December Team Training

We had a good training weekend. We went to the new Awesome wall at Stockport and did a lot of the blocs. Thoroughly enjoyable. I was also checked out by the team physio Anna. I'm not falling apart :-)

Driving was pretty atrocious - heavy rain and lots of surface water.

After a quick trip to Coniston for the Hillingdon Mountaineering Club Christmas meal (cheers guys, good to see you all) I joined the team back in Preston. We went for an 8am run (I'm a bit slow at the moment) and then got some top advice on planning our training, hydration and free weights. A couple of circuits of arm and core based exercises finished the weekend off nicely.

I have a cold now, but my chin's better.

Chin chin

Owww, I split my chin open at the climbing works.

I was on a vertical bit of wall climbing the purples and I know a lot of the holds at the works are filthy but it didn't feel like my foot had moved. The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor having dropped vertically, catching my chin on the way. It felt like a glancing blow but I discovered that my chin was close to dripping. Oops.

After a couple of people finished getting their teas, I was handed a first aid kit and I patched myself up. I was having a good session up to the point of trying to catch a hold with my chin, so was up for continuing. I'd planned to do half the purple circuit before campus work, so I was half way through the session. Unfortunately the place was filling up and the campus area was heaving. Too much chalk and testosterone to get a decent session in so I came home for lunch and a proper patch up.

I'm off to the Foundry now to finish my training in a hopefully less chalky atmosphere. Do you think a taped up chin look will catch on?

Sheffield 53 Bus

My sympathy goes out to all those poor souls waiting for 53 buses across Sheffield, but they've clearly almost all been abducted by aliens. The service runs a bus every 10 mins or so ...... that is regularly a 30min wait and a 1 hour wait this evening.

I was at the end of my tether so have made a complaint. I got through to a lovely lass on the traveline number who says she will pass my complaint onto first mainline.....

Back at the Foundry

Hurrah, I managed all the level 2 Foundry bouldering league blocs. One lovely one had me cricking my neck to reach and then slithering off a slopey volume at the top (I call this fun). It got the better of me twice before I topped it.

The level 3 blocs were solid this time. I only got one bonus. Still, energy left afterwards to continue my quest for the one arm 90 degree lock-off and a bit of campus work. I think the one armer is beginning to happen...

Plywood Masters, Boulder UK

I entered the Plywood Masters last Saturday at Boulder UK, Blackburn and came 3rd. I completed all but two of the qualifiers (one of which I missed the last hold :-( ) and made into into the finals joint 2nd with Rae behind Audrey who was clearly having a very good day.

I felt that I was climbing well in the qualifiers, but flagged a bit in the final and made a couple of mistakes like not making room on a hand hold for my foot when I knew I needed to put it there! I topped 3/5 blocs and got some good 'grit stone rash' on my forearms battling with one bloc that I should have completed. Grrr.

The good thing with comps is the wealth of blocs to try out. The annoying thing is often not being able to go back and complete the ones you didn't do on the day, but were thoroughly enjoying.

I'd not been to Boulder UK before and was very impressed. I would recommend a visit as the form of the wall and the problems are very good.

Climbing Works Bouldering League Round 1

Arghh, my arms wouldn't pull on Friday. I struggled to warm up and was slow to get on the problems. Thankfully I got going towards the end and easily did a few problems second time that I should have done first time. The problems were great.

I got home from work an hour before the comp started, having stood up for an hour on the train because it was so busy. I'm not making any excuses, but I don't think it helped... apart from working my core from trying to stop falling over when we went round corners :-)

I returned on Sunday and 'got a few more bonuses' then did some pull-up and campus work. I'm working on my one arm lock.

Brno - Ist International Comp

I thoroughly enjoyed my 1st international comp and learnt a lot about how the comps work. I was frustrated with my climbing performance. I believe that I could have done better than I did with different preparation on the day. By the time I climbed at 9:15pm (isolation started at 4pm) I was tired from the long day supporting the lads and finding out how the comps worked. I needed to have had a larger lunch and rested more in the day to perform well.

I warmed up for approx 1.5 hrs using the guidance Gaz Parry put together and this seemed to work well. I felt ready to pull hard.

The rest of the team said that they thought that the women's boulders were the hardest of the season, which was promising as a newcomer as I thought they looked/felt do-able. When climbing I was strong (the others said I was doing moves static that no one else was!!) and mostly read the problems ok, but was too tired so missed the intricacies of footwork that I believe were the difference between doing the next move or not. The others said that the problems are generally a different style to those in the uk which means I need to be completely switched on to read them well.

I need to work on my dynamic moves such as 'flicks' and try and get more experience reading problems. I'm looking forward to the training season knowing that I am capable of competing at an international level.

Brno now has lots of snow. Helena from the Czech team showed us around the town before our flight home. It's beautiful.

Random comment: Those from Brno are very good at making snowmen. They have teddy bears, women in hats (it had breasts), and dogs featured.

November Team Training

So we had a 4 day training residential. The first day was a real workout with circuit training - exercises included hands free, press-ups, pull-ups, dynos... 12 exercises in total, 3 sets. I think we all had aches to prove we had trained hard.

Then it was time for speed bouldering - 20 boulders of various difficulty. We were in pairs trying to flash the problems as quickly as possible and catch up the pair in front. Great fun.

I slept like a log and woke up achey. Maybe I should have gone for a run to flush out the toxins!
The 2nd day bought about this blog and a campus board/pull up bar workshop. I need to do more of this and get stronger...

Day 3 - Boulder Bash @ Craggy Island, Guildford. Mark Croxall set a fantastic boulders, technical. I flashed 12 of the 15 and won the female open bouldering. I was feeling really good but didn't enter the lead and speed as I'm going to compete in Brno next week and wanted to save my finger tips!

Day 4 - SIBL (Southern Indoor Bouldering League) Round 1 at Mile End, London. The Team climbed but didn't compete. The league was well attended. It was great to see so many people competing. Look out for the the further Rounds of SIBL and other climbing wall bouldering leagues. The BMC website has info on SIBL and links to climbing walls around the country.

Now it's rest/light exercise and carbs to prepare for the weekend in Brno, Czech Republic. My first international event... I can't wait.

Introduction...

I am a climber. I climb for the British Bouldering Team. Our aim is to win international bouldering competitions.

I live in Sheffield, the climbing capital of Great Britain. I am also a Civil Engineer and work full time for Scott Wilson who sponsor me through leave for training and competitions.

Reportedly I have climbed since being toddler, climbing over gates, up shelves, around door frames, and progressing to trees and larger structures. I first tried climbing formally on a man-made wall at Thriftwood Scout Campsite, Essex at the age of 10 and was hooked. Several years later I worked as a volunteer at Thriftwood maintaining the site and teaching outdoor pursuits as a Venture Scout.

I also climbed regularly at Clements Hall Sports Centre in Essex and joined the regulars on several climbing trips on ‘real rock’ to places such as Symmonds Yat, the Peak District, and our local Southern Sandstone.

I moved away from Essex to study and could not move back as there is no rock to climb. Whilst studying I discovered the delights of bouldering. I love the movement and the challenge.