After a week off it's time to get back on the training. This, unfortunately, involved going back indoors. After a weekend of dismal weather, we thought everywhere would either be wet or seeping so me and Joe headed to MCC.
I was a little apprehensive about climbing indoors again. I felt that after Spain I should be pretty fit and be able to cruise the 7a's, and possibly 7b's, in the centre. This wasn't the case, I fell off the 6c+ I tried. So the question is why? Well first of all I had to get used to clipping every half a metre again, this has the effect of stopping you every other move to hang on and clip. For a number of routes I just forgot to clip as I wasn't used to it. I don't want to get used to it either, having a bolt every half a metre doesn't really do much for mindset about falling and I was just getting used to it in Spain!
After 6 routes we called it a day. I'm going again this evening with Ste so we'll see how that goes. I've experienced similar before, having had time from the indoor environment and then when you return it feels hard, despite the fact you've been climbing harder outdoors. I see it as another challenge and after a few sessions I think I'll be used to again and be crushing 7a's and b's!
I've been given the all clear by the physio which is good news. The neurological problem I had has now disappeared, it was probably created as a by-product of an initial soft tissue problem. The way to keep free of the problem - lots of aggressive stretching! All this means is really pushing the stretches and holding them for at least 90s. This has the effect of getting my brain to disengage the muscle, allowing it to relax. I just need to chill out man! If your in the Manchester area and are suffering from climbing related injuries I cannot recommend SportMed enough, and in particular Rich. If your not then my advice is check to see if the physio has a history of dealing with climbing related problems. If they don't I would say find someone that does!
After a week off from climbing I'm really keen to get back to training. I'm going to re-evaluate my goals now that it's been a few months and see where I stand, hopefully I have made some progress. Although I don't think I've ticked many of my goals I think the mindset which I have is much more positive. I'm not getting too hooked on a certain grade or routes (Still want to do London Wall though!) just trying to have fun along the way.
Main things I want to concentrate on over the next 3 month period are
(1) Improve finger strength - my finger strength is feels pretty woeful at the moment. Now that my arms are not giving me grief I can add a bouldering session into my training which should help this. I'm also want to be more consistent with my fingerboard workouts. Jon is training pretty hard at the moment so I'm going to try and get some sessions in with him as he'll push me to keep pulling hard!
(2) Get outside - I really want to keep getting out on real rock. The number of climbs I've done (leading/redpoints) so far this year is more than I did all of last year. I think climbing outside is a key factor in improving, being able to read a sequence or spot footholds is much more important than whether I've done a 7a indoors.
(3) Consolidate E1/2 - after Spain where I either flashed or onsighted most 6bs I now have the confidence that climbing E1/2 is well with-in what I'm capable of. To do this though I need to get out and do some! I think you have to be careful in making a direct comparison between sport and trad grades (6b/+ = E3/4 according to rockfax), but I know I'm more than physically capable of it, and the mental side comes with practice also so again, get out there!
I'll get some more concrete goals written down soon and post them but those are the general areas that I want to improve. We're off to the lakes next weekend so it would be cool to tick an E1 but I'll be happy if the weather is good and I'm enjoying the climbing!
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