The Tao Climber

 

I was relaxing my aching bones in a hot bath last night and I always like to read whilst doing this. I picked up a book of Tia's (my gf, she will probably figure in this blog  every so often) called 'Your First Triathlon' by Joe Friel. Not that I'm about to join the Tracey Clan of Triathletes (Tia and 2 of her brothers have done or are doing triathlons), but I thought it may have something to say about swimming technique and have drill suggestions in there. I can swim. My breast stroke is really good (that's what she said), but my front crawl is, at best, abysmal. Previous gf's have tried and failed to get me anywhere with it, though Tia has made some progress, it's still crap. More of a case of dragging a brick through the water than a fish. A fully laden Transit van instead of a Lamborghini. Enough of the cack swimming. What I found interesting was a bit in the back in the epilogue.

It starts with Mr Friel talking about how his daughter loves swimming, riding her bike and running around because it's not just practice for her, it's part of who she is. It's not a routine, she's not focused on beating a time, it's just fun and part of her. Maybe that's what you were like if you can remember it.

Then you get goals you have to achieve, have a plan to achieve them, get sucked into the plan and it becomes an obsession. You/We allow obsession to take the fun out of it.

He gives the analogy of the Tao archer spending time firing arrows at the target, not to see how many bullseyes he can get, but to get a better understanding of how the arrow flies. How it feels, how small differences can change it.

It made me think about climbing and what I see in the wall on a regular basis. People not climbing for the fun of it but just to tick things off, like a kind of activity train spotter. The ones who complain about the grades if its given a low one (say V1) and they fall off, but will say nothing if they flash a "soft touch" V7.

These are the kind of people who just bludgeon up the wall, beating the route/problem into submission and then getting to the top (maybe even flashing it) and the next time they come in, doing the same again. The same style(?), the same way, learning nothing. Isn't that what the indoor wall is about, learning in a low stress environment when compared to outside?? I've done it in the past. Blasting up the wall, doing the problem, but then when you've done it, why not try a different approach, a different technique. Learn something about the movement, about body position, about how and when to use the power.

What prompted me to write this was finding that piece in a book, watching people on the Panels set yesterday and today, and something that happened before Christmas when I'd set a problem using a fist jam, which the really tall bypassed by jumping off a hold that was facing an obscure direction. Though they wouldn't use the crack later for feet either. What did they learn about climbing. Nothing. If they came across a jamming crack outside, then I'd like to be there to see that :).

On the plus side, I believe I have found a Tao Climber - "Strong" Martin. He does the hard blocs in Castle but loves just doing moves. Just weird things on the Wave (training board), not just strong. He doesn't mind about not getting to the top. One of his quotes is "the Wave decides".

So, Martin, the Tao Climber. I salute you.

And the rest of you .... stop the train spotting!!!!