16: Cloe Coscoy, French American Boulderer

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being out climbed by a lot of my peers, that can be really hard. And I definitely can like start to

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dig myself into a hole a little bit. I got that email while I was in Whole Foods. And I just

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was like running around the grocery store and just like kind of jumping up and down to myself like

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World Cup, World Cup, World Cup, the types of moves that that really get me psyched aren't things

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that you find outside so much. Welcome to another episode of the That's Not Real Coming podcast.

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I'm your host Jinni and I'm excited to introduce my guest Cloe Coscoy. Chloe is a French American

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boulder who has competed for Team USA in the international youth and elite circuit.

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In this episode, we'll learn about how she accidentally ended up competing in lead World

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Cups, the difficulties of trying to make it onto a highly competitive US team, and we give some love

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to good old gym climbing and plastic pulling. Hope you enjoy this episode with Cloe.

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Cool. Yeah, how are things going? Yeah, yeah, pretty good. I'm

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doing any like training today? Yeah, I trained at the training center this morning.

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I'm kind of starting my taper for team trials right now. So two days of rest over the weekend

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and like a light session today. I'll rest tomorrow. Yeah, what does tapering look like for you? It

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starts like a few weeks beforehand. Yeah, so it's kind of been different like throughout my climbing

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career. And I think I've got it a lot more figured out now than I used to. But I'll usually like

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like train pretty hard for at least three or four months leading into an event. And then

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that's kind of usually phased out a little bit. But the last week and a half or so I'll decrease

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my volume a ton. So like recently, I had been climbing like five ish days a week. And a lot

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of those are double sessions. And right now I'm doing just one day on one day off and really short

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like two hour sessions for the next week and a half. So big decrease in volume. Is it like

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your tapering strength training? Just even time spent on the wall. I think in general, like the

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climbing itself is almost like strength training and that like the more I do it, I get pretty tired

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for sure. Especially when it's like a lot of steep climbing a lot of powerful climbing. So

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it's just so that like when I go to compete, I feel really rested and, and strong, I can't be like,

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Oh, I'm tired from this workout or whatever it was. Yeah. What do you have to, I guess,

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do at national team trials to make the team? It's hard to know. It's the way it works is we have

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40% of our points are based off our result at nationals and 60% of our points are based off

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our result at team trials. And so I did not great at nationals. I was 10th. Ideally, I would have

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liked to be in the top five, but the way it works, like if certain people who did well at nationals

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don't do as well as at team trials, and I do well at team trials, then I might move up the ranking

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quite a bit or, you know, it can also go kind of the other way around if people who did worse than

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me do really well at team trials, then they'll get more points. So it's really, really hard to

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know. I think ideally to make the World Cup circuit, I would like to be first or second,

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which will be pretty hard, but do my best for that. At the very least, I would really like to

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qualify for the World Cup in Salt Lake. So in that case, I think if I make finals at team trials,

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I have a good chance to be set for that. But it's really hard to know beforehand,

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we won't really know until the points get calculated and the list comes out.

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Oh, kind of stressful. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I don't actually know,

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like the inner workings of the point system and like how you get selected for, I guess it's the

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World Cup circuit versus just the Salt Lake World Cup. Why is there a difference between the two?

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Is it just like based on affordability? No, it's since the Salt Lake World Cup,

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we're the host country, we have a larger quota. So we're allowed more athletes there. So I think it,

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I can't, I'm not sure exactly how many I believe last year we were allowed 10 athletes, whereas

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in normal World Cup last year we were allowed five. And this year those numbers will change

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a little bit. It's just kind of based on how the team performed the year before and that kind of

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determines your quota, but it'll be in that range. So we get a lot more people for Salt Lake than we

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do for any other international World Cups. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, good luck at

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Team Trials. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up in a couple weeks. Yeah, so I'm leaving next Tuesday,

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so a week from today and competing on Thursday. Okay, exciting. Well, I think by the time this

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podcast comes out, it will be done and over with. So hopefully it'll be good news. But yeah, good

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luck. I'll watch and be rooting for you. Thank you. So for people who don't know, how did you

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get into climbing and competing in general? Yeah, so when I was probably maybe 10 or 11, this gym

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called Bridges Rock Gym opened up near my house in El Cerrito. And I went, I had been to a climbing

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gym before a couple times when I was much younger for birthday parties and things. And I went to one

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at Bridges and then my family kind of was excited about it and decided that we should all sign up

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for membership. So it was like kind of this thing that we could all do together. So they picked up,

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they got us a family membership and we all started going there and I really quickly like took a

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liking to it and joined the competitive team. So I was on the youth competitive team there for

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for quite a while, like until I aged out of youth comp climbing. How long after starting climbing

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did you start competing? I started competing. It's actually kind of a funny story. I should have been

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in youth B, so like 14 years old for my first USA climbing competition. But like a week before

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regionals, I broke my big toe and I wasn't able to wear a climbing shoe for like six months and had to

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get a screw in my foot. So I didn't start comp climbing really until I was in youth A, so about

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15. Okay, that's pretty late actually. I had done a few local competitions prior to that.

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But I'd say like the USA climbing competitions are when I started to get a little more serious.

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About comp climbing that was like 15, 16. And yeah, how did you break your big toe? Because

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that was also like an injury Yanya recently had, right? And I'm just like, how does that happen?

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Mine was pretty unique. I was actually campus boarding and there was a foam roller underneath me

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and for whatever reason I didn't think to move it and I fell on it and like rolled back and just

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kicked the wall and broke my toe. Had to be in a boot for a while. Geez, okay. Another concern to

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keep in mind while campus boarding, I guess. Yeah, I did a lot of hangboarding, a lot of

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canvassing, some one foot climbing. Yeah, I mean, people always say that injuries sometimes allow

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you to get stronger in other ways. So I guess that worked out for you. For sure. I mean, I was

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pretty young. I don't think it made a huge difference. Well, you never know. But also you

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started climbing kind of late compared to other people on the circuit. I feel like a lot of people

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say they started when they were like six or something, which is a little bit crazy. But

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yeah, I think for like a professional climber, you started a little bit later than everyone else.

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Do you feel like you missed out starting a bit later or do you think younger kids are kind of

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just messing around anyway because they don't really take anything serious? I think one thing

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that has benefited me a lot is just having done a lot of sports growing up before I started climbing.

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I used to run kind of cross country and track in middle school. I was on the swim team for

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like three years. I took tennis lessons growing up and I was always like playing basketball and

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soccer and I went to skate camp when I was younger. So I kind of got to do a lot of different sports

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and although I didn't really stick to any for more than a few years, I think it really helped

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develop my climbing style. It made me a lot more like dynamic and athletic in in my climbing

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movements and like a little bit more powerful in general. I think it probably helped me with my

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coordination as well. And so when I first started climbing or when I first started getting into

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comp climbing, I definitely had some regrets and I was like always thinking, oh, I wish I'd started

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younger because everyone around me started younger and I feel like I'm just trying to catch up to

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them all the time and they have so many years on me. But I think it's just like, you know,

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I've been so many years on me, but I think at this point, looking back, yeah, I think that the way I

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grew up and my relationship to sport like definitely formed and affected how I approach climbing.

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And so I wouldn't really change that, I don't think. Yeah, that makes sense. I think we'll get

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into the other sports you've done later on because I was, yeah, had some other questions about that.

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But I also during my research saw that you're a French citizen. So do you go there much to train?

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Yeah, I go there quite a bit to train. My parents are both French. They came to the States in

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98, I think. So they've been in the US since a little before I was born.

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But we always spoke French at home and I spent a lot of summers going there to visit family.

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So I kind of, I just like being in France, I like hearing people speak French and everything. So

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when I started climbing, I definitely like kind of sought out gyms there when we would go for the

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summers. And I guess as I got way more into comp climbing, I started to realize how good of a place

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it was for training. And the French team is obviously super strong and they have a very

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specific strengths in climbing. So it's been pretty awesome to be able to train there and

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kind of get to know everyone and have that little kind of extra tie to them. I feel like it's a lot

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easier to get to know them when I can speak French as well. So that's been really nice.

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So like when I think of French climbing, I think a lot of like

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slab and like people who are really great on like slab competition boulders as well.

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When you go there and climb and train for a little bit, do you feel the difference there

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in terms of like their slab setting? Definitely, I'd say just in general,

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their level of slab climbing is really good. And in a lot of gyms, a lot of the slabs that you'll

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have there are harder and more technical or they'll at least have more of them than you would find in

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a lot of US gyms. And honestly, in a lot of like countries that I've trained in, I think the French

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have definitely the most slabs and the most hard slabs, which is really, really good for training.

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So that's always really, really good to practice there. And I always come back from trips there

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feeling like I've kind of improved at that a little bit. So that's always nice.

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Yeah, do you have a preference towards slab at all? I know we like, I met you because you were

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doing a slab clinic, and I'm terrible at slab. So is that one of your strong suits, you think?

