COUNTDOWN!!

Well well, I am still alive. Despite my absence from my blog all is going very well. A couple quick notes to get out of the way:

1) I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season

2) Happy New Year to everyone

3) For those whom aren't keeping track of the calendar, the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships are taking place next week in St. Paul, MN.


Being that nationals are next week, I'm going to try and keep a daily post until I leave for St. Paul--Tuesday the 22nd; this could be anything from a small thought to a rant or run-down from the day... be warned! I can't promise anything after that as I'm not sure about Internet availability, but I'll see what I can do about keeping up during the actual week of competition.

The last two weeks of training have been about 200% of anything I've done so far this season. This doesn't mean that I've only been skating better, but my head is in the right place. With nationals approaching, it's important to stay on top of the game and not let up. There's very little time for puttsing (sp?) around so it's important to do whatever necessary to stay on track. I've spent some active time writing goals and phrases to tell myself that help keep me operating in a goal-oriented direction. Every day I remind myself of these goals and every day I say these little things. Example: "I'm a great skater." Sounds cocky and ridiculous, I know... but it's all about putting yourself in whatever mindset you need to accomplish your goal. Right now, that's confidence, optimism, and positivity.

Today I did two clean programs--a short and a long--and one short program where I only missed the combination jump. This is a HUGE booster with nationals coming up. The most important aspect of training is to prove to yourself you can do something. Often times, as athletes we sell ourselves short of our actual potential. Even better there are times when we can surprise ourselves with our own capabilities--but you have to stay on your game, even in practice. Don't worry, it only took me about 300 years to learn that... just kidding, but it literally took me about 14 years--that's a lot of time spent practicing and reinforcing habits that don't get you very far. The best part of it all, it's the mental training that's going to pay off!!!!!

I mentioned that one of my programs today was not clean. This was the first one I did. I specifically noted the point in my program where my mind lost track and rather than focusing on what I was doing, putting myself if the best position for my next element, or staying "present" (in the moment), I was thinking.... "oh my god, this is almost a perfect program--don't screw it up.... woh, you did your [triple] axel and loop--only one more and this will be clean... just keep yourself together, the axel was good, the loop was good, hopefully the lutz will be good... ah, if only I can do this lutz, this will be the best program I've done... BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!! That's ALL wrong. What's already happened is over--don't let it into your head; landed or not landed, jumps that you've already done are independent of the next and the next and the next. Each jump deserves it's own approach completely free of any baggage from the previous. It's fun to get pumped, but you can't back off thinking you'll save yourself. Stay aggressive. Keep yourself in attack mode and any peripheral nonsense can be shut out--DON"T LET IT IN!!! They're YOUR thoughts, make them what you want. Not 10 minutes later I was doing my short program again. Landed triple axel. Landed triple loop. Landed triple lutz double toe. That was that. I was not thinking ahead of myself and I was not thinking about what just happened. I keep it in my head and as I go I remind myself, "this is triple axel; I do triple axel... this is triple loop; I do triple loop... this is triple lutz double toe; I do triple lutz double toe. Each element is free of judgement, free of doubt and consequently executed the way I know how to do them.

Even now, sometimes I have a tendency to let up after a really good day, thinking to myself, "it's in the bag!" In reality it's not over 'til it's OVER. Yes today was great, but I have four more days this week, and nationals next week; no one cares about today. Tomorrow I will go to the rink do what I do every day the same way I did today. I will have no regard for what happened the previous day, how well it went or how badly it went; I will also be free of forecasts--an axel, loop and lutz combo today don't mean anything for tomorrow or next week; I will take each jump at a time, independent of the others until all jumps in my program are completed. It's important [for me] to avoid the spikes--the highs and lows that come with an emotional reaction to an accomplishment or failure. Nationals is next week. The best I can do is rehearse EVERY DAY the way I want to perform next week. Am I capable of a clean program? YES!! Any other problems I have are roadblocks I set up for myself! I will continue to free myself of any unnecessary nonsense that seems to creep into my head at inopportune times and I will continue to train my mind until it's no longer a task... until it's second nature.

Hope everyone's well. Until tomorrow,

Braden