Summarize this article in one sentence.
Do a few paced sprints to get your heart rate up. Mentally go through the race in your head. Know what times you want to have at each lap. You'll want to start out a little faster than what is necessary to get your target time.  Psychologically, you're going to slow down as you get further into the mile, so make sure this first lap is good to compensate. At the same time, don't spend all of your energy on this lap. A good example would be, if you want to run a 5:00 mile, each lap would need to be 75 seconds. A good time for your first lap would be 71 to 73 seconds. It's not too fast, but it's fast enough to give you some security. This is the lap which should be right on target. In the 5:00 minute mile we mentioned earlier, Lap 2 is the lap which should be exactly 75 seconds, so your time at the halfway point should be 2:26-2:28.  If you've been running 400m sprints, then you'll know the exact pace that you need to run this lap. You'll feel your body's muscle memory click into place. Your adrenaline rush will probably start to wear off midway through this lap, and you'll start feeling it. Stay focused on maintaining your running form and keeping up your pace. Mentally and physically, this is the toughest lap for most people. More often than not, this lap will determine whether you hit your target time or not. Chances are, you will slow down from your original pace.  In our 5:00 mile example, most people will run Lap 3 in between 77 to 78 seconds. However, since the first lap was hopefully strong, this puts us almost perfectly at 3:45. Make a conscious effort to keep pace on this lap or else you will fall behind. Remember, your next lap is the one that counts! This is it. You're almost there. That's what you need to be telling yourself at this point. You probably slowed down on your previous lap, so you need to really strut your stuff on this one and mentally push it to get to that time.  Especially important is the last 200 meters. On most tracks, that's the final curve. This is where you "kick." All that can be said about this lap is that you need to mentally give it your all, and you'll make that target time. Just believe in yourself. For about 6 to 10 seconds as you go around the curves of the track, pick up your pace. This will help you to shave even more seconds off of your time.

Summary:
Start with a pre-race warmup. Run as quickly as possible on Lap 1. Run Lap 2 at a comfortable pace. Dig deep for Lap 3. Lay it all out there on Lap 4. Speed up at the curves.