I Don’t Want My Training to End

As the competition gets closer part of me is actually really sad since I’ve had the best opportunities and I love having the intense training.  I LOVE TO TRAIN and have a big goal to work towards.  For me, it’s as much fun as the competition itself.  I never get bored repeating the same drills since there’s always room for improvement.

This is my last week of intense training.  It’s been great working on my patterns and I will continue to do that right up until competition.  I didn’t spar at all this week in case of injury but have kept my cardio up. It’s funny I keep having the same visualization of a certain sparring combination.   It’s like a movie running over and over in my head.

To be honest when I competed in Vancouver I hadn’t prepared too much for the power breaking since the patterns and sparring were my main focus.  However, when I qualified for both individual and team power breaking I knew I needed to really step up my game and get some help.

Power Breaking is a hard event to train for.  It’s easy to really damage your feet/or hands with breaking boards.  I’ve broken my foot in two places before and it’s not fun.

Ms. Trigger from Trigger’s TKD has been coaching me for this event.  She went to the World Championships for power breaking herself so I’m very lucky to get her advice and instruction.  Visualization and confidence are a big part for this event.  I know I have the strength and power and now I also have the confidence. The confidence has come with the repetition of the motion over and over.   It is more automatic than having to concentrate on so many things.  They call it ‘muscle memory’.   Ms. Trigger even told me last night that she saw a big improvement.  That made me happy since she has put in so much time,  I wanted her to know how seriously I took her coaching and how much I appreciate it.

When her dojang is closed late at night she has been there to help me.  Last night we spent a lot of time together.  My dad holds the shield for me and I’ve been practicing my measurement for accuracy.  He can tell by the impact if I’m doing things properly.  I like to hear him lose his breath as I kick 🙂   Then I know the boards would have broken.  Last month we used the boards that were donated by Home Depot and my mom video taped it.  I have watched it over and over to really get a strong visualization of all the steps that my body has to go through in order to slice the boards.  I visualize a knife slicing through a brick of butter.  If the knife is clean and is at the correct angle, then is easily slides right through.  If you were to just to whack the brick of butter with the flat side of the knife then all you get is a big mess 🙂

Now that I’m on the Power Breaking team as well I don’t want to let my two other team mates down either.  One of the girls is from Alberta and the other one is from Quebec.  I know our team can bring a medal home for Canada.

It’s amazing how you can tell from your first movement if it’s going to follow through properly. The interesting thing is that once you’ve started the motion, there is no turning back.  You have to follow through to the bitter end in order to keep the momentum and power.  Confidence and the visualization takes over.  At Nationals I was nervous for this event since I didn’t feel mentally prepared.  Now I say…..Bring it on!

Thank you Ms. Trigger.  I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate your ongoing support and confidence in me.