16: Cloe Coscoy, French American Boulderer
Cloe is a French/American boulderer who has competed for team USA in the international youth and elite circuit. In this episode, we’ll learn about how she “accidentally” ended up competing in lead world cups, the difficulties of trying to make it onto a highly competitive US national team, and we give some love to good old gym climbing and plastic pulling!
Timestamps
Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Introduction/preparing for team trials
5:45 - Cloe’s relatively late climbing start
10:41 - Training in France
16:37 - Accidentally become a World Cup lead climber
24:56 - Transitioning from youth to adult circuit
31:09 - What impacts performace - MAKE SOME NOISE!!
34:21 - Feeling insecure climbing with teammates
37:44 - Disappointing 2023 season
42:53 - Concussion troubles
48:26 - My Soapbox: everyone try a head spa!
49:22 - Gym climbing is the best climbing
52:22 - Being in the IFSC commentary box
54:38 - Crushing at every local competition
57:00 - How amateurs can improve at comp climbing
1:02:40 - Coaching endeavors
1:08:07 - Cross-sport skills
1:13:48 - Discord Q: Benefits vs downsides of competing for the USA
1:17:29 - Discord Q: Unhinged stories living in the Powerhouse with Cece and Quinn?
1:19:28 - Discord Q: Why French rap?
1:21:57 - Discord Q: How does training with friends impact you?
1:24:34 - Where to find Cloe
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being out climbed by a lot of my peers, that can be really hard. And I definitely can like start to
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dig myself into a hole a little bit. I got that email while I was in Whole Foods. And I just
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was like running around the grocery store and just like kind of jumping up and down to myself like
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World Cup, World Cup, World Cup, the types of moves that that really get me psyched aren't things
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that you find outside so much. Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Coming podcast.
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I'm your host Jinni and I'm excited to introduce my guest Cloe Coscoy. Chloe is a French American
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boulder who has competed for Team USA in the international youth and elite circuit.
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In this episode, we'll learn about how she accidentally ended up competing in lead World
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Cups, the difficulties of trying to make it onto a highly competitive US team, and we give some love
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to good old gym climbing and plastic pulling. Hope you enjoy this episode with Cloe.
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Cool. Yeah, how are things going? Yeah, yeah, pretty good. I'm
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doing any like training today? Yeah, I trained at the training center this morning.
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I'm kind of starting my taper for team trials right now. So two days of rest over the weekend
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and like a light session today. I'll rest tomorrow. Yeah, what does tapering look like for you? It
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starts like a few weeks beforehand. Yeah, so it's kind of been different like throughout my climbing
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career. And I think I've got it a lot more figured out now than I used to. But I'll usually like
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like train pretty hard for at least three or four months leading into an event. And then
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that's kind of usually phased out a little bit. But the last week and a half or so I'll decrease
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my volume a ton. So like recently, I had been climbing like five ish days a week. And a lot
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of those are double sessions. And right now I'm doing just one day on one day off and really short
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like two hour sessions for the next week and a half. So big decrease in volume. Is it like
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your tapering strength training? Just even time spent on the wall. I think in general, like the
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climbing itself is almost like strength training and that like the more I do it, I get pretty tired
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for sure. Especially when it's like a lot of steep climbing a lot of powerful climbing. So
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it's just so that like when I go to compete, I feel really rested and, and strong, I can't be like,
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Oh, I'm tired from this workout or whatever it was. Yeah. What do you have to, I guess,
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do at national team trials to make the team? It's hard to know. It's the way it works is we have
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40% of our points are based off our result at nationals and 60% of our points are based off
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our result at team trials. And so I did not great at nationals. I was 10th. Ideally, I would have
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liked to be in the top five, but the way it works, like if certain people who did well at nationals
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don't do as well as at team trials, and I do well at team trials, then I might move up the ranking
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quite a bit or, you know, it can also go kind of the other way around if people who did worse than
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me do really well at team trials, then they'll get more points. So it's really, really hard to
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know. I think ideally to make the World Cup circuit, I would like to be first or second,
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which will be pretty hard, but do my best for that. At the very least, I would really like to
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qualify for the World Cup in Salt Lake. So in that case, I think if I make finals at team trials,
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I have a good chance to be set for that. But it's really hard to know beforehand,
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we won't really know until the points get calculated and the list comes out.
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Oh, kind of stressful. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I don't actually know,
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like the inner workings of the point system and like how you get selected for, I guess it's the
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World Cup circuit versus just the Salt Lake World Cup. Why is there a difference between the two?
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Is it just like based on affordability? No, it's since the Salt Lake World Cup,
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we're the host country, we have a larger quota. So we're allowed more athletes there. So I think it,
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I can't, I'm not sure exactly how many I believe last year we were allowed 10 athletes, whereas
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in normal World Cup last year we were allowed five. And this year those numbers will change
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a little bit. It's just kind of based on how the team performed the year before and that kind of
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determines your quota, but it'll be in that range. So we get a lot more people for Salt Lake than we
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do for any other international World Cups. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, good luck at
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Team Trials. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up in a couple weeks. Yeah, so I'm leaving next Tuesday,
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so a week from today and competing on Thursday. Okay, exciting. Well, I think by the time this
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podcast comes out, it will be done and over with. So hopefully it'll be good news. But yeah, good
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luck. I'll watch and be rooting for you. Thank you. So for people who don't know, how did you
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get into climbing and competing in general? Yeah, so when I was probably maybe 10 or 11, this gym
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called Bridges Rock Gym opened up near my house in El Cerrito. And I went, I had been to a climbing
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gym before a couple times when I was much younger for birthday parties and things. And I went to one
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at Bridges and then my family kind of was excited about it and decided that we should all sign up
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for membership. So it was like kind of this thing that we could all do together. So they picked up,
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they got us a family membership and we all started going there and I really quickly like took a
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liking to it and joined the competitive team. So I was on the youth competitive team there for
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for quite a while, like until I aged out of youth comp climbing. How long after starting climbing
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did you start competing? I started competing. It's actually kind of a funny story. I should have been
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in youth B, so like 14 years old for my first USA climbing competition. But like a week before
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regionals, I broke my big toe and I wasn't able to wear a climbing shoe for like six months and had to
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get a screw in my foot. So I didn't start comp climbing really until I was in youth A, so about
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15. Okay, that's pretty late actually. I had done a few local competitions prior to that.
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But I'd say like the USA climbing competitions are when I started to get a little more serious.
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About comp climbing that was like 15, 16. And yeah, how did you break your big toe? Because
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that was also like an injury Yanya recently had, right? And I'm just like, how does that happen?
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Mine was pretty unique. I was actually campus boarding and there was a foam roller underneath me
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and for whatever reason I didn't think to move it and I fell on it and like rolled back and just
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kicked the wall and broke my toe. Had to be in a boot for a while. Geez, okay. Another concern to
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keep in mind while campus boarding, I guess. Yeah, I did a lot of hangboarding, a lot of
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canvassing, some one foot climbing. Yeah, I mean, people always say that injuries sometimes allow
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you to get stronger in other ways. So I guess that worked out for you. For sure. I mean, I was
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pretty young. I don't think it made a huge difference. Well, you never know. But also you
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started climbing kind of late compared to other people on the circuit. I feel like a lot of people
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say they started when they were like six or something, which is a little bit crazy. But
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yeah, I think for like a professional climber, you started a little bit later than everyone else.
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Do you feel like you missed out starting a bit later or do you think younger kids are kind of
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just messing around anyway because they don't really take anything serious? I think one thing
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that has benefited me a lot is just having done a lot of sports growing up before I started climbing.
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I used to run kind of cross country and track in middle school. I was on the swim team for
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like three years. I took tennis lessons growing up and I was always like playing basketball and
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soccer and I went to skate camp when I was younger. So I kind of got to do a lot of different sports
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and although I didn't really stick to any for more than a few years, I think it really helped
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develop my climbing style. It made me a lot more like dynamic and athletic in in my climbing
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movements and like a little bit more powerful in general. I think it probably helped me with my
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coordination as well. And so when I first started climbing or when I first started getting into
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comp climbing, I definitely had some regrets and I was like always thinking, oh, I wish I'd started
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younger because everyone around me started younger and I feel like I'm just trying to catch up to
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them all the time and they have so many years on me. But I think it's just like, you know,
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I've been so many years on me, but I think at this point, looking back, yeah, I think that the way I
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grew up and my relationship to sport like definitely formed and affected how I approach climbing.
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And so I wouldn't really change that, I don't think. Yeah, that makes sense. I think we'll get
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into the other sports you've done later on because I was, yeah, had some other questions about that.
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But I also during my research saw that you're a French citizen. So do you go there much to train?
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Yeah, I go there quite a bit to train. My parents are both French. They came to the States in
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98, I think. So they've been in the US since a little before I was born.
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But we always spoke French at home and I spent a lot of summers going there to visit family.
