Training phase completed... finally

27 Feb 2012

Wo, another month has passed since my last blog.  I have a sense that time is passing really slowly at the moment.  Christmas seems an eternity ago, but perhaps it’s going faster than I think.

So that’s it, I’ve more or less finished my training for this winter, all 4 months of it.  I’ll do another one or two short climbing sessions before we go to France on Sunday (6 days now), but that’s it.

This last 6 weeks or so have been the ‘preparation specifique’ phase of Corinne’s plan.  Intensity has increased and I’ve been doing more sessions related to my goal.  My goal incidentally is redpointing sport routes in the Peak District.  This has all involved me getting redpoint projects both roped up and on a circuit board.  The sessions have often involved trying a project either first or at the end of a session accompanied by onsighting/and or pull ups/dips/pushups.  Either way at the end of the session I’m bushed.

The final part of the plan involved me making up a 40 move 7c+ on the circuit board.  Most routes at the wall are around 30 moves and it’s interesting what happens at 30 moves when you’re at your complete limit.  Suddenly you can no longer climb on power or power endurance, as you are beginning to actually get pumped and you need to figure out proper shake outs and tap into your endurance.

Here is the climbing works circuit board, it's about 2.5 metres high and 7 metres long.

Anyway yesterday I finally did my circuit, kind of.  With a bit of help from my friend Joe.  I had fallen 3 times at move 37.  This move is right at the end of an existing 7c and is a killer (for my circuit I’d simply added 10 crux moves of a 7b at the start to bump it to 7c+).  Joe suggested I grab a better hold to simply get through the move.  It worked and whilst not as hard as before the whole circuit still creeps into 7c+ for sure.  The idea of doing this was actually obvious and I know I’ve given this piece of advice out to others myself but to me at the time it wasn’t obvious.  Lesson learned: you are better getting through the move to get the forearm benefit.  The pitfalls of training on your own!!

Suffice to say I’m really pleased.  And I needed it.  It’s been 4 months now since I last stepped on rock and I only feel like half a climber.  I need to actually go rock climbing!  It would be a very strange thing now if, when I did step on rock, I was worse than last year.  I’m pretty confident I’ve finally got back to where I was pre-pregnancy, at least on routes, not on bouldering.  So as I sit here it’s been worth it.

Meanwhile poor Nic is really disappointed.  About 2 weeks ago he was on fire but then he went down with the pre-flu (feeling knackered).  Vanessa was ill all last weekend and Nic has been belted round the ear with it this week, completely bedridden.  I’m not quite sure why I haven’t had it or even why I’m still climbing well considering I’ve been rushing around all over the place.  So his mission is to get better before the weekend.  This blog is about the only place I can express my full excitement for France as, in front of Nic it’s just rubbing it in.  He’ll be better soon, it can’t go on much longer.

Meanwhile, here’s something you may be interested in.  I’ve got 2 interviews on my site with Ben Davison and Buster Martin.  Both of them have come on my Rock Action courses and have gone on to crush the rock.  Watch out for them and be inspired by their drive and motivation.  And I thought I was keen!!

Finally you may have noticed the facebook links on the site: love to climb is on facebook.  It’s a combination of updates from this site plus any other bits of interest.  If you "like" it you will get the updates on your own page.

Anyway with confidence I can finally say ‘see you at the crag’.  Bring on Spring... finally.