Finding Calm

A touch over 30 hours to go until go time over in Kona. Getting very real now.

I was talking to some athletes yesterday and it sounds like the pre-race nerves have settled in for real now, particularly for the first timers. I have had a few conversations where there has been a noticeable edge of panic in the voices. The weather, the course, the other athletes, the challenge of the task at hand, the enormity of the occasion, put together it can really start to get into people's heads.

World Championships are daunting affairs and it is hard to prepare people for what to expect if they haven't been to one before (or even if they have). By their nature they are full of very fit, very focused people. Walking into that situation can be a bit overwhelming and can be a recipe for self doubt and uncertainty. It can be very difficult to avoid comparing yourself to others and wondering if you have what it takes.

In a similar vein, when you travel to a race in a hot and humid location there is always that freak out period as you realise you have signed up to race in these conditions. There is a predictable surge of doubt that you are even capable of completing the race in such oppressive conditions, which is only natural.

How well you end up actually competing can depend on how well you control those doubts and that panic. Really, coming back to the plan is key for controlling those doubts and fears, or least it has been for me in the past. If you remind yourself that you have trained for this, you are ready and that you have a plan to follow then that can be quite calming. You deserve to be there as much as anyone else, you too have done the work, the training and the preparation just like them.

There will still be nerves and doubts obviously, but you can take refuge in the knowledge that you have prepared appropriately. You have controlled all the circumstances that you can control and everything else is external to that. The other competitors, the weather, the distance etc, they are all external factors which can be accounted for in a race plan, but can't be changed. Focusing internally instead helps you to concentrate on those controllable parts of your day and realise that you have prepared for those appropriately and really that is all you can do.

There is a certain calm in that.