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So I kind of, I just like being in France, I like hearing people speak French and everything. So
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when I started climbing, I definitely like kind of sought out gyms there when we would go for the
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summers. And I guess as I got way more into comp climbing, I started to realize how good of a place
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it was for training. And the French team is obviously super strong and they have a very
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specific strengths in climbing. So it's been pretty awesome to be able to train there and
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kind of get to know everyone and have that little kind of extra tie to them. I feel like it's a lot
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easier to get to know them when I can speak French as well. So that's been really nice.
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So like when I think of French climbing, I think a lot of like
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slab and like people who are really great on like slab competition boulders as well.
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When you go there and climb and train for a little bit, do you feel the difference there
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in terms of like their slab setting? Definitely, I'd say just in general,
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their level of slab climbing is really good. And in a lot of gyms, a lot of the slabs that you'll
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have there are harder and more technical or they'll at least have more of them than you would find in
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a lot of US gyms. And honestly, in a lot of like countries that I've trained in, I think the French
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have definitely the most slabs and the most hard slabs, which is really, really good for training.
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So that's always really, really good to practice there. And I always come back from trips there
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feeling like I've kind of improved at that a little bit. So that's always nice.
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Yeah, do you have a preference towards slab at all? I know we like, I met you because you were
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doing a slab clinic, and I'm terrible at slab. So is that one of your strong suits, you think?
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Yeah, I'd say now slab is definitely one of the styles that I'm more comfortable on.
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I think I'm quite good at trusting my feet and willing to be pretty uncomfortable,
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and kind of just trust the positions and see, like, see how they work. And I think that makes
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that makes for like, good slab climbing. But when I grew up, like growing up, I was really, really bad at slab, like, quite bad.
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I mean, the gym that I grew up in really didn't have any slab walls at the time. And none of the
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gyms in the Bay Area, at least when I was younger, really had any actual slabs. And so the only time
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I would practice them was when we would do youth training camps at Mesa Rim in San Diego. And I think
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going there and having really, really dedicated time on slabs and like breaking down everything from
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like, I couldn't even stand on a volume when I first went there to like then doing coordination
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and really breaking down like everything that that we could figure out about slab climbing made me a
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lot better. But I think definitely in the past like three, four years spending a lot of time in
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the training center and a lot of time just falling and slipping and banging my shins, I got I got a
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lot better at slab climbing. But it took quite a bit of just like dedicated time to that style.
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And now I'd say I like it a lot. And I'm quite confident in my slab climbing. But it took quite
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a long time to get there for sure. Yeah, I'm glad to hear the Mesa Rim in San Diego helped out
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because that's where I am right now. So hopefully I'll make some some strides there as well. Did you
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ever go to like the I was really what it's called. It's not called the training center, but like the
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the academy, the academy. Yeah, did you? Yeah, that's where all of our youth training camps were
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at the academy. And it was maybe one week a year or two weeks a year. And for about like three,
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four years there, I did that with a lot of friends from the youth circuit. And we did so much slab
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climbing. Okay, I'm excited to make some progress there then. But yeah, and a lot of commercial gyms,
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there's not much slab. Maybe like, I mean, there's always like a vertical wall. But in terms of slab,
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there's not much there. Do you have a favorite US gym other than I guess, like the training center?
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Yeah, I think at least for slab climbing, I really like the bouldering projects gyms. I climb
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primarily at the bouldering project in Salt Lake City, when I'm just like doing gym slab climbs,
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and they're usually pretty, pretty good. And like the level is is decent. What I find a lot of the
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time is that a lot of gyms, even if they do have a slab wall, their their boulders are just not
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super hard. And I think it's like a lot of people don't practice the kind of comp slab style. So
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it's pretty hard to to find the limit of what's doable. And I imagine it's pretty hard to set as
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well. Yeah, the climbs at bouldering project just like really scare me. It's like not my style at
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all. But we'd love to check it out again sometime. But yeah, going into your competition history,
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I was taking a look at your IFC history. And it looks like you did a lot more lead competitions
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initially. Do you prefer to boulder now? So that was in 2021, the year after we kind of all got
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shut down for COVID, we had our first team trials. And I had spent probably about three quarters of
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my time and energy training boulders and the rest training lead. And I did really well in the
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qualification there. And then in the semi finals, I like fully got in my head and had a really bad
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round. So I think I think I ended that that comp between 10th and 20th for boulders. And then in
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lead I like it was after boulders and I kind of had no expectations. I knew I was better at bouldering
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and just kind of had an okay qualifier made semis and then the semis route was really slabby kind of
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vert route like very technical. And I climbed really well in that on that route made finals,
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which to me had been was like pretty surprising. I was not expecting to do well in lead at team
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trials. And that qualified me for some of the lead World Cups of for that year. So those were my first
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World Cups ever. My first one being the Lars. So I kind of like was scrambling after the the team
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trials. I was like scrambling to lead climb more and train more lead. Because I really wasn't
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expecting that it was kind of everyone was doing boulders and lead and figured okay, I'll like
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train lead too. And then all of a sudden I was going to do international lead comp. So I was
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training lead a lot and the first lead World Cup went really well. I think I had no expectations
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kind of similarly I was like, oh, you know, I'm like lead is pretty new to me. I have no idea what
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my level is and ended up making the semi for that. And then every lead World Cup after that, I've
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really struggled to kind of find my stride. I think a lot of it I was getting in my head from
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the first World Cup that I did where, you know, I didn't really have any any expectations and just
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made the semi and then I could hardly get like more than a few draws up the wall at the next ones.
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So it was kind of a weird thing for me. And I definitely kept training lead because I was
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qualified for lead comps. But I've always been more interested in bouldering and I prefer boulder
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comps. So when the next team trials came around and the team trials after that came around, I did
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like kind of perform well in boulders, which I was really excited about. I think getting to do
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boulder World Cups was always like my dream and what I wanted to do and lead I think is really
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cool. And I really, really admire strong lead climbers. But for me, it's been like so, so
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challenging to see any type of translation between my training and how I compete in lead. And
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it's just not something that has like been super exciting to me. It's more stressful than anything
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like lead comps. I get really nervous, really stressed and I usually kind of make mistakes
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and bouldering. I feel like I'm able to express myself a lot more. So being able to to do boulder
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World Cups has been like really, really great and super exciting. And going forward, I maybe in the
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future, I'll look to be selected for some lead World Cups again, but I'm definitely focused on
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boulders now. Okay, so like for the upcoming team trials, are you only doing boulder? I don't know
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if that's like an option. So last year, because of the Olympics, we had to do bouldering and lead.
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And so I did boulder lead. And so this past season, I was qualified for the combined team.
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So I could do essentially any of the bouldering and any of the lead World Cups that I wanted.
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So I did all the boulder World Cups and some of the lead World Cups. And then at World Champs,
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I only did bouldering. This year we have it's separate again, so we're able to do just bouldering
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or lead. So I only did bouldering at Nationals and I'll only do bouldering at team trials.
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Wow, it's so interesting that you only qualified for lead the first year, and then just ended up
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going to international competitions for it. I feel like that's like signing up for a job that you're
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not qualified for. And then you're like suddenly scrambling to figure things out. That's a little
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bit terrifying. Yeah, it was I wasn't actually even officially on the lead team. I must have been
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maybe seventh or eighth on our list and they were taking maybe five to the World Cups. But because
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it was the year of the Tokyo Olympics, a lot of people who were selected for the Olympics didn't
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do all of the lead comps leading up to the Olympics. So it passed down to me. So it wasn't even
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after team trials. It was like a month or maybe even three weeks before the first lead World Cup
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in Villars that I got kind of an email that was like, hey, you're like it's passed, the invites
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have been passed down. So you're qualified for Villars if you want to do it. And I was, oh
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goodness, like I haven't trained lead at all because I had, I mean, kind of been doing boulder
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lead, but didn't really know what I was training for. And then all of a sudden I had three weeks
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to train lead and then hop on a flight to Switzerland. And that comp went really well.
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It was awesome. But after that, I was just, I think, way a little bit in over my head and
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definitely struggled to perform. Wow. Yeah, that's stressful. I mean, even booking a flight three
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weeks out for an international trip is stressful by itself. Yeah, yeah, definitely. But at that
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point I was more just, I mean, I had been wanting to do a World Cup for so long and we had just
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watched the Salt Lake bouldering World Cup, which I hadn't qualified for because this was after the
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21 team trials. And I just like, the only thing I wanted was to compete in World Cups. So just
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like even, I remember I got that email while I was in Whole Foods and I just was like running
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around the grocery store and just like kind of jumping up and down to myself, like, oh yeah,
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World Cup, World Cup, World Cup. This is crazy. And yeah, now it's crazy to think how many I've
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been able to do. But yeah, that's awesome. So it's kind of like the excitement and just like the
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newness of it all gave you that energy to get into semis for that first time. Yeah. In the first,
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in Villars, we had a, one of our first routes was just like not super hard. And then there was a big
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jump in the middle of the wall and a lot of people fell at the jump. And I actually went first on
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that route. So I really, I had no idea how hard it was, how people would do. Just went out there,
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did the jump and then like fell a little bit afterwards. Didn't do so well on the next route,
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but just like doing the jump was enough to make the semi. So yeah, it was definitely super
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surprising, but I also had no expectations. I was like, oh, maybe I'm like pretty good at lead or
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like, but yeah, I had no idea about the international level. And then I think I really
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kind of took a beating at the next competitions that were a little bit more maybe traditional,
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like endurance space. There weren't as many like weird tricky like jumps, because I've usually
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been pretty good at jumping, but like they were just more normal, hard world cup routes. And I
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had just never climbed on routes that were that hard off the ground before and got, got pretty
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slammed, but it was fun. It was really fun though. Oh, I bet. I mean, that sounds like a dream.
