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Post by aikibujin on Mar 24, 2018 15:37:50 GMT -7
Huge congrats Boer! It must be an AMAZING feeling to send this thing after so much hard work. And all the gains you made are now in the bag... you are a more complete climber now, as well as having ticked a hard climb! Thanks John. I'm not sure if I'm a "more complete" climber now, but it's definitely a nice feeling to finally tick a 5.13a, which has been a goal for a long time. I wouldn't call myself a 5.13 climber (yet), there's still a lot of work to do! Training and improving never ends, tomorrow is going to be another training day. |
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Post by jetjackson on Mar 24, 2018 17:07:31 GMT -7
Like Mark mentioned, I felt like I've learned more in the last five months, in the process of working SY, than I've learned in the last two years combined. Before SY, I have done my projects relatively quickly. Once I figured out the beta for the crux, it's just a matter of keep at it until it went (which never took more than 10 tries). I have now lost track of how many redpoint attempts I've made on SY. In order to RP Sonic, I had to tweak so much: the most optimal way to use every hold, the most efficient way to do every move, even to switching out the fixed steel biner at the lower crux with one of my own to make it easier to clip (at Mark's suggestion). I have learned a lot about redpoint tactics, working on my weakness, and just trying really really hard. Congratulations on the send! It sounds like you learnt a lot through that process. Another inspiration for us all to hit up some super hard long term projects that will take multiple seasons - rather than the 8-10 attempt Redpoints where we can do most of the cruxes in the first couple of tries and then it's just linking it. I have my eye on one for later this year, and looking forward to the learning that I hope comes from it. |
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Post by Chris W on Mar 24, 2018 17:41:45 GMT -7
Friday morning I got up at 5:30a Good things happen when you get up early...  |
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Post by aikibujin on Mar 24, 2018 20:20:40 GMT -7
Congratulations on the send! It sounds like you learnt a lot through that process. Another inspiration for us all to hit up some super hard long term projects that will take multiple seasons - rather than the 8-10 attempt Redpoints where we can do most of the cruxes in the first couple of tries and then it's just linking it. I have my eye on one for later this year, and looking forward to the learning that I hope comes from it. Thanks! What long term project do you have in mind? I think you need to be smart and disciplined about tackling a long term project. Mark cautioned me against constantly battling with long term project, he even italicized "occasional" in his post. You need to be careful not to get caught in the redpoint fever. It's really easy to say this but hard to do. In December when I thought I was close to redpoint, I basically stopped trying other routes and got a little obsessed with Sonic. I tried to maintain my fitness with some con-current training, but it's pretty obvious to me now that my fitness was declining in December. I was getting higher on the route because I was getting more efficient with the beta. Comparing my hangboard numbers, last week I was hanging 10-20 lbs more on the various grips compare to the maintenance hangs I was doing back in December. Had I started a new training cycle in December instead of February, I might have gotten Sonic sooner. Or maybe not. Getting the beta dialed and refined was also key to send. It's really hard to make that call, even now it's still hard to say. |
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Post by jrblack on Mar 24, 2018 20:37:32 GMT -7
The rule of thumb I've heard (from pro climbers on TBP) is that you should spend a max of 2 weeks on a project. After that, if you haven't sent, it's time to go back to the gym and train some more. Of course people break this all the time (*cough* Dawn Wall *cough), but apparently many people hold this view. I have projects that have been outstanding for over a year. But I climb lots of other stuff in between and then occasionally go back and see if I'm any stronger (usually I am, and that's super motivating). Sonic looks SOOOO cool. Maybe once I'm into the 12s I'll get on it just to feel what 13a is like.  |
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Post by jetjackson on Mar 24, 2018 22:21:40 GMT -7
Congratulations on the send! It sounds like you learnt a lot through that process. Another inspiration for us all to hit up some super hard long term projects that will take multiple seasons - rather than the 8-10 attempt Redpoints where we can do most of the cruxes in the first couple of tries and then it's just linking it. I have my eye on one for later this year, and looking forward to the learning that I hope comes from it. Thanks! What long term project do you have in mind? I think you need to be smart and disciplined about tackling a long term project. Mark cautioned me against constantly battling with long term project, he even italicized "occasional" in his post. You need to be careful not to get caught in the redpoint fever. It's really easy to say this but hard to do. In December when I thought I was close to redpoint, I basically stopped trying other routes and got a little obsessed with Sonic. I tried to maintain my fitness with some con-current training, but it's pretty obvious to me now that my fitness was declining in December. I was getting higher on the route because I was getting more efficient with the beta. Comparing my hangboard numbers, last week I was hanging 10-20 lbs more on the various grips compare to the maintenance hangs I was doing back in December. Had I started a new training cycle in December instead of February, I might have gotten Sonic sooner. Or maybe not. Getting the beta dialed and refined was also key to send. It's really hard to make that call, even now it's still hard to say. That's a great point. Long term goal has been, and still is Eye of the Tiger (5.13b) - reputably a bit soft, but a mega classic Aussie route. Thoughts are to get on it towards the end of this year, with a view to getting a better understanding of what I would need to do to send it, and then using that as a basis for customising training cycles