In part four of our continuing series on mastering your mental skills for race-day, we discuss how to properly channel your pre-race anxiety into positive energy and focus.
How to Cope with Pre-Race Jitters
Every triathlete, runner or cyclist, no matter their level, experiences pre-race jitters—the feeling of excitement or butterflies in your stomach prior to the start of a race. However, some athletes turn pre-race jitters into performance anxiety. Pre-race jitters are a natural part of your racing, but pre-race performance anxiety will cause most athletes to tense up, worry about their performance and ultimately not perform up to their ability.
Are Pre-Race Jitters Helpful to Your Performance?
The first step is to find out if you experience common pre-race jitters or if you are anxious or scared. The difference is that pre-race jitters or butterflies are helpful to your race—they help you focus and perform better.However, real "performance anxiety" is a reaction to stress or fear about the event that can cause excess tension. We think that pre-race jitters are a form of respect for the event you are about to engage in and part of the physical way your body prepares for the race.
How can you distinguish between pre-race jitters and performance anxiety? Look at the characteristic of each below:
Pre-game Jitters
- You feel excited to get the race started.
- You feel physically up and alert.
- You think clearly about what you want to accomplish.
- You feel ready to tackle any challenge that comes your way.
- You feel your heart beating harder, but you think it's natural and helpful.
- When the race starts, you relax, get into the flow, and don't focus on how you are feeling.
- You have energy to keep going until the end of the race.
Performance Anxiety
- You are over-excited about the race and feel scared before you start.
- You feel physically sick to your stomach.
- You have excess internal chatter and can't think clearly or calmly.
- You are worried about what you might encounter during the race.
- You feel physical symptoms such as an increased heart rate, but worry that you are anxious or uptight.
- You feel anxious or tight well into the start of the race and it may last for the entire event.
- You feel drained and exhausted before the competition even starts.
If you identify with pre-race jitters, that's great. That's what you want to feel just before the event. You want to embrace the pre-race jitters.
If you identify more with performance anxiety above, you'll have to learn how to overcome your performance anxiety by channeling it in a more constructive way.