{"id":31640,"date":"2016-09-09T12:45:41","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T16:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=31640"},"modified":"2016-09-11T22:49:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T02:49:38","slug":"race-training-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/lifestyle\/race-training-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Race Training Giving You Anxiety?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nathaniel Baker couldn\u2019t be more satisfied with the results of his race training for the upcoming New York City marathon<\/a> in November. He\u2019s in the best shape of his life. He\u2019s lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. And the man who could barely jog 20 minutes three years earlier can now push through grueling 10-mile runs.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s made sacrifices. He plans his social life around his workout schedule, even missing out on important events, such as friends\u2019 birthday parties, to fit in runs. \u201cI feel guilty when I take a day off,\u201d says Baker, 41, who works in financial media in New York. \u201cI\u2019ll be at some rooftop bar at a work event eating fattening appetizers, and all I can think is \u2018I should be running.\u2019\u201d He even skipped his weekend summer outings to Fire Island because the towns don\u2019t have long enough running paths. \u201cI knew that training wasn\u2019t supposed to be fun, but I think my anxiety has made me a little obsessed,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n

Not the Good Kind<\/b><\/h3>\n

“You can cross a critical threshold, and the anxiety becomes paralyzing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A little worry about your workouts is helpful to keep you on track to reach your training goals<\/a>. It\u2019s that little voice that says, \u201cYou\u2019re so not ready for this tri! You better get in an extra long swim<\/a> this week or you\u2019re gonna kill yourself on race day.\u201d But sports psychologists warn that a little can go a long way. \u201cIf someone is getting anxious to prepare for a marathon or big race, there\u2019s a certain amount that\u2019s motivating,\u201d explains Harris Straytner, PhD, sports psychologist in New York and Westchester County. \u201cBut you can cross a critical threshold, and the anxiety becomes paralyzing.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/b> 8 Signs You\u2019re Way Too Stressed (and How to Deal)<\/a><\/p>\n

Too much can sap your energy and create a stress response that hurts your performance \u00adand health. One recent study<\/a> found that psychological stress makes it harder for your muscles to recover following resistance exercise. Another study<\/a> of recreational marathon runners who experienced high levels of perceived stress, anxiety and worry found they had decreased immunity four weeks before the race. And a weakened immune system means a higher risk of contracting the colds and viruses that could sideline athletes on their big day.<\/p>\n

Race Day Meltdown<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cI was creating too much stress for something that should be a stress relief.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anxiety can manifest in other ways, too. Michele Gonzalez, 32, got herself so worked up over trying to make a 3:10 time for the New Jersey Marathon in 2013 that she felt physically nauseous before the event. \u201cI was shaking. I couldn\u2019t eat anything. I\u2019d never experienced nerves like this before,\u201d she says. \u201cMy husband kept saying, \u2018Calm down. It\u2019s just a race.\u2019\u201d But Gonzalez had written about wanting to make her goal time on her blog NYC Running Mama<\/a><\/i>\u00a0and felt pressure to report back good news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had bordered on overtraining<\/a> and felt wiped. I was so focused on that time that anything slower would have felt like a failure,\u201d she says. When she reached the half-way mark, she was on track. Then everything fell apart at mile 17. \u201cWhen I started to slow down and knew my time wouldn\u2019t happen, I gave up. I just quit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>12 Keys to Achieving Work-Life Balance<\/a><\/p>\n

Love Your Butterflies<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s normal to have anxiety<\/a> about something you\u2019ve never done before. The key is deciding whether you\u2019re going to interpret your butterflies as part of the excitement of competition or a feeling of dread that you won\u2019t do well, explains Jim Afremow, PhD, author of The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train and Thrive<\/i>. He recommends thinking of a race as a fancy practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same activity you’ve been doing for days. A competition is just a special, fun day. Let\u2019s not make it bigger than life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Take Back Control<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe element of choice is intrinsic to people enjoying their training.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For athletes who feel their training has spun out of control, Sam Zizzi, PhD, professor of sport and exercise psychology at West Virginia University, tries to help them remember they have choices. \u201cI say, \u2018You decided to run this damn marathon on your own. Is this still working for you? Can we interact with this training schedule in a different way?\u201d he explains. Maybe that means changing up the structure or adding in more cross-training and a greater variety of workouts<\/a>. \u201cThe element of choice is intrinsic to people enjoying their training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or he recommends an extreme solution: \u201cIf the athlete really wants to remove the anxiety, then they can stop training altogether,\u201d he says. The idea of not doing it at all can be enough to help people change their perspective and remember they\u2019re in charge.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/b> Hate Running? 25 Ways to Learn to Love It<\/a><\/p>\n

Pleasure Over Pressure<\/b><\/h3>\n

Besides hurting your performance, workout anxiety has longer-term consequences. You could start to view fitness as an obligation<\/a> and lose interest in a pursuit that\u2019s good for you. \u201cIt makes it that much harder to finish your training and causes people to disengage,\u201d adds Zizzi. Eventually they say, \u2018I don’t want to do this any more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For Baker, he\u2019s not sure he wants to do another marathon<\/a> again<\/i>, but he\u2019s given himself permission to immerse himself fully in his training for this one, even if it dominates his entire life for a few months. \u201cI\u2019ve got to do 200 miles in September,\u201d he says. \u201cI think this is one time when I can be a little crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez, on the other hand, regards her marathon meltdown as a sign that she needed to slow down. \u201cRunning is a hobby and is supposed to be fun,\u201d she says. \u201cI was creating too much stress for something that should be a stress relief.\u201d While training for the upcoming Potomac River Run Marathon in November, she\u2019s focused on improving the time of her individual runs rather than preparing to meet a rigid finish time. \u201cIt\u2019s going great,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m able to enjoy the entire process again and celebrate my finish as an accomplishment of months of hard work,\u00a0regardless of what the clock says.”<\/p>\n

Originally posted September 2014. Updated on September 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When does race training go from a fun pastime that helps you relieve stress to something that causes more anxiety than it’s worth? Some runners are learning the hard way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":43801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12,15],"tags":[159,288,108,282,341,357],"class_list":["post-31640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-mental-health","category-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-cardio","tag-running","tag-stress","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}