Diane Merrick's Blog

Christmas Day Climbing

2012-01-19T08:30:00.001-08:00

Hmm, there’s been too much text of late in this blog! So here’s a video. We went climbing at Cratcliffe on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day at Cratcliffe from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

2012 Already

2012-01-09T03:58:00.001-08:00

It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2012. The next comp season is closing in quickly. I joined a gym back in November with the aim of having a wider variety of training tools available to me. The change has been fun and inspiring. Tim Cunnington of Funky Munkey Personal Training has been helping me train. I’m getting fit and strong. I’ve completed my conditioning and strength phases and am moving into power.

The team support is expanding. We now have a sports psychologist, a nutritionist, a chiropractor, a physiotherapist and a sports scientist, management and coaches helping us. It’s an exciting progression and I can’t thank them all enough for all the voluntary support.

Reaching for new heights

2011-11-18T09:21:00.001-08:00

Several team members, coaches and BMC officials attended a reception in Westminster on the 2nd November. Following a tour, we met with MPs, senior Sport England staff, Dame Kelly Holmes (awesome) and Minister Hugh Robertson to promote climbing and mountaineering. Overall the event seemed extremely positive and we hope it will help raise support for the sport, the team and our chances in the 2020 Olympics shortlist.

Audrey Seguy gave a superb speech highlighting how climbing and mountaineering is a sport for all, regardless of age or ability. Also, how the trend is for people to maintain participation in our sport, rather than drifting away and ceasing to exercise. Discussing sport in general, after the speeches, I learnt that many people give up their sport after a while as they can’t necessarily keep up or keep it together (either physically or mentally). Some sports only work in a competition format.

The difference with mountaineering may be that, although it is typically a group participation sport, the competition is ultimately between you and the mountain, the rock, the ice, the plastic etc. You can always have achievable goals. This could be getting to and from a certain place outside in the fresh air from the nearest car park (under your own steam of course), like Curbar Edge for example with its stunning views. It could be going to play at your local climbing wall with your mates, or something altogether more epic like the first ascent of something. It’s doing it that counts.

This sentiment was reflected at the recent Women’s climbing symposium at The Climbing Hanger, Liverpool. Over ninety women attended to discuss climbing, to learn and offer advice on how to improve, to climb. People came from as far as Devon and Scotland for the day. The good thing about the day was that it was all about the climbing, rather than differences between men and women and the possible excuses this may offer. There are no excuses!

Onwards and Upwards

2011-09-22T09:48:00.001-07:00

Competition climbing is now an Olympic recognised sport and it is short listed for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics. This is an exciting development for the ever growing sport of indoor climbing. It is an honour to represent my country in my chosen sport, and to see it included in the Olympics would be great for the competitors and the sport in general.

The question is - what inspires us to compete?

I do not compete to get attention, however it is nice to get recognition for achievement. I have a blog to promote competition climbing, the British Climbing Team and climbing in general.

In bouldering many of the competitors, myself included, compete due to enjoying the challenge of working out and topping short, hard, technical problems. We are competing against the challenge of the boulder and seek new challenges on a regular basis. The competition must be on manmade boulders as it would be unfair to compete on natural rock as the competitors may have been on it before so wouldn’t have to work it out on the spot. Also, considerable damage would likely be caused to any natural rock environment if a competition was held in it.

But why compete against others, rather than just the boulder problem? Well, it’s natural to compete with each other – it happens all the time at the climbing wall and it’s human nature. If I can’t top a problem I work at it, I want to beat it if possible. If someone else can top it, then it is possible and I maybe try harder, try and work out what I am doing differently. Do I lack the strength, power, flexibility, endurance, savvy etc to top it?

When put in a competitive environment, adrenaline comes into play. I find I can do moves that I cannot always repeat outside of the competition. It helps me in the challenge of beating the boulder.

Bouldering can be very sociable. Through competitions, I have met many fantastic characters. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit some amazing places, despite climbing on plastic!

Oh, and it feels good to do well and even better to win!

Matching in Munich

2011-09-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

Apparently matching makes you weak. However, when you’re feeling weak, matching helps you through.

For a couple of weeks before Munich I’d been suffering bad back knots. Whilst warming up for the last World Cup Qualifiers of the season, I found I was in pain and couldn’t pull on one side the same as usual. *Darn! (*insert expletives)

I had my best start position ever, but quickly dropped down out of the semis. I was really disappointed, but realise that it was for the best, as if I had matched the 4th top hold, or had a couple of less goes on the three tops I got, and therefore made the semi, I may well have done my shoulder some major damage (assuming I haven’t already). Never mind, I got points – not bad in the circumstances. The comp was really good for the team – we all got points and team GBR came 6th. Also, Shauna crushed to come 4th in her third ever World Cup. Awesome.

I finished the season with my best overall result to date – 25th in the World Cup (World Ranked 28th). I know what I need to train for next season and can’t wait to fix myself so that I can start training again. It’s the difficult month of year when I try and do anything other than climbing to give my body a chance, but end up out with my mates climbing. I’m sticking to friendly moves…. honest.

I was hoping to try a few hard things outdoors whilst still strong from the comps, but that’ll have to wait too.

Adidas Rockstars, Austria

2011-08-05T06:21:00.001-07:00

Wow. I was invited to attend a new event at Area 47 in Austria – Adidas Rockstars. As an athlete I was treated like a VIP from the moment I was picked up from the airport to the moment I returned. We had our own lounge for warm up, chill out, eating etc. Masseurs, physios and a doctor were provided to ease us through the competition. There were interviews, showing the rock band Orange but Green how to boulder, and really good competitions. The competition was high, with competitors invited based on World Ranking and outstanding performances. I qualified in 20th place, and came joint 15th in the semi-final to put me 17th overall after count back. Not bad. I need to practice throwing for stuff more, as this style of move often lets me down. Here’s some comp photos thanks to C Waldegger. There was also a ‘Be a Rockstar’ comp that 3 GBR girls entered. The top 3 men and women from the ‘Be a Rockstar’ event qulaified for the Rockstars event.

Outside of the competition, Area 47 is an amazing place in the mountains. There’s water slides, a pool complex with various activities, aerial fun and canyoning to name but a few activities. I joined the majority of my competitors in having a go at the bridge swing, jumping quickly before I had a chance to think what I was doing. After falling for longer than anticipated, with legs going ninety to the dozen, the rope took me swinging between the 2 bridge piers. Great fun and a big buzz. Here’s a clip of Magnus from Norway taking his turn (sorry for the poor quality) and some photos I took of the area. As for the food – I tucked into an indecent quantity of fantastic meat among other things. Also, I will be making some Kaiserschmarren in the near future.

Bridge Swing from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

Arco Comp Photos

2011-08-05T04:33:00.001-07:00

Here’s a couple of climbing photos from the World Championships – thanks to Nick Clement our Team Manager. Two slabs in the same round – slow, careful climbing for the tops

World Championships 2011, Arco

2011-07-23T07:20:00.001-07:00

Surrounded by the steep limestone faces on which the competition was originally held and thousands of people have climbed, Arco is an inspiring place. A castle towers high above the town with narrow cobbled streets housing delights for all. An ice-cream parlour serving more flavours than you can name also displays photos of the owner with famous climbers. There’s pizza, pasta and outdoor equipment stores. The cafe by the church, with the usual array of tables in the street shaded by an awning, is a climbing cafe. Climbing is everywhere.

Over fifty nations paraded through the streets, lined with photo portraits of previous stars of the competitions and welcoming spectators. The town celebrates climbing. We held our flags high and made our way to the competition arena for the opening ceremony. After pledges to abide by the rules of the Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships, we were entertained with an artistic display of singing, dancing and acrobatics. The theme was elements, relating the 3 disciplines of bouldering, lead and speed to fire, air and water with power, grace and flow.

Over 700 competitors were entered between all the disciplines – amazing. For me the bouldering competition had its ups and downs. The qualification problems were very doable, but also very droppable. Competing against almost 70 other girls, we were split into two groups in which we needed a top ten result to proceed to the semi-finals. This is the biggest field I have competed in. I flashed 3 problems and dropped 2, with some frustration. I tied with Alex Puccio and for some time we were in joint 10th place. Some strong contenders came through and we finished joint 12th in our group, 23rd overall. Once again, a close one. I am very pleased to have flashed problems, got points in such a big field and tie with Alex, a multi-finalist in the World Cup series.

Seventh Heaven

2011-07-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

At home, with the local crowd, the Sheffield round of the World Cup Series is an amazing, exciting and somewhat scary event! I had a couple of Canadians staying with me, which helped raise the pre comp anticipation that was slightly missing from last year due to the familiarity of my surroundings.

My warm up went well. I repeated some familiar problems, covering a variety of climbing styles, and I was catching some practice dynos. Once again, I started the qualifiers a bit shakily, fumbling around on some volumes, before being faced with a nice thuggy problem that just needed a little finesse to keep my feet on for my first top.

Then it was double dyno time. I told myself that I had to do it first time, going with both hands, all out. I prepared, I jumped, one hand went up…. sigh… but YES, I caught it. Heel on, climb, climb, climb, don’t drop it. The top was very droppable, but with some hand swapping and gurning it was done.

