Saturday 16 February 2013

That winning feeling

Having now competed in 5 indoor competitions, I've got the luxury of a three week break before returning to the scene of my first victory in 3 weeks time. Getting that win has done wonders for my confidence, and means I'll be working even harder in training now in the hope of being able to keep bringing my time down. I've started filming my races so that I can analyse my performance afterwards and adjust my training to target the specific parts of my race where I feel I could have done better. Training before and after work again for the next few weeks will be tough after tapering my training down for the competitions, but if I can get under 7.5s this season I'll be pretty pleased and it'll all be worth it. The incorporation of a foam roller and theraband for stretching before and after races has definitely helped my recovery, and this coupled with not drinking and eating better (although still not perfectly!) means I can constantly feel my body adapting to the stresses and pressures of training. Having top international competitions on tv at the moment is great, as it provides a real time barometer for my own performance, and while I still obviously have a long way to go, I'm definitely gaining ground. I'm currently reading Usain Bolt's autobiography as well, and anyone who thinks he is a slacker is having a laugh! I'm hoping that by completely immersing myself in the psychology of what makes top athletes stand out and maintain dominance that I'll be able to adopt some of the same practices and that it'll help my performances improve. What strikes me most is the unwavering sense of self belief that the best sprinters have, and whilst I've never been short of self confidence, I think that the levels of surety that they demonstrate can only be achieved through winning and performing time and time again. With that in mind, I'm already looking forward to the 4 competitions I've got lined up for March. Here's to hoping that I can keep up this winning feeling myself.