Want To Race Better? See It Before It Happens
- By Jeff Gaudette
- Published Sep. 9, 2011
- Updated Feb. 21, 2012 at 2:22 PM UTC
Before The Race
As race time approaches, you can’t help but get nervous. After all the hard work you’ve put in, you don’t want it to go to waste. Luckily, you can implement the visualization techniques you used in training to reduce these pre race nerves.
Recollect All Your Great Workouts
If you find yourself getting nervous before the race, start thinking back to all the great workouts you had during your training. Think back to that great tempo run you had where you floated effortlessly over the road, or visualize your last successful race and begin to conjure up those same feelings of accomplishment.
Focus On What You Can Control
We get nervous when we don’t know the outcome of things, like when the killer is going to jump out of the shower in a scary movie or how we’re going to feel half way through the race. Take the focus off those elements of the race you can’t control (your finishing time, your opponents, the weather) and direct them to outcomes you can control.
More from Competitor.com: Top-5 Race-Week Tips
Visualize yourself executing your race plan, going through your warm-up routine, and even focusing on your breathing. By directing your thoughts to those physical and mental aspects you can control, the nerves will dissipate and you’ll increase your chances of success.
FILED UNDER: Training TAGS: confidence / Mental Training / Visualization
Jeff Gaudette
Jeff has been running for 13 years, at all levels of the sport. He was a two time Division-I All-American in Cross Country while at Brown University and competed professionally for 4 years after college for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Jeff's writing has been featured in Running Times magazine, Endurance Magazine, as well as numerous local magazine fitness columns.