EP 103: Mina Leslie-Wujastyk — Chasing Flow State, The Role of Cleverness in Climbing, and Becoming a Mom

Mina Leslie-Wujastyk is a professional climber from the UK. She is also a writer, speaker, and co-host of the Curious Climber Podcast along with Hazel Findlay. We talked about her early life, impermanence, flow state, learning to try really hard, how she made the switch from hard boulders to hard sport routes, what sets high-level climbers apart, and the decision to become a mom.

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/mina-leslie-wujastyk

Nuggets:

0:05:52 – Baby life

0:09:40 – How Mina and I met, and her road trip to the US in 2012

0:14:18 – Mina at age 25, and competing on the World Cup circuit

0:18:10 – Project mentality, quick sends, and unfinished business

0:21:02 – Patron question from Konstantinos, and Mina’s first gym and early climbing mentors

0:24:27 – Living in India as a kid and how that shaped Mina’s worldview

0:30:28 – Impermanence, and the lesson Mina learned from her dad as an early teenager

0:33:09 – Being exposed to both indoor and outdoor climbing as a kid

0:35:22 – Doing both route climbing and bouldering as a teenager, bouldering as social-climbing, and making the British team

0:38:03 – Mina’s first trip to Rocklands South Africa and more about her road trip around the US

0:40:14 – Bouldering in the South East (US) and climbing in the Red River Gorge

0:42:01 – Loving climbing, pushing too hard, and crashing

0:47:52 – The challenge makes the experience

0:51:55 – Flow and highballing

0:58:16 – How climbing ethics shape our experience

1:00:43 – Why do we seek flow?

1:03:12 – Tapping into our most primal selves

1:04:46 – An excerpt from Mina’s article: ‘Pushing It’, and British ascents

1:08:11 – Learning to try really hard, and the yin and the yang

1:12:52 – Unfinished business

1:16:28 – ‘Just Do It’

1:19:27 – What lead Mina to shift her focus to sport climbing

1:22:44 – Climbing the 70m ‘Totally Free 2’ in one pitch, and stashing candy in her sports bra

1:28:48 – How aerobic capacity training (Aero Cap) helped her transition to sport climbing

1:35:19 – What sets high-level boulders apart, and how good tactics make the difference

1:40:25 – What specific tactics Mina learned from her partner David, and a funny story

1:45:35 – What sets high-level sport climbers apart, and Mina’s experience on ‘Nordic Plumber’

1:49:20 – “Climbing isn’t just about being fit and strong, it’s about being clever and creative”

1:50:54 – Mina’s thoughts on returning to ‘Rainshadow’, and two bad accidents

1:57:52 – The decision to have a kid

2:03:52 – RED-S, and how her recovery led to the decision to have Isaac

2:07:26 – The best surprises with becoming a mom, and the miracle of pregnancy

2:11:13 – Question from Anna about training during pregnancy

2:15:58 – Studying nutrition, and thoughts on nutrition during pregnancy

2:18:22 – What led to starting The Curious Climber Podcast, and recommended episodes (linked in show notes)

2:23:54 – Wrap up