This week has been a tough one for me, with two disappointing sessions on 2/5 and 2/8. One thing climbing has helped me do is learn to let go more though; so while this particular week has been tough, I know it’s all good in the greater scheme of things.
This is something that came with time for me to understand when I first started out climbing. I’d hit these hard plateaus in which one week I’d be cruising through the next grade I was working on, and the next I’d be back to where I was a month ago. It’s important to remember to take a step back and focus on putting consistency first. This means showing up and going to climb even when you’re not climbing well.
So to close out this week, I mixed things up by working in some top-roping with friends who aren’t regular climbers. It was a good change of pace since it’d been four sessions since my last session where I top-roped. I wasn’t able to work in my standard warmup for this session since I was with two friends who wanted to hit the walls the second we arrived at FA Avondale.
As a reminder, for any top-rope or sport route, I apply a 2X multiple on my point system.
Here are my stats for the day:
| Warmup | N/A | |
| Training | ||
| Grade | Outcome | Points |
| V0 (5.8 – 5.9) | (✓✓) | 2 |
| V1 (5.9 – 5.10a) | ✓ | 1 |
| V2 (5.10a – 5.10c) | (✓) ✓ | 6 |
| V3 (5.10c -5.10d) | (✓✓) ✓✓ | 18 |
| V4 (5.11a) | ✓✓✓✓ | 16 |
| V5 (5.11b) | ×××× | 4 |
| V6 (5.11c) | 0 | |
| TOTAL | 47 | |
| Cooldown | N/A | |
| Recap | 13 sends, 4 failures |
2018 YTD
- 174 sends (+13)
- 63 failures (+4)
- 395 pull-ups
- 115 pushups
- 117 biceps
- 12 triceps
- 100 forearms
- 40 shoulders
- 100 squats
- 1 peg / campus / hang board
- 465 ab reps
This was easily my best climb for the week, but I’m not super satisfied by this one for a few reasons.
First, I know I didn’t push myself as hard as I could have top-roping today; I think it really stemmed from me wanting to make sure I sent routes rather than necessarily challenging myself.
Second, I failed every V5 today. I feel like I’ve been regressing lately in that I’ve only had one session where I consistently cleared V5s (see 2/3/18). I’m confident this February slump will end soon, just don’t know exactly when. I’m going to be traveling the next few weeks so it’ll be interesting how that impacts my climbing schedule, but I’ll aim to have at least two sessions a week.
