I guess it's normal to get nervous to some degree before a race, but I get those same kind of nerves before a workout too. How do you deal with it or does one get used to it as they do workouts or races more frequently?
I guess it's normal to get nervous to some degree before a race, but I get those same kind of nerves before a workout too. How do you deal with it or does one get used to it as they do workouts or races more frequently?
Yes. And anxiety can help motivate.
Sure, it means you care. It means a lot to you. More importantly, it means you are the type of runner who has the capacity to dig really deep, and you know it's going to hurt. Many (most) runners never come close to experiencing the pain that serious competitive runners feel quite often. So they don't have nearly enough reason to get nervous. For them, it's not going to hurt that much. Think of it that way.
Somehow along the way, I guess after a couple hundred races, I still had the anxiousness, but it would turn into an absolute calm about 2-3 minutes before the gun. I mean a calm where I am almost yawning. I feel like I am meditating. A really good warmup routine done on your own away from the chaos around the start line, followed the same way every time, can help with this. For 5k races, I stretch a little then jog the entire course, doing some gentle accelerations along the way, and finishing with some good strides. And I time it so I reach the start/finish again with only a couple minutes to go and no one to have time to talk to.
lollerama wrote:
For 5k races, I stretch a little then jog the entire course, doing some gentle accelerations along the way, and finishing with some good strides.
I wanted to mention, but forgot: during the above period when I run the course, I'll envision how each part will feel like when I'm running the race for real. I'll pick landmarks, and think of how I'm going to feel at that point. You'd think that would make you more anxious, but it does the opposite. And it helps tremendously when you run the actual race. You pass those landmarks and remember your plan.
lollerama wrote:
lollerama wrote:
For 5k races, I stretch a little then jog the entire course, doing some gentle accelerations along the way, and finishing with some good strides.
I wanted to mention, but forgot: during the above period when I run the course, I'll envision how each part will feel like when I'm running the race for real. I'll pick landmarks, and think of how I'm going to feel at that point. You'd think that would make you more anxious, but it does the opposite. And it helps tremendously when you run the actual race. You pass those landmarks and remember your plan.
Absolutely.
It helps to think "this is going to hurt' while not going too deep into the imagination. That takes some of the pain's sharper teeth out. It does not come as a surprise, you brought a rifle to a knife fight.
i never get nervous i always think before a race either you have the fitness to do a good time or not making sure you execute well ie start at a good pace.
Not normal. AIDS likely.