Balancing outdoor days/weekends with training

[CherryClimber]

Hey Mike and Mark,

New to the book and just started (about 3 weeks) into my first real training plan (with logging). Messed around with several weeks of campusing and hangboarding last year and saw some nice gains but really want to attain a next level.

I'm curious on your advice for balancing training with outdoor climbing.  I live in San Diego and mostly climb in the gym during the Summer (too hot) but what am I to do when the girlfriend wants to take a trip to Mt Charleston for the weekend?  Not that I dont want to get out and enjoy some real rock too but it doesnt really fit with your suggested training program which I want to follow as strictly as possible?

Any advice? Skip the outdoor sessions entirely and stick to plan?  Go climbing and do something different from what I usually do at the crag over a weekend?

Thanks! So far I'm digging the book and training!

[Chris W]

What I've done (I've only done 2 training cycles) is work it in whenever possible. In the base phase, I've done moderate ARC type routes. Strength phase, I've only climbed the day AFTER a hangboard workout and done moderate ARC routes, but basically don't climb outdoors here. Power phase, I've bouldered or focused on hard power type routes, and in the power endurance phase I've selected routes that work that system.

I'm married and have two kids under age 3 and a busy full time job. I get up at 04:30 to fit my training in before I work my morning shifts. Climbing outdoors may not fit my training schedule perfectly, but if I get the chance to do it, I take it. Life is too short for me to be perfect.

[tedwelser]

I am facing the same issue right now.  I am in my strength phase, and the hangboarding really saps my strength for the next several days.  Saturday should be nice (but hot) weather at Summersville lake, so friends and I are driving down for a day trip.  I was scheduled to hangboard on Thursday, but that will be too soon, so I am pushing it to friday and then I am just going to do easy ARC outdoor mileage and swim in the lake.   It is worth noting also, that will push my next hangboard workout to Tuesday, which will be good because I will have 1 day of active rest and then two days of full rest before my next session. 

I had 70 hour rest between my most recent hangboarding sessions, and I probably could have benefitted from one more day of rest--I was not fully recovered, or at least that is what my lower weights suggested.  

[Charlie S]

For my scheduling, I've always allocated Saturday as an outdoor day. Many times that's weather dependent. I will try to find a route or location that matches which phase I'm in. For example:
ARC: Multipitch or trips to Indian Creek
Strength: Whatever I have energy for during the weekend. Will tend to stay away from stuff which I know is not tendon friendly.
Power: Outdoor bouldering or roped "boulder-y" routes.
Power Endurance: Anything close to my goal route.

My training, while the timing is not always ideal, essentially runs Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Except for hangboarding which is either Monday/Thursday or Sunday/Thursday.

[Jack Ziegler]

During the strength phase I've resigned myself to being a belay slave in the gym. I've found any hard climbing detrimental to hangboard progression and recovery. When pressured to climb by my friends I use strategies such as not bringing my shoes to the gym and climbing 5.9s in flip flops for their amusement. I've avoided climbing outside entirely this strength phase as work has been quite hectic this time of the year. How well I take it has been a function of how well my non-climbing personal life is going. I think the next strength phase I may need to get outside more for my sanity. I will use rules such as no climbing the day before a hangboard workout. I've also found not wearing my tight climbing shoes a good strategy for avoiding the temptation to climb hard. When my feet are slipping off I am less likely to want to push it.


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[MarkAnderson]

Sept 14, 2014 5:44:20 GMT -7 Jack Ziegler said:

 When pressured to climb by my friends I use strategies such as not bringing my shoes to the gym and climbing 5.9s in flip flops for their amusement.

Haha, nice!

Certainly one of the downsides to training seriously is that it can be anti-social.  Ideally you can find a group of people (or convince some of your existing crew) to train with you.  Even if you aren't in the same point in your cycles, at least they can relate to your desire to rest or train instead of just climbing.  One of my goals/dreams in writing the book was to create a movement in favor of training, so that even if everyone isn't training at least everyone knows somebody who has tried it, so they have some idea of what the training folks are trying to accomplish.  It makes the whole thing more relatable if you know what I mean.

When I first started doing this stuff I would just get the craziest looks from everyone else in the gym.  They all thought hangboards were art pieces or maybe for the occasional 1-rep pull-up session.  There was literally 1 person in the gym (happened to be the coach of the kid's team, ultimately Jon Cardwell's coach) who recognized what I was doing and encouraged me.  Honestly it was kinda discouraging, but I've always seen myself as an outsider so I just kept my head down and ignored the weird looks.  It's pretty awesome to see how many people have embraced this approach in the decade+ since I started.

Anyway, the point of my post is, I've done the "climb in crappy shoes" thing, and I think it's a bad idea.  You just end up putting more load on your fingers because your feet can't take the weight they normally would.  I'd recommend using good shoes even on easier routes and just focus on weighting your feet as much as possible and minimizing the load on your hands.  This makes for great footwork training.