Goals and Racing
Your potential on race day is set not by what you think and do while racing, but by the background running that has come before. What’s going to happen on race day is going to happen, and what’s not is not. Relax. Take it as it comes.
All we can do is dampen our ability on race day with excessive nerves and negative thought.
Don’t fight yourself. Race day is for realizing the full potential of your efforts in training. Don’t think, just run. Meaning pace, position, and time all have their place as records of what happened, but can get in the way of racing while it’s happening. A good or bad race cannot be judged on the outcome alone. Our response during competition is what will shape our result. Seek a strong response and shun any urge of a weak reply.
You may have specific race day goals. They may have fueled your training. But most goals are stopping a place when they relate to racing performance. People stop when they fall short of them, and often when they reach them. The only goal should be to get everything out of yourself on race day. To do this you have to maintain health, be in good spirits, and stay hungry. All of which, coincidentally, will allow you to fully realize your potential on race day.