Struggling with pre-race nerves on race day? Here are three things to remember when the nerves kick in.
Every swimmer feels pre-race nerves, butterflies, the swirly guts, the tummy troubles, and the sweaty pits. The quickened breath, racing heart rate, and unending need to hit the bathroom one more time in the minutes as your race approaches.
But what separates the swimmers who seem cooler than an Alaskan cucumber from those who are Jitter 9000, watching through their mirrored swim goggles as their confidence and hopes for a fast swim roll into the gutter along with the large wave from the preceding heat?
In my experience, it comes down to several things, including confidence and doing the hard work in the months leading up to the Big Meet.
But it’s also about having the right relationship with pre-race nerves.
If you are frustrated with not living up to your chlorinated potential on race day, here are three things you can learn from elite swimmers who “get it” when it comes to pre-race nerves.
Pre-race nerves are NORMAL.
Nerves, those swirling, churning guts and sweaty palms are part of the competitive process.
They are as part of the swim meet experience as rolled up heat sheets, rear ends that fall asleep from sitting on metal bleachers, last moment goggle checks, and a crowded warm-up pool.
Elite swimmers understand that nerves are part of the process.
Pre-race nerves and anxiety before competing can make you feel like something is “wrong.” After all, in all of our months of training leading up to the meet, we haven’t experienced this set of physiological sensations.
But the physical symptoms of performance anxiety—narrowed focus, elevated heart rate, non-essential systems shutting down, elevated fight-or-flight feelings—are totally normal.
Pre-race nerves are getting you physically in the zone to perform at a high level. Those physical sensations and feelings are not only okay, they are good.
Channel your pre-race nerves
Pre-race nerves are essentially a form of energy. And that’s probably the best way to view them.
As fuel for high-performance swimming. As fins and paddles for your race-day performance.
The reality is that you won’t be able to make the feelings and physical symptoms go away. And there is some research (Hofmann et al., 2009) that shows that trying to suppress anxiety can even make things worse.
Alrighty then.
So if you can’t kick them out of your brain, USE them for faster swimming.
Framing nerves as excitement is one such way to make pre-race nerves work for you. Something as simple as: “I am excited to see what I can do here!” vs. “I am so anxious!”
Enjoy the moment
When standing behind the block, it’s common to start going through all the “what ifs”:
What if I don’t go a best time?
What if all that hard work was for nothing?
What if I disappoint my teammates?
Time-traveling to the future and worrying about a poor outcome is understandable; you’ve worked hard to get here. A lot of time, sacrifice, and early mornings led you to this point.
But stay present.
Soak in the atmosphere.
Force a smile if you have to.
By staying in the moment, and enjoying—yes, enjoying—the nerves and excitement can help you not only have more fun racing but also help you swim faster.
You got this. 🤜
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, author, swim coach, and certified personal trainer. He’s the author of YourSwimBook, a ten-month logbook for competitive swimmers.
He’s also the author of the best-selling mental training workbook for competitive swimmers, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High-Performance Mindset.
It combines sport psychology research, worksheets, anecdotes, and examples of Olympians past and present to give swimmers everything they need to conquer the mental side of the sport.
Ready to take your mindset to the next level in the pool?
👉👉 Click here to learn more about Conquer the Pool.