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But yeah, speaking of that transition, just going from like youth competitions and moving straight
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to the international circuit. This was also one of the discord questions. So what was that transition
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like? And did you consider doing like collegiate competitions? Yeah, I think it was really weird
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for me because it kind of was timed perfectly with COVID. So my first time ever qualifying for the
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youth world championships was ARCO in 2019. When I was, that was my second to last year of youth.
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So I was 17 years old. So I did that. That was my first youth world. I did that. And that whole
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experience was super eye opening for me to see that climbing was like a legit sport on the
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international level. I had gone to Innsbruck right beforehand to train and I had never been
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like surrounded by so many youth competitors who were so strong and just seeing like people from
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so many different countries who are all training all day long and everybody was working really hard
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and taking it seriously. It was like, well, like climbing is a real thing. And it's, it's like,
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it's like all these other sports that I kind of grew up doing and was like, wow, there's like,
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uh, this like sport exists at a super high level. And I kind of, I realized that for the first time
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at that youth worlds and was like, I want to do more international comps. I want to train as much
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as I can. That was really, really motivating. And then going into 2020, um, like just before that,
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at the end of 2019, I kind of started to podium at the national cups. Um, so things started to look
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pretty good for open nationals. So I was pretty excited going into open nationals, surprised
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myself by making finals. Like that was always the goal, but I knew it would be quite hard and
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climbed really well throughout that whole comp. Finished the comp in second. So I was qualified
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to do the whole bouldering season, the whole bouldering world cup season in 2020. Um, and then,
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uh, like a month later after that, everything was shut down. And that was a weird thing for me,
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cause I was like, I had definitely been looking forward to doing boulder world cups and also
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just, I think didn't realize like how hard it was to accomplish what I accomplished that year. Like
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I kind of took it for granted, definitely a little bit, um, to think like, okay, like I podiumed at
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most of the national cups and then I went to nationals and podiumed and like, it was pretty
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solid the whole way. And then we had COVID and I trained a lot through COVID and then, um, coming
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out of COVID it was 2021, which we were just talking about where I didn't do well at all in
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the team selection. And so that was a weird transition of like, I kind of made the team
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straight away. And then I had a year and a half where I really didn't do super well, uh, at the
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important bouldering comps. I was always doing quite well at, um, like different gym comps, like,
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uh, things like woman up or Portland boulder rally and even the national cups. But when I was
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coming down to the selection events, I just like, things kind of went just a bit south and it hadn't
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worked out. So I had kind of two years of like training a lot and knowing that I was kind of
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capable of making the team because I was doing pretty well in all these other events, um, and
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having to be like pretty patient in terms of selection. But, you know, overall it did kind of
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come pretty quickly. And I think because even in youth, a lot of my success came later, it was a
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pretty natural transition between youth and open because I only really started to compete quite
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well in youth and like in the kind of open gym comps when I was like 17, 18. So it kind of went
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pretty naturally from there. But, um, yeah. So I guess like, I don't really know how the collegiate
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circuit works. Like, like, how do you decide to do that instead, I guess? Oh, yeah. Um, so
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collegiate, I think just if you're enrolled in college classes, you can compete on the collegiate
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circuit. And it works pretty similarly to youth in that you have like kind of divisional or regional
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level events that qualify you for nationals. And I actually did do collegiate one year in 2022.
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I competed in collegiate and made the the world champs team. So they have a collegiate world
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championship, which I did in in Innsbruck that summer. But I think it's a really good, like a
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really, really good in between from youth to open for a lot of people. I think that like, the
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transition into open can be quite harsh. Like, you'll see the level of, of just like the boulders
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changes quite a bit. And I think as to be expected, but the collegiate is like, kind of in between.
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And I think a little bit more casual in that, yes, like people train for it, and they show up and
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they're ready to compete, but not everybody there is like, super intense and has been training really
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hard and is trying to make, you know, the World Cup team or whatever, as opposed to sometimes the,
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like, like team trials or the nationals can feel like pretty intense when you're kind of at that
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level where you know you could make the team, but you're not sure you'll be able to. And I think,
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in those ways, those comps feel really intense, whereas in collegiate, I think there's a lot less
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of that pressure. People are having a little more fun with it, I think. And so going into your IFSC
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competition experience. So it sounds like expectations plays a big role into how well you perform.
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How does, is there anything else you feel like impacts your performance at those competitions,
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like crowd noise or what you're thinking on the wall? Yeah, I think my biggest one, even like
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in training or in competitions is just, I mean, it sounds pretty obvious, but just my energy.
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And I think you can kind of see it in my climbing when I'm a lot more like bouncy and jumpy and
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kind of taking more risks, which I think is tied to expectations as well. But having a much more
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like kind of powerful and dynamic style when I'm at all tired or my energy feels a little lower,
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it's really hard for me to kind of tap into that style. But I think that when I do feel really
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energized and excited to be competing, I can, you can kind of tell in the way that I'm even warming
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up or like kind of jumping around just in the gym that translates for me really well into like
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a kind of a more flowy and almost kind of careless in a way, like attitude on the mats,
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but more in a in a way that it's like helping me be relaxed and loose and like intense and kind of
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aggressive at the same time. I don't know, it's like it's definitely a mindset that I like when
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I'm in it, I know I'm in it and I'm excited and the rest of the time I kind of like kind of ride
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the line of struggling to like feel super energized and like flowy on the wall versus
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like sometimes just being tired. Yeah, do you feel like climbing in front of people
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affects that at all better for better for worse? Yeah, I think it's it's pretty funny like in
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training and in the gym, I definitely like to not have so many people around. But when it comes to
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competing, I really, really like the crowd. I've always been like, someone who kind of likes that
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type of pressure and like having a crowd and having a lot of noise really helps me try harder, like
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it can be hard to tap into that by myself for sure. It's like when I'm climbing by myself,
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I listen to music and I think that helps a lot. But when I'm competing, the crowd definitely,
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definitely helps me. And I think it like almost takes my nerves away. Like, it's a lot more
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nerve wracking when you're quiet, when it's just quiet and everybody's watching you versus when
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people are kind of cheering and screaming. So I definitely like it. I guess it could be kind of
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unnerving if the crowd is quiet, because then it's like, oh, I must be doing something wrong or bad
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or embarrassing. Yeah, it's a weird one. It's like, sometimes when the crowd's not reacting,
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you kind of start to think, oh, well, maybe everybody has done the same on this boulder,
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or maybe I'm not doing anything particularly good, like performance wise. But when the crowd's going
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crazy, you're like, at the very least, they're like excited to be seeing me climb, like, regardless of,
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you know, how I'm doing compared to everyone else. And I think that definitely fuels the excitement.
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I think a lot of competitors would agree, like, a loud crowd is is really fun to climb in front of
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for sure. Yeah, I can I can imagine. Do you remember the last time you would have felt
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insecure climbing in front of people either in front of a crowd or in front of other competitors,
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maybe? Yeah, I think in training that happens like a decent amount, actually, being in Salt Lake,
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we have just so many strong climbers. And even in the training center, like, every day, there will be
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so, so many people who are strong. And like a lot of the time, they're stronger than me. And
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sometimes when I'm feeling good, it's awesome. And it's really nice, because you feel like
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you're a part of it, and you're strong, and you're getting better. But on days where I maybe don't
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have so much energy, or I'm like being outclimbed by a lot of my peers, that can be really hard.
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And I definitely can like start to dig myself into a hole a little bit of just like, Oh, I'm not good
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enough, or like, I think I am good enough. And yet, I just can't like seem to perform or show up the
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way I want to. So in general, I think that definitely happens to me the most in training
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and just climbing around people who are strong. I think it's like a blessing in that it definitely
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pushes you to be better and to learn from people. But it can be hard because there is kind of, for
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everyone, I think just that element of comparison is always there. Everyone's working hard, and
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everyone's trying to be, you know, as good as they can, if not the best. And so it's, it can be hard
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to, to be outclimbed consistently, or, or to just feel like you're underperforming, I think that
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really quickly starts to spiral. And it can be hard to kind of keep a good mindset about it.
