I've been a bit reluctant to start a blog, but have finally decided to give it a go with a bit of an epic first post. The timing seemed appropriate as I have just claimed my first major title. Enjoy.
Every time I have an opportunity to climb at the EICA I make sure to dedicate some of my time there on the IFSC Speed Wall. Knowing that over the past few months I had slowly been speeding up every time I practised on the wall I knew I could have a good chance of getting a strong position In the BSCC if I worked for it. So as soon as I heard that the event was coming up I decided to practice for speed climbing, every so often I went up a simple route at my local climbing centre - The Tower.
It took a while, but eventually I managed to speed climb with good technique. Keeping my speed going even after doing big moves such as a dyno. Next I focused on training that I could do every single day without fail, it wasn't much but I decided to increase my leg strength my doing a series of squat jumps. But after a recommendation from my dad I added burpees to the training plan. Finally I had what was possibly one of the most difficult gym session I've ever done (Luckily it only focused on my legs!) Mostly this involved lots of sets of squats whilst holding 40kg weight across my shoulders, there were other exercises but the main plan was that if I could still walk by the end of it I didn't try hard enough. As it turns out, I couldn't walk at the end...
With the BLCC on the 6th and the BSCC on the 7th we had decided to go to Scotland several days early and make a short holiday out of the whole experience. This turned out to be a great idea because it gave me plenty of time to relax and clear my head so I could focus on being in a positive frame of mind for both the events. On the Thursday before the events I traveled to the EICA solely to practice speed climbing.
Unfortunately my mum couldn't quite belay fast enough for me! So I had to change my game plan, I decided to split the route into 4 sections and get my technique as perfect as I could in the short time I had there for each section. After countless practice goes at each sections, filming myself to see what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong, looking at videos of the world records, finding slow motion videos of the climb, etc I decided I couldn't progress any further without being able to try the climb in one whole clean attempt. After asking at the reception if there was anyone available to assist my mum in belaying for an hour or so, we found that the best they could do was get a member of staff for about 15minutes. I had to make do with the short time I was given and as it turned out after 3 attempts at the route I had beaten my previous time and climbed it in a solid 13 seconds! Unfortunately by this point my skin was starting to wear and my belayer had to leave. But that was all okay, because I was confident I could do well in the event.
On the day of the competition I arrived really early to watch my friends compete in the seniors event for the lead climbing. The previous day I had entered the junior lead event and came 6th overall. Not bad but my focus had been mainly on the speed event.
I spent some time warming up with a group of friends jogging, stretching and a bit of easy fun climbing with some big dynamic moves. Just before we started I got to have a quick practice on the speed wall to get a feel for it.
In the qualifying round I posted 2 reasonable times both just over 14 seconds placing me in 3rd place for the quarter final.
In the quarter finals I improved my time to 13.81 seconds passing me through to the semis in first place
Again in the semis my speed increased to 12.19 seconds qualifying me for the finals in first place. And, as it turned out the fastest time of the day overall and qualifying me for the European Championships next month in France.
The final was a confusing affair. My opponent fell distracting me slightly so I slowed down to make sure I finished... I won!
Its still not quite sunken in that I am the British Junior Speed Climbing Champion. I've been climbing in competitions for 6 years, always trying and hoping to win but never quite getting on the podium at national events (baring this years 2nd place at the YCS).
Next up... Gemozac for the European Championships!
Every time I have an opportunity to climb at the EICA I make sure to dedicate some of my time there on the IFSC Speed Wall. Knowing that over the past few months I had slowly been speeding up every time I practised on the wall I knew I could have a good chance of getting a strong position In the BSCC if I worked for it. So as soon as I heard that the event was coming up I decided to practice for speed climbing, every so often I went up a simple route at my local climbing centre - The Tower.
It took a while, but eventually I managed to speed climb with good technique. Keeping my speed going even after doing big moves such as a dyno. Next I focused on training that I could do every single day without fail, it wasn't much but I decided to increase my leg strength my doing a series of squat jumps. But after a recommendation from my dad I added burpees to the training plan. Finally I had what was possibly one of the most difficult gym session I've ever done (Luckily it only focused on my legs!) Mostly this involved lots of sets of squats whilst holding 40kg weight across my shoulders, there were other exercises but the main plan was that if I could still walk by the end of it I didn't try hard enough. As it turns out, I couldn't walk at the end...
With the BLCC on the 6th and the BSCC on the 7th we had decided to go to Scotland several days early and make a short holiday out of the whole experience. This turned out to be a great idea because it gave me plenty of time to relax and clear my head so I could focus on being in a positive frame of mind for both the events. On the Thursday before the events I traveled to the EICA solely to practice speed climbing.
Unfortunately my mum couldn't quite belay fast enough for me! So I had to change my game plan, I decided to split the route into 4 sections and get my technique as perfect as I could in the short time I had there for each section. After countless practice goes at each sections, filming myself to see what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong, looking at videos of the world records, finding slow motion videos of the climb, etc I decided I couldn't progress any further without being able to try the climb in one whole clean attempt. After asking at the reception if there was anyone available to assist my mum in belaying for an hour or so, we found that the best they could do was get a member of staff for about 15minutes. I had to make do with the short time I was given and as it turned out after 3 attempts at the route I had beaten my previous time and climbed it in a solid 13 seconds! Unfortunately by this point my skin was starting to wear and my belayer had to leave. But that was all okay, because I was confident I could do well in the event.
On the day of the competition I arrived really early to watch my friends compete in the seniors event for the lead climbing. The previous day I had entered the junior lead event and came 6th overall. Not bad but my focus had been mainly on the speed event.
I spent some time warming up with a group of friends jogging, stretching and a bit of easy fun climbing with some big dynamic moves. Just before we started I got to have a quick practice on the speed wall to get a feel for it.
In the qualifying round I posted 2 reasonable times both just over 14 seconds placing me in 3rd place for the quarter final.
In the quarter finals I improved my time to 13.81 seconds passing me through to the semis in first place
Again in the semis my speed increased to 12.19 seconds qualifying me for the finals in first place. And, as it turned out the fastest time of the day overall and qualifying me for the European Championships next month in France.
The final was a confusing affair. My opponent fell distracting me slightly so I slowed down to make sure I finished... I won!
Its still not quite sunken in that I am the British Junior Speed Climbing Champion. I've been climbing in competitions for 6 years, always trying and hoping to win but never quite getting on the podium at national events (baring this years 2nd place at the YCS).
Next up... Gemozac for the European Championships!
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