Ep #393: How to Calm the F*ck Down Before a Race

Welcome to the Not Your Average Runner podcast. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running coach, and your running BFF here to help you start running. Feel confident and love the journey no matter your size. Now, if you’ve ever felt like you just weren’t meant to be a runner, think again. I believe that running is for all bodies, even yours.

This podcast is your warmup buddy, giving you tips, motivation, and the support you need to lace up and get moving. I’ve helped thousands of women become runners, and now I wanna help you. Let’s go.

Hey, hey runners. Welcome back to not your average runner, the podcast for plus-size women who wanna start running without apologizing for taking up space in the world. As always, I’m Jill. Angie, your pre-race emotional support human. Because today we’re talking about something that every single runner Yes, even the seasoned ones, deals with, and that is race day nerves and.

You know what I mean? It’s that fizzy, jittery, sort of low key panic that starts up maybe the day, two days before the race, the night before the race. And it like hits hard. The second you wake up, your heart is racing. You keep wondering if you’re gonna suddenly forget how to run. Your stomach is like, let’s process none of this breakfast.

Right? And suddenly you are convinced that you are going to fail spectacularly. Now pre-race nerves are normal and it just means that you’re doing something that matters to you and maybe something a little scary. Often it’s something your brain hasn’t seen before. Maybe it’s a new distance, or maybe you have done this distance before, but your brain just still doesn’t trust that you’re not gonna die this time.

Uh, brains are so dramatic. I love it. So today I’m gonna walk you through exactly how to calm the fuck down before a race because you can show up nervous and still crush it. You just need a game plan. Let’s go. Step one is to understand that your body is not trying to sabotage you. So let’s start with a mindset reset.

Those butterflies in your stomach, the pounding heart, the feeling you like, you might puke and cry at the same time. It is not a sign that something’s wrong. It is a sign that your body is doing what it is supposed to do. You are feeling what psychologists call somatic arousal. Basically, your nervous system is getting hyped.

Your heart rate goes up, your breath gets kind of shallow. Maybe you feel a little like itchy or restless. And we usually interpret those sensations as anxiety, like, oh my God, I’m freaking out. But here’s the thing, the same sensations happen when we’re excited. So what’s the difference? The difference is the story that you tell yourself about what’s happening.

So if you say, I’m excited, your body’s like, cool, let’s go. And if you say, I’m anxious, your brain is like, hit the brakes. So the next time that that nervous wave hits you remember, oh, this is just excitement. This is just my body getting ready for something super fun. It’s just. Energy. You don’t need to make the feelings go away.

You just need to shift how you interpret them. Okay, now step two is to make race day as predictable as possible. Nerves thrive in uncertainty, so if you wake up with no plan, your brain is gonna fill that gap with chaos and imaginary disaster scenarios. So the solution is to make race day predictable for your nervous system.

The night before, you’re gonna do a full race day dry run. Lay out your clothes, everything, head to toe socks to undies, to headband, to all the things. Pin your race bib to your shirt the night before. And as a pro tip, and as somebody who has struggled with this on the day of the race, it is very hard to pin a race bib straight on your shirt while you’re wearing the shirt.

I’ve learned this. It sucks. It’s annoying. You get in arguments with your husband about it. So instead, pin your bib to your shirt the night before so you can see that it’s straight and exactly where you want it, and you don’t have to worry about it. Now you’re gonna pack your bag the night before your go bag with headphone, snacks, extra socks, sunscreen, body glide, change a shirt for afterwards, gum, chapstick, tissues, all the things I want you.

Over prepared and smug. And then you’re also gonna map out parking. So look at the race course. Know what time you need to leave, know what the road closures are gonna be, know where the parking is, how long it’s gonna take to get there. Spend some time thinking it through and set your alarm accordingly.

Now you do get bonus points if you leave a little motivational note in your shoe or on top of your phone that says like, Hey, gorgeous, go get that medal. This is also a great way to prepare and help shift your brain into that excitement instead of anxiety. Now, the third step is to coach your brain instead of arguing with it.

This one is important. The night before the race, your brain is gonna get loud. It’s gonna throw everything at you. You didn’t train far enough, you didn’t train long enough. You’re gonna come in last. You don’t belong at this race. Everyone’s gonna stare. You’re gonna have to poop at mile two. Here is the deal.

You cannot logic your way out of those thoughts in that moment when you’re experiencing that, that anxious feeling, right? So instead, you’re gonna acknowledge and redirect. You’re like, Hey, brain, I see that you are feeling scared. That’s okay. I’ve got this. Then write down every shitty mean, dramatic thought your brain offers.

Seriously. Just make a list, write it out, get it all outta your head. And then next to each one, write the actual truth. All right. I didn’t train enough, becomes I trained enough to be here and I’m allowed to walk if I need to. Uh, and if you’re, if you’re training with me, I know that you are doing run walk intervals, so you’re already ahead of the game there.

I. So I’ll be last becomes, there is literally no shame in finishing last. Also, the race organizers are not going to leave without me because that is illegal and everyone’s gonna stare at me, becomes, yeah, other people are worried about their own race. I am not that important. And if they do stare well, that is their problem.

So coaching yourself means you respond with compassion and facts, not self criticism. Number four, I want you to breathe and not breathing like you’re at a six on the RPE scale and you’re in the cardio zone, right? No, breathe. To relax. So sometimes our brains are just too loud to even have a conversation with.