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Yeah, I'd say now slab is definitely one of the styles that I'm more comfortable on.

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I think I'm quite good at trusting my feet and willing to be pretty uncomfortable,

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and kind of just trust the positions and see, like, see how they work. And I think that makes

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that makes for like, good slab climbing. But when I grew up, like growing up, I was really, really bad at slab, like, quite bad.

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I mean, the gym that I grew up in really didn't have any slab walls at the time. And none of the

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gyms in the Bay Area, at least when I was younger, really had any actual slabs. And so the only time

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I would practice them was when we would do youth training camps at Mesa Rim in San Diego. And I think

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going there and having really, really dedicated time on slabs and like breaking down everything from

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like, I couldn't even stand on a volume when I first went there to like then doing coordination

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and really breaking down like everything that that we could figure out about slab climbing made me a

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lot better. But I think definitely in the past like three, four years spending a lot of time in

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the training center and a lot of time just falling and slipping and banging my shins, I got I got a

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lot better at slab climbing. But it took quite a bit of just like dedicated time to that style.

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And now I'd say I like it a lot. And I'm quite confident in my slab climbing. But it took quite

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a long time to get there for sure. Yeah, I'm glad to hear the Mesa Rim in San Diego helped out

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because that's where I am right now. So hopefully I'll make some some strides there as well. Did you

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ever go to like the I was really what it's called. It's not called the training center, but like the

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the academy, the academy. Yeah, did you? Yeah, that's where all of our youth training camps were

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at the academy. And it was maybe one week a year or two weeks a year. And for about like three,

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four years there, I did that with a lot of friends from the youth circuit. And we did so much slab

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climbing. Okay, I'm excited to make some progress there then. But yeah, and a lot of commercial gyms,

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there's not much slab. Maybe like, I mean, there's always like a vertical wall. But in terms of slab,

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there's not much there. Do you have a favorite US gym other than I guess, like the training center?

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Yeah, I think at least for slab climbing, I really like the bouldering projects gyms. I climb

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primarily at the bouldering project in Salt Lake City, when I'm just like doing gym slab climbs,

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and they're usually pretty, pretty good. And like the level is is decent. What I find a lot of the

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time is that a lot of gyms, even if they do have a slab wall, their their boulders are just not

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super hard. And I think it's like a lot of people don't practice the kind of comp slab style. So

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it's pretty hard to to find the limit of what's doable. And I imagine it's pretty hard to set as

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well. Yeah, the climbs at bouldering project just like really scare me. It's like not my style at

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all. But we'd love to check it out again sometime. But yeah, going into your competition history,

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I was taking a look at your IFC history. And it looks like you did a lot more lead competitions

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initially. Do you prefer to boulder now? So that was in 2021, the year after we kind of all got

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shut down for COVID, we had our first team trials. And I had spent probably about three quarters of

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my time and energy training boulders and the rest training lead. And I did really well in the

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qualification there. And then in the semi finals, I like fully got in my head and had a really bad

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round. So I think I think I ended that that comp between 10th and 20th for boulders. And then in

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lead I like it was after boulders and I kind of had no expectations. I knew I was better at bouldering

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and just kind of had an okay qualifier made semis and then the semis route was really slabby kind of

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vert route like very technical. And I climbed really well in that on that route made finals,

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which to me had been was like pretty surprising. I was not expecting to do well in lead at team

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trials. And that qualified me for some of the lead World Cups of for that year. So those were my first

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World Cups ever. My first one being the Lars. So I kind of like was scrambling after the the team

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trials. I was like scrambling to lead climb more and train more lead. Because I really wasn't

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expecting that it was kind of everyone was doing boulders and lead and figured okay, I'll like

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train lead too. And then all of a sudden I was going to do international lead comp. So I was

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training lead a lot and the first lead World Cup went really well. I think I had no expectations

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kind of similarly I was like, oh, you know, I'm like lead is pretty new to me. I have no idea what

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my level is and ended up making the semi for that. And then every lead World Cup after that, I've

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really struggled to kind of find my stride. I think a lot of it I was getting in my head from

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the first World Cup that I did where, you know, I didn't really have any any expectations and just

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made the semi and then I could hardly get like more than a few draws up the wall at the next ones.

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So it was kind of a weird thing for me. And I definitely kept training lead because I was

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qualified for lead comps. But I've always been more interested in bouldering and I prefer boulder

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comps. So when the next team trials came around and the team trials after that came around, I did

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like kind of perform well in boulders, which I was really excited about. I think getting to do

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boulder World Cups was always like my dream and what I wanted to do and lead I think is really

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cool. And I really, really admire strong lead climbers. But for me, it's been like so, so

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challenging to see any type of translation between my training and how I compete in lead. And

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it's just not something that has like been super exciting to me. It's more stressful than anything

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like lead comps. I get really nervous, really stressed and I usually kind of make mistakes

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and bouldering. I feel like I'm able to express myself a lot more. So being able to to do boulder

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World Cups has been like really, really great and super exciting. And going forward, I maybe in the

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future, I'll look to be selected for some lead World Cups again, but I'm definitely focused on

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boulders now. Okay, so like for the upcoming team trials, are you only doing boulder? I don't know

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if that's like an option. So last year, because of the Olympics, we had to do bouldering and lead.

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And so I did boulder lead. And so this past season, I was qualified for the combined team.

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So I could do essentially any of the bouldering and any of the lead World Cups that I wanted.

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So I did all the boulder World Cups and some of the lead World Cups. And then at World Champs,

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I only did bouldering. This year we have it's separate again, so we're able to do just bouldering

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or lead. So I only did bouldering at Nationals and I'll only do bouldering at team trials.

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Wow, it's so interesting that you only qualified for lead the first year, and then just ended up

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going to international competitions for it. I feel like that's like signing up for a job that you're

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not qualified for. And then you're like suddenly scrambling to figure things out. That's a little

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bit terrifying. Yeah, it was I wasn't actually even officially on the lead team. I must have been

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maybe seventh or eighth on our list and they were taking maybe five to the World Cups. But because

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it was the year of the Tokyo Olympics, a lot of people who were selected for the Olympics didn't

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do all of the lead comps leading up to the Olympics. So it passed down to me. So it wasn't even

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after team trials. It was like a month or maybe even three weeks before the first lead World Cup

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in Villars that I got kind of an email that was like, hey, you're like it's passed, the invites

00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,880
have been passed down. So you're qualified for Villars if you want to do it. And I was, oh

00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:10,240
goodness, like I haven't trained lead at all because I had, I mean, kind of been doing boulder

00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,920
lead, but didn't really know what I was training for. And then all of a sudden I had three weeks

00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:19,920
to train lead and then hop on a flight to Switzerland. And that comp went really well.

00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,800
It was awesome. But after that, I was just, I think, way a little bit in over my head and

00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:34,080
definitely struggled to perform. Wow. Yeah, that's stressful. I mean, even booking a flight three

00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:40,320
weeks out for an international trip is stressful by itself. Yeah, yeah, definitely. But at that

00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:45,840
point I was more just, I mean, I had been wanting to do a World Cup for so long and we had just

00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,800
watched the Salt Lake bouldering World Cup, which I hadn't qualified for because this was after the

00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:57,520
21 team trials. And I just like, the only thing I wanted was to compete in World Cups. So just

00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:02,960
like even, I remember I got that email while I was in Whole Foods and I just was like running

00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,960
around the grocery store and just like kind of jumping up and down to myself, like, oh yeah,

00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:13,040
World Cup, World Cup, World Cup. This is crazy. And yeah, now it's crazy to think how many I've

00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:18,800
been able to do. But yeah, that's awesome. So it's kind of like the excitement and just like the

00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:26,960
newness of it all gave you that energy to get into semis for that first time. Yeah. In the first,

00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:34,400
in Villars, we had a, one of our first routes was just like not super hard. And then there was a big

00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:40,160
jump in the middle of the wall and a lot of people fell at the jump. And I actually went first on

00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:45,840
that route. So I really, I had no idea how hard it was, how people would do. Just went out there,

00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:51,360
did the jump and then like fell a little bit afterwards. Didn't do so well on the next route,

00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:57,840
but just like doing the jump was enough to make the semi. So yeah, it was definitely super

00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:04,400
surprising, but I also had no expectations. I was like, oh, maybe I'm like pretty good at lead or

00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:09,520
like, but yeah, I had no idea about the international level. And then I think I really

00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:15,760
kind of took a beating at the next competitions that were a little bit more maybe traditional,

00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:22,400
like endurance space. There weren't as many like weird tricky like jumps, because I've usually

00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:28,640
been pretty good at jumping, but like they were just more normal, hard world cup routes. And I

00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:33,760
had just never climbed on routes that were that hard off the ground before and got, got pretty

00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:40,000
slammed, but it was fun. It was really fun though. Oh, I bet. I mean, that sounds like a dream.

