Tweaking stuff in your back sucks. I know, I'm a pro at it. Don't know if it's your bag, but I'm a big fan of the crack ma'am to fix me up.

I like the idea of training cycles, but everyone I've met who had done them complains how they missed their peak and they are dissapointed on how they're climbing. I thought that even after your peak you're supossed to still be in better shape than you were before you started the cycle, and doing repetative cycles would make you progressivly stronger in general. Otherwise, why would you bother?

ewe always want to peak right at the top of the page

Tweaking stuff in your back sucks. I know, I'm a pro at it. Don't know if it's your bag, but I'm a big fan of the crack ma'am to fix me up.

I like the idea of training cycles, but everyone I've met who had done them complains how they missed their peak and they are dissapointed on how they're climbing. I thought that even after your peak you're supossed to still be in better shape than you were before you started the cycle, and doing repetative cycles would make you progressivly stronger in general. Otherwise, why would you bother?

And speaking of the crack ma'am.....I went to see a new one last Friday. She works with a lot of runners and does active release techniques (ART). Now, I don't know if I would classify myself as a runner yet, but I do have a lot of issues with my IT band and trying to run.

I've been getting some major pain from the IT band lately, going into my butt muscles and radiating down my hamstring. I was still getting pain on my short run on Saturday, but the muscle may still have been hurty from the treatment. Going running tonight (just a short, easy run) so I'll see how it goes. I have another appointment with her this Friday.

And speaking of weekend report, witnessed someone belaying with their gri-gri clipped to the little plastic gear loop on the side of the harness. She was wearing a jacket, so we only realized that it happened when her climber took, and she twisted around, because of it, and freaked out, obviously. Luckily, the gear loop didn't break, it wasn't a lead fall, just a take at the anchors. And Ed still had his harness on, so he took over belay and lowered him.

The guy was white-faced when he was lowered. You could tell he wanted to rip his belayer to peaces, but we were there, and he was restraining himself. And obviously, since he was clearly the more-experienced of the two, it was his fault, too. But I can see how it could go unnoticed bc she was wearing a jacket and her harness was loose enough that it kinda twisted around, to begin with. He checked htat her gri-gri was loaded properly and biner was locked, before he started climbing, but didn't check where it was attached to.

Anyway, all is well that ends well.

And there was also a hilarious (to the onlookers) argument on one of the 5.9s when the climber asked for a slack to clip the 2nd bolt, after hanging the draw, and his belayer refused to give him slack, because he was in the groundfall territory (correct). So they stood there arguing, because that was better, apparently, than quickly clipping the damned draw.

Holy. Shit.

Curt

Yeah, climbing isn't what it used to be back in the painter-pants era. :)

Well, I suppose I am, overall, a bit stronger now that I was a year ago. but compared to how I felt climbing in mid-September, I suck.

And it isn't like the peaks and valleys don't happen naturally, without any training cycle. The idea of the periodization training is NOT to eliminate peaks/valleys. Because you can't eliminate them even if you tried. It is to direct them to happen when you want them to happen.

Obviously, I suck at that, too.

Really. You'll never clip your gri-gri into a plastic gear loop with a waist foot belay.

Curt

I’ve just heard a lot of people complain about their lack of timing with the periodization thing and yeah, I can see that that would suck, but if you’re not prepared for that potentially happening maybe going through these training cycles are not for you?

I suppose I have my own periodization thing going. I gain finger strength and endurance in the summer, the lock off and other strength stuff in the winter.

I look at it as live-and-learn. bad timing now, lesson for better timing in the future.

I sort-of agree with you, I had stayed away from even attempting any sort of periodization for a long time, because it doesn't make sense, unless you know you will have a solid 2-6-week window when you would be climbing a lot, and you want to be climbing your best.

But then last winter, when camhead was limping around with his LisPaul foot, and I didn't have a regular partner for winter climbing, it didn't make sense to make a long drive to Chattaradiego by myself. So I figured that I would do the training cycle, because I had no climbing prospects from mid-December till March. And it worked well enough for me to want to do it again.

That was a fairly long cycle, and I climbed fairly well through spring, even though the weather was not the best. This summer I did a shorter cycle. And obviously it was too short/too early, based on how I am climbing this fall. But still, it wasn't a waste of time, because I had zero desire to go climbing in the middle of July/August heat and humidity, so I didn't exactly waste weeks of good weather on the training. And I am probably no worse now than if I didn't do any training at all, or if I had just kept going to the Red and climbing 5.10s in summer heat.

I dunno. You never have a control group when you do an experiment on yourself, so who knows what might have been. And I am getting on harder stuff, so part of my climbing-like-crap feeling comes from that, I guess.

Do you find you get any cumulative value from PTFTWs over multiple pages?

And speaking of weekend report, witnessed someone belaying with their gri-gri clipped to the little plastic gear loop on the side of the harness. She was wearing a jacket, so we only realized that it happened when her climber took, and she twisted around, because of it, and freaked out, obviously. Luckily, the gear loop didn't break, it wasn't a lead fall, just a take at the anchors. And Ed still had his harness on, so he took over belay and lowered him.

The guy was white-faced when he was lowered. You could tell he wanted to rip his belayer to peaces, but we were there, and he was restraining himself. And obviously, since he was clearly the more-experienced of the two, it was his fault, too. But I can see how it could go unnoticed bc she was wearing a jacket and her harness was loose enough that it kinda twisted around, to begin with. He checked htat her gri-gri was loaded properly and biner was locked, before he started climbing, but didn't check where it was attached to.

Anyway, all is well that ends well.

And there was also a hilarious (to the onlookers) argument on one of the 5.9s when the climber asked for a slack to clip the 2nd bolt, after hanging the draw, and his belayer refused to give him slack, because he was in the groundfall territory (correct). So they stood there arguing, because that was better, apparently, than quickly clipping the damned draw.

the key to training is PTFTWs.

The thing I hate most about training cycles is your friends skipping climbing days because it's the wrong time in their hangboring cycle to climb.

the second story just sounds spectacular.

The thing I hate most about training cycles is your friends skipping climbing days because it's the wrong time in their hangboring cycle to climb.

Oh, it was. Picture every accoutrement of sport-climbing gumbyhood-- daisies girth-hitched to the harness and passed between the legs to be clipped in the back, ill-fitted helmet that slides back on the head, several belay devices on the harness, belayer wearing climbing shoes... And then you will get the full flavor of it.

was it an overhanging 5.9, such that the climber was getting pumped while the belayer wouldn't give him slack, or was he standing on a ledge? Also, did the belayer have a proposed solution to the issue?

Yes, it was an overhanging 5.9. Well, as far as 5.9's are overhanging. The left of the two at the Military wall. And no, the belayer didn't seem to have a solution. She just had a concern, and she was going to fully voice it, too, all other concerns be damned.

But at that point every single person who was there made some sort of "don't argue with your climber" and "give him fucking slack already" suggestion, and she relented, while grumbling that it was not right. The draw was successfully clipped.

How the climber made it to the top, I am not quite sure, I wasn't standing there watching after that. there was a lot of hanging on each bolt. But Ed did stay behind, and apparently this was not the only bolt on which they had a discussion about whether or not the belayer should give her climber slack, when he asked for it.

Jesus fucking Christ.