Carlos Tkacz returns and is joined by his partner Steph Letourneau for a sitdown here in Rocklands. We talked about their diet habits, lessons from their 7 trips to Rocklands, learning to try harder, comparison games, respecting the difficulty of climbing, being good at being consistent, balancing your carbon footprint, making the most of a climbing trip to South Africa, writing novels, and much more!
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Carlos's Previous Episode:
EP 58: Carlos Tkacz
Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/carlos-and-steph
Nuggets:
0:03:36 – Breakfast and food habits
0:06:24 – Trading climbing days with your partner
0:08:48 – Resting more to climb harder
0:11:01 – 7 trips to Rocklands apiece, and how to make long flights better
0:13:12 – Teaching and going back to school
0:19:01 – Why Carlos and Steph keep coming back to Rocklands year after year
0:21:23 – Steph’s experience on her first trip to Rocklands, and why both of them prefer bouldering to trad climbing
0:28:01 – Describing Rocklands’ style, Carlos’ first 8B ‘Monkey Business', and learning to try harder
0:33:10 – Steph’s lesson in trying hard, practicing her yell in the car, and getting hyped on Adele
0:37:21 – Carlos' experience watching a guy yell in Thailand, Coach Carlos, and asking if people want feedback
0:39:50 – Steph’s send of ‘Ghost in the Darkness’ 7C/+, and trying ‘Caroline’ 7C+
0:43:02 – Carlos’ tick list from the trip, sending ‘Airstar’ 8B, and reconnecting with the joy of climbing
0:46:16 – What helped Carlos change his mindset, and sending ‘Into the Void’ 8B
0:50:01 – Sending ‘Airstar’, and drawing inspiration from “the kids”
0:52:36 – Favorite Rocklands films
0:57:21 – Struggling with comparison games, respecting the difficulty of climbing, and doing your best
1:07:35 – Climbing is centralizing, and mental energy as a finite resource
1:09:42 – Unpacking my feelings about not progressing quickly enough, and our American obsession with speed
1:12:21 – Being good at being consistent
1:14:12 – Dopamine hits vs. building relationships with climbs
1:19:22 – Growing as a climber in Rocklands, and the stories we tell ourselves
1:22:13 – My shift in mindset in Rocklands, and redefining a lifetime worth of climbing
1:24:47 – Steph talks about how every season in Rocklands is a completely different experience
1:27:02 – Getting the most out of the experience in South Africa, and learning about the place and its history and politics
1:35:27 – Taking breaks from climbing to have other experiences
1:41:53 – Planning the whole year around their Rocklands trips, and doing two 12-week training blocks
1:45:47 – Teaching
1:55:41 – Flying, carbon footprint, and how our brains make shortcuts
2:06:29 – Being a park person, and how we’ve impacted nature
2:09:26 – Steph’s thoughts on climate from a physics perspective, and trying to be carbon neutral on balance
2:16:59 – Offsetting CO2 emissions
2:20:44 – How they fit their 12-week training blocks into a school semester
2:23:27 – The Training Trip, and building a community in Vegas
2:28:59 – Nesting and baby fever
2:33:04 – Training Weight, and the commitment to family
2:36:16 – Carlos’ new book list
2:40:31 – Speculative fiction
2:42:09 – Carlos’ latest book projects, and Steph’s first novel
2:45:59 – Carlos’ horror film
2:48:19 – Steph’s new book project, and where to find her first book
2:49:54 – Publishing a book
2:53:04 – The feedback Steph got from her publisher
2:54:58 – The Day You Became A Better Writer by Scott Adams
2:56:23 – Having a family, ‘Sky’ as the final boss of the 8Bs, and making the horror movie
2:58:24 – Enjoying the process
2:59:40 – What’s next?
SEND ALERT: Will Bosi — ‘Return of the Sleepwalker’ V17, and What He Plans to Try Next!
EP 207: Paul Houghoughi (The Climbing Physio) — How to Rehab Finger Injuries, Build Bulletproof Wrists & Elbows, and Never Get Injured Again
EP 206: Building a Perfect Replica of ‘The Big Island’ V15, Training on Your Projects, and the Ideal Circuit — Charlie Schreiber Returns
SEND ALERT: Kai Lightner — ‘Life of Villains’ 9a, Not Rushing the Process, and Building Jamaica’s First Climbing Wall
EP 205: Adrian Vanoni — Finger Crack Wizardry, Blue Collar Sending, and Lucid Dreams About Beta
EP 204: Anak Verhoeven — How to Build 9a Endurance, Why Motivation Trumps Fancy Facilities, and Being Public About Her Faith
EP 203: Jakob Schubert — World Champion to 9c and 9A, Adam Ondra’s Risky and Efficient Style, and Failing on ‘Sleepwalker’
SEND ALERT: Jon Cardwell — Establishing ‘Wind Up Bird’ 5.15b, and Uphill Athlete Training
EP 202: Tyler Nelson Returns — How to Get Stronger Fingers, Habits to Prevent Injuries, and Why Climbers Shouldn’t Train Like Gymnasts
EP 201: James Pearson — The Full Redemption Story, Proposing the Mythical Grade of E12, and Climbing Harder After Kids
EP 200: Brooke Raboutou — An Olympian’s Mindset, Dancing on the Wall, and Competing Against Your Friends
EP 199: Will Anglin & Matt Jones — A Masterclass in How to Progress Your Climbing
EP 198: Travis Tameirao — The Day His Life Changed Forever, Climbing V10+ With an Artificial Knee, and Taking the Wheel
EP 197: Melina Costanza Returns — Harnessing the Power of Nerves, Praising Your Effort, and Choosing Good Over Perfect
EP 196: Pete Whittaker — Chasing the Hardest Cracks in the World, Embracing the Suck, and Futuristic Desert Projects
EP 195: Matt Segal Returns — The Recipe for a Peak Year, Cooking Tips, and High Summits and Higher Grades
EP 194: Will Anglin — Why We Should Treat Climbing Like Baseball, and the #1 Thing All Climbers Should Do
EP 193: Mat Wright — Risking It All to Send, The Power of Specific Goals, and Relaxing Hard to Climb Harder
EP 192: Alex Biale — Bootlegging Wine, Training With Ollie Torr, and the Keys to a Balanced Life
EP 191: Jesse Firestone Returns — Finding Silver Linings, How to Move Like Adam Ondra, and Key Benefits of Visualization
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