00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:47,440
But yeah, speaking of that transition, just going from like youth competitions and moving straight

00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:54,640
to the international circuit. This was also one of the discord questions. So what was that transition

00:24:54,640 --> 00:25:02,320
like? And did you consider doing like collegiate competitions? Yeah, I think it was really weird

00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:11,120
for me because it kind of was timed perfectly with COVID. So my first time ever qualifying for the

00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:18,640
youth world championships was ARCO in 2019. When I was, that was my second to last year of youth.

00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:27,120
So I was 17 years old. So I did that. That was my first youth world. I did that. And that whole

00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:34,640
experience was super eye opening for me to see that climbing was like a legit sport on the

00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:40,320
international level. I had gone to Innsbruck right beforehand to train and I had never been

00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:48,160
like surrounded by so many youth competitors who were so strong and just seeing like people from

00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:53,280
so many different countries who are all training all day long and everybody was working really hard

00:25:53,280 --> 00:26:00,480
and taking it seriously. It was like, well, like climbing is a real thing. And it's, it's like,

00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,880
it's like all these other sports that I kind of grew up doing and was like, wow, there's like,

00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:10,880
uh, this like sport exists at a super high level. And I kind of, I realized that for the first time

00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:15,520
at that youth worlds and was like, I want to do more international comps. I want to train as much

00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:24,400
as I can. That was really, really motivating. And then going into 2020, um, like just before that,

00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:30,480
at the end of 2019, I kind of started to podium at the national cups. Um, so things started to look

00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:36,400
pretty good for open nationals. So I was pretty excited going into open nationals, surprised

00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,280
myself by making finals. Like that was always the goal, but I knew it would be quite hard and

00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:47,040
climbed really well throughout that whole comp. Finished the comp in second. So I was qualified

00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:53,040
to do the whole bouldering season, the whole bouldering world cup season in 2020. Um, and then,

00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:58,640
uh, like a month later after that, everything was shut down. And that was a weird thing for me,

00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:05,200
cause I was like, I had definitely been looking forward to doing boulder world cups and also

00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:14,640
just, I think didn't realize like how hard it was to accomplish what I accomplished that year. Like

00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:23,120
I kind of took it for granted, definitely a little bit, um, to think like, okay, like I podiumed at

00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:28,640
most of the national cups and then I went to nationals and podiumed and like, it was pretty

00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:34,720
solid the whole way. And then we had COVID and I trained a lot through COVID and then, um, coming

00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:39,840
out of COVID it was 2021, which we were just talking about where I didn't do well at all in

00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:45,920
the team selection. And so that was a weird transition of like, I kind of made the team

00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:53,280
straight away. And then I had a year and a half where I really didn't do super well, uh, at the

00:27:53,280 --> 00:28:00,320
important bouldering comps. I was always doing quite well at, um, like different gym comps, like,

00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:06,960
uh, things like woman up or Portland boulder rally and even the national cups. But when I was

00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:12,960
coming down to the selection events, I just like, things kind of went just a bit south and it hadn't

00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:19,360
worked out. So I had kind of two years of like training a lot and knowing that I was kind of

00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:25,120
capable of making the team because I was doing pretty well in all these other events, um, and

00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:30,960
having to be like pretty patient in terms of selection. But, you know, overall it did kind of

00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:36,960
come pretty quickly. And I think because even in youth, a lot of my success came later, it was a

00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:46,080
pretty natural transition between youth and open because I only really started to compete quite

00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:52,560
well in youth and like in the kind of open gym comps when I was like 17, 18. So it kind of went

00:28:52,560 --> 00:29:01,360
pretty naturally from there. But, um, yeah. So I guess like, I don't really know how the collegiate

00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:09,840
circuit works. Like, like, how do you decide to do that instead, I guess? Oh, yeah. Um, so

00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:17,360
collegiate, I think just if you're enrolled in college classes, you can compete on the collegiate

00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:23,920
circuit. And it works pretty similarly to youth in that you have like kind of divisional or regional

00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:33,680
level events that qualify you for nationals. And I actually did do collegiate one year in 2022.

00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:41,760
I competed in collegiate and made the the world champs team. So they have a collegiate world

00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:50,000
championship, which I did in in Innsbruck that summer. But I think it's a really good, like a

00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:57,440
really, really good in between from youth to open for a lot of people. I think that like, the

00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:02,640
transition into open can be quite harsh. Like, you'll see the level of, of just like the boulders

00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:08,560
changes quite a bit. And I think as to be expected, but the collegiate is like, kind of in between.

00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:14,000
And I think a little bit more casual in that, yes, like people train for it, and they show up and

00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:20,400
they're ready to compete, but not everybody there is like, super intense and has been training really

00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:26,800
hard and is trying to make, you know, the World Cup team or whatever, as opposed to sometimes the,

00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:32,880
like, like team trials or the nationals can feel like pretty intense when you're kind of at that

00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:37,360
level where you know you could make the team, but you're not sure you'll be able to. And I think,

00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,400
in those ways, those comps feel really intense, whereas in collegiate, I think there's a lot less

00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:50,640
of that pressure. People are having a little more fun with it, I think. And so going into your IFSC

00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:58,000
competition experience. So it sounds like expectations plays a big role into how well you perform.

00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:06,080
How does, is there anything else you feel like impacts your performance at those competitions,

00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:16,560
like crowd noise or what you're thinking on the wall? Yeah, I think my biggest one, even like

00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:23,280
in training or in competitions is just, I mean, it sounds pretty obvious, but just my energy.

00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:30,160
And I think you can kind of see it in my climbing when I'm a lot more like bouncy and jumpy and

00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:37,440
kind of taking more risks, which I think is tied to expectations as well. But having a much more

00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:43,200
like kind of powerful and dynamic style when I'm at all tired or my energy feels a little lower,

00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:48,640
it's really hard for me to kind of tap into that style. But I think that when I do feel really

00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:54,320
energized and excited to be competing, I can, you can kind of tell in the way that I'm even warming

00:31:54,320 --> 00:32:01,200
up or like kind of jumping around just in the gym that translates for me really well into like

00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:09,040
a kind of a more flowy and almost kind of careless in a way, like attitude on the mats,

00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:18,240
but more in a in a way that it's like helping me be relaxed and loose and like intense and kind of

00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:24,480
aggressive at the same time. I don't know, it's like it's definitely a mindset that I like when

00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:30,080
I'm in it, I know I'm in it and I'm excited and the rest of the time I kind of like kind of ride

00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:37,360
the line of struggling to like feel super energized and like flowy on the wall versus

00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,760
like sometimes just being tired. Yeah, do you feel like climbing in front of people

00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:48,160
affects that at all better for better for worse? Yeah, I think it's it's pretty funny like in

00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:54,720
training and in the gym, I definitely like to not have so many people around. But when it comes to

00:32:54,720 --> 00:33:02,320
competing, I really, really like the crowd. I've always been like, someone who kind of likes that

00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:09,680
type of pressure and like having a crowd and having a lot of noise really helps me try harder, like

00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:15,600
it can be hard to tap into that by myself for sure. It's like when I'm climbing by myself,

00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:20,720
I listen to music and I think that helps a lot. But when I'm competing, the crowd definitely,

00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:26,720
definitely helps me. And I think it like almost takes my nerves away. Like, it's a lot more

00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,600
nerve wracking when you're quiet, when it's just quiet and everybody's watching you versus when

00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:37,200
people are kind of cheering and screaming. So I definitely like it. I guess it could be kind of

00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:43,520
unnerving if the crowd is quiet, because then it's like, oh, I must be doing something wrong or bad

00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:49,360
or embarrassing. Yeah, it's a weird one. It's like, sometimes when the crowd's not reacting,

00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,360
you kind of start to think, oh, well, maybe everybody has done the same on this boulder,

00:33:53,360 --> 00:34:00,320
or maybe I'm not doing anything particularly good, like performance wise. But when the crowd's going

00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:06,800
crazy, you're like, at the very least, they're like excited to be seeing me climb, like, regardless of,

00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:11,520
you know, how I'm doing compared to everyone else. And I think that definitely fuels the excitement.

00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:16,960
I think a lot of competitors would agree, like, a loud crowd is is really fun to climb in front of

00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,800
for sure. Yeah, I can I can imagine. Do you remember the last time you would have felt

00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:29,600
insecure climbing in front of people either in front of a crowd or in front of other competitors,

00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:37,920
maybe? Yeah, I think in training that happens like a decent amount, actually, being in Salt Lake,

00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:44,320
we have just so many strong climbers. And even in the training center, like, every day, there will be

00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:49,600
so, so many people who are strong. And like a lot of the time, they're stronger than me. And

00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,800
sometimes when I'm feeling good, it's awesome. And it's really nice, because you feel like

00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:00,000
you're a part of it, and you're strong, and you're getting better. But on days where I maybe don't

00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:05,920
have so much energy, or I'm like being outclimbed by a lot of my peers, that can be really hard.

