Episode 25: World Championships Recap

[Music] If you're into sports betting, bet online is the fastest, easiest way to bet all your favorite sports. Head to their new updated desktop or mobile website to sign up today and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Just use our promo code, believe 50, to receive your bonus. Hello and welcome to Unlaced with Trock and Bates. We're doing it. I'm Madison Trock. And I'm Evan Bates. And here we are. We're back on the podcast. Who that? Oh, that's us. Chakubades. Chakubades. Speaking of Japanese, we're in Japan. That's where we learn that. That's how they say our names here in Japan. Been in Japan for about 10 days. Had a pretty eventful week last week. What happened? Oh my goodness. Well, I'll say it was eventful for us. Well, okay, let's start first of all, the major event. We won the World Championships. We won Worlds. What? Oh my gosh. Been trying to do that for a while. What finally happened? Yeah. Wow. Still thinking in, I think, I'm still processing it. Sometimes I wake up and I'm like, oh, yeah. Whoa, I forgot about that. Well, it's only been a couple days. Yeah. It's crazy. But you wear it well. Oh, well, thanks. So do you. It feels like we're at the same. Yeah, it feels the same. It feels like it's really good. It feels really good. No, it feels really good. Especially considering it wasn't easy. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but then it was even really much less easy than we thought. For a multitude of reasons, I think the most obvious one is that it's just hard to win Worlds. The mantra all year was like, well, winning Worlds isn't supposed to be easy. Anytime any kind of thing would pop up and things popped up, we'd be like, well, it's not supposed to be easy. It's not supposed to be easy. And then we got to Japan and then on Wednesday, I'm like wake up and I just like hear wetching in the bathroom. And Mattie's fallen ill like the day before the competition. I just woke up with a stomach ache and I was like, oh, I feel a little nauseous. I don't like this. This is something I feel bright. I was like, I'm just going to lay in bed for as long as I possibly can and just ignore this feeling and hope that it goes away. But alas, it did not go away. It came in hot and I ended up spending most of the morning on the bathroom floor. And then we were like, oh, it was probably something you ate. You probably had food poisoning, whatever. And then the next day was the rhythm dance and you were great. I wasn't worried about it because I was like, oh, it's Mattie. She'll be fine. And you were fine. Although you weren't feeling while you were miserable, you were fine. Yeah. It was just, I think, a different thing to focus on rather than maybe the nerves. I probably would have been focusing on otherwise. But I guess it was, I'm not going to say a good distraction, but it was some type of distraction. Or I was like, okay, I just need to try to eat something today. That's my goal. I'm going to try to eat something today. But I mean, you, you, you just gave it a great, you had adrenaline and then you do the free dance then we woke up. I woke up and I was like, I just don't feel that good. I want to. I passed it right to you. Just handed it to you. I don't know what it was. Maybe like some, I don't know, bacterial thing because it wasn't food poisoning because no one else around us who was eating the same things got it. Got it. And then you got it a couple days later. I'm throwing up free dance morning. And then we have to go compete at worlds and it's like, we're like, it's like the scene from Bridesmaids. It's happening. It's happening. We like, we can even do our office warm up because we're both just like hustling off to the bathroom. Come back, we're like, oh, we're good. We're good. And then like, we'll be fine. And then just button it up and zip it up and go out there and do our thing and go off for five minute warm up. We come off. We were like, last escape. So we got like 30 minutes to go to the bathroom. And then we just went back there to like Maddie Darceoff disappears. I gotta go run off. But the whole time just like, coaches are just like, you guys good? Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine. It's okay. Oh my gosh. Yeah, anyway, so that was probably enough of that. That was the main event of the week, I would say. So I think we were just like relieved when it was over and it was just, I don't know. I was just so relieved to be relieved. I mean, get my appetite back. I was like so hungry, but nothing sounded good and nothing felt good to eat. So it was just depleted and starving. But nausea is not feeling well. So I think the day of the gala, the show is, I ate my first full plate of food. And I was just so proud to have done that. It's like, wow, to eat in food of one world. I mean, both, but I think the main thing at the moment was the food. It's like, I did it. I ever accomplished my goal. Yeah. So needless to say, things were a little more complicated than we anticipated. It never goes to plan, but that was really a curve ball. I think lots to be proud of. Absolutely. And I mean, when we stepped out on the ice, I think all of those kind of questions, like jitters, I didn't eat anything. Okay, well, am I going to make it through this? Yes, I know I will, because we've trained, we've worked our entire lives. All of that experience, all of that knowledge comes in right when you need it. And we're so grateful for all of the work that we put in to be able to perform like that, even under some very strenuous circumstances. And that's just it. You got to do the work. And it's what it boils down to. Yeah, Marie always says we train to be the best on our worst day. And that was true. That was like the epitome of that. Yes. So obviously, yeah, it's been a while since we did a podcast episode. We just wanted to get back on here now that the season is almost finished. We still have one more competition, World Team trophy, but we just finished the big goal. And it's so good to be back, back doing the podcast again. We're still in Japan. We're about to kick off stars on ice Japan. It's been a couple days of intense rehearsals. And it's been really fun though. I think we've got a great cast and a really, yeah, super special cast. Many of us coming straight from Worlds. And then we also have all four World Champions and you're Zuburhan, you're doing a show. I mean, it's an epic cast. Yeah, all four World Champions. From this year. Yuzu. And Yuzu. Wow. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm super excited. And the choreography, Jeff Buttle is doing the choreography again. Legend. He's a long time legend as a choreographer and figure skater. Matthew Karon doing the costumes again. But yeah, for stars on ice. Legend. Yeah, Matthew. So happy to see him here. He's doing all the costumes for stars on ice. North American tour and stars on ice Japan. Yeah, it's been so great seeing Matthew here. He's catching up with him and seeing him in a non-work related setting where I'm not asking for a million free dance costumes. So that's been fun. What else eating tons of delicious Japanese food? Now that it's going down. Yeah. I think we should like go back, reflect on our journey. Yeah. Okay. Like from the very beginning or just beginning of the season. Well, I mean, I think the beginning of the season. Just start with the season. Like it was obviously like a challenging season for us. And I think that's part of the reason why we went MIA with the podcast. It's just last episode was November at which when I think back to November, we were just stressed out and had a lot on our place. And it's just such a long time ago now. And like something had to give and that thing was the podcast. And our job and what we wanted to accomplish with our programs and just feeling more, I don't know. We just we needed to give certain things more time. And so our podcast. I guess suffered. But everything else flourished. I mean, I'm not mad about it. I kind of missed it. But now here we are. We're back. and it's going to be great. But yes. The season, you know, we-- Beginning of the season, let's start there. We started at Skate America. Didn't go great. Did not go great. Yeah, that's okay. I will say that was like, we were the least-- it felt like to me anyways. We felt at least prepared that we used to be more prepared to get going into competition. We used to having more runs under our belts. But you were still developing the program at the time. But we probably wouldn't have switched music or concepts if it had gone great. Yeah, yeah. No. I mean, we didn't really-- we wouldn't have pushed the program maybe as far in its evolution if it had just been, yeah, oh, that was good. And I'm so happy we did, because you know what? Adversity. Just it-- Adversity. Adversity. There was adversity. There was adversity for me to get that word out right now. But when there's more adversity, usually the outcome or the result is even sweeter. And I think that has been the case for us this season. And I'm just grateful for that process that we went through because there was a lot of growth. So then we had an HK. There was a lot of adversity for us to even get to Japan. Because we couldn't even get on our first flight. Oh, oh, oh, my gosh. We didn't even get to tell that story. That was a dizzying-- We'd go to the airport 4 a.m. ready to go to Japan. We like show up. We got to do some forms on our phone. We're like, OK, no problem. Do these forms on our phone. There is like Chamber of Secrets when Harry and Ron cannot get onto platform 9 to 3/4 because Dobby has blocked the gate the portal. Like, somebody did not want us to go to an HK that day. There was some issue with the electronic form. And push Combshev, we are not allowed to get on that flight. And then-- I'm like, OK, I'm not mad about it. But I'm still slightly mad about it. Because everyone else we talked to was like, oh, they didn't even check our forms. Oh, yeah. The flight is in-- The form's optional. Helped us with the forms on the plane. But you don't really need them to get into Japan. Those are just the fast track forms. And so we missed the flight just because there was one person working. And she just-- she needed to see the forms. Like, she needed to see those forms. And yeah, it was a struggle bus for us. Oh, it was not fun, missing that flight. But we made it through that. And you know what? So we missed a day of practice. Then we showed up the next day. We get out there and we're like, we go to practice. And then-- Excited to show our changes that we made. Change our music. We go out for practice. Guess we didn't submit the right music. Wrong music. Wrong music played. Wrong music. And we just did the program anyways. It was the rhythm dance. We had changed the piece of music in the beginning. And-- It's not-- I mean, most people probably doesn't seem like a big deal. But it just felt like there were a ton-- small things-- I felt like a romantic-- In our way all the time. To just-- like this-- just a bunch of little obstacles to get through. And that was our mantra was like, it happened. It happened. It was a need for the heaven. Yeah. And then we came home and we were like, we don't have time to do podcasts. We got-- we got to make a third-freedance costume for our third time-- The time of the year. We got a change of choreography, man. Our free dancers-- Matthew. I need a new free dance costume. When do you need it in a week? OK. OK. And he was just so chill about it. He was like, OK, yeah. Let's do it. I was like, well, at least someone's not panicking. Not only not the real-- Not that it was panicking, but it was like to redesign a dress and be-- Not only that, but-- And then have it made from nothing go. After NHK, we-- we were like, people were like talking about you should bring your old free dance back. You should go back to an old program. Did