Pre-race nerves are completely normal – they affect everyone. It’s also natural to feel anxiety before a tough training session or a long run. These nerves mean you care, and that’s a good thing. But on race day, they can sometimes cloud your judgement and take away from the experience. Here’s our guide to staying calm before a race, trusting your training, and enjoying the moment.
What Causes Race-Day Anxiety?
The start-line shakes are primarily caused by a ‘fight-or-flight’ response! Let’s be honest, the context of a race is naturally stressful and your body knows this. Pressure to perform well, the anticipation of physical pain and fatigue, combined with the fear of the unknown, all contribute to your body perceiving the race scenario as a form of threat.
The good news? This can actually be beneficial. Your body’s nervous system releases adrenaline which increases your heart rate, improves blood flow to your muscles, and sharpens your senses. Manage these effects and they can actually boost performance. However, controlling the fight-or-flight response is challenging – adrenaline may leave you feeling jittery, like your heart is racing, and can easily lead to overexertion.
Can Adrenaline Make You Run Faster?
So, can adrenaline actually make you run faster? Imagine being unexpectedly chased by a pack of dogs (or whatever it is you’re scared of, your boss, your ex?) mid-run… Panic sets in, your heart rate skyrockets, your breathing quickens, and suddenly you're sprinting without even thinking about it. Whilst adrenaline can cause these sensations, it can also be beneficial – the hormone enhances the breakdown of glycogen into glucose, providing your body with readily available energy. It also helps you breathe more efficiently during exercise by causing your airways to dilate.
Next time you’re on that start line and feel like your heart is racing, try and remember that this is just your body preparing you to run more efficiently – it’s trying to help! That being said, it can be really hard to balance the effects of adrenaline and prevent it from spiralling into debilitating nerves, or causing you to fly off way too quickly… Which leads us on to our first tip for managing race-day nerves.
Coach Anya’s Wisdom: "I always like to remember that 'energy cannot be created or destroyed', you just have to use your energy in the most effective way! It's all about transferring that nervous energy into positive energy. You don't want to waste that energy, so lean into it – your body knows what it needs to do, use that energy to get the best out of yourself.”
Methods for Managing Race-Day Anxiety
Here are some of our favorite methods to get out of your head and into your body to fuel performance (including some hacks from our expert coaches).
Put the brakes on!
Don’t let your adrenaline push you too fast too soon. Hold back for the first kilometer (or few, depending on your chosen race distance) to settle your breathing and find your rhythm. The crowd might be packed at the start, but that’s okay – it’ll help keep your pace in check. You’ll find your space eventually, it doesn’t need to happen in the first five minutes.
Create a race plan
It’s true that we can never really predict exactly how our body will feel on race day, but having a clear race plan gives your mind something to focus on. Your training should have been tapering down to help your body to feel as fresh as possible on race-day, so it’s a great idea to use a pace calculator to have some rough pacing estimates.
Once you’ve made your race plan, Olympic Marathon Runner and Runna Coach, Steph Davis, has a top tip for you: “I read and re-read my race plan until I can recite it word for word. The more you familiarise yourself with the plan, the more relaxed it can make you feel. That way, you’re simply ticking off each thing on the list – if you do that, then you know you’ve done your best!”
Don’t panic if you miss your exact target pace. Hitting the exact second for every split isn’t realistic – aim for a pace range instead. If you’re slightly behind, resist the urge to surge. Stay steady, and if you’re feeling strong, ease back into pace and recover those seconds gradually.
The Runna app is here to help you every step of the way and will continue to guide you until you're over the finish line – it will suggest paces which should be ideal for you, based on the training you have done and the progression we expect to see.
Visualisation
We’ve all experienced doubts that creep in at the last minute. Try and flip the script: when a ‘what if’ floats into your mind, remind yourself of your training and what you’re capable of accomplishing. Whether it’s your regular parkrun or you’re aiming for a marathon PB, this is a celebration of your hard work. Remember that getting yourself on that start line is already an achievement and visualise yourself crossing it with confidence.
Some Wisdom from Coach Steph: “Visualise everything – from the warm-up and where to drop your bag, to what pace you’ll start at, when to take your fuel and finally… crossing the finish line. The more you familiarise yourself with your plan, the more relaxed you will feel.”
Breathe!
Feeling breathless can be an unwanted side effect of pre-race anxiety. Really focusing on controlling your breathing can provide a distraction to any negative self-talk and anxious thoughts. Try some of of our recommended breathing techniques for runners.
Organise early
So simple but always effective. Enjoy the pre-race flat lay – lay out your kit, fuel/drinks and anything else you might need the night before. Check directions, parking, and all the boring stuff in advance. A good sleep the night before does help, but you will thank yourself for an extra 15-30 minutes of time in the morning in case anything unexpected happens (traffic, extra long porta-loo queues at the start line…) Focus on controlling the controllable to help minimise last-minute panic and anxiety.
Stick to what you know
If it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it on race day. Trust what has worked for you so far. Stick to the kit that you feel comfortable and confident in. If you’re using a race-day shoe, make sure you’ve already logged some practice miles in them. Don’t let the last minute comment from your neighbor about her new carbon trainers tempt you into any impulsive decisions. The same goes for your fueling routine, you know what food, drinks or gels work for you. It’s time to execute, not experiment.
Not only will this minimise the chance of any unexpected kit nightmares on the day, but also simulate your natural training environment where you feel calm and composed.
Have fun!
The nervous feeling of standing on the start line can sometimes make us forget why we began running in the first place. But remember – race day isn’t just about pressure, it’s about celebration. The atmosphere is electric, and that buzz can fuel you if you let it. Arrive with friends or family, soak up the crowd’s energy, and put on your favorite pre-race playlist. A happy runner is a fast runner. You’ve already done the hard work – this is your moment to shine. Think of it as your victory lap!