team heerema

I even got a trophy! Woohoo. Now I have two trophies in my life: grade 8 free-throw champion and National Capital Bouldering Series champion. I think I need a trophy case now for sure. Put it right in the middle of the living room. Leanna’s going to have to step up now and contribute. I’m expecting her to bring home nothing less than an Academy Award.

accepting my trophy

The series was three events, one at each gym in Ottawa. I placed 1st, 4th, and 2nd. Enough to get the overall championship. Now that this series is over my competition schedule will slow down. No more competitions in 2012. In 2013 I will do 2 or 3 more Tour de Bloc events between January and March.

Last night’s competition was a lot of fun. I climbed virtually non-stop for 2.5 hours. I didn’t rest, going from one boulder problem to the next right away. I completed 24 problems and of those 24 I flashed 22. Ville, the young man from Coyote beat me by falling once less. Can you believe that? We climb for 2.5 hours on 25 boulder problems and it comes down to one fall.

I almost finished the hardest problem also, falling from matching the finishing hold a few times. I guess I should have strategized better and tried it sooner while I had more energy but that’s alright. 2nd place last night was still enough for me to win the title.

Now that competitions are over for about a month and Christmas and New Year are approaching it’s a great time for me to reflect on my climbing progress this season.

Obviously my focus has (unfortunately) been on climbing competition and training. I would have much rather been climbing outside but after returning to Canada and finding a place to live, then moving into a new apartment and resuming work it was hard for me to leave for weekends at a time.

Joining a climbing team and having a motivated group of people to climb with has probably been the single best thing for my climbing ever. I am extremely motivated and can’t wait to go to the gym. I go early on training days and I’m usually there for at least three hours. Who knows how long the team will last for, but now that there is one I can’t imagine climbing without one. I have no idea if it’ll help my outdoor climbing but we’ll find out in January.

In 2012 I’ve gone from being in the worst physical condition to my best physical condition over a period of four months and I know I can get even stronger in 2013.

Competition wise I’ve improved quite a bit as well. I’ve become more relaxed, less nervous, more confident and much more focused. I can enter “the zone” easily at comps and work hard.

A few thank-yous for 2012:

- I’d like to thank Sportiva and Flashed for the support they’ve provided.
- Thanks to Leanna for being my competition coach, manager, photographer, and dietitian :)
- Thanks to Félicien, Stéphane, and Adrian for keeping the team motivated and running.
- Thanks to everyone following the blog for all the support.

Merry Christmas.