Winter Leagues

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.

Ten to One

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!!

Time to get stronger

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 :-)

Cliffhanger

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.

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 :-((

Brno - Ist International Comp

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

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

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

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

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

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

November Team Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction...

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

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

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

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

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