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8. Competition Preparation

Note:This section is not complete and needs more work.

How you prepare for a competition is as important as all the strength, power endurance, and endurance training that you have done for just climbing. It doesn't matter how strong you are if you are so nervous that you shake yourself off the wall. Mental training is the hardest thing to coach so this chapter will just introduce some different approaches that you can take to competing and let you decide which ones work for you. Individual sports such as climbing put a lot of pressure on athletes and the ones that excel are the ones that can cope and excel with this pressure. If you are interested you should read some literature on sports psychology.

In addition to mental training there are also different physical approaches you can take to make sure that you are peaking at the right time. This is something that has been studied in many different sports and you can find all kinds of literature on learning how to peak at the right time. This chapter will introduce some basic approaches to competitions that will help you time when you peak.

8.1 Mental Preparation Training

Each of the following mental exercises can be done on your own and have been shown to increase the performance of an athlete.

8.1.1 Previewing a Route

Previewing a route properly can mean the difference between moving smoothly through a section and wasting energy matching hands, searching for feet or downclimbing to fix sequences. This is a skill and one that should be practiced. There are several things to consider when previewing a route such as rests, clipping stance, cruxes, alternate sequences, pacing, and distances between holds.

Here are a few tips that will help when previewing:

Know the Start of the Route
One of the worst things that can happen is to not know where the start of your route is, or to preview the wrong route. Make sure you know where you have to start and that you are looking at the correct route. If no one else from your category is there then chances are you are not looking at the right route.

Some competitions do not specify the starting holds and you can start on what you can reach. Make sure that you choose starting holds that will put you in the correct sequence.
Work Down Through Confusing Sequences
If you get to a section of the route where you can not determine the sequence look ahead and find the next hold that you know how to grab and work backwards. For instance if you find a confusing sequence and you see that five feet above is a hold that you know you have to grab with your left hand then you can find the previous hold that your right hand would have to be on and work the sequence down. Once you have worked back down through the sequence go back up it and continue on the route.
Judge the Distance Between Holds
Know the distance between holds and what you are capable of. If you know a wall has 4'x8' panels or 3'x3' panels then it is much easier to measure the distance between holds, look at the panel sizes and approximate the distance. This will help when looking to skip a move or when you are worried about a large move.
Walk Around
Most routes at larger competitions will be on very high steep walls. It is almost impossible to see the entire route from one location. Walk around and look at the route from numerous angles.

This does more than just allow you to see the whole route. If you are wondering how large or incut a hold is then stand back and get a differnt look at it, or walk way off to the side and try to see behind it. How much you can walk around will depend on the size of the area that you are given for the preview. In some competition you may be allowed to walk into the crowd or at least ask them to move.
Dance the Sequence
When you are previewing it may help to move your hands and feet in the sequence that your are previewing. There are two reasons for this one is to help you memorize the sequence and the other is to make sure that you are not missing any moves. by moving your body in sequence of the route you will be able to remember the moves easier in isolation, similar to dancing. To be told a dance and then have to do it is alot harder than doing the dance as you are learning it.
Talk to Others
Other competitors in your category will have different opinions on sequences. This may be due to height, strengths or perceptions on the quality of the holds. In addition some people are better at reading a sequence that others. Talk to others and figure out what they are doing. It may be that you are reading it wrong or that you are assuming a hold is better than it is. This will also help so that when you go back to isolation you have the same terms for holds.
Identify Crux Clips and Sequences
If you can identify the crux of a route from the ground then that will allow you to get set up for it better. Cruxes are not necessarily moves but can be clips as well. If you identify a crux clip then you can decide where the best place to clip it will be. It may be that you have to climb past it a little ways before clipping, or you may have to reach way up to clip it to avoid clipping in the middle of the crux.
Plan Your Pace
It is just as important to identify the easy sections of a route as it is to see the cruxes. If you can spot the easier moves then you will know to move slower, chalk up and rest through these sections. You will also know where to move quickly to avoid wasting energy fooling around in the harder sections. Practice this on routes that you are onsighting. Try and move slow through the easy sections and quickly through the harder ones.
Helpful Instruments
ICC rules state that you are allowed to use any non electronic device to help preview or record the route. Basically this means that you can sketch the route or use binoculars to help preview the route. It is probably best to practice sketching a route numerous times at home or in local competitions before doing this at a large competition. It can take a long time to sketch an entire route. Drawing out small sections to discuss with others may help though.
Use Your 40 Seconds
Before stepping onto the route you are given 40 seconds to do whatever you want. It is best if you get into a routine where you do the same thing every competition but here are a few suggestions.
- Look at the confusing sequences. Chances are you have talked to someone in isolation about these sequences so make sure that what you decided to do will actually work.
- Look at the first few moves. Make sure that you know the first moves on the route. You can get very nervous on a route if you do not know the sequence leaving the ground.
- Massage your forearms and chalk up. Just stand there looking at the route and keeping your forearms loose and relaxed.
- Be focused. Do what you have to do in order to be focused. This will be different for different people so try and perfect this at local competitions.