00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:12,400
And I definitely can like start to dig myself into a hole a little bit of just like, Oh, I'm not good

00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:19,280
enough, or like, I think I am good enough. And yet, I just can't like seem to perform or show up the

00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:25,520
way I want to. So in general, I think that definitely happens to me the most in training

00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:30,560
and just climbing around people who are strong. I think it's like a blessing in that it definitely

00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:36,320
pushes you to be better and to learn from people. But it can be hard because there is kind of, for

00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:42,000
everyone, I think just that element of comparison is always there. Everyone's working hard, and

00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:48,320
everyone's trying to be, you know, as good as they can, if not the best. And so it's, it can be hard

00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:54,240
to, to be outclimbed consistently, or, or to just feel like you're underperforming, I think that

00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:59,520
really quickly starts to spiral. And it can be hard to kind of keep a good mindset about it.

00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:05,680
Yeah, I can definitely imagine. I was so I had just like recently moved to San Diego, and

00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:11,520
Salt Lake was actually one of the places I was considering. And then I decided not to move there

00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:19,680
because I felt like the competition would be a little too strong and scary. And so I definitely

00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:27,040
get why you would feel that way there. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that's really

00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:33,440
cool about Salt Lake and the climbing community is there are people at every level who are psyched.

00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:38,480
And even kind of across levels, like if you're psyched, and you're excited to get better at

00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:43,680
climbing, there will be people behind you, whether they're stronger than you or not, who are going to

00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:49,200
be psyched to support you and who are going to see that and kind of bring you into their climbing

00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:56,240
circle. So in that way, I think it's really cool. And it's really great. But it is kind of, I think,

00:36:56,240 --> 00:37:01,520
tricky when you have like that kind of competition specific mindset where you're like, these are the

00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:06,880
people that I'll compete against, you know, so that that can be tricky for sure. Yeah, definitely

00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:15,680
intimidating. But going into your 2022 and 2023 season, I think you had mentioned that you did

00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:22,720
pretty well in 2022. And then last year season, you were a bit disappointed with your performance.

00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:28,080
So what kind of happened there? Please excuse this brief intermission. But I would just like

00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,920
to remind you that if you are enjoying this podcast, please follow and rate it on your

00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:36,640
preferred listening platform. If you're watching on YouTube, I would love to hear your discussion

00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:41,760
and thoughts in the comments below. Anything helps to push this podcast out to more people

00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,440
and get even more amazing guests on. Back to the show.

00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:54,800
Yeah, 2022 was my first bouldering World Cups ever. The first one being my ring in in Switzerland.

00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:01,920
And I went into it definitely feeling good, but I had been feeling good for, for a long time on

00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:10,560
boulders and just kind of was excited to see how it would go, but really had no idea. And went out

00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:16,640
for the qualification. And I remember during the first, like right before I got on the first

00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:21,440
boulder, or actually even like a few moves into the first boulder, having the thought of like,

00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:27,600
I can try really hard to do this boulder, or I can kind of relax into the round and see how it goes.

00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:33,040
And I think in that moment, I kind of decided, no, like, I think I can kind of do this one,

00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:38,480
like, let me try really hard to do it. And it actually ended up not being so bad. I felt like

00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:43,600
it actually ended up not being so bad. I flashed the first boulder. And I think in that moment,

00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:51,360
kind of, it sort of decided my attitude and my approach for that whole season. Like I would just

00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:58,400
go onto the mats with little expectation and just, I was really excited to be there for one and

00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:06,560
also feeling pretty good and like confident on the coordination moves on the slabs. And it really

00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:12,320
paid off. I mean, surprised myself by just barely making the semis at that competition. And then

00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:20,160
in the semis, I really was really like, relaxed. I had no expectations at all. I was just excited

00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:25,920
to be there. I couldn't believe that I had even made the semi. And I climbed really, really,

00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:33,120
like, like myself, like how I had been climbing and training, which I think is really hard to

00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,720
feel like you're kind of matching up with your expectation of yourself or your level and training.

00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:45,520
So I kind of was able to tap into that and was like more than anything, just having so much fun

00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:51,280
on the mats. And I think if you watch that comp, like you can kind of tell I'm just having a really

00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:56,640
good time and trying really hard and getting into the grid of it on like the third boulder,

00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:03,040
fourth boulder, and ended up being 10th at that competition. After which I like kind of came away

00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:10,800
and and was like really pleasantly surprised, which hadn't happened very much in many competitions for

00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:16,960
me before. I think a lot of the times I had had a pretty high expectation off the bat and either

00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:24,080
met my expectation or was kind of below what I expected or underperformed. And this was like one

00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:30,160
of the first times where I felt like I had exceeded what I thought was possible. And so it took a lot

00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:37,520
of time to kind of ride out like in my journal, what I felt like were the kind of conditions that

00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:44,400
made it so I was able to climb that way and be so relaxed and and like not nervous and just excited

00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:50,880
to be there. And I think a lot of it was like acknowledging that I was finally getting to live

00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:56,480
something that I had trained for for so many years and never even knew if I would be able to do.

00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:01,680
Like I never knew if I would qualify for World Cups, but I always that was always a dream of

00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:08,480
mine to do bouldering World Cups. So kind of being extra like recognizant of that and then also just

00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:16,080
kind of like keeping with that energy and really playing into my strengths. So like taking a lot of

00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:23,840
risks on the wall and like accepting falls and it just that whole mindset like worked really well

00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:30,880
for me that season and I ended up making all of the Boulder World Cup semi-finals. And it definitely

00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:37,120
got harder like as the season went on, I think by the fourth, fifth comp, I started to kind of think

00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,880
okay, like I kind of got a streak here. I don't want to break the streak. Like

00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:46,640
got harder and harder, but definitely until like was able to hold on until the very end of that

00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:53,120
season. So that was an awesome season. I couldn't have like I couldn't have hoped for anything

00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:59,760
better honestly. And I think not making a final was really great in that I felt like I had the

00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:05,280
consistency and all I needed to do was maybe improve the level. But if I could keep the

00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:11,120
consistency there, then I thought that I'd be able to make a final or two in the next season.

00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:19,120
And then the next year was much, much trickier for me. I mean, I think just training Boulder and

00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:26,960
lead together was really hard. And I also had a like a concussion in November and December that

00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:32,160
really, really affected my training and my energy and my mood going into the season.

00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:40,560
And I don't I don't think I gave that enough like attention. But then the yeah, 23 season was quite

00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:47,040
hard. Definitely much worse than the season before. And I think it was a combination of like

00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:54,400
physical issues and then expectations from the season before. So it was a tricky one, but

00:42:54,400 --> 00:43:02,160
hopefully be better this year. Yeah, I mean, a concussion is not like a light injury. So that

00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:09,840
makes a lot of sense. Did you how did you get the concussion? Yeah, I was just snowboarding

00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:16,800
in the park and fell back and hit my head. And thankfully, I was wearing a helmet. But even then

00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:24,800
I think, yeah, I was just really kind of out of it for a few weeks after that. But then for months,

00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:30,160
I felt like I couldn't quite place my feet how I wanted and was having a lot of trouble like

00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:37,760
feeling coordinated and was like kind of dizzy sometimes really tired sometimes. And then the big

00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:44,160
one was kind of I had like this chronic pain in my neck and like tightness in my neck that has

00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:50,240
kind of lasted since then. And it's definitely gotten better. But I think it kind of affected

00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:59,040
not only my ability to train, but how much how well I was recovering throughout that whole season.

00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:04,160
How long do you feel like that affected you for? Or like how long did you feel those side effects?

00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:10,960
Or are you still feeling them? Hopefully not. I think the worst of it was definitely in February

00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:20,400
and March of last year. And then now I still have like this neck tightness and like pain sometimes,

00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:26,400
but I've definitely been finding more and more ways to manage it and talking to people to kind

00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:34,800
of help me through it. So I think right now it's definitely not affecting me as much. But I think

00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:41,040
beforehand the combination of that and then I think it probably affected my mood a decent amount as

00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:50,000
well. So that and then also training lead so much I think made it a lot harder to keep my power up

00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,040
for the bouldering season and I definitely improved a little bit in lead but I think regressed in

00:44:55,040 --> 00:45:01,120
boulders didn't improve enough in lead to see really significant results there. So it was a

00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:07,280
weird combination of just kind of feeling like I was a little bit worse at both and could almost

00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:13,840
kind of tell I think going into some of those comps like I just didn't feel physically like where I

00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:19,680
wanted to be. And then on top of that getting results that were disappointing I think just kind

00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:27,200
of like kept that cycle going a little bit and kind of kept me like mentally kind of down on

00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:32,560
myself which made it really hard to have that really lighthearted and playful attitude that I'd

00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:40,640
had the season before. Yeah definitely snowballs for sure. When it comes to training through

00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:53,200
a concussion how did you do that? I think I did it really poorly. Yeah I just I really didn't

00:45:54,000 --> 00:46:05,120
give that like injury the attention that it needed I think. I've always been really good at training

00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:13,520
a lot and kind of glancing over like riding over any little tweaks or whatever for better or for

00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:21,760
worse. Like I train a lot and I think that I've been able to handle like a large volume of training

00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:28,000
and then push through a lot of things that are uncomfortable or not going well and that's one

00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:35,200
where I really didn't give that injury the attention that it needed and so I really trained like

00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:41,520
straight through it. I took like one week pretty light but then just got straight back to my normal

00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:47,920
volume of training and I think that was a really bad idea. I like also didn't seek out the help

00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:53,200
that I should have for my neck kind of early on and so I think that's kind of led to this

00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:58,480
more chronic problem that could have been solved earlier. So I definitely have a lot of things that

00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:04,480
I would have done differently about that but now that I know a little more about it and I've talked

00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:10,720
to some more people about it I'm finding ways to at least deal with kind of the lasting neck issues.

