Find Your Inspiration - By Jen Wilby

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.Swami Sivananda

Sunset at Almsciff - Always worth the wait

This month has been all about inspiration and inspiration can come in many forms. This month has been a very hard month. The first week I was so psyched for climbing. I began taking Friday’s off and had a whole three days of climbing outside each weekend. A whole three days of grit stone made me realise how unfit I am! This got me thinking about the trip, how we tried to climb something, somewhere every day…for the love of it. To be back in the UK, fogged out and being forced to be as far away from climbing as you could get totally sucked.

To make every minute of your life count towards climbing, to then have something occur which takes you away from training and climbing is the type of situation which can trigger a life change. What occurred meant I couldn't train or climb at all for a week. Some might see this as a week’s rest, and rest is good because that’s when you get repair and get stronger, but when you don’t sleep for the full week, the week was totally wiped out and it took me another week to recover add the fact the weather was good and I didn't know when I would get chance to get out again - was a test of sanity!  During this time, hours were spent watching old climbing video’s, looking through old photo’s, looking at what other's were out doing…looking for that inspiration. Often when you stop something the hardest part is getting back. I found the inspiration. My other half spends most evening’s looking at climbing videos or guidebooks and this has always bored me, but at the start of this month it gave me some light and inspiration to reset and get back on it.

The one certainty in life is that we are all going to leave this version of it at some point. So why spend our hours (or most of us) doing something that at the end of the day does not really matter? It’s important we put our all our effort and focus in to what we are doing at any given minute of the day, whether its talking to a friend, out shopping or climbing. Put 100% effort into it – no dwelling on the past or the future – only then can you be truly free. This is especially relevant in the UK with the climate. As climbers, we are unable to plan for anything, you have to live each day relying on forecasts. Which you can argue is totally rubbish compared to somewhere like Bishop where you are guaranteed good weather for the season. However, at the same time, you have to give 100% to what you do there an then and this is the main lesson I have learnt this month and something which I would urge you all to think about. It doesn't have to relate to climbing, but your life in general. Do what inspires you.

Don’t be half focused on many things, be fully focused on one thing at one point in time and you will reap the rewards.

Up at the crag for 0930 to avoid the crowds - fantastic!  

Once I woke up and realised I was only being half committed to many things, I've gone out whenever the weather had been good this month and got on my projects. We've had a really good spell at Caley recently, which has been fantastic and it was a good decision to move down the road. With the 100% commitment headset, I've got on my projects and walked away having made progress every time, which is an awesome feeling. It’s only a matter of time J

Here are some video’s of some problems we've been on over the last couple of weeks:

Red Barron Roof:  https://vimeo.com/116002052

Millstone Grit: https://vimeo.com/118423648

Red Barron: https://vimeo.com/118946567

Dead Barron: https://vimeo.com/118953098

Dolphin Belly Slap: https://vimeo.com/119011793

Streaky's Traverse: https://vimeo.com/119012889

Crucifix Arete Eliminate: https://vimeo.com/119014214

I’m also lucky enough to have had the opportunity to test out the new Metolius Session Pad

New Metolius Session Pad

You will probably say I am biased, however, I do really rate this pad. The thing that stood out first was the corner “flap” which covers the corner of the pad to stop everything from falling out. It’s really durable but also it’s elasticated. So no more time is spent ramming the thing around the corner of the pad and trying to pull it into place. It fits really snugly so I am now able to throw things in it without the fear of everything falling out the bottom. Which makes it fantastic for circuiting.

Using the pad on a warm up at Almscliff

The other feature which I noticed was the catch and how smooth it is. Even on some of my other pads, when I’m packing or unpacking it, the lip always catches and I the cord is really rough, so I have to really pull to get the pad closed tight. Not with the session pad, the catch is really smooth as is the cord material, which makes it really quick and effortless to un-catch and tighten. No more fiddling!

The other thing is the foam, I have total confidence in falling on it, I’d take a back slam on it no worries. That’s got the thumbs up from me – I love it!

Session pad underneath the stunning Flying Arete at Almscliff

As always I am fuelled by BulletProof Coffee and their Collagen protein. These are the two products out of many I have tested and will choose to stick my, I totally love them. The coffee keeps me fuelled for days at the crag and the protein is light enough for me to take with any meal and even during climbing as I often add it to my coffee. You can find details of how to get it from the USA here: www.optimalstate.co.uk and can use the discount code “jenwilby” to get 10% off your order! Bargin!

Another awesome time which was had this month was a visit to The Lab MMA Gym (http://www.thelabmmagym.com/) – Lanch Green tested my strength and fitness with one of her Tuff classes and it was awesome, again another point in time where I put in 100% to every second and walked away feeling awesome!

One of Lanch's promo shots

February has been full of up’s and down’s but a lot has been taken away from it.

Happy Climbing!