Olympic finalist, US champion, Molly Huddle admits she's a "grade A weenie" on a daily basis. How does this self proclained "worrier" peform like a bada** warrior when she's on the track, becoming the fastest American of all-time, making the Olympic final, and winning the US Championships? Molly writes and shares her tips on how to best prepare for your next race and become "Race Brave", no matter where you fall on the worrier to warrior spectrum.

Race Brave by Molly Huddle

Here is a partial list of things I have run away from:

• unleashed chihuahua
• most spiders
• one grade school boy-girl party
• routine tetanus shot
• all karaoke

I am not a brave person. I’m the exact opposite, actually; I’m more of a grade ‘A’ weenie. But, being a professional distance runner requires some degree of cool headedness and well, I basically learned it. I studied the apparent grace under pressure of  my sporting idols the way you learn rough choreography to your favorite Destiny’s Child song : you watch and mimic....in your living room.   And you can too! It’s part psychology but mostly just organizing your thoughts. Actually, depending on how you handle stressful situations, you may innately know how to perform.

Some people thrive on race day pressure, while others perform well in practice but can’t seem to hit competitive goals. Regardless of the size of game day aspirations,  race morning usually arrives with a side of adrenaline, which causes a milieu of responses depending on where you are on a scale of ‘worrier’ to ‘warrior’.  You may be able to tell how you respond to such stress already. If you’re more of a ‘warrior’, you’re likely lifted to a new level of performance in races and feel so very alive by high stakes scenarios. ‘Worriers’, perhaps you don’t sleep the night before the race, pee your pants on the start line, forget your shoes or any other negative response to the effects of stress-brain.  But worriers, worry no more, because both categories have strengths, we just need to let them work for us not against us!

Firstly, we ‘worriers’ are good planners, and what race is benefited by excessive, almost obsessive planning and long term preparation than the marathon!? This distance may suit you well, but all distance running falls into this category to an extent so don’t let me limit you here.

Below are some of my favorite ways to control the debris-filled tornado of worries inside your brain, and they basically all entail just writing stuff down:

Molly's Tips for "Worriers"

1.) Write down a schedule for race day logistics including transportation, meal times, any other important locations or instructions , lists of what to bring, etc.

2.) Breakdown your goal.  Is it a specific time? try writing out splits and using them as a guide for piece by piece racing. Smaller steps are less intimidating to think about and make focusing more manageable.

Do you have a place goal? Who can you stay with to hit that pace? What is the most simplified strategy?

3.) Squash the worries and negative thoughts-what are you most afraid of happening? How would you remedy that or deal with it? You may then throw that piece of paper away and also consider coming up with a positive mantra to repeat (sport psychology bonus!)

Now for the Brave among us! You are arguably the cooler crew and I’m not sure why you chose distance running,  but apparently a shortcoming of ‘warriors’ is lack of long term preparation. That combined with your thrill seeking nature might make you more suited for the mile or other shorter races where  tactics and exciting sprint finishes come into play, but that's just a suggestion. Don't let me put you in a box!

Race day is where you naturally shine, but maybe you could shine even brighter with a better long term training routine. Here are some good ways to keep yourself accountable:

Molly's Tips for "Warriors"

1.) Partner up! Training partners keep the runs fun, create synergy and you can feed off any competitive nature by simulating a race.

2.) Get a coach-someone to lay out a plan, motivate you or just straight yell at you to get your work done consistently. I bet a worrier makes a fabulous coach.

3.) Reign in your zest for life until race day-this is just temporary but if your daily life is a series of  all night cram sessions, weekend raves and drifting around the autobahn, maybe tone it down a few weeks before big races to save energy, get enough sleep and focus on the minutia that seems to enhance your running by keeping you uninjured.

Good luck to you spring racers-be you fearsome or fretting, may the competition be fierce!

Molly Huddle

Follow Molly Huddle on Twitter @MollyHuddle

Molly Huddle, US Olympian and 5000m record holder (14m44s), lives and trains in Providence, RI with her husband Kurt Benninger. She trains under the tutelage of "The Guru", Ray Treacy from Providence College and runs for Saucony.  Read an excellent interview with Molly in the latest issues of Freeplay Magazine.

Thanks to Freeplay Magazine and PhotoRun for the use of the photos for this article.

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