- It's not uncommon to get nervous on race day,
or even maybe have some superstitions,
and the pros are no different,
so today I'm going to be asking them
whether they have any superstitions
and if they get nervous on race day,
and if so, how they deal with it.
- Um. - Er.
- Er. - Er.
- Oh yeah, I do.
(electronic beat)
- Do you have any pre-race superstitions?
- Yeah, I mean, normally I have to
get my hair in French plaits, so if I don't do that,
then I've still got to find a hairdresser that can do that.
- Well, probably not superstitions,
but routine, yeah, just stick to a plan,
it just helps yourself, not getting to nervous
and (censored bleep) yourself.
- Okay, Kaisa, do you have any pre-race superstitions?
- Oh yeah, I do.
- I always have the same colored nail polish on my nails,
it's like that kind of,
you can say I've been using the same color since 1998,
so that's maybe the biggest one.
Then I have a star-shaped pin in my hair always, so yeah.
- Yeah I like to have very very short race pace testing,
so it's like in the run, it's like 20 seconds race pace,
and there's sometimes some repeats,
and on the bike also like 1k race pace testing,
and that's it.
The rest is all very easy,
it's just the last test and to wake up the legs
and get ready for the big day.
- Yeah, eat chocolate.
(laughs)
- I like that one.
- To get a lot of energy because it's a long day
so I like to eat one or two chocolates the day before.
(laughs)
- Oh, yes, I have chocolate the night before,
I have a bit of a routine of plans of lists and stuff
but it's probably, you know,
have a bit of chocolate the night before,
that's probably my pre-race.
- I like the sound of that.
- Yeah.
- Gosh, you know, no, I don't think I do.
- Not like right shoe on before the left shoe or anything?
- No, no, I don't do anything like that.
I just try to stay happy.
- Er, no, I don't think I do.
I always check my skewers.
You know, it doesn't matter how many times
I've checked my bike and everything,
the last thing I do before I leave transition,
is I always, just one last time,
just make sure they're tight.
- Okay, James, do you have any pre-race superstitions.
- Er, no, I'm not superstitious at all.
I used to get really anal about what I ate and everything
and I've actually found that the more I relax about it,
the less I think about it, the more,
so sometimes it's pizza, sometimes it's pasta,
no real superstitions, no real set goal, set routine,
because set routines fall part and then you go to the race
and you're all stressed out
because you missed, I don't know,
tying your left shoelace before your right shoelace.
- Yes, I have a lot of them, actually, to be honest,
and I always have my rituals,
I'm really well known about my rituals,
that like the day before the race I will go in a bath
with my special bathing oils and salts and stuff.
I have a ton of those, so yeah, let's not start about that,
because we will be standing--
- Just one more.
- One more, I will always go to bed really early
and do, like, massage, I'm a good massage therapist,
so I massage my legs and I put my compression socks on
and then I do like a menthol thing and then, yeah.
(laughs)
- Okay, cool.
- I don't have any superstitions,
I have a lot of routines, and I control what I can,
but I think fate deals you what it feels like.
I think that you can't control what you can't control,
so I just roll with the punches, as they say,
and control what I can but let go what I can't.
(rock and roll music)
- Are you the sort of person that gets nervous on race day,
and if so, how do you deal with it?
- Usually I stay focused, or try to stay focused.
And yeah, there are sometimes some challenges coming around,
some unexpected, but as long as you can fix them,
and you have time to fix it, that's okay.
If you know what you can do, and if you have,
you just need to know anybody you can call
if you need some help.
Then you can fix it and make it through the race.
- I actually am, I mean, a lot of people are asking me,
because I think it's my thirtieth Ironman
and people think I don't get nervous
and I think last two nights
my stomach's is just like in a knot
and I have a huge butterflies
and I'm thinking like, "Why the hell I'm doing this?
"Can I do it?"
So I think it's the same for everyone
and it never disappear.
- You know, I do, and I just can't wait for the warmup.
