Reincarnation, sadly, is not instantaneous

There is much of nothing to say. The weeks preceding Joe's were spent in a state of rest where I would take a week off climb once and repeat. This being rather uncharacteristic of me has a reason. I managed to hurt my finger, completely intentional, by campussing. As I well know, everyone is very interested in the background story. Well I was feeling like a was hitting a rather high peak. Crushing (plastic) projects had been the agenda on the two days of climbing previous to the injury. Adapting myself to a stress much like what I would encounter in Joe's (climbing multiple days on), I was often climbing 5 days in a row. So I was thinking, third day on this can't be anything but healthy for me. I threw down with some huge move routes, which a rarely do, and then proceeded to the campus board to finish up this short session. The small rungs, beckoning me to climb them, decided to beat me. In all honesty, I was feeling invincible. Going up and down with three fingers exhilarated me. Only planning on doing six sets, I began to feel pain on the fourth set. I taped tighter. I finished off the sets with constant pain in my right finger. The pain wasn't crippling; however, it was building my apprehension. I took one day off after. Two days later I returned to the dungeon (garage/climbing gym) only to be pushed away.

The next three weeks slowly ate me.

And then, the Joe's trip arrived. I was going to climb at my lowest, a depressing notion. Not only that, but I was fearful that I would make it all the way down there only to find I still couldn't climb.

Turns out, I could climb. The highlight of the trip was succeeding on No Substance. Looking back, it is mildly depressing to see that as the pinnacle of my trip. My last year trip which lasted only three days was much more successful. Despite my negativity on here, it was an amazing trip; climbing again felt fantastic. The Saturday traveling back from Joe's, I attended a competition in Sandy, Utah. Here, I was shot down. My finger was once again hurting; the same one and a new one: lucky me. After destroying two routes (beginner top-ropes), I waved the gang sign and disappeared.

A comment on this competition: I was disappointed in the way routes were set. They used liked colored holds and no tape. Now I would agree this is awesome they have enough money to pull this off, but if you have a yellow route next to a dirty white route, not cool. Not speaking from experience or anything though.

Upon my return to Cody, I found myself with finger pain when I attempted to climb. There was yet another competition I needed to attend to meet the minimum requirement for local competitions to pass on from regionals. The competition, on the sixteenth in Bozeman, MT went down in much the same way. Do (two) route(s), roll out. After the competition, I went with my father to bikram yoga. If you ever have a chance, go.

Over my actual spring break, I did not climb once. That is a depressing truth. One of those things a person hears and goes, "Wow, that is like child abuse." And I would say, "Yes. But imagine something twice as detrimental to a person's mental health."

Now, currently still on time off. I wait for this weekend, yet another comp where all I will do is make my presence known and lose some money. I will try to climb in the beginning, but if any thing goes south (why is south bad?), I will immediately stop.

Wish me luck on the healing. Time. Time is such a fickle thing.

The Psych Runs Through

I have been training for nationals, and this weekend that just past, I went to youth nationals in Boulder, CO. This competition was weird. It was not because the competition itself was weird; I was feeling out of it.

The first day, Saturday, I went out of isolation at 4:30PM. I had spent the whole day wasting time while waiting for my time to climb. I started warming up at around 3:15. I climbed every 10 minutes or so. At 3:45, I reported to isolation in the building where the competition was. There they had warm up walls about the size of what I have been climbing on all winter. AS competitors had been told, there was limited warm up space. This wasn't a problem however; I had previously warmed up at the Spot. I went out after 30 minutes of being there.

Jumping on the first route, I quickly made it to the last 3 moves. In a rather awkward move a made it through the crux and finished it up. Although the route was probably V3, I had almost messed it up and was rather shaken. After 4 minutes, it was onto the second route. This route was quality except for the awkward-ness in the middle. I fell there once before completing the route. The 3rd route I messed up at the end and never completed it. The fourth route I had a high point where only three or four made it past that point but many made it there. I ended up in 19th place and did not move on to semi-finals.

This was rather depressing being that I had put so much time into being prepared for this competition. Now that is nigh on silly to say though, doesn't everyone that didn't make it feel that way though? Probably. I messed up and learned from it though. I haven't been on big moves like the routes had in forever. Training on an 8x12 wall frankly doesn't prepare a person for that. I own primarily crimps because they are cheap. I'm not really trying to give myself an excuse, but I am haha. This mess up was my fault. I wil be better prepared next time. There will be no mistakes. By failing, I have only been more motivated.

I climbed at the Spot the two following days. I really came to understand my weakness there. There are approximately three crimps in the Spot Gym. Ok maybe a small exaggeration, but not that big one. During this period, I felt much empathy for Alli Rainey. Alli lives in Tensleep where the climbing has an enormous emphasis on technical climbing. She has been traveling out the Red for the last two years or so(?). Here she has just been being set behind being that although she has fingers of steel (I wish I had a better description) but not the full body strength to swing herself through the air time after time (this is changing from what I read). Being that I do climb on a rather small wall to make difficult routes, I make them with small moves and microscopic hold (in comparison to the Spot's at least). This in no way prepared me for the competition. I'm just not cut out to be a thug!

That will hopefully change though. Despite my limitation, so called, I most definitely had the ability to make it into semi-finals at least; I just messed up. Explosiveness is a necessity.

