[comPiler]

A fresh start – from wide to thin
22 April 2012, 3:42 pm

Last year was an amazing year for me. I had a brand new Randall arrive in my family in the form of my daughter Hannah, and I also achieved a huge goal in my climbing.

Myself and Pete Whittaker headed off to the big ol’ USA to try and crush (squeeze??) a load of nasty wide cracks and perhaps even put up a few new routes. Unknown to many, we’d locked ourselves down in my cellar for 2 years doing endless laps on wooden offwidths and it all paid off – more that I could really imagine! The culmination of it all was the first free ascent of Century Crack by us both – pure lines don’t get much better than that.

The Big Daddy

Copywrite Alex Ekins Photography Since coming back from America, Pete and I have been doing a bit of a lecture tour, which has been great. It’s been nice to tell our side of the story a little better, to show off some of the training footage from the cellar and also to see if anyone out there is actually inspired to climb these ‘orrible looking wide cracks. Generally…. it’s been promising, much to my suprise!

Pete getting a little too close for comfort... One of the main things I’ve been asked is, “what’s next….?”

Well, all I can say is that it probably won’t involve offwidths! Mostly, I feel like I’ve had my fill on that side of climbing for a while and until some other mega project arises, then it’s time for thin, thin, thin.

Yup, I’m going back to what I’m terrible at. Face climbing, crimping and pockets. It’s ok though, I can deal with it all, because it’s all part of The Plan. I remember reading about an Olympic Gold Medalist a few years back and he was asked what he attributed his successes to? His answer…..?

“Working on my weaknesses.”

For that reason I’ve tried over the last 3 years to have two main weaknesses that I will work on during a 12 month period. It’s utterly demolarising at the start to be so embarrassingly weak at something, but without a doubt, it’s been the key to progress for me. When I’ve combined this with a structured training programme, I’ve been really happy with the results, if I can somehow stay uninjured.

One armer? Er.... no, not quite.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[Fiend]

Good luck beast!

[Johnny Brown]

It’s utterly demolarising

They look to be doing all right in that pic.

[Bonjoy]

Good to see Tom bucking the overbite trend and ploughing his own fertile underbite furrow.

[Jaspersharpe]

[comPiler]

Article and Mike Hutton pics
25 April 2012, 7:46 pm

In my bid to try and keep up with this website/blog I’ve uploaded one of the “short pieces” that I’m most proud of (I’m not exactly a natural-born writer, so bare with me!) that’s about new routing. It was an amazing day out with Pete Whittaker on a ground-up multipitch new route in Val dell Orco, Italy. I won’t blather on about it any more here, other than to let you read it if you’re interested in how gripped I get all the time!

Just click on “published articles” tab at the top of the page…



Secondly, I’ve added some Mike Hutton photos that he’s take of me in the last 12 months or so. He’s a class photographer and an hugely nice guy to work with – if you ever need a friendly face at the end of a camera, Mike’s your man.

Right, if it could just stop raining, I’d be a happy man.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

Two very different projects
6 May 2012, 8:25 pm

Last month was an utterly hectic one – I’ve not really sure if I had a grip on anything and one day had sorted of melted into the next through something I think might have been called the night.

In amongst trying to juggle the care of my feisty one year old daughter Hannah, I’ve taken on two projects; one a gritstone first ascent and the other a new climbing wall build.

The new route I’ve found is certainly the hardest route I’ve tried on grit. That’s probably not saying that much, to some extent, because most grit routes have very low french grades once you convert. However once you combine F8a or more and really terrible gear, it becomes pretty interesting and more of an involved process. I’ve had the meat of the climb sussed for a while now, but was really stuck with the start – but hallelujah – I found a sequence finally today!! I was starting to seriously bang my head against the wall as I know this cold snap will probably not last much longer. Really looking forward to putting this route to bed now and leading it.

Vital gear on the project – engaged on just 2 cams, which is better than nothing I guess. The second project of mine is a new bouldering wall in Loughborough that I am now part owner of! I’m really excited about this wall, as I’ve worked in the indoor climbing wall business for a few years now and have my own ideas of what I think will work. I’d really like to try and put my own slant on indoor climbing…. and well…. perhaps even bring something new to it (no, it doesn’t involve an offwidth). We’re well into the build now and it’s amazing seeing wood go up on the walls, after spending days and days t-nutting.

Here’s a 3D video tour of the new wall – The Climbing Station, in Loughborough.



