V-World Workout: Saturday circuit... V1 too easy?
Well, I hit the gym Friday night for a couple of hours and last night for a couple of hours. I must say, Friday, I didn't get a darn thing done, so I won't even talk about it. Simply couldn't pull myself off the ground, but I did start to notice a trend. V1 was simply getting easy. Hell, I was warming up on V1 for the most part without breaking a sweat or getting pumped. This was a new development and I like it.
So Saturday, I only got in about an hour of climbing (gym closes at 7pm doh!). However, I hit pretty much every V1 first try, and didn't stick a single V2. Now that is odd, because just a week ago I was hitting about half the V1's with ease and I was at least able to scale a couple of the V2's. So what the heck happened? Well, I'm guessing my arms got lethargic, but my general body movement is a buttload better. I can even downclimb all of the V1's at this point.
There are a couple of routes sticking it to me in V1 land though. They are all overhanging or extremely crimpy. Having a bit of extra weight, I can generally balance my way up a vert to slightly off vert wall, but using pure pull strength for overhanging routes puts a sharp pain in my arms that doesn't go away for a couple of days. This is really funny, because I can generally campus quite a bit and the same doesn't happen. I must be pulling something when cranking on overhanging holds when my body is still cranked into the wall.
I'll certainly be working on overhanging routes moving forward. I think they offer the quickest advancement area for me since I'm not all that good at them. With the new shoes, I'll have a better chance at keeping my feet on the wall as well. There are quite a few V2 problems I want to really dial in as well. I'll probably go back and re-hit all of my old V2 problems just to make sure I still have the skills required. Then start hitting the newer ones.
I also want to work some V3 problems since they really start to pull out the bigger moves, exercise the crimps, and emphasizing precision. I have one that I'm working at the gym I'll probably hit the next time I go in. I can see it being V3 for someone short, but it might just be a V2 for me. There is a really bad pocket you have to hit about 4 feet up from the previous hand-hold (thats a long move), and then you have to move off the pocket to hit the finish. I think the route probably requires good balance and was set by a pretty good female climber in the gym (Jessica). I'll have to get some beta from her next time she is in the gym because I'm not one to bastardize a route and power up the wall when there is a better way.