I took ages to get going on the fourth problem, before taking a better look at the hold I was rolling over onto. I decided to pinch lower down near a chip and hand swap into position. This worked and I quickly gained the penultimate holds. The top looked a mile away. One foot was on a steep angled volume, the other on a slippery button. The coaching in my head was telling me to just jump. I started to go for it and my foot slipped, but I stayed on, adjusted and jumped. There was a deafening roar from the crowd – I caught the top hold. Match, celebrate.

I’d done enough to qualify for the semi-final in 17th place, so 4th out in the semi. I got the 1st top, annoyed not to get the flash. I didn’t think to put my foot in the start cup on the second problem, so failed to progress to the bonus. I just scrabbled around the start moves. The third problem went 2nd go, after a good think about how to deal with the slopey volume to gain the nice crimp. I did my signature ‘rock into a lock’ move, finger crawling slowly onto the last hold, desperately inching (possibly millimetre-ing) onto the hold. Phew.

The fourth problem haunts me a little as I know I could have done it. I just didn’t think to guppy the bonus. I didn’t think I’d climbed that well, but am always open minded until I see the scoreboard. I saw the scoreboard. I was in first place, and I stayed in the top 6, in final contention, until the last climber climbed the very last problem of the semi-final. I almost made my first World Cup final. It was real, I wasn’t dreaming, I’d just come 7th in the World. Wow.

I was asked ‘What next? What are you doing tomorrow?’. The response? Going to work!

Lol

Baking Barcelona

2011-07-01T05:54:00.001-07:00

After Eindhoven it was back to work for 3 days before flying out super early on Thursday morning to Barcelona. I didn’t think I was going to have time for any maintenance of my never ending back knots, but Global Therapies squeezed me in for a pummel during my lunch break as I was passing through Glossop on the Tuesday. This was good timing as it meant I could rest for an evening and still fit in a quick climbing session the next day to realign everything (or knot back up a little!).

I spent a day and a half looking around Barcelona. The architecture was stunning, the sky was blue and it was hot hot hot. Here’s some photos of the beach/marina areas, around the Olympic stadium and some flora I liked. Also a really impressive roundabout with associated bus route map – which bus were we meant to be on?

Then it was competition day, indoors with no air-con. I was concerned about the heat as I have previously been unable to function in very hot conditions. The lads were suffering, it was getting hotter. I was red in the face and ridiculously hot, but I ultimately I felt surprisingly ok for competing. My skin was in good condition and I didn’t need to chalk up as much as I had expected. However, my comp vest along with everything else was wringing wet. Pleasant. I made a few errors, but this time I did enough to make the semi-final. Yippeeee. I qualified in 19th position and managed to gain a place in the semi to come 18th, my best result so far this season.

I almost got another top after taking 9 goes to get a dyno, but I thought the top hold was poor and needed to be gained statically. I was wrong and I could have thrown for it. I must keep trying to convince myself that if in doubt, I should throw for it. It can make such a big difference – for example 8 places in this comp.

The GB girlies grouped together, all climbing similarly to place 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st. Two lads also made the semis (top 20) to put team GB in 6th position.

I attempted to help with the commentary on the live stream, but I wasn’t sure what to say. What do people want to hear? Let me know and I’ll pass it on.

Eindhoven World Cup 2011

2011-06-30T08:17:00.001-07:00

There was quite a gap between the Vienna and Eindhoven comps. This allowed some time to top up on the training and try and maintain form. The Rockover Climbing Summer ROC Fest helped with this. It was a warm day in a packed wall, with over 240 competitors battling on 30 qualifier problems. I qualified 3rd and was pleased to hold on to this position in the final to finish behind Shauna and Mina.

Katy found some excellent apartments in Eindhoven a short walk from the venue. It’s good to be in an apartment rather than a hotel as you can fix food and drink as you please with a kitchen. Also, there’s no room invasion each day to have the bed tied in knots that have to be undone before you can get in, and no towels wastefully replaced with clean ones each day despite hanging them up. Despite being comfy I slept badly the few nights before the comp. This is annoying as my sleep has generally improved recently.

I had built myself up a bit for this competition as I had placed 15th the last two years. I felt unstoppable in warm up - catching jumps first time and everything. I hoped I hadn’t won isolation' to the detriment of the comp!

I felt pretty good whilst competing and I have good endurance at the moment. I got 2 tops, all the bonuses and some impressive ‘grit stone rash’ forearm grazes from grappling with a big volumes. I felt that I should have topped at least one more problem and was capable of more, however small errors in position I believe were my downfall. Positioning a knee bar on top of my hand was more than foolish for example. I maybe needed more concentration. My general problem reading was ok - I need to work out the finer details of the problems. Here’s a few photos including the ‘grit ball’ that needed to be hugged, then sat on and leg clamped to finish with a hand match on a blank patch of wall above.

It's frustrating knowing that I haven't achieved my potential so far this year, mainly due to small errors of judgement. I was pleased to do enough to get my best result of the season, 26th, but was also disappointed. I really really want to be making semi-finals as I know I have it in me. I just needed one more top.

The semi-final and finals were plagued with heavy showers, but they didn’t dampen the spirit of the crowd. Great Britain’s Dave Barrans thrived once again in the moist conditions to make 6th place in the final – awesome.

World Cups 2011 – Italy, Slovenia, Austria

2011-05-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

The first World Cup round took us to Milan, just. We struggled to find accommodation due to fashion week coinciding with the competition. We got lucky and found ourselves in the heart of the city, within walking distance of the comp venue, unlike many others who were up to 40km away. There was so much to see. Milan is stunning. The food is also great – I enjoyed some seafood ( and maybe a little bit of ice-cream).

The competition was frustrating for me. Here’s some photos that look like I made the top, made the dyno, but I didn’t. I was a fraction off of making each move. Not a good start to the season. I did do a few moves I was really pleased with though.

After a slightly shaky start, the Log Dragomer comp in Slovenia was much better. I climbed well getting a good way on all but one of the problems. However, I still typically failed to launch into the last moves. I need to learn how top problems. I topped one, but I either needed this to be a flash or needed a second top to make the semi-final. Getting lots of bonuses didn’t help as it’s tops that count first. I came away feeling confident that I can qualify if I just get it together. Also, ‘hurrah’, I got points towards my world ranking for being in the top 30.

Slovenia is green, friendly and beautiful. The competition was very, very well organised and we were looked after from the moment that we stepped out of the baggage hall at the airport. I recommend a visit. We went to the top of a tower in the middle of Ljubljana from which reportedly over a third of the country can be seen – mountains in all directions. Amazing.

The Vienna round of the World Cup (Austria) was a very disappointing comp for me. I flashed the first problem, then sat around for ages due to a technical fault ahead of me. I think I lost my concentration or something, as the next two blocs were a nightmare for me. Towards the end of the 3rd bloc I pulled it together and got my 2nd top on the 6th attempt. I then couldn’t make a dyno, and fluffed up the last move on a nice thuggish bloc twice that I should have made easily. Grrr, I slipped into a low place knowing I had been really silly. I wanted to call time out.

The feeling didn’t last long. I’m back training hard, as I want to win. I have goals to get. Its hard work, but fun trying to get them.

Ben’s Roof (7c+ Raven Tor)

2011-05-20T13:50:00.001-07:00

I’m very excited.

I decided that tonight was a good night to start working Ben’s Roof. I’d fondled the holds previously. Keith Sharples had shown me his sequence and I had my usual memory on the beta (forgotten the lot). I tried ‘Too Hard for Mark Leach’ after warming up on pinches wall for a while. So the end of the problem was ok.

After about an hour and a half I’d worked out all the moves, with some helpful suggestions from a strong guy and Pete Jeffery. The main move that was hit and miss was the toe hook to come round to the end – my foot kept slipping. I was stunned 3 goes later from the start to be making a second adjustment to the toe hook, making it stick and desperately dragging myself round the corner. Strong guy (sorry for the lack of name) suggested I get the jug not the crack thankfully and I was grunting to the top. Happy, happy, happy.

Tea time.

The Great Outdoors

2011-05-20T03:15:00.001-07:00

It’s been a hectic period with an amazing stretch of glorious weather in the UK, followed by 5 weekends in 4 destinations in Europe. I have neglected my blog, opting instead to venture out in to the great unknown (for me) – outdoors.

A normal venture out consists of pottering around in the big outdoor playground climbing everything in sight that looks nice. No aims to do anything in particular, no working anything, just enjoying the rock. I’ve previously found that it takes a little time getting used to the rock and you need to take time looking at the view!

I feel that I have had more time recently. I decided it would be very good for me to start trying some ‘stuff’. Now I have a little more focus. Time to pull hard, get out of my comfort zone and work things. I decided to start actively trying ‘7 and upwards’. Obviously I’ve mostly started with ‘A’ – I’m nothing if not logical! But I’ve mainly just tried to do a 7 each day that I’ve been out, picking one near to where we’ve ended up climbing, rather than cherry picking.

