Today is a travel day. I don’t normally get mentally prepared or get the butterflies for big competition until I have to travel. I try to travel close enough to the competition time to get there be settled without having have to be there for long periods of time. I tend to lift best, taper best, and cut weight best at home. That being said the taper bug is certainly taking effect. I’m all kinds of anxious to get on the platform as my body feels prepared and ready for this competition. The weight cut has gone smoothly and I don’t believe that I could be any more prepared than I am right now. That being said at last year’s Nationals I felt the same way. I was tapered well, I didn’t have to cut weight, and I was as prepared physically as I’ve ever been. I bombed that meet. This year’s redemption year for me as I look to hit numbers I did not last year, obviously get a total, and make up for a few mental mistakes last year.
The difficult and often most stressful part about preparing for meets as big as Nationals is that you can prepare perfectly and be the most ready you’ve ever been but with a couple of mental mistakes on game day you can ruin all of that preparation. National and I’m sure International competitions always run differently than local meets. Timing attempts is different. The wait time is different. Picking your attempts in order to maximize your total is always different when you’re not the one following yourself every time. I’m anxious to redeem last year but I know that it would be unwise of me to disregard the lessons I learned in March of last year.
There are three big lessons to remember at meets like this:
1-Stay within yourself. Don’t let other lifters and outside distractions impact the weight you put on the bar. The meet doesn’t really start until after you’ve made your first CJ.
2- Make lifts. I know this sounds simple but in most cases the lifter who makes the most attempts always tends the land near the top. Make lifts!
3- Be confident. No matter the weight on the bar, I have prepared all year for this meet. Be confident in your training, in your coaching, and your capability. God didn’t create me to fail. He gave me the talents and the character traits to develop their talents. Failure can only be because I don’t trust in what He has given me.
One more day…
To God Be The Glory!
n
nOn a sidenote I can already envision the Kolaches and milkshakes going to be consumed on Saturday night and all next week. 🙂