The alarm is set for 4:30. It's 10:40 and you're still looking for a sock.

The evening decides how much of tomorrow is already solved

Dinner slides to 8:30, the gear hunt starts at 10, and then you're lying there at 11 running the morning in your head because none of it is settled. What this evening really controls is how many decisions are still waiting for you at 4:30am. Every one you settle tonight is one you don't have to make on five hours of sleep.

Set bedtime as the deadline and space the evening behind it

Put your lights-out time in and Ready Time spreads the rest out ahead of it: dinner early enough to settle, kit laid out, bib pinned to the shirt you're actually wearing, gear-check bag packed, watch charged, two alarms set. One trick runners pass around is laying the kit out flat on the floor in the shape of a person, so getting dressed in the dark is one step instead of nine. Put the bag by the door as soon as it's packed. Then a rough night costs you sleep and nothing else. Racing a bike instead? Switch the plan to the cycling tab and the gear steps become tire pressure, bottles and the number on your jersey.

What do you do the night before a 5K or a half marathon?

The gear list is the same at any distance, but the clock is a lot easier. A 7am 5K doesn't need dinner moved or the bedtime pulled forward the way a marathon does, so the evening is mostly the gear half of the plan. The steps worth keeping at any distance are pinning the bib and checking parking, because small local races often hold packet pickup on race morning, and parking can be tighter than at a big event. Put your own bedtime into the plan below and the whole evening shifts with it.