It’s fun. It’s improving my finger strength and technique. It’s making me stronger. Here’s the outcome so far this year for the ones that didn’t get away:

Peak District

Gardoms – Mark’s Roof Left Hand 7a
Curbar – Trackside 7a
Raven Tor – Saline Drip 7a flash, Saline Drip sit start 7a+, Weedkiller 7a+ (repeat)

Fontainebleau

Bois Rond – Bombe Humaine 7a+, Petite Insoutenable 7b (but it might be 6c! don’t quote me on these grades as ‘ the grades they keep a’changing’)
Canche aux Merciers – La Grande Marche 7a+
Haute Plaines – Lapin ou Canard 7a
Franchard Cuisiniere – Bizarre Bizarre 7a, La Voie du Pin assis 6c+/7a (the top out felt hard until I played on some razor crimps then came back to it to crimp the top sloper, and they say the standing start is easier!), Pas Cool 7a
95.2 – Indestructible 7a+ (this was a great big rock hug which got my inner thighs!), Le Petite Toit traverse with mantle finish 7a (but guide book is old so may be easier now?)

Why do a lot of the 6’s feel harder in Font? Here’s a clip of my favourite from the Font trip, Indestructible.

Indestructible 7a+ from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

CWIF 2011–return of the dappiness

2011-03-10T12:48:00.001-08:00

The Climbing Works International Festival was a big, fun event once again. I found having the 30 qualifier problems on a different day to the semi and final much nicer as I have never been one for stamina/endurance, although I am improving.

The quails were hard once again. The problems were quite ‘droppable’ and there were several that I did drop. I worked through the problems with Katy P in the morning session. We all but raced around as there was not much time per bloc. I topped less than half and was a little concerned that I was having a really bad day. I knew my lock was lacking as I have had some persistent back knots. I remained optimistic that I had done enough to qualify – it’s best to wait and see how everyone else has done, so I waited for hours! The am and pm session finished at 12.30 and 18.30 respectively. I passed the time by having my back knots attacked (and getting a blue avatar face to boot from the massage table – amazing dressing up btw), icing the attacked areas, refuelling, and snoozing. I qualified in 5^th place. I was really pleased with this.

The semis were good. I was somewhat surprised to latch the last hold on the first bloc - popping for a jug from an unlikely position on a slab. Luckily I didn’t let go in surprise and got a flash. I tired myself out on the second bloc bouncing around to gain the top on my 3^rd attempt. I then found that I didn’t have enough static lock on the 3^rd bloc which is a bit of a reverse of fortune for me. Although I was tantalisingly close to what I think was the key move. I did enough; I just scraped into the final. The vocal crowd helped spur me on.

I refuelled on chicken and rice whilst my shoulder curled up in shock (that’s what it felt like anyway). It still functioned but was very tender. I don’t think it was much of a hindrance in the final. My main problem was being tired and dappy once again. I missed the, with hindsight, obvious ways to progress problems 1 and 4 and feel I should have done better on these. Problem 2 was really scary and I’m very pleased with myself for topping it, nay, starting it. Comps are great for pushing the comfort zone and achieving unexpected things. I came 6^th, by far my best CWIF to date

Missing judgement

2011-01-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

I was really stupid in my last competition - the British Championships. I made the final, viewed the problems and read them ok, then forgot what I had planned to do whilst climbing them. I made lots of errors of judgement and dropped problems. There were some moves I dropped due to hand slips/strength, but it was mainly bad choices.

This year I have mostly been struggling to get any sleep. It is an excuse for being a bit dappy, but I do not feel that it can in any way justify forgetting about the last hold of a problem!! How silly do I feel? Very. Despite what I was hearing from the spectators and commentary, I should have realised that the hold I was on was not the top hold, as it wasn't marked as such. I jumped off from the penultimate hold, thinking it was the last one. Hopefully I won't do that again any time ever.

I can take lots of positives from the comp though. Lots of the problems had pops to the top and I got all of them, only slipping on the last one when going for the match. I even have the photos to prove it. Not bad for the queen of static.

Jump to it

2010-12-31T11:40:00.000-08:00

We had an excellent start to the power phase of our training at Climb Newcastle. The setting was just what we needed and I found myself doing flicks and pops that I didn't realise that I was capable of. Things such as 'not holding' a hold and flicking to the next is possible! I've just got to go for it.

All the best to Andy and his family for a speedy recovery.

Winter Leagues

2010-11-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

Training started in earnest in October with 3 team training sessions and the Rock Over comp. After having a month of rest I did some general conditioning to let my body know it was time to work again, before working on strength.

The Rock Over comp was good, but came as a bit of a shock to my body as I hadn't done that quantity of climbing for quite a while. My back tied itself in more knots than usual. I suffered a frustrating final, throwing away last moves by being static. I was really enjoying the problems - mainly my sort of thing with little crimps. I ripped 2 holes in my fingers on the last, dyno, problem. Helpful spectators provided some tape and I continued, but missed a knee bar and tiredly missed the moves (maybe a little distracted by the blood oozing from my fingers, sorry about that!). No excuse, time to man up and get fitter, stronger and bouncier.

It's now winter league season again. Fun weekly battles, typically at the end of the working week. I find that I leave my brain behind somewhere in the office. I may be able to pull, but coordinating my limbs and reading the problems is a big ask. It leads to a little frustration at times, but makes me pull harder as my technique goes out the window. This has it's benefits as I'm in a strength training phase at the moment. Pulling hard, locking, staying square helps your strength even if you drop the problem.

In Inssbruck and out

2010-10-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

The European Championships took us to the beautiful Tirol area fo Austria - Innsbruck and Imst. I climbed ok at the comp, almost topping 3 blocs, but lacking enough oomph to latch the 3 last holds rather than just tickling them. I came 29th. Not good enough. I've well and truly hit my season peak and dropped out of the other side. I mainly felt like I'd lost my power endurance with regard to completing a bloc, but recovered reasonably well between blocs. My power quickly departs leaving me with a big lock, but not pop.

It was amazing to watch the lead and boulder finals. Truly awesome spectacles at a very well organised comp. Throughout much of the season I've watched Adam Ondre blitz the competition. It was very exciting to see Ramon and Cedric raise their games and come out on top.

We planned to go and sample the local boulders, but the weather got the better of us and we went and had a session on the 'Bacher's training boards' instead. They're quite good (understatement). A big cave, a couple of comp boards, some interesting training aids and more holds than I could shake a hand at. Lots of big awkward slopers for me to grapple with, good training. We also popped into Boulderwelt in Munich for a few hours. Lots of big dynamic moves - very different to the typical UK style.

I'm now back in the UK, rested, and chomping at the bit to regain and improve on my previous form. I'm also climbing outside more to practice more styles.

GC Photography

2010-08-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

The locals that I climb with are a talented lot, and that's not just their climbing. They come from all walks of life and climbing brings us together. Thanks to Glen Chappell of Friday Night Climbing and also GC Photography for his photos of the recent Sheffield World Cup at Cliffhanger.

Munich World Cup

2010-08-03T10:36:00.001-07:00

Arghh. It was a really good venue, but for me the comp was awful. I was ridiculously tired from the hours I had to do at work before the comp. I couldn't think straight and made two silly mistakes.

1. I decided that it was not a good idea to stand up so that my head was above the top of the wall, even though it would have meant me gaining the top hold of a problem.

2. I missed a gaston.

It is a distinct possibility that this was the difference between making the semis or not. I failed to get points, which is very frustrating as I am capable of so much more. On the up side I am really motivated to get stronger, better, bouncier...

I will have to wait as my body needs time out. It is now time to have a break before training for the 2011 season. I want to just get training, but for now it's best to have some indulgence, catch up with friends and do something other than climb. I might see if my bike wheels still turn.

Sheffield World Cup

2010-07-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

It was really strange walking a couple of minutes down the road from my house and telling myself that I was, indeed, about to compete in a World Cup. There were no flights, hotels, trying to find the right food, etc. Just warming up at the Climbing Works on familiar blocs.

On Saturday I felt really good. I topped 4 blocs in 5 goes to qualify in 14th, my best qualification. Also, I hadn't expended much energy as I hadn't had to have too many goes. Despite this, I felt knackered on getting home to rest for the semi-final. I often get some sore muscles, but don't normally feel so physically tired. I thought nothing of it as I was resting as planned, so much so I had a kip.

Sunday started ok. I felt alright as I started to warm up. I felt a bit sluggish as I started to pull harder "almost ready to compete, just getting the muscles firing" I thought.

Then I started the semi-final - I think. I could see what to do, it didn't look too far to the flying saucer from a rolling pop from that 'orrible fin. I didn't pop, roll or gain height, I just climbed onto the fin for some reason and hung there. Arghhh. It continued - pop to the volume from these ok holds, gurn, dangle. Friendly-ish looking lock to the bonus, wilt. Bridge to the bonus, slither.

I came 20th in the World Cup. I should have been pleased, but I was bitterly disappointed because I knew I was capable of so much more. I was capable of getting more than nothing in that round. I wanted to cry but friends, colleagues and acquaintances were congratulating me. Thank you home crowd, for being so good to me.

I've never known such a 'high gravity' day. Time to analyse why and avoid repeats.

Strawberries

2010-07-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Not the boulder problem, real big juicy ones in the garden. So good I had to share.

Eindhoven Shapes and Shadows

2010-07-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Eindhoven World Cup

2010-06-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

To carry on a theme - YESSSSS, but grr. Eindhoven has been really good for me again.

I qualified in 19th, making a few mistakes but doing enough to get through. That means a clean slate, having it all to do on another day. It feels good.