One of the 3D views in the main room



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[clintos]

A wall in loughborough, that's fantastic have you got a location sorted,   

[SA Chris]

Is the wearing of purple morph suits obligatory?

[Fiend]

Where oh where is that project 

[J_duds]

A wall in loughborough, that's fantastic have you got a location sorted,   

see map links in:
http://lsmc.org.uk/forum/index.php?forum=General%20Chat&post=32097

[Tommy]

Clintos - yup location sorted and we've been in the building for a while. It's about 3mins drive from centre shopping bit in Loughborough?? There are updates and photos on facebook if you're interested...

SA Chris - hmmmm... Now there's an idea. Maybe we should offer discounts for morph suits?

Fiend - it is at the sort of place you'd approve of. Off the beaten track and no abseiling groups to wreck your favorite slab problems .

[Fiend]

It's South West or South East I'm sure. Good luck I'm sure it will be exciting to do and then to hear about.

[Tommy]

Shit, I'm going to totally disappoint you now. I forgot your standards are high 

[clintos]

Looking forward to seeing it open as i live in loughborough and currently drive to notts to indoor climb.Always find it hard to justify climbing indoors when its a trek, and theres only so much local rock! Mines one face I'm sure you'll be seeing regularly .I'm also a local gardener catering for private and commercial gardens should you need any site tidying weed killing and such like!

[Fiend]

My standards for being interesting in hearing about your new routes Tommy, is just that they are absolutely gruesome 

[comPiler]

Crack School
3 June 2012, 9:57 pm

Just before Pete and I went over to the USA for our offwidth tour, we teamed up with Wild Country and Hotaches to film a 6 part set of webisodes, called “Crack School.”

I all seemed like a really good idea at the start, but I have to confess on the first day when I realised I had absolutely no idea of how to present to camera, I had second thoughts. The process of learning a brand new skill on the job was actually quite stressful and I was somewhat relieved to see that the videos that came out of it didn’t show my worries too much!

It was pretty funny seeing Pete out of his depth as well for once. Most of the time I’m left floundering in his wake, but for once he had a few mumbles of “oh God, I’m not doing this right…” Unfortunately you don’t get to see the amount of times we ended up in fits of laughter as neither of us could keep a straight face whilst saying “Using fists, is something most people find quite painful….”

Below are the first 5 episodes of Crack School – for every person that emails me saying they’re just been out on The File and had an amazing time getting totally thrashed – it’s all well worth it!



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[Fiend]

You did a great job lads. I did like the sandbag suggestion to press your fingers against the opposing wall in a normal handjam, that will keep people on their toes 

[comPiler]

Enjoyment in other peoples’ successes
7 June 2012, 8:51 pm

One of the things that I’m really lucky to experience in my role of coaching, is vicarious enjoyment through other peoples’ successes. Two climbers that I’ve been working with for a while now, are Stu Littlefair (you can read a little more about him here) and Luke Tilley. Both climbers are brilliant to work with because they understand the concept of proper hard work and dedication.

When I first met Stu properly, I was amazed by his incredible strength, but also his stamina for the opposite reasons! Working for Stu, creating periodised training programmes to try and even out some of the imbalances, has been really good fun (he probably doesn’t see it that way though!) and in the end very rewarding for me, personally. To see him break the Aerobic Power record on my Lattice Board (used to assess the energy systems of sport and comp climbers) this week, was massively inspiring. So thanks Stu, you’ve spurred me on to work harder!

Secondly, to hear that Luke hit the podium in the finals of his recent European Youth Cup in Russia was great. For at least the previous 3 years before going to Uni this year, he’s worked incredibly hard with his training. Almost anything that I throw at him, he just laps it up and gets on with the graft. That base, seems to have paid off this year still, when he’s not quite had the time to utterly beast himself 24-7. As such, his depth of experience and training is still coming through. I hope he continues to push into the Senior events to inspire more out there.

For me, it’s been a bit of a dark month. My finger injury has really pushed me hard and I’m feeling a little lost with where I’m going right now. I might have to go back down a path that resembles the picture below. Perhaps no bad thing if it looks like that?!

Itaca Nel Sole, gorgeous 8a finger crack.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[comPiler]

A reality check
1 July 2012, 9:34 pm

This year was going to be big. I was so psyched from last year, so motivated to make changes and up the game a notch.

