Christmas and the BBCs

I had hoped that the unusually long Christmas holidays would be a time for catching up on climbing/training that I’d sacrificed for uni exams. Sadly this didn’t turn out so well. Post-exam collapse + cold (that everyone seemed to have) + tweaky fingers + Christmas celebrations = not enough climbing. It was pretty frustrating not being able train much especially since the BBCs had been moved forward 6 months to January.

At the start of December I did fit in a weekend of team training in Newcastle which was fun and hard work. This was followed the day after by a trip to St Bees. It was a really nice day despite feeling pretty wiped out from team training and I enjoyed struggling up classic arête.

After a few days up in Cumbria I headed down to Birmingham for some family festivities. After numerous days of trying to go climbing and failing miserably because I was too tired I finally accepted that I just needed to rest. Unsurprisingly this made me feel a lot better. Actually, climbing aside I couldn’t really have asked for a nicer Christmas, with lots of time catching up with family and old friends. In the end I also managed to fit in a couple of sessions in the new bouldering area at Red Point and a bit of fingerboarding since I had brought my beastmaker home with me.

This brings me up to the BBCs. They were held at the Outdoors show down in London this year. Really, I knew not to expect wonders because of my seriously patchy/unfocussed training that had led up to them. I came 11th, a fair bit lower than the year before (5th). It’s not quite what I was hoping for but being realistic it is a decent result and I was satisfied with it. The comp itself was pretty chilled out and not the normal rush in the qualifiers to get the problems done. I enjoyed cheering everyone on in the final with plenty of people of top form. It was particularly inspiring (as ever) to watch Shauna crushing away who flashed every qualifier and final problem to top the senior female category.

BBC 2011

Right, now after a couple of unfocused months I think it’s time I whip my training into shape. Time to get planning and get motivated.

Earlier this year...

So to start with I thought I would transfer a few old blogs from the scarpa site to pad out this new blog. So here's what I got up to last year...

June-July 2010
Comps and Superpsyche

Bouldering comp season has just come to an end so the last couple of months have been pretty dominated by comps. The BBCs were first. Qualifiers were ok but I think nerves got the better of me a bit and I made some annoying mistakes losing valuable attempts. However, I managed to sneak into the final in 6th place which was great and felt like being given a second chance. Was happy to get to the top of the first problem but couldn’t top any others. I came 5th overall though and was really pleased with the result. An improvement on last years 7th place too.

Next comp was the Sheffield round of the Bouldering World cup, my first world cup comp. It was great for it to be in Sheffield, meaning there was no stress of being in an unfamiliar place. After a million hours in isolation we were transported to the venue at cliffhanger festival. Standing behind the curtain waiting to go out I was totally on edge, a combination of being really excited and very nervous. Luckily as soon as I started bouldering the focus kicked in and nerves evaporated. Flashing the first problem probably helped too. I was relieved that some of the problems felt do-able and I didn’t spend the whole time on the ground. I didn’t know what to expect from my first experience competing with the bouldering squad but I really enjoyed it and came 23rd which was a nice surprise.

Sheffield World Cup

 And finally, I travelled to Munich for the last round of the bouldering world cup. The qualifiers were hard! It didn’t go so well as Sheffield but I gained some competition experience. I was pretty shut down on at least 3 of the 5 problems but it was still good and I was happy to be there and trying hard. Most importantly, watching some of the best female boulderers in the world was so inspiring and has got me super psyched. Conveniently this coincides with having 2 months off uni and a climbing trip, perfect.

Munich world cup

Aug to Sept 2010
Europe climbing trip and team training  

This year an extra long summer break from uni meant I could go on my first longer (5 weeks) climbing trip around Europe. First stop was Cornwall, followed by Brittany, Font and ending up in Frankenjura.

We visited two bouldering areas in Cornwall, Clodgy point and Godrevy. Godrevy was my favourite venue by far but the favourite problem that I managed was probably Boomerang (V7) at Clodgy point. Godrevy had a great range of problems, on good quality sea-smoothed slate above flat landings. I spent most time in the main cave area. Although it’s next to a fairly touristy beach, the bouldering was tucked away in peaceful coves. The problems were only possible at low tide which meant a bit of added pressure to get your problems done before the sea swept the bouldering mats away.

