{"id":4363,"date":"2018-10-06T10:33:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T09:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/?p=4363"},"modified":"2020-10-16T13:18:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T11:18:42","slug":"a-return-to-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.main-vision.com\/richard\/blog\/a-return-to-climbing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Return To Climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Last night after about a year without climbing I finally returned to the sport and I saw a familiar face but I couldn’t remember why. Eventually, I remembered that it was Cedric Lachat.<\/a> I remember him from some climbing videos I watched. I also saw many of my climbing friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first belay I made sure to remember all the skills. It had been a while but when you’ve belayed hundreds of people the skills have become muscle memory. What was less comfortable were the first two climbs. When you haven’t climbed in a while you have to get used to being high above the ground and trusting that you took care of fixing your equipment correctly. I did so I continued climbing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the third and fourth climbs I felt more comfortable getting back to climbing up to 6a for three quarters of a route before not trusting myself on a move three or four moves from the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I haven’t climbed in so long I thought that I would be rusty but this is due to two or three outdoor climbs where conditions are diferent. You don’t have colour coded rocks to show you the route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that watching pros climb has helped, I think that cycling for hours a week has helped and I think that lifting a fifteen kilo weight in a number of different ways has also helped. Cycling really strengthens the leg muscles and improves the cardiovascular system and lifting a 15kg weight works arm, shoulder and back muscles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest difference when I was climbing yesterday is that I had brand new shoes, shoes that I had used for climbing just once before. Whenever I went climbing before I was using old shoes that were worn and had holes in them as they were hand me downs from friends. I had plenty of grip and for once they were tight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This morning I tried riding around Watopia<\/a>. Previously I had tried GCN training sessions with the indoor trainer but as I had no power meter I had to guess that I was making the right effort and guess that the pedalling rate was correct. With Zwift<\/g> I don’t need to guess anymore. This software measures my cadence with the suunto<\/g> sensor as well as the wheel speed to measure my speed and thus wattage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of this training session was to produce 130 watts of power for 3 minutes, rest and then repeat this 10 times for a training session duration of 50 minutes. I liked that it provides you with a window of power within which to stay for the required periods of time. It is useful to have a window within which to stay because there is a little lag between the power it requires you to alternate between and what the sensors detect. It works better for efforts lasting for more than a few seconds as you synchronise the power produced to the power you’re aiming for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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