Climbing Training: Last couple of days - Tiredness, Lethargy, and Bike Training

Man - haven't been feeling it in the last few days; since the last saturday I've been feeling slightly off. Having said that, I've still been focusing on the training in the gym - got a session in on Saturday and Monday as well.

Saturday:

• Lots of running around with things to be done for work purposes, but got an 11km cycle in the morning on my way to work. Not the best form of cardio for the day, but I'm not complaining.
• Bouldering in the evening for a couple of hours. Been sequencing some of the harder moves on the 4's and just trying to consolidate the 4A, 4B grade. I'm also trying some 4x4's to see if I can translate some of the strength from the 4's across. Got some climbing in afterwards, but felt absolutely pumped by the end of the day! My skin was also feeling pretty sore by the end of it.

Had to cancel the session I had planned on Sunday, but got a new pair of Miura VS's. To be honest I was pretty intimidated in the shop at how super tight they were; it's really not that fun wearing them and breaking them in as a shoe, but I can also feel that as time goes by they'll go from painful to snug... Hopefully...

Monday:

Probably one of the longest days of my life, in terms of getting exercise done. Got up early to hop on the cycle to uni, then cycled to St. Peters, climbed, and got home. Details below:

• Cycling: All up I finished 51km for the day. Not a bad crowning achievement, and I thought it was pretty impressive. But by the end of the day I was outright buggered. I've never felt so tired in my life. Not only that, but the WIND is so annoying! Especially when you're getting back onto the road; there was literally no point riding on the road apart from trying to play Russian Roulette with cars. It was super frustrating having to battle with the wind; everything just felt so much slower.
• Climbing: Got to St. P pretty soon after finishing my classes and tested a whole bunch of walls with the new Miura VS's. It was painful to be in those shoes, but the bouldering was really good; I've really consolidated my way into grade 3 (wow that sounds so sad... such a low grade :\ ). But I'm working on the moves in grade 4 and hopefully I'll have some of them at least consolidated by the end of the year. I took an hour off in the middle and then hopped on some walls, but climbed outright terribly. I felt great at the start, but by the time I got to my 5th/6th climb I found my strength was fading fast and the shoes were agonizingly painful to be in, hence I called it quits pretty soon after that.

I think yesterday (Monday) was one of the only days I've felt that feeling where I was like "Man screw this." It was pretty humbling and disappointing to have come from last week's work where I was projecting the moves on a 26 (5.12c) to falling off every 22 (5.11a) in the building. But I suppose that's how training goes, and I'll be back in the gym later tonight. 

Finally; as a bit of a side note; super excited that I got some cycling shoes coming in with the cleats - they should arrive within the next fortnight and I might chuck a post on here for that - just because I'm super excited about it all! 

Wednesday and Thursday Climbing Training Log

Holy hell I'm absolutely buggered. But the last few days have been really good in terms of the climbing training; I think I'm still getting used to how the sun rises super early and haven't yet adjusted to that, so I've been really tired. But that hasn't put me off training and I've been up to some good stuff over the last couple of days.

Wednesday:
Pretty much had a whole day of clinic but got some training in the afternoon. Decided not to do any cardio because I'd rode bike the day before to uni and back, which totaled around 46km. Cleats are coming soon so I'm pretty excited!

• Got down to Lindfield Rocks in the afternoon and just got through a whole bunch of climbs. I think the bouldering's also helping mentally in terms of keeping my cool when I'm getting close to the top; I know Lindfield isn't that high but I'm hoping that it'll translate over to lead climbing and helping me keep my cool when I'm a little bit further and setting protection. Lindfield's also really great in the sense that there are so many great problems there; I've found a bunch of problems that are super awesome which I'm almost finishing(V4), but then I struggle on other climbs that are only V3? So I'm a bit confused as to how I can get through those (crimp strength? Just learning to climb outdoor better?) 
• Oo - on the bright side, I finished my first ever V4! Kim's Arete - a super super classic on slopers at Lindfield, which was super fun and really great to get through. (Yes, I'm feeling really proud about it!)
• After that; pretty much took an hours rest and got to the gym to get some more bouldering done; my fingers hadn't completely given out yet. Just working on the same projects; it's a bit odd because the route setters are alternating on the bouldering walls at the gym, and so one guy always sets super classics whilst the other guy is young and sets all these huge, super powerful moves. It's interesting to see the variation in style (and it's also really difficult to get through when you're slightly tired!)

Thursday:

Huge day. I had to bike around quite a bit today but all in all it was great. I think Bellevue Hill should be renamed Bellevue Mountain because there were two of the steepest hills that I've ever attempted riding up in my life. Hopefully the cleats make things easier.

• Well - what did that all total to? 56km of bike riding today. Shit yeah, so I'm hoping that's actually enough cardio to offset the pizza that I ended up devouring in the afternoon. On the bright side, the bike times are also getting faster which is pretty interesting as well..
• I decided to have a peek at the bouldering at USyd gym and can proudly say that I've come a long, long way since the start of the year. I also managed to get a pair of shoes from the desk and get through half an hour of bouldering which was sick fun, on some really great puzzles. Looking forward to spending a little bit more time in there over the last couple of weeks of uni.
• Lots of chest/core work in the afternoon. Still working on the tuck front levers and just overall core strength. 

