Runner's World The Runner's Brain by Jeff Brown

Author:Jeff Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rodale
Published: 2015-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Managing Competition

Overcoming pre-race jitters

and post-race blues

Assuming you have decided racing is for you, I’ve got a bit more psychology to share with you.

What I find is that most people within a race do pretty well. Once the gun goes off, it takes only a few seconds to focus on the task of running the race. Occasionally runners will hit the wall or some other sort of snag, but for the most part they either tune in or tune out to get through it. Psychologically speaking, most of the trouble occurs before and after the race.

In this chapter, I explain what those “pre-race jitters” and “post-race blues” are all about, then give you some strategies on how to deal with them. These stategies will help you transition seamlessly into and out of competitions.

PRE-RACE JITTERS

Let’s say you have selected an event, signed up, circled it on the calendar, and trained your heart out. You get to the start and you’re so nervous you feel like you might pass out. Intellectually you know it’s only a local 5-miler, but emotionally it feels like an Olympic final.

Back in 1972, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman ever to officially enter the Boston Marathon when it was still a men’s-only race. (She ran it unofficially in 1967.) She went on to run more than 40 marathons, winning New York once and finishing second in Boston several years after the inaugural run. She’s about the smoothest operator I have ever met, but she admits she used to get so nervous before a race she almost couldn’t function.

“I figured this out when getting nervous was just crippling me—it was the on-time thing,” she says. “The thing that makes me the most nervous is that I had to figure out getting to the race on time and getting settled and warmed up and using the toilets in plenty of time.”

Obviously, some runners feel the pre-race jitters more profoundly than others. But I think all runners feel a little bit of flip-flopping in their stomach before a race. It comes with the territory. A little case of anxiety before a competition may actually be a good thing in terms of performance. To understand why, let’s reach back to 10th grade biology for an explanation.

If you were paying attention in class (and have a good memory), you may recall that your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) controls your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood vessels. That heightened, nervous feeling you get just before the gun goes off or if you unexpectedly meet a bear in the woods is caused by the SNS pumping adrenaline and other hormones into the bloodstream. When the agony of waiting through all those pre-race announcements is finally over and the gun goes off, this flood of “fight or flight” hormones starts your heart racing and causes your blood pressure to climb, leaving you feeling instantly more alert and primed for action. You take flight, so to speak, thanks to that extra shot of energy to propel you forward.

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