Constructive Criticism, patience, and success

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Thanks WG for your coaching and willingness to get in my face...

For the past few months I’ve been working with a coach, trying to develop the skills in order to compete at a successful level. Throughout this duration, I have found that climbing, with all things considered, is the easy part. What really lead to a struggling battle was focusing on the mental side. Digging deep within myself to reveal the very things that were holding me back; not just in climbing but in life too.

Being over excited, over motivated, and determined to get stronger, my training lead me to cranking hard at a level that was becoming detrimental to my body. It didn’t matter if I was on my 6th day of climbing/training, but that I needed to keep pushing so my climbing ability would reach the next level. I could feel injury sneaking up on my body, fatigue setting me back from proper training sessions, but I ignored these vital signs telling my body to suck it up. That proved to be a major set back. As my coach had put it, “you’ve basically trained enough for the next couple of months, you might as well rest for the next 3 weeks.” In the course of 2 weeks (prior to a climbing competition that I was going to attend) I had pushed my body to an unhealthy level…and I could feel it.

My coach was stern, maybe even a little harsh, which at first was a tough pill to swallow but as I thought more about his direction and tactics/approach I realized it was what was needed. I didn’t need anyone telling me, “there there, you’ll be alright, don’t worry”. No, I needed someone in my face telling me that I was doing it wrong, that my training was going to hurt me more than help me. I accepted the constructive criticism and re-grouped. I accepted that for a coach, what makes a good coach, is their willingness to be honest but encouraging, bold yet motivating, and sometimes even harsh but caring.

For the next two weeks my training had settled down in intensity but became more focused and controlled. My body was beginning to recover and mentally I was able to stay motivated and positive about the upcoming competition.

Mental toughness should be a sport in of itself. The effort it takes, the energy and determination, the commitment…it’s as if you’re about to take a penalty shot in a world cup final soccer game. It’s intense! The more and more I read about mental toughness the more I realize how crucial it is to have it. You don’t necessarily need to be the best in your sport, more so being strong physically as well as mentally. You could take the top climber in the world, strength wise, but put them in a competition without mental toughness, typically it’s not going to turn out. With this, it’s been interesting as the more I learn, the more you can see lack there of in others. Is it something that isn’t known? Do people not understand or know that mental toughness plays a huge huge role in competitive sports? I don’t know, but what I do know is that it’s changed my climbing…in a big way.

Leaving for Denver, Co. I had to travel two hours to the airport. Typically this isn’t that big of a deal, but this particular journey had a bit of an adventure attached to it. Thankfully, my good friends Nathan and Katie Troxel were willing to lend me their “bomber” Volkswagen golf. This thing is a tank. Not very pretty on the outside, but boy could it haul on the inside. To my surprise the little engine that could carried me to the airport with no troubles at all. I was on my way to my first competition of the year, seating a new attitude and focus that was waiting to be tested.

Game day. Trying to breathe, focusing on my attitude, tapping into my IPS (ideal performance state)…I was still feeling the butterflies. At first this made me nervous but then I remembered that butterflies are a good thing. They’re the ones that are stirring your adrenaline up inside, creating the energy and momentum needed to crush. As I looked around I noticed other competitors were discussing tactics.; I wanted to join in but knew it wasn’t a good idea. I knew how easy it would be to change my tactics in a moment of desperation and lack of confidence, thinking, “well if they’re doing it, maybe I should too”. Luckily, again, I knew this wasn’t the right thing to do. So I sat in a corner, put some music on and relaxed. Even though I could hear other climbers discounting their potential of sending certain routes, discrediting the possibility of certain moves “going”, I still believed that something was different with me, that my attitude wasn’t focused on whether or not the likes of certain moves would go, but that it was only a matter of how they would go.

After a stressful, yet focused bout with two preliminary routes (going at M8+-M9)
myself and three other friends of mine, that were also competing, had managed to find a spot in the finals of this indoor drytooling competition (along with roughly 14 other competitors – out of about 30+ that started out). There was a sense of relief that somehow my body had managed to tap into. Even though the finals was still to come, I was relaxed. My body started to enjoy itself. I wasn’t stressed about what was next, only psyched to climb and climb hard.

Before my feet left the ground I knew what the high points were from previous competitors on the finals route. I knew where my friends had gotten to and the level of difficulty to reach such high points. People were whispering under their breathe about how the route wasn’t going to go, that it wasn’t feasible. And right before my feet left the ground something happened–something powerful, something new, something amazing.

My body began to flow. Through every move my tools (ice axes) were gracefully placed with confidence. Every move came together, the sequences naturally guided my body in the right positions enabling me to progress further and further. All of a sudden I found myself climbing past the “highpoint” of a previous competitor. I didn’t understand how my tools were staying on certain holds, but they did. My picks allowed me to rest, regain what was needed to keep moving. The placements were bomber on holds that weren’t. I didn’t get it, but I wasn’t willing to hang around and think anything more about it. Still moving I was just a couple of feet from topping out…the crowd screaming beneath me to keep going…I couldn’t believe it. A route that was thought to not be do-able, I just crushed. Settling my tools on the final hold, looking down with pure excitement, I had just onsighted an M10+ to capture the win.

A successful moment

Winning this event was huge for me. First off because it was the first event of the year and to start out that way, well how else would you want to start out? Secondly because it showed me mental toughness will lead to bigger and better things. My coach that was in my face about certain things, what he was doing wasn’t disabling me, but on the contrary: he was preparing me. He knew what was needed for me to gain success. His methods were sound and by me winning this event proved that very thing.

Mental toughness is something to be taken very seriously in the competitive world. You don’t need to be the strongest or the best, however you do need to have a “tough head”. You need to be able to tap into this at any given moment, the mental toughness that lays within. We all have it, it’s just a matter of digging deep to uleash it.

Thank you to Terri and Jay at Ice Holdz for being so supportive at this comp in Colorado Springs. Also thanks to Blake Herrington (and his wife Alison) for putting me up for 3 days. You guys were amazing to open your home and welcome me in. Isn’t it cool how God works sometimes? Blake, also thanks for showing me around to some of the coolest and steepest granite climbing I’ve ever been on.

On a side note, I spent the day with two super rad dudes in Boulder Co. who enlightened me and provided much insight to me on a big project I’m working on. Thanks Jerad and John for all the information and guidance. More to come on this soon…