In the semi-final, the first time I pulled on I was told to get off again by the judge for not starting correctly. I restarted and topped the bloc. I thought I had started correctly the first time but would have to wait to appeal... I had to concentrate on the blocs to come.

On the second bloc I got the bonus first go, then tried lots of different ways but couldn't progress. The score sheet said bonus in 5 attempts. Grrr. I had to wait... try and leave it and concentrate on the task in hand.

I battled on, unable to progress past the last 2 bonuses. One being a problem to read the bloc, the other just being a beast of a bloc. I finished hot and agitated. I felt a little green on my reading skills and expected the opposition to obliterate me, unlike my usual optimism.

My thoughts were unfounded. The blocs were hard.

I questioned the bonus issue. Apparently it had been decided that you not only had to hold the hold, you had to clearly show you could pull on it. The official said that everyone had been judged the same so the decision would stand.

I appealed the start of bloc one. Clearly what I did in my head was different to what I actually did as my appeal failed. So nearly 11th, but pretty darn happy with 15th.

Yes, but then again no

2010-06-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hurrah.

Back in the UK, feeling great after some sleep. It's good to get some training in, see the folks, etc.

City Bloc in Leeds had a Bloc Party on Saturday. Great fun, good crowd. 40 qualifier problems followed by 3 lovely fingery final blocs. There was good competition with Naomi Buys defending her title, Zoe Ogden and Helen Shilleto all looking strong.

I won. I really needed a good comp after everything. Hurrah. Lots of energy.

Then came Monday, yippee, no work. A bit of training. Then I woke up in the night with a sore throat. It feels exactly the same as a few weeks ago.

Nooooooo

Rest...

Noooooo

2010-06-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

A bit of a sore throat... a lot of a sore throat. Tonsils so swollen that the dangly bit in the middle was being pushed sideways by one of them, and I felt awful. Really really bad timing as I had two days of work left to get everything in order before travelling to my next World Cup comps. Then a whole month dedicated to climbing.

The reality was antibiotics for 10 days and feeling dozy most the time.

It was too late to cancel anything and I stood little chance of getting any refunds, so I rested as much as I could then went for it. After all, you recover quickly on antibiotics don't you?

So the comps - disappointingly I finished in the 30's in both Vienna and Vail.

Vienna: I was reportedly looking strong. I felt strong but tired quickly, not helped by the heat.

Flash;
Awkward hand swap towards the top of the bloc repeatedly;
Wave at the top hold, but too pumped to get it;
Wave at the top hold, but too pumped to get it after a few attempts battling with the penultimate hold;
Completely pooped.

Vail: I enjoyed it, but failed to get any tops in the comp despite pulling quite a few moves I was really pleased with. I made too many little mistakes, but learnt lots.

Beautiful;
Bouldered in Boulder (albeit on plastic at The Spot);
Competed, campussed, cried;
Bouldered on REAL ROCK at Der Klettergarden, Redcliff;
Humming birds, hummers, hot-tubs, 'hugeness', h-awesomeness and high altitude;
... and just contacted about cloned credit card, grrr.

World Cup 2010 Switzerland

2010-05-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Team GB is looking good kitted out by five finger thing with hoodies, soft cell jackets, t-shirts and comp vests.

We arrived at the Schwanen Pizzeria/Hotel damp from the drizzle to find nobody home. A friendly local helped us out and all was well (apart from the church bells next door chiming every 15mins 24/7!).

I was feeling overly calm when the qualis came around, having watched the lads in the morning. The lasses are typically first. Mina and me were in different start groups. I think I liked the look of my blocs more than hers which is lucky. I flashed the first 3 blocs, 2 of which everyone did. The 5th was a non-starter for me. The 4th was once again another 'so close'. I slipped switching feet for the last move and came 27th overall. If I'd latched the last hold I would have been in the semis. Grr. Next time.

We were fortunate to return home. The pilot (Captain Maverick apparently) was pleased to have got us home an hour before Manchester Airport was due to close because of ash. Awesome timing. I hope Jon got lucky too flying 3 hours later to London...

Skymasters 2010

2010-05-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

We went to Birmingham NEC for Skymasters at the Outdoors show again this year. It was a busy event as usual. We had a stand selling the Ltd Edition UKBouldering t-shirts and managed to raise some money for the team. My sister helped - cheers Angie. If anyone wants some t-shirts there's a couple of originals left, and a new design out.

Katy blitzed the Skymasters swinging lead route in a blistering time repeatedly to come second. Go boulderers! I was somewhat slower and came 10th again. I was pleased to complete the route twice - an advancement on last year. I just need to add some speed to my climbing performance.

Plywood Masters '10

2010-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Second agaaiin. Doh, I'm not very good at winning. Shauna was climbing really well. We were almost equal in the quali's. I dropped a straight forward bloc with a long last move and she dropped a bloc with a slab style top. I had extra goes on my bloc so was just behind.

The finals didn't split us, apart from me slipping of the start of a bloc by accident. This didn't matter as I couldn't win with all flashes due to qualifying second. Good fun blocs almost all conquered and good competition. To win I just need to do it all first time from start to finish!

Fantastic Fontainebleau

2010-04-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

The forecast was for rain. Followed by rain. We had quite a bit, but not that much, so it was a good trip that rose high above expectations. We climbed every day, and typically got rained on just before doing a last move!

I had a play on Holy Moly and Carnage, things I can do all the moves on, but keep failing to put together. I think the main problem is that there's so much to play on that I want to run around and do mileage rather than work anything for more than about 3 goes.

I did however substantially break into the 7's this holiday, especially once the sun (and lizards :-) ) came out on the last couple of days at 95.2 and Isotis. I don't think I'll ever be able to grade anything myself as the grade never seems to consistently reflect how hard something felt.

It felt good to revisit blocs that previously felt desperate and find them much easier - I'm getting stronger. It was also fantastic to to get away from the grind and live the simple 'eat, sleep, climb' lifestyle for a while.

Ten to One

2010-03-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I have some satisfying aches from trying hard at CWIF. The qualifiers were fun but sustained with no blocs really being 'given'. I didn't have a clue how I was climbing and dropped some things I thought I should be able to get. It was good to climb with the other GB Girlies (and Nick) as we all climb quite differently and worked off each other. I felt like my endurance was seeing me through, but I was clearly starting to flag by 14:30 having started at 09.30.

I qualified in 12th place to join the 16 semi-finalists, hurrah; four Brits, the rest from mainland Europe. I went home for a refuel and a rest on the sofa for an hour before going into isolation, which made me feel much better.

The semis were frustrating for me. I felt like I was being a muppet on bloc 1 and flailed around not catching a jump on bloc 2 (maybe as I was stretching out before trying to jump). I was determined to rise above my nil points on bloc 3 and to my joy I was faced with a steep crimpy bloc. I powered through to the bonus, lost my feet, thought that's ok I can campus this move and slipped off - and that was about that. I think I went pop at that point, not managing to get back to the bonus. I'm pretty sure I could do the last bloc, jump and all, but sadly the 5mins rest was not enough to get me through a roof section without getting leaden arms.

I came 10th overall, which I'm pleased with. If I continue to work my power endurance and a couple of other weaker points, maybe I can get to number one!!

CWIF commeth

2010-03-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling stronger and fitter than any time before. I just need to manage to avoid the lurgy, something I've not managed for the CWIF the last 2 years. Then I just need to have a good fun day.

I won the Climbing Works league and have been enjoying the new red circuit - all good practice working out the blocs. I also had a really good team training comp simulation recently. It's almost time to start my taper for the comp - a useful comp prep test prior to the World Cup season starting in May.

In between CWIF and May I'll be doing another mini periodised training cycle. That's the plan...

Power Endurance

2010-02-21T03:42:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard through the winter. Getting strong, converting strength to power and now working on power endurance. The winter league competitions help with this, but nothing can do more than lots of comp style 5min on/off work. The difference this makes is astounding. I feel like I've broken through to another grade by being able to crank and crank again.

The Foundry has been supplying plenty of cranking, with a really burly set with lots of powerful undercuts this time round. The league was really enjoyable too. I won the elite level, holding off the male competition as well as the female.

It's a shame all the leagues are on Friday's and often on the same dates as making them less attended than usual. I wanted to attend more, but with the weather and overlaps I've mostly just done the local ones in Sheffield (Foundry and Climbing Works) and one in Leeds (City Bloc).

I had a good trip to the Castle in London in December for a SIBL round. They had an amusing 'final' (sorts out any ties) which involved a reachy traverse with a rope swing in the middle. I won the female open, but didn't fair so well on the traverse at the end - not quite making the rope swing. This comp was written up in the latest issue of Psyched the BMC competition climbing newsletter. They've also put in an article about me :-)

Time to get stronger

2009-11-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

We're working on getting strong at the moment. This article gives an idea of what we've been up to.

The pulling hard fits in well with the winter bouldering leagues. Good fun and good for getting strong. So far I've been to the Climbing Works, City Bloc and the Foundry. All very different styles of climbing. I won some Scarpa shoes for winning the City Bloc event which is good :-)

Font Weekend

2009-11-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hacked down the motorway and just caught the ferry. Lots more motorway then.... ahhh Font. An instant feeling of well-being and relaxation. I love Fontainebleau. It is beautiful and inspiring.

