How can I stop psyching myself out?

Performance anxiety can be a big deal.

There are lots of books on the subject. For me the best thing I could do was overprepare for the event. When I was confident in my preparation my nerves were not a big deal. It is when I had doubts about my preparation that nerves got the better of me. Nerves are a double edge sword. Nerves can get your adrenaline flowing and cause you to have your best performance ever; they can also overwealm you and cause you to underperform.

I remember the most nervous I ever was at a track meet. My team went 2.5 years without loosing a dual meet. We were playing our toughest competitor and a couple of our top athletes were out with injuries. My coach asked me to fill in a spot on the mile relay team. I was mainly shot and discus but I ran 100 yard dash and occasionally 220 or quarter and I never ran relay or practiced exchanges. I knew our team needed every point we could get so I was terrified I’d drop the baton or exchange out of the zone and cost my team a victory. I managed the exchanges and ran my heart out but my relay team didn’t have the speed to place. We lost the meet which was a shame but our coach appreciated that every one of us fought for every possible point. Were it not for injuries we would have easily won but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.