Get your Head in the Game

On April 18, I competed in--and won--Thrash and Dangle Fest 2015. The next weekend, I had my worst competition since my first competition, coming in at a disappointing seventh place after hauling my mom two hours out of town to Tucson and back. My loss there was no surprise--I was battling a sinus infection. However, with two weeks until Regionals, I can't afford to be sick and to be taking time off.
(Now you're up to date.)

So, back to Thrash and Dangle. At that competition, I won a whole bunch of stuff that I can't actually use. My team is sponsored by 5.10, so I can't wear half the brands that I won stuff from. I have a certificate for any pair of Evolv shoes or approach shoes which I can't use. If you'd be interested in any pair of Evolvs 20-25% off the list price, let me know in the comments. I have yet to find someone who wants them and I haven't been in the gym in order to hang up a classified.

I'll see you after Regionals.

juliascending

This blog--for me--has mostly been competition stories and speculations about the sport. I like the theme, so instead of changing this blog, I have created a new one. This blog, juliascending.wordpess.com, is more of my everyday cycle--how I train, how I eat, recipes, workouts, sport background, my background, and other more concrete things. Trust me, you'll notice the difference. The new one is much more professional.

Here's the link again: juliascending.wordpress.com.

Catch up on my journey there, and I'll see you back here after my competition on April 18.

Stay strong and safe!
Julia

Why I Climb

There is only one reason I climb. There is only one reason I show up at the gym and train, only one reason I go running at five in the morning before school, only one reason I do sit-ups in the shower, eat clean, do a twenty-minute workout every morning I don't run, miss my high-school prom for a competition, and do everything else I do for this sport. 

I am deeply, utterly, take-your-breath-away in love with rock climbing.

A lot of people love climbing. Everyone on my team loves climbing. However, we all love it for different reasons. A friend of mine loves it for the joy of sticking hard moves. Another loves it because it puts him in a zone within which he is unstoppable. Personally, I love it for the feeling of pushing myself past the point which I thought I simply could not pass. My motto is "one more hold," because I always try to go one more hold, one more move, one more crux, one more push, until it seems that I will not hit my limit because I've already gotten through so much.

I went through a tough period during which I was struggling to determine why I was doing all that. My coaches had expectations of me that didn't align with my personal goals, and eventually I found myself climbing more to satisfy them than to keep up with myself. Then, I tried out to be on the top tier of our team, and everything changed. I was denied, and suddenly I was at a loss. If I wasn't living up to my coaches' expectations, and I wasn't living up to my own, so what on Earth was I doing? It was then that I decided I was going about it all wrong. You can't always live to please. So, with this resolution, I doubled my training, now chasing my own goal: ropes nationals. And, what do you know? As soon as this happens, I get moved up! I am now, according to my coaches, a Competitive Climber! Well, little do they know, but I moved up before that. I moved from climbing for them to climbing for myself. And look where I am now.

From our last local comp, in which I placed 2nd in my category and 3rd overall

One person's words have helped me push through certain routes, and that person is Megan Mascarenas. During ABS Nationals 2015, when she was being interviewed, she said three words that completely changed my mindset forever.

"Just stay on."

The implication is astounding. What she says is, no matter what it takes to stay on the wall, give it. If it takes certain strengths you didn't know you possessed, wield them. Do everything you can. But above all, just stay on.

That, and only that, is why I climb.

Finally, a Larger Fall

I didn't qualify to move past Divisionals in bouldering. Frankly, I've never been happier to lose a competition in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love to compete. I would have been ecstatic to move on to Nationals for bouldering. However, well... I'm a rope climber at heart.
I transitioned from bouldering training to ropes training the second I fell off of route number four at Divisionals on the weekend of January 11th. Since then, I feel like I've been training three times harder and I'm definitely three times happier. The reason?
Leading.
Rope climbing is a different type of fight from bouldering. Bouldering is twenty feet of power; ropes is sixty of on-and-off technique and endurance. It's my game. I love the kind of satisfaction that comes from clipping the anchors when you're pumped out of your mind at thirty to sixty feet in the air. My favorite training exercises include "ududus," in which you climb a route, then down-climb it, then climb it again, then down-climb again, then climb it, all without touching the ground. On lead. I am in love with that kind of endurance; the kind of endurance that forces me to not just pull my hardest but to keep me pulling for as long as humanly possible.
I figured I would outline a little of my ropes career and a little bit of why I love it so much. It started with last year's ropes season--how I qualified for not just divisionals, but nationals, and did decently there as well. It was my first year on lead, and although I'd like to say that I took to it like a fish to the water, I really did not. I was terrified of those lead "whippers" I would take, the enormous falls that result from clipping too far below yourself and then wiping off. Lead pushed me to my limits, mentally and physically. And I loved it. Bouldering is great, but only lead can push me in every way, shape, and form. So, ropes season, right now, is where I want to be.
Maybe I could have trained harder in bouldering--no, I know I could have.
But let me make one thing clear.
I will never, ever, not once, be able to say the same thing about my training for lead season.

Rope Nationals 2014