Lost and Found
I think I mentioned on here several times that my camel spin disappeared about a month before Adult Nationals. I’m not even kidding here – the spin completely went away, and no matter what I did to work on it, the spin was gone (ask my coach – she will vouch for me). I took the camel out of my freestyle program so I wouldn’t stress about it.
Also, my axel was nowhere to be found at Adult Nationals. I was landing them left and right during my official and unofficial practices at the competition. When I skated my programs, the axels left the building.
After I returned home after Nationals, I took things easy the following two weeks. I *only* skated three times a week instead of my normal 5-6. I didn’t run through my programs at all and instead tried to nail the troublesome elements.
And wouldn’t you know it – the camel was perfect, and the axels were huge and fully rotated. My coach said that my mental game needs some tweaking this year. I can physically execute all of these elements, but my head got in the way at Nationals. Little bits of doubt prevented me from skating my best. I thought that I was pretty good at the mental preparation for this sport, but I have been proven wrong.
It’s been about a month since Nationals (I hardly believe that), and the camel spins and axels have been back to regular form. I just hope they are here to stay. As my skating friend K says, I need to “leash” the axel and camels so they don’t try to run away again!
