First PE Workout - Feedback?

[jeremie]

In last four months I've being doing strength phases, and limit bouldering phases. However, I'm going to NZ on a family vacation in two weeks (not specifically for climbing, but should be able to go climb outdoors at 2-3x a week), so I figured I would give PE training a go for the next two weeks. I don't have any specific goal routes, but I know that my PE is weak right now, and increasing my PE would definitely help me out when working on routes in NZ!

I came up with a bouldering circuit as follows:
V4 up, V1 down, V3 up, V1 down

It's a total of 31 hand moves, and takes about 1:50s to complete

I did the warmup per the book - 15min ARC, 15min easy bouldering, 20min hard bouldering (including all of the boulders in the circuit). Then I did the circuit. Here's a description of the sets:

Set 1 - I just did the V4, V1, and V3, and it felt a little short at only 1:25min, so I added the V1 down for the remainder of the sets. 3min rest.
Set 2 - Completed whole circuit, pumpy but felt pretty good. 3min rest.
Set 3 - Completed whole circuit, felt quite pumped by the end. 3min rest.
Set 4 - Failed at the end of the V3 up due to pump. Decided to continue but increase rest for remainder of sets. 4min rest.
Set 5 - Completed, felt ok. 4min rest.
Set 6 - Completed, very pumped. 4min rest.
Set 7 - Completed, extremely pumped. 10 minutes rest with stretching, then ARC for 10 minutes.

A few questions:

• Is 7 sets too much volume? I guess after warming up for 50 minutes, I felt like I should be doing the PE for at least 30 minutes. It ended up taking ~34 minutes to complete 7 sets including rest time.
• For next time, should I try decresing the rest time to a constant 3:30min for all the sets? 
  
• How many rest days? 1 or 2?
  
• Any other feedback? Just looking for some overall guidance on my training for PE.

Thanks a lot! I've been working strength and power quite a bit, and so I figured it's time to start getting some PE workouts in  .

Cheers,
Jeremie

[MarkAnderson]

I think 7 is too many sets, and the volume is pretty high. 34 minutes is a really long PE session. I recommend that you increase the length of the sets a bit (maybe add one more Up problem?), and reduce the number of sets to 4 or 5. Based on the fact that you completed 6 of 7 sets, I'm guessing it's a bit too easy, even with the extra rest at the end. I think you're probably ready to do 3:00 rest if your goal is to do 4 sets, even if they are a bit longer/harder.

Also, I think it's a bad idea to increase the rest interval as you progress. You're just digging a deeper recovery hole that you have to climb out of. If you feel like the total workout is too short, do some more bouldering before the LBC. I will typically train for 80-90 minutes (including warmup) before I start my PE session, which is almost never more than 20 minutes.
I try to take two full rest days after PE if I can afford it.

[jeremie]

Thanks Mark, really appreciate the reply. I'll try your recommendations for my next workout. Definitely feeling some soreness today!