Down in Byker...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Images from KeithSharplesPhotography - Cheers Keith

British Bouldering Championships 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!