Bouldering at Godrevy, Pisspot (V7)

Kerlouan in Brittany was stunning. The granite boulders were amazing shapes (see photo). Think we got pretty lucky with the weather too which was sunny and always a good sea breeze, perfect in the shade. Found some great problems to try and it seemed like an amazing destination until about half an hour in you realise you’ve lost almost all your skin. The rock was so rough! Maybe my fingertips are particularly soft so I would recommend it to anyone with tougher skin, or maybe just a short stop (we climbed there for 2 days). I still enjoyed it but got shut down on a few ‘reachy’ problems. I think being too short is a bad excuse (there might be a few exceptions), and is only ever an excuse for not doing something not really a reason. So this was a useful reminder to actually get round to training long moves/locks/jumps which have been on a list of things to train for way too long!

Random cool boulder in Kerlouan

Font was Font. Endless happy pottering about on nice rock, and some trickier problems too. The rock felt particularly amazing after Brittany. It was good to revisit some problems I had tried and failed on before. My favourite was Duroxmanie (6c) a very nice problem. The highlight of Font for me was on the last evening at Rocher de Bouligny. A problem called Obstiné (6c+). Good moves into a classic slopey topout. I would probably count slopers as my weakest grip so it took a serious amount of effort to do the top, which left me with the satisfying feeling of knowing I had put all my effort into it. After a week in Font we set off on the final leg of the trip to Frankenjura.

Duroxmanie, Font

I’ve been very psyched for routes since last Christmas when by chance I ended up doing a few routes with a friend in Birmingham. Apart from a handful of sessions I hadn’t done routes regularly since I stopped climbing aged 13 and I definitely don’t remember doing many routes since I started training. I was buzzing for days after and couldn’t believe that somewhere along the line I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them. Around April I went sport climbing outside for the first time at Cheedale, which (despite getting very scared) was everything I’d hoped for. To cut a long story short, going to a place full of great routes like Frankenjura was pretty exciting. It’s difficult to pick highlights because really I enjoyed all of it except one day when my body crashed and decided not to work properly. It was good to do my first 7c and I had a go on my first 8a Hurrikan (a softie apparently). It’s got some great moves in, its short, bouldery and fingery. Annoyingly, on the very last day I managed to injure myself pulling off a two-finger pocket on Hurrikan. I was feeling good so thought I would just rest up for ages then give it another go and for some reason didn’t think to warm up again. Stupid really, but I’m not expecting it to take too long to heal, hope not anyway.

After being back in Sheffield for a couple of days I travelled to Manchester for the first bouldering team training of the season, held at Rockover. My injured arm actually seemed fine but after 20 minutes warming up I could feel it complaining so decided to rest instead. If I’m honest at the start of the day it felt bizarre to be talking so seriously about competitions and training since I had just got back from a trip and all that was filling my head was climbing real rocks (and routes), not plastic boulders. However, by the end of the day and after some useful training advice I was fully psyched and ready to start working hard. I’ve even been inspired to dust the cobwebs off my running shoes.

Oct to Dec 2010
BLCC, Uni elite sport performance awards and more team training

BLCCs

Having got into routes over summer I was tempted to enter the BLCCs which took place a fortnight after I got back. I was pretty unsure about going because of my slightly injured forearm but made a last minute decision to give it a go anyway. It seemed a bit of a mission going to Edinburgh last minute, ended up in some crazy hostel in the city centre but I’m glad I made the effort. As it happened my arm was fine and I even managed to get into the final and come 5th so was happy with that. I’m really glad I went because I know if I hadn’t gone I would have been left wondering how I would have done and whether lead comps are something I want to get involved in. Although it was good, for me it just wasn’t as fun as bouldering comps, less opportunity to try hard. This could be due to not having tons of endurance so basically I just got pumped and fell off 3 times (2 qualifiers and one final route). Either way, I’m pleased with the result and although lead comps aren’t top of my priorities I haven’t totally ruled them out for the future, particularly if I trained for them a bit more.

Team training

Since my last blog we’ve had a couple more bouldering team training sessions. The first was fitness/strength testing at Teeside uni (where Dom, the team sports scientist is based). The aim of the session is to monitor our strength/fitness at the beginning of the season and then these tests will be repeated again around March (before comps start) to identify any improvements/changes. The second training session was centred around basic strength, with exercises and boulder problems focussed on this.

Uni Elite sport performance awards

The University of Sheffield has brought in a new ‘Elite sport performance scheme’ which anyone at the uni who is on a national team is eligible for. The awards mean we can use the sports facilities for free and also gain access to a specialist strength and conditioning facility which I’m looking forward to trying out. The awards were presented by Jessica Ennis (former Sheffield student) who is European champion, world heptathlon champion and world indoor pentathlon champion – so overall a pretty inspiring sportswoman to meet.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty hectic with exams coming up but then I will be straight into a decent Christmas holiday when I’m planning on getting plenty of climbing in!