18 Replies to “Run Like No One is Watching: Understand your pressure and use those race day nerves to your benefit”
Nerves are always my biggest obstacle in a race. I honestly believe racing is 50% mental! Finding the perfect balance of being excited and calming your mental state is important to me. I like to remind myself that it’s just a race and no one cares about the finishing time except myself. I have a few key phrases to calm myself during the race as well.
yea, nerves can be the undoing to FAR too many talented and capable runners! i’m so glad u’ve found the right way to keep those nerves in check so u can kick booty! 🙂 and mantras are an awesome trick i like as well. 🙂
I don’t normally get stress/nervous for a hard workout, but for a race I usually get pumped full of nerves and so I blast hardcore music to get rid of some of it.
I guess I know my body well enough that I can talk myself into giving more or less depening.
My mom- she’s always been my supporter and when others are telling me I shouldn’t or I can’t my mom has always told me that I could and that’s really helped.
This is an interesting concept for sure. I think lately I have been struggling with my internal ability to believe in myself and feel confident. Last year I was SO confident and this year for some reason I am just struggling. I am trying to find what it means to run for “me” again and am also trying to find different ways to motivate myself without feeling so pressured. Reading thsi post I am wondering if maybe I let too many of the outside pressures be those that are impacting my thoughts…so I get overwhelmed. I honestly like internal pressure because I usually fight back with confidence but when I worry too much about what others think then I get directed too far away from why I started running and love running in the first place. I hope this is making sense…I also wanted to say that I do think its good to sometimes have others throw out their goal ideas for me because they are often things I would never imagine thinking myself capable of…but then it gets put in my mind and I am amazed people think I am capable of that…so my confidence grows. haha! So i guess sometimes social peer pressure is good too;)
My dad and brother are such good supports for me though. They keep me grounded and always focused on the perspective that is most important. They constantly remind me to reflect on why I enjoy getting out there day after day and are great at helping me take a step back to refocus when everything gets overwhelming or I get too far away from my true self!
family is great for that and i hope u know that it goes two ways…look how much ur journey has impacted ur younger brother! u inspire and motivate him too, isn’t it funny how going for your own dreams has the trickle down effect. 🙂
I love love love 80’s music and I will just tell you when it comes on where ever it might be I sing I dance and whatever else I feel like doing. I even dance while I am running. I like to put certain 80′ s songs in certain places in my long run playlist to perk Me up with. A little dancing.
This has been on my mind a lot lately, as I’ve been a social
media addict, but then using it to bludgeon myself with the mileage and accomplishments of faster blogger runners, feeling insecure and not wanting to post my times since they don’t match up to some twitter runner I’m following, or feeling pressure to run a certain time in an upcoming event because, damn it, I’m gonna have to tweet or post my time, and fearing ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you.” Yes, if we only knew how little others really pay attention to our racing times. I try to remind myself I don’t want my Ego to show up and watch me run, I want my ID, my primal self to come out and ROAR loud.
ahhh, u brought up one excellent point and something that i think can be a major pitfall to the social media storm: getting competitive for no other reason than to one up a blogger, tweeter, or anonymous person. it’s tough but letting go of the ego is best for u and not getting sucked into the whole numbers and where do i stack up against a random person…and keep in mind on the web someone can say anything. i mean, u kno i just ran a 4 min. mile, so beat that. 😉
The independent aspect of running is one of the things I really love about it 🙂 Running like no one is watching also rings true for me because I think it works on both ends of the spectrum – being able to go out hard and give it everything, even if you look a bit crazy in the process 😉 , but also being able to go out and just do your best and aim for the goal you set, even if that means not overtaking people or running ‘fast’ or whatever.
okay, as for looking crazy, i’m SURE people think i’m out of my mind sounding like a Clydesdale in the past on the gym treadmill doing a tempo run…but i’m okay with that. 😉
Love this!! I always struggle with internal pressure. Luckily all my external influences- coaches, parents etc. have been amazing and have never been a negative influence. An if people are trying to bring me down, well that just makes me run harder! For me,
sorry, for me it’s important to get into my zone before a race by getting away from everyone else so I can focus on my race! 🙂 Again, I love how much you can put all of this into words! Hope you’re having an awesome week!!
i’m like u and the only pressure i feel is from myself and wanting to do well, i think the only way for runners to be happy is with the kind/supportive parents and coaches like u describe, i’ve been lucky in that department too. 🙂
Nerves are always my biggest obstacle in a race. I honestly believe racing is 50% mental! Finding the perfect balance of being excited and calming your mental state is important to me. I like to remind myself that it’s just a race and no one cares about the finishing time except myself. I have a few key phrases to calm myself during the race as well.
yea, nerves can be the undoing to FAR too many talented and capable runners! i’m so glad u’ve found the right way to keep those nerves in check so u can kick booty! 🙂 and mantras are an awesome trick i like as well. 🙂
I don’t normally get stress/nervous for a hard workout, but for a race I usually get pumped full of nerves and so I blast hardcore music to get rid of some of it.
