By Barbara J. Walker, Ph.D.

Have you ever lost sleep the night (or several nights) prior to a race? Have you ever gone out too fast, having planned a 7:00 minute pace, but find out you've completed the first mile in 6.00? Do you feel relaxed and easy during practice, but tight during competition? Do you lack good control over your mind and muscles, feeling unable to relax and be loose through a quick method of your own? If so, read on!

Controlling your energy level in sport is about controlling both emotional and physiological energy. That is, dealing with what happens to your body and mental state prior to an event, when a demand situation arises in competition, or something happens in your general life that impacts on your training or competition,

While we usually think of "negative” emotions needing control, positive emotions such as excitement and satisfaction also need to be understood and used correctly to support performance and other mental skills. When you know what your best level of energy is, what situations trigger changes in you, and then how to adjust, you will have powerful tools for competition and other lifestyle pursuits.

Obviously, all athletes need a certain amount of mental energy or motivation to accomplish a task; however, some need more than others to perform at the same level, Too much or too little mental energy can be detrimental to your performance. That’s why it's important for you to take the time to find out what works for you. Each person has his or her own optimal state, of performance. What techniques work for some, may not work for others - it's all individual. Learn what works for you, personally.

Acceptance of the fact that you have control over your own behavior and anxiety allows you to learn and develop skills and strategies necessary to consciously regulate your responses in order to maintain an optimal level of performance. Our bodies tend to do what they are told to do; the trick is to communicate with our bodies. The same principle, applies whether we want to learn to relax and calm down or "'psych" ourselves up to reach that optimal state.

When your mental energy is low (e.g., feeling flat, tired, or depressed), performance is probably also low. If your arousal or anxiety is too high (e.g., feeling nervous, angry, or rushed), performance will once again fall away. There is an optimal level - your ideal performance state - when the right amount of energy activates you to your best level of performance. Awareness of what you do and need is key.

Below are some suggestions for increasing or decreasing your energy levels prior to performance. What you need to do it is set your pre-performance energy level at a point where errors are least likely to occur, or at least emotional recovery is possible. With knowledge of your optimal level, control strategies can be learned to maintain this during competition, or at least in the crucial moments of action.

Ways to increase your energy level are: 1) Having your own performance goals; 2) Vigorously warm-up; 3) Stretching and deep breathing; 4) Talking to others, being positive and enthusiastic; 5) Listening to up-beat music; 6) Making sure you are well rested and recovered; 7) Taking control of your thoughts - not allowing yourself to think about being tired; 8) Talking positively to yourself about your training leading up to the event and about your upcoming performance,

Ways to decrease your energy level (decrease your nervousness) are: 1) Identifying the source of stress and dealing with it; 2) Making sure your equipment is organized well in advance of the race; 3) Listening to soft, relaxing music; 4) Knowing whether you need solitude or to be around others, and follow accordingly; 5) Doing some deep breathing exercises to get yourself centered and ready to race, 6) Talking positively to yourself about your training and performance.

Like all mental skills, controlling your energy needs practice to work consistently. Sometimes this is hard to do in practice, as true competitive feelings may not arise among your running partners. It may be necessary for you to sit down after a competition and remember the feelings you had at various times, and identify what worked and didn't in terms of controlling your physiological and emotional energy. Use the following exercises as a guideline to help further develop your energy management skills:

1) List three things that drain your physical and emotional energy for training (things that make you feel drained, tired, or flat for practices)

2) List three things that charge your physical and emotional energy for training (things that make you feel fired up, high energy, or psyched for practices)

3) List three things that drain your physical and emotional energy for competition (things that make you feel drained, tired, or flat while competing)

4) List three things that charge your physical and emotional energy for competition (things that make you feel fired up, high energy, or psyched while competing).

Take control of your environment, adding as many charges as you can and eliminating as many drains as you can, Good luck and see you on the tarmac!

If you'd like more information and/or there are other challenges keeping you from
performing your best, please feel free to contact me for an individual consultation.

Editor's Note: Dr. Walker is an Ironman triathlete and Boston Marathoner, as well as a Sport Psychologist in private practice. She is available for individual and group consultation, as well as half-and full day workshops. She may be reached through e-mail or by phone at 513.961.8400.