We have a special edition of Court Rules this week! In honor of states week, Courtney talks about some of her favorite indoor state meet memories and shares some advice for those competing.
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Photo by Don Rich
Courtney says...
Good luck to everyone at States this weekend! In honor of States this weekend I just wanted to briefly talk about some of my thoughts about indoor States and pre-race preparation.
Indoor States is a really neat meet because it's a unique time where all of the state's top track high school student- athletes are in one building to demonstrate the product of all their hard work. It's the culmination of the indoor season for many but also a very early step on the way to the outdoor states.
I still have many great memories of painting the vans, ice baths, pre-race dinners, hotel meetings, waiting on the green infield, and racing on the banked track. I remember being really excited and then feeling my excitement slowly transform more and more into nervousness.
While nerves can be good it's important to make sure they don't get the best of you. Try to focus on how exciting it is to have an opportunity to cash in on all of your training. It's a chance to represent your school, get better at races and do what you love.
It helps me mentally prepare for a big race to follow some pre-race rituals. I think it's mostly arbitrary what the rituals are, but they help serve as mental cues to get me in the racing mindset. In high school, I would ice bath and elevate my feet on the wall with teammates, talk to my coach about my race plan, and listen to music especially my pre-race song that I have listened to before every race since I started running. I also really like to visualize race day. Everything from waking up in the morning, to getting ready to race on the line, to the race itself. That way when race day comes I feel comfortable and confident that I know what to do and am ready to go!
I hope everyone really enjoys their experience this weekend and is excited to compete well!