It also helps to be able to adapt on a route. If the sequence you saw in preview will not work you should be able to identify this on the route and quickly change your sequence to a better more efficient one. To do this it helps to always be looking two or three moves ahead. If you know you have to get your left hand on a hold that is a couple of moves away then you know that you must climb a certain sequence that will end with you left hand on that hold. A good drill for this is to get on routes that you would normally onsight and not preview. Every move look ahead and call out your next two moves. This forces you to be looking ahead and constantly knowing the next few moves without knowing them from the ground.

8.1.2 Identifying How You Feel

Being nervous and scared is not necessarily a bad thing. Being scared of being nervous and scared is a bad thing. If you know that you are always nervous in comps then you can prepare yourself to deal with that. It may be that you have to accept it and learn to relax on the route.

You should also know whether you climb better being confident of your ability to do a route or when you are scared on a route. If you know that you must be confident then make sure that you are not over confident, coming across and unexpected hard move may freak you out. It may be easier to be scared of a route and think that it is hard. That way if the route is easier you will grow more confident as you move up the route.

The big thing is to try and remember how you felt on the days where you have climbed and competed the best, and then try and recreate that.

8.1.3 Visualization

One of the major differences between great competitors and good competitors is their ability to visualize a route. Good competitors visualize from a third person angle, watching themselves as if they were looking through a camera. Great competitors visualize from a first person angle looking at each move through their own eyes. Try and visualize yourself climbing a route. Now try and visualize each move as though you can see your hand moving towards a hold, your foot reaching for each foothold. Can you see the difference?

By visualizing in first person mode you are preparing yourself for what the route will actually look like when you get on it.

8.1.4 Scripting

Scripting is the practice of rehearsing everything about the competition before it actually happens. This may help you to be more focused on the day of the competition. Some people will script the entire week before the comp, some people just the day of the comp or once they enter isolation.

If you have never written a script before then try this:
Start with the night before. What are you going to have for dinner? What time? What activities will you do before bed? What time are you going to bed? Are you going to prepare your climbing stuff the night before or the morning of?
What time do you have to get up? When does Isolation open and close for your category? What is your position in the running order? What are you having for breakfast? Are you having a shower before the comp? When are you leaving for the comp? How long will it take to drive there?
How much time do you have to warm up in isolation? How many people are expected to be in isolation? What is your warm up routing? What are you doing 45 minutes to 1 hour before you climb, 30 minutes...?

Scripting will allow you to know what is happening and be comfortable with it. Write out a script and read it in the weeks before a comp. As the days of the competition approach start into your script. You should try and follow the script as much as possible but don't get too nervous if things are not exact.

Scripting may not work for everyone and you should try and decide if it will work for you.

8.2 Physical Preparation Training

There are many different approaches to competitions that you can do to help your body get ready. The following sections outline a few different approaches that you may or may not have tried.

8.2.1 Staging

In the weeks leading up to a big competition you will usually be trying to climb many competition style routes and trying to build your endurance. That is great and staging assumes that you have a specific training routing that you can follow leading up to the competition.