It was raining when we got there so we just checked out a few areas. Then it was two days of excellent weather. We went to Roche aux Sabots and Gorge aux Chats.

Time to get fitter

2009-10-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

T'is the season to huff and puff and raise my general fitness levels.

We started off with a team fitness tests to get a bench mark of where we are starting from. Later in the year we will revisit the tests to see how we are getting on.

Since then, training consists typically of high volume, mixed intensity training with relation to climbing, not trying to necessarily pull hard. Even some routes!! Also general fitness with more cross training. Mostly running and skipping for me, along with weights and exercise circuits for general conditioning.

Why? Because it prepares my body for strength and high intensity training, reducing the risk of injury hopefully.

How does this make me feel? Good, but hungry for the challenging blocs (and things like cheese and big piles of risotto and toast and snacks ....)

Hello Peak District

2009-08-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying my rest period now my arm is starting to mend. Not only that but I've been outside to play two weekends in a row. No one will believe it!

The Peak has been sunny and midge free during the day. Ahh, fresh air without rain.

The grit has been feeling pretty grippy despite the warmth. We had good sessions at Stanage Plantation and Curbar. I didn't really do anything at Stanage, just pottered and took it easy.

A week later and my arm was starting to feel like it belonged to me. I did Gorilla Warfare - my kinda problem, but couldn't repeat Strawberries. Random weaknesses to fix when I start training again (memory could also be useful as I've forgotten how I did it).

Taming the beast

2009-07-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hurrah I won a beastmaker courtesy of the CragX pull-up comp.

I discovered last year at Cliffhanger that given a good rest after the BBC I was still pretty warm and could do more pullups than I've ever done before in one go, only to be beaten by Suzie D a short time later.

I returned to the challenge this year to see how I would fair. I pulled out 27 in 45 seconds to top the women's table.

The beastmaker is going to take pride of place above the lounge door. Unfortunately I won't be able to see the tv whilst dangling, but who cares, there's no other space and it is after all meant to turn me into a beast.

Now it's time to stop being silly and fix myself before training for 2010.

Cliffhanger

2009-07-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

The British Bouldering Championships 2009 did not disappoint. Both the men's and women's finals were cliffhangers once again with the top spots closely contested. Nice one Ned clinching first place with the last moves of the day.

I was really pleased to be climbing quite well and very lucky that most of the problems did not involve moves I cannot do due to my poorly arm. I only had to amend my tactics on one problem to compensate. The first 3 problems went ok and then I felt short on the 4th, unable to pop up into a barely balanced wide press. I was behind on attempts and was also missing a bonus.

The last problem was going well. A long problem with big moves.

Unfortunately my left hand just plain slipped as I was placing a heel hook with 2 moves to go. I was gutted to have slipped but was excited as I knew I could do the problem. Foolishly I got back on too soon and did not have enough in the tank to top the problem.

I came 3rd. Leah won and Katy was 2nd by a bonus. I needed the final top to have won, but was very pleased to podium.

Thanks to Kate from Godsrock Clothing for the photos.

China World Champs - The Comp

2009-07-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

The comp venue was impressive. Chinese Blind Massage is very good. Dave crushed to put GB on the podium for the 1st time in a World Championships.

I sucked, but enjoyed my trip. I had a poorly arm from Eindhoven and had lost my lock among other things.

The parks and comp venue had interesting exercise apparatus. The market vendors were unlikely to ever run out of stock.

I travelled half way back to the UK on the same flights as the Russians and an Indian and a chap I met in Beijing airport who was from where I grew up. The usual small world scenario.

China Road Trip

2009-07-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

The roads in China were exciting. Here's some photos from a fairly quiet day. We mostly stayed on the right side of the road and only stopped 3 lanes of traffic by turning stright in front of them once each trip...

China World Champs - Base

2009-07-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

I went to China for the World Championships. I received a warm welcome at the airport along with many other competitors that arrived on the same flight. After my long flight via Dubai it was a relief to be ferried to the accommodation and training base by the hosts rather than battle the unknown.

The base had a boundary wall and guards on the gates, but we could come and go as we pleased.

We were fed and sometimes watered, but mostly sprited/tea'd. The base at 2200m altitude was also used for the Olympics and is now used by many athletes for training. Some serious training could be had going up the steep hill behind the base.

The hills were all terraced and cultivated. There were some goat-sheep at the top, the ones that could be either. One was doing a good impression of a skull.

It was good to be in the same place as all the other competitors.

Godsrock Clothing

2009-07-09T00:26:00.000-07:00

Good news - Godsrock is coming to Sheffield. There will be a stall at Cliffhanger this weekend.

Eindhoven Photos

2009-06-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

Ned (and his shorts) and me in the semis.

Semis - a miss and a hit. It was an awkward off balance launch.

Qualifiers - pop for the top. There was a nice crimp on the sloper :-) for my third flash

Qualifiers - first 2 flashes

Fontainebleau and Eindhoven

2009-06-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I had a few days holiday in Fontainebleau before going to the last round of the World Cup in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

We got 2 days climbing out of 3. Good considering the amount of rain in between times. Real rock felt a bit foreign and I struggled on the slopers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but didn't manage more than half of anything in the 7's. I did however do lots of very nice 6bs.

The World Cup went well afterwards. I qualified in joint 15th and went on to come 15th in the semi-final. My best result yet placing me 29th overall at the end of the World Cup Series. Ned Feehally came 6th in the comp - an awesome effort. There's an article on UKC.

Vienna WC

2009-06-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

I had a good World Cup in Wien and felt strong after my finger strength intensive.

I was the penultimate climber out which gave me plenty of time to warm up. I started well with a flash. The second bloc with chunky holds gained via heel hooks was not so successful. I messed up placing my hand incorrectly on the bonus and hung around for ages trying to correct. By the time I did I was wasted. I should have let go and repeated as the move was actually ok. I didn't have enough left to finish the problem but I believe I could have topped it if I hadn't hung around. The end moves looked totally do-able. Grr

I recovered well in the rest period to be faced with a really awkward double handed dyno from bad holds on the 3rd bloc. I caught it on my 7th go and topped with seconds to spare. Super - chuffed and somewhat surprised I moved on. Jon caught my leap on camera.

Only 2 others topped this bloc.

I went on to top the last two blocs to get 4 tops in 14 and all 5 bonuses. Angelica was congratulating me on making the finals, then the results were finalised... I was the only one with 4 tops not to qualify and only one other had all 5 bonuses. Unfortunately I had too many attempts placing me 11th in my group, 21st overall. I needed bloc 2 then I would have been 2nd in my group!! What a difference a couple of holds make.

Dave and Stewart crushed coming 6th and 8th. Dave 'won' the semi. Nice one.

I had a look around Vienna with Jee. I wanted to go on one of the Segways. Instead we went on foot, but saw most things. It's quite a compact place with lots of nice buildings, horse drawn carriages, tons of statues and several large gold balls.

DIY

2009-05-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

I'm resting/tapering for the next comp. We decided to do some DIY in the lounge. We are now proud owners of some handcrafted shelves.

Plywood Masters '09

2009-05-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

I had a very enjoyable trip to Blackburn yesterday. There were a lot of faces that I hadn't seen for a while Audrey turned out with a group from London, Naomi and Jordan were both looking strong. There was also some good local talent with Gill Peet making the finals in her first comp.

I came second behind Leah. We both topped all the final blocs, but I had a couple more goes. I think this is the first time I've topped all the final blocs in a comp so I'm really chuffed, especially as I was up against the very imaginative setting of the Boulder UK crew.

Finger beasting

2009-05-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm on an intensive fingerboard 3 weeks.

I feel that I've come full circle since first starting full training. I started with strong crimping fingers, but lots of other things to work on. Now I feel like my finger strength is holding me back, especially open hand strength. Hence the intensive.

I have never done much fingerboard work am really noticing the difference already after the second week of three 1.5hr sessions a week. Each session comprises of encores of increasing difficulty, warming up and then working my fingers up to back 2 (see the beastmaker site for explanation). I'm doing these sessions on days I do not climb.

I'll taper my training in the 4th week ready for the next comp.

World Cup Hall, Austria

2009-05-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some sideways videos of me on the blocs in Hall for you to watch whilst stretching your neck.

The first bloc was frustrating being easy to the last move. A pop on a slab where I could get the height but not the trajectory. I dropped two other blocs, topped 2 and got all the bonus holds to come 31st. I was a bit disappointed as I felt I should have got further on a couple of the blocs.

Central Tokyo

2009-04-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Just playing with the lights in the dark

Better late than never. Some more photos.

We liked the plastic food in the windows showing you what you can get. Fish, unless its me trying to buy raw fish. Then its deep fried pork. Good job I was really enjoying the deep fried pork.

We also like the skyscrapers - especially the one with the free lift to the 46th floor.

World Cup Kazo, Japan

2009-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Kazo was good. With a huge cherry tree and a handy shops. The street was lined with IFSC WC flags and streamers with disc pictures of climbers stuck to them, prepared by local school children.

Lots of fish flying (carp) for the the comp and childrens day on May the fish-th. I found a good big fish, little fish, cardboard box scenario.

