In this episode of The Athlete’s Compass, co-hosts Paul Warloski, Dr. Paul Laursen, and Marjaana Rakai unpack the often-overlooked reality of race day anxiety for everyday endurance athletes. They explore how physiological responses like elevated heart rate and the “monkey mind” can feel overwhelming, yet serve a functional purpose. The team discusses personal stories, evidence-based strategies like visualization and race-day rehearsals, and the power of simple tools—breathing, smiling, human connection—to reframe anxiety into a performance enhancer. They emphasize preparation, self-efficacy, and presence as key to transforming nerves into fuel.

Key Episode Takeaways

• Race anxiety is normal—even beneficial. It's your sympathetic nervous system preparing you for peak performance.
• The amygdala triggers the fight-or-flight response, but emotions like anxiety can be short-lived if not mentally recycled.
• Preparation is your best defense: mental rehearsal, race plans, and pacing practice reduce unpredictability.
• Visualize the whole experience: from arriving in town to the final push—especially what to do if things go wrong.
• Human connection helps regulate cortisol: smiling, eye contact, and small interactions ease stress.
• Breathe to break the anxiety loop: techniques like box breathing calm the nervous system and restore focus.
• Self-efficacy is key: confidence from training and process goals reduces pressure on outcome.
• Reframe nerves as excitement and privilege: gratitude turns stress into motivation.

• Paul Warloski - Endurance, Strength Training, Yoga
• Marjaana Rakai - Tired Mom Runs - Where fitness meets motherhood.

maybe you don't feel like talking to people in the morning of the race, but see if you can just make eye contact and deliver someone a smile. And it's amazing. Like they say, smiles are the kisses of the soul.

Hello and welcome to the athletes compass podcast where we navigate training, fitness and health for everyday athletes. Most endurance athletes, not just elites feel anxious before their a event research suggests that 70 to 80 % of runners and cyclists report significant pre-race nerves. It's the body's fight or flight response getting triggered by a perceived threat. Even if that threat is from a start line.

from a physiological standpoint, what's happening in the body when we feel those race nerves? Why might that response, which evolved for physical danger show up so strongly? So let's talk about that a little bit. Paul, what's happening in the body when we feel those pre-race nerves?

Hmm. Yeah, well, the good old amygdala is what they say and it's the body's fight or flight mechanism, area in the brain that basically just fires up the prehistoric brain. It was there to protect us ultimately, right? Like it's doing a job. But of course, ⁓ it's less about that real

danger, it's kind of like this perceived danger. that's, and it's our job ultimately to try to find out strategies to kind of deal with it because it's there and we've all experienced it, myself included. We just spoke about it in the last podcast with Ashley. So yeah, if you haven't already listened to that one, you want to deep dive into some of the various different things that are going on.

please check that out. But yeah, that's about it, man. It's a fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system. ⁓ we're good. Danger, danger. That's what we're perceiving. But actually, I thought really there was one profound moment that really struck me and I learned ⁓ on the podcast with Ashley. And she said that, know, that emotion that you're feeling.

You

It's really there for like just a fleeting moment. And in fact, like 90 seconds, it can theoretically be cleared. But the problem is, as we spoke on the podcast, it's like you stay in that kind of that monkey mind And it basically is just these three areas in the brain that just kind of keep cycling around, cycling around. And that's when, you know, anxiety and depression.

Mm-hmm.

That's where it comes from. And then we know that if we can break that pathway, and there's lots of different ways you can do that, then all of a sudden you can get out of that monkey mind and out of that emotion and out of that fight or flight response, which don't forget also is there for a reason. Like you actually want this. I'm sorry, now it's my turn to go on. I'd love a little bit here, but basically,

It's good.

as you guys know, was just recently around the world in Japan and Belgium and speaking to a lot of these ⁓ Olympic organizations. And one of the things that the practitioners were asking about was the topic of heart rate variability, which you guys all have access to if you're using Athletica. And one of the things that we see is we see heart rate variability falling below the normal on race day.

