I’m a climber with a running problem. Quickly flying along a trail through trees and bombing down hills makes me smile. This past spring was spent in the pursuit of speed and endurance. Mile after mile made me realize that climbing has similar mental and physical demands. Pacing, knowing when to try (pull) hard, and many other things tied back in my climber’s mindset. I enjoyed moving my body and pushing myself in a different way than climbing.
When most people start climbing, they see instant gains. I believe, and studies have shown, that our muscles adapt to the repeated movements and their environment. In Dave MacLeod’s book, 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes, (reviewed here and here) he writes, in many more words, that “you are what you climb”. Practice dictates performance and you become better at the style that you are most involved in. Some people have predispositions for certain types of climbing, but most excel at “home” crags and styles. A guy would like a steep climb with bigger holds if he has strong arms. If he had small fingers, then he might prefer crimps to slopers. These correlations are endless.
Back to the running. In the United States a gigantic number of people run. According to a study from 2007 by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association over 41 million people had run or jogged in one form or another. In 2009 10 Million people completed road races. Yet the total number of people who have ever “rock climbed” in the US is just over 6 Million people.
Running the TNF 50k at the Marin Headlands.
A person who is new to running can go online, search for the distance he/she wants to race and find a dozen training programs that discuss mileage, rest and race day execution. The idea is that if you run a certain amount, you rest adequately, and then you run a bit more, your muscles will adapt. Over time, most programs are between 12 and 20 weeks for marathon training, and enable you to run further and further. Injury is a problem in running, perhaps even more so than climbing, and knowing how to listen to your body is important.
Climbing is not as easy. You don’t set out to climb forty feet or four hundred. Even if you did, the distance is not an accurate measure of difficulty. A pitch or route in one area, like Yosemite, is vastly different than the same length of rope in Joshua Tree. However, it is accepted in climbing that certain methods, like periodization, are effective at building strength. You work different muscles, you rest, switch up the routine, and you build towards a peak. This peak does not last forever but the process does raise your baseline fitness. Similar methods also work for running.
In order to runners approach to training for climbing you must know what the objective is. Thus the simplest and yet the most important question is: What is your goal?
With a goal in hand it gets more complicated since you must figure out what is keeping you from that goal. Along these lines you need to find your weakness and target it during your workouts. Most marathon runners need training with distance. Log a bunch of miles, recovery properly and you could likely run a marathon. The same is true for your climbing goals.
Lizzy sprinting the finish of the North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon, her last goal race of 2010.
Each week, use sessions at home doing pull-ups, at the gym, or even outside and progressively build in difficulty. Every workout has an effect on your body and your mind. If your feet are always slipping off holds, then play the “silent feet” game at gym. If you have a goal route, dissect the style of the route. Is it long? Where is the crux? Where and why would you expect to fall? Figure out what is holding you back. Think about the your fitness and how you feel climbing on your project (goal route) or similar routes.
If you climb at the same crag or gym enough, it is possible to notice how and when you get pumped. Whether its the angle of the wall, or the size of the hold. I have an idea of when my forearms start getting tired and the feeling of that pump. In running there is a large focus on heart-rate. I think the main idea is to gauge your exertion and to make sure that one is running at a sustainable pace. The same is true for climbing. If you are pulling as hard as you can during every move (even if they are easy), and over gripping on jugs, then you are not climbing in a sustainable way. Relax, only pull hard when needed and have a plan for the climb. Being informed will help you get closer to your goal.
Are you strong enough to do the crux moves but always arrive pumped? Do you campus boulder problems instead of using your feet? Does your fear cause you to climb inefficiently? There are many weakness to overcome to be a better climber. So take the time and make a list. Figure out things that challenge you and confront them. If you hate falling then practice in a safe environment like the gym. The following video shows a good technique to help you move past a fear of falling.
Fear of Falling – clip-drop technique from SteepMedia on Vimeo.
The main idea is that everyone can benefit from working on their weakness. If you only ran the same number of miles at the same pace you would never get faster. Once you start to plateau (in climbing or running), take a moment and try to figure out what’s stopping you. The first step is often the biggest and knowing where to spend your energy will allow you to effectively train and improve.
Good Luck!
- Luke
Thanks so much for posting that Fear of Falling video, Luke! I’ve seen it before, but I’ve never tried the technique. I’m definitely guilty of working on strengths, or finding climbs that play to my strengths. This is a good reminder to focus on training to weaknesses. Even though it might be painful, it’s the best way to get better!
Thank you for this post. You are absolutely right.
Confucius says: Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Nice post!
Another key aspect of this topic seems to be this: It is such a common thing to see climbers complain about failure to improve, yet there is also so much resistance to changing their climbing and/or training habits. Interestingly, this is an example of a more general way of unintended self-sabotage. The desire to change is counterbalanced with an often subconscious competing desire or assumption which prevents implementing the change. For climbers, this may often be “if I train systematically, climbing is not going to be as much fun and I won’t have the same social kind of fun I enjoy otherwise”. Once you are aware of this kind of competing idea, you can take small steps to “test it” and likely realize that it doesn’t have to be this way. I am paraphrasing here the work of Harvard professors Kegan and Lahey, who have written a book on this called Immunity to change. I actually haven’t read the book, but have learned about it from a number other places. For example, you can read more at http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Professors-Kegan-and-Lahey-on-the-Challenges-of-Change
That’s totally what I thought about training! But fortunately my desire to be ready for the Creek overwhelmed that and I actually didn’t stop having fun just because I was trying to be more focused on training. Although I still don’t really enjoy bouldering, even if I tell myself it’s good for me, or if I try to enjoy it as a social activity… as always, a work in progress.