Considering alternatives, I used the kettlebell today. I am trashed. The muscles that have been torn down are hopefully useful in climbing. With the rope season approaching, there is training to do. Endurance may not be the most fun, but I plan to do it.

hopefully somebody has made it this far into the post because here is the important part: a question from me to you. I know that a lot of people read my bog (mild sarcasm) but what do you do for endurance training? What are your feelings on weights? I have access to a hangboard, campus board, and an 8x12 wall.

With nationals out of the way, I am not one bit more relaxed; however, I am sad it is over. The whole process is something to love. Honestly, I need to thank my parents for taking me to places like this all the time, thanks! This time was also a little different. Sunlight Sports helped me go. I can only say thank you for that and keep working to be a better employee. It was super nice of Wes and Melissa, the owners, to help out. I was also psyched to represent La Sportiva at this comp, even though it was only for a day. As a side note, I have found the the Testarossa, made by Sportiva, is the best climbing shoe in the universe.

It is time to ready myself for the real season though. I go to Joe's Valley the 2nd of April for a week or so then hopefully I will get out for another week a week after that. Otherwise, I will soon be climbing outside in Cody again.

It's been a while

Quick update before School, thought it might be a good idea.
First off, most importantly, I have had two good days outside the last two days. The first day we, Drew and I, made it outside for three hours before I had to go to work. Drew punched out Nipple Mechanics with ease. The highlight of my day was a new(?) route on the blank check boulder straight up the face. I started from some obvious crimp around chest height; there is still a sit start to be done. Yesterday, Drew and I went climbing for 4 and a half hours. The high was 16 degrees F. It was fantastic I managed a new route with a dab. So, of course, I have to go back to do it again and gain legitimacy in my mind. Maybe I will do that when it is a little warmer... Speaking of other news though, I managed to make it to youth bouldering nationals. It is coming up; it is approximately 3 weeks away. School calls.

a lil' bit o' this, a lil' bidda that.

I ride on the psych wave. Sometimes I fall off. Right now, I am riding that wave full force. I have been training and am so psyched to do so. But in other words, the main reason of this post is Mike uploaded a video of the other day when we were at Pistol Whip. http://vimeo.com/16721156 check it.

The right path

Full Gravity Day was awesome. I ended up taking 5th overall. Not quite my goal, haha, but I am still happy with it. Most of all, it was a learning experience I needed now, not later. Dominick Speranza ended up besting me in the finals taking fourth. Sick with it. He's pretty psyched about that. Me, well I'm mainly nervous haha. This is gonna be an exciting go around this year. I'm actually really psyched about it. I'll have to work it up.
Besides that, the next day I journeyed to Pistol Whip. I ran into Mike, Marc, and Clint going to Cornflakes, and they were already heading to Pistol Whip, so I accompanied them. Short story short, we managed to throw down and finish the stand up start for pistol whip. Now the SITTTT, YAHH!!
Besides that, I'm just training, so I can avoid failure. Hah I'm PSYCHED!

Heroes

I have three big climbing heroes. The first is Patxi Usobiaga because I am eternally impressed by his dedication to training. I kind of feel like I'm in the same boat; I think I will have to always train if I want to reach the top and climb with the best of the best at their level. The second is Adam Ondra. He is young and goofy(well it is kinda true haha). He climbs like a mad man though, inspiring in my opinion. Then there is also Nalle who, to me, came out of no where and was just climbing at the top. He also started climbing a little later than most top climbers; I thought that was cool. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of climbers I look up to. Among the larger than life ones are: Alli and Kevin Wilkinson, Joe Kinder, and Jonathan Siegrest. Then of course, even though this isn't actually the point of this blog, are the local climbers who I really feel I owe a thank you to for so many things. Mike Snyder was the guy that took me climbing outside when I really didn't have any climber friends. I can't tell you how appreciative of his patience with a little climber like myself I am. Aaron Mulkey had the largest impact on me. His gym introduced me to climbing (introduction is step number one to obsession). He introduced me to the now deceased climbing team and competitions. Clint Cook is someone who I look up to. He not only pushes his climbing in the midst of an actual life, but he has an attitude towards everything I admire. Leif Gasch: he has had an influence upon my climbing like none other. From him, I learned progression; he showed what training actually was. That it really could be used to make climbing harder stuff a reality. BJ Tilden is one of my biggest heroes. I used to be all worried that I would never receive a sponsorship. Hearing him though, I realize why was I ever worried about that. He climbs extremely hard and has an actual job and no sponsorships. He has chosen to go that way. He loves to climb just to climb. That is how I climb, but I would worry about the idea of a sponsorship. Now I know that doesn't matter. So I am just climbing to be better. That is all I truly worry about now: bettering myself.

Thrilling post

Ok, I don't really have anything to write about, but I need to just give a quick update on this because I think it is appropriate. Downgrades are as follows haha-
Perpetual Motion was a 9 and is now an 8/9.
Hypervelocity star was a 7? and is now a 4.
C.E.O. was a 9 and is now an 8.
Hot Hot Heat, a contrivance, was a 9 and is now an 8.
Heart of a Masochist was a 12 and is now an 11/12.
The last three were personal downgrades. I am fine with downgrades because everything I say is an estimation. And truthfully, I was never a quality grader. An update on me: I still love climbing, and I am learning to experience ecstasy with training. Puh-Pow