{"id":620548,"date":"2026-10-04T18:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T18:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620548\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T18:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T18:16:21","slug":"forget-ketones-and-lactate-gels-pre-race-nerves-are-an-untapped-fuel-source-we-can-all-learn-to-harness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620548\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget ketones and lactate gels: pre-race nerves are an untapped fuel source we can all learn to harness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t let anyone try to convince you that a major bout of nerves isn\u2019t so bad or not capable of derailing your performance. <\/p>\n

The consequences can be debilitating and destabilising, leading to indecision and inaction. Resources that might be put to constructive use are frittered away instead.<\/p>\n

Nerves may have contributed to the downfall of prime ministers. \u201cThis government is so afraid of getting things wrong that it gets everything wrong,\u201d posted comedian Athena Kugblenu recently.<\/p>\n

And it might well have prevented football from coming home. There is a scene in the first episode of Dear England, the BBC dramatisation of Gareth Southgate\u2019s tenure as national football team manager, in which Southgate opens up to his newly selected squad about the singular defining moment of his playing career: \u2018that\u2019 missed penalty against Germany in the Euro 96 semi-final.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gareth Southgate missed the crucial penalty at Euro 96, but would have a measure of redemption as a manager two decades later. Getty Images<\/p>\n

After the match finished in a draw, the first five players on each team scored their spot kicks and the shoot-out reached sudden death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a silence in our huddle,\u201d the fictionalised Southgate tells his players. \u201cWho’s going to go first? So, I put my hand up. I began that long walk to the spot. My legs were so weak. <\/p>\n

“The whistle went, I ran up, kicked the ball softly. So, so soft. And that was it. I just wanted to disappear. I knew I was responsible for ending millions of people’s dreams.\u201d He wasn\u2019t, of course. The world quickly moved on.<\/p>\n

Ancestral anxiety
\n\"\"The intense nervousness that many feel before delivering a speech is an example of how we haven’t yet evolved to tell the difference between the threat of a tiger and less mortally dangerous situations. Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see where the misnomer about nerves being beneficial could come from. We all know about \u2018fight or flight\u2019, also known as the \u2018hyperarousal response\u2019. <\/p>\n

This survival mechanism evolved in all animals with a complex nervous system, enabling us to respond to life-threatening events \u2013 stumbling across a tiger in the forest, say.<\/p>\n

A further small, but significant evolutionary step has enabled humans to imagine where a tiger might be tomorrow, and either avoid going there or prepare to defend ourselves. There\u2019s nothing irrational about this reaction.<\/p>\n

What makes nervousness different, says Howard LeWine, chief medical editor at Harvard Health Publishing, is it being an overreaction \u201cto stressors that are not life\u2013threatening\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Thierry Steimer, in his 2002 paper \u2018The biology of fear and anxiety-related behaviours\u2019, characterised nervousness as a \u201cpathological anxiety [which] interferes with the ability to cope successfully with life challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n

In other words, our systems have not yet evolved sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between a tiger and a presentation of the FYQ3 marketing strategy you\u2019ve got to give to a bunch of middle managers tomorrow morning. Or an amateur bike race you\u2019ve entered the next evening.<\/p>\n

Sign up and stimulate
\n\"\"Nerves can kick in whatever level you’re competing at. Getty Images<\/p>\n

For Herne Hill Velodrome trustee Katie Thornley, who races on and off through the summer, \u201cthe moment I sign up or even think about signing up and go on the website to do it, the nerves kick in\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not nervous about crashing or coming last because I\u2019ve done both of those things and they\u2019re not the end of the world,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly myself. I\u2019m anxious about letting myself down.\u201d In one form or another, fear of failure is almost always what it comes down to.<\/p>\n

Author Steve Magness would tell Katie there\u2019s nothing unusual about this. \u201cAround 95% of elite athletes have the same experience that you or I have,\u201d says Magness on an episode of \u2018The Coach Up\u2019 podcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey feel the pressure. They feel the expectations.\u201d The difference, he says, is elite athletes have many tools to deal with that pressure. In his role as a performance coach, his task is to equip them with those tools.<\/p>\n

The first tip he offers is simply to \u201cget to the starting line\u201d. There\u2019s a lot to be said for distraction. \u201cI am convinced\u201d he says, \u201cthat a large part of an athlete warming up is filling the gap. It gives you something to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Warming up prepares the body \u2013 and distracts the mind. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thornley would surely relate. \u201cOnce I\u2019m out there, by the second race, a few laps in, it\u2019s fine,\u201d she says. Sometimes she\u2019ll delay signing up until the last minute, to prevent it seeming real.<\/p>\n

