Sever Anxiety and race times

Training Advice/Discussion 1500

8 years ago 07/02/2015 8:41pm EDT

Anxiety is hurting my running potential. I consistently get nervous and my heart pounds like crazy and i start breathing heavily before races, and I feel like the race is much harder than it should be. In training I can run 3 minute kilometers like a breeze since I'm not competing against anyone. but during a race my heart beats like crazy and I start wheezing which causes me to end up running slow times.

What can I do to conquer this problem because its causing so many problems with the sport I love so much. Has anyone experienced this kind of issue?

8 years ago 07/02/2015 8:48pm EDT

re: VeryworriedxcBrah

Yes, definitely cut off the anxiety.

8 years ago 07/02/2015 8:54pm EDT

re: VeryworriedxcBrah

Stop loving the sport so much then. Trying to run faster than other people around a track is a completely useless endeavor. If you run a crap race no one will care. If you give it a 95% effort no one will care. Once you realize this, you won't be nervous anymore and will be able to perform to your potential.

8 years ago 07/10/2015 10:58am EDT

re: VeryworriedxcBrah

Sorry to hear this. You're not alone.

It took me a long time, until senior year of college, to begin to get over my anxiety. I had a coach had had experienced the same sort of thing himself, knew what I was going through, and wanted to help. Even so, I didn't completely get over it until I left college. It took the new frame of reference of road racing to finally break the cycle of constantly comparing each race to past performances, even in the moment of racing.

These things seem to be very, very personal, and thus have very personal solutions. Hopefully you have some one you respect who you can talk with this about, someone who you can trust. Also, check out Nico Composto's piece from the Letsrun front page a few days ago.

All the best.

8 years ago 07/10/2015 11:20am EDT

re: Been there w anxiety

Psychotherapy. A lot of times race anxiety is coming from something that has nothing to do with running. Stress about family, work, school, friends, etc. can make its way into running because running is something that is important to you. The fear of a disappointing race experience often comes from the fear that if you do not do well and enjoy running, you have nothing else to enjoy because after the race, you have to return to the unresolved stress in your life. Running is supposed to be your break from all that. But the fear of a bad performance making running just as miserable as the other stress can set into motion anxiety. Once you get in control of the other stress, you will be more open and able to take on the risk of having a bad race and not have crippling anxiety. Of course, everyone gets nervous before a big race. But it should not hinder performance.

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