Injury often occurs when you expose your body to something it’s not able to handle. To reduce the risk of this, firstly make sure you are taking the time to gradually increase the intensity of the training you are doing. For example, if you are new to running, don’t try and do 10 miles on your first run. As your body adapts and adjusts over time, you can increase the distance, intensity and time of training to build up to longer times and distances.
Give yourself enough time to build up your higher intensity training, make a plan and make sure you have some lower intensity weeks in there too. This will help recover and mitigate risk of injury.
Before your event day, it may be useful to come up with a plan of what you will need on the day. That way you can prepare everything and make sure you don’t forget anything. Make sure you keep on top of your nutrition and hydration in the lead up to an event and get plenty of rest. The final 2-3 weeks leading into any event should be a taper, so less exercise and more rest.
On the day - eat well, hydrate well and enjoy the experience!