Let me tell you about my most recent crossfit competition experience.

I am an amatuer Crossfitter.  For the most part when I am training at the box, I perform extremely

 well.  However, when I am at a competition, I absoluotely fall apart.  I become so nervous and full

 of anxiety that I cannot focus and use the skills I have learned and practiced.  I become so full of

self doubt and worry that I forget everything from using good form to breathing right.  In the back of

 my mind I believe that I am a loser and I don't deserve to be with there, even though I love this sport.

  I want to be more competitive....whats up with this?  How do I take my practice game to a competition?

After watching  the crossfitters perform I began to realize there are athletes that are motivated to acheive success, and then there are those, like me, who are motivated by fear of failure or embarrassment. Based on how I performed this weekend, I believe I was worried about failing and I had anxiety about not performing well.  I woory about what I believe are evryones expectations of me.  I wanted to avoid all focus on me.  I got SO stuck on not blowing it that I was paralyzed by fear, tension and doubt.

SO what did I do?  I quit the last WOD.  Can you believe it?  I am so embarrassed to admit it.  I wasn't injured.  I just tanked-out!  So after a long cry in a hot shower I sat down and did a little soul searching.

What am I lacking?  hmm.....

1.  Workout consistently.  Since I started coaching at Iota, I have let my training slip by the side.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE coaching at the box! That being said, I need to extra effort to make time for me to WOD.  I foolishly thought I could do this past competition using the skills I had learned (but not practiced).  Ya...it doesn'twork that way.  

2. Set positive goals for upcoming events.  I need to set positive goals that will help me focus on what I  want to acheive instead of instead of worrying what will go wrong.  I then need to get toatally involved with meeting the challenge of those goals.  I need to work on my endurance to push me through the wods.  For me this means no more stopping every 10 wallballs...I need to keep going until the ball just won't go up.

3.Walk through the WOD and visually go though it over and over again.  I need to feel confident in all the movements, so I don't worry about doing something wrong.  So..if I have to jump on a shorter box to get the movement right, so be it!

4.Have a plan.  I have seen the girls that compete sit and strategize how to dot each wod, making the most of their time and energy.  Heck! I know how to do that... I do that on tabatas!  I need to utilize my strengths to compensate for my weaknesses.

5.Cut off the doubt fast.  The doubt is ruining my confience and making me focus on what NOT to do.  I need to recognize the doubt, cut it off and refocus on a positive statement that will help me perform- you know, a positive affirmation.  Instead of doubing that I might fall on the box jump, I need to tell myself that I will NAIL it!  and visualize mself doing so.

 Hmmmm....whats a good mantra...hmmm...that's easy....it's my favorite quote...

I CAN DO HARD THINGS

                                                  -Stacey