Well the last 6 weeks has flown by in a little bit of a
whirl that seemed to drag on forever. Oxymoronic I know, however it should make
more sense in a minute.
After finishing up as a full-time paramedic in Horsham at
the start of July I moved into my van in order to save some money before
heading off to Germany and North America. The next two months consisted of a
trip to Nowra in NSW and multiple short stints in Melbourne. I also managed to
secure a month of casual “work” in Stawell for all of August. While this helped
make the bank account look a little healthier for the trip, it simultaneously
made it feel I was never going to leave. In the end I became complacent and
although tickets were booked I took a long time to getting around to things
like cancelling contracts or getting teeth pulled, which I left, typically, to
the last minute…well the last 2 days anyway.
As mentioned in my last post this winter for some reason I
found it very difficult to get up anything. I would warm up well, (maybe too
well?) but still numb out halfway up routes or in the middle of cruxes. I’ve
now concluded winter and summer are just wastes of time for climbing in the
Wimmera. Yeah sure you get the odd good day or two. My hardest routes last year
were done in almost 40 degrees but it takes a lot of energy and psyche to keep
pushing through when you’re sweating or that said shivering. In the midst of this, I had several
conversations with Gerd and Grug that at times got a little complicated. I.e.
how much rest, types of training and nutrition and how they have affected what
is happening in a real time scenario. I think my time as an Ambo, and a chilled
one at that, has allowed me to simplify things to be at least for me a little
easier. So I started formulating a new performance assessment tool. Fancy name
for something that is really basic but I have put into practice for the last 8
weeks and found it to be helping. It is really early days though, and it
something I’ve done for myself. Here it is, but if you don’t like it that cool
cause I do.
2 out of 3 Ain’t Bad
or the Triangle Theory
Basic premise is this;
Performance (having fun is part of this) can be broken into
3 categories that all interrelate, I’ve included some examples.
Physical Health State
-
Nutrition
-
Weight
 |
| MS paint to the Rescue Injuires |
-
Sleep
-
Skin
- Injuries
- Injuries
2.
Mental Health State
-
Psyche
-
Stress
-
Fatigue
-
Motivations
-
Peers
3.
Environment
-
Location
-
Crags
-
Climbing Partners
-
Weather
As I said these are very simplistic but this is the key,
they are like post-it notes that you can remind you of the details later. So
now imagine that each of the three categories is a point of an equilateral
triangle, and the inside of the triangle represents your best current
performance potential, as in right now.
Cool, you got it now right? Well I’ll continue if you’re a
little slow. So if you were to say feel totally psyched and come of a couple of
months of training but the next week or weather looked like Ireland, then your
performance triangle may be skewed a
little. See where I’m going with this slowpoke?
Here’s the beauty of it – 2 out 3 Ain’t bad. Having an
equilateral triangle is far from impossible, but for most people it doesn’t
make up the majority of the year. I am talking from personal experience here,
so if you are a lucky S.O.B. and have a perfect threesome of arbitrary headings
then you can piss in your perfect hat somewhere else. At least for me there are
times when I’m tired or unpsyched or just can’t be fucked. Generally we are
also anchored to our location due to work commitments or family etc, one thing
that I am now in the position to have a great effect on, since resigning work.
In practice
My winter performance was less than desirable, while I could
have trained on the woody more I found it difficult too due to working late
hours and there being no power at the gym. On top of that with Malcolm injured
and Dave J getting in early while kids were at school, it was often a solo head
torch affair. That said I thought I was physical in ok shape. I was psyched
when Gerd and Grug came down but after 6 weeks of being cold, wet and stressed
about van conversion/job resignation/trip planning and money I lost this
psyche. Performance went pear shaped. This was the first time I implemented the
triangle.
What was working in my favour?
-
Physically ok
What wasn’t?
-
Environment (weather), Psyche (stress,
motivation)
What could I do to most easily/quickly get 2 out 3?
-
Go somewhere warmer.
The send came on the last day I could possibly stay before driving
12 hours back to Stawell for work the next morning. The sun was all over the
wall and I felt a little bit of last day pressure. I didn’t want to make that
drive south without having climbed anything again. However while nervous the
triangle told me that not only I was psyched to be there, that physically I was
in good condition and conditions weren’t all that bad either. While the route
was in the sun, the crucial sloper still had some shade on it. I had 2/3 of my
triangle working for me and the 3rd wasn’t far off. Set up and
walked it. Felt so good. Pressure or no I just had a shit ton of fun and the
drive to work for a 7am start didn’t even phase me. So Rad.
 |
| Middle of Crux Sequence of Beefmeister 32 |
So, if you are like me in the past, and get bogged down on
specifics, like how many pullups you should do in a session to do particular
problem or how many heads of broccoli you should allow yourself to eat before
cragging the next day, then this system could help you.
Give it a go and let
me know what you think. Remember it is just a simple tool to help identify the
easiest thing to work on.
Peace out Bitches
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