00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:17,600
Right now how do you work through the neck issues? Yeah so I think a big one has been taking just a

00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:24,240
lot of extra time to kind of nail in all those recovery measures that people always kind of tell

00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:29,520
you to do but you're like I don't know like it kind of gets pushed to the side a lot so a lot of

00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,320
like rolling it out and I get it massaged sometimes and I have like an acupuncture mat and

00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:44,400
like different neck massagers and things like that and I'm not sure if all of those help but

00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:49,360
I think at least if I'm doing a lot of those things at least a few of them will help kind of

00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:56,320
alleviate the the tension there. I've got like some wave tool cups that I use too and I've talked to

00:47:56,320 --> 00:48:03,760
like a few different pts and massage therapists and gotten a few different opinions so just like

00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:08,320
slowly working through it and I think it's like a tightness that kind of keeps coming back

00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:14,000
so just kind of trying to relieve that as best I can but I'm definitely not like at the end of

00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:19,520
that whole ordeal yet I'm still learning quite a bit about it and like working with people on it so

00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:26,240
hopefully it won't be so much of an issue in the coming years but we'll see. I mean at least

00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:33,120
massages are nice I love a good massage have you ever gotten like onto a head spa? No I haven't.

00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:40,640
Oh my gosh you should try to find one it's it's so nice if you like your like hair like scalp being

00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:47,040
massaged it's it's the best. Oh yeah I like those wire things that you just kind of oh you would

00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:52,800
love it then on your head yeah you would love it and they'll do like neck and some shoulders as

00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:58,480
well so I would highly recommend it's like a big thing right now nice well that sounds fun.

00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:05,120
Yeah I actually had one I got a massage today but it was quite painful I was almost crying in the

00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,680
in the chair so a little little different not as relaxing but I think will probably help

00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:17,920
relax some of that that tension so we'll see. It's good to get a mix I'm a big massage fan so

00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:24,080
nice I know I know all about them but yeah speaking of getting injuries I think it's

00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:30,240
good to get a mix I know all about them but yeah speaking of getting injuries do you climb outdoors

00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:36,800
much during the season I guess even outside of the season I know a lot of people don't because

00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:45,360
of like risk of injuries and training. I don't climb outside a lot and I think that climbing

00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:51,280
outside would probably actually be good for my training like kind of in the way that it's similar

00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:58,320
to board climbing I think just like crimping more and having smaller holds and more technical feet

00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:06,080
would be great for my climbing but I just love the gym but it's not really for reasons of like

00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:12,560
avoiding injury or my skin or anything like that I think that it could help me but I really really

00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:19,600
love just the ease of going to the gym and then also the volume that I'm able to get in I mean I

00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:25,280
love how it feels to move when I'm climbing and when I go to the gym I get to do a lot of that

00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:31,920
compared to when I climb outside and it doesn't hurt my skin as badly it's honestly it's just more

00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:38,400
comfortable and I mean for comp climbing I think it's great and it's perfectly fine so I climb at

00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:44,480
the gym a whole lot and it's more because I like it and I think there will be times in my life

00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:49,040
where I'm going to get more excited about outdoor climbing and even now there are some places that

00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:54,160
I've climbed outside that I really loved and as I've gotten stronger I've definitely gotten more

00:50:54,160 --> 00:51:00,160
excited about trying climbs outside but I think the style that I'm most excited about and the

00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:05,200
climbs that excite me the most the types of moves that that really get me psyched aren't things that

00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:12,560
you find outside so much so really I'm enjoying the gym I love the climbing gym. No that's awesome

00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:17,680
I love that because I feel the same way and I usually give the same responses I mean everyone

00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:27,440
asks me to go outside and I'm like for what like no yeah I love to spend time outside but yeah I

00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:32,960
love being outside like a lot of time I'll go my friends will go outdoor climbing and I'll go with

00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:37,920
them and just kind of hang out and and watch and and spend the day outside and sometimes I'll go

00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:43,920
and climb moderates and things but I mean I haven't done much projecting or anything not since I was

00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:50,720
younger anyway so but I'll get there I'll get there but right now I like I like my gym routine

00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:57,360
yeah I think that's that's my plan too I'll I'll point people to you next time people give me shit

00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:04,000
for not going outside at all yeah the gym is fun yeah exactly get to climb more

00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:11,680
and all about the efficiency it's just yeah so much better um okay last question about

00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:19,920
ifsc related stuff um you've done a few things in the commentary box the past year or so I think um

00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:25,760
do you like being in the commentary box and what do you like bringing to to the commentary yeah I

00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:34,160
definitely like doing it I think it's it's really fun to kind of play off someone else's commentary

00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:39,680
like I think it would be quite challenging to like lead the the discussion but it's definitely

00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:46,640
nice to kind of add in your little comments and things I think that like the comp climbers know

00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:53,680
the most about the compy moves and kind of um even the different competitors and and their styles

00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:59,120
and what they like and don't like and um that makes it pretty fun to kind of throw in your little

00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:06,560
two cents about about any one you know move or whatever it is it's a little nerve-wracking for

00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:12,480
sure and I don't really know how good I am at it but I always like to kind of take up the the

00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:17,520
opportunity when people ask me to join in so hopefully I'll get to do a little more of it

00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:23,760
I'd rather be in the round though if I get to choose so right yeah for bouldering at least

00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,120
for boulders yeah there you go yeah maybe you can do some lead ones

00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:32,000
um okay well anything you don't like about being in the commentary box

00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:42,320
um I think just when your like voice is kind of out there for everyone to hear like people will

00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:49,040
definitely make little comments that are unnecessary like I know the first time I interviewed someone I

00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:55,760
said the word awesome a lot and people were at me in the comments about it and I was like oh I'm

00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:01,520
trying my best but no other than that I kind of like it and I think I'm pretty good at brushing

00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:06,960
brushing over things like that so you're like she said awesome like four times like yeah sorry

00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:14,960
like it's really not a big deal but yeah I mean I guess when you're listening you have nothing

00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:22,000
else to do except for listen very strictly about what people are saying um through like editing the

00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:29,920
podcast there are so many I I edit it out I allow myself to edit it out but when you're live you

00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:39,040
don't have that option so I would not do very well at commentating so outside of IFSC climbing

00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:48,880
I've watched you crush at a lot of competitions around the US um I think I saw you at like a

00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:57,280
boulder field competition um plastic classic was another one um woman up obviously um I saw you

00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:05,760
recently did uh one at mosaic boulders in the bay um I don't know if we just like happen to both go

00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:11,680
to the same competitions um but how do you choose which competitions you participate in locally like

00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:17,760
is it just for prize money or is there just like how else do you choose I think the timing is a big

00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:24,720
one like there's a competition this week that I won't go to because our team trials is uh coming

00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:33,120
up and I don't want it to interfere with that but otherwise I genuinely just I really really love

00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:41,120
that type of competition I think it's just a little more laid back than USA climbing events or just

00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:47,280
because of like you know selection criteria or IFSC events because you know you traveled so far to get

00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:50,720
there and you've been training so much for those events that you really want to do well these are a

00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:55,440
lot more laid back and they're good ways to kind of check in with yourself throughout the season to

00:55:55,440 --> 00:56:03,600
see like what you want to work on so I'll do like almost all of the ones that make any sense timing

00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:11,840
wise um and then in terms of prize money like I'd say in general if I'll at least pay for my travel

00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:19,120
and my being there by being like top three or top four making finals then then it's usually like a

00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:25,040
good bet and I try to try to make it out for sure so as long as it kind of pays for itself then

00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:31,680
then that's good enough for me and I'm pretty psyched to be there um but I definitely do a

00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:38,080
lot of those and have a good streak with those types of comps for the moment so I'll keep at

00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:43,600
it they're they're like some of my favorite events to compete in so for someone like me who wants to

00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:52,640
start competing in open um at these like local competitions um what do you feel like are some

00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:58,960
strategies to have a better chance at doing well I would love to make a finals one day but if it's

00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:07,360
always the same six people who I always see at finals it's not happening yeah I think

00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:13,680
the first like best thing that you can do to your for yourself if you want to get better at competing

