When I think back on this past season it's kind of hard to quantify since it was so different than previous years and I didn't compete in the same competitions that I normally do so I have very little to compare it to.
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| Andy Young SunPulse |
The first kind of 'bigger' competition I skated this season was the Inter-Continental at the Oval in Calgary. Calgary invited a bunch of international skaters to compete and a select number of the Oval Program skaters got to compete against them. For me this competition went spectacularly terrible. It was a complete train wreck. Because of where we were in the training period I felt exhausted and I was so tired that I felt physically unable to do my normal passes and strategies because I simply didn't have the energy in my legs. I became very frustrated and very upset because I felt that I was skating so bad and I was embarrassed that people would think that was how I skated and I didn't feel like myself. I think I only had one race that I could feel even a little bit good about that I managed to pull off through sheer will and anger but that was kind of taken away from me when I heard that someone I trusted and had depended on in the past for support and advice in skating had said something pretty hurtful during and after that race. After that competition I was so hurt and upset and in such a bad place that I just wanted to be done. I just didn't want to feel the way I was feeling anymore and I think that if I hadn't already booked plane tickets for later in the season I might have just packed up and gone home.
Instead of skating the Canadian circuit this season I went and trained with Great Britain's national team for three weeks, something I was able to do since I have British citizenship through my dad. While I was there we travelled to Sweden to compete in a Star Class competition. By that point I was feeling a lot better about my skating although it took me a long time to feel confident racing again but it was nice to compete against a field that was almost all people I didn't know and who didn't know me. It felt like there was no pressure and no expectations of me so I was more free to try things and not be so stressed out. In some races I feel like I could've finished higher or done better but I came out of the competition with a third place trophy and I didn't cry once so I'm putting that one in the win column.
It's the end of this season that feels the most weird for me because I really didn't have a big end of year competition like I have had in the past. I skated Winterfest, the final competition at the oval where I had some decent results and some good races and then I was done. I think I had some good experiences this season and some good races but it is a little difficult to tell since I don't have any results to compare to previous seasons. This season I really wanted to get a new 500 time and unfortunately that didn't happen but I'm happy with the skating I did nonetheless because I feel that although I didn't get any faster times I got a lot better and more confident in my racing.
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