Review 2017

2017 was a hard year for me. Working as a Psychologist in the hospital and training for the profession of psychological psychotherapist prevented me from climbing outside as much as I usually like to. Because of that I decided to move to Frankenjura this year. Im looking forward to be able to climb outside every day I want, also after work-days. Bevore starting this new chapter I want to present a review of  2017.

About my training in 2017 
What I really found interesting about my training this season was, that I experienced, that training more is not always better. Since my trainers Lena Herrmann and Ralf Kowalski from the north german climbing Team that I belong to told me to focus more on quality than quantity, I did more project Boulders and a smaller extend of bouldering in general. That was fun, because I had a few cool projects, which I had to try over a few sessions. My Finger, Arm and shoulder Training has been shortened as well so that I do very hard exercises with a complete recovery time of 3 Minutes between repetitions. I found out that it’s much easier for me to do a lot of exercises with short brakes than really waiting so long that I recover between the exercises, but it is totally worth it. I also avoided doing a lot on one day, like bouldering 2 Hours and then doing exercises until my arms where shaking, which is what I liked to do in the past. I found this to be very effective for me personally, I would recommend to any athlete to vary their training and see which effect it has on their performance. A second thing that really helped me was working on my back. Since a few month I had severe Problems with my biceps tendon which became worse and worse until I found out, that the problem started at my lower back, which wasn’t stabilized good enough, which affected my upper back and then my shoulder and finally my biceps tendon. Since I started a proper back training with focus on good posture (what in my opinion is rarely seen in the climbing gyms) I got so much stronger than before. I was able to do some Campus-board moves, which I wasn’t able to do previously, that was another example that training is really about quality and keeping your body healthy. You can train your arms as much as you like but since they are fixed on your back, you can never use all your arm strength with a back problem. So reflect on your training, listen to your body, stay healthy and enjoy.

Bouldering Competition Season 2017

In June of this year the last stage of my official competitive Bouldering Season took place in Berlin at the national Championship. This season was the first to use a new competition mode, in previous years there were three national boulder cups each year and there was an overall winner. The counties were allowed to choose which athletes they wanted to send to the national boulder cups. The new mode includes just one national competition, what makes this one event even more important, since you just have one day to perform. Especially for bouldering I see that as a problem since bouldering competition results are very well known to vary extremely depending from day performance and how the boulders fit to the athletes strengths’. The new mode also includes, that counties can´t handpick their team but the athletes have to qualify at the regional and the over-regional championship. In my case the regional was the northern championship in Braunschweig at which I could retain my title. The over-regional was the newly invented north-eastern championship which took place in Hannover. That one I also won, which made me the first north-eastern champion. :) At the german championships in Berlin I did not have a good time since I almost did not sleep before the
competition on Sunday, so I really tried but I could not get into the “killermode” which usually pushes me at competitions. Usually I am fully energized, on adrenaline and exited to climb but that day I really did not feel all that. I ended with the 11th place, which I would still consider ok for a bad day. I´m happy to finish this season as new and old northern champion and the first north-eastern champion.

Albarracín March 2017

We spent 8 days in Albarracín. Although I tried to relax on that trip I managed to do a few Problems which I was not able to do the last Time I went there. I was really happy to do La Fuente 7C (the Boulder I forgot to write the name in the video). I did the second move just once an then managed to top out despite some Problems to remember how to top out when I sent it. Have fun watching the video.

northern championships

A bit late, but I want to share some pictures from the northern lead championship and my recent training in Hamburg with you. Usually I don´t like to compete at lead competitions since it´s more about waiting and less about climbing a lot. For example, this time I spent the whole day at the competition only to climb three routes. But okay, I decided to compete and I was very happy to send the final route. One of the interesting events of the day was that Maude Bonzom also sent it and that’s the good thing, that we both did a good job. The problem with this was that the decision about first and second place was then decided by the results of the qualification rather than by the performance in the finals. The last time I competed at the northern lead championship it was the same, so I am a bit disappointed about the result but also happy, that Maud and I both just climbed well.

I am feeling very strong at the moment, since I have no injuries and I am very motivated to train on my Hangboard, with the Slingtrainer and Campusboard. Recently I participated at a performance test from the Youth Team of the FLASHH Boudlerspot. The group was very motivating and each of us pushed our limits by doing Pullups, Push ups, Muscle ups and so on. In Novenmber I will repeat this test and I hope to make some Progress till then.

