Innsbruck world championships
So after not succeeding in Munich I was back in the home gym. I must say that I was in really good physical shape, so that was not a problem. But something seemed to change after Munich. I wasn’t feeling that confident on my trainings like I use to do before WC in Munich. I somehow unknowingly convinced myself that I was not strong enough to compete with top world cup athletes. It’s really surprising what head can do to one. Not much more to say about my training, had couple of good sessions and a few bad ones, but nothing really worrying. So after 2 weeks of training I was on the road and on my way to Innsbruck. Apart from other climbers I wasn’t doing the combined but only bouldering. We arrived one day prior to competition. I used that day to focus on my relaxation and tried to not think about climbing. After having barely any sleep over the night, I woke up completely “broken”. But like usually that wouldn’t stop me, I decided to do everything I can in order to wake up and get ready to compete. Hard to describe the feelings I had that day. I was feeling tired and exhausted in the isolation zone. I did all the usual warm-up procedure and had more than just 30 minutes on the wall, doing various jumps in order to get some coordination. I felt a bit better, but my climbing was still super bad. Just like that I was heading over to the transit zone for my first problem.
I hear the buzzer and run out in from of a quite big crowd. I face the wall and see this tricky problem. Okay let’s do this! I secured the zone in my first try and was falling on the crucial move, so I ended not having a top. Second problem was far from ideal for me, big reachy moves on big slopy volumes. No zone in the 2ndone nor in 3rd. People were coming back from the fourth one before time-out, so I kinda new it’s definitely doable. It was a triple dyno, which I had seen and tried on several simulations. I was simply moving to slow on the holds and I had lost all the height before reaching third hold. For bonus I got 3 bloody fingertips :(.
Throughout the competition I was feeling slow and without power. It was exactly the last problem which required you to mantle a volume, which I simply couldn’t.
Reflecting back on the competition I could easily say that is one of my worst ones. I just couldn’t recover neither mentally or physically.
Just like that my competition was over and I… I just couldn’t believe what had happened. Most people would say to me, it’s okay and you will do better next time. But it’s just annoying… all this time you put in, the process and all the stuff we give up to. It sometimes really makes you wonder: “Was it all worth it?”
.
.
.Time between last paragraph and next one.
.
.
And this is the time, when I stop “crying” and get my “shit” together for the last competition of the year before having some time off. It’s time to Adidas Rockstar!!!
Adidas Rockstars
It’s been a long year of constant traveling and moving around. Time really flew by so fast this year, but the last few days were super slow. Ever since I came back from Innsbruck I was kinda doubting in myself and my shape. ←That is never a good thing!!!!!
Piece of advice right here and right now ;). Whenever you are facing problems in life, the first part of getting over them is to know that they are there in the first place.
After knowing that, you are already more than half-way to getting over them. That’s exactly what I had to do if I was to perform good at Adidas Rockstars.
I came back home for only 2 short sessions and the goal was just to focus on the good things that happened this season and get more motivation for the last competition. With that in mind I went to Stuttgart with the right mindset. By now you surely know how to basics go. A long drive, check-in, meeting,…
9:30- The qualifications start
11:00 – I top all the problems :D!!
I was just amazed by my performance, although the problems weren’t that hard I was simply focused on my every attempt and caught the flow. That awarded me with 7thplace after qualifications.
After doing good in qualis I got even more motivation for next days semifinal. Next day I felt really good throughout the whole warm-up procedure. The only thing that was bothering me was that the problems weren’t that hard again, which meant that every attempt counts. Attempts meant even more since they were running the former IFSC rules with having attempts on tops more importance as bonuses.
In situations like that is always important to remain calm and to not rush, otherwise you would be just wasting tries. that’s the theoretical part now to show it practically.
Three, two, one, change! I ran out on the mats, wave to the crowd and the fun starts. I felt super strong on the first problem as I wanted to do a coordination jump to the top, where you could just reach. I jump and just barely miss the top hold, I reconsider my beta and try again. This time I try to reach and there we go, 1sttop in the bag. Second problem was some sort of compression and coordination, with first having a double dyno to two volumes and afterwards a foot kick and one arm jump to the volume. I understood what I have to do and I made it work in my first try.
Third problem was a really classic one this year, 180 degree campus move.
I must say that I really struggled on this one, even if it didn’t seem that way. The only thing that I was concerned about was my finger pain as I felt it every time I held a pocket. As you can see on the picture, you had to campus on the pocket. I just gave all-in in order to not make to many tries and to not make my finger injury worse. After topping 3rdproblem in my second go I knew if I do the last one I would be in the final! Sadly that was not the thing to happen, I got super close on really tricky mantle on top. I would just need to bring my foot up to my hand and I was like 10cm away from getting it there. So without topping last one I knew I was out, but I was still super happy about my result. I was finally able to show my current shape. I know that this season was definitely not as good as the last one, although I felt much stronger. Things just didn’t fall into place, nevertheless I had 3 semifinals and a lot of world cup competitions which gave me a lot of experience for the future.
I am really relieved that I was finally able to make a good result and that I can end the season with a great feeling. So without any further adjure I am finishing this season in order to come back stronger in the next one.
Thanks to everyone who made this years competition super fun and see you next year!!
So this means I am off for about 3 weeks and while I’m not training I will be studying and trying to come up with some new content for 2019. Recap of the 2018 season is definitely yet to come and hopefully some new stuff as well. Hopefully you enjoyed following my traveling and writing and see you soon! And if you have anything that you would change, please I am open to new things ;D
