climbjudtravels: 2015

2011

Asian Climbing Championships 2015, Ningbo, China

November 25, 2015

The Asian Climbing Championships 2015 (or otherwise also known as the Asian Continental Championships) marks the end of the boulder season for this year. This regional games is the first I've ever taken part in, 7 years since I began climbing. Similar to the Chongqing World Cup this year, I represented Singapore for the Boulder and Speed category.

The months leading up to to competition were not as smooth sailing as I had hoped it would be, given that CCAs were on stand-down and I only had PW work. But somehow reality has its way of showing up in your face and work seemed to interfere into my trainings more than usual. I long to rush down to training the moment work "ended", I missed training sessions just to carry out my duties. It is at this time, that I wish I had the freedom to stop all work and focus on training. I came up with a training plan that involved 5 days of training a week, 2-3 hours each. I centered my training around my speed climbing, contrary to focusing on bouldering - as I was having doubts about my performance in the recent months after Chonqging. The drive to train for speed pushed me and kept me going beyond my disappointments in boulder. I am thankful to have the singapore speed team around with me, keeping me sane and motivating me.

The Asian Championships was the biggest conpetition that the National Team was working towards since its inception in April. My knee injury (described in my previous post) has since disappeared completely thanks to Orchard Health Clinic, who sponsored the team with treatment. Their oestheopaths really know how to fix us climbers back into shape! It turned out that I had an internal rotation of my femur, but an external rotation of my tibia, causing strain on the posterior knee. Once Martin (the big boss) managed to figure this tricky issue out, he gave me a little re-alignment and the pain was gone. From then on, I did strengthening of my legs, quads, hamstring, etc, in line with my speed training. Knowing all the sciences kind of gave me a good direction and a better understanding of how my body works. The day before we flew off, I managed to squeeze in one last session with the osteos to fix my shoulders, which has been giving me some problems. Big thanks to Marcus, Lewis, Martin and Adela for all the help at OHC!

However, on a not so positive note, I have also discovered another injury in my wrist. I visited Sport Singapore for a checkup and took an MRI. Discovered some tears in my wrists that prevents me from doing push-ups, or mantling. The pain has since subsided and I tape my wrist whenever I climb now. I now know the reason behind those weird pains in my wrist. Haha.

But back to ACC2015!

With the send off team! Thank you guys for coming!

The view outside the hotel

The small stream by the hotel

Flags of all the asian countries hung in the hotel lobby

It was a privilege to travel with the team to Ningbo, China. We stayed at the Wulongtan Resort which was situated up a hill and surrounded by a nice park. The weather was about 16 degrees on average and it rained/drizzled throughout, making it even colder. Brrrr. ❄️ I have climbed in the cold in Japan and even Homg Kong, but nothing could prepare me to compete in a weather like this. The mental pressures and need to perform was so much greater. And it was even colder than expected! Thankfully I had my down jacket with me! 😊

I was down for all 3 days of competition, first was Boulder, then Speed, then Speed Team Relay.

The competition venue was built to model a ship. It was raining that day.

The lead and speed walls!

Warming up was difficult and it just felt so different. It was only a matter of time before my fingers turned cold. I was pretty psyched to boulder, feeling less pressure than in Chongqing. I topped the first route with cold fingers and a slip of the feet. However, I did not complete the other routes and left the competition at 25th place feeling disappointed. I had not made it through to the semi-finals, but most importantly, I had no climbed as well as I thought I would.

Thinking back, there were a lot of weak areas in my climbing that I had not touched on during my training. Yes, boulder may have taken a back seat this season, with my focus on speed training and doing simple boulder circuits, but it still gutted me that my performance was way below the standards that I used to be. It made me realise how other countries like Japan and Korea had managed to push the level so far ahead. It probably took them a whole generation to get to that level of "strong", what made me think that a few months of training would equal my standard to theirs. Indeed, it's back to the drawing board to figure how to really become a stronger and excellent competition climber! Allez!

Trying to work this volume!! Photo by Janice

On the last route of qualifiers. Photo by Janice

Collecting my thoughts while waiting for my climbs. Photo by Janice

Getting cramped up in this 3D wall did me no good. This was not the correct beta! :p Photo by Janice

Experience from Chongqing prepared me for my next category. Looking past the disappointment and setbacks, next on my list was speed. Similarly, warming up was different from back home. I just felt... slow. I could not move as fast as I wanted to. More over, the speed tiles were shallower than what we had practiced on in Singapore. There was a lot of hesitation and slip ups during our practice runs.

