Earlier this summer I was at this route I’d been trying for a few days – a 13a (7c+) called Uncle Dad in the Flatirons in Boulder. I knew I was close to sending, but I was just really uncomfortable, physically and emotionally.

My heartrate was faster than normal, I was nauseous, I had that fluttery feeling all over my body, and I was a little less interested in talking to people than normal.

I was trying to figure out what was wrong with me and then I realized that it wasn’t something I ate, or how I slept the night before, or who I was hanging out with that was making me feel this way – it was simply that I was nervous about the route.

I felt an overwhelming pressure to send.

After all, it was the last good weather day for a while, so this was my day. As I sat there waiting to feel ready enough to climb, I talked it through in my head. Basically I coached myself, which I’ve been doing a lot lately. It went something like this…

What are you worried will happen if you don’t send?

I’ll feel like I’ve failed, I’ll be embarassed that all these other people at the crag have done this route and I haven’t, and I’ll feel frustrated that I have to keep coming back to this same route.

And why would it be embarassing or a failure?

Because it was too hard for me to do the route, and I feel like I should be stronger and better than that.

And why do you feel like you “should” be stronger?

Yeah, I guess I feel like I deserve to send this thing somehow, even though it is what it is for me: hard. The moves are powerful and big, it’s endurancy at the top, and I have to try really hard to put all these moves together. There’s no “should” about it really. I either do it or I don’t.

So what can you tell yourself right now that might help?

I can tell myself that it is what it is – it’s a hard route FOR ME and whether I do it or not makes no difference in the world. And whether or not I clip the chains today has no bearing on my value as a person. I’ve given it my all every time I’ve gotten on it, and that’s literally all I can do or expect of myself.

To expect anything more than reality is a useless waste of my time and emotional energy.

I immediately calmed down.

My heartrate returned to normal, my hands stopped sweating, I could see the vibrant colors around me again. I had confidence in my ability to send it, but I knew on a deep level that it was totally ok if I didn’t.

I got to the top of the route – not without some struggle at the end – but I gave it everything I had and it was enough to clip the chains. I always get REALLY excited when I send things that are hard for me, no matter what the grade is. If I’ve put time and effort into something, I feel elated when I send.

But I also know I would’ve been able to work through it if I hadn’t sent, and that makes me more willing to try hard (for me) climbs right now.

How do YOU deal with pre-send nerves? What do you tell yourself to calm yourself down? Or do you ever even experience nerves while climbing? I’d love to hear from you about this – it’s really fascinating to me how people process this stuff in climbing.

If you’d like some help with your mindset, I’m a Certified Professional Coach & I’d love to work with you & help you tackle any problem—no matter how large or “small”! 😊

A Coaching Session with Lauren Abernathy (and the Results!)

I recently did a coaching session with climbing coach Lauren Abernathy (goodspray.com) on why she wasn’t sending her project “When I Was a Young Girl, I Had Me a Cowboy,” 5.13a in Wild Iris. She’d been working on it for several seasons and every time she got to the top hard moves, she’d get nervous and botch it.

We talked through what was going on in her mind at the top, which was, “Climb fast and get through these moves!” But it turned out that she really needed to slow down and climb mindfully through some terrible feet and body tension-y movement. We did a lot of acknowledging of what the climb meant to her, why it was important to her, and what kind of pressures she was putting on herself. But in the end, we made a solid mantra for her to say to herself at those final moves.

Here’s what she said about the session:

“I had a chat with Neely about my redpoint jitters heading into a weekend on my project – my last chance to send for the season. Neely was an amazing sounding board for me to process the stress, joy, and excitement of the redpointing process. I left our call with clear, actionable steps to take in my final session on the project to manage my nerves both on and off the wall. So glad I got to sit down with Neely, she was incredibly supportive, understanding, and helpful. Thanks again Neely!”

I checked in with her after she went the next time (and the final time of the season) and here’s what she said:

“It went really well today, no send, BUT I was so eager to try out the new matra that after I fell at bolt 2 I was like, “Let’s just try to get a link from here because I want to get to climb the top moves today. And then I literally was repeating “breathe deep move slow” in my head once I entered the top crux. and I felt so focused and good! and I did it!”

“SO got a link of almost the entire route minus 5 moves at the start. First time I did that link today.”

“Also it was really cold (high of 47 and my climb is in the shade) and I kept numbing out. Good stuff! I had so much fun! So glad we talked this week!”

I was so happy to hear that Lauren was able to use what we did in our coaching session just a couple days after we’d talked about it, and have some success with it to boot! This is how powerful coaching can be and I’m SO PSYCHED to be able to help climbers in this way.

If you want help with your own climbing jitters, projecting, or mindset issues in climbing, let’s do a session!

About the Author, Neely Quinn

Neely Quinn is the founder of TrainingBeta.com, the host of the TrainingBeta Podcast, a Certified Integrated Clinical Nutrition Therapist specializing in rock climbers, and a Certified Professional Coach who helps climbers with their mindset. She has been climbing since 1997 and is continuously striving to become a more masterful climber using training, nutrition, and mindset.

She lives in Longmont, Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and co-founder of TrainingBeta, Seth Lytton, and their heeler mix, Willa.

You can find her nutrition services here and her coaching services here.