That's it! I've decided that towards the end of the year, I'll take a full week of training and start working on the mental aspect of things, and working around how to just be more calm overall, especially when leading. Definitely something I'm looking to work on over the next year (and hopefully that will be the key in leading 22/23's over the coming months).

Keep training - Stay strong!

Sunday - Awesome climbing. Climbing Training's paying off!!

So the climbing training in the last month and a half has really been going well, and I think that today I definitely saw the results of a good last bit of climbing. Had a session at St. Peters today and managed to junk through a couple of warm up walls before getting convinced by Dom to hop on a few of the higher grade walls. Initially I didn't really expect much but I'd seen some of the holds over some of the past attempts that Dom had, and they really hadn't looked too awkward.

TRAINING WORKS. I'm fully excited about the results! I fell of a couple of the moves on my first 24 but managed to hop back on afterwards and pretty much finished the whole thing (I'll confess that I haven't yet because I peeled off midway, but only because another climber was on top of my holds on the right and I admit I didn't have the strength to stay on that "rest" hold). But having said that I'm super excited and I'm sure that the next time I step in that gym I'll bag that climb.

Also tried the moves on a couple of 26's and was actually quite pleasantly surprised that I could get through a lot of the moves; of course there are still the grade 26 moves which are out of reach, but not by much! The focus on chest/core work over the last month has really been key in a lot of the improvement and I certainly felt it throughout the day.

That was about it; I'm just happy that I'm beginning to crack into the realm of 5.12. I'm sure that over the next six months or so I'll be able to consolidate that and hopefully bring my lead climbing up as well.

Other training today:

• 4km run, just a light run to get the legs moving a bit.
• Balance board to rehab the ankle injury. (I tried squats on the balance board - that looks like a really good exercise for control. I think I'll work it into my regular progressions).
• Core work. Always more core work.
• Some stretching.

Feeling great. Stay Strong. :) and GET EXCITED!

Training Log; Friday and Saturday

Hmm. Pretty much going to change the way these entries go because I'll keep it simple and focused on the training with some comments at the end.

Friday:

• A couple of hours at Lindfield Rocks. Lots and lots of fun, I actually ended up climbing a bunch of holds. Didn't have a spotter so I didn't try any of the overhangs but got the traverse in. All in all a pretty fun and interesting session. (2 hours?)
• 20km bike ride. (Cannot wait until I get the cleats). In other news; what the hell is with drivers trying to hit you when you ride? That should be counted as assault, I swear -.-"
• Afternoon Tennis for a bit. Was beginning to feel it in the legs. Just testing the ankle to see how it's holding up, and it's good. Will start wobble board this week.
• An hour indoor in the night. Blasted through a few climbs and felt really really good. This last session for the day was mainly for climbing endurance and I am super glad I got through it!

Saturday:

• Couple of hours of tennis
• Half an hour of core. I'm trying to focus a lot more on the lower abdominal muscles by doing leg raises, V-ups, etc. I think they're weaker then my upper abdominals.

Seriously excited about the next month or so; I've got final exams coming up but I'm feeling really good and in condition. Then I'll be on holidays but I'm trying to sort some research out with university, to keep myself out of holidays. Am certainly looking to get a second crash mat and start doing a little more bouldering around the place to see what's available, but at the moment I'm continuing to work on Lindfield Rocks, but am hoping to look at Challenger,  The Fear Factory and The Spit soon. Also some really nice stuff at a fishing place I used to go to so hopefully I'll check that out soon too. 

Stay tuned; keep strong. 

Phegan's Bay and an interesting last few days..

Hey guys,

A pretty interesting last couple of days - got some training done. Mainly was a lot of fingerboard stuff, just working on been able to use the 35 deg. slopers and the pockets. Practiced a lot of clipping the other day but just really recovering from the sprained ankle - which is coming along pretty nicely. I got a few runs (actually ran my fastest km ever) which was awesome, and did some stuff on the erg as well.

On Sunday I got out to Phegans Bay with Dom and Justin; but it really wasn't great. We had some rope issues (refer to the picture for details) with some miscommunication, which took up a whole bunch of time, and the climbing just wasn't great; the routes were pretty short and I think that generally just took a lot out of the day. Personally I'm pretty sure it was the fact that I couldn't lead and we had no idea where we were/which climbs we were going up on, but it really took away from the day. That was also probably combined with the fact that the entire area was pretty quiet; it didn't look like it had a whole bunch of traffic going through it (LOTS of spiders....), and a lot of the holds were glued on.

All in all - not the greatest trip. Considering I only did roughly half an hour of climbing, my fingertips got absolutely trashed.