And often we think, ⁓ HRV, high equals good, low equals bad. Well, no, low is good on race day. You want the sympathetic system appearing ⁓ to kind of come out there because that sympathetic nervous system is there to make you perform to the best of your ability. So yeah, long-winded ⁓ answer to your question there, Paul, that basically you can kind of flip the whole thinking process to say, yeah.

on race day anxiety, but it's there for a reason. All is good and it's gonna help me perform well today. Let's do it.

Are there some examples that you two or the three of us have of a race morning when we felt overly anxious and how did that affect the pacing and the warmup?

I was reflecting on my first Iron Man, I think. That was just pretty overwhelmed. And again, I was a 19 year old and it was just daunting. I can just remember the butterflies. was just like, I could feel my heart actually beating. It was just right there. I think we've all had that. It was just like, yeah, because I knew I had a big mental barrier to tackle. ⁓ And as everyone will probably recognize, all of a sudden, you

five minutes into that swim after you get in your head chopped off with your friend's elbow and whatnot. But you eventually kind of get into that rhythm again and it's like, okay, now I'm doing what I've trained for and now I'm starting to feel good and you just get into your rhythm. But man, just like, yeah, all that adrenaline before the gun goes off is not an easy thing to handle.

MJ, what about you?

Yeah,

I shared my really the orienteering. I couldn't get out of this bus. I was so anxious as a little girl, after that, I would say probably the first Iron Man was I was very emotional. Like it meant so much and you're so unsure if you can even finish the thing. And then I get into the water and start, you know, way too fast.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you know, a few hundred meters in, I'm like hyperventilating and like, why can't I breathe? Why can't I breathe? Like, my God, I had to stop and look at my watch and I was going way too fast. And then I realized, okay, I'm just a little too anxious. So took a deep breath and got into it slowly and then it was good. But yeah, I didn't realize that I was so anxious that I was just started too fast. It's all that adrenaline.

Yeah.

So funny now, as a parent, I still get this, but I get this for my daughter watching my daughter swim. But she has some friends, unfortunately. They get these panic attacks. they're her friend competitors, right? And they get to the place where they actually can't handle that. And they'll...

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

unfortunately actually have to withdraw because just like Marjaana on the bus, the adrenaline is so high and you don't necessarily have the coping mechanism to be able to figure things out and they just withdraw. yeah, this is where speaking to people like Ashley to get a hold of that ⁓ can be really important.

Mm-hmm.

you

Yeah, I think we all know a few young athletes that, they are so nervous, they start vomiting or they just can't like in some physical way can't ⁓ cope with all the anxiety. So I think it's more common than we realize.

Yeah,

but again, like we alluded to in the podcast with Ashley is like a lot of it kind of comes down to ⁓ rehearsal. The best thing you can do ⁓ is to prepare yourself for that event. the more you've, this really, you know, we've spoken about this before in other podcasts, but there shouldn't be too many surprises on race day. Again, if in the Athletica context, if you're doing the pieces that are preparing you,

Mm-hmm.

and you're kind of putting mind to physical output together, that's the preparation phase. You should be kind of linking those as best you can. And that goes right down to probably race day nutrition too, as well, right? Like trying to kind of do things that are sort of similar in those key sets. That's your best defense against those race day nerves because then when you have them, you can kind of say, you know, I've done all these things, I've got...

got that, they've really put the training in place. I've got this, you know, and it's, yeah, it's very difficult in that first time, but the more you rehearse and do these, just like my daughter, in the, the swimming context where the coaches are, starting them off, off the, off the blocks repeatedly, they just do like just the first little bit again, again, again, random starts. And so there's no surprises.

to be able to execute on what it is you're supposed to do. yeah. They have, dad doesn't, that's the problem. Dad, they don't rehearse dad for dad. I just get this big bolus of ⁓ cortisol and adrenaline and I got to deal with it, but that's life.

What about dad?

Paul, what about you?

