Well since last weeks blog post a number of things have happened. 

1. I got out to Dumbarton a couple of more times...
2. I travelled down to Liverpool for Team selection of both the Lead and Bouldering Junior Team
3. I apparently have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...

Bouldering

On the bouldering front things have been going from really good to totally awesome! Last week I climbed my first F8A "Sabotage" at Dumbarton Rock. Although this is my first F8A, it's probably only my first from a lack of trying. "Sabotage" is the first F8A I have actually tried and coupled with the fact that the number of outdoor bouldering sessions I have been on in my life before this winter you could probably count on both my hands, there is no wonder I haven't done a lot of hard bouldering outdoors. 

Every year I look for different parts of my climbing performance that are weaker than the ohers, areas that I can improve on to therefore make the all-round climber in me as strong as possible. This weakness in bouldering has been something that has plagued me for a long time... I corrected this through training indoors which I have seen massive gains from, however, from no experience of outdoor bouldering I feel that my confidence in attempting harder moves on rock (even on sport) was affected. For example, if someone told me that the crux of the 8c was a F7C or V9, then I would suddenly be really scared as I know that F7C for me is hard... Now that I have climbed a number of F8A's in relatively quick succession, I feel a new confidence has awoken and that potentially I could step things up in my sport massively having found this. 

So anyway, this last week has been great for my bouldering. I headed out with Adam Lincoln and Ian Patterson for a day at Dumby early on in the week. It was pretty cold at Dumby that day but after warming up, things started to feel a lot better. I began the session with a very quick ascent of a popular link up F8A called "Spam Dagger". The previous session I had climbed the other popular link up "Nice and Sleazy" (F7C+) so it made sense to try and go for the harder version. Nice and Sleazy has a different starting and end but shares the middle section at F7B+. Basically "Nice and Sleazy" is like doing a F7B+ into a F7B+ more or less whereas "Spam Dagger" starts lower in the cave from a different point and includes the meat of a 2 move F7C and instead of going direct up the finish of the next F7B+ as "Nice and Sleazy" does, instead you only climb the crux and finish out left on some slightly more tricky ground. 

When I did "Spam Dagger", I was really surpirsed at how easy it felt but having climbed "Nice and Sleazy" already it made sense because I had already climbed some of the moves before. So for fun, I thought I might as well climb the rest of the problems I hand't done there... this included "Spam" (F7C), "Glasgow Kiss" (F7C+) and "Thoroughbread" (F7C+). Its funny, because every one of them felt the same grade... in fact, I found "Spam" harder than "Spam Dagger" and that is supposed to be two grades harder! I honestly do find the F7A finish to "Spam" harder than the F7B+ finish to "Spam Dagger" :P

After ticking this whole section of the boulder, Adam asked if I wanted a spot on the problem I had come that day to try, "Sabotaged" (F8A). I had climbed the original to this problem the week earlier as you know, but "Sabotaged" changes the problem slightly with a much harder finishing move and a wierder more awkward way of getting there. After brushing all the holds and repeating the last hard move a few times, I was ready to go for it from the start :) I began as for "Sabotage" but purposefully climbed quicker than I was the previous week to try and save some energy for the last move... before I knew it I found myself sticking solidly to the sloper around the corner and move really statically to the crimp on the edge from which I make the last hard move. When I got matched on the crimps, I found I could rest, chill out a bit, even shake! I placed a high heel hook and locked off, Adam was giving me a good spot and providing much needed encouragement as I locked deep for this last move... suddenly I had the edge, I crimped up on it and had it strong! The mantle here is tricky but I haven't yet fallen off it - I flipped my locked hand to a palm and pushed hard to gain the slab... I was soon enough standing on the slab and topped out to victory over "Sabotaged"!

It was an great feeling to have done this problem right there and then as I had been watching strong climbers from Edinburgh, Mike Mullins and Eddie Barbour trying it the week before when I was trying "Sabotage". They were very close but had fallen from that last move quite a lot, somehow I just managed to do it first go when I reached the good crimps... I think it was a bit of luck and possibly me going through a bit of a confidence boost having just climbed several 7C+'s and another 8A earlier in the session. A quote from "Rat Race" springs to mind:

"Good things happen one at a time, Great things happen all at once"

I am sure it wasn't just from that movie but it felt like a very good quote to remind myself off :P

One more trip to Dumby since then and I ticked another good 7C called "Silverback" and in the process was very close to "King Kong" in a session, but only if the last part had been in better conditions. I also climbed the last variation to "Sabotage" called "La Saboteur" (F8A). This was only a little bit harder than the original and in my opinion probably a little bit easier than "Sabotaged" - but it probably suits me more being longer, probably like climbing a very short f8b+.

Liverpool Selection Events

So I also travelled down to Liverpool for a weekend representing the Scottish contingent of the GB Team and acting as part of the selection team who would be working out the new Youth Lead and Bouldering Teams.

I also had a number of kids whom I coach who had gone down for the event so I was there to support them throughout. 

There was of course some disapointment with personal performances on the day, but really everyone I saw climbed really well and irrespective of whether they achieved what they had set out to, I think all the kids should be proud of their climbing and use the experience of the weekend as a test from which they can learn from. 

