The Year in Review: 2009

Goals for 2009

Climb in Forein Country

Status - EPIC FAIL

This fell off the radar and never comeback. Damn, I should have looked at my goals at some point during the year. I have already booked tickets for a 2010 trip to Costa Rica (sadly, no climbing).

Birthday Challenge

Status - Complete

It was rad.

Complete a Route Pyramid

Status - Epic Fail

I didn't devote enough Performance days to this goal. I continued to travel and onsight. I rarely climbed at the same crag twice. When I did, it was separated by months. I was bite by the developing bug this year, which does not help this goal or my scorecard.

Complete a Boulder Pyramid

Status - Partial Fail

I sent a V10, but the goal was to do the whole pyramid to become a better climber. The same reasons/excuses as above.

Flash V7

Status - Fail

I should've done it, lame on my part.

Onsight 12

Status - Fail

I really should've done it, really lame on my part.

Best of 2009

Trip

Mid-Summer, Las Vegas, NV & Tahoe, CA

(Hard picking just one)

Day

Birthday Challenge

Route

The Citadel, 11b

The Palace, CO

It was long, very different from most CA routes. Engaging the whole way and tops out the cliff. I realized I could climb during the CO winter.

Send

C3P0, V10

Taos, NM

My first V10, a 4 star problem.

Fall

Pinch Overhang, V5

Horsetooth, CO

Flash attempt on a classic

(A close second was falling on a new trad route, ripping out a micro nut and hitting my belayer)

Sweet Sticky Thing

Training: 1) Flash, New Problems

2) Work, New Problems

3) Open Hand, System Board
Lower Left
1 lap on the minute for 10 minutes

rest 10 minutes

4) 1/2 Crimp, System Board
#2
1 lap on the minute for 10 minutes

5) Wide Moves, System Board
Skip 1 Up & 1 Over

6) 1-Arm, Dynamic Effort

7) L-sit scissors
20s X 3

8) Sited Russian Twist w/ Heavish Kettlebell
3 sets

Unedited Poor Quality Footage of the "Easy Project"
Still Fires My Ass Up!

Notes: I got outside today and cleaned up a bunch of lines on the boulder I found yesterday. Several of them are hard. One is futurist, it follows the black streak on the right side of the video. The futurist line got me syked to push it hard in the gym. I had to work a couple of new problems in the gym because they exposed a continuing limiter, fat pinches. I have a three-try "rule" for gym problems. If I fall on the same move three times, without improvement, I move on. Otherwise, I'm training strugglin' and falling.

The rest of the session focused on building capacity (something I don't do enough). #3 and #4 were simple density training. Next time I do the laps every 50s. I need to add weight to #5. #6 training to be fast. Finished the session with one stabilization and one rotational/nonlinear ab exercise. I superset those with prehab work.

Inter Alia

Training: 1) Campus, Throws, Medium Rungs
1-4-1 X 3

2) Campus, Throws, Small Rungs
1-4-1 X 2
1-4-1 X 2

3) Campus, Throws, Medium Rungs
1-4-1 X 3
1-4-1 X 3

4) Technique, Perfect Climbing, Adv Problems, 30 minutes

Notes: I'm trying to campus 2 x week, 72 hours between sessions. I'll back off at the first signs of injury. Switched it up again with Throws. I increased the volume of #4 by 10 minutes this session.

I abandoned my most recent training plan, focusing on Technique/Long Power Endurance. Training Long Power Endurance was awkward because of my current facilities. I'm rectifying that by building a home wall. It is slow going because I want it to be good. I was hoping for upcoming sport climbing trips to keep me syked. Those fell through. They are turning into bouldering trips. I'm in limbo right now. I'll continue to focus on technique and getting stronger. I'm trying to align my training with my goals, my limiters, current outside conditions, and training facilities.

"Endurance routes get easier.
Hard moves are always hard moves."

Jerry Moffat

HGT Boulders, Winter Projects

All of my projects are out of season. I can't get to the parking areas, they are covered in snow, or in the shade (or some combination of all three). I spent the day exploring and quickly found something.