this. You should do that. And we were like, ah, guys. Team meeting. We need a team meeting. We sat down. We were like, wait all the pros and cons. Where we were in the year, what we wanted to accomplish. And we were just like, we're going to make this free dance work. We just need time. So we just put in the time. We worked extensively with Marie. I believe in this program. I love the music. We believed in it. And I think that made a huge difference, too. We wanted to do. We knew it had potential. And so we just talked to our coaches. And they were like, yeah, all right. We believe in you. And we believe in this. And we went forward. And yeah, we worked with Marie and Guillaume just for hours, just reworking things, diving into the concept, and movements. Just working very hard. Like harder than we worked probably ever before on just like making big changes in a short amount of time and showing up at the final with like another set of costumes, new choreography, and just like more attack and drive and just fight and just-- Fire. Yeah, just-- There you go. We brought the fire. We brought the fire. And it was super fun. We were like, all right, let's just do this. We've got nothing to lose. And everything to gain. We've done all this work. Let's just do it. Nike has a real good slogan. Just do it. And then-- so that brings us to December, right? And then-- Yeah. Then we had that break that was like not a break, but we had that gap of like six weeks between Grand Prix Final and US Championships. And that's when we just like-- Oh, that was so awesome. Put in the work. Because we got-- we wanted to get ready for altitude at Four Contents. And we were going straight from Nationals to Four Contents. So that was like our block of training to get ready for those two competitions. And I feel like in that six weeks, we like changed the trajectory of the season. It was nice to have that time. It felt like that was the first chunk of time that we had really had to work on the program like we would in the typical off season. Yeah, that was our summer. Yeah. And it felt so good. I just-- I love training so much. I love the repetition of it. I love feeling the little nuances. And the improvements every day. Granted, it's hard. It's not easy. And I'm not just like, yeah, this is so fun. It's not like-- It's Christmas time when you have hot cocoa and you go skating with your fiance. No. It's not sugar coating in here, but we love skating. Yeah. But it was gratifying. It's gratifying to have that feeling and to work hard and to leave the ring and be like, yeah, OK. I did appreciate it. I got that into it. I improved. Yeah. That's something I really appreciate about skating. And just sport in general, I feel like those small increments every day are really motivating. And then you add up all those small increments. And then you look back. We're doing right now. A few months of time, you're like-- And standing on top of all the-- --the speed of America to today. It feels like a lifetime. So then we go to US Championships in San Jose. That's so fun. And we're so ready. And so prepared for the competition. And I felt like-- I don't know. It just felt like ourselves, again, that prepared feeling and really being able to enjoy the performance when you feel prepared. And you've done the work. And you have the repetitions. And it was a fun feeling. And our families were there. Our friends, US Championships, it's just a really special event for us every year. And we certainly cherish this year. And it was great. And then we got on the plane when it's right to Colorado Springs. We got to spend about 10 days of training. Yeah. We got ready for four continents. Everybody was freaking out about the altitude. Well, OK. Patch had a little bit to do with that because he was like, oh, last time I competed at four continents. Oh, I could barely make it. I couldn't make it through any of my runs in training. Yeah. I never did a full-freedience. And we were like, what? And he's like, yeah, I only did the full-freedience when I did the actual run at competition. And we were like, OK. When we were deciding whether to go straight from nationals or not, he's like, OK, we have two options. Like, you can go there a week early, and you can train. But you probably feel like crap all week. And it'll freak you out. Or we can wait till the last minute. And you can just show up right before the rhythm bands. But then you're going to feel like crap. And you're probably going to freak out. And we're like, OK, neither of those options sound that crazy. Like, you're really selling it here, but gosh. But we opted for not traveling so much back and forth and staying in Colorado, which ended up being, I mean, either decision, I think, would have been fine. Because everyone was fine. And you get there, and you're trained, and you were prepared for it. So you know what to do. But it was-- I will say the first day, within the first session that we were there, skated a lap around the rank. I was so gasped. I was like, wait, what? I didn't expect to feel it like this bad. I thought I was going to feel it. Yeah, just that old-- Not that bad. Like the overall fatigue after skating is like crazy. Just like so tired. I feel like after the first session, we got through that. And then the rest of them were not as bad. Nothing felt as bad as the very first session. Yeah. But it's certainly harder than seeing it. It was a shock to the system and then it was okay. But yeah, no, for sure. There's a little less oxygen. You feel fatigue a little sooner, but overall, not as bad. And maybe you know what, maybe he did that as a tactic. I think we just trained really well for honestly. Yeah, that's true. December, January, we just put in a ton of work and then we were like ready for it and we skated great. And then expected it to be harder than it was. Yeah. We're pleasantly surprised when it wasn't as challenging as we had built it up to be. So then we went back