How do you know if you’re race-ready?

You signed up for your goal race months ago, and after weeks of training, the day is almost here. You’re probably feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves, and perhaps even a bit of self-doubt. How do you know if you’re truly race-ready? Before negative self-talk starts to creep in, evaluate if you satisfy these three criteria, and if you do, you can be confident that you’re ready to go!

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You’re healthy

If you want to run well, while also enjoying the experience, you need to be healthy when you toe the start line. This means you should be injury-free and feeling well. As tempting as it can be to race even if you’re dealing with an injury, you will only make things worse and will likely not perform at your best, either. The same goes if you’re sick. There will always be more races, so if you’re injured, you’re better off cheering your running buddies on from the sidelines, and if you’re sick, you should just stay home and get better.

You’ve done the training

Sure, there may have been a few hiccups along the way (you missed a workout here and a long run there), but as long as you’ve done the majority of your training and tapered properly, you can feel confident that you’ve done everything you can to be ready. It’s time to trust your training and get out there to find out what you can do.

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You’re excited!

This is arguably the most important part of the equation — you know you’re ready to race when you really want to do it. Of course, you’re probably going to be a bit nervous as race day approaches, but you should be excited, too. At the end of the day, racing should be a fun experience and be something you look forward to, not dread.