STG: The Brute (by 6th Sept); Diamond proj 8a/+; Detritus Wall trad proj; G.Orme trad proj.
Pottering easy base week. Another to follow with some strength mixed in. Enjoying the shuffling.
Pete - I'm intrigued. Given that Diamond season starts potentially 2 or 3 weeks from now, the Brute is a PE route and you have a cut off date of 6 Sept, I would have thought you'd be hammering the AeroPow at the moment? Then topping up your power with some bouldering? Prior to getting on it. Or do you just intend to get fit on the route? It's a lot longer than the Oak, isn't it i.e. the endurance end of PE?
Yep, Diamond season starts around July 25th, depending on exactly when the Kittiwake colony departs for distant oceans. *I'll update on here when they've left (Elfyn updates the BMC site but he was on holiday last year when the birds left).
As you noticed, I'm behind the curve I'd ideally be following for a PE route proj. Ideally I'd have an 8 weeks training phase leading into July 25th, but time's short. Btw, I don't think in terms of an/aero/cap/pow - I tried that language for a short period last year and I don't benefit from this framework any more than framing energy systems more simply by thinking of it in simple terms of endurance and PE with PE on a scale of high intensity/short duration to low intensity/longer duration. It doesn't matter about the science behind the terms as long as you know what works for what climbing scenario.
This is my thinking for trying to squeeze in the brute:
1. I'm on the up, first 8b sent quickly following a proper focussed 9-week training phase in the spring. I'm banking on having more confidence and the physical gains I made coming back more quickly than when I was trying my first at the grade.
2. I'm naturally strong and naturally unfit. I'm already strong enough in the fingers and burl-wise; and PE is easy to train and any gains manifest themselves rapidly. I'll need to train PE on the route and supplement with some foot-on campussing. Leading up to the peak I'll train a bit of finger strength and plenty of power (campussing).
3. Two weeks of base mileage is a treat to myself becasue I haven't climbed anything this year.
4. I won't be trying the route until 1st week of August so that gives one more week of fun mileage (weather..), and I'm blending into finger strength this week; then three weeks of strength blending into power for the last two weeks of the strength phase. Then blend power into the first week of trying the route and blend PE into trying the route. So yeah I'm merging one phase into another and it isn't optimal but as long as I don't overdo it and injure myself I figure I can accelerate the process a little 'just this once' and probably have a shorter peak as a consequence.
5. My other projs are long endurance ('cept the g.orme one, fierce little twat).
