Well, because it is so late to be posting about week 4, I decided I might as well merge weeks 4 and 5 together (even though week 5 is not up yet, as today is Friday- I will make a post of the weekend of week 5 later). Another reason to merge them is that in terms of training, nothing much happened in these two weeks. I guess the highlights would be that I achieved a 12 second hang on the crimp grip, the fact that because my climbing gym started renovations to include a lead climbing arch (about time!), they had to restrict access to the bouldering because of which I had no choice but to do something else, and a couple of other realizations, which I will talk about later. On those 3 (or was it 4?) days where I didn't have a bouldering wall, I did the following:
1. went toproping with Maria (she went to the physio and she can officially climb slowly and progressively to her level again!)- never toproping in the gym again, it just makes me angry because of the really low quality routes,
2. went to the city of Brisbane's local crag, Kangaroo Point, with Paul after fingerboarding in the gym- some might think it is pretty fortunate to have a crag 5 minutes away by car, and these people would be right in a way, but the disadvantage here is that because it's a former quarry, the fact that it gets so much traffic and the sun hits these walls pretty much all day, and the routes have very high first bolts and/or are poorly bolted makes this crag a rather unattractive option for most. Here we first tried the start of a crimpy route, Bufo Marinus (25), and since it was slippery and I had just done a fingerboard session, it felt like it was going to take a while, so we moved on and I re-sent a route I did about a year and a half ago that Paul was trying (and sent, well done Paul!), Bouncy Castle (23), and tried quite unsuccessfully and onsight of Chip-a-Holdway (22), which not only did I not onsight, but I also couldn't even dog to the top because of headspace issues- I wasn't trying my best and was constantly blaming the slippery quality of the rock (which, to be fair, is significant, but not significant enough to be a valid factor). Paul then got to the top to retrieve the quickdraws! In the next training session, after fingerboarding,
Paul pulling some moves at Mexico City's KP
equivalent: La Escuelita at UNAM (much better than KP).
Miguel pulling the crux of "El Techito" (21 or 5.10d).
Webb slacklining.
3. we (Jin, Paul, Igor, Jason, Alyssa, Jeremy and Kimberley) went to our other sort-of-local lead climbing gym, "The Rock", where I was unpleasantly surprised that I couldn't do the start of a route I could previously do when tired, so I tried another cool grade 26 route which I dogged a couple of times, and Igor showed us that his endurance training has paid off well, as he sent back-to-back a steep 15 m route (grade 23), and two steep 13 m routes (grade 20)! And,
4. spent last Monday (Labor day in Australia) in Brooyar (the day after I went to get my fingerboard fix), a sandstone series of crags about 2.5 hours north of Brisbane. We went with Andrew, with whom we hadn't really gone climbing since about a year ago when we went to Thailand! It was great to spend a weekend with him camping and climbing and catching up. He has this foot injury since a year ago, and because he hasn't properly treated it, it may have become a chronic problem... It was sweltering hot in Brooyar, and because most of the crags face the sun most of the time, it was very, very exhausting. As per usual this time a year, there was the token infestation of insects, and this year it was an infestation of small black beetles! Super lovely to have those guys getting like, EVERYWHERE. With regards to climbing, Maria got to toprope about 4 climbs in 2 days, including a 40 meter one, which must have been a very welcome change after a couple of months of not going outdoors! Andrew did the same, his approach to climbing needing to be limited because of his foot. Me, on day 1 I got on a couple of (according to thecrag.com) sandbagged routes: Dreaming of the Blueys (25) and Lithgow Layback (24, but thecrag.com says 25). In DOTB, the crux was at the bottom, and it seemed like it was the most significant crux, so it was a hard boulder problem that consisted in a campus throw from a one pad edge to full lock off on my right arm and full extension on my left to catch a decent edge, but it felt outrageous for me! After a few tries and being scorched by the sun, I decided to come down and try LL instead. There, similar to DOTB, the crux is at the bottom. This consists of getting both your hands on a slopey but decent rail, raising and extending the right foot at head height to full extension, and pushing up while locking the left hand off to reach a good gaston, on which you layback to match. This was the crux, and I got it first go. The problem was that I was pretty confused as to where to go next. The first bolt suggested that I had to charge up this holdless feature somehow to get to easier ground, but there was an alternative to the right, significantly easier, where you go over a roof by grabbing a jug on the top and using a cool toe-hook on the gaston, but because this alternative seemed pretty dirty, I half-assed it and didn't really try hard. After a while of really trying the direct method and finding it even harder than DOTB and feeling really heat-exhausted, I decided to come down (I later read on thecrag.com that (a) DOTB is much much harder than 25 and (b) the right variant over the roof of LL is indeed the right path- lesson learned: if unsure of the route, check thecrag.com!). On day 2, after being humbled by those two climbs, I decided to try an easier route that I had tried a couple of years ago that had defeated me completely at the time: Mr. Middle Man (23), a boulder problem start followed by a small roof followed by dirty grade 15 climbing. It was good to see that I worked the start with relative ease (not on my first shot, mind you), as it's always great to come back to things you previously couldn't do and then do them. The problem with this climb is that all of the (good) holds face vertically, so there are little to no footholds, which made for interesting oppositions and drop knees- followed by a throw to a jug where a wild kicking cut-loose goes on. After that, you clip the second bolt and have the option of resting on a good knee-scum (or bad knee-bar, whatever you wish to call it) before the last hard throw to a good edge, after which it's pretty much over. At least I got that on the weekend! Oh, that and the onsight of my softest 22 ever, Prima Donna, a really nice line that has a jump-start!
