Saturday 11 July 2015

My first blog

Welcome to my blog!
This is my first attempt at trying to keep a blog or journal. I hope you enjoy it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out to be honest. At this stage I think I'd like to try and focus the majority of my posts on my climbing and any climbing related thoughts that I may have (which could be a lot if I can set aside the time to write them all down!). Basically I'd like to invite you on a journey of ME :p
 
 
So who am I? I'm a climber, mother, wife, runner, teacher, coach, competitor, reviewer and probably some other things too that I can't even think of right now. Recently I've become focused with regaining my fitness for hard climbing after giving birth to my second child, David junior. It's been tough both mentally and physically trying to juggle two incredibly strong instincts - motherhood and my desire to push myself through climbing. Before having my first child, Matilda, I was climbing a lot and it felt like I was constantly improving in little ways. I found that I was most motivated by projects - both boulder and sport. I loved finding something I could work out over a period of time and perfect for a redpoint. Sleepless nights spent refining subtle sequences that eventually became reality. Climbing like this I managed to tick 8a and multiple 7c's in the UK and Spain as well as boulder Font 7A+. For a brief time I even tried a few traditional climbing projects and lead up to E5 6a while living in North Wales but to be honest I realised that I preferred the physical and technical challenge of hard sports climbing.

 
All in all I took nearly three and a half years out from any serious climbing to raise my family and it feels a bit like coming back from scratch - haa! There are a few major changes to how I view climbing these days. At the minute time is precious and it forces me to become more focused in how I approach climbing. I feel a lot more knowledgeable about what is required to climb well and I know I can apply this knowledge to yield better results despite limited time. I'm psyched out of my mind! Taking such a long break has made me realise how much I want that feeling of pushing through limits and climbing hard and well. On the physical side of things, my core isn't what it was (but it's getting better all the time). Luckily, gentle climbing over the past few months has really helped to re-condition my body and muscles to be fit and ready for some training.
 
 
Recently I've been lucky enough to coach a hugely varied group of female climbers at our wall (Awesome Walls) each week and this has helped provide the motivation I needed to begin this blog. I frequently get asked about my climbing and training and I thought I'd like to share an insight to anyone who'd care to read it. Plus the really nice guys in The Great Outdoors frequently ask my opinion on the climbing products they stock - everything from chalk to women's climbing apparel. It's so nice to have a retailer genuinely asking for opinions on what you want instead of just trying to sell you what they want. Often they'll ask me to try out some products and I think it'll be nice to write honestly on here about them, good or bad. I hope you'll find these useful :)
 
Ok, onwards and upwards!

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