If you’ve ever stood on a start line with a tight chest, restless legs, or a thousand “what ifs” bouncing around your head then her is the good news……

You’re normal.

Pre-race anxiety is something I see in athletes at every level. First-timers, long-course athletes, and even those who’ve been around the block more than once. It doesn’t mean you’re under-prepared, lacking confidence, or “not cut out for racing”. It means you care.

What Pre-Race Anxiety Might Look Like

Pre-race nerves don’t show up the same way for everyone. For some athletes, it’s:

  • Trouble sleeping the night before

  • An upset stomach or loss of appetite

  • Feeling irritable or unusually quiet

  • Doubting fitness that’s been there for months

  • Hyper-focusing on things that suddenly feel out of your control

  • Over-analysing the minutia…for the 100th time

For others, it’s a burst of nervous energy: talking faster, moving constantly, or wanting to do something to burn it off.

All of these are common. None of them are signs that something is wrong.

Why It Happens (and Why It’s Not a Bad Thing)

At its core, pre-race anxiety is your body preparing for a challenge.

Heart rate increases. Awareness sharpens. Your nervous system switches on. These are the same responses that help you stay alert, react quickly, and perform when it matters.

The problem isn’t the nerves themselves, it’s the story we tell ourselves about them.

When nerves are labelled as fear or weakness, they become heavy. When they’re seen as race readiness, they become useful.

The Coach’s Perspective

As a coach, one of my roles isn’t just writing training programs, it’s helping athletes interpret what they’re feeling.

For each athlete my approach is different. Some athletes want to be left alone, others need a lot of interaction and feedback. I don’t always get it right either which is why developing a good coach-athlete relationship is vital.

The more I know and understand my athletes, the better I can be on race day for them. Developing this relationship takes time and for all of my longer-term athletes I am a different coach to them than when we first started our partnership. That’s because I have a better understanding of how they tick.

Something I don’t try to do is eliminate nerves. In my feedback to my athletes in the lead up to and on race day, we aim to understand and re-frame them.

Flipping the Script: From Anxiety to Advantage

Here are a few simple ways to re-frame pre-race anxiety into something that works for you:

1. Replace ‘Why am I nervous?’ with ‘What am I ready for?’
Nerves usually point to something that matters. That’s a sign of investment, not weakness.

2. Anchor back to the work you’ve done
When doubt creeps in, zoom out. Training blocks don’t disappear because you’re nervous. Fitness doesn’t evaporate overnight.

3. Focus on controllables
Your effort. Your pacing. Your nutrition plan. Your attitude. Let everything else fade into background noise.

4. Use routines to create calm
Familiar warm-ups, checklists, and simple cues give your brain something steady to hold onto.

Pre-race anxiety isn’t something to fight or suppress. It’s something to acknowledge, understand, and redirect.

If you’re feeling nervous before your next race, remind yourself: this is your body and mind preparing to do something meaningful.

And if you ever need help making sense of those feelings, that’s part of why I coach.

You don’t have to eliminate the nerves to perform well.
You just need to learn how to perform with them.