in 2019. Having said all that, I've also got my eye on a 28 here that's super classic (5.13a) called Touchstone Pictures. So that might end up being this type of battle for me for next year, just depends on how well this year develops in terms of progress. See - vimeo.com/256713018 - 4:40 for Eye of the Tiger, and 9:40 for Touchstone. Touchstone just seems a little less of this style of long term project as people describe it as V7/8 into 5.12b finish which means it's heavily reliant on unlocking a single crux. Where Eye of the Tiger is described as maybe a V5 crux in the middle (depending on wingspan), but multiple other V4s stacked, essentially making it an enduro-fest. Only getting on it occasional is probably no big deal. In order to get a climbing partner here, you have to compromise. Crags are far apart, and so you can't really do multiple days on one spot unless you have a very giving partner, or someone projecting the same thing. But yeah, hearing about Mark's battle with Shadowboxing and your battle with this is just getting me super psyched to try something that's really at the edge of my limit. So appreciate you sharing this |
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Post by aikibujin on Mar 26, 2018 21:23:32 GMT -7
The rule of thumb I've heard (from pro climbers on TBP) is that you should spend a max of 2 weeks on a project. After that, if you haven't sent, it's time to go back to the gym and train some more. Max of two weeks to whom? If I'm a dirtbagger living the #vanlife (#notrealdirtbag), I can climb every other day and get on a project 6 to 7 days in a two-week period. Still, it took me that many days just to figure out the beta on SY and start to link the different sections. As a weekend warrior who can get out only once a week, I can only climb 2, 3 days tops in a two-week period. It often takes me that many days to redpoint a 5.12. So by that rule of thumb I really shouldn't have tried SY. I asked Mark when I should take a break from SY and start training because that thought definitely has crossed my mind. He said I should keep at it until my progress stalls or even regresses 3 days in a row. I think that's a better rule of thumb, because there were certainly days when I was tired/didn't get enough sleep/drank too much coffee when I fell lower on the route. but then the next time I come back I make some progress again. Sonic looks SOOOO cool. Maybe once I'm into the 12s I'll get on it just to feel what 13a is like. It is definitely a cool route, I can see why it's a classic in the canyon. Each section is different, but not a single move that makes you go "meh". |
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Post by aikibujin on Mar 26, 2018 21:27:45 GMT -7
Long term goal has been, and still is Eye of the Tiger (5.13b) - reputably a bit soft, but a mega classic Aussie route. Thoughts are to get on it towards the end of this year, with a view to getting a better understanding of what I would need to do to send it, and then using that as a basis for customising training cycles in 2019. Oh yes, I know Eye of the Tiger. I've seen many videos of it, and it looks like such a cool route. My kind of route too, steep, big holds, and what amazing looking rock. Good luck on it and keep us updated on your progress! |
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Post by jrblack on Mar 27, 2018 10:45:43 GMT -7
The rule of thumb I've heard (from pro climbers on TBP) is that you should spend a max of 2 weeks on a project. After that, if you haven't sent, it's time to go back to the gym and train some more. Max of two weeks to whom? I can't recall who was saying this, but it was a TBP episode. And the speaker was saying that she/he was breaking this rule for some exceptional reason. (It might have been Ondra.) In any case, I think they were talking about being a pro climber and working on a project full-time (3-4 days a week) and deciding when it was time to go back and train. Ondra estimates that he spent 6-7 trips of 2-4 weeks in Flatanger working on Silence, the first two just figuring out the beta. That's dedication! |
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Post by ehowell on Mar 28, 2018 8:26:38 GMT -7
Boer, amazing work and persistence!
Did anything change in your training and/or tactics/approach, or was this a good ole' fashioned "chip away"?
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Post by aikibujin on Mar 28, 2018 12:28:23 GMT -7
Boer, amazing work and persistence! Did anything change in your training and/or tactics/approach, or was this a good ole' fashioned "chip away"? There’s probably a little bit of both. Once I linked the moves, I knew I have a very good chance of sending it. So it was just a matter of keep trying it until I get to the anchor without falling off first. But I also tweaked my training in Feb a little with this route in mind. I knew I had enough strength and power for this route, what I lacked seem to be endurance. So instead just doing the usual one week of base fitness and then move on to strength, I spent 1.5 week just on aerobic endurance (doing ARC-type workouts every other day). When I moved into strength, instead of dropping aerobic endurance completely, I kept one or two days of aerobic endurance in addition to two days per week of strength training. So I essentially trained aerobic endurance for 5 weeks before a taper/deload week. This probably limited my strength gain a little, but I saw good improvement in my aerobic endurance. I am a bit surprised that I sent Sonic after just training aerobic endurance though. I had originally planned to train power endurance in March, and then work on Sonic again at the end of March. Also, I mentioned that the two rests on the route pump out my calves. After hearing how Ondra specifically trained his calves for that knee-bar rest on Silence, I took that idea and came up with an exercise that targeted my calves: I have a standing desk at work, so I took a piece of 2x4 to work and stood on it with my heels hanging off the edge. I would stand for 5 mins, rest for 5 mins, and repeat 4 times. In the beginning it was quite painful, but after a month of this it became tolerable. I think this really helped making those two rests better, especially the second one. |
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Post by Colin Taylor on Nov 18, 2019 9:34:56 GMT -7
How do you feel after that?
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