Have Race Day Rituals: Mental Attributes of Elite Runners #14/15
#14 — Have Race Day Rituals.
Rituals give us that sense of control and help reduce anxiety and stress.
Rituals are sacred and specific. They can be group-specific, like in a family or church, or individually specific.
The science of rituals is fascinating. The power of a ritual is not related to repetition, although many rituals are repeated. You can do a ritual once, like burning a picture of an ex-lover, and it can work. Their strength lies in the fact that the practitioner deems the serious of idiosyncratic steps sacred and believes that doing them will help them regain a sense of control, order, and comfort.
Here’s Harvard Business School professor Mike Norton on the effectiveness of rituals:
The utility of rituals isn’t related to their practicality.
Absurd rituals can be highly effective. If it helps you create that sense of control, if it calms your anxiety, that’s what matters. Think of performers who do strange rituals before performing. They know that walking in a circle three times while repeating a mantra doesn’t help them win, but it helps them calm down so they can perform.
The demand to perform can be stressful. And while we’re aware we don’t have full control over what will happen in a competition, a ritual can help calm nerves and anxiety related to the impending unknown of race day.
Elite runners all have race day rituals. Some start early, like eating a particular food for the meals leading up to the race. Others include a shakeout jog. Or listening to a certain playlist. Or what watching a specific movie. Warm-up drills can be rituals. Self-talk. Prayer. You name it.
What matters is 1) you have a ritual 2) that is works for you. A ritual doesn’t need to devolve to a superstition (which is a practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation) to stay effective. It merely needs to empower the practitioner with a sense of control and reduced anxiety so they can perform at their best on race day.