Since mid june when school stopped and I had to study for the upcoming exams, I have had one primary goal besides the preparation; to get back in shape. I wanted to get back into a rhythm of training that would include every single day, so that I could quickly improve and get in shape for the summer.  

  In the beginning it felt like I was an old, fat, lazy woman who had been forced to join the military in the believe that she was Superwoman (or in my case perhaps Katwoman.) Because I figured that if my chance of improving enough to do hard projects this summer should be realistic, I would not only have to climb a lot, but also improve my general fitness a lot. This meant doing lots of different sports besides climbing. So I started swimming in the morning and running on my non climbing days (“rest” days.) In the beginning I was really slow. I ran 10 km in 50 minutes and swam 1,250 km in 40 minutes. But as the days passed by and I continued to work really hard, I started to improve. I now run 10 km in 44 minutes and swim 1,250 km in 20 minutes. Still not as fast as I think I can be, but I’ll just have to work as hard as I have already been working. It pays off! My climbing fitness also improved drastically. Strength is easy to achieve fast if you are willing to work for it. But it is not the same thing with endurance. As one can say; Rome was not build in one days - or in this case two months. Even though I had done everything I could doing endurance training as often as my body could, my endurance was not what it used to be. But I figured that there was barely anything I could do about it, and instead of letting it get to me. On the 28th of June I went to Linz, Austria along with the rest of the Danish National Team. We were going to contest in the European Youth Cup held in the climbing gym, Kletterhalle Linz. An amazing climbing gym with great competition walls. The only thing that bothered me, and I am sure also several if not all of the other climbers, were the EXTREME heat! At the time we arrived to Linz it was late at night and 37 C degrees outside. That is definitely not something we are used to. Everybody feared that the weather should get any more hot on the day of the competition. On the day of the competition it was nearly 40 C degrees or even more outside. It was horrible! And if that was not enough, we all realised that it was no rescue getting inside and especially not getting inside the climbing gym. Imagine more than 210 climbers warming up at the same time in the same small area where the air condition is not exactly characterised by being the greatest of its kind. Not that funny I can tell you. AND! As if that is not enough, add to this 40+ C degrees outside and no wind what so ever. It was horrible. Not even after the toughest, longest or hardest workouts have I felt like burning up inside and outside, been as sweaty as I was after warming my muscles and body up for the qualification rounds. I would swear that I was about 50 C degrees inside that climbing gym! Besides the heat the competition went flawless. It was really professionally and well organised. The routes were amazing as well. On the first qualification route I did quite well. Even though I used all of my six minutes and therefore had to be pulled down the wall, I was placed 13th. Since 10 were going to make it to the final, I got really psyched for the next route. But as much as I had tried to focus on all the things I had improved on the two months of intense training, it really turned out that, like Rome, my shape could not be build in two months only. On the second qualification round my lack of endurance forced me off the wall far too early. Naturally I fell in the ranking. I was rank 18th. Which was OK, but not as good as it could have been. I was really disappointed after the competition. But my motivation for the next competitions in the fall is sky high. But first I have to do some rock climbing! Today I am leaving for France where I am hopefully going to climb a lot of rock! Perhaps I will find a project or two. Or perhaps not. I have not plans other than to have fun an climb a lot! I can not wait to get back to training. My goal for the next competitions is to make it to a final. But first, I will go to France and climb some rock!