Sport Climbing and Training (Not exactly related)

Oh man. Tonight was amazing. Had work and then headed to the gym. I had every intention of doing a nice grueling workout. However, the crowded gym made this nearly impossible.

Let’s back up. In the previous post, didn’t I say I’d be taking it easy? No projecting or brutal workouts? Yes. So what the heck?! Well, I decided that my aerobic endurance was terrible, and working on that would be a fun, easy (sort of), stressless way to spend the next month and a half.

Saturday’s workout was beautiful. Nice 30 minute warm up. Followed by a good stretch. Goal was to climb every V3 in the gym as smooth as possible with 3 minutes rest between burns (Burns: attempts at a route.). I also get a 10 minute rest halfway through. I wanted to stick right in that aerobic zone. Actually, I just didn’t want to hit my anaerobic threshold. In total, I had three falls and 15 routes leaving 3 or 4 in the roof and surrounding overhang. Definitely should have started there.

It ended with a feeling similar to a long uphill bike ride (and complete muscle failure haha). My hands were missing most calluses, or they were worn away. And I was wiped out. My cool down was supposed to be to slow climb V2-VB (Vb is the lowest grade… similar to climbing a ladder), which was brutal. But it all felt so good. I slept really well.

A lot of people wanted to advise me on the right way to train. Some advice was much more useful than others. But what this workout made me realize (along with the advice I was given…) is that despite the very climbing specific work that needs to be done, the body is still a human body and responds just like it would in any other sport. It’s only taking all the knowledge I already know about training athletes and applying it to benefit me in climbing.

Just so you know… I’ve read more text books in the last year than I did while I was in college. All sorts of texts on sport specific training and the human body and I have to be honest… The human body is still the human body, no matter what sport it’s participating in. Mind Blown? Mine too. A lot of the analogies some of the more experienced climbers used to relate the training they spoke to me about were using Track and weight lifting. Two extremely different sports from climbing and yet the strategies were identical to how I train my athletes. These were some of the same ideas that some members of the climbing community shunned me for considering recently. Haha glad I stuck to my guns. :)

And before I hop back on topic (I know, I’m all over the place. I’m improvising from my rough draft.) I just want to give kudos to top rope/Lead/Trad and all the other sport climbers out there. Every sport I’ve done in my life has focused entirely on short maximal efforts and with only a few exceptions have required serious attention to any kind of aerobic conditioning. The thought of training for sport climbing is both daunting and frightening to me. Much like being a pole vaulter who is told to run an 800m in a meet, or worse (in my case) the 1500. Forcing myself to improve and grow as a climbing athlete is something that will be really good for me. I just have to stomach it. And back on topic.

My plan tonight was to try a “4x4.” Definitely an anaerobic workout. Simply, 4 routes varied in difficulty (ex. V2,V4,V3,V2) done consecutively with 10 minutes rest between sets and repeated 3 more times. But the walls were so busy, I got stuck waiting nearly 3 min between burns ruining what I wanted to accomplish.

So I ended up playing. I was shocked by how I was doing. I already warm so I starting down. Flashed some V5’s and got a V6 on the second burn (foot slipped… oops.). and V7’s are becoming so… friendly. If I had started the evening intending to project that V7 I would have finished it. And I’m fairly confident I can finish it in one or two burns the next time I’m in.

However, due to crowds, I think I’ll be using the old Circuit gym to train. Campus ladders, Hang boards, and a building full of new problems sounds like what I need.

Anyways, that’s all. No, I lied. I signed up for the Portland Boulder Rally on December 3^rd. if I climb like I did tonight I’ll be sure to demolish my performance from my last comp. Plus, Carlo Traversi and Sierra Blair-Coyle are said to be there. Ok. Bye. :)

James

First Comp

The first time I ever ran the 400 meter dash in a competition was my sophomore year of track. Our best 400m runner gave me some really awesome advice. I listened, ran over the information in my head, and climbed into the blocks. As soon as the gun went off, I tore out of there like a bat out of hell. I cranked out in front of everyone. I was running the 200m. Soon, the sound of footsteps faded behind me and that last turn came up and I realized… I still had 200 very long meters to go. My legs began to lock up, my lungs began to burn and by the end of that race it was taking everything I had just to keep from face planting on the finish line.

This is pretty much the exact same thing that happened during my first indoor bouldering competition. If you missed me, talking about it here… I went up to Tacoma for Edgework’s annual Blacklight comp. It was 3 hours of pulling down the hardest routes you can for points. Kyle tried to coach me, giving great advice like “slow down, take it easy, keep a relaxed warm up.” But I was there when the kids competed. I had been staring at these beautiful and creative routes all day and all I could hear was “blah, blah, blah… GET IT!”

Kyle had to talk me down from trying to tackle a relatively easy problem that had a cool jump start. “Is that what you would normally do? Or would you warm up on easy problems and get to the harder stuff.” So, I tackled the easiest problem I found close by… and then immediately hopped on the jump start. And then tackled the next one. And the next one and by the end of the first hour I was pumped out, cramping, breathing heavy and oh yeah… toast.

I didn’t stop though. It would be another 30 minutes before Kyle convinced me to take a 30 minute break and try to recover before pushing through the rest of the comp. I came up with some really interesting beta to work around my quickly diminishing arm strength… finding dyno’s where they weren’t intended. Bear hugging and hyperextending my arms occasionally instead of using crimps I didn’t like. You know… the usual.

And probably the biggest thing I failed to realize was… I was projecting at or near my max for most of the day. Instead of pulling several problems that I could flash I began getting so hungry for the fun routes that I forgot I was supposed to be getting points. Not falling a lot and trying again before I had fully recovered.