Last winter I focused on hangboarding, which was quite boring, but targeted my inability to hang on to small holds. 4+ weeks of work and I had one of my most successful trips to Bishop ever. Magic? I think not. But the real thing is to figure out how to “train” and still have fun.
So who will step up and identify their competing idea regarding the oh-so-common fear of falling and why they haven’t taken the time to add some real falling practice (a la Arno Ilgner or Dave McLeod) into their training/climbing schedule? I can go first with maybe a not so common one “I don’t need to do this, because that is not my main limiting issue”… And yet, I do sometimes suffer from fear that limits my climbing or bouldering, and feel improved confidence when I do some practice falls.
I have no good excuses, although I do know that falling more makes me more comfortable with falling. I think my issue is more general anxiety (which I don’t have right now, but sometimes do) rather than the specific fear of falling.
I really should be doing more mental training aka fall training. My general excuse, outside at least, is that if I try too hard I am likely to hurt myself. If I stay somewhat inside my comfort bubble I will be less prone to injury. This however is the excuse I use for not falling more, which is not as valid. Trying hard or not, I should be willing to take safe falls.
On a scale of 1-10 my stress level when facing a safe fall more than 20 ft above the ground is about 2. So I think I’m pretty good with what safe fall practice helps with. I do some practice falling. More in the gym though — when I get the chance to climb outside I’d rather just try harder routes where I might fall unintentionally.
I am much more stressed when there’s ground fall potential (below first clip/gear, thin gear, running it out near the ground…), with all the usual symptoms, overgripping, placing too much gear, aiding instead of going for it (this tipped out gray TCU will hold bodyweight but maybe not a fall…). Not sure if falling practice would help that, any ideas from the experts?
I’ve found highball bouldering is pretty good for my comfort level for climbing not that far above the ground, although it doesn’t make as much of a difference for more exposed situations like multipitching, although I think there it’s probably better to place gear sooner so you don’t factor 2 on the anchor (or that’s what I tell myself). Anyways, yes, there is usually a crashpad for highball boulder problems, but it’s also non-ideal to fall and as long as it’s easy enough, I don’t fall, so it improves my confidence in my ability to actually not fall.
Yeah, I realize it’s kind of weird, but I’m way more afraid of hitting the ground than heights. Exposure makes me feel better — when I think about falling I think of a few milliseconds of air, a nice soft catch on the rope, maybe a light bounce off the rock. When I think about falling and hitting the ground I think it will hurt
(Though actually, now that I think about it, I have fallen before placing gear and gotten away with it, so maybe I just need to remember that, and just get a spotter, put my pack on the pointy rock, etc…)
I find it’s better to just not think about falling. I don’t think I ever actually think about the sensation of falling, or gear pulling, or whatever, and I like it that way…
Haha, I think about falling all the time. If I didn’t I wouldn’t place any gear.
I guess whatever works for each person can be different
For me, though, I think I am most successful when I think of the gear as part of the sequence for the route (e.g. handjam, fingerlock, stem, place gear, fingerlock, footjam, fingerlock, place gear, etc.). I’m not sure how, but somehow I’m able to be aware of where my feet are relative to the rope (so they’re not behind it) or my gear without connecting that with the thought “oh, if my foot is behind the rope, I’ll flip upside down if I fall”. Magical detachment…
Laurel, here’s a good test to check whether falling is truly not an issue for you. I tried this out a couple weekends ago on the Rainbow Wall. Follow all the harder pitches on a long multipitch route instead of leading them, and see if you feel any fresher than if you had led them – the difference will be your overgripping due to fear and uncertainty, unless you also manage to steal some beta from your leader.
Lizzy, mind tricks can work for a while, but could also backfire in an inopportune moment, either when you can’t suppress the thoughts anymore or if the situation is actually objectively dangerous… That said, the approach of just focusing on the climbing is great and legitimate if you have assessed the fall consequences (hello, is that Arno Ilgner speaking?) beforehand and deemed them within what you are ready to accept.
I don’t generally put myself in particularly dangerous situations – I don’t really like or choose runout routes (crack climbing –> there’s always a crack to place gear in) and I like to carry more gear than the absolute minimum (e.g. in the Creek, I usually take several more per size than the guidebook suggests), so I think I do assess the danger of the situation. I really just find I can’t focus on the climbing if I think too much about falling, which makes me more likely to fall.
I was going to write a short response, really! I failed:
http://themiddlemiles.blogspot.com/2011/03/progression-specificity-of-training-and.html
Hey Luke.
Great post! I especially like your point to find your weakness and practice it (as opposed to avoiding it like the plague as I do with crack climbing).
Identifying a goal and then working towards it is so important to seeing progress and success, no? And I would also add that the points you bring up can be used for so many other aspects of life as well. Thanks.
_Amy