Training journal

La Pedriza was an awesome technic lesson, but I came back with small arms. Slabs isn’t quite pumpy, even if it’s intense…

And I need now to start building a fitness base : power, power endurance, endurance.

I don’t feel like I will need to write down an excel table with X sessions of power, Y of endurance… I have been training for years and I can feel now, week after week, what is missing.

I start with an equal amount of the 3 :

-power (bouldering)

-power endurance (20-30mouvs)

-endurance (longer).

Add to that running, stretching, rings to reinforce all the antagonists muscles too…

After all this years of training, what I sometimes struggle with is motivation: you have done 3 circuits, and the 4rth one…. Pffffff.

and quality of my effort : “maybe I have tried hard enough, I can fall in my circuit now »…

But this year, it is all easier. I have caught myself thinking on the very last mouvs of a circuit : » come on, one more hold, for the voie petit »… It is always in the back of my mind, it pulls my arm, pushes my back, and I keep walking forward on my path.

It is all about the goal, but it isn’t… It is about knowing why you are there, trying so hard. It gives a sense to everything.

Pedriza was my strategy to get to know about granite friction…

About Pedriza

I have gone through despair and hopes, between moments where I felt I had it all, and moments where it just seemed all so far above me.

Granite slabing was a necessary step, I though, or at least a good learning method, to be able to apprehend better granite.

There is a world of friction, whether it is the foot holds or even how much grip is necessary to put on a hold, that I needed to learn.

And there is a fear that I need to get rid of: if I see a very steep limestone wall, with big tuffas, I am not scared, I am excited. Because I know I will get pumped, find some weird 3d positions that get me out of the steepness, and allow me to keep on going endlessly. I am used to it. In front of a blank (granite is always more blank, isn’t it?), vertical wall, I am intimidated. Because I am used to being able to see holds from the ground, and there, you can’t.

So I jumped for it: slab granite.

When you are at the foot of the route, it just looks all impossible. Not a single hold (good hold) in sight, and actually there won’t be one at all. And still it all works. Marvel of friction.

I look closer, just the first meter, and I can spot some tiny bumps, crystals, on which I will surely be able to balance my body.

So what have I learned in 3 weeks in La Pedriza?

-First of all, I will use Mura women shoes for the Voie Petit. They are the best compromise of pointy and bending for small holds, and friction. Mythos have no point, and wouldn’t function in the 8b overhang, Genius will be way too painfull for a whole day. Mura it will be then. I feel at home in those shoes now.

-Put your foot on a sloper, placing it slightly above to rub the gum in, charge. Don’t question, just charge it properly, with your body in the right direction. It will work.

-When in a slab, read the feet and not the hands; if you can, put a chalk point while you go up. Chalk point is foot, and no questioning after, it is simple, fast.

-It looks just so blank? Bolts are far apart? Look closer, focus on the movements in front of you. When it is vertical of slabby, you will have time, your arms are not the ticking clocks anymore, your focus is. If you fall, you will naturally walk backwards, it’s fine.

What now?

Now I need to prepare a couple of pairs of Muras, I need to get fit, strong arms for the 8b pitch, volume for the whole day. I am not ready yet, but I can feel the excitement growing…

The flaw of running?

18/02

Rest day in La Pedriza

Even if we have been walking a lot to access the crag, I decided to run today. It hasn’t been that hard to motivate myself, as I had again an audio book. I am afraid I didn’t run very fast, as I was trying to run along the lake, but the path would go close enough to my appreciation.

Something happened that I don’t think I experienced before: when I finished my run (31minutes), I felt good. Very good. A sensation of warmth and completion that runners have always described to me, but than I never felt… Will that happen again? I hope so!!!

It hurts

25/01

I have started to run again from January the 3^rd. I plan on running twice a week. I had to take it slow, as I hate running, and I haven’t run for 2 years. I have always been running in my life, for the cardio, and always hated it.

My first time out, I run 15 minutes, and it was horribly painful and boring, even with music.

I had to find tricks.

I put an audiobook in my phone, and now I run listening to the story. It’s much easier.

Two days ago I went running with a partner. I can’t run with James because he is too fast, and that only makes me struggle too much, and hate the run even more. But my training partner is slower, just a bit better than me, and with her, I had my pride, I followed, and run 30minutes.

I am getting there, step after step.