It's (almost) race day - how to get in a positive headspace

 The past 12+ months have caused a lot of uncertainty and instability, bringing on a lot of emotional distress. If you have had difficulty concentrating, experienced hopelessness or have felt anxious, nervous, frustrated or stressed out, you are not alone. And with an upcoming race on the schedule, you may find it difficult to get yourself into a place of positive thinking so that you can stay confident and focused under pressure. Instead, you may find yourself lacking self-belief due to irritational or distorted thinking. 

To feel more optimistic and empowered, here are a few tips to help you get in a positive headspace before your upcoming event: 

• Avoid energy suckers - it's not easy to deal with negative people who suck the energy from you and leave you feeling discouraged, upset and drained. Because you can't completely shut everyone out of your life (ex. acquaintances, family, co-workers), it's important to set boundaries and minimize contact in the days leading up to your race. If you are unable to get away from energy suckers, avoid participating in their negative conversation or try to divert the conversation completely. 
  
  
• Avoid social media - a lot of time and emotional energy is wasted on social media. Obtaining a sense of self by comparing yourself with others can increase depressive symptoms, negative body image and poor self-esteem. Because social media tends to prioritize the "highlight reel" of the lives of other people, it's easy to slip into a negative state of mind by comparing yourself with others. It takes great discipline to not let social media steal your time and energy. Don't let social media drain your valuable energy that can be used on race day. 
  
  
• Stay processed driven - many athletes view a race result as the primary indicator of whether or not you've had a successful race. Expending a lot of mental energy on an outcome will increase anxiety, nerves and pressure, because once you start thinking about results, you can't ever get your mind away from them. As a result, in order to deliver a certain result, you need to focus on that result. This outcome focus mindset puts all the energy into the end result but the paradox of outcome focus is that it can actually reduce your chance of having a great race. Why? Because you can never predict what will happen on race day. Ultimately, you are going to perform at your best when you focus on what you need to do to perform at your best. 
  
  
• Welcome your pre-race jitters - pre-race butterflies are a normal part of racing. They help you focus and perform better because it means you are excited  and amped-up to race. Embrace your pre-race jitters as this is your body's way of helping you feel prepared. Trust that once you get the race started, you will get into a state of flow, which allows you to stay calm, confident and focused. However, performance anxiety can make you physical sick to your stomach, worried, anxious, drained, exhausted and stressed - none of which will help you get into a good headspace before the race. Many times, pre-race anxiety or worry comes from a place of fear of failure. Worrying about what others may think, not meeting expectations, not feeling fully prepared, negative self-talk and focusing on an outcome or result will only put you into a negative state of mind before the race. Remind yourself that racing is fun and it's a celebration of training. 

If you are in need of help: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. 1-800-273-8255

The only day that matters is race day

Over the past few days, I have been surrounded by many inspiring Ironman athletes who are counting down the days until it is time to put all that hard work to good use (one more sleep left!). Although I am out there swimming, biking and running alongside hundreds of other athletes, my intentions with each workout are very different than the athletes who sport a blue wrist band.

As Karel sharpens up his body to race 140.6 miles on Sunday, I have been training my body to adapt to intentional training stressors. Karel has done the work for his race day and I am (still) putting in the work for my upcoming races. We each wake up with a workout on our training plan but with different mindset as to how the day will go and what we need to accomplish. Whereas I have great flexibility in my training and I don't have to read too much into my body signals, Karel, on the other hand, has to be very in-tune with his body signals so that he can perform his best on race day.

The Ironman athletes who will be racing on Sunday can now think back to all the training sessions that helped to physically and mentally prepare the body and mind for race day. The preparation is done and now the only day that really matters, is finally here. All the hard work is in the past and the only day that matters is the present moment.

I think most athletes can agree that training is fun. Although the early alarms and busy schedules can make training exhausting, preparing for a race is not as nerve-wracking as race day. Nobody is watching you, it's easy to give-in when it hurts and it's fun to push boundaries when there's no finish line to chase and you can always modify the workout/course when you want to change things up.

But not on race day.
Race day is the day that really matters. 
Race day requires you to believe in your abilities. To trust your training/preparation and to know that you can handle anything that comes your way.

Self-awareness and being in the moment will allow you to avoid and to overcome obstacles that will occur on race day.

Just like in training, race day requires a high level of motivation. You must never stop caring about your performance, from start to finish. Keep your focus on yourself and don't be disrupted by distractions, like the race pace of another athlete. There's no need to compare yourself to anyone else or say "I'm too slow" or "I'm having such a bad race." Hopefully you learned in training that you can never ever judge an outcome from a current moment situation.

Understand that your race will likely not go as planned so be prepared for the unexpected and the unfamiliar.

Race day is going to hurt and you probably won't feel great throughout the entire race. There will be high moments and there will be lots of low moments. Understand that you don't have to feel great all day to have a great race performance. Thoughts are not actions.


Stick to what worked in training and don't overthink race day pacing or nutrition. Your training prepared you for race day so please don't try anything new on race day. Go into the race with confidence by doing what worked in training.

Bring a positive attitude to your race and keep it high all day long. Your mind will wander, it will bring in negative thoughts like "you can't do this, walking would be so much easier than running, this hurts too much to continue" but you must catch and quiet these thoughts before they become so strong that you can't ignore them. Let your mind work with your body.

The work is done and it's now time to race!
Don't give up until you reach that finish line!

Get the most out of your race day performance

Race day. 