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Yeah, I can definitely imagine. I was so I had just like recently moved to San Diego, and
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Salt Lake was actually one of the places I was considering. And then I decided not to move there
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because I felt like the competition would be a little too strong and scary. And so I definitely
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get why you would feel that way there. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that's really
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cool about Salt Lake and the climbing community is there are people at every level who are psyched.
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And even kind of across levels, like if you're psyched, and you're excited to get better at
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climbing, there will be people behind you, whether they're stronger than you or not, who are going to
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be psyched to support you and who are going to see that and kind of bring you into their climbing
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circle. So in that way, I think it's really cool. And it's really great. But it is kind of, I think,
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tricky when you have like that kind of competition specific mindset where you're like, these are the
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people that I'll compete against, you know, so that that can be tricky for sure. Yeah, definitely
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intimidating. But going into your 2022 and 2023 season, I think you had mentioned that you did
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pretty well in 2022. And then last year season, you were a bit disappointed with your performance.
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So what kind of happened there? Please excuse this brief intermission. But I would just like
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to remind you that if you are enjoying this podcast, please follow and rate it on your
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preferred listening platform. If you're watching on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion
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and thoughts in the comments below. Anything helps to push this podcast out to more people
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and get even more amazing guests on. Back to the show.
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Yeah, 2022 was my first bouldering World Cups ever. The first one being my ring in in Switzerland.
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And I went into it definitely feeling good, but I had been feeling good for, for a long time on
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boulders and just kind of was excited to see how it would go, but really had no idea. And went out
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for the qualification. And I remember during the first, like right before I got on the first
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boulder, or actually even like a few moves into the first boulder, having the thought of like,
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I can try really hard to do this boulder, or I can kind of relax into the round and see how it goes.
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And I think in that moment, I kind of decided, no, like, I think I can kind of do this one,
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like, let me try really hard to do it. And it actually ended up not being so bad. I felt like
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it actually ended up not being so bad. I flashed the first boulder. And I think in that moment,
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kind of, it sort of decided my attitude and my approach for that whole season. Like I would just
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go onto the mats with little expectation and just, I was really excited to be there for one and
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also feeling pretty good and like confident on the coordination moves on the slabs. And it really
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paid off. I mean, surprised myself by just barely making the semis at that competition. And then
361
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:20,160
in the semis, I really was really like, relaxed. I had no expectations at all. I was just excited
362
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:25,920
to be there. I couldn't believe that I had even made the semi. And I climbed really, really,
363
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:33,120
like, like myself, like how I had been climbing and training, which I think is really hard to
364
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,720
feel like you're kind of matching up with your expectation of yourself or your level and training.
365
00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:45,520
So I kind of was able to tap into that and was like more than anything, just having so much fun
366
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:51,280
on the mats. And I think if you watch that comp, like you can kind of tell I'm just having a really
367
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:56,640
good time and trying really hard and getting into the grid of it on like the third boulder,
368
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:03,040
fourth boulder, and ended up being 10th at that competition. After which I like kind of came away
369
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:10,800
and and was like really pleasantly surprised, which hadn't happened very much in many competitions for
370
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:16,960
me before. I think a lot of the times I had had a pretty high expectation off the bat and either
371
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:24,080
met my expectation or was kind of below what I expected or underperformed. And this was like one
372
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:30,160
of the first times where I felt like I had exceeded what I thought was possible. And so it took a lot
373
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:37,520
of time to kind of ride out like in my journal, what I felt like were the kind of conditions that
374
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:44,400
made it so I was able to climb that way and be so relaxed and and like not nervous and just excited
375
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:50,880
to be there. And I think a lot of it was like acknowledging that I was finally getting to live
376
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:56,480
something that I had trained for for so many years and never even knew if I would be able to do.
377
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:01,680
Like I never knew if I would qualify for World Cups, but I always that was always a dream of
378
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:08,480
mine to do bouldering World Cups. So kind of being extra like recognizant of that and then also just
379
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:16,080
kind of like keeping with that energy and really playing into my strengths. So like taking a lot of
380
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:23,840
risks on the wall and like accepting falls and it just that whole mindset like worked really well
381
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:30,880
for me that season and I ended up making all of the Boulder World Cup semi-finals. And it definitely
382
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:37,120
got harder like as the season went on, I think by the fourth, fifth comp, I started to kind of think
383
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,880
okay, like I kind of got a streak here. I don't want to break the streak. Like
384
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:46,640
got harder and harder, but definitely until like was able to hold on until the very end of that
385
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:53,120
season. So that was an awesome season. I couldn't have like I couldn't have hoped for anything
386
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:59,760
better honestly. And I think not making a final was really great in that I felt like I had the
387
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:05,280
consistency and all I needed to do was maybe improve the level. But if I could keep the
388
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:11,120
consistency there, then I thought that I'd be able to make a final or two in the next season.
389
00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:19,120
And then the next year was much, much trickier for me. I mean, I think just training Boulder and
390
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:26,960
lead together was really hard. And I also had a like a concussion in November and December that
391
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:32,160
really, really affected my training and my energy and my mood going into the season.
392
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:40,560
And I don't I don't think I gave that enough like attention. But then the yeah, 23 season was quite
393
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:47,040
hard. Definitely much worse than the season before. And I think it was a combination of like
394
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:54,400
physical issues and then expectations from the season before. So it was a tricky one, but
395
00:42:54,400 --> 00:43:02,160
hopefully be better this year. Yeah, I mean, a concussion is not like a light injury. So that
396
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:09,840
makes a lot of sense. Did you how did you get the concussion? Yeah, I was just snowboarding
397
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:16,800
in the park and fell back and hit my head. And thankfully, I was wearing a helmet. But even then
398
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:24,800
I think, yeah, I was just really kind of out of it for a few weeks after that. But then for months,
399
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:30,160
I felt like I couldn't quite place my feet how I wanted and was having a lot of trouble like
400
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:37,760
feeling coordinated and was like kind of dizzy sometimes really tired sometimes. And then the big
401
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:44,160
one was kind of I had like this chronic pain in my neck and like tightness in my neck that has
402
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:50,240
kind of lasted since then. And it's definitely gotten better. But I think it kind of affected
403
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:59,040
not only my ability to train, but how much how well I was recovering throughout that whole season.
404
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:04,160
How long do you feel like that affected you for? Or like how long did you feel those side effects?
405
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:10,960
Or are you still feeling them? Hopefully not. I think the worst of it was definitely in February
406
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:20,400
and March of last year. And then now I still have like this neck tightness and like pain sometimes,
407
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:26,400
but I've definitely been finding more and more ways to manage it and talking to people to kind
408
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:34,800
of help me through it. So I think right now it's definitely not affecting me as much. But I think
409
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:41,040
beforehand the combination of that and then I think it probably affected my mood a decent amount as
410
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:50,000
well. So that and then also training lead so much I think made it a lot harder to keep my power up
411
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,040
for the bouldering season and I definitely improved a little bit in lead but I think regressed in
412
00:44:55,040 --> 00:45:01,120
boulders didn't improve enough in lead to see really significant results there. So it was a
413
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:07,280
weird combination of just kind of feeling like I was a little bit worse at both and could almost
414
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:13,840
kind of tell I think going into some of those comps like I just didn't feel physically like where I
415
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:19,680
wanted to be. And then on top of that getting results that were disappointing I think just kind
416
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:27,200
of like kept that cycle going a little bit and kind of kept me like mentally kind of down on
417
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:32,560
myself which made it really hard to have that really lighthearted and playful attitude that I'd
418
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:40,640
had the season before. Yeah definitely snowballs for sure. When it comes to training through
419
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:53,200
a concussion how did you do that? I think I did it really poorly. Yeah I just I really didn't
420
00:45:54,000 --> 00:46:05,120
give that like injury the attention that it needed I think. I've always been really good at training
421
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:13,520
a lot and kind of glancing over like riding over any little tweaks or whatever for better or for
422
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:21,760
worse. Like I train a lot and I think that I've been able to handle like a large volume of training
423
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:28,000
and then push through a lot of things that are uncomfortable or not going well and that's one
424
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:35,200
where I really didn't give that injury the attention that it needed and so I really trained like
425
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:41,520
straight through it. I took like one week pretty light but then just got straight back to my normal
426
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:47,920
volume of training and I think that was a really bad idea. I like also didn't seek out the help
427
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:53,200
that I should have for my neck kind of early on and so I think that's kind of led to this
428
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:58,480
more chronic problem that could have been solved earlier. So I definitely have a lot of things that
429
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:04,480
I would have done differently about that but now that I know a little more about it and I've talked
430
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:10,720
to some more people about it I'm finding ways to at least deal with kind of the lasting neck issues.
