Running races requires much, much more than entering a race from the runners world’s website and putting on your brand new pair of New Balance trainers, taking to the start line without so much as a bye or a leave.

This is a guide to enable any runner who wishes to approach their race day with a smooth elegance and organised stress free result.

So where to start, well preparation, should any runner wake up on a race day without background of preparation then there is a great risk of complications.

So you should always have done the following;

1. Followed a program of training over the specified period prior to the race.
2. Ensured that any injuries are rested and healed prior to the race day.
3. Worn your trainers, and indeed all your race kit, many times prior to the race day.
4.  Have run the complete distance at least once if not many times.
5. Have a plan of how you wish to run the race, what your goals are and how you will achieve them.
6. Have practised visualising successful training sessions and races that you have enjoyed in the recent past.

How do these things help you and if they haven’t been done what are the risks you may well ask? Well running races, is as mental a task as it is physical. You cannot be successful if one or both are lacking. So lets discuss how each of these elements can help you.

1. Following a program will not only have physically prepared you, it will have also given you the peace of mind that you are prepared and that nothing has been left to chance. Should you have neglected to undertake the vast majority of sessions suggested then the doubts will be in your mind and the targets you have may be unachievable because you are just not fit enough in a physical sense. In this state you will not perform optimally.

2. Doubts about your injury status will affect how you approach your running. Should you have an injury, you may try to nurse your way through, but in this environment you cannot achieve a good performance and evidence suggests that injury reoccurrence is much more likely, leading to frustration and disappointment. If in doubt, do not run in a race.

3. Why would you ever not road test your kit? Brand new trainers can rub, be uncomfortable. They might be the ruin a running races that your physical and mental state could otherwise have beaten your personal best. However it doesn’t stop there, does your running vest or shorts rub when they get sweaty, is your stopwatch functional, will your socks be comfortable? Any distraction will weaken your resolve on the very day that you want to be at your very best. Why waste your opportunity by being unprepared?

4. Running a distance can be the biggest challenge, once completed, then you can concentrate on performance and this unburdens an unnecessary thought process…can I even make it round the course you will be asking yourself? Why leave this to chance? Any good training program will take you up to the maximum distance at least once prior to the race. Having run it, you will have the warm glow of confidence that it is in the bag, then you can concentrate on running to the best of your ability.

5. If you have no idea how you will run you will be passive, you will allow other runners and the conditions around you to dictate your event.

Say you have set a time to run each kilometre, or that you will try and run the second half faster then the first, you have the beginnings of a plan.

This will hopefully stop you running faster than is sensible because you want to keep up with someone who you think you should be beating!

Or perhaps without a plan you will forget to think about what you can achieve and either limp along too slowly or race so fast that by halfway your tongue is lolling about like an overweight dog! Too few people actually stop and think what do I want from this? Never, never step on a start line in this mindless state or risk an equally apathetic result.

6. Running races can elicit fears of all sorts in the mind of an athlete. You can forget that you have run this race in training, or that your body has never felt fitter. You can worry about your friend who is faster than you or the man stood next to you who has better trainers. All this is just white noise, be single minded, remember what you have done to be ready. Enjoy the success in your recent memory and cast aside the negative thoughts that will inevitably invade your mind. Think positively and imagine your perfect race, replay it again and again to quell the nervous moments before the gun sparks you forth into the event you have been working towards for weeks or maybe months.

So what’s so hard about running race? Nothing if you reach the start line secure in the principles above. Do not be the crazy fools who leave an element to chance on the most important days in your running? My opinion, as with all opinion, is subject to criticism. However in most walks of life perfect preparation will always lead to a utopia in results. Who would not aspire to utopia?

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