The comp - it all felt so hard... and it was. A hard set of quali blocs. I flashed the first and got a second bonus to qualify joint 20th. In by the skin of ma teeth. I felt I climbed slightly better in the semi, apart from on the first block where I felt like a sack of spuds. I came 18th - my best result to date.

Leaving Kazo was the hardest journey as the map was in kanji only. Spot that town you want to go to? Easy if you know its the chest of drawers followed by the fat man with three legs rather than some now useless latin characters. Engineering logic took over that its still the same map. Alternatively buy the cheapest fare and adjust on arrival. All the systems are so very well thought out.

Quest for Pump

2009-04-20T13:21:00.001-07:00

I tried to find the PUMP climbing wall in Akabane, Tokyo. Unfortunately I chose the wrong direction out of the station and we saw lots of residential Akabane instead. It was interesting. Many vending machines later we found the bridge across the river. The climbing wall was just the other side on my little map.

It turned out to be a very big bridge across a hugely wide river. Oh for a bit of scale on the map/leaving the station at an exit with a location board. Doh. We had to leave the climbing and return to Kazo for the technical meeting.

Nikko, Japan

2009-04-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

I managed to fairly easily navigate my way into Tokyo and out the other side to visit Nikko. A tourist town with temples, shrines, a pagoda and a whole lot of stunning scenery and wildlife.

Glad I didn't meet any of these in the flesh

An elaborate drinking fountain.

More guards

Lots of bright shiny gold gateways

And intricate gateways

Carvings of a dragon

A shrine at the top of a hill, after lots and lots of steps.... I've still no idea what anything says

Five storey pagoda

Unfortunately we ran out of time to see the lakes and the wild monkeys. I wanted to see the monkeys... I could hear them. I was hoping to learn some new techniques ready for the comp!

:-)

Alter Rock

2009-03-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

I recovered slowly from CWIF to have a good session on Wednesday. I did some routes on Friday night - getting pumped/improving my power endurance whilst trying to find a leading head ready for Skymasters. A big session for me.

Refuelling after routing, last thing on Friday, I bumped into Rob Napier who had been setting a comp at Alter Rock in Derby. I didn't know about the comp previously, but looked it up on t'internet and was there the next morning bright and early (well, 10am). 20 blocs and 4 leads/4 top ropes depending on your ability.

The comp was great. Well supported by sponsors, well set up, food and good prizes (including Rab jackets, Orange house weekend, DMM kit, Evolve/Merrell shoes), but unfortunately not much competition. The event was well attended by lots of strong youths. However there were only 3 adults - 2 men and myself. We teamed up for the leading. A truly sociable day out.

I got all but 2 blocs. One of the ones I dropped was a £50 prize bloc which I was close to getting and should have got, grr. Thank you for a good day out climbing.

CWIF

2009-03-15T01:25:00.000-07:00

Just over a week before CWIF I was feeling really good. Ready for the marathon bouldering day. Then the lurgy hit yet again. I cannot believe the number of bad colds I've had this winter. This one took me out for the week. I folded in half coughing if I tried to do anything. It had to be man flu!

By the end of the week, I was just coughing periodically and I could breath, so figured I was well enough to do the CWIF. I had a short session at the Foundry on the Friday night just to get moving again.

The qualifiers (cough) went (cough) well. I qualified 7th behind Mina, Leah, 2 French and 2 Dutch. I hadn't climbed tactically. I wanted to use the comp to climb all blocs as well as possible rather than just try and qualify.

The semis - arghhhhh. I hit the proverbial wall. I had nothing left. The few holds I got to felt good enough, the moves mostly looked like ones I should be able to do, but my arms were not responding to my head. I was so disappointed. And the blocs looked great.

Thankfully the rest of the team powered on through with Leah and Mina coming 2nd and 3rd. An awesome effort by all.

Seaside and TCA Bristol

2009-02-23T12:16:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely weekend in Torquay with Pete and the 'in-laws'. Fresh sea air, some sunshine and good food.

We went to The Climbing Academy a new bouldering wall in Bristol for training. Lots of fun blocs, colour coded into circuits. We had a warm welcome - friendly staff and locals, and underfloor heating.

Absolutely no need for my leg warmers.

I tried several of the blocs on the hardest circuit. Quite a range of grades from easy flashes to long, hard thuggy ones that I couldn't quite get. Can't comment on grades as I'm naff at that. A good variety of styles. I decided to do several of the blocs with 'bunch of grape' style sloper holds and enjoyed swinging across the long roof.

SWBL

2009-02-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

I had a good Friday night league comp at the works coming 2nd on the night. This placed me 2nd in the SWBL and 4th in the works league having missed a round. I got furthest up the Percy's special women's problem, but didn't top it so no £50 spot prize :-(

A team training weekend at the Awesome Wall Stockport followed. We did super hard problems on the Saturday and had a mock comp on the Sunday. The Earl set some fun blocs to break ourselves on. I won the semi and the final. I'm nicely tired and achy now :-))

Has anyone got any spare fingertips?

Foundry League

2009-01-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

It was the last round of the Foundry League last night. Another set of cracking blocs. Simon said that everyone left with a smile on their face.

The results are out already. I won :-)

The Foundry has a blog where they are posting info, results etc. This includes the SWBL for which the last round is on the 13th Feb at the works.

Works League

2009-01-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

Another good set of blocs. I got onto the steep sections a bit late and powered out. Oops. I had random bursts of energy. These were on my repeat goes typically. I was therefore dropping points left right and centre, but had a good workout and lots of fun.

I went back on Sunday and didn't top any more comp blocs. I did all the new volume blocs - some bold moves and flicks required, along with multiple kneebars on a brown :-)

Fitness First supplied me and a mate with a free taster session on Saturday. My mate ran about 10km whilst I ran for 10mins to warm up for a weights session. The assisted pull-up/dip machine seems a good way of working the one armers, but I got some strange looks from the locals in Chesterfield!

Steam room seemed the logical option to finish the session. I left feeling pampered, but could feel the effects climbing on Sunday.

Flapper

2009-01-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

Had a really good session at the Matrix today. Rob Napier and Karl Bacon set the last comp routes. They're good. I was working some that I hadn't done in the comp. I topped two more and made considerable advancements on two others. But unfortunately also gained a big flapper on my little finger.

Web cams are awkward to capture images of little fingers in.

Down in Byker...

2008-12-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

It's team training and league season. A lot of the wall leagues fall in the same weeks as each other and also on the same weeks as team training so I've been climbing my socks off recently.

The last team training weekend was at the newly opened Climb Newcastle in Byker Village. Andy Earl took us through periodisation of training, campus boarding and fingerboarding. The main features of the weekend for me were two bumper sessions of comp difficulty blocs. A big workout of 15 on the first day and 8 on the second, along with trying the men's blocs and revisiting the blocs from the day before.

There is a really good mix of styles of climbing in the setting. I got a dyno - hurrah. Also some big slopey moves. Some of the fingery problems were so crimpy and small that I was beginning to wonder if this was my strength after all. Lots of grimacing for the top!

Monday's Foundry league felt steep after all this with my arms not really pulling through and my fingers all jelly-like.

Mountain Biking

2008-12-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hooray, I went mountain biking for the first time in months and months... ow, I'm sure my saddle wasn't that uncomfortable.

Nine of us stayed in a bunk house in North Wales. A recipe for a great weekend. We did the MBR trail at Coed-y-Brenin and the Marin trail at Llanwrst. I'm a bit slow on the uphills (sorry guys) but managed to scare myself on some of the downhills. Big grin, point and shoot stuff screaming like the girl I am when only just missing tree stumps etc.

Cheers to Lex the birthday boy.

European Championships

2008-11-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

I had a really relaxing trip to Paris on the train. For some reason it felt a lot less tiresome than flying which was good as I was still a little poorly with a chesty cough. The hotel was in a good place - right next door to a huge supermarket for supplies. Super.

The comp venue was amazing a big glass and grass mound. The qualifier's were held in a side hall populated with hundreds of school children cheering us on. The blocs were pretty easy with only one strong move. Unfortunately, I only managed to flash 3 of the 5 and didn't manage to top the other 2 despite probably doing the hardest moves.

Unusually it was my technique that let me down rather than anything else. I had my knees facing the wrong way both times! I was also climbing a bit slowly so did not have time to rectify my mistakes once I realised what I had to do.

We climbed in two groups. I came 17th in my group, 33rd overall.

The lead, speed and boulder semis and finals were all held in the main omnisport arena. We watched all the finals, and all the bouldering - cheering on Ned who made it to the semis. Well done Ned.

In between we had time for some sight seeing. As you can see we went to all tourist attractions - Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame etc. Also, a very skilled football acrobat balancing on a pillar playing keepie uppie. I was a Paris newbie and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Next time I will climb better...

Leaping lurgy

2008-10-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

My style of climbing is quite static. I've been working on dynamic moves and have improved but need more practice. At team training we had a simulated competition where although I executed several throws and flicks these were generally the moves I was less successful on during the day.

I planned on having a couple of weeks of leaping practice following the last team training, but the lurgy has got the better of me in the second week. I've been surrounded by people with coughs, colds and sore throats who have broken through my defences. Grr

So I'm stuck at home feeling sorry for myself. Working on nothing but trying to get better ready for the European Championships next week (and answering the odd work query!). There's only so much naff TV I can cope with so I hope I get better soon.