431
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:17,600
Right now how do you work through the neck issues? Yeah so I think a big one has been taking just a
432
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:24,240
lot of extra time to kind of nail in all those recovery measures that people always kind of tell
433
00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:29,520
you to do but you're like I don't know like it kind of gets pushed to the side a lot so a lot of
434
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,320
like rolling it out and I get it massaged sometimes and I have like an acupuncture mat and
435
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:44,400
like different neck massagers and things like that and I'm not sure if all of those help but
436
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:49,360
I think at least if I'm doing a lot of those things at least a few of them will help kind of
437
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:56,320
alleviate the the tension there. I've got like some wave tool cups that I use too and I've talked to
438
00:47:56,320 --> 00:48:03,760
like a few different pts and massage therapists and gotten a few different opinions so just like
439
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:08,320
slowly working through it and I think it's like a tightness that kind of keeps coming back
440
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:14,000
so just kind of trying to relieve that as best I can but I'm definitely not like at the end of
441
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:19,520
that whole ordeal yet I'm still learning quite a bit about it and like working with people on it so
442
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:26,240
hopefully it won't be so much of an issue in the coming years but we'll see. I mean at least
443
00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:33,120
massages are nice I love a good massage have you ever gotten like onto a head spa? No I haven't.
444
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:40,640
Oh my gosh you should try to find one it's it's so nice if you like your like hair like scalp being
445
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:47,040
massaged it's it's the best. Oh yeah I like those wire things that you just kind of oh you would
446
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:52,800
love it then on your head yeah you would love it and they'll do like neck and some shoulders as
447
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:58,480
well so I would highly recommend it's like a big thing right now nice well that sounds fun.
448
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:05,120
Yeah I actually had one I got a massage today but it was quite painful I was almost crying in the
449
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,680
in the chair so a little little different not as relaxing but I think will probably help
450
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:17,920
relax some of that that tension so we'll see. It's good to get a mix I'm a big massage fan so
451
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:24,080
nice I know I know all about them but yeah speaking of getting injuries I think it's
452
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:30,240
good to get a mix I know all about them but yeah speaking of getting injuries do you climb outdoors
453
00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:36,800
much during the season I guess even outside of the season I know a lot of people don't because
454
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:45,360
of like risk of injuries and training. I don't climb outside a lot and I think that climbing
455
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:51,280
outside would probably actually be good for my training like kind of in the way that it's similar
456
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:58,320
to board climbing I think just like crimping more and having smaller holds and more technical feet
457
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:06,080
would be great for my climbing but I just love the gym but it's not really for reasons of like
458
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:12,560
avoiding injury or my skin or anything like that I think that it could help me but I really really
459
00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:19,600
love just the ease of going to the gym and then also the volume that I'm able to get in I mean I
460
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:25,280
love how it feels to move when I'm climbing and when I go to the gym I get to do a lot of that
461
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:31,920
compared to when I climb outside and it doesn't hurt my skin as badly it's honestly it's just more
462
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:38,400
comfortable and I mean for comp climbing I think it's great and it's perfectly fine so I climb at
463
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:44,480
the gym a whole lot and it's more because I like it and I think there will be times in my life
464
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:49,040
where I'm going to get more excited about outdoor climbing and even now there are some places that
465
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:54,160
I've climbed outside that I really loved and as I've gotten stronger I've definitely gotten more
466
00:50:54,160 --> 00:51:00,160
excited about trying climbs outside but I think the style that I'm most excited about and the
467
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:05,200
climbs that excite me the most the types of moves that that really get me psyched aren't things that
468
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:12,560
you find outside so much so really I'm enjoying the gym I love the climbing gym. No that's awesome
469
00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:17,680
I love that because I feel the same way and I usually give the same responses I mean everyone
470
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:27,440
asks me to go outside and I'm like for what like no yeah I love to spend time outside but yeah I
471
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:32,960
love being outside like a lot of time I'll go my friends will go outdoor climbing and I'll go with
472
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:37,920
them and just kind of hang out and and watch and and spend the day outside and sometimes I'll go
473
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:43,920
and climb moderates and things but I mean I haven't done much projecting or anything not since I was
474
00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:50,720
younger anyway so but I'll get there I'll get there but right now I like I like my gym routine
475
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:57,360
yeah I think that's that's my plan too I'll I'll point people to you next time people give me shit
476
00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:04,000
for not going outside at all yeah the gym is fun yeah exactly get to climb more
477
00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:11,680
and all about the efficiency it's just yeah so much better um okay last question about
478
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:19,920
ifsc related stuff um you've done a few things in the commentary box the past year or so I think um
479
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:25,760
do you like being in the commentary box and what do you like bringing to to the commentary yeah I
480
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:34,160
definitely like doing it I think it's it's really fun to kind of play off someone else's commentary
481
00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:39,680
like I think it would be quite challenging to like lead the the discussion but it's definitely
482
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:46,640
nice to kind of add in your little comments and things I think that like the comp climbers know
483
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:53,680
the most about the compy moves and kind of um even the different competitors and and their styles
484
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:59,120
and what they like and don't like and um that makes it pretty fun to kind of throw in your little
485
00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:06,560
two cents about about any one you know move or whatever it is it's a little nerve-wracking for
486
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:12,480
sure and I don't really know how good I am at it but I always like to kind of take up the the
487
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:17,520
opportunity when people ask me to join in so hopefully I'll get to do a little more of it
488
00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:23,760
I'd rather be in the round though if I get to choose so right yeah for bouldering at least
489
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,120
for boulders yeah there you go yeah maybe you can do some lead ones
490
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:32,000
um okay well anything you don't like about being in the commentary box
491
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:42,320
um I think just when your like voice is kind of out there for everyone to hear like people will
492
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:49,040
definitely make little comments that are unnecessary like I know the first time I interviewed someone I
493
00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:55,760
said the word awesome a lot and people were at me in the comments about it and I was like oh I'm
494
00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:01,520
trying my best but no other than that I kind of like it and I think I'm pretty good at brushing
495
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:06,960
brushing over things like that so you're like she said awesome like four times like yeah sorry
496
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:14,960
like it's really not a big deal but yeah I mean I guess when you're listening you have nothing
497
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:22,000
else to do except for listen very strictly about what people are saying um through like editing the
498
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:29,920
podcast there are so many I I edit it out I allow myself to edit it out but when you're live you
499
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:39,040
don't have that option so I would not do very well at commentating so outside of IFSC climbing
500
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:48,880
I've watched you crush at a lot of competitions around the US um I think I saw you at like a
501
00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:57,280
boulder field competition um plastic classic was another one um woman up obviously um I saw you
502
00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:05,760
recently did uh one at mosaic boulders in the bay um I don't know if we just like happen to both go
503
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:11,680
to the same competitions um but how do you choose which competitions you participate in locally like
504
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:17,760
is it just for prize money or is there just like how else do you choose I think the timing is a big
505
00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:24,720
one like there's a competition this week that I won't go to because our team trials is uh coming
506
00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:33,120
up and I don't want it to interfere with that but otherwise I genuinely just I really really love
507
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:41,120
that type of competition I think it's just a little more laid back than USA climbing events or just
508
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:47,280
because of like you know selection criteria or IFSC events because you know you traveled so far to get
509
00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:50,720
there and you've been training so much for those events that you really want to do well these are a
510
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:55,440
lot more laid back and they're good ways to kind of check in with yourself throughout the season to
511
00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:03,600
see like what you want to work on so I'll do like almost all of the ones that make any sense timing
512
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:11,840
wise um and then in terms of prize money like I'd say in general if I'll at least pay for my travel
513
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:19,120
and my being there by being like top three or top four making finals then then it's usually like a
514
00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:25,040
good bet and I try to try to make it out for sure so as long as it kind of pays for itself then
515
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:31,680
then that's good enough for me and I'm pretty psyched to be there um but I definitely do a
516
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:38,080
lot of those and have a good streak with those types of comps for the moment so I'll keep at
517
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:43,600
it they're they're like some of my favorite events to compete in so for someone like me who wants to
518
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:52,640
start competing in open um at these like local competitions um what do you feel like are some
519
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:58,960
strategies to have a better chance at doing well I would love to make a finals one day but if it's
520
00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:07,360
always the same six people who I always see at finals it's not happening yeah I think
521
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:13,680
the first like best thing that you can do to your for yourself if you want to get better at competing
522
00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:19,760
is to compete and so like every opportunity that you have to go to competitions whether they're
523
00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:26,800
like kind of little small bouldering league type things or if they're bigger competitions is to just
524
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:33,440
like show up and do them and be really open-minded about it like I think it's important to be pretty
525
00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:39,600
realistic and you know maybe you aren't there to make finals and that's okay you can be there to do
526
00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:47,200
other things like learn um like get used to the style or get used to the pressure of having limited
527
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:54,480
attempts or just having like so many strong people around you and climbing around people who are
528
00:57:54,480 --> 00:58:00,800
maybe stronger than you so I think competing a lot is the first best thing that you can do um if you
529
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:06,560
can do um if you want to compete and then the second thing that I would say is really important
530
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:13,520
than that a lot of people kind of dismiss is like outside of the physical training that you're doing
531
00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:19,200
just um whether you're hangboarding or board climbing or doing weight training is when you're
532
00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:25,600
climbing is to be pretty intentional with what you're doing and be pretty like let yourself get
533
00:58:25,600 --> 00:58:32,080
pretty uncomfortable kind of push past just like your normal casual session with friends you know
534
00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:40,640
I think kind of what sets a lot of comp climbers apart from just um other people who are climbing
535
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:45,440
in the gym and climbing recreationally is not necessarily the amount of time spent in the gym
536
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:50,400
but the amount of like intention behind what we're doing and kind of pressure and expectation that
537
00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:57,440
you put on yourself when you're in the gym like when I go into the gym I have a certain expectation
538
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:02,240
of myself that I'm going to take the boulders seriously that I'm going to take my session
539
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:09,600
seriously that I'm not going to just get on the wall randomly and just not put focus behind every
540
00:59:09,600 --> 00:59:16,160
attempt I think that kind of thoughtfulness goes a really long way and it's something that doesn't
541
00:59:16,160 --> 00:59:23,120
take more time from than like what people are already doing but just like when every single time
542
00:59:23,120 --> 00:59:28,160
I step on the wall to be like I'm getting on the wall right now for this purpose like I'm going to
543
00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:33,280
do this with this hand hold I'm going to do this with this foot and not just like repeating the
544
00:59:33,280 --> 00:59:40,000
same thing and not trying to learn from from your boulders I think that's like really the big one
545
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:45,280
kind of that level of focus and it's hard to bring that every time but the more that you can
546
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:51,520
show up that way to the gym the more you'll improve faster and I think one way to force that
547
00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:56,960
is to kind of run like little mock comps for yourself for or different challenges where like
548
00:59:57,200 --> 01:00:02,080
on the maybe your gym has just set like 10 new boulders and you're going to tell yourself okay
549
01:00:02,080 --> 01:00:09,440
I have one try to do them all and if I fall like I don't get to try them again until next session
550
01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:15,600
I think kind of having that pressure a little bit a little bit more intensity and kind of forcing
551
01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:21,120
yourself into that mindset of like this attempt matters is good for good for competition.