I had managed to pull off a 10.3 sec average run back in Singapore, but the fastest I climbed during qualifiers only went up to a high 12. A far cry from my average and not a good reflection of the training I had put in either. During knock outs, tables were almost turned when my Iranian competitor slipped in the first few moves. Watching the other countries speed up the wall without any qualms really had me wondering what makes them able to move that fast, and with confidence. Being my 3rd overseas speed competition, I guess I still have a long way to go in mastering the format and competition stresses.

On a good note, speed veteran Adriel managed to "knock-out" the world champion, Qixin, in their "coincidental, always meet you" knock out round for qualifiers!

My final climb - knock out with #8. Photo by Janice

After speed qualifiers came the team event. It felt like a throwback to SEA games 2011 in Palembang, Indonesia, with the same 3 of us in the team - Janice, Binbin and I. This time, it was the record tile route. Moments before we climbed, both janice and binbin asked what would happen if they went burst-mode and fell from the wall (throwback to sea games track record route). To me, it didn't matter, as long as they tried their best. Being in the team means accepting your team members for whatever they have done, especially when it is for the good of the team. I'm really glad to have these two girls beside me this whole while. :)

We managed smooth runs and eventually managed to get 3rd place when the team from China fell off the route. What a nerve wreaking, yet fun experience! Really have to hand it to Janice, the first climber, who really put the pressure on the other team! The guys came up 5th position at qualifiers. But due to the numbers, only the top 4 went on to the next knock out rounds.

Presentation of the team for finals. Photo by Janice

This competition experience wouldn't be complete without the whole team. We had random dinners together, supported and screamed for each other. Plus we got to meet our old friends from other countries, and then made some new ones as well. :) Apart from the cold, I learned that the varying conditions at the competition venue is part and parcel of the whole process - the shitty tiles, wet walls, cold conditions, drenched warmup walls, no comfort food, etc. The best athletes would be able to adapt quickly and also grasp the mental strength needed to overcome these external factors. I want to strive to become someone like that, perhaps in time to come. :)

Team wefie otw to the hotel lobby. Photo by Janice

Finally, all 13 of us! Photo by Janice

Another wefie! Photo by Janice

Our 3rd place trophy!

Majulah Singapura!

I have learnt much during this competition. That desperation can set in the day before you fly, motivation and morale can switch and turn around when the right words are said. Control is not something we should seek, but adaptability. I had ached and worry and crumble at the pre-season trainings, affected by work and emotions and the lack of performance. I am still learning to get around it, or to make it better, but it will take time. Reality is indeed a bitch. While other climbers are training professionally, not everyone has that opportunity and we have to find the means to make things work. It is the passion that pushes us on, and the love for climbing.

After this whole competition, I am already looking forward to the next big game! The next Asian Championships in 2016 will be in China once again, in early August. I'm still uncertain if I am able to go for this due to work commitments. Similarly for the actual big Asian Games in 2018 at Indonesia. Well, all I can do know is to keep training hard and go beyond what I have acheived so far this year. Already psyched for the upcoming Gravical 2016 by SMU in late January next year!! Gamba!

With love,
J

2015

IFSC Chongqing Boulder Worldcup 2015

June 22, 2015

A team of 4 Singaporeans went for the Chongqing Boulder Worldcup this year. Consisting of first-timers Marcus Yeo, Ryan Yeo and I, together with Janet Goh, our small contingent flew the Singapore flag in China just last weekend. Here's a recount on my journey over this past few months, as well as some reflections.

Getting ready

The journey towards this competition was plagued with injuries, uncertainties and sometimes lack of belayers (in the case of Ryan and I for speed training). This was the big stage, the highest level of competition that we can ask for and I didn't want to give anything lesser. Unfortunately, I had somewhat injured my right knee - I am assuming something to do with my meniscus from the looks and feel of it. I also developed golfer's elbow and all these injuries frustrated me greatly. Somehow I felt stronger, yet not as prepared compared to when I was gearing up for the past few TNFCup. Mental strength would come in very handy this season.

With the support from Allsport Equipment, I had my flight costs covered for the Chongqing Worldcup. It was highly encouraging to work together with them - they always believed in their athletes, no matter the performance. I may not be their athlete, yet if they believed in me, why shouldn't I believe in myself! :)

The 2015 Hirundos harness from Petzl. Sponsored by Allsport Equipment. This lightweight harness really made me fly up the wall during practise!

