If someone says they are feeling confident going into a big race like Busselton – it’s always a red-flag for me! Sure, on the surface it always seems better going in relaxed and confident than with fear and anxiety, it often means they are simply not ready for day, especially if things don’t go according to their script. Studies show there is no link between the performances of those who went into races confident versus those who went in anxious.
As we have learnt from past years you can expect anything at Busso. Those who have already arrived are talking about the water being invaded by thousands of stinging jelly fish and while the weather has been super-hot of late, the race day forecast is for mild conditions with a slight chance of rain, but plenty of wind.
So instead of asking people if they are feeling confident, I like to ask people if they are ready. Has their training been adequate, has it prepared them for everything the day can throw at them? Do they have faith in their body and their plan?
Sports Psychologists talk about competence before confidence. You need the necessary ingredients in place before you can have confidence. Confidence without competence (readiness) is setting yourself up for failure. And in something as big as an Ironman the reality is that you can never truly feel ready, as there are simply so many unknowns you will have to encounter. Sure, planning, training and past races may have got you ready for a lot of these, but Busso can deliver anything- the sharks and fires of a few years ago are testimony to that.
So, it is not always easy to feel confident going into a big race. The key is to understand that whether you are confident or not it won’t affect your performance unless you let it. Confidence is just an emotion just like anxiety. You can either accept it and roll with it as a normal part of racing (pre-race nerves and anxiety), or you can let it disable you.
I am sure if you asked the elites racing if they felt pre-race nerves, the majority would say yes. In fact, many of them would say they need these nerves to perform at their best. It provides them with a hit of adrenalin to get them ready for action and bulletproof as they start the day.
If you don’t feel nerves then you either don’t have anything invested in the race, are supremely confident in your skills and abilities (ala David Beckham in his Netflix documentary) or you are in denial!
So, if you had the choice between feeling ready (confidence) and being ready (competence) I would take being ready. Training is about growing as broad a range of skills and experiences as we can, so that come race day we can draw upon these exposures. Sure, Busso will be windy but those weekends of time trialling around Outer Harbor in strong winds will stand us in good stead, especially when we go into the race expecting these conditions. The more challenging the conditions we have trained and raced in, the more we build a tolerance to discomfort. So, if training was hard and led to discomfort at times, then this is perfect for making sure you are ready for race day.
It is why I love it when things don’t go to plan in training – injuries, health, GI issues, pain, fatigue… as it prepares the athlete for discomfort and the challenge of race day. It gives them a chance to learn new skills (like patience and respect) that they can call upon if needed. If you only cherry pick the good days/races and had session after session of awesome training, you may find that you are not as ready as you might think!
This is why we also create our own pre-race routines. It creates a controlled environment for us to operate in, but sometimes we don’t get a chance to call the shots. This is why we didn’t do a warmup before Sundays long open water swim. It may not always be possible, so it is important to learn that sometimes we just have to adapt.
Likewise, if nerves are taking over your thinking it is important to tell your brain that it is okay to feel this way. That anxiety doesn’t correlate to performance. That is unless we let it push us over the edge, where nerves sap us of energy and leave us unable to perform or even think straight. If there are triggers that dial up your nerves then work to identify and control them, find a way to redirect your thinking. This could be something as simple as saying “nerves are just your brain telling you, you are ready.” It means you care about the result. Then reflect on your training, your support team, your plan, have faith in it, and tell yourself “I’m ready. I’m ready to race and deal with whatever the day throws at me- Bring it on!”
Confidence goes up and down (don’t expect it to be stable) but your readiness to race is what really counts, you can perform well regardless of confidence levels.
Good luck to everyone racing Busselton this weekend. And as Ted Lasso would say “Believe!”