Hello Again!
I hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation! Location wise I find myself back in Holland till the end of August.
My goal this year was to achieve 6000 points and qualify for the World Championships, however I didn't reach my goal. After finishing second at the Canadian National Championships and a score of only 5710 points, I took a break from training. I enjoyed being home with family and friends, and lots of good food without following an eating schedule!
While I was home, I requested the help of Sport Canada and found myself in the hands of a sport psychologist working out of Toronto. Tom is working to help “normalize” my experience of this past year and bring my awareness to the fact that every athlete will experience a moment like this in his or her career, more or less.
Our primary goal is about clearing my expectations and learning to get back to enjoying my sport. I am taking some space and rest from times, distances, standards and the milestone of 6000 points, which I chased all year. I am trying to gain some perspective on these goals to understand their true place.
This year, I was faced with a reality check of sorts. I came to Holland this year prepared to train hard and adjust to a new setting. However, I ask now if it was too much of a good thing?! I thought it was great, training in a great location, great coach, training mates and what seemed an ideal living situation. However, it was all track! The largest difficulty I had this year was that I lacked a support system. I had just me here and it was just training and recovery, training and recovery. With that, more and more of my identity became wrapped up in my performance. Therefore, at this moment I need to learn to remove my self worth from falling short.
Things are going well. I am learning to keep things simple and get back to enjoying just the movements of my sport. I am feeling sure that I will be stronger for going through this year and be ready to resume my path to London, 2012 Olympics!
For now, my plan is to compete in Woerden, The Netherlands (August 29/30) and to finish off my season, I will compete at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut, Lebanon (October 03/04).
Your Athlete,
Susan
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteHey how your summer vacation going mine is going well thx for asking lol, so do you make any new friends when your doing compition well thats all for now bye!
*Danielle*
Hi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteYou know I've said before I love the travel part of my sport ... competitions in Italy, France, and later this year Beirut, Lebanon! I've travelled places I maybe never would have seen outside sports and made some great friends. Thanks to today's technology it's so easy to stay in touch and check in from time to time and beside that, well I can always look forward to the next competition where we'll run into each other again ... track folks are a special family for me, and a big part of my sport!
Susan
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying and thays is so cool!
Bye 4 now
~Danielle~