I guess I know my body well enough that I can talk myself into giving more or less depening.
My mom- she’s always been my supporter and when others are telling me I shouldn’t or I can’t my mom has always told me that I could and that’s really helped.
i love blasting music too! 🙂
This is an interesting concept for sure. I think lately I have been struggling with my internal ability to believe in myself and feel confident. Last year I was SO confident and this year for some reason I am just struggling. I am trying to find what it means to run for “me” again and am also trying to find different ways to motivate myself without feeling so pressured. Reading thsi post I am wondering if maybe I let too many of the outside pressures be those that are impacting my thoughts…so I get overwhelmed. I honestly like internal pressure because I usually fight back with confidence but when I worry too much about what others think then I get directed too far away from why I started running and love running in the first place. I hope this is making sense…I also wanted to say that I do think its good to sometimes have others throw out their goal ideas for me because they are often things I would never imagine thinking myself capable of…but then it gets put in my mind and I am amazed people think I am capable of that…so my confidence grows. haha! So i guess sometimes social peer pressure is good too;)
My dad and brother are such good supports for me though. They keep me grounded and always focused on the perspective that is most important. They constantly remind me to reflect on why I enjoy getting out there day after day and are great at helping me take a step back to refocus when everything gets overwhelming or I get too far away from my true self!
family is great for that and i hope u know that it goes two ways…look how much ur journey has impacted ur younger brother! u inspire and motivate him too, isn’t it funny how going for your own dreams has the trickle down effect. 🙂
I love love love 80’s music and I will just tell you when it comes on where ever it might be I sing I dance and whatever else I feel like doing. I even dance while I am running. I like to put certain 80′ s songs in certain places in my long run playlist to perk Me up with. A little dancing.
tainted love. that is all i’m gonna say. 😉
This has been on my mind a lot lately, as I’ve been a social
media addict, but then using it to bludgeon myself with the mileage and accomplishments of faster blogger runners, feeling insecure and not wanting to post my times since they don’t match up to some twitter runner I’m following, or feeling pressure to run a certain time in an upcoming event because, damn it, I’m gonna have to tweet or post my time, and fearing ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you.” Yes, if we only knew how little others really pay attention to our racing times. I try to remind myself I don’t want my Ego to show up and watch me run, I want my ID, my primal self to come out and ROAR loud.
ahhh, u brought up one excellent point and something that i think can be a major pitfall to the social media storm: getting competitive for no other reason than to one up a blogger, tweeter, or anonymous person. it’s tough but letting go of the ego is best for u and not getting sucked into the whole numbers and where do i stack up against a random person…and keep in mind on the web someone can say anything. i mean, u kno i just ran a 4 min. mile, so beat that. 😉
The independent aspect of running is one of the things I really love about it 🙂 Running like no one is watching also rings true for me because I think it works on both ends of the spectrum – being able to go out hard and give it everything, even if you look a bit crazy in the process 😉 , but also being able to go out and just do your best and aim for the goal you set, even if that means not overtaking people or running ‘fast’ or whatever.
okay, as for looking crazy, i’m SURE people think i’m out of my mind sounding like a Clydesdale in the past on the gym treadmill doing a tempo run…but i’m okay with that. 😉
Love this!! I always struggle with internal pressure. Luckily all my external influences- coaches, parents etc. have been amazing and have never been a negative influence. An if people are trying to bring me down, well that just makes me run harder! For me,
sorry, for me it’s important to get into my zone before a race by getting away from everyone else so I can focus on my race! 🙂 Again, I love how much you can put all of this into words! Hope you’re having an awesome week!!
thanks so much, glad u could relate to my words. 🙂
i’m like u and the only pressure i feel is from myself and wanting to do well, i think the only way for runners to be happy is with the kind/supportive parents and coaches like u describe, i’ve been lucky in that department too. 🙂
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