Q&A for How to Win a Race

Don't focus on beating the person in first place. Focus on catching the person nearest you, then the next person, and the next, and so on.

Try not to focus on the other runner, but keep your eyes on yur own prize of running to the best of your ability. Use time trials ahead of the race to practice running faster.

Use music. Play a song in your head and keep with the beat. Also, try staying at an 85-90% speed throughout versus 100% in the beginning, which will leave you at 70% by the end.

First do some exercises to warm up, such as jogging in place, jumping jacks, etc. Then, bend over slightly, start running with your right foot, and use long strides.

For distance running, you should stay at the back for the first few laps then outkick your opponents. For shorter runs, try to take an early lead and stay aggressive.

Eat only a small meal an hour or so before the race. A protein shake is ideal. When a stitch hits, hold your arms over your head and take deep breaths.

Every day run hard for about twice the distance of your race. Don't run the day before the race. It's good for you to be out of breath. Otherwise, you're not running hard enough.

What you need to do is stop focusing on the girl and focus on yourself instead by beating your previous score and doing some training. That way you will become faster and you will beat that girl (or another opponent!) one day.

Before a race: Think about using what you've learned to do incredible things in your race. Visualize yourself succeeding. To prepare for a race, get plenty of practice and rest. During a race: If you are behind, don't give up. You can still come back. Think positive thoughts like "I can do it!" but don't think things like "Ugh, I am doing horrible. I think I should quit." Do your best and believe that you can win. After a race: win or lose say positive things to your opponents like "You are a very talented athlete."

Train with him at practice and race him for every training run. Put your heart into every practice and leave all your energy on the track or course. When you race him, stick with him and make a move sometime in the race to leave him in the dust. Don't be shy about rubbing your victory in his face. You should keep each other working hard to run your best races.

Listen to some pumping music -- music that will energize you mentally. Also, for short distances, load up on high-energy foods such as dates or dried figs a minute or two before your race for an instant energy boost.

Yes. If you start out too fast, you can overtire yourself and you won't have any energy left over for the remainder of the race. It's better to go all out when you are closer to the finish, so start slow and gradually build up your speed.

No later than an hour before the race, you should have a light snack. This can be something like a granola bar.

You can't. Some people were born as very talented runners, but some aren't as fast as they can be because they don't work very hard. You can run in races all you want, but if you don't work hard in practice before races, you're never going to get any better.

Practice, eat healthy foods and tell yourself that you can do it!

Eat a meal high in carbs (fruit, bread, pasta, etc) the night before. Fuel well, but more lightly, the day of the race.

You simply can't. Practice is necessary to achieve almost anything in life. Running takes a lot of discipline with practice, healthy eating, and difficult workouts.

You should expect that someone will be ahead of you sometimes. If you train harder than the other runners, you should be able to beat them.

Don't use all your energy at the beginning of the race. Start off with a your moderate speed, and gradually increase it. If you use all your strength at the beginning, you'll get too tired and will end up jogging or even walking by the end.

A tip for a race would be to run 4 km during the week before the race so it is easier when you do 3 km.

By training with her if possible, or running with people who are close to her speed.

Practice and be mentally and physically strong.

Practice hard as often as possible.

The important thing is to run comfortably. Experiment with various stride lengths, and find the one that you can comfortably maintain throughout a race. If you sprint at the end of the race, you may lose that comfort level, but that's to be expected.

Lean forward and take very long strides, using all of your effort to propel yourself forward.

If you have already rained properly, you have to remember to breath, keep going, keep your eye on the prize and don’t wear a jumper or a jacket it will just slow you down.

Try to take slow/even breaths throughout, but if you can't breathe, stop running. If you need an inhaler, get one. If you injure yourself, again, stop running and get medical attention.