The Jitters!

So with my first bout coming up very soon I am starting to feel nervous about it all. With that being said I have no doubt that on the day of the game I am going to have some serious pre-bout jitters... so I have been looking into what some of the symptoms of the jitters are so maybe I might be able to recognize them and hopefully work through them.

Here are some of the symptoms that I have found so far:

• sensory deprivation
• lack of coordination
• trembling
• dry throat and mouth
• sudden tiredness
• need to urinate
• distorted sense of time
• tight throat
• sweaty hands
• cold hands
• shaky hands
• nausea
• fast pulse
• shaky knees
• perspiration

Ok so now here are some of the strategies I have found so far to work through all of this:

• Picture the audience in their underwear
• Listen to music
• Read a poem
• Practice, practice, practice
• Yawn to relax your throat
• Take a walk
• Don't drink alcohol or coffee or tea with caffeine
• Breathe deeply, evenly, and slowly for several minutes
• Use positive affirmations
• Accept fear
• Natural relaxation (ie: drink a cup of tea)

If you have any more suggestions let me know :)

              
Food for today:
6:15 - HerbaLife shake, multivitamin, cell activator, total control
8:00 - green tea from Timmies
9:00 - an apple and a HerbaLife protein bar
11:00 - bottle of cranberry juice
1:00 - spinach and tomato salad with Raspberry vinaigrette dressing, smoked salmon, Gouda cheese, yogurt, multivitamin, cell activator, total control
3:30 - an apple and a HerbaLife protein bar
6:30 - HerbaLife shake with protein drink mix, multivitamin

And water, water and more water :)

Fired up!

Ok well I am not sure how much longer I can contain my excitement....

I passed my benchmarks last month and I am scheduled to play my first game as a rookie in about 3 weeks. I don't know that I could have gotten there without the awesome nutrition program that I have been on for the last 6 months...

So far, I have lost a total of 5% of my body weight, 14 total inches and gained 5 laps. I am leaner, faster and can hit harder. I can't wait for this new challenge to get underway so that I can take this another step futher. (I still have a long way to go before I reach my health goals, but I getting there :) )

Now normally on Wednesdays I would have practice, but our practice location is currently undergoing some "maintenance" (they are melting the curling surface next to us so our floor is all wet) so to make up for not getting in my 2 hours of skate time yesterday I am going to check out a couple of fitness classes this weekend. I am going to do an hour of spin and then an hour of kettlebells. I have never done or seen kettlebells before so this should be interesting.

I am anxiously waiting for the snow to melt and the city crews to get the street sweepers moving so that I can go outside to skate on non practice days...winter is so very long in Saskatchewan :(

Food for today:

6:15 - HerbaLife shake with protein drink mix, multivitamin, cell activator, total control
8:00 - green tea from Timmies
9:00 - an apple and a HerbaLife protein bar
12:00 - toasted Denver sandwich on whole wheat, tossed salad with Italian dressing, beef vegetable soup, multivitamin, cell activator, total control
3:00 - an apple and a HerbaLife protein bar
6:00 - HerbaLife shake with protein drink mix, multivitamin

oh yes and tons of water too. I have at least 2400ml of water very day. I carry my water bottle with me every where I go, it holds 900ml and gets filled at least 3-4 times a day.

I will finish off with a quote from one of my favorite poets...

To be nobody-but-yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~~ e.e. cummings