[i.munro]

Hi All

I'm off to the Forest for a long weekend

I've been training pretty hard (bouldering indoors) for the last couple of weeks as someone's finally opened a decent wall near me. Now I'm thinking I should ease off as the weekend approaches. I was thinking perhaps an easy-ish endurance or P/E session.

What do you all think?

Thanks as ever

Ian

[Paul B]

why endurance or PE? just have an easy session and stay away from anything that might cause any last minute skin issues. The last thing you want is a fresh juicy flapper.

[Kingy]

Yes I think tapering is a good idea - I normally have about 2 days rest before my first day's climbing in Font just because you don't wanna be completely beat before you've even started and obviously a hell of a lot of climbing gets done on an ideal font trip (weather permitting). Apart from that, I probably wouldn't taper any earlier otherwise the training benefit from your sessions might not be maximised and you could be resting or not giving it your all in the run up to the trip for no real reason (assuming you are uninjured) - 2 days is a hell of a lot of rest I reckon and allows the body to almost completely recover.

[i.munro]

Well 2 days rest is pretty much unavoidable (Wed  evening I can't train after work as as I have to pack & Thu will be mostly travelling) but I do have time for a sesh on Tue?

[Kingy]

Aye I would maybe have a light session of fine tuning on Tues and then away you go. Enjoy!!

[webbo]

tapering as per other sports would suggest keep the intensity but reduce the length of the session/amount of work.

[i.munro]

ah-ha. That sounds reasonable ( can't get my head around the idea of easy bouldering, at least at a wall)

[IanP]

2 days is a hell of a lot of rest I reckon and allows the body to almost completely recover.

Might be if you're training like a beast - for an old codger like me who trains / climbs 3 times a week a 2 day rest is just normal training  .  Personally I'm happy with a longer break before I go on a trip, 4 to 5 days and I feel and recovered and refreshed.

[Richie Crouch]

I often do 4-5 days on, 1 day off and it seems to work at the moment. 2 Days off is what I would usually take before any trips abroad (to ensure I am rested but my skin doesn't fall off!)

[BenF]

to ensure I am rested but my skin doesn't fall off!

...and that clearly worked last time in Font eh Rich?  You had no skin issues until at least the afternoon of day one if I remember rightly.

[SA Chris]

2 days is a hell of a lot of rest I reckon and allows the body to almost completely recover.

Might be if you're training like a beast - for an old codger like me who trains / climbs 3 times a week a 2 day rest is just normal training  .  Personally I'm happy with a longer break before I go on a trip, 4 to 5 days and I feel and recovered and refreshed.

Me too. Also as my skin is what normally gives in long before anything else, In give my fingers at least a 5 day break.

[i.munro]

I doubt there are many of you older or codgerier ?? than me & my normal climbing regime is around twice a week.
The last couple of weeks has been very unusual in that I've been training (or at least bouldering indoors) pretty much every other day (like I said I've been given a new toy to play with).

Re skin I think I'm a bit of a mutant there because I've never really had a problem & I'm the sort of idiot who takes phrases like "best to stay away from the grattons in this weather" as a challenge.

[abarro81]

I don't know how much relevance it has to climbing, but my MTBing flatmate takes 10 days rest/active rest before races..

[webbo]

i don't know how often your mate races but most road racers usually race twice aweek so taking 10 days off would mean you hardly ever raced.if you take too long off your body will go into rest/recovery phase so it won't be that responsive if you suddenly ask it to start working hard again.

what you should do in an ideal world is aim to peak for a trip building up your training through various phases then a short taper based on what sort of climbing your planning to do. i.e the taper for routes would different from one for bouldering.

[webbo]

I don't know how much relevance it has to climbing, but my MTBing flatmate takes 10 days rest/active rest before races..

also i would suspect that 10 days off without significantly stressing your aerobic/anaerobic systems would lead to a decrease in performance.

[erm, sam]

Personally, I would rest a week or as close to a week as I could bear..

[abarro81]

what you should do in an ideal world is aim to peak for a trip building up your training through various phases then a short taper based on what sort of climbing your planning to do. i.e the taper for routes would different from one for bouldering.

Right then, what's the info on this? I'm off to gorge de tarn in 2 weeks.. current plan involves running, power endurance, endurance work until 5 days before then a couple of very light runs and a a very gentle session to keep everything moving  in those final days. Any improvements to that/links to online info about this?

[Paz]

If I can I just go at it hard before a trip as all that airport faff/ bag packing / tent pitching, plus any wet day is actually sufficient rest.  I'm usually a bit busted by day 8 or 9. 

[webbo]

what you should do in an ideal world is aim to peak for a trip building up your training through various phases then a short taper based on what sort of climbing your planning to do. i.e the taper for routes would different from one for bouldering.

