You’ve spent months training for it, avoided beers out too often, got up earlier, gone to bed later, read everything you can on the internet, planned and todays the day.

You woke extra early and missed breakfast because who can eat at 5am? You’ve driven to the venue, but the traffic was worse than you expected. You’ve got to the sign in line, but everyone else is there as well and the guy at the front forgot his ID. You finally get registered and find your space but hey, the laces on your best shoes snap.

Still got your A game?

The fact is, you are no longer prepared. You’ll take part but you will not be your best.

Why?

The early start might have been a bit too much and not what your body was used to.

The drive, a few hours, has left you stiff and knotted  up, with no time to work it out.

The queue to register has dumped more adrenaline into your bloodstream, knocking your glucose levels off, which combined with the lack of breakfast, has left you energy depleted before you even start.

Snapped laces, normally just one of those things, throw you into a negative mental place.

Competition is going to suck.

Lets have another go:

You’ve done the training and planned it through, in conjunction with your coach and respected partners. Ignoring web gossip, you know what works for you.

Looking ahead, you start the logistics planning a month before and figure out the event is 2 hours away, allowing another hour for traffic and you’re exceeding your previously defined limits for day travel. Experience has taught you that staying in a local cheap hotel the night before and providing your own breakfast is the best idea in this case, eye mask and ear plugs ready to ensure a good nights rest. You get up and get to the venue early. Register and then spend a while going over your practiced warmup routine, loosening up each joint, rehearsing the skills you’ll need and getting your body ready to perform.

Your laces snap, no biggie. You’ve got the mantra 2 is 1, 1 is none on your critical kit so have spares and thats it swapped out.

You sit quietly and go through some mental drills, visualising the event and seeing yourself perform brilliantly, preparing your mind for the expectation of success, seeing yourself overcome minor annoyances and difficulties easily.

A few deep breath cycles, your favourite tunes buzzing in your head, its go time. This time you’ve got it, you have your A game ready and its now between you and the finish clock.

Go get after it.