Nationals and Pre-Worlds!

          The two weeks before nationals this year I went to stone summit for a pre nationals training camp. This was my third year doing it and it's amazing how much it helps. When I climbed there the first day I felt like I had absolutely no endurance and thought I was screwed for nationals... But, after two weeks in that gym, you get endurance whether you want it or not.
 

The whole camp!

          The coaches for the camp were Claudiu Vidulescu, Chelsea Rude, Brion Voges, Brad Weaver, and Jonathan Brandt. Since I don't really have a coach (I have a trainer though!) it was nice to be able to get some really good advise for my climbing. I've always sucked at breathing while I climb, which is sometimes necessary for, you know, living and not passing out. They'd yell at me to relax and breathe while I was climbing and especially while resting. By the end of camp I noticed a HUGE difference. I think this really was what made it possible for me to win this year.

          As soon as camp finished, nationals started. I along with two other people (Katie Lamb and Zoe Steinberg)  in female A flashed both of my qualifier routes. The first was a super easy roof climb that nearly everyone flashed and the second one I was worried would be too easy, but it actually separated our category really well.

Photo: Greenz Productions
Qualifier 2!

          So for semifinals I went out third to last (I was the first person out of our three way tie for first) and I made it to the second to last hold of our route. It was a really long route that had an easy beginning and a slab section that went to two bad pockets, I think the pockets were the crux of the climb. Me, Hannah Tolson and Katie Lamb all made it past those pockets and fell on the same move, but I got usable surface which put me in first going into finals!

Photo: Just Fab Photography
The beginning of the semifinals route!

          This was the first comp I've ever had where I was in first in both qualifiers and semifinals, so that was really different for me.. I usually flail the first couple rounds an then pull it together for finals.

          So on Sunday we had finals! Our finals climb was the same as female juniors, which was fun because we got to preview with them. When I was looking at the climb I was pretty positive that you could skip the hardest looking section of the climb, and I told people about it to see what they thought, but no one else thought so. We get unlimited time to climb in finals, unlike the other rounds where you had a limit of 8 minutes on the wall. So I really took my time (something that's pretty weird for me, seeing as I usually climb really fast.. Whoops). At the beginning of the climb I was super nervous, but once I got onto the flat part of the wall --about 2/3 of the way up-- all my nerves were gone. Then I was able to relax, especially when I found the best rest ever. I basically sat on a volume and got everything back.

Photo: Just Fab Photography
So happy I found a great rest before the crux! (I was on this for a minute and a half)

          As soon as I got to the hard section around clip ten (where everyone had fallen, but I didn't know that) I WAS able to skip the moves that I thought I could, so I kinda bypassed the crux of the climb by doing one harder move. By then I could tell I had made it the furthest and I kinda got really excited and climbed really fast to the top and had so much adrenaline that I nearly fell clipping the anchors...! But now that's just funny to watch in the video.

Photo: Liam Murphy
Finishing the climb!

Photo: Father
Coming down off the finals climb!

          I really couldn't be happier with how the results turned out, seeing as almost everyone who I wanted to do well, did! Michaela got second to Delaney after they both finished the finals route too! Noah got fourth (being the only person in his category who DIDN'T REST which is really damn impressive), Josh got second (also finishing his finals route), and with speed climbing, the US team is almost exactly what I predicted it would be for all the categories! And of course a huge congrats to John Brosler for breaking the US male speed record for the ten meter!

Photo: Father
Me and Kayla racing!!

Photo: Liam Murphy
Female A speed podium!

Photo: Jennie Jariel
Five Ten takes over speed! Brandon Lieuw, Josh Levin, Me, Kayla Lieuw.



Photo: Father
There are very few non-Texans in this photo.

          Then I was only home for 4 days when I went to Reno to go do speed training! By the last day there I got a best time of 10.99 seconds for the fifteen meter! I think I'll be able to get it down to low tens after the pre worlds training camp in a few weeks.
 



Photo: Me
Our view from the speed wall's balcony. Reno!

          After Reno, Josh and I drove to Salt Lake City to pick up Charlie and climb with Ben and Sam Tresco in Maple Canyon! I ended up sending Neptune Spear 13b on my fourth go! I also managed to flash Gun Tower 12c which I was pretty psyched about. The style of climbing in Maple is super sick!  

Photo: Charlie Andrews
Standing in The Compound in Maple Canyon.

          After, we wenr to Rifle, CO to meet up with Dalan, Nicholas, Joe, and Tiffany to climb some more! Now that I'm back home I'll have about a week of training with Noah at Vertical Endeavors until we both leave for Canada to do the training camp. So psyched!!
 

Photo: Josh Levin
Snow Cone Wall--Fluff Boy 13c
Rifle, CO