hey I'm next Simmons two-time Olympian
and the CEO of the energy gun company
run going I love love interaction with
my fans and I try to answer all their
questions do me a favor go to my
Instagram shoot me a DM with whatever
question you have I always say nothing's
off-limits and every Monday I'll answer
another one here on YouTube let's get to
today's question today's question how do
you deal with pre-race nerves / anxiety
that will negatively impact your race
what a fantastic question I'm glad that
this is the one we're starting with
because every time I go on camera live I
do get a little bit nervous at the same
kind of excitement and nurse that I used
to feel when I would stand on the line
of a big race and nerves and anxiety you
know I think all the time we think about
them as a negative thing but we don't
have to think about them in a negative
way if you really frame them in your
mind to think of them as a positive
thing as something that can help you you
start to get excited about them and let
me tell you what I mean by that I
remember when I was in high school and I
knew I had a race that afternoon I get
so nervous you guys know what I'm
talking about and I would think how can
I get out of this race I bet you if I go
to the nurse and I throw up she won't
make me race or if I twist my ankle in
the warmup I won't have to run this race
and instead of looking at the race as an
opportunity I was looking at ways to get
out of it of course as I got farther
along in my career I started to begin to
think of them as opportunities so first
start to think of each race as an
opportunity rather than something that
you know you've almost dread because of
the nerves and anxiety and to when those
nerves come when no matter how excited
you are for race you're gonna feel
nervous you're gonna feel a little bit
anxious learn to embrace those those
feelings are adrenaline and as we know
from science class adrenaline is a very
very powerful drug that our body
produces that fight-or-flight drug and
if you harness that for good it will
help you do superhuman things as I got
later on in my career I remember that
sometimes I would run a race that maybe
wasn't super important to me and I
couldn't get nervous for it and I missed
I missed feeling nervous because I knew
that I wasn't getting the adrenaline
coursing through my veins that I needed
when I stood on the starting line of the
2012 Olympic final in London I had so
much nerve so much adrenaline and I just
thought this is going to be a special
race because I'm going to harness this
energy and I'm going to put it to use
and I ran a full second personal best in
that final to finish fifth in the world
in that Olympic final so if you can look
you're not going to get rid of them but
you have to learn to embrace them a
little bit you have to get excited about
that nervous energy and use it for good
the best thing I can say though is try
to take your mind off of it don't allow
yourself to think about a race two weeks
leading into it because that energy is
just gonna wear you down teach yourself
how to channel your mind to think about
other things
watch crappy TV read a magazine read a
book talk to your friends but try not to
think about the race until you're about
a couple hours out otherwise you're
gonna waste that energy
great question all right I hope you
found that helpful again head over to my
Instagram account ask me any question
you have I'm gonna try to get to all of
them in the meantime thank you guys so
much for subscribing my youtube channel
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every one of you
you