552
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:27,520
I'll try that out yeah and I think solo sessions have been really good for having that intentionality
553
01:00:27,520 --> 01:00:32,400
because otherwise you're like getting in a group with like other people and then you're thinking
554
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:35,200
about talking to other people and it just doesn't work as well.
555
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:44,160
Yeah I think climbing by yourself is really good for getting in like being really easily getting
556
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:49,600
or more easily getting into the mindset that you want to be in. Other people can definitely
557
01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:53,920
distract from that but there's also so much benefit in climbing from people because you'll notice
558
01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:58,960
they do moves differently or you'll be like I never thought of doing that move like that and
559
01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:04,160
it looks so much easier and obvious now that I see this person do it like that so there's definitely
560
01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:08,240
like a lot of benefit to that as well so I think it's good to have a balance.
561
01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:15,360
Yeah definitely experience both for me competing starting to compete and open the
562
01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:19,280
scariest thing would be climbing around a lot of other strong climbers
563
01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:26,960
so if you ever see me at one of those don't look at me just don't look.
564
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:34,320
Yeah I think a big one to tell yourself when you're if you're nervous about the people around you
565
01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:40,880
is that they really don't care about your climbing nearly as much as you do and that kind of goes for
566
01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:46,480
a lot of things in life and when we're feeling I guess self-conscious about things but at the gym
567
01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:53,760
like if I'm competing and you're like not doing the boulder that I just did I'm not going to think oh
568
01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:59,920
like she's bad at climbing you know I'm really I'm like okay like she's trying this boulder it's when
569
01:01:59,920 --> 01:02:06,000
you kind of start to like out climb people that they'll be like who is that like this is that girl
570
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:11,440
that just did like number seven and then then people start to be like who is that they're so
571
01:02:11,440 --> 01:02:17,920
strong but when I think in general like if people show up and are trying hard the like the level
572
01:02:17,920 --> 01:02:23,920
really doesn't matter I think it definitely like it definitely matters the most to you.
573
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:29,920
I think anytime you show up and do anything that you've put work into like it matters more to you
574
01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:34,800
than it does to anyone else there so the more you can like get out of your head about other people
575
01:02:34,800 --> 01:02:41,760
watching you the better I think. Yeah that's true well put so yeah you also run some clinics and I
576
01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:48,320
saw that you're doing coaching through Salt Lake Bouldering Project. When did you start getting
577
01:02:48,320 --> 01:02:53,200
involved with those things and is that something you're hoping to move towards in the future?
578
01:02:53,200 --> 01:03:04,240
Yeah I mean growing up I kind of did a lot of my coaching myself. I was on a team but I wrote all
579
01:03:04,240 --> 01:03:10,960
my own training plans and did all my own exercises and everything and so I think I've kind of
580
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:20,800
been pretty well versed in like climbing training for quite a long time and when I was younger I was
581
01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:29,360
the assistant coach on the Bridges team for a little bit and then I did some clinics there
582
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:38,720
as well and then after COVID I did some clinics at Woman Up and at the Boulder Project and I think
583
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:45,760
I think now they've transitioned less from being less like about physical exercises and more
584
01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:51,760
like technique based which I really enjoyed and I think my climbing has changed in that way quite
585
01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:57,440
a bit in the past few years so like focusing a lot on movement and trying to teach people like
586
01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:03,120
different ways to kind of be intentional about how they move when they're climbing and hopefully
587
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:08,880
being able to learn some of that like ways to learn some of that on your own and that's been
588
01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:14,960
really fun for me. I definitely enjoy it because a lot of the time it's cool to see people progress
589
01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:19,920
so fast like you'll have people not being able to do a move and then really work through positions
590
01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:24,240
and all of a sudden they're doing a move that they've never done before that was harder than
591
01:04:24,240 --> 01:04:29,920
they thought they could do and so that's really rewarding and cool to see and in general I think
592
01:04:29,920 --> 01:04:34,880
has gone pretty well so I'm definitely really excited about teaching more clinics and hopefully
593
01:04:34,880 --> 01:04:42,000
coaching more. I don't really see myself coaching full-time ever I think I like having
594
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:48,880
having it be kind of like this special thing that I do from time to time it makes it more
595
01:04:48,880 --> 01:04:54,400
exciting and I think I'm able to dedicate a lot more attention to the people I'm working with
596
01:04:54,400 --> 01:05:00,320
than if I'm doing that regularly and I can even tell like if I've been doing it all day that by
597
01:05:00,320 --> 01:05:06,720
the end I'm definitely less focused and probably not as helpful so I think having it be something
598
01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:13,600
that I just do from time to time and can put a lot of energy into then is really nice so I do
599
01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:19,120
really enjoy it and hope I'll get to do a little more of it for sure. If you're not doing it full
600
01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:29,280
time after competitions are done and well I don't want to say like age out I guess well retire that's
601
01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:34,960
the word when you retire from competitions coaching is like not something that you would want to do
602
01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:45,440
full time still? No I don't think so I think a big thing for me has been to have balance in
603
01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:51,840
in what I'm doing and I've noticed that seasons or even months of my life where I only climb
604
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:56,160
I tend to get worse at climbing or at least get a lot more in my head about it
605
01:05:57,760 --> 01:06:05,520
and so for me I think having something having maybe a job outside of climbing or something
606
01:06:05,520 --> 01:06:11,040
that I'm working on like a personal project that has little or nothing to do with climbing is
607
01:06:11,040 --> 01:06:16,960
important just because if you're only climbing and trying to be strong the days where you show up
608
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:21,920
and it doesn't go your way it can be really hard to deal with and even like when you're having a
609
01:06:21,920 --> 01:06:27,360
month that doesn't go well like this is all I'm working on and it's not going well like that that
610
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:33,760
can be really challenging to deal with so for me school was that thing for a long time and right
611
01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:41,200
now I've graduated from the U with a bachelor's and I'm hoping to do either some more school or
612
01:06:41,200 --> 01:06:48,080
start working part-time to get some experience kind of in another field what that is exactly I
613
01:06:48,080 --> 01:06:52,880
don't really know yet and that's definitely something that I'm working on quite a bit just
614
01:06:52,880 --> 01:06:59,600
personally is trying to see what other things I can be fulfilled from outside of climbing
615
01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:04,160
so I think it's definitely important for me that I have that distinction and I think staying in
616
01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:11,360
coaching for me will be too close to like climbing full-time yeah that makes sense yeah I think one
617
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:18,240
of the difficult parts of adulthood is the journey of figuring out how you're gonna sustain yourself
618
01:07:18,240 --> 01:07:27,520
so good luck with that I'm also trying to figure that out but yeah good luck to you on that thank
619
01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:35,200
you yeah working on it and what was your degree in in economics well that could be applied to
620
01:07:35,200 --> 01:07:42,320
everything so yeah that was kind of the goal but maybe to a fault it's a little too broad for me I
621
01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:48,640
have it's been struggling to find some direction in like a professional field outside of climbing
622
01:07:48,640 --> 01:07:56,080
but I'll get there yeah now you have like too many choices I think is the issue yeah but yeah so
623
01:07:57,120 --> 01:08:00,880
similarly outside of climbing you did a lot of other sports that you mentioned earlier
624
01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:06,960