I can remember really clearly, cycle cross nationals several years ago. was in Madison. it was close and it was, I had been racing a lot and doing well and, ⁓ just worked myself up into, mental mass. And I'm sure that my cortisol levels were ridiculous, like all week beforehand. ⁓ it just blocked me. I had a terrible race and I just couldn't get into a groove, you know, in cycle crosses, lot of getting off the bike and running and.

having these obstacles and it just felt like my head was not attached to my body. I wasn't, you I couldn't just ride my bike. And it definitely affected me. But then there's other times where I was thinking at Gravel Nationals where I came into it knowing that my fitness was a little bit suspect because I was just fatigued. But I had a, different mental attitude where it was kind of like,

Yeah, screw it. I'm going to have fun. This is a beautiful course and I'm just going to go ride my bike. And that made a difference ⁓ in the, in the race, you know, but I just bring up these two national events and these stakes feel high for everyday athletes. When we have one or two key events, you know, there, there are a goals. You add in travel, you add in logistics and family watching, you know, ⁓ anxiety spikes. How do we.

When we have these limited race opportunities, one Ironman a year, how do we deal with the nerves that come from putting a lot of emphasis on one event?

Yeah. I mean, it's a good question, Paul. How long's a piece of string? Like it's just, because like we said, like the more you have like this repetition thing is a key defense against it. But what if you don't have the opportunity to do that? Well, maybe there are mental rehearsals that you can actually do. And again, go back to my daughter. I know she works on actually her mental rehearsal. So she's, she's actually putting herself up on the starting blocks.

Mm-hmm.

And they do this as a team as well, right? Like they are rehearsing in their mind the actual entire sprint event, right? And they're going right through it and feeling that whole thing. it's, you know, there's similar tricks that ⁓ any endurance athlete can do as well. And I used to do this too. It's like, I'd actually go and mentally rehearse when I'm just like, and you know, maybe meditation isn't for everyone, but for me, I really got a lot of value out of.

just laying down and actually going through in my mind all the various different actions that would likely that I wanted to happen on that day. That really helped me just going through. And this can be right up to the start too, right? Where you even know you're going to feel that anxiety, right? Like you're arriving at the, in the town where the race is going to be and going through all the various different pre-race rituals and the final training sessions.

and the race nutrition or the pre-diet meals and those sorts of things. can rehearse back as much as you want. But at the end of the day, is your, back to what Ashley said, it's that emotion that's getting away. And ⁓ so you can prepare yourself and rehearse beforehand to be ready for it. ⁓ MJ, what do you think? You've done this so many times.

How did you do it for Nice for the World Champs?

Nice was pretty much, it was so short. There was no time to think about anything. It was just to execute their race plan and race preparation plan. I have two things though, like write a race plan starting from equipment, nutrition, few days before. And I asked my athletes to do this too. They write a race plan, including what happens

you have to imagine if something goes wrong during the race and what will you do so they feel like they are prepared for anything, right? So writing a race plan is a good kind of pre-game ⁓ preparation. You know what to expect and you know what to focus on. But ⁓ the other one is if you are someone who gets anxious and really serious,

Smile. What takes the edge off? It's smiling. Find somebody to talk to. Have that connection, human connection, because it just drops your cortisol down. Human connection, what's better than that? You see a lot of people in the big races that just are so tunnel visioned and they are super anxious. So I always try to smile and...

you know, chat with people, not just for me, but also for others.

Yeah, so good. And that was one of the other ones I was reflecting on when I was listening to Ashley in the psychology ⁓ podcast that we just did. that is another coping mechanism that I see my daughter doing in the swimming context is she's like, she's quite a social little butterfly and she's around there talking with her friends and whatnot. And I know why she's doing that because ⁓ she's alleviating that anxiety and that stress because that human

human to human connection and you're sharing that connection with someone else that's probably feeling the same anxiety that you are. ⁓ But you're so right, MJ, whereas not everyone's doing that, right? Like lot of people are just head down and I got my job to do, right? Don't talk to me for goodness sakes. I know what I'm doing. Stay away. So different personality types, I think. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally, yeah, and that's okay.

Yeah.

Another way of coping with that race day anxiety is, self-efficacy. You know, that belief that you can handle what's coming. That studies show that athletes who rehearse scenarios, like you're talking about, visualizing success and relying on those process goals experience less pre-race stress. how can athletes...

Hmm.

physiologically or psychologically in the final weeks before the race, know, Marjaana you know, that idea about, you know, writing a race plan. that's, that's, that's a really good idea.

