Circle Up!

In this first episode of “Beta & Banter” Kyra and Allison answer questions from the listeners! This will likely become a regular segment or work in as stand alone episodes of the podcast. From how to avoid burnout as a youth climber to how to deal with being the “worst” climber of your group of friends, we try our best to answer your climbing queries with practical and personal advice.

This week’s episode is Kyra and Allison’s first attempt at recording with each other online instead of in person, so sorry for any audio quality differences! Allison and Kyra start by chatting about the impact route setting has on injuries we see at competitions and the challenging job of route setters, specifically in relation to recent World Cups and Olympic Qualifying Series. They talk about dangerous moves, resent fails and wins, and who clinched their Olympic berth in Budapest! Let us know what you think!

In this week's episode, Kyra and her mom, Cathy, talk about Cathy's career as an electrical engineer in the biomedical space. Cathy shares some personal stories from when she was in school, the challenges of raising two kids while getting her Master's Degree from the University of Minnesota, and some words of wisdom from her years in a male-dominated industry (much like the climbing world is, or has been). Kyra speaks on some of her experiences and ways she tries to fight the patriarchy with "micro-feminisms".

Welcome to our first episode of Hot Takes! Wondering about socks in your climbing shoes? If climbing a harder grade makes you immune to being a "gumby"? Or have you ever wondered if climbing v15 or getting a sub 5 second time on the speed wall is more impressive? Kyra and Allison share all their personal opinions on lister requested topics!

In this episode Campbell Harrison, future Olympian and World Cup climber from Australia, takes Allison's place alongside Kyra. They talk about competition stresses, imposter syndrome, mental health, training far from home, the trials and tribulations of addressing RED-s in climbing, and their time spent together on the IFSC Athlete commission. They banter about ways they hope to make change as well as their want to be a role model for the future generation. *TW*: mental health and eating disorders (second half of the episode).

Allison and Kyra tackle the subject of mental and physical plateaus in this week's episode. From how to turn mentally "weak" days into successful sessions and tricks to switch up your training (or when to back off) when you're in a rut.

In this episode Allison takes on an interviewer role and talks to Kyra about her "back story". They cover how Kyra originally found out she had scoliosis, the surgery, the Olympics, and learning to cope with having a form of a disability. Should be interesting for those with and without scoliosis!

Allison and Kyra recap the recent start to the world cup season both with Kyra's attendance at the events and general thoughts about how competitions are run and what could be done better/different in the future. They talk about weather-related delays, the new trends in route-setting, Kyra's attitude at the first competitions of the season, and more!

Kyra and Allison catch up about what they've been doing during their podcasting break. They give insight into some of their life updates and how they use body cues to know when they should back off training or increase training load. They also talk about the pros and cons of using a training journal, what they do instead currently, and the attitude in climbing/sport of glorifying "the grind". They finish up with a fun Q&A with both climbing related and non-climbing related topics.

Kyra and Allison break down everything you need, and didn't need, to know about what has happened thus far on the Road to Paris 2024. Starting with a recap of the excitement and World Championships, they go into a play by play of what happened and who qualified at every Olympic Qualifying Event so far for Sport Climbing.