Lea Volpe is a paraclimber for Great Britain and a 2x medalist at the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships. Lea holds down a 9-5 job working in health policy, coaches junior athletes, and is essentially a professional climber on the side. We talked about paraclimbing competitions, being diagnosed with Ataxia, how we perceive wheelchairs, empathy in coaching, and much more.
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/lea-volpe
Nuggets:
0:07:04 – Getting over covid
0:08:06 – A normal weekday in Lea’s life
0:11:32 – How Lea recharges her mental batteries
0:14:14 – Balancing an intellectual and sedentary job with the physical activity of climbing
0:16:54 – How most climbers feel guilty for taking downtime
0:18:59 – Lea’s energy reserves, and learning to budget her energy
0:21:28 – An introduction to paraclimbing, Lea’s disability of Ataxia, and strategies she uses to climb around a coordination and balance impairment
0:26:32 – Why Lea uses a wheelchair day-to-day, and climbing with her disability
0:31:33 – Experiencing imposter syndrome as a strong para athlete
0:34:04 – How climbing levels the playing field, and how many of us start at V0
0:36:58 – Failure is part of climbing
0:39:06 – Lea’s life as a kid and teenager, and getting diagnosed with Ataxia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome in her early 20s
0:44:21 – How Lea discovered climbing
0:46:10 – How we perceive people in wheelchairs, and feeling self-conscious at the climbing wall
0:53:00 – What we can learn from Lea in regards to how we think about disability
0:58:01 – The paraclimbing competition format, and some of the different athlete categories
1:02:04 – Climbing to be in the paraolympics, and classification systems
1:07:03 – How athletes get assessed to determine their classification
1:17:35 – How route setters influence competition outcomes, and setting guidelines in paraclimbing competitions
1:20:47 – Working with a coach vs. being self-coached
1:24:51 – Keeping training sustainable
1:28:49 – What a “bad day” looks like for Lea
1:35:48 – How Lea got into coaching
1:42:24 – What Lea hopes to pass on to the kids she coaches, and the role of coach/teacher
1:48:10 – Having the questions vs. asking questions, and qualities that make a good coach
1:51:40 – Empathy in coaching, and how climbing brings out our deepest and darkest fears
1:56:12 – Inspiration porn and how it can reduce people down to a tool, and how Lea wants to use her platform
2:02:42 – The barriers involved in climbing outdoors
2:13:22 – What’s next for Lea
EP 79: Tyler Nelson — A Deep Dive Into Blood Flow Restriction (BFR), Finger Training, and Doughnut Eating
EP 78: Jason Kehl — Karate Screams, Chronology of Hairstyles, and Bouldering with Cargo Nets
EP 77: Allison Vest — A Competitor’s Mindset, Fun Challenges, and the Secret to One-Arm Hangs
Follow-Up: Shanjean Lee — Free Climbing El Cap (Teaser)
A Call from Ethan
EP 76: Q&A 2 — Party Tricks vs. Useful Exercises, Training for Long-Term Goals, and Octopus Wrestling
EP 75: John Long — Yosemite Tales, the Love of Writing, and Opening Up About Alcoholism
Follow-Up: William Woodward — Sailing Stories, Vanlife Tips, and How to Wash Dishes (Teaser)
EP 74: Tom Randall on Patience, Finger Training, and the Late Night Climbing Show
EP 73: Kyle O’Meara — Favorite First Ascents, Experience vs. Strength, and Sharing the Love of Climbing
Follow-Up: Katie Lambert — Zebra Stripes, and the Goal to Climb 300 5.13s (Teaser)
EP 72: Eric Hörst (Part 2) — Coaching Kids, Training Slopers and Pinches, and the Science of Collagen
EP 71: Eric Hörst (Part 1) — TV Weather, Campusing vs. Hangboarding, and How to Train Your Core
Follow-Up: Alex Johnson — Sending The Mother F***ing Swarm (Teaser)
EP 70: Steve Maisch — How to Structure a Bouldering Trip, the 85% Rule, and Hueco Debrief
EP 69: Ron Kauk — Hollywood Stories, Camp 4 in the 70s, and Connecting with Mother Nature
Follow-Up: Ken Klein — The 3 Things We Should Be Assessing As Climbers (Teaser)
EP 68: Steve McClure — Hitchhiking Stories, Tenacity vs. Strength, and Making Your Own Luck
EP 67: Heth Jennings — Understanding Pain, Rehabbing Climbing Injuries, and Carb Backloading
Follow-Up: Mercedes Pollmeier — Your Flexibility Questions Answered (Teaser)
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