00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:19,760
is to compete and so like every opportunity that you have to go to competitions whether they're

00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:26,800
like kind of little small bouldering league type things or if they're bigger competitions is to just

00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:33,440
like show up and do them and be really open-minded about it like I think it's important to be pretty

00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:39,600
realistic and you know maybe you aren't there to make finals and that's okay you can be there to do

00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:47,200
other things like learn um like get used to the style or get used to the pressure of having limited

00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:54,480
attempts or just having like so many strong people around you and climbing around people who are

00:57:54,480 --> 00:58:00,800
maybe stronger than you so I think competing a lot is the first best thing that you can do um if you

00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:06,560
can do um if you want to compete and then the second thing that I would say is really important

00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:13,520
than that a lot of people kind of dismiss is like outside of the physical training that you're doing

00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:19,200
just um whether you're hangboarding or board climbing or doing weight training is when you're

00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:25,600
climbing is to be pretty intentional with what you're doing and be pretty like let yourself get

00:58:25,600 --> 00:58:32,080
pretty uncomfortable kind of push past just like your normal casual session with friends you know

00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:40,640
I think kind of what sets a lot of comp climbers apart from just um other people who are climbing

00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:45,440
in the gym and climbing recreationally is not necessarily the amount of time spent in the gym

00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:50,400
but the amount of like intention behind what we're doing and kind of pressure and expectation that

00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:57,440
you put on yourself when you're in the gym like when I go into the gym I have a certain expectation

00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:02,240
of myself that I'm going to take the boulders seriously that I'm going to take my session

00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:09,600
seriously that I'm not going to just get on the wall randomly and just not put focus behind every

00:59:09,600 --> 00:59:16,160
attempt I think that kind of thoughtfulness goes a really long way and it's something that doesn't

00:59:16,160 --> 00:59:23,120
take more time from than like what people are already doing but just like when every single time

00:59:23,120 --> 00:59:28,160
I step on the wall to be like I'm getting on the wall right now for this purpose like I'm going to

00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:33,280
do this with this hand hold I'm going to do this with this foot and not just like repeating the

00:59:33,280 --> 00:59:40,000
same thing and not trying to learn from from your boulders I think that's like really the big one

00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:45,280
kind of that level of focus and it's hard to bring that every time but the more that you can

00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:51,520
show up that way to the gym the more you'll improve faster and I think one way to force that

00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:56,960
is to kind of run like little mock comps for yourself for or different challenges where like

00:59:57,200 --> 01:00:02,080
on the maybe your gym has just set like 10 new boulders and you're going to tell yourself okay

01:00:02,080 --> 01:00:09,440
I have one try to do them all and if I fall like I don't get to try them again until next session

01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:15,600
I think kind of having that pressure a little bit a little bit more intensity and kind of forcing

01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:21,120
yourself into that mindset of like this attempt matters is good for good for competition.

01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:27,520
I'll try that out yeah and I think solo sessions have been really good for having that intentionality

01:00:27,520 --> 01:00:32,400
because otherwise you're like getting in a group with like other people and then you're thinking

01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:35,200
about talking to other people and it just doesn't work as well.

01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:44,160
Yeah I think climbing by yourself is really good for getting in like being really easily getting

01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:49,600
or more easily getting into the mindset that you want to be in. Other people can definitely

01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:53,920
distract from that but there's also so much benefit in climbing from people because you'll notice

01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:58,960
they do moves differently or you'll be like I never thought of doing that move like that and

01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:04,160
it looks so much easier and obvious now that I see this person do it like that so there's definitely

01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:08,240
like a lot of benefit to that as well so I think it's good to have a balance.

01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:15,360
Yeah definitely experience both for me competing starting to compete and open the

01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:19,280
scariest thing would be climbing around a lot of other strong climbers

01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:26,960
so if you ever see me at one of those don't look at me just don't look.

01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:34,320
Yeah I think a big one to tell yourself when you're if you're nervous about the people around you

01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:40,880
is that they really don't care about your climbing nearly as much as you do and that kind of goes for

01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:46,480
a lot of things in life and when we're feeling I guess self-conscious about things but at the gym

01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:53,760
like if I'm competing and you're like not doing the boulder that I just did I'm not going to think oh

01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:59,920
like she's bad at climbing you know I'm really I'm like okay like she's trying this boulder it's when

01:01:59,920 --> 01:02:06,000
you kind of start to like out climb people that they'll be like who is that like this is that girl

01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:11,440
that just did like number seven and then then people start to be like who is that they're so

01:02:11,440 --> 01:02:17,920
strong but when I think in general like if people show up and are trying hard the like the level

01:02:17,920 --> 01:02:23,920
really doesn't matter I think it definitely like it definitely matters the most to you.

01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:29,920
I think anytime you show up and do anything that you've put work into like it matters more to you

01:02:29,920 --> 01:02:34,800
than it does to anyone else there so the more you can like get out of your head about other people

01:02:34,800 --> 01:02:41,760
watching you the better I think. Yeah that's true well put so yeah you also run some clinics and I

01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:48,320
saw that you're doing coaching through Salt Lake Bouldering Project. When did you start getting

01:02:48,320 --> 01:02:53,200
involved with those things and is that something you're hoping to move towards in the future?

01:02:53,200 --> 01:03:04,240
Yeah I mean growing up I kind of did a lot of my coaching myself. I was on a team but I wrote all

01:03:04,240 --> 01:03:10,960
my own training plans and did all my own exercises and everything and so I think I've kind of

01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:20,800
been pretty well versed in like climbing training for quite a long time and when I was younger I was

01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:29,360
the assistant coach on the Bridges team for a little bit and then I did some clinics there

01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:38,720
as well and then after COVID I did some clinics at Woman Up and at the Boulder Project and I think

01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:45,760
I think now they've transitioned less from being less like about physical exercises and more

01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:51,760
like technique based which I really enjoyed and I think my climbing has changed in that way quite

01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:57,440
a bit in the past few years so like focusing a lot on movement and trying to teach people like

01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:03,120
different ways to kind of be intentional about how they move when they're climbing and hopefully

01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:08,880
being able to learn some of that like ways to learn some of that on your own and that's been

01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:14,960
really fun for me. I definitely enjoy it because a lot of the time it's cool to see people progress

01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:19,920
so fast like you'll have people not being able to do a move and then really work through positions

01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:24,240
and all of a sudden they're doing a move that they've never done before that was harder than

01:04:24,240 --> 01:04:29,920
they thought they could do and so that's really rewarding and cool to see and in general I think

01:04:29,920 --> 01:04:34,880
has gone pretty well so I'm definitely really excited about teaching more clinics and hopefully

01:04:34,880 --> 01:04:42,000
coaching more. I don't really see myself coaching full-time ever I think I like having

01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:48,880
having it be kind of like this special thing that I do from time to time it makes it more

01:04:48,880 --> 01:04:54,400
exciting and I think I'm able to dedicate a lot more attention to the people I'm working with

01:04:54,400 --> 01:05:00,320
than if I'm doing that regularly and I can even tell like if I've been doing it all day that by

01:05:00,320 --> 01:05:06,720
the end I'm definitely less focused and probably not as helpful so I think having it be something

01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:13,600
that I just do from time to time and can put a lot of energy into then is really nice so I do

01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:19,120
really enjoy it and hope I'll get to do a little more of it for sure. If you're not doing it full

01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:29,280
time after competitions are done and well I don't want to say like age out I guess well retire that's

01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:34,960
the word when you retire from competitions coaching is like not something that you would want to do

01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:45,440
full time still? No I don't think so I think a big thing for me has been to have balance in

01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:51,840
in what I'm doing and I've noticed that seasons or even months of my life where I only climb

01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:56,160
I tend to get worse at climbing or at least get a lot more in my head about it

01:05:57,760 --> 01:06:05,520
and so for me I think having something having maybe a job outside of climbing or something

01:06:05,520 --> 01:06:11,040
that I'm working on like a personal project that has little or nothing to do with climbing is

01:06:11,040 --> 01:06:16,960
important just because if you're only climbing and trying to be strong the days where you show up

01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:21,920
and it doesn't go your way it can be really hard to deal with and even like when you're having a

01:06:21,920 --> 01:06:27,360
month that doesn't go well like this is all I'm working on and it's not going well like that that

01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:33,760
can be really challenging to deal with so for me school was that thing for a long time and right

01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:41,200
now I've graduated from the U with a bachelor's and I'm hoping to do either some more school or

01:06:41,200 --> 01:06:48,080
start working part-time to get some experience kind of in another field what that is exactly I

01:06:48,080 --> 01:06:52,880
don't really know yet and that's definitely something that I'm working on quite a bit just

01:06:52,880 --> 01:06:59,600
personally is trying to see what other things I can be fulfilled from outside of climbing

01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:04,160
so I think it's definitely important for me that I have that distinction and I think staying in

01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:11,360
coaching for me will be too close to like climbing full-time yeah that makes sense yeah I think one

