What Performance Anxiety Is And Ways To Deal With It

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

Sweaty palms. Churning stomach. Racing thoughts. 

Pre-competition nerves show up in different ways in our bodies and minds. Even the winningest athletes feel them. 

Lynn Jennings, one of the best U.S. runners of all-time, who earned bronze in the Olympic 10,000 and won three consecutive World Cross Country Championships, said, “Every single time I toed the line I was a mixture of confidence and self-doubt.”

As Melody Fairchild and I were writing our book, GIRLS RUNNING, Jennings told us that competition matters because it's an opportunity to triumph over doubts.  

Kelsey Griffith, a performance enhancement and rehab specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital’s The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, explained, “When it feels like everything is on the line, your nerves may feel overwhelming. They may cause you to choke, to lose your focus when it matters most.” 

Leading up to meets, races, and championship finals, you might hear things like: “It all comes down to this moment."

“In essence, though, all of the moments matter," Griffith said. "If you think about the days and hours you’ve spent practicing, chances are that the percentage of time far outweighs time spent in competitive performance. Your preparedness should fuel your readiness.”

In research, she said, performance anxiety is defined as a predisposition to view sport situations as threatening and to respond with anxiety reactions of varying degrees. 

Competition may be intimidating, overwhelming, or scary. But it’s just an experience, “a snapshot,” as Jennings called it. A chance to try. 

The good news about nerves? They’re a natural response. They validate your humanity. (Contrary to what you might’ve heard, athletes are neither machines nor cars.) They mean you care — or at the very least are feeling an emotional sensation or two. Whether excitement, fear, or a combo, these sensations invite hormonal responses that prime your body for doing stuff like competing, PR-ing, fighting off wild animal attacks, saving the world, etc. 

Multiple factors complicate these sensations. For example, your sense of worth, athletic identity, and pressure from coaches, families, friends, or trolls may compound nerves. Plus, underlying mental health factors and personality traits (See: perfectionism) also exacerbate stress responses. 

Beyond conditions that merit professional and health care help (See: anxiety, depression, eating disorders), mental skills training can help you deal with nerves. Griffith pointed out that the goal isn’t to get rid of the negative, but to quiet it and redirect your focus to the controllable. That’s because resisting anxiety creates more tension and stress (as a meditation app called Insight Timer frequently reminds me). 

Luckily, athletes can use a range of techniques to manage performance anxiety and optimize performance. 

If you’re feeling acute pre-competition stress, ground yourself. Here are two ways to practice that. 

First, pay attention to your breath. Just notice the in and out. What does it feel and sound like? Where in your torso is it going and expanding? No need to judge, just notice each inhalation and especially each exhalation.

Second, tap into your senses. What is one thing you can see? Something you can hear? Smell? Taste? Feel?

Both these methods bring you into the present. 

Before performance, Griffith recommends three tools. 

1. Cognitive restructuring: Try positive self-talk and reframing the stress. For example, are the nerves a sign you’re ready to go, rather than a sign of panic? 

2. Pre-performance routines: Focus on your warm up routine (you know, the one that your squad always does before workouts and races) to gain a sense of control. The repetition is calming. 

3. Imagery: Recall a successful athletic experience. Re-create that situation where you felt confident and successful. Imagine it, with all your senses. 

Mental skills training, like physical training, works best as a practice over time. So, don’t expect any miracles if you wait until the night before a championship race to, say, levitate. Rather, incorporate mental skills training techniques into your physical training year-round. 

Do you journal, to bring awareness to what, exactly, you’re feeling and brainstorm ideas? Do you practice relaxation techniques, like body scans and meditation? What about breathing exercises and visualization, which Fairchild and I talk about in “A Winning Mindset” (Chapter 6) in our book? 

All these are powerful techniques for reaching not only your performance potential but also your human potential. 

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Elizabeth Carey (https://elizabethwcarey.com/) is a writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, is available at your local book store and here: https://shop.aer.io/GirlsRunning/p/Girls_Running_All_You_Need_to_Strive_Thrive_and_Run_Your_Best/9781948007184-9934.