Yeah, it is. I'm reflecting on Athletica athlete Luke Evans right now, who's preparing for Ironman Arizona, right? And he's another big build after his Ironman Canada win. And ⁓ look, he's, ⁓ I just, see him in practice. He is, he's doing exactly what we recommend where he's, doing the key sets within Athletica and he's reflecting on them and he's, he's executing

you

⁓ He's rehearsing pieces of Iron Man Arizona that he's about to do. We all have that opportunity to do and we can see where our power is sitting, where our heart rate's sitting, how it's tracking at any one given time across those sets. we, this is kind of, we're anchoring in our pacing that ⁓ we're going to be doing, right? So now we're kind of, we're bringing that element in as well. And the more our pacing is going to be optimal, the...

the more confidence that's going to give us about executing, that should reduce the anxiety. But again, to what you're sort of saying, the other thing that we're working on is a race plan. And specifically in the context of an Ironman, a nutrition plan, because we've done some work in that area. So now we wanna have a game plan on what it is we're going to be,

Mm-hmm.

aiming to do because, you know, again, you have a plan, but you have to recognize that that's only a plan. on D-Day, sometimes the plan can just go right out the window and you've got to improvise.

Self-efficacy, I, a little bit related what Ashley said, not sugarcoating it, but also what you always say, hay is in the barn, Paul. And when it's race week or race day, I tell myself I'm right where I'm supposed to be because there's nothing else I can do. Like today's, you know, like

Mmm.

Exactly. No.

I'm at the fitness that I am. Now it's too late to regret anything. Let's see what the body and mind will perform. But I'm like, this is the right spot. I'm where I'm supposed to be. And be okay with it.

Mm-hmm. You know, we also talked about, you know, those rituals that we do before the race, you know, creating a race plan, visualizing, having a checklist. How much of that should be physical? How much should be mental? Or should it just be both all the time?

I think it is both. MJ started this one, but basically when you're writing that plan down, there's clearly a mental component. And yeah, you're locking in your mind what it is that you're hoping to do. And there's always a direct link, the psychological to the physical.

It's ⁓ just a really, really good process. And then when you actually, when the alarm goes off on race morning, it's like, yep, let's go. Here we go. It's just like, yeah. And it's just everything's just kind of clockwork. But again, also recognizing, and I think you can rehearse this too when you're doing your mental rehearsals, you can actually rehearse something not going right. And how am I going to respond to that?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Right? Because you've got a choice in any given moment. Are you going to react or are going to respond? And you want to respond in an appropriate way. And if you're kind of ready for that, like, something goes wrong. I come off the bike. What am I going to do now? How bad is it? Assess the whole thing. Can I get my bike going again and ⁓ moving forward? Or whatever it may be, like imagine all the various different things that can go wrong. And it's okay to do that.

because then again, you're ready for all the various different circumstances, but again, you're gonna respond. You're not gonna react and spit the dummy and DNF necessarily. ⁓ Actually, I wanted to mention that in the Ashley ⁓ podcast that we did, the biggest regret moment that I ever had was when I had a mental blunder in ⁓ Ironman Kona, World Champs, and I walked off the course at

five miles into the marathon and ashamed myself for doing that. And I didn't need to do it. It stuck with me the rest of my racing career which is great. So I got a positive out of it. But at the time I was in a dark, dark place because I reacted and I didn't respond appropriately for the situation. I clearly could have just kept walking a little bit longer knowing I

Hmm.

would have picked back up and finished that race. That's what I should have done, because I was in no means in a place where I was going to hurt myself. So yeah, there's my two cents for you.

Yeah, it's tough in the heat of the moment to do the right thing. Sometimes we... Yeah.

you

Mm-hmm. ⁓

Well, I was a young athlete at that point, young,

inexperienced athlete with a big ego in myself as well too, right? And that was the reason because I knew I wasn't going to get to the level that I anticipated, right? And this is always like reality versus expectations that in terms of where you're going to...

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

how you're gonna feel the position, the feeling of your success or not. And I knew already that I wasn't gonna perceive it as a successful event. So therefore I made the decision. Unfortunately, I reacted with the decision to just walk off the course, was an error that I lived with. It turned into a good learning experience.

