TCAA Athletics Championships 2024 - Round 3 (07/27/2024)
It has been over a year and a half since I last competed in Hong Kong. In today’s meet, My friends and my family were there to watch my jumps. I am so grateful that they gave me this opportunity to jump with a crowd behind me. It was more difficult than I thought. It was challenging for my ability to control my arousal and the adjustment on the mark.
Before the meet, I ate clean to get rid of redundant weight. I decreased the training load to ensure my knee was fully recovered and ready for 6 full jumps. I also didn't do the pre-meet lift and took two days of complete rest instead. The approach to the competition differed from what I used because of the knee pain. My knee responded with pain for every jump session right after every jump. My solution was not to push my luck and give it more time to recover.
Fast-forward to the big day. I felt great during the warmup. I did some pretty good pop-off without pain and thought today was the day. Then it started to rain… This was the first time the weather worsened right before it started. As I planned to engage the crowd in the first jump, I moved back 40cm, which I usually do. What I miscalculated was that the rain cooled down my body, and I ended up a foot behind the board. I tried too hard for the next two jumps to accelerate and fouled. I thought I must push harder to sprint faster, which caused a delay in sprinting upright, not making me any faster. After three jumps, the rain stopped. The marks I had were 6.24 and 2 fouls.
I was so haunted by the fact that I messed up the first three jumps. What is being done cannot undone. I should focus on getting the board and jumping as far as possible. However, the fourth jump did not end up well either… I was exhausted. I felt horrible. But I was experienced enough to know this tiredness was just an illusion. I was just low in arousal level. I am a 23-year-old well-trained athlete, and three jumps were not supposed to wear me out. I had to focus on the last two jumps and give the best to the audience. I did the clap to engage the crowd. I was locked in. 6.72m and 6.86m were the marks. They ain’t what I aimed for. Still, it reflected where I am now, so I took it. I knew I could consistently hit 6.7 or 6.8 regardless of the condition.
When I met my friends, one told me I broke the Hong Kong Record. I was like, what the fuck are you talking about. Then he said your previous personal record in Hong Kong was 6.74m. True True! That’s the insight I need! I was too focused on my goal and forgot where I came from. Special thanks to Wilson哥 for reminding me that I did make progress! It might be slow, but a gain is a gain!
To conclude this track meet, I really like how I re-motivated myself. It showed my willpower. I often see people drown in their bad performances. I am glad that I am not one of them. I can shift focus on what I need to do instead of what I have done. This is definitely not innate in me. I equipped this skill from failing countless times. This is one of the most fruitful things I have acquired from sports – mentality.
Of course, I could see so many flaws from this meet. I need to learn how to adjust the mark in different conditions. Also, controlling my arousal level and not letting others impair my performance will be a big topic to work on. Technical-wise, I did not fully apply my speed on the runway in these six jumps. The reasons are the delay in going into the max velocity phase, lack of skills to control the takeoff at high speed and shift in focus during the meet.
Once again, thank you to everyone who came. You gave me a very good opportunity to reflect on my weaknesses. I will keep improving and carry out the best version of myself the next time we meet!
