As an athlete, one of the most challenging parts of competing is not the competition itself, but the performance anxiety that you will likely experience beforehand. It does not matter if you are an Olympic medalist or a recreational runner. You will likely experience nerves either way. Luckily, there are some things you can do to help manage it. Read on…
Back in 2021, I started spending a lot of time listening to educational podcasts about running and performance as well as listening to non-fiction books about running and performance. My racing season was amping up and before a triple Spartan Race weekend I happened to listen to a Trail Runner Nation podcast episode where the authors of the new book The Genius of Athletes talked about some of the key mental components of racing.
I stumbled upon this book at the perfect time and quickly dove into it. The timing was great because the book specifically focused on worries and what to do with them. I needed this because my performance anxiety had continued to worsen. In the book, the authors said to let the worries flow free (to start with)!
How to Decrease Performance Anxiety
There is evidence in research that has shown that when athletes suppress emotions, their performances are impacted negatively. Athletes tend to suppress their feelings because they worry that letting them flow will hurt their performance. The truth is that bottling them up can do more damage than dealing with them.
According to Noel Brick, PhD., instead of avoiding worrying, you should designate a specified “worry time”. This is something I started doing in 2021 after becoming aware of this and it made a big difference for me. For the rest of that season, going into a race weekend, as well as hard workouts, I set aside “worry time” and found that my performance anxiety had lessened and my confidence in my abilities improved.
During that race, my mantra became “All I have is all I can give and all I can give is all that I have.” The idea behind this was that come race morning, there was nothing that I could do to get any fitter. All I had to give was all of the skills I had worked to improve up until that day and then it was show time. I could wish all I wanted that I was faster or stronger but it was not going to come true. The one thing I could do was take steps to decrease performance anxiety and show up.
Using ‘Worry Time’ to Set Yourself Up for Success
According to The Genius of Athltes, these are some things you can do before a competition to help avoid the negative consequences of suppression and decrease performance anxiety. Setting up a designated ‘worry time’ is a great start.
The first steps to setting yourself free of worry:
- Start by setting aside about 20 minutes where you have no distractions and can ‘worry on purpose‘ about 2 days out from your competition.
- Write down the worries that you have, allowing all worries to be present and thought about. Don’t avoid anything, no matter how trivial it seems.
- Rate the worries from 1-3. A rating of 1 means that you can act on this and do something about it. A rating of 2 means that you MAY be able to do something about it. And a rating of 3 means that you’re unlikely to do anything about it.
After you take some time to think through the specific things that are causing your performance anxiety, rate each of them. Once you do this it is time to move on to coming up with a solution for all of the problems. Big or small, list them all.
The final two steps of ‘worry time’ are as follows:
- Problem solve for each worry. Starting with the ones that you are most likely to be able to do something about. Be very specific with the actions you plan to take and even try to plan when you’ll act (such as taking 30 seconds to sit in the shade when you begin to feel way too overheated rather than pushing yourself into a panic attack). Some worries may not have a solution but understanding and accepting them will help you regulate your emotional response when you face that worry.
- Put the worries away once worry time is over! You’ve done the work. Now free your mind until your final ‘worry time’ session returns the next day. There is a good chance that these worries will arise between one worry time and the next. Try to distract yourself by doing something else and remind yourself that you have time to worry about things tomorrow.
If you have a lot of worries, this process may take more than 20 minutes but that’s okay. You should take however much time you need to complete the task in full. Leaving things ‘unworried’ would defeat the purpose of the task.
How Does Worrying Before a Competition Help Performance?
The purpose of doing this is so that instead of utilizing your brain power and energy to problem solve during a race, you can instead just access the worry time information you stowed away and act quickly when a problem arises.
You may not think about it much but when you are competing, the more effort you have to put into worrying about what did or is going to happen, the less mental capacity you have to put into your performance. Wouldn’t you rather use stowed-away energy to convince yourself to make that final kick into 3rd place than deal with a GI issue? I know I would. Having a plan ready beforehand saves you effort mid-race.
Utah Spartan Race Weekend 2021 ‘Worry Time Exercise’
Here is an example of the very first worry time exercise I completed.
| What is your worry? | Rating | How/when will you act on the worry? |
| Going out too fast and overheating/getting HR too high | 1 | Allow the pace to slow moderately, if a competitor is near, fall into their slightly slower pace for 1 minute then slowly pick up the pace and find competitors to pick off to help get the pace back up and to keep from getting discouraged. |
| GI distress | 1 | Slow sip water only and take deep breaths. Focus on the race rather than the gut and go at a pace that allows the gut to settle slightly before getting to a point where it is so bad you have to walk or lose many placements. |
| 8 ft box obstacle having no knots on the ropes or short ropes | 2 | Do not panic. When approaching an obstacle take deep breaths. If there are no knots then attempt an S-hook/wrap rope around the leg/foot as much as possible while pulling yourself up. If this is not successful, pull up as much as possible walk up the wall then dig your knees into the wall for leverage while reaching for the top bar (do this approach for short ropes also, pinch knot with knees). Deep breaths! Don’t panic! Allow up to 5 attempts or 1.5 minutes. |
| Not being able to pull myself up the stairway to Sparta obstacle | 2 | Deep breaths. Remember to use feet/knees on the wall WHILE pulling up. Go for it. Don’t hesitate or worry about hands when transitioning from one grip to another. Remember to swing the foot to the lower grip WHILE reaching for the higher grip. You’ve got this. Use that pull-up strength you’ve recently gained. Allow for 5 attempts or 1.5 minutes. |
| Losing body control during the twister obstacle | 1 | Focus on forward movement. Pause and regain control and breathe rather than panicking and grabbing for the next grip when out of control. Make sure you have your movements in control before transitioning to the next grip. Sideways. One, two. One, two. |
| Weird rope placement on the multi-rig obstacle | 2 | Take a moment to assess as approaches. Can you skip ropes? If you can skip all then do it! If 3 ropes at the end then skip the middle rope use the momentum from the ring to launch self to the last rope and get that bell! |
| Getting nervous on rocky descents | 1 | Tight core! Commit. Once you start going you must be smooth and do not hesitate. Be aware of what others are doing. Choose the path with the most visible to decrease concern. Let arms carry and balance you. |
| Failing too many obstacles and losing contact | 2 | What’s done is done. DO NOT focus on the outcome. Focus on the process. What can you do right now in this moment to execute the rest of the race the best you can? Make up time on the climbs, carries, and descents. Don’t get discouraged. You came out here to do the best YOU can do. You CANNOT control how others race. Commit to the process and finish strong. |
Takeaways
While the ‘worry time’ approach is super helpful for athletes to utilize, it is applicable to any person who feels performance anxiety. Whether you are preparing for a big speech, an interview, or an on-stage performance, setting aside time to worry can help you go into your event with ease.
I first implemented this process before a triple Spartan Race weekend in Utah in 2021. I took some time to complete this exercise and I found it very helpful. I ended up on the podium in all 3 races and felt so much more confident on the start line and during the race than I ever had before.
Sometimes taking the time to let your worries flow is the key to success and not a sign of weakness like many people tend to think. I have used it for a variety of athletic events such as for the Battle Bunker Flagship Competition and even when I submitted Mount Borah.
Discover more from Mae Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.