So there I am sitting underneath the 6B+ route wondering why I can't reach the top when I had done so on two previous occassions, and why my climbing buddy yesterday could practise - practise - his he-moves on the purple (probably 6a) when I couldn't even lift my torso above the small - small - overhang at the top. It is a route I know I can fly up and I don't why I was struggling.
Now, I'm taking the plunge and taking the lead course this weekend, which means large falls are in order. There are climbers who climb far better than me who don't feel they are ready to do it. Yet, I'm impatient to get to the good stuff and well, some people think I'm ready, and I would love to believe them.
But I simply cannot afford to climb like the woose that I have been in the last few weeks and scramble up a 6a. To say that I am nervous does not do my wobbly jellied stomach any justice. I have been obsessing about lead climbing for the longest time and being the irratic climber that I have been just does not cut it.
So I have spent many hours pondering about my suddenly atrocious climbing. Bad habits overtake technique when you are desperate to make a move. I'm placing my hands far too high above my head, not twisting enough for holds and not using techniques like the drop knee that I have learned (and used!).
Then I realised my diet. When I was eating anything I could get my hands on - ie. overloading - I was strong - in fact, I had to consciously tell myself to let my feet do the work and not my upper body. Then I became vegetarian for a month and quite frankly, that killed my climbing ability - I just did not have the strength to get very far. I really began climbing like an idiot. Then I started eating like a pig again and then climbing improved. But now, since I've been on Atkins, I am findung that whilst I have the strength to get quite high up the wall, I don't have the endurance. I get pumped so easily it's not funny.
So theoretically, if I begin including carbohydrates again in my food this week, I ought to be on track to climb up 6Bs without red pointing it. Ahh, if only it were that easy. The confidence is rattled and without that, you could have all the muscle in the world but it would still have you climbing like an idiot.
So what to do? Neorvous like hell. The course is from 10-3 on Sat and Sun and I just have a nasty feeling I'm going to make a complete fool of myself in front of everyone. It's like being back at school again and not being able to do the math.
Inner voice speaks:
This attitude won't do! You know you can handle 6Bs! You have done it indoors and outdoors! You just need to eat properly and you will be fine! You are just as capable as eveyone else on the course! No the instructer is not going to pick on you! Stop acting like a big baby!
Yeah yeah whatever....Boohooo, I'm scared!
2 comments:
I've only been gone for two weeks and you are doing 6b's without me? I miss climbing! On top of the moorish castle where my legs went dead on me because I was freaking out looking down from the mountain, I couldnºt help but notice the boulders all around me and it did cross my mind "hmm, if I can get my arm around that and bring my right foot...". Miss ya!
hello we have been doing 6bs together although not on first try. the purple with the stalactite upstairs is a 6b, so is the yellow bridging one in the corner. the black on the the 16m wall as well as the black on the corner of the autowall downstairs are also 6bs.
I learned some new definitions: on site means completing the route on first try but you must never have seen it been done or been told anything abt the route. Cos if you have then its considered a flash even if you finish it without stopping on your first go. if you have tried it several times and never completed and then finally did, its called red pointing it. if at any stage of a climb any of your weight is put on the rope, ie. to rest/fall then its considered a defunct climb and you are considered to have not climbed it at all. but if you did rest on the wall, with no weight on the rope eg. on a ledge, then its ok. In other words I never completed the 6b on the trad wall and neither of us completed alot of routes we thought we had including the yellow overhang upstairs!
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