what are the things you've learned from those other sports that you feel like you uniquely
625
01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:17,120
could apply to climbing yeah I think risk and like grit or try like being able to try hard
626
01:08:17,120 --> 01:08:23,920
are things that I kind of learned before I started climbing and kind of applied pretty well to climbing
627
01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:31,680
I think like I used to kind of like I used to go to skateboard camp and skateboard a little bit and
628
01:08:31,680 --> 01:08:40,640
got banged up like many many times and then from like swim practice and and running it was just
629
01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:47,280
like so purely effort-based like past a certain point you know it's just like how hard can you
630
01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:53,600
push yourself and I think going into climbing like very early on I had that kind of approach of just
631
01:08:53,600 --> 01:09:00,400
like the harder I try the better I'll get and so I would do a lot of like a lot of different things
632
01:09:00,400 --> 01:09:07,760
so I would do a lot of workouts that were pretty heinous and just try really really hard which I
633
01:09:07,760 --> 01:09:14,160
think really like made me into the climber I am now but also led to like periods where I was maybe
634
01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:21,040
over training and kind of doing like training was being was detrimental to my performance but
635
01:09:21,040 --> 01:09:27,920
overall I think it created kind of a standard that I hold myself to in training that is pretty
636
01:09:27,920 --> 01:09:36,000
beneficial and kind of has made it so that like I always feel the need to push myself which
637
01:09:37,360 --> 01:09:42,240
when I do push myself it's great but then when I don't or I kind of fail to do that it can be hard
638
01:09:42,240 --> 01:09:48,480
because I feel like I've kind of failed myself and my training but I've definitely learned yeah to
639
01:09:48,480 --> 01:09:56,320
push myself and to try just try hard like to suffer in training from a young age and then yeah I think
640
01:09:56,320 --> 01:10:02,800
getting banged up from skateboarding and kind of biking and those types of sports when I was
641
01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:11,360
younger made me really willing to like do dinos and take huge falls and I was like I now had
642
01:10:11,360 --> 01:10:17,200
crash pads under me all of a sudden so I was like oh I could do whatever I want over here and now
643
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:23,440
ever since my concussion I've been a lot more careful and notice weird falls but I think just
644
01:10:23,440 --> 01:10:31,440
like being able to do kind of jumps and just being really bold in my moves I think helped a lot like
645
01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:38,240
like I never had to kind of transition into having a jumpier style I kind of was immediately pretty
646
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:45,280
aggressive in my climbing off the bat like I just remember in the gym like we would be trying like
647
01:10:45,280 --> 01:10:51,600
huge jumps with just massive swings and like we had a slack line and I would try to back flip
648
01:10:51,600 --> 01:10:57,120
off the slack line and just like land all sorts of weird ways on the mats and stuff and so I think
649
01:10:57,120 --> 01:11:03,040
that kind of playfulness and also just like willingness to to take some risks definitely
650
01:11:03,040 --> 01:11:08,560
as translated um pretty well into my climbing but maybe to a fault like maybe I wouldn't have
651
01:11:09,120 --> 01:11:15,360
had my concussion and maybe I wouldn't have this like neck injury either so did you ever do like
652
01:11:15,360 --> 01:11:25,280
parkour or anything like that no no no not really that's a popular one but yeah I just did so much
653
01:11:25,280 --> 01:11:32,400
like I was the kid at recess who would be like trying to get everybody to like race me on the
654
01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:40,080
track or play basketball or like play tag or whatever it was I was just always running around
655
01:11:40,080 --> 01:11:46,560
and my family was really active growing up so I think I just had a really good base of like
656
01:11:46,560 --> 01:11:53,440
athleticism and ball sports and running jumping and I think that just like translated really well
657
01:11:53,440 --> 01:11:58,560
into my climbing style yeah that's awesome always had like a competitive drive I guess
658
01:11:59,280 --> 01:12:07,840
for sure yeah I think even like as a first or second grader I was always like I want to be an
659
01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:13,120
athlete like when I grow up I want to be an athlete and I never even knew what sport until I was
660
01:12:13,120 --> 01:12:21,440
maybe 13 14 and started climbing um a lot but even well before then I was really really drawn to and
661
01:12:21,440 --> 01:12:29,200
like driven by competition and sports do you feel like you've fulfilled that part of your childhood
662
01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:38,000
dream or is there still much more you want to do yeah I think I've definitely like in some ways
663
01:12:39,120 --> 01:12:47,440
exceeded what I hoped for and then the more like kind of realistic version of my like teenage self
664
01:12:47,440 --> 01:12:54,080
at least I always kind of wanted to do world cups and and just climb for a few years and I
665
01:12:54,080 --> 01:13:00,400
I like never knew if that would be a possibility but in a lot of ways I haven't kind of accomplished
666
01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:06,320
what I've wanted to do at all like when I was younger than that I wanted to go to the Olympics
667
01:13:06,320 --> 01:13:12,480
and win something and I like like I said I didn't even know what sport but I was like I want to be
668
01:13:13,040 --> 01:13:19,200
Olympic champion or world champion or some like huge huge athlete which in that way I definitely
669
01:13:19,200 --> 01:13:25,040
haven't accomplished that and even within climbing like I think my like hopes and dreams just kind of
670
01:13:25,040 --> 01:13:32,160
keep building the more I'm able to kind of start getting a little taste of it so definitely far
671
01:13:32,160 --> 01:13:38,960
from satisfied okay well good luck I think we'll yeah we'll be really excited to see where you go
672
01:13:38,960 --> 01:13:45,200
with that thank you okay so those were all of my questions so we can move into a few of the discord
673
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:51,280
questions that we got um the first one kind of ties into what you were asked uh talking about
674
01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:58,640
earlier with like being in the salt lake training center um so this question is benefits versus
675
01:13:58,640 --> 01:14:02,880
downsides of competing for one of the biggest and most competitive teams on the circuit
676
01:14:02,880 --> 01:14:12,240
I think benefits is definitely just the amount of people to kind of look up to and train with
677
01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:18,720
like even just in salt lake there are so many people who are so strong across every style of
678
01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:25,840
climbing um and just having the training center it's like an incredible resource and working with
679
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:33,920
josh larson our head coach is like it's definitely changed my climbing career for the better and made
680
01:14:33,920 --> 01:14:41,840
me a much much better comp climber than I like ever really imagined when I was younger um so like the
681
01:14:41,840 --> 01:14:49,840
caliber of setting and training in that space is really really good um and like world class for sure
682
01:14:51,360 --> 01:14:57,440
but I think with that comes like with having so many people who are capable of making team or
683
01:14:58,160 --> 01:15:03,680
capable of competing in world cups it's really stressful and hard to have to qualify for the
684
01:15:03,680 --> 01:15:09,360
team again every year um there's a few athletes who do well enough on the world cup circuit to be
685
01:15:09,360 --> 01:15:15,520
like qualified for the next year but I think that's pretty rare and so I mean for myself it's been
686
01:15:15,520 --> 01:15:21,280
like three years of I don't know if I'll make the team next year but like I want to train for world
687
01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:26,320
cups and kind of build on what I did last year in world cups but maybe I won't even get to do them
688
01:15:26,320 --> 01:15:32,800
and um I think having so many strong people is hard in that way for sure yeah and so I guess that
689
01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:39,440
affects your training because you I guess ideally you would be peaking for a world cup and now you
690
01:15:39,440 --> 01:15:46,800
have to also take into account peaking for team trials and all the other competitions and I think
691
01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:54,640
just mentally it's challenging to kind of almost figure out how to like where you fit into the
692
01:15:54,640 --> 01:16:01,520
climbing world at least for myself I kind of it can be challenging to think well if I'm not selected
693
01:16:01,520 --> 01:16:10,400
for any world cups then like am I really like a pro comp climber or like if I have a few seasons
694
01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:15,520
where I'm on the circuit and I'm doing well then okay that's great but then if there's a year where
695
01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:22,800
I'm not then do I like have to re-question like everything I've been doing and kind of climb out
696
01:16:22,800 --> 01:16:26,880
do I have to climb outside now even though I'm not really super psyched on climbing outside right
697
01:16:26,880 --> 01:16:33,120
now it's it's kind of tricky like I think for me it's like I want to compete and world cups
698
01:16:33,120 --> 01:16:39,440
is are like the highest level of competition right now for climbing apart from maybe the Olympics
699
01:16:39,440 --> 01:16:44,480
and so it's like I want to do those but if I don't get to do those then it's it can be I think
700
01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:51,520
challenging to kind of stay confident and and continue to kind of believe in the year after
