Before stepping up to the start line, distance runner Emma Bates straightens her hair. She says it helps her feel faster. Before leaving for the track on race day, Drew Windle, middle distance runner with the Brooks Beast Track Club, lies in child’s pose on his hotel bed. While it looks a little awkward, he says it keeps him from going stir-crazy and calms his race-day nerves. After pinning on his bib, Garrett Heath, who also runs for Brooks Beasts, meticulously folds his jersey and places it back in his bag. Then he drinks some coffee and listens to this prerace playlist.
While rituals are a centerpiece in religious and spirituality practices, pre-performance rituals have become a mainstay in the world of sports. And it’s no surprise that many runners—from age-groupers to the pros—have their own series of quirky behaviors they perform before a big race in the hopes of aligning the stars and influencing their performance.
It makes sense. There’s a lot of uncertainty that comes with competition. “Performance settings often present a host of unknowns for the athlete. How will I stand up against my competitors? Will the weather be in my favor? Was my training sufficient? Rituals may help eliminate some of the nerves that are just part of the deal in competitive sport,” explains Kelsey Griffith, performance enhancement and rehab specialist at We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
But do these seemingly kooky and arbitrary actions actually lead to better performance outcomes?
Why Are We Drawn to Prerace Rituals?
Humans are wired to seek out and latch on to rituals. The brain doesn’t like disorder or chaos and tries to make meaning wherever and whenever possible. Rituals help establish a sense of meaning and control in the unpredictable world.
For that reason, rituals aren’t just a series of actions thrown together randomly and haphazardly. They are formalized, repeated behaviors that follow a specific script and are highly individual. We tend to believe we have to do it just so, explains Nick Hobson, Ph.D., behavioral scientist and expert on rituals. We think if we fail to do the ritual properly, all sorts of disastrous outcomes will follow. And if you do complete the ritual correctly, “you are satisfying a deep need for certainty and predictability,” he says.
Rituals also embody a great deal of meaning, symbolism, and storytelling, which may explain why they are often connected to special or high-stakes scenarios like race day. “One of the primary reasons we stick to what we know works, or what we think works, prior to a race is that it helps us feel in control prior to a moment that matters,” says Denver-based sports psychologist Justin Ross, Psy.D. “Racing happens but a handful of times a year for most of us, and the event takes on a special significance. That’s why putting your training clothes in a heap on the floor the night before a routine training run works just fine, but also feels significantly insufficient the night before a race.”
Yet, there’s often no logical connection between the behaviors themselves and the desired outcome, making the ritual seem silly and a little zany on the surface. It’s also what sets rituals apart from routines where the sequence of actions are directly connected to the desired outcome. For example, routinely setting out clothes the night before an early morning run helps a runner get out of the door at the crack of dawn. On the other hand, laying out your clothes in a specific order—socks, then shorts, and then shirt—doesn’t necessarily guarantee a killer morning workout.
What Role do Prerace Rituals Play?
For athletes, pre-performance rituals signal that it’s go time. “The idea is to pair certain thoughts and behaviors with the anticipated performance in order to alleviate nerves and establish focus,” says Griffith. “They help the athlete get into the right headspace to go out and perform optimally.”
Researchers have begun to take a closer look at how rituals may lead to better performance. According to a 2016 pilot study Shoes & Gear Health & Injuries, rituals reduced pre-performance anxiety in high-stakes, high-pressure situations. They also resulted in a lower heart rate and improved performance. A more recent study examined how rituals influence levels of anxiety. “We know that some level of anxiety is good but too much can be debilitating and disruptive to performance,” says Hobson, who is the lead author of the study. Specifically, they looked at how the brain responds to mistakes by measuring error-rated negativity (ERN), what Hobson describes as the brain’s “oh sh*t signal.”
What they found was that compared to a control group, those who performed a ritual behavior were less anxious while still able to perform within the optimal zone. “A ritual may quell anxiety and quiet part of brain, muting it just enough so they can continue on and perform,” says Hobson. In other words, rituals may help the brain find the anxiety sweet spot—a level that’s neither too much nor too little, but just right. As a result, athletes may continue to push in the face of challenging situations, like a competitor nipping at your heels or a race day that doesn’t go entirely according to plan.
[Races - Places The Best Running Music to Add to Your Playlist.]
Prerace rituals can also help athletes connect back to a sense of trust and give them a sense of control in a highly unpredictable environment, according to Ross. It reminds the athlete that they’ve been there and done that. “They help control the emotional experience, making it feel more manageable,” he says. Hobson says rituals can also act as a self-signaling mechanism. “If I successfully complete this ritual action, I’ve succeeded, and it gives me confidence that I can succeed in the behaviors that follow,” says Hobson. “Success begets success.”
Go-To Prerace Rituals
Hundreds of studies show that consuming caffeine before a physical challenge helps you go farther and faster. This shot also contains CBD to help ease rerace nerves so you get a buzz without the jitters.
Build your personalized and adaptive
These wireless, sweat-resistant headphones will help you get pumped with your favorite prerace playlist and get in the zone thanks to the over-ear style.
Health - Injuries
Drinking coffee about an hour before your event will offer the best performance benefits according to research—and it can even help you make that necessary prerace bathroom trip.
Does Running Burn Fat
Work on your prerace visualization with a meditation app like Headspace that features performance and training-based programs.
Is There Such a Thing as Too Much of a Good Thing?
But there’s a fine line between a pre-performance ritual that helps settle an athlete’s nerves and one that tips into obsessive territory. Athletes need to find a balance that works for them. For example, while eight-time national champion Emma Coburn likes consistency before a race—the same prerace meal, warmup drills, and visualization exercise—she keeps it simple. “I don’t like to have any ‘lucky’ things that I have to have. I try to steer clear of relying on luck or superstitions,” she says.
“The challenge with rituals comes when an athlete establishes a cause and effect relationship,” says Griffith. For instance, if you wear your lucky socks, then you will PR. “With this if/then relationship, an athlete starts to believe that without the ritual, she or he won’t, or will be far less likely, to experience success,” says Griffith. The athlete may begin to lose his or her sense of control over the situation, and everything the athletes has done to prepare for competition except for the ritual seems null and void.
While more research is needed to understand the role of rituals in sports performance, researchers and mental skills coaches still believe they can be a powerful tool in a runner’s arsenal. “Most athletes readily admit that their sport entails some mental component, be it performing under pressure, managing nerves, or navigating challenging self-talk,” says Griffith. “Pre-performance routines can serve great purpose for athletes, both in practice and competition.”
Christine Yu is an award-winning journalist and author of the book Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes. Her work focuses on the intersection of sports science and women athletes. She's a lifelong athlete who loves running, yoga, surfing, and skiing.