01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:18,240
of the difficult parts of adulthood is the journey of figuring out how you're gonna sustain yourself

01:07:18,240 --> 01:07:27,520
so good luck with that I'm also trying to figure that out but yeah good luck to you on that thank

01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:35,200
you yeah working on it and what was your degree in in economics well that could be applied to

01:07:35,200 --> 01:07:42,320
everything so yeah that was kind of the goal but maybe to a fault it's a little too broad for me I

01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:48,640
have it's been struggling to find some direction in like a professional field outside of climbing

01:07:48,640 --> 01:07:56,080
but I'll get there yeah now you have like too many choices I think is the issue yeah but yeah so

01:07:57,120 --> 01:08:00,880
similarly outside of climbing you did a lot of other sports that you mentioned earlier

01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:06,960
what are the things you've learned from those other sports that you feel like you uniquely

01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:17,120
could apply to climbing yeah I think risk and like grit or try like being able to try hard

01:08:17,120 --> 01:08:23,920
are things that I kind of learned before I started climbing and kind of applied pretty well to climbing

01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:31,680
I think like I used to kind of like I used to go to skateboard camp and skateboard a little bit and

01:08:31,680 --> 01:08:40,640
got banged up like many many times and then from like swim practice and and running it was just

01:08:40,640 --> 01:08:47,280
like so purely effort-based like past a certain point you know it's just like how hard can you

01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:53,600
push yourself and I think going into climbing like very early on I had that kind of approach of just

01:08:53,600 --> 01:09:00,400
like the harder I try the better I'll get and so I would do a lot of like a lot of different things

01:09:00,400 --> 01:09:07,760
so I would do a lot of workouts that were pretty heinous and just try really really hard which I

01:09:07,760 --> 01:09:14,160
think really like made me into the climber I am now but also led to like periods where I was maybe

01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:21,040
over training and kind of doing like training was being was detrimental to my performance but

01:09:21,040 --> 01:09:27,920
overall I think it created kind of a standard that I hold myself to in training that is pretty

01:09:27,920 --> 01:09:36,000
beneficial and kind of has made it so that like I always feel the need to push myself which

01:09:37,360 --> 01:09:42,240
when I do push myself it's great but then when I don't or I kind of fail to do that it can be hard

01:09:42,240 --> 01:09:48,480
because I feel like I've kind of failed myself and my training but I've definitely learned yeah to

01:09:48,480 --> 01:09:56,320
push myself and to try just try hard like to suffer in training from a young age and then yeah I think

01:09:56,320 --> 01:10:02,800
getting banged up from skateboarding and kind of biking and those types of sports when I was

01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:11,360
younger made me really willing to like do dinos and take huge falls and I was like I now had

01:10:11,360 --> 01:10:17,200
crash pads under me all of a sudden so I was like oh I could do whatever I want over here and now

01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:23,440
ever since my concussion I've been a lot more careful and notice weird falls but I think just

01:10:23,440 --> 01:10:31,440
like being able to do kind of jumps and just being really bold in my moves I think helped a lot like

01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:38,240
like I never had to kind of transition into having a jumpier style I kind of was immediately pretty

01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:45,280
aggressive in my climbing off the bat like I just remember in the gym like we would be trying like

01:10:45,280 --> 01:10:51,600
huge jumps with just massive swings and like we had a slack line and I would try to back flip

01:10:51,600 --> 01:10:57,120
off the slack line and just like land all sorts of weird ways on the mats and stuff and so I think

01:10:57,120 --> 01:11:03,040
that kind of playfulness and also just like willingness to to take some risks definitely

01:11:03,040 --> 01:11:08,560
as translated um pretty well into my climbing but maybe to a fault like maybe I wouldn't have

01:11:09,120 --> 01:11:15,360
had my concussion and maybe I wouldn't have this like neck injury either so did you ever do like

01:11:15,360 --> 01:11:25,280
parkour or anything like that no no no not really that's a popular one but yeah I just did so much

01:11:25,280 --> 01:11:32,400
like I was the kid at recess who would be like trying to get everybody to like race me on the

01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:40,080
track or play basketball or like play tag or whatever it was I was just always running around

01:11:40,080 --> 01:11:46,560
and my family was really active growing up so I think I just had a really good base of like

01:11:46,560 --> 01:11:53,440
athleticism and ball sports and running jumping and I think that just like translated really well

01:11:53,440 --> 01:11:58,560
into my climbing style yeah that's awesome always had like a competitive drive I guess

01:11:59,280 --> 01:12:07,840
for sure yeah I think even like as a first or second grader I was always like I want to be an

01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:13,120
athlete like when I grow up I want to be an athlete and I never even knew what sport until I was

01:12:13,120 --> 01:12:21,440
maybe 13 14 and started climbing um a lot but even well before then I was really really drawn to and

01:12:21,440 --> 01:12:29,200
like driven by competition and sports do you feel like you've fulfilled that part of your childhood

01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:38,000
dream or is there still much more you want to do yeah I think I've definitely like in some ways

01:12:39,120 --> 01:12:47,440
exceeded what I hoped for and then the more like kind of realistic version of my like teenage self

01:12:47,440 --> 01:12:54,080
at least I always kind of wanted to do world cups and and just climb for a few years and I

01:12:54,080 --> 01:13:00,400
I like never knew if that would be a possibility but in a lot of ways I haven't kind of accomplished

01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:06,320
what I've wanted to do at all like when I was younger than that I wanted to go to the Olympics

01:13:06,320 --> 01:13:12,480
and win something and I like like I said I didn't even know what sport but I was like I want to be

01:13:13,040 --> 01:13:19,200
Olympic champion or world champion or some like huge huge athlete which in that way I definitely

01:13:19,200 --> 01:13:25,040
haven't accomplished that and even within climbing like I think my like hopes and dreams just kind of

01:13:25,040 --> 01:13:32,160
keep building the more I'm able to kind of start getting a little taste of it so definitely far

01:13:32,160 --> 01:13:38,960
from satisfied okay well good luck I think we'll yeah we'll be really excited to see where you go

01:13:38,960 --> 01:13:45,200
with that thank you okay so those were all of my questions so we can move into a few of the discord

01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:51,280
questions that we got um the first one kind of ties into what you were asked uh talking about

01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:58,640
earlier with like being in the salt lake training center um so this question is benefits versus

01:13:58,640 --> 01:14:02,880
downsides of competing for one of the biggest and most competitive teams on the circuit

01:14:02,880 --> 01:14:12,240
I think benefits is definitely just the amount of people to kind of look up to and train with

01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:18,720
like even just in salt lake there are so many people who are so strong across every style of

01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:25,840
climbing um and just having the training center it's like an incredible resource and working with

01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:33,920
josh larson our head coach is like it's definitely changed my climbing career for the better and made

01:14:33,920 --> 01:14:41,840
me a much much better comp climber than I like ever really imagined when I was younger um so like the

01:14:41,840 --> 01:14:49,840
caliber of setting and training in that space is really really good um and like world class for sure

01:14:51,360 --> 01:14:57,440
but I think with that comes like with having so many people who are capable of making team or

01:14:58,160 --> 01:15:03,680
capable of competing in world cups it's really stressful and hard to have to qualify for the

01:15:03,680 --> 01:15:09,360
team again every year um there's a few athletes who do well enough on the world cup circuit to be

01:15:09,360 --> 01:15:15,520
like qualified for the next year but I think that's pretty rare and so I mean for myself it's been

01:15:15,520 --> 01:15:21,280
like three years of I don't know if I'll make the team next year but like I want to train for world

01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:26,320
cups and kind of build on what I did last year in world cups but maybe I won't even get to do them

01:15:26,320 --> 01:15:32,800
and um I think having so many strong people is hard in that way for sure yeah and so I guess that

01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:39,440
affects your training because you I guess ideally you would be peaking for a world cup and now you

01:15:39,440 --> 01:15:46,800
have to also take into account peaking for team trials and all the other competitions and I think

01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:54,640
just mentally it's challenging to kind of almost figure out how to like where you fit into the

01:15:54,640 --> 01:16:01,520
climbing world at least for myself I kind of it can be challenging to think well if I'm not selected

01:16:01,520 --> 01:16:10,400
for any world cups then like am I really like a pro comp climber or like if I have a few seasons

01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:15,520
where I'm on the circuit and I'm doing well then okay that's great but then if there's a year where

01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:22,800
I'm not then do I like have to re-question like everything I've been doing and kind of climb out

01:16:22,800 --> 01:16:26,880
do I have to climb outside now even though I'm not really super psyched on climbing outside right

01:16:26,880 --> 01:16:33,120
now it's it's kind of tricky like I think for me it's like I want to compete and world cups

01:16:33,120 --> 01:16:39,440
is are like the highest level of competition right now for climbing apart from maybe the Olympics

01:16:39,440 --> 01:16:44,480
and so it's like I want to do those but if I don't get to do those then it's it can be I think

