Nerves before a rowing race or a 2k: optimally aroused, not dialled up

Every rower gets nerves before a big race or a 2k test, and they never fully go away. What you're after is the sweet spot one of my crewmates used to call optimal arousal, plus a simple way to bring yourself back down when you're too dialled up.

What is optimal arousal in rowing?

One of the guys in our crew used to talk about this term. If you're under-excited, you're not switched on enough. If you're over-excited, you're too switched on. Somewhere in the middle there's a sweet spot where you're locked in to the job at hand, and that's where the best performances happen.

"If you're too aroused, let's just say you perform badly. And if you're under aroused, you perform badly."

Get it right, though, and you perform very well. I put that a bit more colourfully in the video.

What optimal arousal felt like in the Kiwi eight

The best rowing I've ever done in my life came at the Tokyo Olympics. We'd just won our repechage to make the A final, after blowing our Olympic heat. The day before the final, we went out in the morning for a 12k row on the Sea Forest Waterway.

Everyone was rowing with confidence and absolute trust in each other, and everyone was as fit as we'd ever been. We were sitting at rate 20 with a light little tailwind behind us, just cruising at 1:34 pace. We had this easy speed and an unreal rhythm. That's what optimally aroused looked like for us, and five years after the Olympics, it's still the row I remember.

"I know when I'm an 80 year old at the pub, I'm gonna be talking about this mystical row."

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Why I'd get too dialled up before a 2k

Race nerves are one thing. The 2k erg test has its own kind. Our 2k tests for Rowing New Zealand were done on a squash court, with the selectors watching us through the glass. It's about the most high-pressure environment you could imagine. I'd sit on that trials erg feeling like a science experiment.

Often before my big 2k tests I'd be way too dialled up. You want to be excited and ready to go, but you also need to be a little bit calm at the same time. It's a fine balance to tread, and for me it often tipped too far.

How do you deal with nerves before a race?

Start by accepting they're coming. I was nervous racing the Olympic final, and just as nervous in plenty of domestic races here in New Zealand. Nerves are a sign you care about what you're doing, and they won't go away for as long as you care. Everyone gets them, at every level, for their whole career. It's your ability to handle them that makes the difference.

The funny thing is, on the few occasions I wasn't nervous, I almost always had a bad performance. That's the other end of the scale: not switched on enough.

So check in with yourself during the warm-up. You've done your paddling and a few little pieces, you're feeling hyped, and your heart rate's a bit too high for how much work you're doing. That's when you sit back and box breathe:

1. Breathe in for four.
2. Hold for four.
3. Breathe out for four.
4. Hold for four.
5. Repeat.

"Then just sit back, just think about your breathing, in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four, and repeat. That'll bring you down to earth again."

It's so simple. In my 2k erg warm-up it came after the first 15 minutes of steady U3 and U2 rowing: a light paddle, off the erg, a bit of stretching and some box breathing, then back on for the threshold work. It works for race nerves too. When you're feeling nervous before a race, it's the easiest trick there is.

Common mistakes

• Trying to get rid of the nerves. They're never going away. Embrace them and get better at handling them.
• Sitting on the start way too dialled up. More hype isn't more speed. Too aroused, you perform badly.
• Being a hero in the warm-up. I see it all the time: rowers warming up for a 2k on world record splits. Settle down. Warm up on the split you're actually trying to hold.
• Sizing up the opposition. Walking round the boat park hearing who's massive, who's got a big erg score and who won all their seat races is wasted energy and a massive distraction. In my experience, the crews that did a lot of that went pretty badly. I once raced an eight with guys who looked close to seven foot. We beat them, and when I asked one of the big guys his 2k afterwards, it was five seconds slower than mine.

If you train well and then bomb your 2k, I reckon it's a lack of confidence and composure when the pressure comes on. The two erg sessions I did before every big 2k are built to give you that confidence. For the bigger picture, here's what Mahé Drysdale taught me about self-belief.