Training Cycle Interrupted by a Trip?

[jace]

Lucky enough to be guiding for my school's Outdoor Program trip to The Red in a few weeks. Couldn't me more excited (free trip!) but when I started planing my training the trip wasn't on my radar--I was training for summer climbing goals. That means that when the trip comes I'll be just starting the power phase or just finishing strength.

Is there anything I should keep in mind for splitting up the cycles like this? I'm thinking I'll probably do another week of strength when I get back before going over to power just to get everything back where it should be. That would essentially be an extra week of strength after a "break" week. Does that make sense? Is there something else I should be doing instead?

[jcm]

A few thoughts:

Timing matters. How much training time do you have between the end of your trip and when you want to peak for your summer season? Assuming you get back in late March, it makes a big difference whether your peak “summer” season starts in May, or if you are really aiming to peak in July. This affects whether you have time to restart a full cycle after your Red trip. It also matter what kind of climbing you are training for. What areas/projects/trips/goals are on the summer agenda?

Doing a week of strength (~3 hangboard sessions) after you return isn’t enough to have much impact. The first 2 hangboard workout in any phase usually just serve to get the momentum going again, so you’d really only have 1 meaningful workout. To make gains in strength that will be of use during the summer, then you should plan on ~2 weeks (5 sessions) at a minimum. 3+ weeks (7+ sessions) would be even better.

If you can afford the time, it would be worth starting over with a new cycle. I would treat the Red trip as a Base Fitness phase, and then when you return go into a full 3-4 week strength phase. This also times well with mid-summer climbing, if that is what your local climbing season (or trip plans) supports. You can hangboard in April, train power (and boulder outside) in May, use June climbing to train up your PE, and then peak for July/August.

Are you looking to perform at a high level during the Red trip, or will you just be doing easy mileage guiding type climbing? If you are just doing easy mileage, I would just continue hangboarding until a week before the trip, rest for a week, then restart your training cycle with the trip as the base-fitness phase (do a ton of easy mileage), and then resume hangboarding when you get back.

If you want to perform/send on the trip, then I would suggest you drop whatever you are doing now and go straight into PE training—longish LBCs, route intervals, etc. For the Red, maximizing your endurance will pay much bigger immediate dividends than increases in strength or power. In this case, you would also just go straight into strength training upon returning.

If your summer projects or trip plans mean you need to peak in early May, that makes things more tricky; you’d probably want to re-up your strength with ~5 hangboard sessions after returning, then go into somewhat compressed power and PE phases. Where to shave off time would depend on what you goals are and what factors you need to train.

TL;DR: Trying to take a multi-week break between strength and power, or in the middle of strength, is non-ideal. If possible, fully re-start the cycle after the trip.

[chrisbecker]

How long exactly does the trip last, what will be your work tasks and what sort of climbing for yourself do you think you'll be doing?

[jace]

That's what I get for looking at stoke pictures while posted. Was looking at pictures of stuff in The Red, am going to Red Rocks.

I'll be on the trip for 9 days, probably 6-7 days of climbing. Mostly long days of easy stuff (5.9 is probably the hardest thing my clients will be able to climb) with long approaches and descents.

I like the idea of treating the last month or so as base fitness and starting again after I get back...even if I'm dreading another month of HB workouts. That would also help me peak later in summer (gives me for getting my Van together!)