The next questions you have to ask yourself are, "Why are you in your head?" and, "What are you trying to achieve and how are you trying to experience it?"  Understanding why you're second guessing yourself lets you realize what is you want and lets you reflect on why that's what you want. Once you know what it you want to achieve, you have to ask yourself how you're going to achieve that. 

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How do you relate this all to running? This is how I've used it to apply to my running:

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In a race when I ask myself where I need to be, I take into consideration what my place is in the race, how far along I am in the race, am I doing all that I can, how much is left in the race, and sometimes, depending on the meet, how many medal. However, in my races I have been trying to not overthink everything that is going on around me because it often takes me out of "zone," and instead tell myself to trust myself and the work I've put in. When training, whether that be during the season or in the offseason, I look at what my times are, what my goals are, and how long I have to reach those goals. 

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When I asked myself why I'm in my head, it's simply because I'm overthinking myself, self-doubting, and not trusting in my abilities. What I'm trying to achieve is what I've dreamed of for years now; getting to compete in cross country and track at Alma College after high school. Once I realized why I was in my head so much, I had to figure out how to fix those things. Before I realized these things and was able to fix them, I didn't care about experiencing what I was trying to achieve. I was too consumed with achieving it that I never realized the importance of how I was going to experience getting there. Once I fixed those things, I was able to figure out how I wanted to experience accomplishing my dream. 

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Going into your race, you should be focused. You shouldn't be worrying about that pre-calc test you have first thing in the morning tomorrow or that english essay about that book you haven't started reading yet and is due in three days. When I get on that line, my mind is thinking about how I'm going to make it around that sharp corner one hundred and fifty yards into the race. Everyone has their own way of preparing for their races. I have a specific playlists I listen to on the bus nd while getting ready for my race. I don't add or delete any songs from this playlist, and I always skip the same songs. I sit on the bus with my earbuds in and my music blaring, and before I know it the only thing I'm thinking about is my race. 

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It's important to go into competition focused. For some, that's watching their favorite youtuber, and for others that may be listening to their favorite Justin Bieber song right before they get on the line. Whatever it may be for you, you should be ready for anything that could happen in your race.