Training/ambitions (update)

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would update a bit on my training, hopes, ambitions and goals for the future, something I haven't talked about yet. 

So lets begin with my training. 

I have been lucky in the sense that I have never been severely injured. My wrist was slightly sore for a few months and hindered me on certain moves such as presses and mantles, but the pain has vanished and my hands are strong again. My back tweaked slightly a few weeks ago. I took it easy, climbed static routes, consulted a sports physio, and everything is back to normal again! 

I have been trying the train more on overhanging boulders, as that's one of my weak points. I'm not seeing significant improvements so far, but training hard will bring that! I don't get frustrated if I don't finish a boulder, I see it as a new project to work towards, and the feeling of sending a project is so much more satisfying than that of flashing one. 

One domain where I can see improvement is slabs. I've always been a fan of slabs and verticals, balancey moves, minuscule holds, big slopey volumes, the lot! I was having a slab session the other day and was sending every single one of my projects, one after the other as if I was warming up. I am so pleased, I can now focus on other sections of the wall!  

Moving on to my hopes, goals, and ambitions.

2012. I spent the whole year training for one thing. Team GB. My climbing lifetime goal has always been making the British team, and when the team trials came, all my training , all my hard work, blood and sweat (literally!), was put to the test. Climbing and competing against the best of the country was amazing, but the best part was finding out that I ended up being one of the best in the country. I had been selected, everything had paid off, it was the happiest moment of my life. 

But there was one problem. Now that my lifetime goal was completed,  what was I training for? 

Of course there are the short term hopes, making finals in a comp, podiuming .. etc and then there are the long term ones...

 Seeing a few members of the GB bouldering team compete (And crush!!!) in Switzerland for their first EYC was so inspirational. It set me a new goal, something to work for, which is always a great motivation. 

So there it is. International competition. Ambition for 2013/14. 

Till next time!! 

Next posts:  

Summer Youth Open, lead, Leeds. 

Summer Youth Open, boulder, Leeds (BBC round 3 and recap on the series) 

-  end of July

Scottish Youth Bouldering Champs 2013

Scottish Youth Bouldering Championships (British Bouldering Championships round 2)

On Friday 3rd of May 2013, I travelled up to Glasgow on a five hour train journey that passed surprisingly quickly. Once arrived, we went to our trusty Premier Inn, and as always, had a very good night's sleep. Registration for the competition was at 11:00, so we got a lie in. 

The next day, I was feeling very psyched. I fuelled up with some bacon, then headed off to TCA. 

Before the comp Tom Greenall gave the team a little pep talk in preparation to the comp.

Feeling a little less nervous, I started warming up. I then moved on to my easy problems, then looked through the harder ones. I got on my first hard one, a techy problem with poor holds. I was a little apprehensive about the crux move, a cross over dyno, as this was not my strong point. With a lot of commitment my fingers stuck the hold, and I continued to top out. A lot of stress now removed, I flashed another difficult problem, in a cave. I was happy that all that cave training had come in handy! This left me with two more hard problems, and two easy ones. 

I tried a hard one, but I had the wrong beta and fell off a dyno twice. I watched Becky Whaley try the move differently, and she topped out. Doing the move her way made the problem a lot easier and I got it third attempt. 

Using the right beta

I flashed the two remaining easy ones, which left me with one problem.

The bloc consisted  of powerful moves. My first attempt I touched the bonus hold, but it was not enough for it to be counted. Second attempt I didn't get any further. Third attempt neither. Fourth attempt I fell off the start move. Even though I wanted to get back on it straight away I knew I wouldn't get any further. So I rested, had some recovery smoothie, and attempted the problem again. I decided I was really going to commit to the move that had previously thrown me off. I pulled hard on my heel and my arm, reached out and got the pocket with two fingers! I had gotten the bonus, I was in the final. I tried the rest of the problem, but didn't get very far.

                                                      The move I kept on falling off

We then waited for the results, had a bite to eat, a sip to drink. I had qualified in fourth place, Sidonie Graham in first, and Becky in 2nd. Westway climber Libby Gamble also qualified for the finals in 5th place. All three Westway girls in final once again, fantastic result! We knew the finals were going to be a spectacle with a supportive crowd, and fun lighting. So off to isolation we went. 

During observation, we looked at our problems and they seemed nasty! After warming up, the first climbers went out. This round of BBCs being slightly more organised then the last, the finalists didn't see each other after having climbed, and couldn't share beta. 

I went out for my first final bloc, read the route, and got on.  I got up it quite easily, the holds were new and grippy. I was extremely sketchy during the last move, my footwork was quite shameful. I was trying to work out a static way of doing the move, as the original beta but it didn't feel comfortable. So I just took my chances and jumped, and amazingly I stuck the hold! I was quite satisfied I had flashed the first bloc. 

                                               Climbing and topping out on final bloc 1

My second final problem wasn't quite as simple. The holds were worse then expected, and the moves bigger. Nevertheless, I threw for a sloper and fell off several times. Nearing the last few seconds, I stuck the sloper, I went for the 2nd bonus hold and held it sufficiently for it to be counted. I fell off because of bad body positioning, but I was overall happy with my performance. 

                                                             Sticking the sloper

My third and final boulder was the climax of my anti-style; reachy and technical moves on poor holds. I started the problem and fell off low down as the hold was worse then expected and my fingers slipped off. Now a bit more prepared I stuck the hold, reached out to a sloper, threw for a bad jug, and rocked over to a small crimp. The last move was big, and my foot popped off. I tried it again but didn't catch the jug. I took a rest and tried again at the last second. I couldn't catch the jug again, and fell off. 

All the competitors were extremely close in score, and it was hard to tell who had podiumed or not. The results arrived, and showed that I had come third! I was extremely pleased with this result, and I flew back to London in a very good mood. 

All photo credits to Bibi Basch.