They are just screaming in our faces and we’re like, okay, I’m gonna skip the pep talk and we’re going right to breathing. So you’re gonna try this. You’re going to inhale for four counts. 1, 2, 3, 4. You are going to hold that for four more counts. 1, 2, 3, 4. Then you’re going to exhale slowly for six to eight counts.

Like really let that breath out super slow and controlled. And then you’re gonna do that three more times. And what this does is it activates your parasympathetic nervous system, and that is the part that says, Hey, we’re safe. It’s okay to calm down. You’re fine. You can do this at the starting line in the car while you’re in line with the porta-potty.

Especially there, especially if you’re like me and you are always like, I’m just gonna go pee one more time before they start the race. And then you realize that the race is starting while you’re still in the line. It’s a good time to do that breathing. So if you can breathe slowly, if you can focus on your breath, you can start to think clearly.

So don’t underestimate the power of this technique. Now the final step, what if I freak out mid-race? Okay, I get it. It happens. I have seen this happen to friends of mine where they got halfway through and all of a sudden were like, I’m not gonna be able to finish. Even though they could have, and they were fine.

Their brain just got, got sort of short circuited and they had a meltdown and it’s, you know that it’s a lot to talk somebody through that. So I’m gonna give you. A couple thoughts on how you can talk yourself through it, especially if you’re in a race by yourself. So if you get halfway through and you are suddenly thinking, what the hell am I doing?

Why did I sign up for this? Um, or maybe you are slower than you hoped and you’re, you’re having thoughts about getting swept. Maybe your stomach’s doing weird things. Um, you’re like, crap, I don’t even know where the next porta-potty is. Or maybe your legs are just really, really tired more than you expected.

I want you to know you are allowed to slow down. You are allowed to sit down if you need to. There is no bonus medal for pushing through a panic attack, so walk, stop, shake it out. Take some water. Do the breathing right, four counts, four counts, six to eight counts. Remind yourself nothing has gone wrong. I can finish this.

I’m gonna take one step at a time, one interval at a time, and I will get there. So it is totally normal to have a mid-race meltdown. What matters? Is how you react to it, what you do next. Okay? Every step you take forward is a victory. Do not feel like you’ve done something wrong or like you’re weak if you have a meltdown in the middle of the race.

Because guess what? You are a human. Sometimes humans have meltdowns. It doesn’t mean anything about you, but there are things that you can do to help bring it back and keep going. Now the final thing is to redefine your success ahead of time before your race day. I want you to ask yourself, what would make this race a win?

No matter what happens. And that is not what’s my goal time? Or how much should I run versus walk, or what’s my pace? Right? Ask yourself the things that really matter. Do I wanna feel proud of myself at the end? Do I wanna prove to myself that I can do hard things? Do I wanna have fun and soak it all in?

What is your definition of success? All right, because if your only definition of success is to run the whole thing at a specific pace, you’re kind of setting yourself up for disappointment and you’re missing the actual point of running. You showed up, you trained, you stood on that start line. Even if your brain was screaming, that is so much more than most people will ever do.

All right? You don’t have to earn your space. You belong just by showing up. So define your success ahead of time. So that you know I am a badass. Okay. I will tell you, years ago I trained for a marathon and I told myself through the entire experience, it was the farthest I’d ever gone. I told myself through the entire experience, my goal is to make it through marathon training.

Everything else is just cake. I made it through marathon training. I did all the training runs. I did the 20 mile training run that. I was like the whole time going, I can’t believe I’m doing this. Race day sucked. It was freezing sleet. Rain. My feet were soaked before the race even started. By the half marathon point, I had bloody blisters on my feet.

Everything hurt. And I was like, this is not, I don’t wanna do this for another three hours. I’m just, I’m just done. Right. I was just done. And so I caught the van, I caught the, uh, the sweep wagon. Back to the finish line. Waited for Andy who was out there in the rain running the marathon. And I, I kind of cried a little bit.

I was like, wow, I really failed. And then I thought, no, I didn’t fail. ’cause my goal was to train for a marathon. And in training for that marathon, I pushed myself farther than I’d ever pushed myself before. I did things I would not have done if I had not set that huge goal for myself. So. I ended up feeling super proud of myself and just really kind of in awe of, wow, you’re actually capable of so much more than you think you are.

Even though I didn’t finish the race, it was everything that led up to it that made me proud. So do yourself a favor and really define success, not in terms of running a, a specific pace, but in terms that are more meaningful to you. Okay. All right. Final pep talk. You are strong. You are ready. Being nervous means you care.

Not that you’re not capable. You have done hard things before and you’re gonna do them again. And the race is just a celebration of your strength, of your commitment, of your refusal. To believe that fat bodies can’t be athletic. Let the nerves be there and let the joy be there too. Now, if you want a community of badass women cheering you along every step of the way, come hang with us and run your best life.

We’ve got training plans. We’ve got weekly coaching, we’ve got Mindset Tool. We have the best damn hype squad in the world, and you can join us at Run Your Best life.com or go to that link in the show notes. That is it for this week, my friend. Remember, I believe in you. You are a badass, and you can do hard things, and I will see you or talk to you next week.

Real quick before you go, I’ve got a fun challenge for you. Take my exerciser personality quiz to find out exactly what kind of exerciser you are and how to make running feel easier and more enjoyable.

Just head over to not your average runner.com/quiz to take it and get your results. That’s not your average runner.com/quiz.