When I'm nervous it's a good thing,
it means that I care, you know,
it means that I'm there to race,
it means that I'm ready to do a good performance.
And how I deal with it, I tend to do a longer warmup.
You know, I just want to get on the,
and it's how it's been from rowing,
you know, I was exactly the same,
I just couldn't wait to get on that lake 30 minutes before,
start your warmup routine, same with the time trial,
couldn't wait to get on the rollers and get going.
So yeah, that hasn't changed and that's how I deal with it.
There's no point, you can't fight it,
you can't fight the jitters, they're there,
but I find once I'm moving, you know, I'm good.
- If you're the kind of person
that gets nervous on race day, how you deal with it?
- Normally just put on some good music,
try and chill out to that.
- I'm a nervous, I just, I throw up three or four times,
you know, in the morning, I'm just kidding.
I get kind of nervous, it depends on the race, you know.
I just, I've been doing this so long,
it's just like same old, same old.
Wake up, have my oatmeal, and hang out with the family,
if they're awake, usually they aren't,
so I'm trying to be quiet,
and then just get ready.
- Yeah, like I used to get, like, super duper nervous,
and the normal thing for me on race morning
is just to cry and be like,
"I just can't even go to that start line,"
but yeah, not during the last years,
I've been able to learn to handle my nerves a bit better,
because I think for this Ironman, these distances,
you just can't use too much energy,
even before the race, so.
- Ah yeah, of course, I mean, not only on race day,
actually, I think the whole week, and especially today.
I always take it as something positive
because it still tells myself
that it still means something to me, this race, you know,
if I would not be nervous any more
then it's just probably time
to look for a different job, I guess,
so yeah, just think it's something positive.
- Probably the week, two weeks leading up to the race,
I go through kind of a rollercoaster of nerves,
anxiety, and then that nerves is excitement,
and I'm super fired up,
and then I'm like carrying away again,
and going, "Oh (censored bleep)."
Race morning, yeah, I will be nervous,
but, you know, you kind of accept it's natural,
it's what happens, it's your body getting ready to race,
it's you mentally getting ready to race.
I guess that I have lists,
so that kind of keeps me pretty process-focused
and that helps to keep me calm and in the moment,
rather than getting too nervous and out of control.
- I actually don't get very nervous at all.
Obviously there's this,
you come to press conferences and stuff,
and you get this little surge of butterflies,
but that generally goes away pretty quickly
and I'm pretty relaxed all the way up until
a few minutes before the gun.
I don't really, I sleep well the night before,
I don't really stay up the whole night sweating,
or anything like that.
Generally not that nervous, actually.
- I definitely still get nervous,
I think I more call it just like,
my homestay calls it peacefully intent,
she's like, "You're not nervous,
"but I can tell that you're getting ready."
So I think that's just only natural,
and I don't try to calm it down too much,
because to me, that's just like my body getting ready to go,
but yeah, so I welcome them.
(laughs)
- Yes, this will be my 40th long-distance race,
and I think I've done like 200 half-distance races,
and then we're not counting all the Olympics,
and I still get nervous for every single race,
even the smaller races,
I get goosebumps and butterflies and stuff.
Yeah, doesn't go away.
- Okay and you haven't figured out a way to deal with it,
you just get on?
- No, but the good thing is that it comes,
like the really nervous stuff comes on race morning,
so I will stay pretty relaxed and cool and like I am now
until race morning.
And then it just (makes explosion sound) hits me.
But I like to chat before,
I like to chat with people to calm myself down.
- Right, you've had everything from chocolate
to salt baths to simply embracing it,
and I really think the takeaway point from this
is that everyone gets nervous
and you're getting nervous for a reason,
because you've built up to this event,
you've put a lot of training into it
and you're excited at the end of the day.
Personally, I just used to get super quiet on race day.
That was my way of dealing with it.
We'd love to hear how you deal with your nerves
and if you have any superstitions,
so please, drop them in the comments section below.
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