Well, that did not go as planned. After starting the season well and heading to the Lehigh Games feeling confident, I just did not execute the way I had imagined. I had not performed that well the prior week at Princeton, but that can just be a tough place to throw discus due to the sector. I didn't have as much of an all-around great training week leading up to Lehigh as I did before Penn and Bucknell, where I PR'd, but I threw well enough the two days before that I figured I could take advantage of the favorable sector at Lehigh and go get a Nationals qualifying mark. But I think we all know meets often don't go as we want.
I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked the night before the meet, and for whatever reason, during the meet I kept being struck by this weird feeling of lightheadedness, and it was just sort of frustrating not quite finding the groove. I honestly was disappointed and pissed at myself for maybe an hour after I finished competing. It just felt like an excellent opportunity wasted. It helped that I still had a teammate competing after I finished and I needed to get it all together and go root him on. I got the videos of my throws and sent them off to Dane for analysis, and then headed down to Philadelphia to enjoy the last bits of the Penn Relays.
Moving forward, the thing I'm looking for is just really re-establishing my technical groove. Three weeks ago, it felt like every throw was absolutely automatic. Obviously, getting back to that point will be big for my confidence and feeling that I can keep pushing my mark up this season. More importantly, I think, is continuing to be positive despite the fact that I feel like I'm still not quite moving as well as I want to be in the circle. Trusting that we are executing a very solid plan that will get me to where I need to be to qualify, and reminding myself that if it didn't happen last weekend, I know it'll happen this weekend. I think I created some unnecessary pressure around the moment, and made myself feel like I absolutely had to qualify or it would be a waste. I just need to get back to taking everything one rep at a time and focusing on technique, knowing that if the technique is good, the distances will be there. I've continued hitting PRs in the weight room each week and I know that more reps in the circle will only help my feeling of the throw. This week we're headed to UVA and it's going to be such a great environment to just enjoy some throwing. Couldn't ask for a better set up to smash one!