Today - got 40km out on the bike with the ride to uni and back, and completely forgot about the trashed fingertips, so I went back to the gym... only to remember that it was too painful to boulder anything difficult about twenty minutes in. But I got some core work in (still working on those tuck front levers), which is good. That'll be sore tomorrow.

Probably taking the day off tomorrow, I got a wine and cheese night which should be fun (and perhaps messy). I'll get some training done on wednesday (probably negatives and chest, with some fingerboard) depending on how the hands feel.

Lemming, out.

An awesome view from the top of the crag, which made us think the day of climbing was going to be awesome...

Rope woes... Don't miscommunicate!!!

Trashed fingertips.. Hopefully healing soon!

Back to it

Oops - when I was looking at the other couple of posts they seemed to reupdate themselves to be posted today - not what I wanted!

In any case, right back to it yesterday. I was originally going to take the day off but I couldn't stand it, so I got to gym and got bouldering and the ankle felt fine. It was so great to be back on the walls - truly missed it! I didn't get to project anything harder but that wasn't the point; I just wanted to hop on a whole bunch of routed which I did. Didn't get any climbing done though but no worries, that'll be today!

Also managed to get to the gym and do a 15 minute run - and actually set my fastest 1km time ever. Might not seem that great but I'm feeling good. I followed it up with our fastest 1km time at the moment, so yesterday was pretty sick in terms of getting things done.

Back at the gym this evening after morning classes - keep training hard and stay strong

Working around Injury

Yeh so there was no way I was about to just sit around for the next week and a half not really doing anything, and the ankle really isn't feeling that bad (RICER really does wonders), so I did some fingerboard last night. Pretty upset at how much strength I've lost with only a week off, but really glad to be back on the fingerboard.

Basically did warmup and fiddled around on a bunch of holds, and did a pair of frenchies as well on the 25 deg. slopers. There was a lot of sustained work on rebuilding stamina as well with a primary focus to be able to use the 35 deg. sloper with feet loaded.

I also did some work with the bands that I've set up - I'll post a photo of the training area that I have on the site later this week; it's simple but remarkably effective. I'm trying to do a lot of exercise now by removing all sort of leverage - many of the principles are just from witnessing how incredibly strong a lot of the climbers are with their isolation, so I'm trying to emulate that in my training.

There's also a fantastic article which I'm trying out half the exercises - it's called "How to build an olympic body through bodyweight conditioning". I've known this article for about 5-6 years now but never really worked on anything in it, and I plan to work towards been able to do a tuck front lever by the end of the year.

Goals for the end of the year:
* 35 degree sloper unassisted, set of frenchies.
* Tuck front lever for 40 seconds by the end of the year
* Forward planche w/o assistance of the arms for bodyweight.
* Lowest row of fingerboard.

If I can't reach those goals by the end of the year - no worries; I'll extend them out to the end of summer. But that's what I'm focusing on!

Keep training - get strong.

Damn it..

Well i have to admit that I might have been a little more enthusiastic then I would've liked to have been with my initial return to training. I was so super happy to be out running again that 2km into the run my body felt like the ditch was a good place to place my left ankle, and as a result, well.. there's a photo to go alongside.

Nonetheless this didn't stop me from finishing the 5km run (limping to the finish line) but I suspect that it'll cost me a few days of training - which is a bit of a shame because I was really looking to head back to the climbing gym tomorrow. (I think I will anyway. Just lots of RICER tonight!)

It also didn't stop me from getting on and doing some chest/core work which won't really affect any potential climbing tomorrow. Depending on how bad the ankle is, I might just chuck in a hangboard session or take the day off (but I really, really don't want to).

Thinking of getting new bike pedals and clips to go along with it soon (to improve the pulling strength when I ride the bike, which will ultimately help out with climbing).

Lemming.

Absolutely DYING to train.

This last weekend I've been pretty busy with some council stuff, but also I've been down at Nowra doing some climbing (post to be coming soon).

I've been slack with the training notices but now I've gotten a new method of been able to enter the information here, so I'll be posting a lot more regularly!

At the moment - I'm just absolutely dying to train. Those couple of days at Nowra were really good but I really didn't eat anywhere near as well as I should've. I spent the wednesday running around and burning money, and spend the last three days doing nothing but sitting on my bum in council and eating, plus drinking in the night.

Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my holiday - but nonetheless very interesting for my goals outside of rock climbing. However, I'll be getting back to civilization (and medschool) tomorrow, so the workloads going to increase again - but I'm definitely going to switch my training over as well. I'm thinking that as summer's coming up, I'm going to switch back to interval and power training (just because the weather will facilitate it better then endurance). Still looking to include a big run on the sunday.

Hope all is well - I'll be posting regularly soon.

P.S, I've been going through some things on this blog and it's been fantastic looking at the things I had problems with earlier in the year. I have to say that I've definitely improved since the start of the year, and it's fantastic to be able to visualize that. Maybe next time you're indoor, video yourself bouldering and compare it six months down the track - you'll be happily shocked to see how much you've improved!