It's time!
I only had one event today but it's the one I care about most - the freeskate!
30 Minute Practice - I registered for a 30 minute practice so I could get a feel for competition ice. In the past, my practice ice sessions on competition day were filled with bloopers and anxiety. This time, however, I was calm and collected and everything went as planned. Yay!
5 Minute Warm Up - After my practice session, I had enough time to take my skates off for a brief spell before needing to put them on again for the warm up and main event. I was able to listen to some relaxing music and zone out for a bit and I think that was really helpful in getting me to that calm place where I perform at my best. It didn't feel like a lot of time but it did the trick. When we all got on for our warm-ups, I was as cool as a cucumber! Everything in the warm-up went as planned. I landed everything and my spins were fine. In fact, with just a minute left in warm up, I was done. I just wanted to get out there and skate!
The Main Event! - I was the third skater to go on so I still felt plenty warmed up and the urge to get out there and kick ass was still strong. So, how did it go? Honestly, I think this was the best I've ever skated my program! My camel spin was one of the best ones I've ever done, I had expression, my jumps landed, and everything had flow. I got the job done!
Results - Out of seven skaters, I placed FIRST! Gold Medal! If you want to watch the video, here it is!
Final Thoughts - I feel like I have finally found the thing that works for my anxiety. It worked in Cody when I slayed on my freeskate, it worked on test day when I passed Silver Moves, and it worked today. Tuning the world out and listening to calm music really gets my heart rate down and stops me from obsessing and overthinking about what I'm about to do. It took me four years of testing and competing to figure this out but hey, now I know and now I can use this every time I'm about to do a big thing :)
No comments:
Post a Comment