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):
Coping with adversity: The ability to effectively deal with difficult or challenging situations.
Coachability: Openness to and acceptance of constructive criticism and guidance from coaches.
Concentration: The capacity to maintain focus on the task at hand and minimise distractions.
Confidence and achievement motivation: A belief in one's ability to perform effectively and a drive to achieve goals.
Goal-setting: The process of establishing clear objectives to direct effort and enhance motivation.
Peaking under pressure: The ability to perform optimally in high-stakes situations.
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
Expect nerves - they mean you care. Don’t try to shut them down. Reframe them as part of the build-up. "Get Excited".
Run your routine. Keep race morning predictable: the same breakfast, the same warm-up, and the same cues.
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.
Practise mindset in training. Use hard training sessions as mini test events. Try different approaches and see what works.
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.
If you would like help channelling your nerves into excitment, as well as finding the confidence and capability to smash any PB, get in contact today.