This is what you train for!
So why do you often feel so disappointed with your race day performance(s)? 

Rarely will race day provide the perfect conditions for a PR performance.
It's likely that you won't feel "fresh" legs all day long.

Understanding that there will be obstacles and really dark/low moments on race day, it's important to approach race day with a positive can-do attitude that race day is all about performing with your body.

When was the last time you said to yourself "Body, let's see what we can do today!" with no expectations or assumptions?

With a good mindset, and accepting the reality that racing will not be easy, it's important to deliver yourself to the finish line knowing that you gave your absolute best. What more can you ask for by your body? 

Here are a few of my tips to help you get the most out of your race day performance so that you can feel proud of your race day performance. 

1. Race day is not a test of your athletic merit/worthiness but instead, an opportunity to celebrate your hard work. Race day is the reward of all your training! Whether you were able to dedicate 100% to your training throughout the entire season or you experienced a setback, injury, sickness, life event or other obstacle that detoured you from consistent training, race day gives you an opportunity to race. Regardless of your current fitness status, race to your full capabilities at this point in your life. Knowing that there will always be another race, do not let one race define you as an athlete.
   
2. Remove any unwanted pressure that may prevent you from rising to your potential on race day. Remove pressure that you need to prove something to your spouse/family and certainly don’t feel that you need to validate that your coaching was worth it by putting together the perfect race. Race for you!
   
3. Don't change the formula. Losing weight, training more/harder or suddenly changing coaches is not how you get better overnight. Remind yourself that you are constantly evolving as an athlete, which means your development occurs over time. Many times, patience is the only key that unlocks great future race day performances.
   
4. Don't stress what is out of your control. Trust yourself and do what has worked in training and in past races. Every race, you bring experience.  You can control your pacing, how you react to situations, your nutrition and your attitude.
   
5. Enjoy race day! Sure, race day is tough but you have to love what you are doing. Find joy in exploring your boundaries, being very uncomfortable and stretching your limits.
   
6. Do not attach your race day goals to a time or place. Racing requires you to take care of yourself from start to finish. You can't predict the future. Accept the challenge and be proud of what you accomplish at the finish - regardless of the results. Focus on the process and the outcome will take care of itself.
   
7. Never overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. Race day will teach you that you are capable of so much more than you ever thought was possible by your mind and body.
   
8. Invest yourself into your race day performance and then move on. So you had a bad race, oh well. Time to move on. So you had a great race - yippee! Savor the moment! Always make sure to learn from your mistakes and bottle up those amazing race performances to build motivation and confidence for your upcoming training. Workouts do not define you as a person and neither does race day. Remember - this is your hobby, it should be fun and memorable. 

 Stay passionate about your sport, never stop having fun, be courageous and brave, take risks and inspire others. 

Race to your full potential

Performing at your best requires an effort that goes beyond your old limits. This new limit (or unexplored territory) means that you will ask your body and mind to do something unfamiliar on race day.

If you are racing this weekend, you are capable of achieving something incredible on race day. 

However, first you need to get past all the self-doubts, fears, insecurities, pressures, anxieties and nerves that are possibly holding you back from achieving greatness on race day. 

While there is nothing wrong with pre-race nerves, it is important that you believe in your fitness and your ability to overcome anything that comes your way on race day.

Trust that you have done the work that you needed to do and be confident in your abilities. 

Do not take your race day for granted, especially if you are not sick or injured. 
Don’t live your life waiting for a better time to do something or assuming you will have another opportunity.  

Racing is hard. It hurts.
Acknowledge it, accept it and embrace it.
Pushing through fatigue, sore muscles, uncomfortable breathing, it’s not easy and it can sometimes be painful. When your heart is racing, your muscles are aching and your body is suffering.....this is exactly what you trained for!
Don't convince yourself that you want to give up or “take it easy."

When you are in the hurt locker on race day (which you will be), this is a reminder that you are feeling exactly what you trained to feel on race and that you are mentally and physically tough enough to hop on the pain train.

It's time to bottle up your energy. Have trust in yourself. You’ve done the hard work.
Race day is your reward.
Racing is fun.

It’s a hobby. Remind yourself how lucky you are that you have friends and family who support you and also who believe in you. There are so many people out there who wish to have the focus, patience, dedication and discipline that you do to put in the work to train for an event.
So many individuals struggle with consistency and balance in life, but not you. You found a way to get it all done. Be inspiring so you can show others, who are just as busy as you, that it is possible. 

There is absolutely nothing else that you would rather be doing on your race day.
You have trained early in the morning and late at night for THIS one day.
You have made sacrifices for this day and you have had a commitment to yourself that you would put in the work, for THIS day. 

While this may not be your only race this season, this is not just another race. 

So what now?
You put in the work and now it’s almost time to put all that training to the test. 

You need your mind to be ready for race day. 

It’s not going to be easy. You will have high moments and low moments. Enjoy the highs and when you have a low, remember all those great workouts that you had in training, even when you thought you weren’t going to have a good workout. 

Don’t forget that race day goal that helped you finish all those hard sets or start a workout when you just didn’t have the energy.  

Focus on things within your control and be prepared for every possible oh-no situation on race day. 

And most of all, visualize yourself succeeding. Believe in yourself and your abilities.

Tell yourself your race day goal - out loud. Be brave.
What is that goal, deep inside your heart, that you want to accomplish on race day?
Is it a place, a time goal, a feeling?

What is it that you worked so hard to achieve on race day?

Don't limit yourself.

Race to your full potential on race day.