Slowly but surely

Just got back from training today and it was a really good training session! We were set routes that were about 90% of our standard (usually it's not really 90% anyway lol) and had max three attempts per route. managed to finish a few of the routes within three attempts, but the rest were quite hard. it was only after the session was over that we got to free climb the remaining routes that were uncompleted that I managed to finish most of the routes. Although I felt satisfied and psyched that I sent most of them, I still feel that there's much to learn from this training session, and that is the importance of reading beta down to the very last detail. I only managed to send most of the routes eventually because I heeded the advice of my coach who gave me useful beta for the cruxes. It makes a ton of difference where you smear; how much you swing your body, when to release when doing a dyno etc. It made me realise that in order to get a flash for a route, or at least finish it within three attempts, I have to be very precise and smart with my beta. Sometimes when I don't get past the crux on the first attempt and fall, I tend to be very stubborn and stick with the same beta after that. Sure, maybe because my first attempt wasn't so good because the muscle memory hasn't kicked in yet or I haven't figured out the proper beta. But I think that usually when I fail on my first attempt, most of the time it is because my beta is wrong. Sometimes the slight difference in beta could lead to better results. So I guess what I've learnt today is also not to be stubborn and to always listen and consider other people's advice, regardless of their climbing standard relative to yours. 

Climbing has been going well for me and I am quite psyched for NSBC that's coming up soon :) Mid terms are coming too and my preparation has been good so far, hopefully I will be able to manage my time well enough during this recess week.

Aside from this semester's aim of doing well academically, I have also decided to set three climbing goals for myself to achieve at the end of this sem:

1) do a human flag 

2) do a front lever 

3) do 5 one arm pull ups on each arm without rest

 

And so I've been training my core a lot to fulfill the first two aims and also started doing more one arm training recently. 

Honestly I feel doing a front lever will be the most challenging for me. I've always struggled to do a front lever and I think it is because my core isn't strong enough. And so I decided to come up with these goals so that I know my core has got stronger. It's a way for me to track my progress and improvement.

Pumpfest is coming up in June. There's still a lot of time before that competition arrives but everything I do now will influence the eventual outcome. I'll have to be disciplined and patient when I climb and when I train. Then there's the Sydney trip with the NJ Climbers which is going to be so fun :) looking forward to the end of this semester haha. First ever comp was Pumpfest. Promotional comp from novice to inter was also Pumpfest. Maybe this year's Pumpfest will be the moment I make it :) right now I'll just stay optimistic and psyched, as well as avoid overtraining so that I won't get injured. I won't want to make the same mistake as last year's Pumpfest lol. Sometimes you just have to keep your mind off all that self doubt because nobody is keeping you from being your best on the wall except yourself. 

Frustrations

I get angry over many things these days. Most of the time it is not because I am short tempered, but I think it's because I have been too nice/tolerant/patient with people. I just want to lash out at people that make me so frustrated and angry. 

I think the reason this is happening more frequently isn't because I am becoming hot tempered, but because I am just unlucky to have encountered these special people in my life that just enjoy pissing me off. 

Sorry for the ranting but these days haven't been very pleasant.

On an unrelated note, school is getting more hectic and frustrating. Hope I can survive this semester and do well. Climbing has been getting better. The team is really like home and family. It's like this wonderful outlet for me that I can be free and forget about all worry. I just have to keep telling myself that whenever I am angry, frustrated or upset, I'll have to keep my cool and convince myself that in the future all of these problems won't matter at all, and the future me will look back and wonder why I was even feeling that way in the first place. I can't wait for that day, to be completely free.

haven't updated for so long because life has been busy as usual. Or maybe it's because I could never find an appropriate moment for me to blog but now seems really good to release all the pent up frustration.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a fool for being gullible. I think that I place my trust in people too readily and always think that most people are generally nice and alright. But the past few days have just proven otherwise. Maybe this is the reality that I'm finally being exposed to. If it is, then I am really disappointed that society can be this horrible. But oh well, every time this kind of shit happens, your hope, faith and expectation of people just gets lower and lower, till a point when trust no longer exists. This is why people don't trust each other anymore. But I will not conform to being an asshole like others, I will choose instead to hope that these assholes get their retribution.