Because I'm lacking pics from the weekend, here's
and oldie from Easter 2012, where Anri demonstrates
her "liberal" belay technique on Barry, who is well
past the first bolt!
A shot of Barry at the aesthetic Point Pure buttress
at Brooyar State Forest.
Aaand just in case Andrew (or Pe) shows up here!
Yesterday when I went to the gym to do my last fingerboarding training session I discovered that not bouldering for about 5 sessions diminished my power and recruitment! I went to the gym after a long day at work excited about finally sending the red V5 I keep talking about, only to not even reach the same highpoint I had achieved before... Even though I realize that getting frustrated and disappointed given I tried my best is not going to make me stronger, better, or more focused, it's hard to stay motivated when you train so much and not only do I not improve, but I have actually gotten worse (measurably so, as I return to the same exercises/climbs as a baseline)... So naturally, I was pretty frustrated about this anticlimactic ending of my hypertrophy phase (fingerboards), and I communicated this to Maria, who wisely pointed out what could very well be my problem: even though I am leaving different muscle/tendon groups more than enough time to recover, opposition training is not being neglected, cardio and flexibility isn't either, and motiviation is high, she thought I was neglecting one very crucial aspect: she observed that my protein intake may have been insufficient. After getting on an online body fat calculator that also gives you a few other data according to certain body measurements (I don't know how trustworthy it is, but here's the link:
http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html), I found that I need about 85-105 grams of protein per day, of which I was consuming around 50! Is it possible that this deterioration was due to a protein deficiency? I think it's very likely. Because I am allergic to soy, I am allergic to the vast majority of protein shake powders, and this is the reason why I don't take said supplements (unlike Maria, for example). So we found a feasable alternative which we got today (actually tastes good!) made out of egg whites, and here it is:
I know, I know...
Having pointed that out, I have to say that this was what we found that was at hand here in Brisbane, although back in January this year when we went to Boulder, CO, we found not only the richest in protein, best tasting shake that is soy-free, but it is also just the best protein shake EVER (MIX1 from Boulder, CO)! Sadly, though, people are retarded and this company has gone bankrupt... I was really stupid not to buy a lot of these when we were there, but we figured we could always order them and we took a bunch of junk food back home instead- DUH!!! To think that those beauties were for sale right there, in the fridges of the Spot bouldering gym for under 1.15 USD...
So anyway, hopefully this hiccup in my climbing is due to that shortage of protein, an issue that is now being addressed.
So 5 weeks of training are up! After this period of time, the highlights are:
- 12 s. on the crimp,
- 3 s. on the 45 deg. sloper,
- 8 s. on the one arm hang on a two pad edge,
- 8 s. on the pinches with 5 kg. of added weight,
- 6 s. on the two-finger pockets with 5 kg. of added weight,
- being able to touch the ground in splits attempts on both sides (still need to have a perfectly "straight line" with my legs),
- being able to pull once on a one-arm pull-up with both left and right arms,
- V4 boulder flash (both best flash and best boulder in these few weeks...),
- sending up to grade 23 sport climbing,
- jogging 45 minutes, with a peak of 10 minutes at 12.5 km/h at 5.5% incline.
Hopefully the next phase, maximum recruitment (4 weeks of campus boarding) holds more promise... It's been a month for me at age 30, and it sure does feel like it! At this stage, faith is all I got!
My beautiful wife Maria! This author's source
of inspiration. Also, since there's snow in the pic,
I'll take the opportunity to brag about the fact that
we now have ski passes for CO! Woo!
Now I leave you with this vid I should've posted ages ago!
