font

A good trip to Font last week.



After 4 weeks of hardcore training and then a week of rest (including a 4 day trip to Prague - not ideal!) I was primed for a week of hard bouldering. Unfortunately, the weather has been a bit unstable in Font this spring and this held true for our trip. We managed to climb every day but one, but only two days were uninterupted sunshine.

My goal was to climb a 7a every day. The weather disrupted this but I think the dry days made up for it. Here's the ticklist.

La Marie Rose, 6a

Gravalon, 7a

Graviton, 7a (flash)

Jet Set, 7a

Le Jeu de Toit, 7a (flash)

Le Flippeur, 7a

Le Joker, 7a (flash)

Helicoptere, 7a

Vaudou-Systeme, 7a

Holey Moley, 7a

L'Angle Ben's, 7a+

Dune (El Poussif), 7a+

Biceps Mou, 7b

Carnage, 7b+

I've added loads of problems to my 'to-do list' as well. Really psyched for getting back to Font to finish some things off. But for now, I have a trip to Mallorca planned in September. Hopefully I can structure my training as well as I did for this trip and peak accordingly.

rebooting the system

After a long lay off from climbing - long for me anyway - there is only one way to find your form again. It's not about easing your body slowly into the climbing again, it's like stopping hiccups: a good sharp shock and your back to normal.

I went to the Climbing Works with Tom yesterday for just such a session. 3 and a half hours of climbing, trying the purple circuit (47 problems ranging from 6b - 7a+). By the end (well, the end for us! Around problem 41) just feeling the holds was an effort, and I was finding it difficult to articulate properly!

Complete power outage was probably achieved around problem 33. So there is my bench mark. Next session I'll do the circuit again (probably in reverse) and hope to get further round before my power fails me.

My weaknesses were very apparent:

• Finger Strength
• Power Endurance

So, after I've conditioned my body for climbing again with a couple of weeks of mammoth sessions like yesterday's, I will begin to address these weaknesses.

life gets in the way

I haven't climbed for about a month. University, job, weather, Christmas... all of this has got in the way of my climbing.

But. There is relief. I'm getting organised this year, so I will always have time to fit climbing in. I'm not that bothered about climbing indoors most of the time if it means when I get outdoors I am in good shape to crush.

There is talk of a return to Mallorca in September 2010. This is good news.