A Nice Chunk of Rock

It is the size of a house. There is low easy stuff, high easy stuff, low hard stuff, and high hard stuff. Something for everyone. It is embedded in hillside which makes the descent a mellow walk-off. Finding this came just in time, I was getting a little case of Seasonal Affective Disorder and losing some training syke. Now I have a excuse to play outside and train hard.

I plan to publish (in some form) all my climbs when they are finished (I need to buckle down and finish areas). In the meantime, I'm keeping my nicknames private. I climbed two lines above, both warm-ups. I worked a project on the left hand side.

Operation Flea Collar

Training: 1) Flash, All new problems

2) Open Hand, Systemboard
Upper Left, Pull Through (with regular feet)

3) Open Hand, Hangboard
Large Edge, 1-arm

3) 1/2 Crimp, Systemboard
#1

4) Wide Moves, Systemboard
Lower Right, Skip 1 Up & 1 Over

5) Front Lever, Straddle
3 sets

6) Corkscrew, 45 lbs
to failure

Notes: My Open Hand performance surprised me considering I campused hard yesterday. Getting stronger every session. Faded quickly during #3 and #4. I rarely train to failure, but it has value.

I have enough General Physical Preparation, GPP, to do my daily activities and recovery from my training. In the last week, I moved my stuff easily, pushed a car up a snowy driveway, and did basic construction building my woody. I don't need anymore. For a while, I was going to let my GPP slip down to Level 3. The more I let it slip, the less I realize I need. The plan is to let it slip to Level 2 and reassess.

Running The Rack

Training: 1) Campus, Large Rungs, Doubles
1-4
1-5 (fail X 3)

2) Campus, Medium Rungs, Doubles
2-1
3-1
3-1

3) Campus, Large Rungs, Ladder
1-3-6
1-2-6

4) Campus, Medium Rungs, Ladder
1-5
1-5-6 (f)

5) Technique, Perfect Climbing, Adv. Problems, 20 minutes

6) Prehab, Elbows & Shoulders

Winter in the Front Range

Notes: I tried to leave for Texas, to get my outdoor fix, but less 1 hour into the drive it became unappealing. I'm settling into a training cocoon and will emerge a beautiful strong butterfly.

Max effort day, time to break PRs. I use the conjunctive system, thanks Louie. I constantly rotate exercises. This session I used doubles up and down. I could make the distance on the 1-5 double but I couldn't latch it. It appears to be a mental/coordination issue. I was hitting the middle of the rung during 1-5-6.

I'm not sure about accessory work for climbing. The goal of accessory work is add muscle mass. Actually, I'm trying to lose muscle mass to improve my climbing. I give due diligence to prehab. Prehab takes on some of the characteristics of accessory work but is relatively low intensity. The most prominent candidate for accessory work is "core". But my core is strong enough, i.e. not a limiter. In fact, I might over rely on my core strength. Still investigating. That is why it is the Climbing Lab.

Get Behind Me, Santa!!!

Training: 1) Open Hand, System Board
Upper Left, Match then Pull Through
Upper Left, Pull Through (with bigger feet)

2) 1/2 Crimp, System Board
#1, Pull Through
#0, Match

3) Wide Moves, System Board
Lower Right, Skip 1 up & 1 over

4) 1-arm pull-ups
Left X 2, Right X 1.99
Left +5lbs, Right +2.5 lbs

Notes: Feel better than yesterday and performance is also better. Still not firing on all cylinders but getting stronger. Surprised myself with the 1-arm pull-ups. I might try a 31 lb 1-arm for my Birthday Challenge.

I'm heeding Dan John's advice and doing myofascial release on 6'' piece of PVC. It is hell but I feel much better after. I focus on my forearms, especially outside near my elbow. There is tightness that might be the start of elbow tendinitis. I had a problem with it in the past but don't currently feel the conscious symptoms. I also focus my left shoulder, an old injury. Afterwords there is more "space" in my shoulder. Someone saw me rolling and asked, "What is injured?" I replied "Nothing, I'm trying to keep it that way." I view it like car maintenance. I rather invest a little time and money now to prevent my timing belt breaking in the middle of the Utah desert.