The obstacle course: Olympians have to expect the unexpected in order to succeed. Here's what you can learn from them

YOU'RE IN PEAK CONDITION for the big race. You've turned training into a science, logging your miles, monitoring your heart rate, nailing your intervals, eating and resting like a pro. But suddenly, your preparation seems like it was all for naught. You step off the plane at your race destination and into an unexpected heat wave. Or maybe you're in the middle of a race and your bike won't shift into the gear you need. From a weather change to equipment failure to a sudden bout of the flu or nerves, the one thing you can expect--and the one thing you can't exactly train for--is the Big U; the unexpected.

None of this means your race is doomed. We asked Olympic athletes and a noted sport psychologist for secrets to keeping calm, cool and collected when encountering bumps in the road, and we discovered how you can learn to go with the flow.

OBSTACLE NO. 1: UNEXPECTED WEATHER

Weather is one of the biggest unexpected factors encountered going into a competition. "When I ran the 2003 Boston Marathon, predictions were for 55 degrees and light rain, but we got 70 degrees and dry heat," says Marla Runyan, who finished fifth that day and raced the 1,500 meters in the 2000 Olympics. Runyan, who hopes to compete in the Athens Olympics, advises adjusting your game plan if the weather isn't cooperating. "In distance running, if it's hot, you should start off slower and run a more tactical race. Otherwise you could get into trouble later on."

One way to prepare for the elements is to visualize yourself in tough conditions; says research psychologist Steven Ungerleider, PhD, author of Mental Training for Peak Performance (Rodale Press, updated edition scheduled for 2005). "Olympic athletes often visualize heat and imagine that sense of being dragged down by it, so that when they do encounter it, they feel like they've already been through it."

On the flip side, rainy weather also can put a damper on sports, as two-time Olympian (road biking in 1996, mountain biking in 2000) and Athens Olympics hopeful Alison Dunlap can confirm. "At one race, in the Canadian Rockies, it was sunny the day before, and then on race day the temperature dropped 40 degrees and it was pouring down rain and even starting to snow." Dunlap recalls. "It's important to realize that everyone is dealing with the same conditions, and not everyone will deal with it well. It's easy to get upset, but I just tried to laugh it off because there's nothing you can do."

Dunlap's strategy was to break the race into smaller goals. "I'd think, 'OK, I'll just make it to that next climb,' or 'I'll just make it to that next descent,' and before I knew it, I was done. It's amazing how your brain can convince your body to keep going."

OBSTACLE NO. 2: ILLNESS

That hearty bowl of oatmeal you ate for breakfast may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it's not sitting so well. Or maybe you just can't shake that flulike feeling you were hoping would go away. No matter how physically well prepared you are, race day can come accompanied by a host of unexpected illnesses. The key is to listen to your body and know when to fold so you don't end up doing more damage.

When Runyan traveled to Portugal for the 2003 World Half-Marathon Championships, she was already suffering from sinus congestion. With jet lag thrown into that mix, she was feeling dizzy and nauseated before she even toed the starting line. And things didn't improve once the race started. "I felt like I couldn't breathe, as if my lungs would only expand halfway, and my back and abdominals were tight, squeezing the air out of me," she says. Runyan dropped out after five miles.

"A cold or sickness is usually a symptom of fatigue, that your immune system is weak, so I take that into consideration and adjust my training schedule," she says. Above all, it's not worth risking your health if you're feeling seriously ill during a race--remember that there's always another one on the horizon.

OBSTACLE NO. 3: EQUIPMENT SNAFUS

While some sports don't require much in the way of equipment, even the smallest things--a loose shoelace, a chafing sports bra--can become huge hassles during a big competition. Swimmer Megan Quann, who earned two Olympic gold medals in 2000 and hopes to compete in Athens, learned this the hard way during a recent competition. "My goggles actually fell off my face in the water because I had forgotten to tighten them," she says. "And by the time I finished, they were all the way around my neck. I just kept going. You have to learn to let things slide off your back."

Perhaps no athletes know more about equipment failures than those who depend on bikes. "During a mountain bike race, you're responsible for your own bike problems," says Dunlap. "A broken chain or derailleur can take 10 minutes to fix. Instead of screaming and crying on the side of the trail, you just have to shift your goal: If your goal was to win, you now have to say, 'OK, I'm going to try and pass as many people as I can'; just finishing becomes your goal." Bring along extra tools and tubes--and know your way around them--so you can be a smooth operator when problems crop up.