Training for Something
Saturday 7th and Monday 9th April. Given the choice of a couple of days off work I wasn’t going to say no. With Monday booked off I took the chance to live like a full timer and get two visits to the west coast.
My optimism was high after a particularly good training session from Thursday night. Interestingly the magic numbers 1-4-7 have seriously slipped by me since late January. Despite persistent efforts I quickly went down hill and was unable to repeat the feat. That is until now. Wednesday nights training session wasn’t happening due to work stresses, leading to a 13 hour sleep to recover. Revitalised Thursday night was on. Warming up I felt very strong and suspected 1-4-7 could well happen. However, it was still pretty special to latch rung 7 again feeling a lot more skippy than I have in the past few months. Somewhat confused, I’m still trying to attribute this improvement to one of the following factors:
- Better diet - eating healthier for a week,
- Finger boarding - all two sessions, and,
- More sleep - all thirteen blissful hours.
Its quite likely that all three were beneficial.
Niall ‘Monkey’ McNair Bat hanging at Dumbuck, a man in full control of his feet.
On Saturday I headed back to Dumbie to try Sabotage again. My warm-ups did feel better than the previous week and my shoulder’s held up to the punishment. Again, I was getting irate when I couldn’t do the final move. After 30 minutes of trying I had to stop and ask myself the question“What the hell I’m I doing wrong”. Luckily, Tom Charles Edwards “Renowned Scottish climbing technical head doctor, was on hand to give me some advice. After a quick chat we figured out that my body position was too tight in and I was pushing my own feet off the foot holds. Once I tried hanging my body in a slacker position on the move I managed to do it again. Suddenly a bout of deja-vu struck – I’d had this problem last year too. Its amazing just how technical steep hard climbing can be. Reunited with the gen I ran out 4-5 reps from the start to the crux which was feeling much harder. With that I was knackered and headed home.
On Sunday I headed back to the Anvil with Dave Macleod. The weather this time was back to the west coast average. Pedaling out on the bikes through the drizzle was quite cold and mucky. We arrived at the crag to find our routes dry but damp from the wet air. The boulders underneath we’re also treacherously slippery. Dave Managed to fight of his aches to climb a new route, The Atlantic Strikes Back graded Anvil 7c. I was surprised to see him come off first go from a blast of drizzle to the face, he must be going soft from all those sunny routes abroad! I got going on my project and was surprised to be doing last weeks link 80% of the time, hitting the edge, lifting feet then slapping for the better hold. After a few goes I started to drag it, but the swing was still too violent to hold. After a quick dog, I figured out a smaller but more positive foothold to use. Confident this would work I managed to hold the swing second go!
Its strange that when all the moves are completed on a project how overall perception of difficulty can be lowered. Next session on trying a lower link, plus two easy-ish moves, I was eating my own words. The route felt desperate. Once I’ve completed the project, I’ll be keen to compare it with Dave’s route Body Blow. Despite the crap weather it was worth it to feel some improvement. I really hope I can continue this and complete the route as only six weeks of spring remain.