Appropriate Goal Routes

[mclay]

One of the things that really won me over straightaway with RCTM was the early chapter/section on goal setting - the little blurb 5.12 or this (picture of Smith Rock, I think). I knew I wanted to get better at climbing. I knew I had limited time. It just makes sense that the best thing about climbing would be to climb the most striking faces and features you can find. 

So as I began my "career" in RCTM with the long-term goal of climbing the most beautiful and highest-rated (quality) routes at the destination closest to me. In terms of keeping me stoked to train, a year and half later it seems to be a "good goal." Along the way, maybe 7 months ago, I added the long-term goal of climbing a certain grade by a certain age. That's a more specific and measurable goal.

But as I reviewed the long-term planning section of the book, I think I'm failing to connect the long-term goals with the short-term (per cycle) and mid-term (annual?). A recent comment in another thread made me consider that perhaps I'm not focussed enough in any one cycle/phase to make certain I tick off a shorter range goal. 

I'm be interested to hear the goals and processes others have used in conjunction with their training. 

[jetjackson]

So I set the long term goal of climbing 8a in March 2015. I even started writing a blog called goal8a. Ironically, recently, I've read that publicly announcing your goals can actually be counterproductive, but it's done now. You can read the blog post where I explain why 8a 

I find it interesting how thinking evolves over time, and I think my blog is a good reference for that. When I read the chapter in RCTM it changed my thinking - I now have an 8a goal route in mind, one that I came across that really appealed to me, and is one of the most aesthetic lines in Australia - Eye of the Tiger - vimeo.com/141369101 - it has a bit of everything. The thought of climbing that is more appealing than the thought of '8a'.

I'd originally estimated that it would take me about 5 years to hit that goal, so in terms of intermediate goal setting, I worked my way backwards. In 2015 I set the goal of getting 5.12a by the end of the year. That took much longer than I'd originally estimated (just did it in Dec 2016), and in retrospect, actually consumed a lot of mental/physical energy that could have been used for improving my climbing across the board. You can read about my reflections on this 5.12 obsession in this post

My goals for 2017 are a bit different. They still have the end goal in mind and they are focussed on addressing some areas that I need to improve on if I'm going to have any chance at those long term goals.

So 'goals' - yeah, when I saw the route 'Punks in the Gym' - 5.14a - I decided I'd also like to climb that maybe someday. That's the stretch goal though, Eye of the Tiger first.

[mclay]

Sound like we've been thinking in a similar way...although I still haven't told any of my climbing buddies anything about the grade/age goal. But honestly if I never get within three grades of my "goal", but climb all the other increasingly difficult classics on my tick list in an attempt to get better, I would be thrilled. It would mean that a) I had become a much better climber than I currently am, and b) I would have likely found the limit of my genetic potential.

You climb in Australia and the US it seems, and it's interesting the obsession about various grade barriers between the two systems. 5.12 seem like a real dividing point in the US scene between intermediate and hard. 5.12 is roughly 25 in South African version of Ewbank, and I've never heard anyone stoked about "breaking into 25 range.", but 24 is seen here as 7a, so a lot of people put that forward as the division between "easy" and "hard". I haven't put the energy into getting that grade, that it seems you may have in 2015. However, I get the temptation of obsessing a bit at these barriers, even when they don't matter all that much in the short-term.

That said...I'm dying to get back on the 24 I was close on during my last SA trip!

Punks in the Gym is a top goal route, no doubt.

[jetjackson]

Yeah I have lived in Texas for the past 2.5 years, originally from Australia. Although yesterday I was offered a job in Melbourne - it looks like I could be there as of the end of March. That helps tick that goal for this year though - moving somewhere with 'local' access to those goal routes.

My friends don't know about my 8a goal. I also haven't told my wife.

The 5.12a point I think, at least here in Central Texas, also stands out because there are multiple iconic routes at that grade in Austin. Where under that grade there are a lot less. Liposuction, and Cutting Cards are two of the more aesthetic lines around here - both are 5.12a. So I think that's another thing that counts to why that grade becomes a benchmark to break into.