[ghisino]

did i lack strenght/bouldering level or route fitness?

25 meters, 50-move stamina route without real rests, steep pocket pulling.
the crux is the middle third of the route, more intense and sustained than the rest.

not surprisingly i've been falling higher and higher in the mid section over my 3 redpoint tries, what puzzles me is that i didn't experience a lot of pump : i switched from feeling 90% fresh and relaxed to being too weak for the move and falling off in a very short time, a matter of 3-4 hand moves or even less.

usually on such a route i'd expect to fight the pump for at least 10 moves, this is why i'm puzzled.

If i had to come back in 2 months, would training gurus here advise to get there stronger or more route-fit, other things being equal?



more info:

the route is the 1st chain of falconeti in montsant, catalunya.

Due to a combination of objectives, bad weather and injuries, the last 2 months before this have mainly involved plastic pulling on 10 to 17 meters walls, with very sparse bouldering sessions.

I tried the route on my 5th and 6th day on (no rests)
my previous days included a combination of comfortable onsights on routes well below my limit and isolated attempts at shorter PE routes in l'Olla (Siurana).

[shark]

I had a good result in the run up to a Kalymnos trip by doing a fair few sessions of AeroCap training doing 20/10's. on a woodie. The more you can replicate the intensity, hold type and angle of the circuit to your project, the better.

Never felt so fit before or since.

[iain]

You've been training on 10-17 metre walls, and failing on the middle third of a 25 metre route, say between 8 and 16 metres ....

Also, maybe the lack of pump is because although you're fit enough for the bottom section the previous short PE routes and no rest have drained the forearms a bit and when you suddenly need to pull harder there's just nothing left?

[scottygillery]

I'd say fitness. Do the indoor routes 2, 3, or 4 times in a row.

[Sasquatch]

Any chance of adding rests in lower where you don't feel the need?  Even poor rests can help sometimes.  I have found that resting before you need to rest can help push through a section where there are no rests. 

In general I'd say PE if you're not pumped, and just lose power. 

[ghisino]

Any chance of adding rests in lower where you don't feel the need? 

there are a few better holds jugs right before the hardest section, but they don't come in couples.
it is totally possible to slow down and shake each hand before moving it (which i've been doing on my best 2 laps).

the overall feeling is that if i could fly back to catalunya tomorrow and simply have 2 days on-1 day off redpointing the route, i'd send it next week


@iain
the "drained forearm" hypothesis is interesting, in terms of what to expect on future multi-day efforts.
To rephrase it as a metaphor, are you saying that after several consecutive days of running, one would still be able to run a decent 1/2 marathon, but wouldn't run a 1/2 mile any faster than his 1/2 marathon pace?

[abarro81]

Any chance of adding rests in lower where you don't feel the need?  Even poor rests can help sometimes.  I have found that resting before you need to rest can help push through a section where there are no rests. 

Conversely, I generally find that it works best to ditch mediocre rests low on redpoints and just use the best ones on lower sections, then use the mediocre ones close to the section where you're falling.

[petejh]

Sounds the same as me when firstly I was failing on the headwall of Mussel Beach. Then on Never Get Out of the Boat, sustained climbing to a shake out jug followed by a V4/5 crux. Not that the route lengths are comparable but the reason for failure sounds the same, power failure rather than pump. If you are actually planning on going back in 2 months time and you don't mind dedicating some time to training you could train strength and fitness. Based on 3 training sessions per week, spend 4 weeks emphasizing maximal strength 2:1 with 1 PE foot-on campus session, then drop the strength completely and hammer PE with 2 - 3 foot-on campussing sessions per week for 3 weeks. Have a week's chill, and go and crush.
Ste Mac's foot-on campussing works really well, obviously need to stick to the stopwatch. http://www.ukbouldering.com/wiki/index.php/Training_:_The_Science#20.2F10s 
I adjusted it to a slightly lower intensity than doing 1-4-6 match, to train Stamina more by doing rung over rung to rung 4, match and matching back down, with one foot and alternating lead hand.  For 2mins30 secs with 2.30 rest. 4 times. Should be failing on the last one, if not increase time on or decrease rest time between reps.

[iain]

@iain
the "drained forearm" hypothesis is interesting, in terms of what to expect on future multi-day efforts.
To rephrase it as a metaphor, are you saying that after several consecutive days of running, one would still be able to run a decent 1/2 marathon, but wouldn't run a 1/2 mile any faster than his 1/2 marathon pace?

My thinking was that if you have an intense, strength based bouldering or PE session it takes a couple of days to recover, so if you're doing short, intense PE routes you're using a little of that strength each day without really feeling it's use or giving it a chance to recover properly. Combine that with facing a crux section that's close to the limit of your typical training route length.
So to use your analogy your consecutive days running would be gentle with occasional fast 400 metre efforts, so when you're looking for a fast 800 although you'd go quicker than half marathon pace there isn't the reserve there for that maximal effort.