My knee injury was something new, having played and jump around for 10 years in netball with no problems at all. I believed this came about from the constant falls while bouldering. It was already troubling me before the National Climbing Championships in April and it become slightly chronic as the weeks went by. I rented a knee guard from Bauerfeind and the compression helped a little. I took to taping my knee eventually, in preparation for Chongqing, in the event that wearing a knee guard would restrict me too much. This injury hindered my right heel hooks and sit-ins and honestly shook me quite abit in my confidence to climb well. Consciously I do push pass it whenever I can, but sometimes I feel that it hinders me implictly whenever I am required to put pressure on that leg. But I learned not to take my injuries as an excuse, and worked in some strengthening exercises like squats and back raisers to strengthen my supporting muscles.

[edit - 10/7/2015] Went for an MRI to get a check on my knee. Results came out good. No tears or damages to any ligaments or menisci, it just identifes a joint effusion. So my osteopath Lewis was pretty puzzled and together with Martin worked my hips, knees and ankles. My hips are rotated in, while my tibia+fibula seems to rotate outward, causing some unneccesary tension on my knee. Martin has clicked my knee back and the next few days, it was back to new! No pain at all, no pain that awkward position. Yay! That is, until I went cycling a couple of days later (I ride a fixie..) and i had to hard brake and I guess my bones have misaligned again. PFFT. But gotta give a shout out to Orchard Health Clinic for support the Singapore Climbing Team and also fixing me!

The elbow required a good warmup before it could ease back into its usual functions. But sitting around or cooling off made getting back on the wall, after a rest, a painful one. I grew to become really pumped all the time as the lactic seemed to collect in my forearms and it was really frustrating. All injuries are frustrating, especially nearing competition time. But I knew that if I continued to dwell on it, it would not work to make me a better climber, neither would it make the injury go away. Similar to my knee, I taped it up, and took a conscious effort to warm up well, so that when I started climbing, it felt good.

I practiced speed climbing once a week, as I had wanted to focus on bouldering. But eventually I managed to hit a consistent 12 seconds, and towards the last few days of trainings, 11 secs. Morning runs with Ryan were sometimes challenging as it was hard to wake the body up. But I really appreciate all the time and effort my teammate has put in, as well as the small help from my belayers during our trainings. :)

I tried to work on different styles of climbing before the Worldcup. And when I was daunted by the tiles and moves at Onsight (too much hesitation and uncertainty on old moves), I headed to Kinetics to work on some onsighting. I think it is important to put yourself in the right position and mental frame before the competition. Really thankful those close by me who kept me up when I was feeling down.

Pre-competition

I headed to Tokyo, Japan together with Hazlee a week before Chongqing, immediately once school ended, in search of some good climbing and to learn a little something from the strong Japanese climbers. I say climbing (not training) because it was hard to get onto a strict training programme when you go there to meet friends, and we were gym hopping. Moreover, it was only a 10 day trip where we managed to squeeze 6 climbing days in.

Honestly, I didn't exactly have a clear mind on what I was doing in Japan. It took me awhile to figure my thoughts and get on the right track. I had experienced and seen the Japan styles of climbing before and really sought to reach the same standards. But it takes more than just seeing and copying. I had a lovely opportunity to meet up with Yuji once again, met new friends, and also some old. :) Sachi brought us to climb at Akiyo's gym where I was wowed by the tiles and the walls. Being in that environment brought me into the world of these professional climbers and how they train. I learnt to cherish the empty gyms that aided my focus in training, compared to being around the crowd where the psych was high. I guess there are advantages and disadvantages to these two different methods of training, and it really depends on what we want to achieve.

I climbed most days at Base Camp, where tiles spammed the climbing walls endlessly. I learnt that they made it that way so that the climbers can set their own routes easily, and it also helps for training - compared to sparsely placed tiles of specific orientation. Most importantly, I took home the "cheer" mentality of climbing together as a community. Edging each other on the routes help push each other a little bit more and I really enjoyed climbing there in Japan. Also I learned that heel hooks play a big big part in climbing - the Japanese use that a lot! Time to get my flexibility on!

Chongqing

It was really a thrilling experience to go on my first Worldcup. Having watched many videos and yearning to match their standards, there I was, finally competing in the same world stage as my idols. While we were mostly star struck, I chose not to gush over them and tried to focus on my climbing first. With words of encouragement shared by Marcus from Pierre, I believed that I could take on this challenge.

