Reconciling Training for Climbing and for Alpine Objectives
Oct 17, 2015 19:07:49 GMT -7
wesp and jackmarr like this
Post by Charlie S on Oct 17, 2015 19:07:49 GMT -7
I think we can all agree that "The Holy Book" as it was mentioned in a previous thread and the training plan contained therein is one of the best written, thought out, and researched training programs out there.
Out of curiosity, I've been reading Training for the New Alpinism (TFTNA) to see what kind of training is advocated there. Unsurprisingly, periodization following a base fitness->strength->performance is the prescription there as well.
The RCTM does a great job of showing sample schedules and workout summaries (and it all bookmarked in an index- thank you, Andersons!) This format is missing in TFTNA and so I consolidated, sort of, the workouts (see attached TrainingForTheNewAlpinism_Scheduling.xlsx (16.2 KB)).
Background: I usually time my alpine trips to coincide with the ARC phase of the summer cycle (late June/early July). After 1 or 2 alpine trips, I am psychologically spent for the year. This year, I had 3:
Lone Peak in a day (summit elevation 11k, hardest day in the mountains up till that date)
Black Elk in the Wind Rivers (summit elevation 12k, 5.11a, 8 pitches [5.8, 5.10, 5.10+, 5.11a, 5.10, 5.9, 5.10, 5.7, scramble to summit], hardest technical alpine route to date)
Grand Teton car-to-car in a day (summit elevation 13k, 5.7, 16 hours RT). THIS is currently my hardest day in the mountains.
Long term, there are 5.11s, 5.12s, and a 5.13 in the Lone Peak and Wind Rivers I'd like to try some day. Though as experience has taught, these climbs need to be well below my onsight limit when attempted simply due to altitude alone.
Now, regarding TFTNA:
Initial impressions: wow, a crap load of time. Maybe if I had already achieved 5.14.
If the goal is to climb harder technical routes, it will be very hard if not almost impossible to train for both simultaneously. Why? Looking at that schedule, there is no way I can train that hard in Zone 1/Zone 3 and then try my hardest at the hangboard. Or vice versa, with lingering fatigue.
Though still not done with TFTNA, at this point it's obvious that if you have a very hard alpine objective, your best bet is to get your technical climbing abilities way up there and build a cardio base (almost exclusively Zone 1) during those months/years.
Regarding leg mass, the authors had this very interesting and slightly humorous quote:
"Most adult alpine climbers we know are obsessed with weight and are too busy cutting labels off of long underwear and removing the mosquito netting from their tents to consider adding bulk to their body."
They propose and show that Zone 1 training, over the long term, trains your body to go for fat metabolism and not for the glycogen stores in your legs. As your workout intensity increases, the more your body goes for the glycogen.
I'd be interested to know if anyone has any sort of reconciliation between programs or has synthesized them. For me, harder technical climbing is the goal but I'm going to experiment with Zone 1 training over the next few months (keeping an eye on weight) and see/note any improvements or declines. It would be nice to do alpine approaches and still have some energy left over for the reason I walked that far.
Out of curiosity, I've been reading Training for the New Alpinism (TFTNA) to see what kind of training is advocated there. Unsurprisingly, periodization following a base fitness->strength->performance is the prescription there as well.
The RCTM does a great job of showing sample schedules and workout summaries (and it all bookmarked in an index- thank you, Andersons!) This format is missing in TFTNA and so I consolidated, sort of, the workouts (see attached TrainingForTheNewAlpinism_Scheduling.xlsx (16.2 KB)).
Background: I usually time my alpine trips to coincide with the ARC phase of the summer cycle (late June/early July). After 1 or 2 alpine trips, I am psychologically spent for the year. This year, I had 3:
Lone Peak in a day (summit elevation 11k, hardest day in the mountains up till that date)
Black Elk in the Wind Rivers (summit elevation 12k, 5.11a, 8 pitches [5.8, 5.10, 5.10+, 5.11a, 5.10, 5.9, 5.10, 5.7, scramble to summit], hardest technical alpine route to date)
Grand Teton car-to-car in a day (summit elevation 13k, 5.7, 16 hours RT). THIS is currently my hardest day in the mountains.
Long term, there are 5.11s, 5.12s, and a 5.13 in the Lone Peak and Wind Rivers I'd like to try some day. Though as experience has taught, these climbs need to be well below my onsight limit when attempted simply due to altitude alone.
Now, regarding TFTNA:
Initial impressions: wow, a crap load of time. Maybe if I had already achieved 5.14.
If the goal is to climb harder technical routes, it will be very hard if not almost impossible to train for both simultaneously. Why? Looking at that schedule, there is no way I can train that hard in Zone 1/Zone 3 and then try my hardest at the hangboard. Or vice versa, with lingering fatigue.
Though still not done with TFTNA, at this point it's obvious that if you have a very hard alpine objective, your best bet is to get your technical climbing abilities way up there and build a cardio base (almost exclusively Zone 1) during those months/years.
Regarding leg mass, the authors had this very interesting and slightly humorous quote:
"Most adult alpine climbers we know are obsessed with weight and are too busy cutting labels off of long underwear and removing the mosquito netting from their tents to consider adding bulk to their body."
They propose and show that Zone 1 training, over the long term, trains your body to go for fat metabolism and not for the glycogen stores in your legs. As your workout intensity increases, the more your body goes for the glycogen.
I'd be interested to know if anyone has any sort of reconciliation between programs or has synthesized them. For me, harder technical climbing is the goal but I'm going to experiment with Zone 1 training over the next few months (keeping an eye on weight) and see/note any improvements or declines. It would be nice to do alpine approaches and still have some energy left over for the reason I walked that far.
