Hi everyone! After 9 weeks of having to “stay on the ground”, I have been back training again! There is still a concern that the hernia has returned, but as it is small and has caused me no problems training with it previously I have been given the go-ahead by the doctors to start my training programme. I had an MRI scan and the results (discussed over the phone!) showed that there was slight inflammation around the area, but that this was normal and nothing to cause concern. The confusion stems from the fact that the hernia is small and “reducible” – it can easily retreat back into the abdomen, sometimes staying in for long periods of time. Unfortunately, this often happens to be whenever a doctor is examining the injury!
It has taken me a while to get the worry and stress of the injury off my mind so that I can focus fully on my training. It’s not easy to return to training with confidence when a potentially serious injury has recurred after one operation, only then to be faced with the possibility of it having returned yet again after a second and the thought of another operation being required. Initially I experienced aching and shooting pains in the region of the hernia when climbing which kept reminding me of what had happened and knocked my confidence slightly. I was cautious about falling and movements which stressed/strained the area. The fact that I didn’t know what was really happening in my body and what was going to happen (although the doctors were saying that everything seemed ok, I know my body and could tell that something wasn’t right) made me feel anxious and “in limbo”.
This year was intended to be my best year yet – my final Junior year in the international competitions, and with a World Youth Championship event on home turf in Edinburgh these complications and uncertainties were less than ideal. I began to doubt whether I’d be fit enough for the first two European events in Austria, and more importantly the Worlds in Ratho, Edinburgh – which I have been dreaming of winning for 10 years since I first heard of competitions when I started climbing. I was, however, glad to be back climbing again rather than having to sit around bored and frustrated!
After 2 or 3 weeks of easing myself back into climbing I wanted to start my training programme for the Worlds to finally give myself some direction and something to aim for to take my mind off things. I restructured my programme to fit with the time I had left and cut out certain bits that wouldn’t fit and found that I had 21 weeks to train for the Worlds, and about 17 weeks to train for the second European in Vienna. I immediately resigned myself from the first European in Imst, Austria – with under 8 weeks to train properly I considered it impossible to get anywhere near a decent level of fitness.
The first sessions were the hardest in forcing myself to push my mental and physical barriers. I’ve always found that if I have one session where I give it my all after a break it gets me fired up to train hard. I knew that pushing myself in this case would primarily be a mental challenge. I took my time in doing lots of easier endurance work in the first few days before moving on to working some hard routes. I surprised myself in onsighting (climbing a route for the first time with no prior knowledge of the route) a few 7b+’s and even a 7c in my first hard routes session. Next time round I had gathered the confidence to try some harder routes and flashed (climbing a route which you have done before or have some knowledge of through watching/talking to other climbers) two 7c’s, a 7c+ and reached 4 holds from the top of an 8a!
Physically I felt fairly strong and had good forearm endurance (I have my Compex mi-Sport to thank for this!) I lacked slightly in core strength and in some elements of power and finger strength but these are areas which won’t take too long to develop. I was climbing much better than I ever expected and I believe that my newfound mental strength is a major part of this. I think my anger and frustration at what I’d been through was transferring to my training and forcing me to push my limits. Every hold – even when I was in pain and tiring – was one step closer to winning. Without doubt, the thought of winning on home ground in September has been an incredibly strong incentive to get back into training and make me more determined than I’ve ever been. Perhaps I needed a well-earned rest after 10 years of pretty much non-stop training!
In all, I’ve learned a lot in the last few weeks about myself and my approach to climbing, and what can be acheived when you put your mind to it. As a result of this revelation, I have decided to compete in the first European Youth Series Event in Imst, Austria, on the 6th/7th June. I’ll be going in with perhaps lower expectations than I would have if I’d had longer to train, but I’ll be sure to give it my best effort. It will be great to compete with my fellow GB team members for one of my final junior competitions in an amazing venue and see my friends and fellow competitors from abroad, as well as the competition providing me with a benchmark as to where I am at the moment in my training and where I need to be for the next few events. I have a follow-up appointment at the hospital on 25th May where I will hopefully get a final word from the doctors, but whatever happens I’ll be likely still training for the events this year and keeping my head (and the rest of me) up high…
In addition, I’d like to thank my family and everyone at EICA Ratho and Glasgow Climbing Centre who have supported me constantly over the last 15 weeks or so, asking how I am and keeping me sane when I was forbidden to go any higher than a set of stairs or a lift could carry me, as well as making sure I don’t do too much too soon! In particular my boyfriend Robbie Phillips (Currentbody.com team member!) who had to put up with my frustrations but always managed to make me smile.