701
01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:56,960
the year after that and the year after that so I think for me that's been the trickiest thing is
702
01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:03,760
the selection process. Yeah the competition here is not easy so that makes it rough I think probably
703
01:17:03,760 --> 01:17:09,600
a similar issue in Japan with all the strong competition there. Absolutely yeah I think the
704
01:17:09,600 --> 01:17:15,200
Japanese have a very similar situation and honestly the French as well like at least from what I've
705
01:17:15,200 --> 01:17:20,320
seen in their like field of skilled climbers and people who probably could be pretty successful on
706
01:17:20,320 --> 01:17:26,160
the world cup circuit is pretty deep and we only really get to see like the very top of that. Yeah
707
01:17:26,160 --> 01:17:33,120
that's uh stressful um hopefully a little bit less stressful question um I think this was referring
708
01:17:33,120 --> 01:17:40,240
to a video that you did with La Sportiva um someone asked do you have some fun or fun or unhinged
709
01:17:40,240 --> 01:17:51,600
stories about living in the power house with Cece and Quint? Um I mean we had we had so much fun
710
01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:56,080
living in that house and I don't actually live with them anymore but they're just a block away
711
01:17:56,080 --> 01:18:02,880
so they're they come over all the time they'll be over for dinner I think tonight but um yeah oh we
712
01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:10,400
did all sorts of things like a big thing like most nights around like like probably three nights a
713
01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:16,080
week at least it would get to be like 11 p.m and we'd be like we we need to go to the grocery store
714
01:18:16,080 --> 01:18:22,480
right now and we would all go to the grocery store and just like to like Walmart and just run around
715
01:18:22,480 --> 01:18:28,720
the grocery store and just like pick up random things and we just like just basically go on a
716
01:18:28,720 --> 01:18:35,440
field trip to the store we would always be doing that um one time I asked Cece to bring me a uh
717
01:18:36,240 --> 01:18:42,240
a zucchini for dinner because I was cooking and she came home with a cucumber and that was a pretty
718
01:18:42,240 --> 01:18:50,240
classic classic Cece moment right there um I don't know we we we painted our other roommates uh
719
01:18:51,040 --> 01:18:57,600
she has a white minivan and we painted her rims hot pink um we were just always doing
720
01:18:57,600 --> 01:19:03,840
doing silly stuff it was it was a fun time if you're comfortable answering like where are you
721
01:19:03,840 --> 01:19:12,240
living now yeah I live like just a little bit uh south of downtown Salt Lake now and I live with
722
01:19:12,240 --> 01:19:20,720
Teya who I lived with in that other house with Cece and Quinn also um yeah so we're all still
723
01:19:20,720 --> 01:19:26,880
real close and we're just down the block uh that's so convenient it's hard when people live far away
724
01:19:26,880 --> 01:19:34,240
yeah no it's been great yeah I think that's what everyone dreams of um I think another thing that
725
01:19:34,240 --> 01:19:43,440
came from that video what do you like so much about French rap um well I think in general I
726
01:19:43,440 --> 01:19:50,320
like listening to hip-hop when I'm training not always but sometimes just because it can be pretty
727
01:19:50,320 --> 01:19:55,840
aggressive and it'll help me like try a little harder and get really into it and really focused
728
01:19:55,840 --> 01:20:04,160
and I like listening to French and kind of hearing French I think I especially like grew up listening
729
01:20:04,160 --> 01:20:10,160
to French all the time at home and now that I live in Salt Lake I don't get immersed into that as
730
01:20:10,160 --> 01:20:18,160
much so I definitely like to to listen to it so I listen to some rap in French but I also like
731
01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:24,320
I don't know I like watching French movies and things and I think there's an element of it that
732
01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:31,680
just feels me like feels really tied to like my family and my like memories when I was younger of
733
01:20:31,680 --> 01:20:37,760
like spending summers there and all like a lot of good times are associated with like hearing French
734
01:20:37,760 --> 01:20:45,360
so I definitely like to listen to it as much as I can any like recommendations for songs that you
735
01:20:45,360 --> 01:20:51,680
like listening to when you're training when I'm running I usually listen to M&M or something like
736
01:20:51,680 --> 01:21:00,640
really intense okay well that's not French but okay oh in French um I don't know I kind of I
737
01:21:00,640 --> 01:21:10,000
have a really random playlist no like favorite go-to that's like on repeat like La Prisence is
738
01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:18,480
pretty classic for just like a hype like get after it type of song but no not too many on repeat right
739
01:21:18,480 --> 01:21:26,000
now I've been listening to a lot of like reggaeton when I train like Spanish music so that's been
740
01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:32,480
pretty fun that's been my go-to lately anything there you want to recommend it's just pretty basic
741
01:21:32,480 --> 01:21:41,360
like Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee and that kind of stuff nice yeah okay I'll try to find the one that
742
01:21:41,360 --> 01:21:46,400
you just mentioned and I'll link it in the description for people to listen to I'll take
743
01:21:46,400 --> 01:21:53,440
a listen to it as well I feel like yeah French hip-hop hits different yeah it's just I don't know
744
01:21:53,440 --> 01:21:58,720
it just sounds good I don't know if I have a like a way better reason than that but I like how it
745
01:21:58,720 --> 01:22:07,440
sounds no that's totally fair um okay last question from the discord how does training with teammates
746
01:22:07,440 --> 01:22:15,840
and friends impact you attitude motivation enjoyment wise I think like when I have a really
747
01:22:15,840 --> 01:22:22,720
fun session with my friends that's like it really takes me back to the root of why I like climbing
748
01:22:22,720 --> 01:22:28,480
like a lot of the times our sessions will be really playful and we'll kind of make up moves
749
01:22:28,480 --> 01:22:34,720
and it really becomes not about like doing a boulder but about how the move looks or you know
750
01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:41,840
like a different makeup that we made and like those kinds of sessions really are like the root
751
01:22:41,840 --> 01:22:47,920
yeah like the root of why I like climbing it's just so fun and it's just like pure enjoyment
752
01:22:49,680 --> 01:22:53,600
and then in general like in normal sessions I think having people around
753
01:22:54,800 --> 01:23:00,640
not only are like all the people here really supportive and generally like super psyched for
754
01:23:00,640 --> 01:23:05,600
you as long as you're pushing yourself and you know you're trying hard and you have a good attitude
755
01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:11,760
but just seeing so many people who are strong and being able to bounce ideas off each other for moves
756
01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:18,800
and get recommendations is super helpful like a lot of us have a pretty similar level and so
757
01:23:18,800 --> 01:23:23,920
we'll out climb each other on some styles and other people will out climb us on other boulders and
758
01:23:23,920 --> 01:23:30,000
having that really like judgment free dialogue of just like hey how'd you do this like can you help
759
01:23:30,000 --> 01:23:34,960
me through this move and having people work through moves with you that way is is not only
760
01:23:34,960 --> 01:23:41,600
really helpful but it's also really fun and it's social and it just like makes you feel pretty
761
01:23:41,600 --> 01:23:48,560
supported so I definitely like having people around for that but definitely the solo session
762
01:23:48,560 --> 01:23:54,720
like kind of by yourself definitely has its its special place in my heart for me as well I think
763
01:23:54,720 --> 01:24:03,120
it's the time when I can climb with like the least amount of insecurity or like worries about how I
764
01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:10,880
look or or what like how I look on the wall or what other people are thinking of my climbing like
765
01:24:10,880 --> 01:24:17,600
I'll definitely like make more try hard noises and kind of get get like let myself get a little more
766
01:24:17,600 --> 01:24:24,080
emotional when I'm climbing by myself so I think it's good to have a balance of of both. Awesome
767
01:24:24,080 --> 01:24:30,560
yeah that's definitely relatable um but okay I think that's a good place to end it um that's
768
01:24:30,560 --> 01:24:36,400
all the questions I had as well as the discord um yeah thanks for joining me anything that you want
769
01:24:36,400 --> 01:24:41,600
to shout out or let people know where they can find you? Yeah I mean thanks for having me it's
770
01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:47,920
been a lot of fun um if you guys want to follow along with like some of the moves I'm doing or
771
01:24:47,920 --> 01:24:53,440
just my comp journey and my climbing you can definitely follow me on Instagram I try to kind
772
01:24:53,440 --> 01:25:00,400
of post a lot of some more serious things but then a lot of like day-to-day shenanigans on there as
773
01:25:00,400 --> 01:25:08,640
well um and then like super thankful to Prana and La Sportiva Kinetic and Friction Labs for helping
774
01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:15,040
me out because it wouldn't be possible to like train how I do or go to all these competitions
775
01:25:15,040 --> 01:25:22,240
without them so really really appreciate that. Awesome okay yeah thank you again awesome to chat.
776
01:25:22,240 --> 01:25:27,520
Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast don't forget to like and subscribe if you
777
01:25:27,520 --> 01:25:33,760
enjoyed otherwise you are a super fake climber. If you're listening on a podcasting platform I'd
778
01:25:33,760 --> 01:25:39,360
appreciate if you rate it five stars and you can continue the discussion on the free competition
779
01:25:39,360 --> 01:25:58,160
climbing discord linked in the description. Thanks again for listening!
