Workouts: Week 1

Day 1: My First Pyramid of 2012

My hand is feeling good. My strength is coming back good and plenty. Still not where I’d like it. But there’s a lot of work still to go.

My goal was to warm up on some traverses, low level top outs. Stretching. The workout was 4xV2’s, 3xV3’s, 2xV4’s, 1xV5, 2xV4’s, 3xV3’s, 4xV2’s.

Warm ups were good. No issues. The place was crowded, which slowed everything down. I needed that. Not speeding through it made the work go better.

The rests were approximately the length of time it took to complete the previous route. Except when I change difficulty where I would take 5 minutes.

4xV2’s was super easy. The 3xV3’s were also perfectly fine and I had no issues. When I hit the 2xV4’s I began to struggle. I still finished but noticed my core weakening… maybe all the core work with my athletes caught up with me.

The V5 is where I hit the wall (I’ve really got to think of a new saying.). I picked a really pretty and slopey V5. I started it. The overhanging problem really was a horrible idea. I recently tweaked my hamstring (can’t catch a break) and two heel hooks later, I was in some serious pain.

I moved on to two more v5’s. I worked them but couldn’t seem to get it. I moved down to the second set of V4’s. Pretty certain I didn’t finish them. 3 attempts each.

Moved to the 3xV3’s. found some really fun ones. But my right hand was toast. My lack of callusing and still healing hand left me raw… and a bit swollen.

I couldn’t finish. Now would have been a good time to stop because I was sore and hurting. Nope, I stopped because I couldn’t continue. Haha ok. That’s it. Have a good night.

Day 2: Getting back on the Horse.

Attempting a 4x4 workout. My goal was one set of V2,V3,V4,V2. Rest between reps was meant to be the time it would take to re-chalk and start. After the 4 problems, 7 minute rest.

I picked a section with the routes right next to each other. But the place was busy and even if an area was empty when I started, it quickly filled. This made keeping time difficult.

I switched to longer routes of the same grades. Repeat that 4 times. That was the plan.

Set #3, I bumped up V2,V3,V4,V3. Huge Jump, Right? The V4’s were super crimpy. Still Struggling there.

The Last set was V2, V3… I fell from a few moves in and laid on my back, toast. My endurance is completely shot. I don’t mind the raw hands or the swollen fingers… But feeling like I just ran repeat 400 meter Dashes sucks (Thankfully, no butt lock.).

Until Friday!

Day 3: What I meant to do Friday…

Day 3 was supposed to happen yesterday. But it’s been a pretty rough week across the board for the Carr family, so that took priority.

I moved Friday’s workout to Saturday. Then the workout became a climb session. I took my friend Bryan climbing. He’s been a few times, But is still very new.

I focused on trying to help him think more about his feet, as opposed to the number on the routes. He still managed to pick beautifully technical V2’s that just murdered him. Kudo’s to him for not getting frustrated and sticking it out.

I just found fun, moderate climbs around Bryan, working on technique and making the sends smooth. I want to give some praise to the route setters at The Circuit. The difficulty seems to have increased for the grades. All still very manageable, but you’ll feel a bit more accomplished pulling down a newer, harder problem.

I finished my night on a V6. All Slopers and super slick feet. I liked it. I didn’t feel held back by my hand… ok, not true… starting the problem took a minute or so to figure out. But I felt good. Great even. Just not enough endurance to work through the whole problem yet.

But it makes me feel like my technique is still there, and if I keep training and healing smart… I’ll be back and better than ever in no time.

Goodnight,

James

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