It is a shame that the new Youth Lead Team is so much smaller than it was, as I believe there is so much benefit in sending kids to international competitions for experience. Now, it will be a lot harder for kids to make the team due to the new much higher criteria for selection, something which I don't agree on but which will certainly provide more resources for elite team members. The only issue I see is that because there is less opportunity for kids to make the team now, experience that could be gained early on is now something that won't be available unless they meet the criteria which in some cases means not even 3rd, 2nd or even 1st place podium places is enough... 

A Visit to the Doctor

So, a visit to the doctor the other day revealed something which I have been wondering about for a while - I have Carpol Tunnel Syndrome in my left arm. For a couple of years I have been affected occassionally by a tingling sensation in my arms, often caused whilst doing any task in which my arms are set for a long time. Some examples include driving, reading, sleeping or lifting things up. 

Although it has been around for a while, it has only got particularly bad in the last 6 months and more recently it has become very painful on the night. I wake up with no feeling in my left arm at all with the exception of a very cold stabbing sensation. To relieve this I need to let my arm drop towards the ground and it feels as if blood returns to my arm and fingertips... the only issue with this is that if I leave it like this for too long I end up getting another terrible pain, like searing heat burning the inside of my arm and hand. 

Initially I thought it was blood circulation issues, but the doctor has assured me that it isn't this and instead is related to a compressed nerve in either my wrist or elbow. He suggested Carpol Tunnel Syndrome and I am to see a hand specialist very soon. 

Reading up about Carpol Tunnel Syndrome, you can get either a steroid injection or surgery to relieve the symptoms. The fomer is prefered as I have heared that surgery can take anywhere from a year or longer to recover... I don't think I could take that long off climbing :P

There is no doubt about it, I am a route climber at heart. But since around 2 years ago when I started incorporating a lot more bouldering into my training for routes, I have been increasingly learning to enjoy bouldering at a far greater level than ever before. Last winter was the first time I spent more than a session on a problem outdoors. This was on my first V10 (F7C+) "Northern Territory" at Kyloe Out which was almost done in a session, but in the end took an extra session to seal the deal. The process off redpointing a hard outdoor boulder problem was new to me and I can say that I did thoroughly enjoy the experience (not as much as routes still though). 

That window of outdoor bouldering last winter gained me my first V10 as well as a number of V9's (F7C) and V8's (F7B+) all within a session. Not only did my outdoor bouldering improve, but my indoor bouldering also got a lot better. I won a round of the TCA Glasgow Winter League and found new enjoyment in my bouldering sessions at the wall. This then gave me the strength, power and confidence to climb my first 8c in the spring of 2012. All this from a winters bouldering!

Unfortunately after that Winter I let it slide with my focussed bouldering attention and instead of keeping up the momentum of boulder training, I went back to training again on other aspects of my performance that I feel perhaps are less necessary but which I had neglected over the Winter. This was a big mistake and I paid massively for it! Now I am back in the bouldering zone and hoping to take this to a new personal level from 2012 into 2013 and hopefully ever upwards. It's no doubt in my mind now that if I want to achieve my goals in sport climbing I also have to be bouldering at a high level, but to manage this I also needed to learn to enjoy bouldering for what it is, as it's own discipline and not simply as a tool to train for routes.

So far this winter I have taken my first baby steps into bettering my bouldering with a few personal bests:

• "In Bloom" (V10 or F7C+) - 2nd Session - Dumbarton

• "Nice and Sleazy" (V10 or F7C+) - 1st Session - Dumbarton

• "Sabotage" (V11 or F8A) - 2nd Session - Dumbarton

• "The Shield" (V8+ or F7B+) - 2nd Session - Dumbarton

• "Hap Slappy" (V8+ or F7B+) - 1st Session - Dumbarton

So this is the main tick list above F7B+. It stems from around 3 or 4 sessions at Dumbarton Rock so far. The big ticks were "Sabotage" and "In Bloom" both of which felt pretty hard for me initially, though when I did them it seemed that there almost shouldn't have been any issue! A nice thing to feel when you supposedly complete your hardest boulders ever as it definitely encourages the thought that climbing something harder is possible.

My new bouldering goals for 2012/2013 then is to consolidate climbing at the F8A mark which I do believe is something I will achieve. I would certainly like to fulfil climbing F8A in a session, again something which I am confident is possible given the correct choice of problem and approaching with the right tactics. "Sabotage" felt like it would go in a session as did "In Bloom" and "Nice and Sleazier" was done in about an hour of working sections with around a dozen attempts in 30 minutes to get it sent :P I am motivated to visit as many different areas as possible in order to develop my bouldering skills in a wide range of rock types and styles, not only in the local areas. So I will be getting down to the County quite a bit with hopefully more visits to Dumby to see some of the other F8A's there sent. "King Kong" (F8A), "Sabotaged" (F8A) and "Spam Dagger" (F8A) on the list :D

And of course, with 2013 on the horizons, if I can up the bouldering level, where will it take my sport climbing? A Costa Blanca trip in Easter might not be a bad thing :)