This weekend, Joe Rockhead’s Climbing Gym will host part four of The Open Boulder National Series, an event sanctioned by Climbing Escalade Canada. With the distance between events in Canada, it is often the case that those athletes from Western Canada are not able to attend events in the east due to time and money constraints. This weekend, however, we were lucky enough to track down Kelly Drager of the Calgary Climbing Centre who flew to Toronto yesterday.
Kelly has long been an active member of the Calgary climbing scene and has been a competitor numerous times at climbing events held in the lower mainland. She also works as a Sports Dietician at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary. Here is what Kelly had to say about the event this weekend and the climbing scene in Calgary.
Kelly Drager at the Tour De Bloc. Photo Courtesy of Kelly Drager ©
Hi Kelly, how is it going? Getting reading to travel to Toronto?
Great! Yes…definitely looking forward to supporting Joe Rockhead’s National Series event.
What made you want to fly across the country to compete this weekend?
Lucky for me, I’m working in Toronto Monday to Wednesday so I was able to go a little earlier and get some ‘competition training’ in. I don’t think I would make it out here otherwise.
What keeps you motivated to compete in so many events?
I’m still improving and learning…that’s motivating not to mention there are never ending routes, boulders, and destinations to explore. The same is true for competitions. Route setters give us these little presents that are full of thought and creativity. Every comp is like opening a brand new set of presents! Who doesn’t like presents!
kelly representing the CCC. Photo courtesy of Shane Murdoch ©
The Calgary climbing team always seems to show up at events. Can you tell us a little about the Calgary climbing scene?
It’s growing, haha. I find the indoor climbing scene is transitioning towards adopting more deliberate training methods to enhance bouldering skills and performance. There are some dedicated groups that are motivators in pushing this forward and overall it’s an exciting time for climbing. My profession includes working with high level sport where this type of training which involves various sport science methods have been around for years…it was just a matter of time before climbing embraced more components to further push limits.
You work at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary as a Sports DIetician. What does a typical day look like for you?
Most days I would have meetings with the integrated sport teams (IST) for the sports I work with discussing how athletes are doing or items that need to be addressed in the daily training environment or competitions. The IST typically includes the strength and conditioning trainer, exercise physiologist, sport dietitian, medical lead, physiotherapist or other therapy lead, and coaching staff. Other meetings for the day are with athletes (either first time consults or follow-ups). Then I’ll make a grocery run to purchase food for a kitchen nutrition workshop later in the day and prepare recipe handouts and session content. Any non-contact time I’m preparing resources, developing nutrition protocols, presentations, and working on research projects.
Do you have a specific area of research you are most interested in?
I’d like to build on the information I gained from my masters in the area of energy needs for athletes to maintain peak performance and health. I studied some of these components regarding the female athlete but would like to look at the effects in both males and females.
Photo courtesy of Shane Murdoch ©
Do you think that specific changes in diet would enhance the performance of the typical ‘working’ climber?
No doubt! It often boggles my mind that people place emphasis on training and making time for 2-3 hour sessions and missing the fact we eat more times in the day then we train and are exposed to food and lifestyle choices constantly. Food intake should be planned and purposeful just like training. And it’s not about perfection but consistency.
If you had to give one area of diet that climbers could focus on, what would it be?
This is really different for each individual…I usually start with the ABCs of nutrition (amounts, balance and consistency) and break each component down for the person to make them function for the athlete’s goals and lifestyle.
Photo courtesy of Shane Murdoch ©
The Alberta climbing scene seems to have embraced indoor climbing and has a lot of enthusiasm. What do you think attributes to the psych of this community?
Typically, (maybe not this year) winters are long and cold and we want to be ready to hit real rock when the season starts. Indoor climbing allows us to train and maintain that psych for the season. When you love your sport you want to share your passion…so it brings people in and the psych cycle continues
Have you made any changes this year in your training schedule or technique to give you a competitive edge?
Nutrition (just kidding). We have a great Pro Team this year where we all motivate each other. The addition of the ‘Team Room’ at Chinook (45 degree boulder room) provided some additional training terrain that was previously missing. Really, it’s never one thing…a combination of having amazing team members, a patient coach, and spending time at competitions all help.
Can you explain a few of the training methods you are talking about?
Functional movement, gymnastic training principles and exercises, employment of expertise from strength and conditioning specialists
Can you tell us a bit about the ‘movement training’ that is starting to be adopted by climbers in Calgary?
Increased range of motion around the shoulder and hips for sure. Body awareness of setting up movement and engaging the appropriate muscles to do the work. Myself, over the years have built up muscle patterns that don’t allow for maximal range and contraction. And being 155cm, I need all the range I can get! There’s so much info on this type of training / movement, it’s finding who’s delivery resonates with you…I’m a visual person so for many of the exercises I watch Carl Paoli’s WOD videos.
The size of Canada often presents some difficulties for everyone to compete in the same events. What direction do you see competitions in Canada going?
Well, the good thing is that the athlete’s like competing. The logistics still need some tweaking to better function for the athlete but if the structure of competition climbing is built around the athlete, they will come.
Any outdoor climbing goals this year?
Always! Heading to one of my favorite areas in the spring (Smith Rocks) and then hoping to finish up some business from last year in the Bow Valley.
There is just so many great lines in the sport climbing areas on Grotto mountain but I did put some time into full Buffet Royale last year and so would like to get back on it with my soon to be purchase 100m rope!
Kelly in the Rockies. Photo by Gery Unterasinger courtesy of Kelly Drager
Any goals outside of climbing?
Hoping to continue with some research areas with my work and perhaps further education to progress the sport nutrition field in Canada.
Thanks Kelly. Good luck this weekend! We hope to learn more about movement training and diet. Stay tuned to Squamish Climbing Magazine for full results.
Kelly Drager is a Sports Dietician and dedicated climber. Special thanks to Shane Murdoch for the photos.
