Monday 12 November 2007

Brno - Ist International Comp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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