Post by jetjackson on Jun 16, 2018 1:35:30 GMT -7
I’m onto about my 8th cycle now, and if you read any of my posts I moved to Victoria, Australia last year. The best times of year to climb are late Autumn (Fall), and early Spring. It rains a lot in winter, and in summer you can get lucky, but for most of Jan-Mar the temps are in the high 80s and up. That tends to lend itself to 2 training cycles a year that would peak for those two prime periods. If I do 3 cycles in succession, I can align for one of those seasons, but then will hit a not-ideal period for the other two. If I do 2 seasons aligning with each period I end up with about a 4-8 week break between each, which I’m not sure what to do with, and am concerned it will affect my fitness.
Also, best conditions unfortunately align with cold/flu season, April/May or late Autumn is when we get lowest temps/least rainfall in the Grampians, unfortunately it’s also when we have the most colds floating around the place. Both this year and last, I have caught a cold/cough that has lasted around 2-3 weeks during that period - essentially killing my chances of a good season each time. I’ve tried strategies suggested on here - washing hands regularly, and avoiding touching of face, getting flu shot etc. but I have to travel in planes a lot for work, and that seems to offset the proactive steps that I take. Given that it’s probably unavoidable, I want to strategize around expecting to get sick - I think the use of a micro-cycle is a good potential way to salvage a season if you’re thrown out of peak training for a couple of weeks.
With those parameters, I’m thinking that it might be more ideal to run 2 x 5 month cycles instead of 3, and extend each performance period with a micro cycle within each. This would get me a lot more time on the rock during prime periods, and give me a bit more flexibility to deal with illness during that autumn period. but at the expense of a third performance peak each year. I’d only get 2 hangboard cycles a year, instead of 3, and I’m concerned that will have long term impacts on the development of finger strength, so I’m thinking to throw in a cycle between those seasons. My performance would taper off at the end of each cycle, but I could use that to develop my trad and multi-pitch skills, which would also lead into endurance for the next season.
Here is what that would potentially look like for 2019.
Jan - Enduro - including outdoor milage weather permitting.
Feb - Strength
Mar - Power / Outdoor Bouldering
Apr - Perform/Micro-cycle
May - Perform
Jun - Enduro - including outdoor milage - weather permitting.
Jul - Strength
Aug - Power / Outdoor Bouldering
Sep - perform / micro cycle
Oct - perform
Nov - Strength - Long Term Building
Dec - Trad/Multi-pitch / 2 week rest
So questions - how do others deal with seasonality of peak times like this? - 3 cycles a year doesn’t seem to align itself with anywhere in the world in a perfect way. Is there another way to approach the problem?
Also, is the 3rd strength cycle a waste of time for maintaining the long term upward finger strength curve? - my only thoughts are it would be very close to my February strength cycle, making it potentially less effective than if it was evenly spaced with the other 2 cycles. To me, it's not a huge sacrifice to do, as HB cycles are often a good time for me to travel to see family and do non-climbing things that weekend trips to the Grampians usually interfere with.
2019 will also see me build a bubble with the hang board, so I can strength train in the hottest month of the year - February.
Also, best conditions unfortunately align with cold/flu season, April/May or late Autumn is when we get lowest temps/least rainfall in the Grampians, unfortunately it’s also when we have the most colds floating around the place. Both this year and last, I have caught a cold/cough that has lasted around 2-3 weeks during that period - essentially killing my chances of a good season each time. I’ve tried strategies suggested on here - washing hands regularly, and avoiding touching of face, getting flu shot etc. but I have to travel in planes a lot for work, and that seems to offset the proactive steps that I take. Given that it’s probably unavoidable, I want to strategize around expecting to get sick - I think the use of a micro-cycle is a good potential way to salvage a season if you’re thrown out of peak training for a couple of weeks.
With those parameters, I’m thinking that it might be more ideal to run 2 x 5 month cycles instead of 3, and extend each performance period with a micro cycle within each. This would get me a lot more time on the rock during prime periods, and give me a bit more flexibility to deal with illness during that autumn period. but at the expense of a third performance peak each year. I’d only get 2 hangboard cycles a year, instead of 3, and I’m concerned that will have long term impacts on the development of finger strength, so I’m thinking to throw in a cycle between those seasons. My performance would taper off at the end of each cycle, but I could use that to develop my trad and multi-pitch skills, which would also lead into endurance for the next season.
Here is what that would potentially look like for 2019.
Jan - Enduro - including outdoor milage weather permitting.
Feb - Strength
Mar - Power / Outdoor Bouldering
Apr - Perform/Micro-cycle
May - Perform
Jun - Enduro - including outdoor milage - weather permitting.
Jul - Strength
Aug - Power / Outdoor Bouldering
Sep - perform / micro cycle
Oct - perform
Nov - Strength - Long Term Building
Dec - Trad/Multi-pitch / 2 week rest
So questions - how do others deal with seasonality of peak times like this? - 3 cycles a year doesn’t seem to align itself with anywhere in the world in a perfect way. Is there another way to approach the problem?
Also, is the 3rd strength cycle a waste of time for maintaining the long term upward finger strength curve? - my only thoughts are it would be very close to my February strength cycle, making it potentially less effective than if it was evenly spaced with the other 2 cycles. To me, it's not a huge sacrifice to do, as HB cycles are often a good time for me to travel to see family and do non-climbing things that weekend trips to the Grampians usually interfere with.
2019 will also see me build a bubble with the hang board, so I can strength train in the hottest month of the year - February.