I got stuck into a grit project that was really hard for me, I started finger boarding properly, I wrote myself a 2 year programme and my lattice board was trained on at all hours of the night and day. It all went really well actually and then…… I went on a slabby 7b and “POP!” game over. I kind of knew it at the time, but for the last 2-3 months I’ve been trying to ignore it. Well, it’s time for a reality check. The finger is doomed. I’m cutting it off and abandoning.

No more ring for me. It was useless anyway. No problem. Crack Time!!!!!!!

Much that I hate to admit it, I’m a totally crap face climber, so whilst this finger is deciding to hate life, I’m back to cracks. I’ve dug out the old project book, found the key to my cellar and hitting Millstone on a regular basis for some reacquainting.

Mr Turtle and I, remember how it used to be. Trying to get back into training down the cellar has been a bit of a rough ride. It’s kind of shocked me how good I got at stuff down there, so 12 months later, it’s a bit a rude awakening! On my first session I couldn’t even do the hand crack roof (about 7b?) and the 45deg finger crack was off limits.

No chance. Up the game slacker. It’s ok though, the training and specificity is coming through now and I’m back above my previous peak, so happy days. I’ve got the replica moves on my South Wales project sorted, so that’s all good. Some core, less rain and some time off from building my new boulder wall in Loughborough and things could be looking up.

No more splitter tips. Just these.



Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[Fiend]

Nice socks.

[shark]

Nice socks.

More to the point what's with the 101 dalmation boxers !



 

[Tommy]

Er, what's not to like? I'll send you some pics of my silkies if you fancy.

[comPiler]

Tricks of the Endurance Training Trade
9 July 2012, 9:47 am

Endurance training is easy right? You just put your earphones in, get on the wall and plod around on jugs for hours and hours and hours…. Or, do you get down the wall and start a beastly regime of 4×4 laps on routes a couple of grades below your regular onsight? Or do you plug into a TENS machine?? One or more of these might be familiar to you, but which is the best? What’s the real secret?

Pumped? Firstly, you have to think about what you want to achieve by training endurance. What is the effect going to be?

1. Increase in aerobic capacity

2. Increase in capillarity (density of capillary bed in forearms)

3. Increase in mitochondrial density

4. Increase in climbing efficiency.

Increase in Aerobic Capacity

This can also be known as an increase in “endurance capacity” and is simply the maximum amount of oxygen that can be consumed and utilised in a given time period. If you have a low aerobic capacity, you will be using little of your available oxygen for metabolism and vice versa, if it is high. The key to increasing this capacity, lies in the next two sections – mitochondrial density & capillary density.

Capillarity

The muscles in our forearms are extremely dependent on the supply of oxygenated blood and also on the removal of waste products. It has been found in a number of sports that the limit of the performance of an athlete is dictated not by the metabolic processes within the muscle itself, but by the oxygen supply arriving at the muscle. Increasing the capillary bed size in our forearms is one way in which we can fight this battle.

What does the research say?

1. Adaptation occurs at high intensities of training

2. Adaptation does not occur at low intensities of training

What does this mean for you?

Get off that wall and stop wasting hours and hours traversing around on jugs, just for your capillarisation session. There are of course other benefits to traversing around for hours, but there’s evidence to suggest that capillarisation isn’t one of them.

Mitochondrial Density

These are protein structures within your cells that produce aerobic energy, and as such, pretty useful things to have plenty of! If you can increase your mitochondrial density (and hence oxygen consumption) you will increase the rate of aerobic energy supply = better endurance capacity.



What does the research say?

1. We have mitochondria in both slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibres.

2. Training intensity will relate to the stimulation on certain types of muscle fibre and consequently effect mitochrondial density in those fibres.

What does this mean for you?

You’ll be able to increase the mitochondrial density in fast twitch muscle fibres by doing high intensity, low volume work and in type I (slow twitch) fibres, you work at low to medium intensities at high volumes. You should be aware that the balance of this training is dictated by your fast/slow twitch make up and maximum efficiency will be gained by working with your genetic make up and not against it!

Climbing Efficiency

Finally the effect of doing a huge volume of climbing, is extremely beneficial on the efficiency of your climbing. You will learn to not over-grip, your footwork will improve and you’ll improve your movement skills no end – especially if you vary the angle at which you carry out your endurance training.

All of the above of course, is just a part of the whole equation and there are always more factors to consider. It does however, get very complicated and even the more intricate training programme can never work to perfection. As a final note of caution – don’t forget if something works for you, and you’re happy with it, then there’s probably no need to change. Probably.





Source: Tom Randall Climbing

[shark]

Great explanation.

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