  

northern championships

A bit late, but I want to share some pictures from the northern lead championship and my recent training in Hamburg with you. Usually I don´t like to compete at lead competitions since it´s more about waiting and less about climbing a lot. For example, this time I spent the whole day at the competition only to climb three routes. But okay, I decided to compete and I was very happy to send the final route. One of the interesting events of the day was that Maude Bonzom also sent it and that’s the good thing, that we both did a good job. The problem with this was that the decision about first and second place was then decided by the results of the qualification rather than by the performance in the finals. The last time I competed at the northern lead championship it was the same, so I am a bit disappointed about the result but also happy, that Maud and I both just climbed well.

I am feeling very strong at the moment, since I have no injuries and I am very motivated to train on my Hangboard, with the Slingtrainer and Campusboard. Recently I participated at a performance test from the Youth Team of the FLASHH Boudlerspot. The group was very motivating and each of us pushed our limits by doing Pullups, Push ups, Muscle ups and so on. In Novenmber I will repeat this test and I hope to make some Progress till then.

  

Frankenjura summer 2016

I spent a few weeks in Frankenjura trying old and new projects. The old projects I wanted to try felt very bad this time and the weather was very wet and warm. So I tried some new routes and decided to try Riesenslalom direct 8b at Püttlacher Wand. It was fun to climb this route because compared to my other projects in Frankenjura it is very long and I got into a good climbing flow. After a few attempts I managed to climb it almost to the top. During my attempt it began to rain so much, that the last few meters of the route were absolutely unclimbable. After visiting the Outdoor in Friedrichshafen I was happy to sent my first 8b in Frankenjura in the first attempt. Way more difficult for me was the Peacemaker, a classic from Wolfgang Güllich which is graded 7C+ and felt like 8a+. It took me three days to find a good solution and four days to send it. Unbelievable, how hard and pumpy two meters in a crack can be. Luckily I managed to climb it the last day of my trip. I was very proud to climb this beautiful classical line. First pics Riesenslalom direct, the following Peacemaker.

Funcup Hamburg and northern championship

My summer started with two competitions. The first one was the nothern bouldering championship in Bremen at the new gym "Boulderbase". I flashed almost all boulders in every round which was a very good experience for me and helped me to win the competition as well. Luckily the training in winter made me feel very strong. The second competition was the funcup in Hamburg. It was nice to meet a lot of nice people and to climb with them. I made the first place although I couldn´t top the final route, which disappointed me a bit. Now I am looking forward to climb in Frankenjura in Juli. That will be my summervacacion and I hope I will be able to use my good shape for some ascents. Enjoy the pics from Anna Stubbe

Spring 2016

The last two weeks of March I spent in Boux, France, climbing with the northern Rock Climbing Team. These were my first days of rock climbing this year and I enjoyed the sun and the great landscape. Boux is a very classic area with hard graded routes, that I found very demanding in a technical way. I couldn`t really find a project but a lot of nice routes with great views on the beautiful valley. The last days were spent in St. Leger de ventoux, which offers a lot of overhanging routes with Tufas, which are abolutely my style. I can really recommend to visit this area since there is free parking for vans, free toilets in the village and a great variety of routes. I am looking forward to returning to this crack in the future. After a week in Hamburg, that I spent working, I had the next oppotunity to visit a new climbing area. I met the Edelrid Team, which I joined lately, in the Maltatal in Austria. We had a few very busy days, taking pictures for the handbook 2017. I really enjoyed the time with the other athletes, which I found very nice. My next trip will be in May. Until then I will train in the gym with a focus on fingerstrenght in order to be prepared for my projects in Frankenjura. You can find a few pictures from Boux and Maltatal below. Yesterday I competed at the northern bouldering championships in Boulder Base Bremen. I had a very good day, flashing almost all boulders in all rounds and therefore won the competition. Fotos coming soon.

What happened next?

After my trip and a few more weeks in Frankenjura in September it was time for me to settle down in Hamburg. I got my first job as psychologist and enjoy working with children and teenagers. It´s no fulltime job, so I took my freetime to work on my strength and my technique, focusing on shoulderpower and finger strenght as well as crossing moves, and jumps. Now I feel prepared for the first climbing trip to Boux in a week, where I will join the Felskader Norddeutschland. I am looking forward, to feel rock in my hands! From the clip you can get an impression of a few of my recent training Boulders as well as you can see a few pics of the Hardmoves semi final at Flashh Boulderspot in Hamburg.