Team Singapore at the Chongqing International Airport

On our second day, we went to boulder in a new gym called Black Ram Climbing Gym (黑公羊攀岩馆). The other athletes were also climbing and thankfully they left slightly earlier and we had the gym to ourselves. Janet and I bouldered while the guys gave us some routes. I was feeling pretty confident then and really couldn't wait till qualifiers!

At the gym, I met Tong Tong, a 11 year old girl from Shenzhen whom I met in Hong Kong during a competition last year. We invited her and another small boy from china to climb together with us. And it was a joy watching her climb. This girl has so much potential. Perhaps this was the best part of my day, meeting an old (but young) friend and sharing the love for climbing. In return she gave me her Adidas Rockstar singlet. :)

With Tong Tong!

Selfie with speed climbers: Robert and Libor at the gym.

Qualifiers started really early for the mens. They climbed in 2 seperate groups with differing routes, the top 10 from each group progressed to the semi-finals. After which, it came to the females. There were about a little over 30 female athletes and with the 5 min rotation system, I was looking to climb 2 and a half hours after the first athlete went out. It was a long wait.

I knew after awhile when I saw climbers coming back into isolaton early, that the first route was flashable. As it became my turn, I headed out with as much confidence I could carry on my shoulders. I managed a total of 2 flashes and 4 bonuses for my first every qualifying round in a worldcup.

This was F4, one of the routes I managed to top:

Screen capture of the final scores. I was #27, Janet at #29.

Honestly, I was disappointed. I was pretty far off from getting into the semi-finals. As I looked to my videos of my climbs I realised a couple of things that I needed to work on. This was also upon observation of the other climbers during semi-finals and eventually finals as well. F1 was pretty straight forward. I got by with my reach, although I would very much like to see myself climb more smoothly without any hesitation. The second route was all about planning.

F3 was stumbling for me. Watching my videos, I realised that all it took for me was to sit into my right leg, ie. lowering my body in order to move off statically from the hold. I had tried many times to move off dynamically and I did not managed to get the bonus at all for this route.

Route F4 was all crimps, which was easy but once again, there were many minor shift and uncertainties despite flashing the route. The last route was all or nothing. Unfortunately I failed to pull high enough to get the next hold after the bonus. Janet managed the move with ease! Something that I really need to learn from her!

Once boulder was over for me, it was time too move on to speed. My heart was still stirred from my qualifiers and it was hard for me to focus on speed. The warmup run was tainted with rain and wet floors. I managed 13 secs with hardly a smooth run. My qualifiers the next day was hot and dry, yet slipping on my footholds, I gathered a poor 15 second run and my heart broke once again. There were only 16 girls and I was through to the final 16 knockouts. I told myself to get as much experience as I could out of this and enjoy the moment. But it was a tough order for me to get my head back into the game. Eventually, my fastest run for the competition was still 13 secs, totally off from my usual timings. Perhaps it may be nervousness, or not used to the competition feels.. But I must admit that this is not the best I have given. I will need to learn from this and remind myself to focus more. Speed is a discipline that requires alot more practise, like the floor routine in gymnastics or even wushu. Execution needed to be absolutely perfect. I lacked the perfection of my climbs this time.

Watching the finals for speed was exhilarating. Zhong Qixin from China emerged champion in front of a home crowd. Competing against giants and record breakers, it was a remarkable feat and this guy really earned my respect. He was able to withstand the pressure, pressure that I myself could not handle the least. And he raced against his opponents with humility and pride for this country.

With the champion!

As the sun raised high into the sky, it was time for the boulder finals. Watching the top climbers compete, I caught a glimpse of the same uncertainties I faced, but most importantly, the great composure too. I enjoyed the great movement, the prowess, the excellent beta planning of these athletes. To be like them would take more of what I am currently doing. It was really inspiring to see the finalists execute their climbs with precision, confidence and strength.

Awesome walls from Chongqing. The use of volumes was excellent!

Akiyo Noguchi and Sean Mccoll came out tops in the end. It was a great show beyond all the podiums and rankings. There were hard fights, funny moments, and also great cheering from the crowd. I would very much love to go for this again and again! With the disapppointments I faced this season, I am more driven to step up and turn things around. Sadly, I am unable to go for the following leg at Haiyang, despite being in China as well. This weekend of experience and psych certainly has me craving for more! Hence my next opportunity would only be next year. On the other hand, Marcus and Dennis will be heading to Haiyang. All the best to them!