02 May 2012

A poke in the eye, a kick in the shins.

To say that success in sport has a lot to do with ones mental state is, well, and understatement. For years we've heard all the sporting cliches from a range of athletes. Footy players, '...oh, you know, right now I'm just out on the paddock, having fun playing footy again' after racking up 40+ touches in a best on field appearance; cricket players, 'I'm just concentrating on putting bat to ball...' in a match winning innings post media scandal; or as The Legend Ricky Bobby once put it so eloquently.... "I wanna go FAST!"

The point being, that when our minds wander to places of negativity, frustration or self criticism, many times this mental pressure gets the better of our physical selves. Likewise, an attitude at the opposite side of the spectrum, one of fun, joy, confidence and giddy school-boy eagerness can bring about physical excellence not expected. Like the well regurgitated remarks of the aforementioned footy or cricket player, a change in mental tact in periods of disappointing performance leads to a glorious return to match winning form. Parades are held, confetti rains from the sky, you're given the key to the city and perhaps kiss a baby....

This isn't breaking news folks. You know this. I know you know this. You know I know you know this. Know how I know? Ever said a word so often it looses all meaning?.......

Back the to point of this whole thing. After riding a high upon sending Groovy a while back, I became bogged down again. I fell off the last move on Wagalak. I then locked myself away to study for a couple of weeks during mid semester exams. I forced myself to get out of the house a few times during this academic period and trained. Now I'm not the most motivated climber when it comes to training. Unless socialising or drinking beer is considered training...... I find training uninteresting. But Joshy's infectious penchant for systematic training began to wear off on me, and I found myself repeatedly down at Burnley running laps and generally making myself feel like I was going to puke. I was actually enjoying it!?

Armed with some new found confidence and a wee bit of strength improvement, I busted back out to Nati over the weekend where I met up with Chris and Alyssa for a day in Yesterday Gully. Now, maybe fatigue from a long day at uni and a long train ride to Horsham the day before had something to do with it, but to be honest it was more likely my incompetence at doing battle with slick Arapiles cracks. I got worked that day. Man did I get worked! Alyssa was hiking Yesterday like it was 16! She made it look effortless. I made it look like possum road kill. No elegance. No panache. No golf clap performance. I'm pretty sure I resembled a fat person on roller blades, the way I was huffing and skating about as I thrashed my way up it without success.

Confidence = Shot.


A spur of the moment decision the next day saw a small posse of us tramping around southern Grampians in search of boulders. Oh yes, the good old boulders. Finally the weather had cooled enough for some bouldering action. Brendan, Chris' brother, who also live in Nati, has been putting up new problems in the area for years and years. Yonks, you could say. It was just what I needed. Some success pulling some moves again. Gettin' to the top of something. Like "havin' fun kick'n the footy 'round" We did a couple of Brendans problems and put up some new ones. A day of no expectations. No pressure to perform. Just climbing with mates.

So in the space of 48hours I'd done a complete 180 turn in psyche. I was pumped now to get back on Overtaker!

But oh no folks, the story doesn't end here. Not by a long shot. There's still another twist in this rambling fairytale.....

Fucking Arapiles cracks!!!

I got worked. Again. On the warmup. A crack. A SHORT crack. Fuck. It was in the sun, I was sweaty, shakey and hotty. But I got up it. Oh dear. Chris to the rescue!

"Don't worry buddy, its fine. I remember getting a little worried on it too". "They're tricky little numbers these slippery cracks". "You climbed fine mate! Didn't look shakey at all!". God bless Chris and his constant injections of positive laser energy. He even mentioned that we don't have to climb today, and he'd but just as happy to watch a DVD today. I almost took him up on that.

Ok I'm sure you're getting bored now, but the point is very close. Stick with us here. If you're at work reading this, coffee break is coming up real soon, I promise :)

It's hard to disappoint Chris. So I just rapped down to route to 'have a squiz at it'. "If it felt all right, I might have a crack, while I'm here" I thought. This was day 4 trying the route since before Christmas. But I was so close to doing it last time. I didn't want to go backwards. No-one wants to go backwards. Do you know why the emu and kangaroo are on our coat of arms, besides being native animals? Neither can walk backwards.


Be like the coat of arms Alister. 
Forwards progress.

I remember rapping over the edge feeling like crap. Tired and sore. By the time I got off the rope I was grinning from ear to ear, anxiously rehashing the beta. Conditions were P-E-R-F-E-C-T! Even though it was a warmish day, the wall was in the shade. The rock was cold and bone dry. Perfect. Its funny how this one little factor completely outside of my control flipped my mindset from depressed to excited. Chris noted that he could see, as soon as I started chalking the holds and ticking up footers, I was a changed man.

I ended up doing the route. I fell 3 times on the last move of the crux before finally getting it though. Still, waves of doubt and anxiety would flood my head. Every time I would have a little sook. In the end, physically, I did the route quiet easily. But it was my mental game that continued to threaten success on the day. I'm not one for the whole visualise success thing. Or mental training for climbing. But its pretty obvious that mental controls physical, emotion controls muscle. And for each person, dealing with this up and down wave will be different. Being aware of it though is half the battle won.



I rode the wild emotional roller coaster that weekend, peaking, and plummeting.

I can't wait to do it again.

-TheBigAl

1 comment:

  1. Good job bro! Too bad about your finger on Wagadick. I guess its healed up. Now time to combine the power of positive thinking and the art of procrastination and jump back in the wagalack saddle! go get em tiger!

    ReplyDelete