A Bit of a Low

Well, not all weeks can be good ones... This past week is definitely a good example of that. Sometimes, things just don't want to go your way. After my weekend high at Boven on my project, I came back to Pretoria and started to train on Monday.

I work in an hour of training on my hangboard, with a 15 minute warmup:

Min	Type of hold	Exercise	Sec/Rep
1	Jug	Drops	5 rep
2	Medium Edge	Drops	2 rep
3	Small Edge	Negs	5 rep
4	Pocket	Pull-upp	5 rep
5	Medium Edge	Hanging	20 sec
6	Jug	Pull-up	10 rep
7	Medium Edge	Hanging	20 sec
8	Small Edge	Hanging	20 sec
9	Medium Edge	Pull-up	5 rep
10	Jug	Hanging	40 sec
11	Medium Edge	Hanging	25 sec
12	Medium Edge	Hanging	25 sec
13	Small Edge	Pull-up	5 rep
14	Small Edge	Hanging	20 sec
15	Jug	Hanging	1 min

Followed by a 30 min program with a 6 kilo weight vest

Min	Type of hold	Exercise	Sec/Rep
1	Jug	Drops	5 rep
2	Medium	Drops	3 rep
3	Small	Pulls	5 rep
4	Medium	Negs	5 rep
5	Pocket	Pulls	5 rep
6	Medium	Drops	2 rep
7	Jug	Hang	30 sec
8	Jug	Pulls	10 rep
9	Medium	Pulls	5 rep
10	Small	Hang	15 sec
11	Medium	Hang	20 sec
12	Jug	Drops	5 rep
13	Small	Hang	15 sec
14	Jug	Hang	40 sec
15	Medium	Hang	20 sec
16	Medium	Pulls	5 rep
17	Small	Hang	15 sec
18	Medium	Hang	20 sec
19	Small	Hang	15 sec
20	Small	Hang	15 sec
21	Medium	Hang	20 sec
22	Jug	Pulls	10 rep
23	Medium	Hang	20 sec
24	Small	Hang	15 sec
25	Medium	Pulls	5 rep
26	Jug	Hang	40 sec
27	Medium	Hang	20 sec
28	Medium	Hang	20 sec
29	Small	Hang	15 sec
30	Jug	Hang	1 min

In the evening I bouldered a little, concentrating on dynos and pinches. Also with 6 kilo weight vest. I felt pretty strong throughout the evening and when I took off my vest at the end of the night I flew up all the problems I was working with the vest on, although I was quite tired.

On Tuesday I went back to the cave and spent the afternoon working the boulder problems that Wesley set for the comp on that Saturday. I did them all with my weight vest on so they felt really hard and reachy, but got easier at the end of the day when I took off my vest.

Wednesday I rested and did some work on my thesis for the most of the day. Wasn't particularly productive but at least I did some more than I had done on the previous two days.

Thursday I did some stamina training... No weight vest. This is tough work and involves a 4 minute set of work encores! The first minute utilizes 6 sets of holds, 7 seconds on with 3 rest on each hold with arms straight. The second minute uses the same 6 holds with arms at half lock. The third minute is then at full lock. The forth minute is just pure torture! Try to do 10 pull ups in 30 seconds on a small hold! I dare you! Take 5 minutes off and repeat! Do this for 5 sets in total and you have a workout.

This is what it looks like for the training log!

Grip	Goal	Goal	10-Mar
just off straight	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
90 degree	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
full lock	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
Rest, 10 small pulls	30 secs, 10 small pull ups	10	10
Rest	10 min
just off straight	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
90 degree	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
full lock	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
Rest, 10 small pulls	30 secs, 10 small pull ups	10	10
Rest	5min
just off straight	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
90 degree	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
full lock	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
Rest, 10 small pulls	30 secs, 10 small pull ups	10	10
Rest	5min
just off straight	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
90 degree	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
full lock	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
Rest, 10 small pulls	30 secs, 10 small pull ups	10	10
Rest	5min
just off straight	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
90 degree	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	6
full lock	jug, rail, 2pock, crimp, 2pock, med	6	5.5
Rest, 10 small pulls	30 secs, 10 small pull ups	10	9
		140	138.5
			98.93%

Fun stuff.

So now for the bad part of the week: Boven this weekend. It all started off with an easy on sight of Grannie's Cottage (25) and a quick repeat of Condor (27) as warm up to put the draws up for Frankie, but it all went downhill from there. I felt great putting the draws on my route, linking it from the 3rd bolt to the anchors placing draws but after that I never had any success. My two attempts were both to the same place: falling off at the infamous right hand crimp at the top. Grrr.

The next day was no better. Tried to on sight Bamboozled (27). Gave it a very valiant effort, down-climbing the moves probably 10 times before giving up. Worse yet, I couldn't even make it to the top of the route so I had to down-climb it to clean. Frustrating. Tried Dropkicked again too and didn't quite make it to the top before I decided it was a bad idea and cleaned it. My project was a disaster too. Fell off in the shake at the top on the first attempt: see video. And my second attempt was just stupid, so I pulled my gear off it and went home.



Low points can be good for learning and for teaching you lessons, but they are still very frustrating nonetheless. I shall simply have to work harder and clear my head before I head back there with Paul Brouard next weekend, for 8 days. I am convinced that it will go then. Might also jump on either Lab Rat or Jabberwocky. I may very well just need a change of pace with my project...