5 Tips for Race Day Mindset, EP 220

Welcome to the award-winning Champions Mojo, hosted by two world record-holding athletes, and now your host, Kelly Palace.

Hello, I'm Kelly Palace. Besides being the host of the Champions Mojo podcast, I also do mental performance coaching. Whether you found this podcast because you got a confidence credit card in your packet from US Master's Swimming Nationals or you clicked on the title of Five Tips for your Race Day Mindset, I'm happy you're here and I hope you'll consider this your own personal mental performance consultation Today. I'm going to talk with you quickly about five things that you can do on race day that will help your mental performance. I have interviewed many confidence coaches, sports psychologists and Olympic gold medalist and Olympic coaches on our show and I've learned there are similarities between the things that we get anxious about on race day. I've even interviewed someone on our podcast who told me that they were so nervous driving to a master swim meet that they actually got in the parking lot and turned around and went home. So let's talk about nerves to begin with. Do you get nervous before you race? So, number one, let's start by saying it is great to have some nervousness before a performance. If you aren't nervous, then you don't care, and if you can use that feeling of nervousness to know that the adrenaline that comes with nervousness can be an extra boost and an extra push of adrenaline that will help you perform better. That is just a fact. You don't want to get so nervous that it inhibits your performance, but certainly recognize I'm nervous or I have anxiety about my performance today, but that's okay, that is a good thing. So if you can immediately first say I'm nervous and I'm just going to think this is a good thing to be nervous. Number two, and this is my personal favorite one when it is race day and you are finding yourself thinking about something, that takes you beyond nervous, it takes you to a place of discomfort or dread or worry, and that is your focus. So the second thing is wherever your mind is focused is where your thoughts will follow. It's just like a force. If you ever have heard that, when you're riding a horse, where you look, the horse goes. Where your thoughts, where your focus is, is where your mind goes. So again, you might have gotten a little card you've heard about it if you've listened to the show. It's a confidence credit card. On that confidence credit card it says feel positive emotions to perform your best and it lists the emotions of love, joy, gratitude, inspiration, contentment, awe, kindness, surprise, joy, serenity, trust, hope, cheerfulness, confidence, admiration, enthusiasm, belief, bliss and interest, and those are just a few. We have control of our thoughts. That is an amazing thing. We have control of our thoughts.

Number three is to think of performance as a privilege. So when you stand up behind the block or you get ready to race, think about what an honor it is to actually be able to put yourself to the test. If you can think of it as a privilege instead of a duty or a must do or putting the pressure on yourself of how you're going to do, then that is very helpful. And from number three of privilege, you can slide right into number four, which is not worrying about the outcome but focusing on the process. So if you're thinking about your stroke or your start or your turns, or even thinking about your mindset during the race, I'm going to stay positive. I'm going to think about positive emotions. I'm going to really focus on keeping my mind in the positive. If you start to hurt or you might miss a turn, say it's okay, I'm going to make it up or I can do this, I'm strong, I'm not going to be the mantra that you go to. Instead of immediately snapping into a bad mindset, think about staying positive. But if you focus on the process during your race, you will not think about the outcome. And if you do go to the outcome and this is the number four is you will either achieve your goal or you will learn something. And all the years and decades as a coach and a student of peak performance, I have learned that most champions will tell you they get more out of performances that they do not perform their best than the ones that they actually achieve their goals. So, yes, it's great to achieve our goals, but either you will achieve your goal or you will learn something. So that is the only way to think about the outcome.

And the fifth one is crush the comparison monster. Absolute best way to ruin your mindset is to compare yourself to others. Stay in your lane. Do not look around and compare yourself on anything your times, your stroke, your suit, your height, your weight, whatever it is. Do not compare yourself. You are uniquely you and your success is based on what you do, not what anyone else does. You may be the very best person in the pool and you may finish very last and have done your best performance. So crush that comparison monster. For number five.

So, on race day, here are five quick tips to perform your best and have your best mindset. One accept nervousness as a good thing. Two wherever your mind is focused, your thoughts will follow. So stay on those positive emotions and positive thoughts. Number three think of performance as a privilege, an opportunity. What a wonderful thing. We get to do the thing that we love and it should stay that way that you love it. It's a privilege. Number four stay in the process and not in the outcome. You will either achieve something or you will learn something.

And number five is simply crush that comparison monster. Stay in your lane. Do not compare yourself to anyone else. So raise day is an exciting day. It's a fun day. We get to see all our friends, we get to test ourselves and isn't testing ourselves one of the main reasons why we do this and the essence of sport. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode and for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. We are the podcast for master swimming. We have over 220 episodes of interviews with master's champions, master's coaches, olympic champions, olympic coaches and everyday champions. Our goal is to inspire you and to give you insights into how to bring out the champion in you.

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