It's all in my mind

Yesterday evening during training i learnt a lot about myself. We had to do four sets of power endurance followed by free climbing and afterwards 30 pull-ups in 10 minutes on the campus board. The power endurance consisted of two routes on the 38 degrees wall: do the first route, downclimb to the start of the second route, do the second route, downclimb, end, rest for two minutes then repeat. The purpose of this is to simulate a contest environment where you have 3 1/2 minutes of climbing a route followed by a 3 1/2 minutes of rest. All sounds nice and easy, except that after the two sets i was totally and positively PUMPED. Add to this 3 pull-ups for 20 seconds, rest 40 seconds, repeat 10 times and by the end of it i was DEAD PUMPED! Anyhow, i didn't want to talk about the pump itself, but about how i figured something not so nice about i r baboon.

The thing is, i cannot commit to finishing a route. I get to the end fairly well, but when the last move is difficult or it involves a launch or a higher reach, i just can't go. I thought about it and i reached two conclusions.

One: i cannot throw for something because i never learned how to throw - i am fairly tall (here in asia i can guarantee that you cannot get a height complex) compared to the rest of the girls, so in most of their routes i can use my span to save me from every misery. This is ok, except for the fact that i don't know how to throw (actually i don't trust myself to throw) and i most certainly don't know how to dyno ... It's hilarious to see me jump, i guarantee.

Two: i see my time in the climbing gym as a learning experience. Which is ok, because i am very attentive to my moves, my body, other girls moves and approaches, but for the fact that when it comes to finishing the bloody route i am more content with falling, thinking about it, and then repeating the move/route rather than flashing. Competition => must flash or at least must finish! No time to rest and brood/think!!! Must get myself psyched i suppose. Think angry thoughts or something.

Also, last night while climbing Yap helped a lot, he was repeating while i was climbing: "relax",
"don't overgrip", "commit", "step properly". I will use this as my mantra from now on. I think my brain is my weakest muscle when it comes to climbing, too bad i cannot do pullups with it.