Yeah, very similar to mine. My one time, I didn't know this was a cross country ski race. was talented, so I used to win and then I started not winning anymore. That was really hard thing for me to get over. At some point, this one race, was...

Yeah.

Which

one? The, the, the orienteering one?

like 30 seconds behind or like something impossible to catch up anymore. And I just like,

Yeah

I just gave up and I still remember that uphill. I still remember exact moment. It's crazy. Like how, how you just like kind of hang on to it and swear that you would never ever DNF anymore. So I guess there's.

you

Isn't it

so interesting how our podcast on anxiety has kind of shifted into ego and expectations. Another kind of, you know, totally part of the mind. So valid from that perspective, but in fact, kind of a little bit different than the anxiety thing. Well, it's similar. There's similar elements. And it's interesting that both of us have experienced that. Paul, anything similar for you?

Yeah, I mean, that CycleCross Nationals, it was all about my ego. It was all about expectations of, you know, I wanted to do well. It wasn't going to win, but I wanted to do, you know, I wanted the top 10. And I thought that that might be reasonable. And that was what all I thought about, whether I acknowledged that or not, it was definitely in the back of my head. you you're, you're very right. Those expectations and those...

The shoulds, that's one of the things that Ashley was talking about. The shoulds really got to me. And it sounds like that's kind of a common theme. That's where the anxiety of, we possibly measure up to the expectations that we've created for ourselves?

Yeah, big time.

So we've come up with some ideas about rehearsal. We've come up with ideas about ⁓ creating a plan or rituals, be very specific about what we're doing, our nutrition.

We're in the start shoot and even well-prepared athletes, know, that adrenaline spike when the countdown starts, you know, in cycle cross, it's, know, the start can be in any 30 seconds and the same with your daughter for swimming. can be any time, ⁓ breathing exercises, positive cue words, brief muscle relaxation techniques can help reset the nervous system. But you know, what's the, what's the mechanism behind the breathing? How does that actually work when you were relax relaxing?

⁓ lowering anxiety.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a good question. So again, like it comes down to that default mode network. And there's like, again, there's just these three areas in the brain and that's the monkey mind. Remember they figured out the default mode network when they were doing a control condition. So the story goes basically that the control guys were sitting in the MRI machine.

and they told the control subjects, don't think of anything. Just don't think of anything. And of course, it's like, OK, so imagine you're sitting in this big tube, this MRI machine. And of course, the monkey mind just goes off, right? And they're like, we're telling these people not to think of anything. then just like, whatever is on that person's mind, they're off, and it's racing away, right? And so that's kind of how they sort of.

Thank you.

That's really where the anxiety loop begins. And if you have a race coming up, then you're going to be anxious about that race and you're just going to keep thinking about it and thinking all the potentially the negative things that could be going on. So we need mechanisms to all of a sudden stop that. And you mentioned breathing, Paul, and breathing is one way. Now,

It's almost like a meditative technique, right? But if you can just try it right now, listening to this, but imagine if you were to just grab onto your breath and actually take a deep breath in and actually only pay attention to that and then take a deep breath out and actually follow the breath along. Don't think of anything else. Just think of that breath and same thing in and out. And now if you've done that for a certain loop and you haven't been distracted and gone back into the monkey mind, the default mode network,

you've broken the loop that I just told you about that was detected in the MRI machine. And yeah, we all succumb to this pattern. Everyone has a monkey mind, every single one of us. So you're not alone. This is like the human experience. it just kind of, it comes down to each individual figuring out their own means of getting out of their.

They're that mental loop.

I don't know if you can see this on the podcast here, but there's a, I've tattooed the word breathe onto my arm. You know, simply because that's such an important thing to me for relaxing, not even relaxing. That's not the right word. Bringing my focus back to the task at hand and being okay with whatever is about to happen. And I think that, ⁓

yeah. Yeah.

Nice, Paul.

breathing techniques that you just talked about, Paul, box breathing where you, you know, inhale and then hold it for a couple seconds and then exhale for a couple seconds and hold that for a couple seconds. That's been shown, you know, and those are easy things to do on the start line. ⁓

They really are. Yeah.

