I Am The Winner!

I think this is my first post about Taekwondo. I competed yesterday in poomsae. The best way I can explain poomsae to all my non-taekwondo friends is like a pattern dance. There is a sequence of moves that has kicks and hand strikes in it. They are really easy to do but very hard to perfect. I have been on a high performance team for 2 years now and I still have a way to go before my poomsae are "perfected" (if it will ever happen).

Anyways yesterday I competed in a tournament, and I got 1st!! Yay me! The only downside is that I was the only one in the division. So I guess I could be a pessimist and say that I got last place. But this is a good opportunity for some self reflection. I performed 4 poomsae. The first 2 I will confidently say I rocked them. I had alot of power yet it was graceful enough. But the 2nd two weren't as hot. The 3rd poomsae I did really knocked my score down. It involves standing on one leg for about 5 seconds. Well that doesn't sound too difficult, except when you try to turn your body to your back 90 degrees with alot of snap and then FREEZE! and then try not to wobble. Well... I wobbled. Actually my balance was so bad I put my foot down early which got me a .5 deduction from each judge. After that poomsae I was flustered so the next poomsae didn't go so well either. BUT now I know what I need to work on. Luckily this wasn't a National competition. I think I left with an average score of 7.6. Which is pretty good comparatively.

Our pairs division did good also. I wasn't able to look at our scores, but we got gold. Of course, again, we were the only ones in the division (i'm beginning to think I smell funny). We were pretty much in sync. We still have alot to work on with our technique in the next 3 1/2 months until the National Team Trials.

Tomorrow I start my new training schedule, it isn't too bad. I train 6-7 days a week but 6 of the 7 are only a hour training a day:

Monday: Weight lift/Strength train - 1hr. Poomsae Class - 1 hr
Tuesday: Poomsae - 30 min, Aerobic - 30 min
Wednesday: Strength train - 1hr
Thursday: Poomsae - 30 min, Aerobic - 30 min
Friday: Strength train - 1hr
Saturday: Aerobic - 30 min
Sunday: High Performance Team - 3 hrs