Taking the lead

2008-10-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'll not be winning any prizes on this front yet. I had a leading session at the Foundry and was pleased with my current stamina and power endurance. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but I was feeling good. It was a mileage session and I didn't get on anything above 7a. I plan to build on this having a lead session or so each month just to keep my hand in.

Sunny South

2008-09-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hurrah, we found great company in old friends and some lovely weather at the weekend down in Witney near Oxford. It was sunny shorts and t-shirt weather, perfect for a walk along the Thames. We ate lots of good food (sorry to be such gluttons :-0 ) including a substantial amount of salad and quiche with bread from reportedly the 'best bakers'.

On the Sunday we visited the afore mentioned bakers to replenish the bread we had eaten and had a roast beef dinner from the restaurant on the same premises whilst vege Pete went cycling. Mmm roast dinner!

1-4-6

2008-08-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

I went to the Climbing Works yesterday with the Foundry 'club'. We were all on different circuits, but climbed socially with ease due to the layout. I've been doing regular extended sessions at the works for several weeks now.

After the social climb I did my first full campus session since the end of the main comp season. I surprised myself by pulling off 1-4-6 leading with my left arm and then with my right after a couple of attempts.

I'm really seeing training advances recently as last week I did a left arm 90 degree lock, again after having not trained specifically to achieve it, but trying it as a measure of where I am at.

Rubicon

2008-08-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Ah, a nice day by the mill pond... almost in the mill pond. Its a bit muddy/pond like under the traverses wall at the moment which led to an amusing landing by Gaz (Whittles). Toes still on the wall, heels in the mud, shoulders on the mat, arched in between trying to keep clean shorts. A flip to get out of this being possibly his best move of the day!

I had a good finger workout, especially on Kudos wall, and bumped into some people I haven't seen for ages. It was good to catch up.

Team and Training

2008-08-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yippee, I've been selected for the 2009 GB team :-)

I'm busy training at the moment. I'm enjoying the Foundry's new volumes and the Climbing Works circuits and latest comp wall blocs.

I'm not enjoying running. It's my first running with hayfever season whilst its a bit warm outside. If I'd kept up my running more throughout the comp season it may have been easier.

I aim to get onto some real rock in the near future... and visit some other walls (I'm a plastic junkie!).

Injuries - pain without gain

2008-07-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

So my pesky shoulder that is now pretty much better... Months and months ago a week before a team training I scratched my back and thought 'ow, my shoulder hurts'. After that it was uncomfortable and hurt a bit when climbing, especially with wider arm positions.

I thought it was just an aggravation from too much training, had it checked and was told I had no tendon damage. I took it easy for a bit and always made sure I warmed up carefully. Trying to be nice to my body. Unfortunately my shoulder continued to niggle from time to time - but hey I could still climb well.

Silly me.

At the worst possible time, having qualified for my first World Cup semi-final, my shoulder said to me 'enough' and completely seized up. I went to see John Ostrovskis after many recommendations. John diagnosed that I had a few shoulder and back muscles that had been in tight knots for a long time and had become underdeveloped. Other muscles were compensating. After some pain for gain work on the muscles my shoulder felt a bit odd and I felt a bit wonky. I was probably wonky before and now straight!

A month down the line having done daily theraband exercises and wide arm press-ups I feel great. My shoulder strength is back, but now without pain.

I saw John twice more during this time as I was doing competitions so couldn't risk a single full treatment as I may not have been able to climb properly.

I now regularly do a suite of theraband exercises and do daily pressups. I was given the advice ages ago that pressups are good for climbers wanting to avoid injury and maintain good posture. I fully believe this is true now.

Therabands are good for warm-ups, keeping your body toned and in balance and doing exercises away from the gym/whilst travelling.

I will now pay more attention to pain. For me if pain only lasts a few days then it's good pain that's making me stronger (unless blood/bruises are involved!). If the pain lasts more than a week or so it may well be that it is not good pain and I may need to get it checked out.

Not rocket science I know, but it would seem that at times wishful thinking gets the better of me.

More BBC 08

2008-07-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Images from KeithSharplesPhotography - Cheers Keith

British Bouldering Championships 2008

2008-07-14T14:00:00.001-07:00

Celebrations - 2nd in the BBC 08. It feels great to finish the main season on a high. Although I still made a couple of mistakes and find myself asking 'what if' for a couple of days before finding another bloc to conquer. Audrey beat me again with style - nice one.

The blocs were fantastic. Really good fun to climb. The nasty green qualifier in the corner seems to have given me whiplash but that serves me right for not hanging the top!

Time to have a little break before getting back into the training regime. Thank you Scott Wilson and Nan (sponsors) for your help in getting me to the competitions and Pete, the Foundry clan and everyone for your support.

Carcassonne and Montauban WC Photos

2008-07-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

Zoe and Gaz walking up to the walled town. Amazing stone work, turrets and a very cheerful gargoyle.

Bloc 1 in Montauban WC topped after a face plant

Bloc 3 dropped from the bonus just round the corner out of sight

And bloc 5 just about to miss the penultimate hold :-((

World Cup Montauban

2008-07-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great day visiting the medieval walled town of Carcassonne the day before the comp except Gaz had a bad stomach ache that turned out to be kidney stones. I ended up driving as Gaz had forgotten his driving licence. Good job really.

The comp was amazing. Spot lit boulders in a huge venue. I was first out. It was strange having cameras in your face all the time. I had a really good comp.

I topped blocs 1, 2 and 4. Managed to face plant the mat when slipping off the last hold on the first bloc and scraped my legs up on the 4th bloc. I got the bonus on the 3rd bloc and missed the 5th bloc penultimate hold by a fraction (I think I left some skin on it). I came 24th and was so close to getting in the semi. A few less attempts or catching the hold on the last bloc....

Audrey climbed really well qualifying 8th having topped all the blocs and came 18th after the semi. Nice one Audrey. There's some good photos and videos on the Montauban website including one of me doing the first bloc.

Climbing Works Session

2008-06-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

I met up with Gaz, Audrey, Zoe, Ben and Rachel and had a team training session a the Works. We tried the yellow circuit (40 7a-7c ish blocs) with varied success. Some good problems, some evil ones, some easy ones and some downright disgusting ones!

I now happily knackered after a long session. Only one minuscule war wound from scraping my face up the wall, over several holds on one problem. It's good climbing with other team members as we all have different climbing styles and the competition is healthy.

Shoulder

2008-06-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

I had my shoulder checked out on return from Italy. Its getting stronger and some further areas have been identified that I can work on to improve it.

I'm now stepping up my training ready for the next comps and to set the bar for the training season. The British Bouldering Championships is nearing... This will be held in Millhouses Park, Sheffield on 12th/13th July as part of the Cliffhanger event.

Arco

2008-06-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

No one from team GB made it in to the final in Fiera and the weather was awful. Our transport options decided that they wanted to go to Arco... so off we went. Katy and Ryan lent us their kit tent, spare sleeping bags and a bouldering mat to sleep on.

Poor Ben was lent a kit tent but didn't have a sleeping bag or mat. Dave, Gaz and Tony had sleeping bags and mats but no tent. They slept under a tarp that Audrey lent them! A motley camping crew.

Arco is stunning with good views across to lake Garda and fantastic steep limestone.

With a borrowed harness I enjoyed seconding a 30m 7a+ after checking out the area (including the local bear - Audrey's dog). I am seriously un-route fit. The moves were easy enough I just didn't have the stamina/power endurance.

I'd like to go back after reminding myself what this leading lark is all about :-)

World Cup Fiera

2008-06-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Doing a comp after a late night is not a good idea. I figured this in advance, however had booked flights based on the dates originally on the IFSC website that turned out to be wrong.

I got to bed just before 2am and had to be in isolation at 8am. I felt ok. Very glad that I had taken my own breakfast as the hotel one was naff - with sugared croissants, bread and some interesting looking meat on offer. Warming up seemed to go well although small holds felt really small.

We were amused by our gifts in isolation - a rope bag each. Although it will be useful to use just as a bag with a built in groundsheet... I probably should have used it to ward off the weather. It was pouring with rain.

On the first bloc I could see exactly waht to do. For some reason I just wasn't doing it. It wasn't because it was too hard. When I eventually made myself hold onto the part of the hold I intended to the problem felt fairly easy. Unfortunately my foot slipped just as I was reaching ovedr for the bonus. I fell off and had faffed so much that I was out of time.

Thankfully dry sqeaked boots on the second bloc were not required. A dyno to the bonus, followed by a mantle. I leapt for the bonus, then found myself facing the crowd briefly before I realised that I had caught the dyno first time. I quickly got over my surprise and after a couple of experimental movements made the mantle for the top. Hurrah I flashed it.

The next two blocs felt quite hard and both had a similar move in them that my shoulder wasn't up for. I also felt like I was lacking finger power. I gained a bonus.

I thought I had a chance on the last bloc but couldn't quite make a crossover move. Once again I needed to try using a toe instead of a heel. I finished 31st missing out on points by one place and thinking I had a chance until the last person climbed.

At the end of qualification the results board showed a different story though. It stopped updating after Katy was 9th and I was 8th!

After the quali I crashed. All I felt like doing was curling up in a corner and sleeping. I had been running on adrenalin and was actually knackered.

