6 Month Goal Progress

[tedwelser]

The first 6 months of 2015 are completed.  Perhaps it is a good time for us to revisit our progress so far this year.

Which of your key goals have you completed and which still remain? 

[tedwelser]

Here are my goals with comments:

I had a slight mismatch between my goal routes, my preparation, and the routes I had opportunity to climb this spring. I had intended to climb steep 5.12’s at the Red and New, and Tuna Town in particular. My HB work was focused primarily on smaller / harder grips that I trained using less than body weight. This turned out to prepare me well to climb less steep 11’s, and I had a lot of success on these routes this spring. Routes like Bandolier felt much easier this spring-- I basically felt like all of the holds were big and I could basically climb it using whatever sequence I wanted [in contrast to how carefully I had to manage my energy on the same route felt the year before].

Climbing with my family meant that repeat visits to the motherlode were out, and moreover, big parts of my climbing days would be spent focused on routes for other people. Basically this ruled out the project I expected to focus on. However, I was not fully prepared for that route anyways, so that was fine. Here are my goals, and some comments on progress so far.

Climb more with my wife and kids.

Success! Two family trips to the Red, including 3 days mid week in late May after the kids got out of school. On this trip Sydney (age 10) TR flashed a long 5.9 called Dino-mite and promptly climbed it 2 more times for fun. Anna (age 13) nearly TR flashed Bandolier 5.11a, she made it most of the way, well into the crux. This had special meaning because my wife Laura redpointed Bandolier long ago after much effort. Laura enjoyed revisiting routes at both Roadside and Torrent, where we had spent many days together.


Repeat some fun routes again.

I made some Deja Vu ascents on Bandolier 11a and Receiver 11b at Torrent, repeated Bandolier two more times for fun and to fit with climbing goals of others in my party. I got on Stay the Hand 12a, but it was a bit wet with condensation (bad weather this spring). Even so, I look forward to sending this in the fall along with Jersey Connection, Ro Shampo, etc.


Visit at least 5 crags for the first time.

I only added 1 new crag so far: Misja Pec in Slovenia-- climbed one day and onsighted some medium 6’s and attempted to onsight a steep tufa- filled 7a called Rodeo. Sadly I pumped out because I lacked the proper horizontal kneebar kung fu. It was a great experience to climb on these features that were totally new to me. However, this primarily work trip fell in the middle of my performance period and was not ideal for performance, because I was climbing with folks I had just meet and only had one day to climb.

Climb at least 3 days per month outdoors.
Summary: bad weather in January and Feb prevented this, but I exceeded this goal on average.

Jan- 1 Day, Whippoorwill
Feb - no days. Snow and rain.
March 5 Days, Whippoorwill 2, Athens bouldering 3
April 6 Days, Red River 2, Athens Bouldering 3, New River 1
May 6 Days, Red River 4, Velika Baba 1, Misja Pec 1
June 5 Days, Red River 3, Summersville 1, + [1 day at the Gunks]

Visit at least two new bouldering areas.
Bouldered for a day at the Gunks with my family;
Planned a visit to Niagara Glen but was thwarted by extensive rain.
I will have to boulder at Grayson Highlands or Coll’s Cove instead.

Put up at least 5 new bouldering first ascents.
Already made first ascents on several moderate problems in Athens
Will put up some more this fall, hopefully a few harder lines.

Red Point something closer to previous limit.
This had been my goal to send Tuna Town this spring. But it did not work out with the weather and my other goals. The weekend I had assigned to revisit Tuna Town was so wet that the undertow wall was running with water. I did not get back on TT after that.
I took a step in this direction by sending Tobacco Road 12b on my second try.


My plans are to continue with the above goals, with the following differences:

Build my endurance / resting capacity. I finally started to feel as though I could rest on steep routes while climbing in June on Tobacco Road. During the steep traverse prior to the crux I was able to camp out and rest for about 4 min and completely de-pump my left hand. This type of resting was impossible as recently as earlier this spring. If I can fully re-establish this strength all my steeper route goals will become much easier. Improving this rest capacity on the maxi-pull board is my only training objective for July-- when I am mainly just going to goof off and climb for fun until my fall season starts in August.


Climb several short red point projects (2-3 tries) in the 12a/b/c range. I think this will fit better with my other goals of increasing crag diversity and climbing with my family more. Given my other goals I cannot spend most of my scarce climbing days at a single crag. Also, it will be fun to fill out my route pyramid. 

Complete a couple hard first ascent boulder problems in Athens. I have a couple projects to complete once the weather cools down in late fall.

New Crags to visit for summer/fall: I will select 4 new to me crags from:  some more of the crags at the Meadow; try several crags at Millers Fork; others?

[joev9]

Fitness goals:
3x5 pullups with +20lbs
3x25 situps with +40lbs
Campus 1-3-5 on the medium rungs, both hands

Accomplished all of these some easily, others not so much.

Outdoor goals:

Backstory:  I have sent two V9s (one in 2006 and one in 2009) and had gone downhill quite a bit since then.  In my mind, I wasn't that far off, but in reality, I think I was way off the form I had in 2009.  I started training with the RCTM in August 2014 and immediately set the goal of V9 (I have worked on three for a while now).  In the fall of 2014, I sent two V7s and one V8, but got spanked by my V9 projects.  At the time, I was kind of disappointed due to overshooting my goals, but looking back I now realize that I probably went from V5ish to V7/8 from August to November 2014 (pretty good progress). 

Main goal for 2015 is still the three V9s that I have been close on for a while.  Got really, really close (as close as I have ever been) on 2 of them in April, but was thwarted by too much snow early and warm weather later (had a very small window of good conditions).  Feeling like all three V9s will go quick this fall.

I did send a V7 and two V8s in April (during the window of good conditions), the second of which (in the video) I really never, ever thought I would send as it involves a hideous pull of a 1.5 finger micro pocket:

[joshvillen]

Nice job joe, I really liked midnight lichen because of that small pocket. Much smoother than me though, I couldnt reach any of those holds hahaha