Congratulations on all of this success, man! 3 lucids in 2 days is just great! You've caught fire just in time for that competition. Sounds like a lot of fun -- good luck!

Sorry about losing lucidity via bad reality check! I agree that basically assuming you are dreaming as soon as you have any doubt is a good habit to form. By this point, your basic intuition as to whether you are dreaming is getting better and better. Mind you it's not going to be perfect. Not this early. But it's getting really good!

If you do want to still incorporate RCs, maybe pick a higher-grade RC like nose pinch? Even though, truthfully, that can fail as well... it's rare, but it happens. A surprisingly effective and general-purpose one is the question of: "How did I get here and do I, the world around me, and my situation make sense?"

Good luck and keep bringing the heat!