite triathlete can tolerate may be substantially different from that of the typical age-grouper. We need to determine our own maximal level and then create conditions that provide and maintain it.

To keep anxiety at an optimal level, we must manage outside influences. A perfect example comes from this year�s Wildflower Triathlon. The afternoon before the long-course event, two friends and I (all long-course first timers) went to the Expo area to pick-up our race packets. We happened to be there just as the organizers were introducing the Pro athletes to the crowd. One-by-one the Pros were called up on stage and one-by-one they talked about how they looked forward to the race and how difficult the course was. More and more Pros were introduced and more and more we were told how difficult the course was. When a few Pros who had raced (and even won) Ironman Kona said that Wildflower was the most difficult course they race, the look on my friends� faces said it all: �What have I gotten myself into?� It was clear our anxiety levels had sky-rocketed and at that point I suggested we return to our campsite. While we could not control what the Pros said, we did not have to listen to them. After leaving and before going to sleep, we heard a visualization tape I had prepared to reduce anxiety to manageable levels and to build race-day confidence. While the difficulty of the Wildflower course was out of our control, how we thought about it was all ours.

Another tactic to keep pre-race anxiety at optimal levels is to follow the scouting motto of �Be Prepared.� Obviously, the better trained you are, the less anxious you will be. But that is not the full extent to which we can prepare. For many triathletes, a test-ride of the course allows them to dispel any misconceptions they may have about the course�s difficulties. Even if the test-ride confirms the course�s challenges, a difficulty that is known is likely to make us less anxious than one unknown. If fact, it is said that Lance Armstrong�s ability to beat his opponent is at least in part due to his intense study of the Tour de France roads months before the race.

Preparing for the unexpected will also bring our anxiety down to a manageable level. Just recently I worked with an athlete who was competing in his first Olympic distance triathlon. He was highly bothered by two recurring thoughts: �What if the ocean conditions are rough?� and �What if I get a flat tire?� Since both of these were situations he had no control over and therefore couldn�t prevent, we put together a �disaster plan.� If there were high surf conditions, he would dive under the oncoming waves and remind himself that it was a short distance until he was beyond the wave-break and swimming in calmer water. If, on the way back in, there were a rip-tide or strong current he would not fight it but would swim parallel to the shore until he reached the sand. Similarly, we made sure he knew how to change a bicycle tire and that he had a spare tube and tire irons attached to his bike on race-day. We decide that the first thing he would do if he got a flat (after pulling off the course to a safe place!) was to take three deep breathes and go over in his mind the steps involved in changing the tire. This would keep him from acting in a state of panic and turning what could take only a few minutes into a big time-loss. Preparing for things he could not control brought his anxiety to a low enough level that he could, once again, anticipate the satisfaction of crossing the finish line.

One of the best things we can do to prevent race-day anxiety from compromising our maximal performance is to simply accept it as a natural part of the race-experience. One of my favorite Olympic moments from last summer�s games was an interview with Michael Phelps immediately after he won his first gold medal. The TV commentator stuck a microphone in Phelps� face and predictably asked him how it felt to win a gold-medal. Still short of breath, he replied that at least he would be able to get some sleep that night. If Olympic great Michael Phelps has difficulty sleeping the night before a race, why wouldn�t we? Ask other elite athletes about their pre-race anxiety and they will say they have come to expect it. They have developed pre-race rituals for containing it, be they relaxing quietly or listening to loud music on an iPod. Rather than fight anxiety, athletes of all abilities can follow elite athletes� lead and create pre-race routines of their own.

Pre-race anxiety need not cripple us. If we understand it, manage it, prepare for it and accept it, we can transform nervous energy into the fuel we need to succeed.

� 2005 Craig Kain, Ph.D.

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Posted: July 13, 2005