Tips for pre-race anxiety!?
amyjeanw84
Posts: 46 Member
I just finished my first half marathon about 2 weeks ago now. I am so amazed at how wonderful it feels to accomplish this long awaited and sought after personal goal of mine. I now plan to tackle a goal I've held since I was 18. I am starting this week my training for a full marathon! I found that my anxiety to perform was so great the week prior to the half. Any tips for calming pre race nerves? Is it just always that way? With 5k's and 10k's I don't get like that. Thank you and happy running!
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I just finished my first half marathon about 2 weeks ago now. I am so amazed at how wonderful it feels to accomplish this long awaited and sought after personal goal of mine. I now plan to tackle a goal I've held since I was 18. I am starting this week my training for a full marathon! I found that my anxiety to perform was so great the week prior to the half. Any tips for calming pre race nerves? Is it just always that way? With 5k's and 10k's I don't get like that. Thank you and happy running!
The big psychological difference between training for a 5K or 10K vs. training for a half or full marathon is that the long race training program includes a taper. The taper pretty much drives everyone nuts, but we do it because it *works*. I know of no cure for taper crazies, but they can be managed once you recognize them for what they are.
Taper crazies can take different forms, but pre-race anxiety is one of the common forms. Also, self-doubt and second-guessing the training. I ran 20 miles. Should I have run 22 miles? Or, I ran 20 miles twice and 22 miles once. Is that too much? I don't feel like I'm running enough miles. I don't feel like I'm running hard enough. And so on, and so on.
After you do a few of these races, you recognize how taper crazies manifest in yourself. Then you tell yourself things like, it's okay. The hay is in the barn. I know I need to not run today because the taper is making me like a coiled spring, ready to run on race day. I need to trust my training. Following an adequate training program is better than trying to second-guess in the last week. And so on.
The first taper will be the hardest. Given the experience of tapering toward a half, you'll have some idea of what it will be like to taper toward a full marathon; but the taper will be deeper, and the feelings may be more intense. If you recognize in advance that this will happen, you may be better able to deal with it; but the only thing that makes the pre-race crazies go away is the starting gun.1 -
Great information and advice! Thank you so much!!0
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