World Cup Vail

2008-06-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in London on Sunday and flew out to Denver Monday. Gaz and Dave amused themselves for almost the entire 9hr flight with the in flight magazine which had some inspired 'everything you didn't know you needed' gadgets in including a tail gate hanging seat set for your truck. I made my way through several films. Pete my partner and team GB fan for the trip had started feeling a bit worse for wear and covered himself from head to foot in a United Airlines blanket (no mean feat for a 6'3" bloke) and mostly did an impression of a grey chequered ghost wearing a seat strap.

The condo at Antlers in Lionhead was lovely. Bigger than expected. Gaz decided that everything in the kitchen was modelled around needing to fit in a large Christmas turkey. The fridge was big enough to fit in... anything and anyone including Dave. The bedroom had a flat screen tv that Pete watched from his sick bed (he had flu and was in bed for several days).

Vail was either hot or cold with no in between depending on whether the sun was shining or not. I got more colour than intended watching my fellow competitors in the qualifiers, but froze watching the final. We had sun, rain and snow. Denver had a couple of tornadoes. We were concerned that the comp wouldn't happen at one point when the open air wall was wet through. The juniors climbing the day before us climbed under make shift tarps and the crowd couldn't see the climbing.

On Thursday evening we had an opening ceremony where we paraded with our respective country flags. The commentator ticked all the boxes eventually finishing with 'dude' just at the end when we had given up hope long after 'sweet', 'sick' etc. Everyone was totally stoked to be there!

The day of the qualifiers was luckily a dry day. The qualifiers were nails. Only one of the women's blocs was topped, but not by many. I feel that I climbed well and pulled off some really good moves, but not enough to get many bonus holds. I gained one bonus and came close to two others.

Along with 3 of my fellow competitors, I was attacked by a banner with a lump of wood attached to it whilst I was attempting the last bloc. Despite gaining a rest and half a minute extra of climbing time due to this technical incident I got no further. I was greatly inhibited on one bloc due to my shoulder, but on the whole it behaved itself and didn't break. Phew.

I came 29th - hooray points despite being joint last with 8 others! I am pleased that I could climb at all so to get in the top 30 was great.

The men's qualifier was also nails and most the lads faired no better than me with one exception. Tyler in his first World Cup qualified and made it through the semis to the final where he came a very respectable 6th. Check out the BMC article here. Nice one Tyler.

The altitude (2500m) was noticeable but it didn't feel like it affected my climbing performance particularly. Arriving a few days before the comp and doing some training probably helped. The dutch team said that they felt it a bit - however they are used to being at or below sea level!

The Vail World Cup was part of the Teva Mountain Games. Other sports included speed bouldering, freestyle kayaking, mountain biking, trail running, mudrunning, dock dogs to name but a few.

We saw some wildlife - sparrows, magpies, and humming birds! I couldn't make it up. Thankfully we didn't see any bears, but the convalescing Pete saw a chipmunk.

p.s. despite what others may suggest, we managed to eat quite healthily most the time. whilst surrounded by steak houses, burger joints etc. However, on our final morning we had eaten all our supplies of cereal etc and had to hunt out an alternative breakfast.... the diner was full so we had to settle for a pizza joint! I chose a pizza with pineapple and had a fresh orange juice with it (yes, I'm trying to make excuses). Others choices made were Caesar salad, steak sandwich and fries and soup with garlic bread!! Yum, yum breakfast.

World Cup Grindelwald

2008-06-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

... oh dear....

I left the Scott Wilson office in Chesterfield to catch the train to London and all of the displays were out due to the rain. Thankfully the trains were running on time and I had a pleasant trip to London.... The following morning we checked into City Airport and went through to departures. We bought water and breakfast and were then told that our flight had been cancelled.

Luckily we were tranferred to flights only an hour or so later going to Basel via Frankfurt. We arrived to a showery, but beautiful Grindelwald a few hours later than expected to a hotel with a balcony facing the North face of the Eiger and surrounding peaks.

The qualification blocs were good and well protected from the weather rolling over the peaks behind. Unfortunately I only topped the first bloc, during which my freed up but now weak shoulder moved out of joint. Try as I might I couldn't pull off the moves I thought I should be able to after this and frustratingly was just short of everything. I finished a disappointing 35th with a very sore shoulder.

Thankfully my shoulder has stopped hurting after a rest and I continue to do the strengthening physio exercises.

World Cup La Reunion

2008-05-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

What a stunning location for a World Cup event - a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. We arrived early on the Tuesday morning giving us a few days to recover from the travelling prior to competing on the Friday.

I was pleased to be randomly selected to climb second in the qualifiers, before the heat of the day. I flashed two blocs and got 4 bonuses. I qualified 12th ahead of some of the Hall finalists.

During the warm up for the semi-final my shoulder seized up and I struggled to warm up properly. The heat got the better of me and frustratingly I wasn't able to pull properly. I flunked the semi, coming 19th, knowing I could and should have climbed much better. But hooray - my first semi-final and my first world ranking points.

I am now ranked 54th in the world and 27th in the IFSC 2008 World Cup.

All of the photos can be seen on the Reunion Island website here.

World Cup Hall

2008-04-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

The flight into Innsbruck was amazing - along the valley with snow capped mountains.

I climbed quite well but missed a couple of tricks through inexperience. I flashed the 1st and last qualifier problems and tried the intermediate 3 lots of times so was pleased with my power indurance. I came 41st.

CWIF

2008-04-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

I entered the Climbing Works International Festival yesterday. It took me a while to get going on the 30 qualifier problems, but after a wobbly start I managed to crank up 195 points putting me in 6th position for the semi-final (16 places).

Arghh, I slipped off the first bloc with a greasy hold. After a brush I got it ok, but was frustrated not to have flashed it. I missed the bonus on the second bloc by a whisker, then completely misread the 3rd. After wasting lots of energy I worked it out and got the bonus.

Hurrah, the 4th bloc was just my cup of tea and I felt like I had recovered well. On the first go I got to within a couple of moves of the top, but my fingers slipped as I went to move up. After a short rest I thought 'this time', but I had hit the wall and didn't have enough left to finish the job :-(

I finished 9th. Vera from the Dutch team won, with Michaela and Audrey 2nd and 3rd.

Stamina

2008-03-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

The leading competition really brought home the fact it was time to start my stamina training for the World Cup series. Five minutes on, five minutes off for an hour or so. Pump-tastic.

Some of the boulder league blocs that I had completed previously felt almost impossible towards the end of the session.

The bouldering leagues are now complete. I took 1st place in Level 2 of the Foundry League and Womens 3rd place in the Works League behind Leah Crane and Rae Cowie.

Ford Skymasters

2008-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

I entered the Ford Skymasters competition at the Ordnance Survey Ourdoors Show this weekend. An innovative set up of suspended blocks forming a long roof leading to a suspended Ford Ranger. It was fun to climb if somewhat unnerving that some of the blocks were able to rock.

It was my first leading competition and I was pleased to make healthy 10th place. One hold behind the 3 girls ahead of me.

On Rock

2008-02-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

Not sure how I forgot to mention the fantastic gritstone weather we've been having. Hope everyone has been out there making the most of it.

I went out to Robin Hood's Stride the other weekend. It was glorious. I ticked the 7a in the Cave area - shame it doesn't have a name. A fun little bloc with a big reach.

Campus Boarding

2008-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

Team training this weekend with campus work on the first day. I feel that I've improved quite a lot since last time. Time to pull hard.

Hopefully off to the French Alps boarding soon too. Snow fun

Bring it on.

Climbing Works

2008-01-27T03:21:00.000-08:00

Well it did on Friday night. The Climbing Works bouldering league provided an excellent set of blocs. I completed 18 out of the 25 and am going back today to work on a few that only just got the better of me.

I'll follow this up with a bit of campus work as I haven't done so much of this of late...

One strong arm

2008-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

We had our second round of team fitness tests last weekend. It was a good day. I think I improved on most things except the wide arm lock due to a tweaked shoulder and the bleep test due to the chilly day and having had a cold recently (yep I've been Typhoid Mary). We'll get our results soon. Our physio checked my shoulder - just a niggle, phew.

My biggest surprise was pulling off a one arm lock off. I knew I was close but didn't think I was quite there. Hurrah for successful training.

We were also shown another set of free weight exercises. Asymmetric work. It's all good stuff.

After a good rest on Sunday I entered the 3rd round of the Foundry League. The blocs were good, but easier than the previous rounds - maybe easing everyone in after Christmas! I flashed all in the level I've entered and did a couple in the next level up, leaving 2 blocs set that I didn't complete.

1-3-5-7

2008-01-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

The Christmas leave from work brought lots of time to train :-) It took quite a while to work back up to the level I was training at before Christmas having caught the stomach bug that has been doing the rounds. I run one/two times a week, do one/two sessions of free weights, pull up bar, core and stretching and climb three times a week, one session of which includes campus work.

Training seems to be going well. I got a problem I had been working on for a while that had a long campus like move in it and I was doing 1,3,5,7 on the campus board yesterday. A big improvement from barely managing 1,3,5.

I finally managed to give blood on Thusday evening having been well for two weeks and my chin having healed. I hope my campus flair was not due to this!

December Team Training

2007-12-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

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.