I would say also like pick something, just notice something like a banner, say it out loud, red banner. Just like notice things around you that will bring you back to now. And even better if you sing a song or dance with the, you know, the usually an Iron Man start line, it's a big party. So just wiggle your body a little bit.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

but all of these methods, they bring you back to the present. And even what MJ was talking about ⁓ with respect to talking to other people, you're actually talking to other people as opposed to keeping your head down and just ⁓ not looking at anyone in the pre-race mode, you have to actually be present in those conversations. So that also is interrupting the

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

the default mode network ⁓ in the brain. And just like the breathing is also another method. There's so many different ones, right? And again, we spoke about it the Ashley podcast. This is why exercise is very good for this because it lowers, even though we still do it dissociate during like zone two type training. If you ever do like a key set, ⁓ join us in velocity. You've got to focus.

on hitting your target, right? As you both two velocity coaches here know O2 ⁓ well, right? Like you've got to hit that target. Or you've got to even develop your feel if MJ is going to blind you to the power. And when she's being so mean as a coach, right? Like you've got to focus on trying to hit that power. You can't, there's no way you can think about other things. So that's why you go away from that session feeling just so good because all of a sudden you've been forced

Thank

Ha ha!

out of your monkey mind. You've been forced out of your default mode network and it feels great to do that. That's why, one of the reasons why I think a lot of us listening and do this thing of exercising and training and having that goal and that purpose, it's just all part of keeping, like having good mental health. Even though we often all think about the physical health, man, the mental health is just so important.

So to wrap up this episode, what advice would we give to everyday endurance athletes on race day?

Smile.

Smile. I like it.

Yeah, smile is good. Yeah, breathe, as Paul says. ⁓ And then, and don't forget to do all the rehearsals beforehand that are going to help you with the actual ⁓ feeling, giving you the confidence on that day. And then just, yeah, time to get back in and execute. You can do this.

Mm-hmm.

⁓

Yeah. I like focusing on those process goals that we've talked about in other podcasts where we're not looking at a result, but we're looking at stay steady up the mountain, up the hill, ⁓ be smooth in the corners, whatever it might be, just that process and the parts that you've rehearsed already. think that's going to help you calm yourself because it's like, you've done this before.

Yeah. And you know which one I haven't heard it mentioned yet, but it's kind of similar to the one that Marjaana said about talking to people. And maybe you don't feel like talking to people in the morning of the race, but see if you can just make eye contact and deliver someone a smile. And it's amazing. Like they say, smiles are the kisses of the soul. And it's almost like if you, so it's not just smiling for sake of smiling, but smile and also connect.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

to someone else's eyes and smile. Or you might even make them smile back. And that's very, that can be another ⁓ good moment as well. Because I've always felt like that Ironman or racing in general, like there's something just about this human experience about it

Yeah.

it's just like it's part of magic and life and why we're here.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, totally. I was going to say it's connecting with other humans and sharing their experience, which is so hard for every single one who stand on the start line. We're sharing that human experience and all the journeys and all the pains and struggles and challenges that we meet every day in our lives. When we're preparing for the event and

it's a party time. Like it's party. Like let's let's do this.

Yeah.

Yeah, and we're moving to another important pearl that we haven't mentioned. Well, we mentioned a little bit. I think you mentioned it, MJ, but it's gratitude as well, because you you about to do this, are one of the blessed individuals because you have the capacity to be able to go and race. And just think of everyone out there on the course who are watching you. They want to be in your shoes. Like, so you want to be racing.

Hmm.

Mmm.

You want to be doing this. So you want to be feeling that anxiety. So flip that as well. yeah, you belong. And just enjoy this moment.

Great way to end the episode. Thank you for listening today to the Athletes Compass podcast. Take a moment now, subscribe, share, and let's keep navigating this endurance adventure together. Improve your training with the science-based training platform, Athletica, and join the conversation at the Athletica Forum. For Marjaana Rakai and Dr. Paul Laursen I'm Paul Warloski and this has been the Athletes Compass podcast. Thank you for listening.