Vienna 2012

Shauna crushed again to come 4th – so exciting.

Vienna was hot.  A barmy breeze made it bearable.  It was good to get out of the grey dampness and soak up some vitamin D, but the sudden extreme of temperature was a bit of a shock to my battered system.  Luckily there was quite a bit of time to get used to it as we didn’t climb until the evening.  We hung around all day waiting for our turn to climb.  I was hot and dozy entering isolation, where it was comparatively cool and comfortable.

Warm up felt ok, but it turned out that I just wasn’t with it.  My concentration was shot and I made some rum decisions.  The first problem was steep and just my thing.  I got the bonus first go, just, before swinging off.  It took a few goes to get going again.  I felt like I was climbing through treacle both mentally and physically.  I got pumped unusually quickly.  I think I was trying too hard.  I progressed past the bonus and made a silly choice for a hand position on the next hold and fell off due to poor hand/body position having done the crux of the problem.  Arghh.

I recovered, not by, but on the next problem whilst repeatedly going for a double dyno. 

I touched the bonus, but didn’t latch it.  It was the same story for the next two problems.  My score sheet was looking very sorry for itself.  I kept trying the same thing over and over again, even though it wasn’t working.  Why didn’t I try the other things that I thought of?

Hurrah for the final problem.  A flash on the slopey, strong, tension bloc that was very doable, but also very droppable.

It was progress.  I learnt things.  It was a slightly better result than last week, but it didn’t feel like it.

I was tired, had had my fill of garlic at the local Italian restaurant and was ready to get home to my own bed having been away since the middle of the month.

The plan:  get home,  sleep,  recover more, train more, taper, crush!