Right then, what's the info on this? I'm off to gorge de tarn in 2 weeks.. current plan involves running, power endurance, endurance work until 5 days before then a couple of very light runs and a a very gentle session to keep everything moving  in those final days. Any improvements to that/links to online info about this?

whats the point in doing light sessions other than to recover from early training.the idea of tapering comes from such sports as triathlon and i understood that what you did was keep the usual sessions and intensity but reduced the duration.
i.e. if you normally on a thursday did 10 x 400 metre intervals you might only do 5 or even less if its a long event.
when doing triathlons and cycle races if i was racing sunday friday would be my rest day and on the sat i would swim 500 metres with a couple of hard efforts over 25 m on the bike i do about 45mins/1 hour with say a hard effort up a hill and i would run for about 20 mins with about a 400m hard effort.
before a road race i would do about 2 hours which would include 8x 15 secs hard with 5 mins rest between.
i guess to translate this to climbing would be campusing or something on a system board.
its that bit about preparing your body for hard work.how many of you find you go better on your 2nd/3rd day on than on the first. 

[Paz]

what you should do in an ideal world

Any improvements to that...

i guess to translate this to climbing

would be to belay your mates and put the clips in their projects for them...

[webbo]

what i should have pointed out if that if your normal routine is to climb on monday,wednesday,saturday and sunday etc  and it works.then don't change it just cos your going on a trip.

[Three Nine]

Barrows, I personally think a one-day team ascent of Fornicator Simulator (by team, I mean you and Paz do it, I flail and fail on it) would be sufficient tapering.

[abarro81]

I do indeed climb better second day on a lot of the time (so long as the first wasn't a beasting), but I was thinking less of peaking at the start of a trip and more in the middle (once you're used to the rock for onsighting/have worked the moves on your project etc).. I know when I took 4/5 days off pre-font at new year I didn't feel stronger at the start, but I didn't really get tired later in the trip. I guess the possible logic being that you're muscles get their proper rest, but then get stressed at the start of the trip - they could be in 'work' mode but not have any residual tiredness so you'd stay strong for longer when beasting yourself on holiday. But that's all guess work/anecdotal evidence rather than science - i guess if most sports keep up the intensity but with lower volume then that's probably what's best..
Fornicator simulator sounds interesting: is it really 8a or is that ally downgrading stuff for no reason? I'm sceptical about the possibility of managing something that Vickers gave 8b (or was that just Crocker 'cos he couldn't do it?). Paz - know how hard the crux is supposed to be in boulder grades? (figure it's short n hard roof bit that gives it the grade?) Would be fun to have a look when I'm back anyway (is it still open?)

[Paz]

Fornicator simulator sounds interesting: is it really 8a or is that ally downgrading stuff for no reason? I'm sceptical about the possibility of managing something that Vickers gave 8b (or was that just Crocker 'cos he couldn't do it?). Paz - know how hard the crux is supposed to be in boulder grades? (figure it's short n hard roof bit that gives it the grade?) Would be fun to have a look when I'm back anyway (is it still open?)

It's Ally and Dave downgrading it.  Vickers gave it 8a, and crocker upgraded it (because he couldn't do it, so the story goes).  You would've thought this is the last 8a in the country that's going to be downgraded then wouldn't you?  But then even Fisting Katy's come down from 8b land to more like 7c+!  The crux of Fornicator Ally rated at V5/6.  Probably at least 6 then, but it sounded like it had holds.  It should still be open, but they're still waiting to agree the terms for the restored routes in the 2008 extended season so we don't really have permission yet.  Watch this space I guess.  Unless you really are back on the 15th March in which case we get to try and climb 8a in a day.

[abarro81]

Well I'm back at 13.13 on Sat.. so it'd be more like 8a in a night! Might just hope they sort out the permission..

[i.munro]

Well, I just got back & it turns out you were all wrong!

The correct answer to the preparing for a trip question is : "train as hard as you can until the very last minute because you're going to catch some random French bug & be too ill to do anything even if it were to stop raining at some point. In fact don't go. Just stay ay home & train instead"

There, I've expanded UKBs training knowledge slightly.

Ian

[Jaspersharpe]

 

Unlucky Ian.

[webbo]

Well, I just got back & it turns out you were all wrong!

The correct answer to the preparing for a trip question is : "train as hard as you can until the very last minute because you're going to catch some random French bug & be too ill to do anything even if it were to stop raining at some point. In fact don't go. Just stay ay home & train instead"

There, I've expanded UKBs training knowledge slightly.

Ian

maybe it was the change of routine i.e.  tapering which caused your body to be susceptible to infection.you were probably in france when i remembered that bit about tapering

[i.munro]

Unlucky Ian.

Thank you kind sir.
 FYI if you're going to Gorge aux chats to try Rubis, then Greve des nains looked pleasant & I think the sitter gets 7a+ although I'm frankly a bit bewildered even after looking at 2 guides & bleau.info. I was tempted to try even when standing up was making my head spin.

[Paz]

The correct answer to the preparing for a trip question is : "train as hard as you can until the very last minute because you're going to catch some random French bug

Fuck man, that's pretty much what happend to abarro81 once.

[Three Nine]

Yeah he got bitten by a spider on his gooch (that's the bit between your genitals and anus), and was in Millau hospital for 5 days.

[Three Nine]

People ought to wad him in sympathy.

[abarro81]

Except this time i'll need no sympathy. Maybe.

[Three Nine]

Consider yourself puntered.

[galpinos]

Yeah he got bitten by a spider on his gooch (that's the bit between your genitals and anus), and was in Millau hospital for 5 days.

I though that part of the anatomy was called the "barse"?