{"id":348200,"date":"2019-01-24T07:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=348200"},"modified":"2019-01-23T12:31:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T19:31:53","slug":"how-to-embrace-your-pre-race-nerves-and-use-them-to-your-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/how-to-embrace-your-pre-race-nerves-and-use-them-to-your-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Embrace Your Pre-Race Nerves and Use Them to Your Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Covington, Swimming World College Intern.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s typically deemed unpleasant\u2013the churning sensation in your stomach accompanied by the slippery glaze across your palms and forehead\u2013when the body starts to edge out the brain in assuming an organic and fascinating state of hypersensitivity. Each deep breath imparts a sort of rhythm to the hurried patter of your heart, with every anticipatory beat evoking some blend of terror and thrill. The crowd is but a twinkling blur; yet, everything else appears with striking clarity. It\u2019s as if you can see every fat water droplet roll off the edge of the block, hear every jump and shoulder slap in the direction of your competitor\u2019s adjacent lane. There\u2019s the static crackling through the speaker as the starter prepares to announce the event, and the world suddenly narrows to a sole 25-yard lane expanding before you.<\/p>\n

\"venue-blocks-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Why would we ever aim to tame and dull a brutally beautiful experience such as this? Don\u2019t cope with pre-race anxiety: revel in it.<\/p>\n

Here are four ways to embrace your pre-race nerves and use them to your advantage:<\/p>\n

1. Trust biology.<\/h2>\n
\"dna-jan-2019\"

Photo Courtesy: Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Because science. Nature\u2019s design is hardly fallible, and nervousness is your body\u2019s natural method of preparation. Feeling jittery before a race indicates that you care about what you\u2019re about to do, so your sympathetic nervous system decides to help you kick things into high gear. View this as a special opportunity to tap into your most superhuman self where you morph into a superior athlete from the one in practice. Behind the blocks, you are not the overworked, red-in-the-face swimmer of the week day, but rather one with an elevated heart rate, widened bronchial passages, dilated pupils, and pulsing with nature\u2019s blend for the unbelievable and incredible: adrenaline. All of these things are your body\u2019s ways of adding to your weeks of purposeful preparation, making everything right and cohesive in this moment. It\u2019s not something to fear: it\u2019s riveting.<\/p>\n

2. Embrace the simplicity.<\/h2>\n
\"cullen-jones-starting-block-mesa-2016-final-finals\"

Photo Courtesy: Kara Sekenski<\/p><\/div>\n

Many swimmers view nervousness as something that they must learn to manage, when they should be approaching it as the crux of the swimming experience. In that moment before a race, all of the work is done. You\u2019ve completed the race you\u2019re about to swim numerous times\u2013perhaps seven or eight rounds of it on a single aerobic day. Today, you just need to be able to do it one time. Those moments before a race are not the agonizing ones. They\u2019re the moments when the world becomes simpler, where in all of our anticipation there\u2019s this underlying sense of serenity. There\u2019s little in the way of strategy that\u2019s not already programmed in the muscle memory\u2013no pace clocks or beat-per-minute counts. It\u2019s a moment when the mind is quiet and the product is the response of your training and preparation, where there is a single goal that supersedes all else, if only for a moment.<\/p>\n

3. That being said, save it for the meet.<\/h2>\n
\"Apr

Photo Courtesy: Arizona Republic-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n

Nerves are an integral part of the athletic experience, and they themselves are not to be squelched or tamed. What must be controlled (in order to benefit fully from this natural phenomenon) is the duration of such nerves. Meet jitters should be reserved for the meet, not the days and months before. View them similarly to your meet-specific drink or snack, and reserve that intensity for the precise moment it counts. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a vicious and exhausting cycle in which your nervousness becomes the enemy. In that moment, you adopt a crippled mindset and swimming is no longer fun. Make pre-race jitters a part of the meet routine, and focus on the elements within your control when you\u2019re outside the meet environment.<\/p>\n

4. Recognize nerves not only as a valuable part of the athletic experience but also the human experience.<\/h2>\n
\"Mireia

Photo Courtesy: Pia Ellegaard Mortensen<\/p><\/div>\n

Realistically, the moments that define us aren\u2019t always the ones that make us most comfortable. In fact, pre-race nerves emerge from a whole mosaic of sources. On one hand, we are excited and eager for competition. On another, we are reluctant and fearful of failure.<\/p>\n

Above all else, we are unsure of the outcome, and that is where the beauty lies. There\u2019s something about diving headfirst into a realm that slightly scares us, confronting a task that\u2019s intimidating while having something at stake. Being nervous, being uncertain of an outcome, and doing the things that most terrify us are the things that make us feel most alive. Learning to feed off of your nervousness as an exhilarating and special experience takes the edge off while preserving the sanctity of each moment that recruits it.<\/p>\n

So next time you\u2019re behind the block, take the briefest moment to appreciate the climbing rate of your heartbeat and each tingling burst of adrenaline. Then, forget about it and just let it take you from there.<\/p>\n

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Covington, Swimming World College Intern. 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