01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:51,520
challenging to kind of stay confident and and continue to kind of believe in the year after

01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:56,960
the year after that and the year after that so I think for me that's been the trickiest thing is

01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:03,760
the selection process. Yeah the competition here is not easy so that makes it rough I think probably

01:17:03,760 --> 01:17:09,600
a similar issue in Japan with all the strong competition there. Absolutely yeah I think the

01:17:09,600 --> 01:17:15,200
Japanese have a very similar situation and honestly the French as well like at least from what I've

01:17:15,200 --> 01:17:20,320
seen in their like field of skilled climbers and people who probably could be pretty successful on

01:17:20,320 --> 01:17:26,160
the world cup circuit is pretty deep and we only really get to see like the very top of that. Yeah

01:17:26,160 --> 01:17:33,120
that's uh stressful um hopefully a little bit less stressful question um I think this was referring

01:17:33,120 --> 01:17:40,240
to a video that you did with La Sportiva um someone asked do you have some fun or fun or unhinged

01:17:40,240 --> 01:17:51,600
stories about living in the power house with Cece and Quint? Um I mean we had we had so much fun

01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:56,080
living in that house and I don't actually live with them anymore but they're just a block away

01:17:56,080 --> 01:18:02,880
so they're they come over all the time they'll be over for dinner I think tonight but um yeah oh we

01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:10,400
did all sorts of things like a big thing like most nights around like like probably three nights a

01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:16,080
week at least it would get to be like 11 p.m and we'd be like we we need to go to the grocery store

01:18:16,080 --> 01:18:22,480
right now and we would all go to the grocery store and just like to like Walmart and just run around

01:18:22,480 --> 01:18:28,720
the grocery store and just like pick up random things and we just like just basically go on a

01:18:28,720 --> 01:18:35,440
field trip to the store we would always be doing that um one time I asked Cece to bring me a uh

01:18:36,240 --> 01:18:42,240
a zucchini for dinner because I was cooking and she came home with a cucumber and that was a pretty

01:18:42,240 --> 01:18:50,240
classic classic Cece moment right there um I don't know we we we painted our other roommates uh

01:18:51,040 --> 01:18:57,600
she has a white minivan and we painted her rims hot pink um we were just always doing

01:18:57,600 --> 01:19:03,840
doing silly stuff it was it was a fun time if you're comfortable answering like where are you

01:19:03,840 --> 01:19:12,240
living now yeah I live like just a little bit uh south of downtown Salt Lake now and I live with

01:19:12,240 --> 01:19:20,720
Teya who I lived with in that other house with Cece and Quinn also um yeah so we're all still

01:19:20,720 --> 01:19:26,880
real close and we're just down the block uh that's so convenient it's hard when people live far away

01:19:26,880 --> 01:19:34,240
yeah no it's been great yeah I think that's what everyone dreams of um I think another thing that

01:19:34,240 --> 01:19:43,440
came from that video what do you like so much about French rap um well I think in general I

01:19:43,440 --> 01:19:50,320
like listening to hip-hop when I'm training not always but sometimes just because it can be pretty

01:19:50,320 --> 01:19:55,840
aggressive and it'll help me like try a little harder and get really into it and really focused

01:19:55,840 --> 01:20:04,160
and I like listening to French and kind of hearing French I think I especially like grew up listening

01:20:04,160 --> 01:20:10,160
to French all the time at home and now that I live in Salt Lake I don't get immersed into that as

01:20:10,160 --> 01:20:18,160
much so I definitely like to to listen to it so I listen to some rap in French but I also like

01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:24,320
I don't know I like watching French movies and things and I think there's an element of it that

01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:31,680
just feels me like feels really tied to like my family and my like memories when I was younger of

01:20:31,680 --> 01:20:37,760
like spending summers there and all like a lot of good times are associated with like hearing French

01:20:37,760 --> 01:20:45,360
so I definitely like to listen to it as much as I can any like recommendations for songs that you

01:20:45,360 --> 01:20:51,680
like listening to when you're training when I'm running I usually listen to M&M or something like

01:20:51,680 --> 01:21:00,640
really intense okay well that's not French but okay oh in French um I don't know I kind of I

01:21:00,640 --> 01:21:10,000
have a really random playlist no like favorite go-to that's like on repeat like La Prisence is

01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:18,480
pretty classic for just like a hype like get after it type of song but no not too many on repeat right

01:21:18,480 --> 01:21:26,000
now I've been listening to a lot of like reggaeton when I train like Spanish music so that's been

01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:32,480
pretty fun that's been my go-to lately anything there you want to recommend it's just pretty basic

01:21:32,480 --> 01:21:41,360
like Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee and that kind of stuff nice yeah okay I'll try to find the one that

01:21:41,360 --> 01:21:46,400
you just mentioned and I'll link it in the description for people to listen to I'll take

01:21:46,400 --> 01:21:53,440
a listen to it as well I feel like yeah French hip-hop hits different yeah it's just I don't know

01:21:53,440 --> 01:21:58,720
it just sounds good I don't know if I have a like a way better reason than that but I like how it

01:21:58,720 --> 01:22:07,440
sounds no that's totally fair um okay last question from the discord how does training with teammates

01:22:07,440 --> 01:22:15,840
and friends impact you attitude motivation enjoyment wise I think like when I have a really

01:22:15,840 --> 01:22:22,720
fun session with my friends that's like it really takes me back to the root of why I like climbing

01:22:22,720 --> 01:22:28,480
like a lot of the times our sessions will be really playful and we'll kind of make up moves

01:22:28,480 --> 01:22:34,720
and it really becomes not about like doing a boulder but about how the move looks or you know

01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:41,840
like a different makeup that we made and like those kinds of sessions really are like the root

01:22:41,840 --> 01:22:47,920
yeah like the root of why I like climbing it's just so fun and it's just like pure enjoyment

01:22:49,680 --> 01:22:53,600
and then in general like in normal sessions I think having people around

01:22:54,800 --> 01:23:00,640
not only are like all the people here really supportive and generally like super psyched for

01:23:00,640 --> 01:23:05,600
you as long as you're pushing yourself and you know you're trying hard and you have a good attitude

01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:11,760
but just seeing so many people who are strong and being able to bounce ideas off each other for moves

01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:18,800
and get recommendations is super helpful like a lot of us have a pretty similar level and so

01:23:18,800 --> 01:23:23,920
we'll out climb each other on some styles and other people will out climb us on other boulders and

01:23:23,920 --> 01:23:30,000
having that really like judgment free dialogue of just like hey how'd you do this like can you help

01:23:30,000 --> 01:23:34,960
me through this move and having people work through moves with you that way is is not only

01:23:34,960 --> 01:23:41,600
really helpful but it's also really fun and it's social and it just like makes you feel pretty

01:23:41,600 --> 01:23:48,560
supported so I definitely like having people around for that but definitely the solo session

01:23:48,560 --> 01:23:54,720
like kind of by yourself definitely has its its special place in my heart for me as well I think

01:23:54,720 --> 01:24:03,120
it's the time when I can climb with like the least amount of insecurity or like worries about how I

01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:10,880
look or or what like how I look on the wall or what other people are thinking of my climbing like

01:24:10,880 --> 01:24:17,600
I'll definitely like make more try hard noises and kind of get get like let myself get a little more

01:24:17,600 --> 01:24:24,080
emotional when I'm climbing by myself so I think it's good to have a balance of of both. Awesome

01:24:24,080 --> 01:24:30,560
yeah that's definitely relatable um but okay I think that's a good place to end it um that's

01:24:30,560 --> 01:24:36,400
all the questions I had as well as the discord um yeah thanks for joining me anything that you want

01:24:36,400 --> 01:24:41,600
to shout out or let people know where they can find you? Yeah I mean thanks for having me it's

01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:47,920
been a lot of fun um if you guys want to follow along with like some of the moves I'm doing or

01:24:47,920 --> 01:24:53,440
just my comp journey and my climbing you can definitely follow me on Instagram I try to kind

01:24:53,440 --> 01:25:00,400
of post a lot of some more serious things but then a lot of like day-to-day shenanigans on there as

01:25:00,400 --> 01:25:08,640
well um and then like super thankful to Prana and La Sportiva Kinetic and Friction Labs for helping

01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:15,040
me out because it wouldn't be possible to like train how I do or go to all these competitions

01:25:15,040 --> 01:25:22,240
without them so really really appreciate that. Awesome okay yeah thank you again awesome to chat.

01:25:22,240 --> 01:25:27,520
Thank you so much for making it to the end of the podcast don't forget to like and subscribe if you

01:25:27,520 --> 01:25:33,760
enjoyed otherwise you are a super fake climber. If you're listening on a podcasting platform I'd

01:25:33,760 --> 01:25:39,360
appreciate if you rate it five stars and you can continue the discussion on the free competition

01:25:39,360 --> 01:25:58,160
climbing discord linked in the description. Thanks again for listening!