In the last 7-10 days before a competition keep the number of workouts the same but lower the intensity. Try and warm up the same way for each of these workouts as if your were preparing your body for the usual intense workout but then take it easier than usual. Try to climb easier routes doing short bursts of fast climbing. Concentrate on stretching out and your climbing movement.

This method is used in many other sports such as swimming. For the last week before a competition the swimmers will only do one or two laps in a row with short periods of sprinting, but more time spent just swimming and stretching out.

A simple explanation for why this works is that your body will prepare for a hard workout since you are warming up normally and will begin to draw the nutrients and oxygen to the muscles. You will not do a hard workout so some of the nutrients and energy remains in the muscles, and your muscles will be more stretched out than if you had worked them and filled them with lactic acid. That way when the day of the competion arrives you will have all this stored up energy, you will be stretched out and ready to climb hard.

8.2.2 Routine

Most athletes are superstitous to some degree. They have their favorite shirt, their favorite music, their lucky chalk bag, or even lucky underwear. All of this superstition is about routine, doing again what has worked for you in the past. It helps to have these routines to help you take the competition more seriously.

If you think back can you identify your routine? If you do not have a routine can you think about your best day of competition and remember what you did? Have you tried to repeat that day?

These routines can be built into your scripts and become a part of every competition. Once again you should be prepared for some flexibility especially if you are competing in a gym or city where you have never been. It may not be possible to recreate the routine exactly.

8.2.3 Comfort Foods

Most athletes have a favorite pre-competition dinner and breakfast, and a favorite snack/lunch for the day of the competition. If you have your favorite foods then you should research where you are going and make sure that you can get something similar or something that will allow you to gain the same amount of nourishment.

For instance say you are used to cereal and orange juice in the morning. You're travelling to Eastern Europe where the breakfasts usually consist of more meats and heavier meals. You may want to bring along a bag of cereal that you would normally eat so that you can be ready for the competition.

8.2.4 Warming Up in Isolation

Every competition will have a different isolation and may force you to warm up slightly differently. One thing that all competitions will have in common is at least a little boulder wall to do traverses on. This means that in the weeks leading up to a competition you should start your practices with a similar warm up that you will expect in the competition. If you know the gym where the competition is then you may not have to just boulder, they may allow you to do routes to warm up as well.

Try and get a warm up routine that will allow you to get ready to pull really hard moves. This means that when you are done your warm up you will want to be ready to compete or try a project that you are working. If you find that you are not warmed up enough then you will need to adapt your warm up routine to include more climbing.

Near the end of your warm up you will want to pull harder moves than you will find on the route. This will accomplish two things: one you will know that the muscles required to pull hard moves are warmed up; two you will leave isolation knowing that you have pulled super hard moves and when you get on the competition route you will be pulling easier moves and that may increase your confidence on the route.

Climbing a few hard boulder problems in isolation to warm up should not tire you out. In fact it should do the opposite and help get your body ready to climb hard. Make sure that you are not doing boulder problems where you could injure yourself, or long hard boulder problems that will tire yourself out.

You may want to get slightly pumped in warmup so that you do not flash pump on the competition route. A flash pump is the pump that can occur early in a workout where all of a sudden you can't squeeze and it takes a long time to recover from. There is a physical difference between a pump after lots of climbing and a flash pump.

Here is a simple description of the difference between a normal pump and a flash pump:
Your body has two different types of circulatory stages commonly called Rest and Recovery(RAR) and Fight or Flight(FOF). When your body is in RAR most of your blood is near the internal organs getting cleaned, renourished etc. This means that the arteries to your arm muscles are not as expanded and are not carrying that much blood. When your body is in FOF your blood is being pumped more rapidly to your extremities and your muscles. the arteries are larger and are carrying more blood to your muscles.
A flash pump occurs when you try to use your muscles too quickly and your body is still in RAR. You muscles are not getting enough blood and are actually starting to expand and constrict the flow of blood through already small arteries. This also means that it takes longer to recover from a flash pump. The blood supply to your forearms is greatly reduced which means that it will take longer for the lactic acid to be removed and the nutrients to be replaced.
That's why it is important to warm up and prepare your body to start pulling hard rather than just launching into it. As well that is why you want to have your body already in the FOF mode before you get on the wall to compete.

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