The one thing I did, with no issue at all, was have an amazing time. That was my whole goal. Try something I haven’t done before and focus completely on just enjoying the atmosphere. The volunteer judges and spotters were awesome to talk to and quite entertaining. They seemed to really love being there helping out. And that really added to the atmosphere. Several friends asked me if I was nervous before going in, and I simply told them no. I was there to have fun. And the volunteers all helped make sure that happened.

The setting was amazing. I don’t know if I’m one who really takes the time to appreciate the aesthetic of the movement in climbing. It’s something I feel I’m only now beginning to grasp. But something about these routes, about the beta that was forced in a lot of places, just made for some really beautiful moves. And when they linked together it really just inspired me in a way this sport hadn’t before.

The time aspect, and only having five attempts at a route really made me pay attention to a route before I stepped onto it. I can’t see well in the dark (lol… awesome.) and so I was struggling a bit on figuring out what a hold would be like before I actually got to it. But I really felt myself relaxing. Even when I was on the wall, I didn’t feel panicked, or nervous because my beta wasn’t working how I wanted. I held on and pushed through. And I’m proud of that.

I saw some familiar faces from the Circuit, my home gym. And met some awesome new people. Johnny Goicoechea was there. He’s like a lion. I say that because of his hair. But there was a power and control there I haven’t ever seen in person. And when I talked to him, he was really chill and humble. Very laid back and ready to celebrate the competition with the fellow climbers.

And speaking of which, as soon as the comp ended, a couple of kegs were tapped and prizes were thrown out to the audience. Prizes were also given to the winners in a few of the categories and the energy was high all night. Even at the after, after party… where I got to actually talk with the volunteers and several of Kyle’s climbing friends from the gym. It was really was an awesome end to amazing night.

I guess the last thing I’ll leave you with tonight is a funny story about Kyle during prize throwing. He REALLY wanted some chalk. I’m not going to say what made him think he really needed this chalk, but he was going to be loud enough to make sure the throwers knew he was needy. When the chalk finally came his way, he swats it down and scrambles on the ground for it, creating a scene. A very loud and entertaining scene. As he stands up to show off his prize, he holds in the air with a look of “behold!” as a Petzl chalk bag hits his raised hand and sticks to it. The look of shock and excitement reached high pitch levels a man of Kyle’s size normally wouldn’t reach.

I won nothing. I got lots of stickers and a T-shirt. But that’s cool. I had an amazing time regardless. I didn’t need to win anything. And I learned a ton about the sport and how I can improve and change my strategy for next time. Which is December 3^rd at The Circuit. :) have a goodnight guys. I’m passing out.

Update? lol

I have not been updating. I basically fell off the blogosphere after my post on getting that first v7. Why? Super busy, sick, needed a break, planning a massive shoot (that got cancelled… wah wah.) and growing a beard. It’s more draining than you think.

So what have I been doing? Well… it’s 1:32 am currently and I’m going to knock out this blog so I don’t continue to leave you hanging.

As far as climbing goes, I changed my strategy to work on footwork. It’s amazing how setting a simple goal of “not being so sloppy with my feet.” …actually scratch that. Put in the positive, please. “Being better with my feet.” Really helped dial in my focus. It also gave my upper body joints a reprieve from the constant abuse I place them under. I very quickly noticed how quiet my stepping became and how much more efficient I felt.

And though I’m far from finished on that front, I am improving.

Next… Training with the college kids has seemed to be very counter productive in my training for a v10. In fact, between the morning workouts and the having a couple jobs and then not sleeping because I WILL get my time in at the gym… I’ve struggled to even tackle v5’s. For this reason, and several others, I will probably be limiting the amount of time I spend with the College kids (outside of our actual practice time… Because that’s pole vault, my other love.) just so I don’t continue to hinder my progress.

As I mentioned, I had a really awesome film shoot scheduled for about 2 weeks ago. However it got cancelled. The art of CYA, or Cover Your Ass, came into effect and I didn’t do a good enough job of it. It’s not often I make big mistakes, or mistakes I can’t correct. But I was spread too thin and I got sloppy. Noted. Lesson Learned. Moving on.

And since I had all that fun equipment, I asked my gym (The Circuit) if I could come in before closing and shoot some climbers doing some routes. It ended up being just me, with one camera, but the footage looks useable and I’m very excited for what I can do with that little bit of tester footage. Hopefully if I impress enough people, maybe I can do something a little bigger with more crew and deliver some really nice product. Product, simply meaning a finished video… not necessarily something I’m trying to make a ton of money from.

And THAT is my Third, and most important love. The one I don’t think I could live without. For example, this labor of love, is also something I finished in the time since we last spoke.

A music video I did for Tim Lundy, the guy who does all the sound for my projects at Intense Entertainment.

The only other thing I’ve been doing is trying to learn some new training techniques. Despite everything I know about strength training and training the body to improve via muscle recruitment, or PNF or any other number of training tools… I really want to specifically learn training regimens geared towards improving my Technique. So I’m reading The Self Coached Climber, and learning some new tricks from that.

That’s all I’m going to post in here, tonight. Saturday, I’m participating in my first Competition. Just for fun. It’ll be at Edgeworks in Tacoma Washington. I really want to just hop in and have a good time. No stress for how well I perform compared to everyone else. Just compete against myself. If I can keep that in mind, I’m sure to have an awesome time.

Have a great night. I’ll give you the play by play on Monday… give or take a few days. ;)

James