Hey Reader!

And we are back!

I truly wanted to keep the newsletter up whilst we were away, but, as I mentioned in my last edition, I don't want to half-ass this and sitting down for 3 hours to research and write probably isn't the optimal way to spend a holiday, at least not in the eyes of those I was with.

So, after a brief break, we are back at it, tackling a significant topic. A topic presented to me by some of the guys during a group run last week. I say this as a reminder, please reply to this with any topic questions you would like my input on. I love having the opportunity to bring you the content that has real value and is immediately applicable.

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Pre-Race Nerves: Why You Feel Them – and What to Do About It

You’ve done the work. Training blocks, strength sessions, long runs — all locked in. But as race day creeps closer, you start to feel… off. Restless sleep. A racing mind. That slight twist in your gut.

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone. Pre-race nerves are one of the most common experiences in sport — and one of the most misunderstood. This isn’t just something to “push through.” It’s something you can work with. And doing so might be the difference between a reactive race and a composed, confident performance.

Let’s break down why we get nervous, what actually causes it, and how you can turn that anxious energy into something useful.

What’s Really Going On Before a Race?

Pre-race anxiety isn’t a weakness. It’s your body’s way of gearing up for something important.

But some runners experience more intense nerves than others — and not just because of the race itself. Here’s what the research says contributes to those feelings:

Why Some Runners Feel More Anxious Than Others

You’re anticipating a challenge or a threat.

The body reacts similarly to both excitement and danger – a faster heartbeat, shallow breathing, and tense muscles. Whether you're scared or ready comes down to how you interpret those sensations. If you see race day as a test, you might fail, and anxiety goes up. If you see it as something you're ready for, it can energise you.

You’re naturally more prone to nerves.

Some of us just feel competition more intensely. It’s called competitive trait anxiety — a personality trait that makes certain athletes more reactive in high-stakes settings. It doesn’t mean anything’s wrong — just that you might benefit from specific strategies that help you settle and focus.

You care (a lot) about what others think.

Fear of negative evaluation is a big driver of pre-race anxiety. Whether it's spectators, other runners, or your coach, feeling like you’re being judged can ramp up nerves and self-doubt. This often manifests as tension, performance anxiety, or entering the race with the goal of not making mistakes instead of running at your best.

You’re not confident in how prepared you are.

Low self-efficacy — the belief that you can handle the challenge — is one of the biggest predictors of how anxious you’ll feel. It’s not about false confidence. It’s about having proof of past accomplishments that you can do hard things and remembering that when nerves creep in.

You haven’t found the right coping tools yet.

Some runners naturally use strategies like goal-setting, breath control, and mental cues. Others haven’t been taught how. Not having a plan for your mindset means you’re more likely to get thrown off when nerves rise.

You’re young or newer to high-pressure races.

Age and experience matter. Younger athletes often report more worry and less ability to manage it. Over time – and with the right tools – this tends to improve.

So, What Can You Do About It?

You can’t (and shouldn’t) try to eliminate nerves completely. But you can learn how to interpret them differently and respond more effectively.

Here’s what works — backed by the latest sports psych research:

1. Reframe the Feeling

That racing heart? Dry mouth? It’s not panic — it’s preparation.

Athletes who reframe their anxiety as excitement (e.g. “I’m amped for this” instead of “I’m freaking out”) perform better. This shift taps into approach energy — it gets you ready instead of reactive.

Saying “I’m excited” before a high-pressure event led to better performance than trying to calm down (Brooks, 2014).

2. Build Your Self-Belief

Self-efficacy is your belief in your own readiness. The stronger it is, the more grounded you'll feel — even when conditions aren't perfect.

You can build this by:

• Reflecting on past successful efforts
• Surrounding yourself with supportive voices
• Creating small wins in training that translate into race-day confidence

Athletes with higher self-efficacy performed better and experienced less anxiety (Lochbaum, 2023).

3. Stick to a Pre-Performance Routine

Having a consistent warm-up, mental cue, and race-day routine reduces unpredictability, which is often what your brain is reacting to in the first place.

• Know what time you’ll arrive
• Practice your warm-up in training
• Use the same mantra, song, or breathing drill to ground you
• Practice imagery and/or positive self-talk in training and racing

PPRs work through several proposed mechanisms, including improving attention, increasing self-efficacy, regulating anxiety, and facilitating action planning and mental rehearsal (Rupprecht et al., 2021).

4. Train Your Coping Muscles

Think of coping strategies like training tools. The more you practise them, the more automatic they become when it counts.

Some of the most effective:

• Breath control (e.g. box breathing or double exhales)
• Goal-setting for process, not just outcome
• Refocusing cues (“One mile at a time”)
• Positive self-talk that’s specific, not fluffy (“You’ve handled worse”)

According to the research, seven coping strategies are employed by athletes during their performance. These strategies are are follows (Gabrys, 2023):

1. Coping with adversity: The ability to effectively deal with difficult or challenging situations.
2. Coachability: Openness to and acceptance of constructive criticism and guidance from coaches.
3. Concentration: The capacity to maintain focus on the task at hand and minimise distractions.
4. Confidence and achievement motivation: A belief in one's ability to perform effectively and a drive to achieve goals.
5. Goal-setting: The process of establishing clear objectives to direct effort and enhance motivation.
6. Peaking under pressure: The ability to perform optimally in high-stakes situations.
7. Freedom from worry: The absence of excessive concern about performance or external opinions.

5. Take a Whole-Athlete Approach

Anxiety is rarely just about the race. It’s tied to how you see yourself, your relationship with pressure, and even your values. The best results come when you zoom out:

• Address “have to” thinking (e.g. “I have to run a PB”)
• Replace it with flexible, rational beliefs (“I want to run well — and I’ll learn either way”)
• Have someone in your corner – a coach, a friend, a sports psychologist – who gets the full picture

The coordination of communication between coaches, medical and psychological staff at all stages of training and competition is particularly important in the athlete preparation process (Gabrys, 2023).

What This Means for Your Running

Here’s how to put it all together:

5 Actions to Try Before Your Next Race

1. Expect nerves - they mean you care. Don’t try to shut them down. Reframe them as part of the build-up. "Get Excited".
2. Run your routine. Keep race morning predictable: same breakfast, same warm-up, same cues.
3. Use your words. Create 2–3 mantras or cue phrases you can come back to. Keep them short and personal; specific to the situation is preferable, but not essential.
4. Practise mindset in training. Use hard training sessions as mini test events. Try different approaches and see what works.
5. Reflect and build belief. Look back on what you've already overcome in training. That version of you shows up on race day, too.

Closing Thoughts

We all get nervous. It means we care, this matters, and we want to do well. What I see with my athletes is those who can frame this nervousness as excitement, who are intentionally practising their strategies in training, and those who don't avoid events that scare them. They create a robust framework for success and even report not feeling nervous because they have learned to channel this positively.

Past Newsletter Editions

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Content of the Week

As you can imagine, a great deal has happened in the three weeks since I last posted. Whilst I have been away, in some sense I have consumed more content and in other less, plus a switch to reading James Patterson books again.

One piece of content I stayed glued to the moment it was released is:

​Trailmix by Matt Walsh.​

Trailmix is a Substack newsletter that covers the macro and micro aspects of the trail running industry: Legacy media companies are seeking to cling to their readership, while individual creators build their own communities. The professionalisation of trail running and how your local race director is using media to increase their number of entrants. The big brands are entering the space through sponsorships, while the business models of new companies are also expanding into the media space.

Though you may not be as interested in the minutiae of the trail running world as I am, following the hurdles that occur for one of the world's fastest-growing sports, I think, is a fascinating insight.

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