Cold Fusion Blog

Diet plans in March of to a bad start with my Blue Ribbon sponge.

Two weeks down, two weeks to go before Spain. On the whole still very psyched to get a F8b+ done this trip and willing to make the sacrifices for it. Making some progress so far:

• Finger injury – Still taping and keeping off the crimps, should continue to get less achy as the weeks go on.
• Finger Boarding - Over the start of the past fortnight my performance got slightly worse despite frequent sessions. One evening getting annoyed I made an adjustment to my grip position pre-weighting my fingers then digging my skin and nails into the back board. This improved my hang time by 4-5 sec which I was very excited about. I’ve also been try to get more psyched before and during hang time which seems to be helping. I think the influencing factors between a good and a bad day are definitely rest and psyche levels, although the weight loss is definitely helping. Starting to dab a one handed lock for a second on the left hand, but the right one needs a bit more work. I can’t help feel that a longer hang time in the 12-14 sec range would be better for building strength than the recommended 6-8 sec range. I might next try and alternate sessions between heavier weight with less hang time and a lighter weight with greater hang time.
• Power endurance – It took longer than I thought to set a PE problem similar to La Puta Rue, being tired late at night and trying to fit it around the existing holds on the board. Finally I got something set that felt similar to the route. On the first session I kept falling off on exactly the same move as my March redpoints so it seemed spot on. On the second session it felt easier and I nearly did it. As a quick comparison I tried my F8b problem from the late summer that I managed just before getting very high on Full Tilt. Maybe it was tiredness or poor familiarity with the problem but it felt a little harder! This means I need to make the F8b+ much harder. I don’t have the time to adjust the problem so I’m going to try and make the down climb harder with high feet and no resting jug. Failing that I might go and find myself a weight belt. I also spent a lot of time setting another F8b+ problem similar to Mr Checki. On this one I couldn’t make the first move hard enough and couldn’t do the press and two finger pocket moves. I’m starting to worry that setting such specific problems takes time away from getting a simple beasting on crimps.
• Weight – Been counting the calories obsessively. By skipping lunch and the treats midweek got my calorie count down to around 1000-1500 kcal’s a day. Drinking lots of tea has kept the hunger away. Over the weekend I’ve been slacker (within reason) to help maintain motivation. Managed to lose a kilo in the first week, but locked disappointingly at 65 this week. I’ve been worried about how a low calorie intake is affecting my training and recovery. Feel quite wasted before training even after eating around 500 kcal 2 hours before training. The sugar spike has been a little dizzying. Worried that I’m eating too much too soon, so going to try and spread my intake over a 4 hour period prior to training. Going to have to trim the numbers back further to get to my 63 kilo target.
• Sleep – Getting more sleep on Friday (in preparation for Saturdays climbing) and on Sunday morning but still not getting enough sleep mid week to feel good enough to train very hard. Must stop getting distracted late at night and go to bed earlier!
• Early training – Still not training early enough. Feel tired and burned out after work, low calorie intake probably not helping. Hopefully calorie spreading on training days will help.

Saturday 20 October. I wasn’t sure when I get back on my Camel project again, luckily a text from Michael secured another weekend visit. Determined to finish the job I got stuck into my midweek power endurance and fitness training. Mid week I was shocked to find I’d gained a bit of excess weight over my average, surprising given all my long walks out to the Anvil. I had been trying to make changes to my diet since March, but the sugary lunchtime cakes have proved overpowering. Frustrated I finally went cold turkey opting instead for humble salad leaves and an apple during the working day.

Keen to gauge my performance I headed back to the Camel on Saturday with Michael. Driving north the weather was noticeably good for late autumn with warm sunshine breaking through the clouds. A good day to be out climbing. I was still worried that after midweek frost the temperature in the shade of the Camel would be too chilly for long routes. Warming up the temperature seemed comfortable after some initial hot aches. After placing the clips on the project and a bit of practice I got redpointing. On my first go I meant only down climb from a clip but ended up pushing onwards complete with thermals. Feeling anxious about overheating and the extra weight I lost concentration before the crux edge. Next go stripped down and psyched I pulled through the crux to the rest in a series of aggressive grunts. I felt apprehensive on the rest, would I still blow it, would I pump off the next section or would a pebble snap. I pushed on.

The first crux sequence of Ubuntu at the Camel (pics Mike Tweedley).

After making the next clip I flicked my arms quickly before firing on through the endurance crux with some energy to spare for once. I moved steadily to the lower off careful not to pump off or snap anything. It felt like a hell of a ride hanging onto the big cobbles and looking down the face from where I’d come. I clipped the lower off feeling uplifted, I’d put enough work in for it to mean a lot to me, but not too much for once that It’d become too stressful. After taking some photos we finished the day by doing some laps on Inverarnie Schwarzenegger F7a. Michael decided todo some alpine training with his duvet and rucksac on, I declined and got just as pumped in the falling darkness.

The second crux sequence of Ubuntu at the Camel (pics Mike Tweedley).

I’ve called the new line Ubuntu, after the South African ideal of which one meaning is “I am because you are”. Such an ideal seems to represent my own life lately. As inspiring lines capture my imagination they shape my life, taking me to different places, interacting with friends old and new and always motivating me to improve. I’ve graded the route F8a given the fair effort its took over the last month. I’ll leave it to others to seen if they can find an easier sequence and adjust the grade if necessary. Big thanks to Michael for coming along and taking the snaps, I’ll be working you hard on those crux’s when its my turn on photo duty. Time to step up a gear for the next project.

Previous high point on La Puta Rue F8b+ in March, Margalef, Spain.

I’ll be heading back to Spain in less than four weeks to try and complete the unfinished projects from my last visit. Top of my agenda is to complete an F8b+ at Margalef I tried called A La Puta Rue which crosses a cool roof. In March I spent 4 days on it and got as far as doing overlapping halves and getting to the crux a few times on redpoint. This time the brutal crux span to and from a two finger pocket might give me problems because of my finger injury. Still I’m hopeful. I might also have a go on the F8c next to it that Dave managed as it looks just my style, but I’m not sure about the mono crux. At Siurana I’d like to try Mr Checki F8b+ again, having only had a brief play on it last year. Finally I need to finish of the F8a+ on the Can Marges boulder that I fell from the final moves on the last day of the trip in March. To make all this happen I’m going to have to get trained up fast to the specifics of these routes. Lots of pocket strength and power endurance are the way forward.

Short Term Objectives

• Finger injury – Icing and massage.
• Shoulder problems – lots push ups to build up antagonistics.
• Fingers board – hang an edge for 5 sec, currently 12 kilos to go.
• Power endurance - create specific problems in the 30 move range similar to target F8b+ routes.
• Endurance – laps in the 30-60 move range to fight the chain fever.
• Target weight 63 kilo – 4 kilos to lose, ditch the cakes and puds.
• More sleep – 6hrs isn’t cutting it.
• Train earlier – 9pm-1am is getting taxing on above.

Training plan

• Mon/Wed: 30min runs.
• Tues/Thur: Finger boarding 45-60min: warm up pull ups, 50 push ups and stretching, strength hangs 7 sets 8-10 sec at limit, 4 min rest. Board work 2hrs. Problems: three harder problems on board. PE: 6-9 sets on PE problems Fr 8a/b+, 7 min rest. One armers: 3 sets. Endurance: 3 sets as many laps as possible on board.
• Sat/Sun: Climbing or more finger boarding and stamina.