to Montreal. We had like another five or six weeks leading into worlds. How is the preparation for worlds? Fun, good. Well, no, yeah, fun, good. I know. How was it? I know. I was a little stressed, I think. Like leading into worlds, I felt like some stress. Yeah, maybe I really can't remember. I mean, it was like pretty uneventful. We did the work. We were going in and doing our jobs, but I felt like a couple weeks out. I felt like I started to get a little stressed out and be like, okay, this is worlds. Oh, yeah. I've been talking about winning worlds here. It comes time to win. And yeah, but there was we gave this interview right before worlds and you said something that was so smart and profound and I've you were like, because we won a silver medal in 2015. And then in the interview, we were like, at that point, we were thinking, oh, great, we like, we have like one more step to take to the top of the podium. But in reality, we have like, we had like thousands of little steps to take to get that one step. Yeah. What do you mean? Oh, I said that. Yeah, you said that. Oh, wow. That is perfect. Oh, no. No, what do you mean by that? I mean, like, it's not just like one more step up to the top. Like when you're so close and you're working every day to improve yourself and make big overall gains, you have to do a lot of little things to accomplish that. And it's just small things like sleeping well, eating well or going to bed, like just being consistent with your little rituals. And then eventually you take all these small steps and you stack them on top of each other. And they make up one big step. And then that turns out to be the last step, the final step to the top of whatever goal you're trying to achieve. Yeah, I feel like it's just like a maturation, like becoming more and more mature, that more experience you get and maybe like whatever that was eight years ago or something. Maybe we weren't ready to win worlds. We had to go through like all of that stuff to become ready. You gain all these tools and increase your little toolbox, toolbells. And it's more about like the aggregate. Even though we didn't feel our best last week and like, you know, some things could have felt better or gone better. Like we did enough, we've done enough over the course of so many years to accomplish the goal. It's different for everyone. That's not necessarily the process for each person. There's no one process. And that's the thing, like we found our way there and it was our journey and what we had to go through and who we had to become to accomplish the goals that we set for ourselves. And part of our approach is like accepting. Accepting that it took this long or accepting that there were these things that we had to overcome this season or in years past and like not fighting it so much, just accepting it and accepting what is and then allowing it to. Controlling what we can. Unfold the way it unfolds and not resistant. Not judging it. Not trying to control the things that are outside of our control but being like, all right. Like, whatever. Like this is what's in front of us and this is what we want to do and this is what we can do and this is what we're going to do. Try our best to do, you know. Yeah. And it's been a really fulfilling journey. Honestly, I am grateful for all of the adversity that we faced. I'm grateful because they're all lessons and I appreciate those lessons almost more than like any immediate reward or like instant gratification that you can get from, I don't know, like even just like getting a medal. Yeah. It's, it is just a medal but it's, it's what that medal stands for and what it means to us. When I look at it, it's the result of all of those lessons and everything we've learned, but it's the lessons that are the real reward. Yeah. The journey is the destination, man. Totally do. No, but actually. Yeah, no. That's the true fact right there. But yeah. Yeah, the journey continues. We've got. Journey continues. We are in Osaka. We've got another competition in a couple of weeks. World team trophy. It's going to be really fun. It's, it's, it's, love world team trophy. It's a blast. We've got a great team. There are tons of amazing skaters participating in world team trophy. It's going to be so fun. So fun. A couple more weeks of training. It's going to be worth it. Well, training, you mean shows. Yeah. So like we said earlier, we're in Japan for stars on ice. We're going to be in Japan for a long time now. And there's no place I really, I'd rather stay so long. It's, I really do love Japan. Just the culture, the food. Oh, yum. Everything. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So yeah, we were for show tomorrow in Osaka. Here in Osaka, we have three in Osaka. I just said Osaka many times. Osaka, Osaka. Yeah. We've got nine shows in the next two weeks. And then world team trophy and then onwards from there. But now that we're back on our podcast, we're going to be putting these episodes out weekly hopefully. Right? Yeah. Now that we kind of have a little bit more free time or we'll see. Yeah, free time. I don't know. Yeah, free time. No, it's just, we're definitely not. It's not like November stress. Like we were back then. So I think we'll definitely be hearing from us. But it's been great to, it's been great to reflect with you. Oh, and you as well. It's just like a chill episode. I don't know. We didn't really plan anything. We just, I don't know. Yeah, just, just chatting. Just, just chatting. Just chatting. I'm proud of you. Just chatting. You did great. I'm proud of you too. And I love you. I love you too. Thank you. This has been an episode of Unlaced with chalk and baits presented by Bet Online. I forgot how the ending goes. Make sure, make sure you subscribe. Like subscribe, tune in. You can follow us on social media. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can listen. And we'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye. [MUSIC PLAYING]