Well, as i mentioned, I decided it was time to get a coach. Everyone who's everyone has their own coach these days. Last night I went for my assessment session with Tom Randall, all round nice guy and wide crack fetishist. It was good of Tom to squeeze me in, as his little girl Hannah is only a few weeks old, so he can't be getting much sleep. Hannah was very cute, and impeccably behaved whilst I was there, by which I mean she was unconscious.
The assessment session is meant to assess my strengths and weaknesses, so that Tom can tailor my training plan for maximum effect. To this end, Tom has built an impressive array of torture devices designed to narrowly focus on one particular kind of strength. His "crack cellar" is infamous, but pales in comparison to the horrors of the lattice board; a diagonal grid of identical edges designed to test strength, endurance and recovery to the max. No subtleties or places to hide here, just an endless series of good edges on a steep board, circling and circling until you drown in your own lactate.
It was interesting to see how accurate the lattice board was as a predictor of climbing ability. I exploded off the board after 68 moves. Apparently, 70 moves is the standard target for those wishing to onsight 8a; therefore the board neatly agrees with my own idea if where my climbing is right now.
After the board we tested some core strength and did some routes down the wall to assess technical ability and my climbing style. It mostly flagged up that I can't see a hold in front of my face. We also did some front levers to make me happy, and some flexibility tests to make me sad.
I await Tom's assessment with bated bated breath...
No comments:
Post a Comment