Races tending to take place in the evening doesn\u2019t help: \u201cIf it was first thing in the morning, I could get it over and done with and it wouldn\u2019t ruin my day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Magness urges athletes, of all levels, to try to mentally \u201czoom out\u201d, to ask themselves \u201cWho cares how I do? Who\u2019s going to look up the results? Will I even remember this a month from now? Three months, a year from now\u2026 In the scheme of things, how much does this matter?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet there is an inherent contradiction there. If it really didn\u2019t matter, you wouldn\u2019t be taking part in the first place. Putting a positive spin on things, cycling coach Olivier Nilsson-Julien says nerves are at least a sign that you care. \u201cAnd if you didn\u2019t care about it, it wouldn\u2019t be worth doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard work lessens the nerves
\n\"\"A fit, prepared athlete is usually a confident athlete. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before events, Nilsson-Julien reminds his athletes, who range from middle-aged amateurs to elite competitors knocking on the door of the pros, to think about how much preparation they\u2019ve already put in. \u201cThe main thing I\u2019ll say is: \u2018You\u2019ve done the work\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll back up these verbal boosts with evidence from their training data, telling them they have the ability to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n

Magness concurs: \u201cGenerally, we\u2019re taking an action we\u2019ve prepared, so we just need to get to that preparation state.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a connection Thornley is keenly conscious of. \u201cWhen I\u2019m super fit, I\u2019m less nervous because I\u2019ve put in the effort,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I don\u2019t feel very fit, that\u2019s when I\u2019m most anxious. And at the end of the day, what\u2019s the worst that can happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes referred to as the \u2018Dr Pepper\u2019 approach, after the popular soft drink\u2019s advertising slogan, this has proven so effective that Magness recommends actively pursuing it \u2013 by launching a doomed attack off the front, for example \u2013 in order to gain the conditioning needed to build up that psychological defence. <\/p>\n

\"\"Thinking of Dr Pepper on the start line of a race will put your predicament into perspective. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why stand\u2013up comedians embrace the occasional bomb,\u201d he says. \u201cIt shows you that the world won\u2019t end even if you fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

That seemed to work inadvertently for Londoner Lloyd Collier. In early June, he travelled to Newport to take part in the Masters National Track Championships at the Geraint Thomas velodrome where, in his first event on the Friday, the V50-54 scratch race, \u201cnervous energy got the better of me\u201d.<\/p>\n

Removed after being lapped, he attributed his sub-par performance to being \u201coverawed, overthought and overgeared\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, he was up again, this time in the elimination race. For many, the \u2018the devil\u2019 is the most exciting of track events.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also easy to see why it would be the most nerve\u2013wracking. A good result is one that leaves you a physical wreck; failure is when you depart the track with more to give. But someone has to be out first. And second and third.<\/p>\n

This time, Collier persuaded himself it was \u201cjust another race\u201d. So successful was he in this line of thought that he was even able to enjoy a pre-race nap. In the end, he finished three inches off the podium. Not bad for a first attempt!<\/p>\n

A multi-faceted approach
\n\"\"With 130 pro wins and counting, Tadej Poga\u010dar is the ultimate example of using the frequency of an occasion to their benefit. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s an exam or a bike race, for many people frequency helps, by diluting the importance of each occasion. <\/p>\n

\u201cFamiliarity breeds confidence\u201d was how one member of Reddit\u2019s r\/cycling community replied succinctly, when the question was raised there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the only way to deal with [nerves] is to race more often\u201d was another popular contribution. A third highly rated Reddit answer was \u201cpooping\u201d. Funnily enough, neither coach brings that up.<\/p>\n

But Magness agrees there\u2019s more than one way to approach the situation. \u201cNo tool works all the time,\u201d he says. \u201cYour best bet is to develop as many as you can, so when the pressure situation occurs, you just cycle through them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much as we might like one neat trick, there\u2019s a consensus that there\u2019s no way to bypass nervousness completely. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve done studies trying to desensitise people to a point where they don’t care about racing,\u201d says Nilsson-Julien. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Nilsson-Julien says that we must keep perspective.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes people take cycling too seriously,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey put a lot of the value of who they are in the sport. That can be counterproductive. It’s got to be fun.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unlike, perhaps, being Prime Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t let anyone try to convince you that a major bout of nerves isn\u2019t so bad or not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-620548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}