It's been a short while since we've heard from Team CT's Nicole Bunyan.
In case you're a newer reader, a bit of background on Nicole...
Nicole is a Canadian professional squash player who currently sits at World No.50, and, she also is the founder of Squashletic, a platform that provides and creates accessible, valuable training content for squash players.
Whether you need to improve your footwork, conditioning, strength, mobility, or nutrition, Squashletic is an awesome training platform that we'd highly recommend checking out.
Anyway, Nicole is also a sponsored player for Team CT and she often writes great content about tournaments, matches, and just all things squash.
Well, with the middle of the season coming up, we've got the pleasure of sharing Nicole's latest updates on her season on the PSA Squash Tour so far...
So, here she is!
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
HELLO!
It's been a minute, hasn't it? Truth be told, I've been off the grid everywhere over the past couple of months. Even my Instagram has taken a bit of a hit.
Why? Well...
In August, I played the Pan Am Championships in Lima. I won the individual gold medal (woo!), and we won the team gold as well.
Later that month, I competed in the Egyptian Open Diamond in Cairo.
I also played in the Nash Cup in London, Ontario in mid-September, followed by the Open Squash Classic at my home club here in New York.
Then, it was time for a gear switch as I took to the microphone for a couple weeks. I commentated at the Silicon Valley Open (Gold) in Redwood City, and then the US Open in Philly.
No rest for the wicked, as then I was off to Toronto for the Canadian Open! I wore a few hats here- I competed, I commentated, and I MC'd. It was a busy one.
I also had an invitational tournament in Greenwich CT the first weekend in November. To say I was flat, would be an understatement.
As you can see, I spent a lot of time traveling this fall. Furthermore, much of that energy in October was dispersed across several disciplines (playing, commentating, and not mention my Squashletic online coaching!).
This caused me to take a step back and realize a couple of things...
1) If you burn the candle at both ends, you will pay the price.
Sometimes the price is worth it, because you push yourself beyond your limits and learn new skills or reach new heights.
The cost? Fatigue and lower performance (eventually). I had some great opportunities to commentate two big events (which I'm glad I did), but in the future I would not commentate two events back to back, followed by a tournament of my own.
Lesson learned.
2) If you are not training close to your best, you cannot expect to compete at your best, or with the best.
In the invitational tournament, my semi-final match was against Sarah Jane Perry. I have had close games with her before, and knew I had the capacity to test her.
Guess what? I didn't have the capacity. I felt terrible mentally afterwards. I was on the verge of tears. This was supposed to be a "fun" occasion without any pressure, and I didn't enjoy being out there one bit (and there was a lot of money to gain!).
I was tempted to fall into a dark pit of despair, and start overthinking my life choices. Want to know what I did instead? I ordered a Thai curry. I watched Yellowstone. I slept.
The following day I rested and barely left the couch. I planned my upcoming training for that week, reflected on the craziness of the last month, and allowed myself the space to realize the impact of the past month.
One rule I stand by is that you should quit or make big decisions on a bad day, (or if you're tired, hungry, or sad). I recognized this was one of those instances.
3) It's crazy how much brain power is consumed by stress of competition.
I don't have any PSA events on the calendar until the new year, so although I have the World Team Championships in HK in December, I feel like I can now afford to train hard, work hard on Squashletic, and break myself down a bit without suffering performance consequences.
The mental relief that I feel that I have time to make mistakes and build myself back up has allowed me to enjoy my training more. Bonus: I've had more mental energy and creativity for Squashletic too!
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
4) Improvements can be made quickly if you are consistent.
The amount of progress you can make in 2 weeks is astonishing. I've been taking my training in two week "sprints" which has allowed me to focus more on the consistency in my day to day.
Also, I find that I can push hard for 2 weeks and toe the line of overtraining without quite going over the edge.
The key is to then pull back a bit when you start to feel that heavy fatigue (regardless of whether your performance is improving or not), and give yourself 2-3 lighter days.
For instance, last weekend I took Friday as a light day (I did 2 solo practices, hehe), trained once Saturday, and took Sunday off.
I almost considered training Sunday because Friday was "basically" a day off, but I knew that would catch up with me this week. Instead, I chose to be productive working on my app from home, and I got so much done.
I felt really good about myself and gave my body a rest! One of the biggest lessons I've learned since the age of 25 and now (nearly 31) is that cramming in an extra session for the sake of it will usually bite you in the butt a couple days later.
Taking Sunday off allowed me to be more recovered on Monday, and that has helped me have a more productive week overall.
Up Next ...
Over the next couple of months, I'm going to prioritize some areas of my game without the pressure of competition, and put a lot of work into Squashletic.
I'm also going to invest in myself/my body and try to improve my right hip. It's about 80-90% most days, but I'd really like to get it to 90-100% so I can train more consistently at maximum movement capacity.
Stay tuned for updates regarding the Squashletic app (I'm so excited!!!), as they will most likely be coinciding with a Black Friday promo 😊.
If you've read this far, thank you for taking the time, and I hope you have a great rest of your week.
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