Far Out Son of Lung...

Climbing

My climbing has been going up and down, with more downs recently than ups. No pun intended there, I've just had a tough time of it recently and I'm slowly getting to the source of all my troubles.

Primarily, my energy levels have been blighted while climbing. I'll get in one or two good routes and then I just don't seem to have the ability to muster up the jiuce to make even some of the most simple moves. I've attributed this to several things in the past it all pretty much boils down to two things:

• Lack of Sleep
  
• Poor Diet
  

I think the two are also somewhat interconnected, although there could be other things affecting my sleeping pattern of two hours on, two hours off.

I'm also going to research Melatonin, a chemicle that supposedly helps a person switch off their brain and fall asleep. At the moment I'm looking into eating better dinners that include steamed veggies. I have a steamer, I just never use it. I generally eat when I am hungry, which means I want to eat immediately, and often do not care to wait the legth of time required to make a meal. I'm also lazy when it comes to cooking and cleaning dishes.

I've been eating a great deal more protein in the form of Optimum Nutriotion's Whey Protein shakes in the morning and evening, with a Nestle Carnation in the mid-morning time frame of 10:30 to 11:00 AM. In all I'm taking in roughly 61g of protein every day and am hoping this helps muscle recovery & density, and will hopefully not mean I have this bad of gas forever. That's been a newer problem though...

Typical weekday breakfast:

• ON's Whey Protein (24g)
  
• Bagel w/ cream cheese or bowl of cereal

Mid-morning Snack:

• Nestle Carnation Instant Breakfast

Lunch

• Peanut Butter & Jelly (x2)
  
• Yogurt
  
• Fruit (apple or banana)

Dinner
Varies between:

• ON's Whey Protein
  
• Ramen (x2 packets)
  
• Stouffer's frozen dinner
  
• Something else I can't remember

Dinner is not my strong suit and lunch is probably lacking a bit as well, but I've been in worse situations. Still, my diets needs some improvement if I can figure out a reasonable solution.

My last two trips to Summit have actually been good climbing days. I've been working on easier routes (5.7, 5.8) and concentrating on my footwork both climbing and down climbing. If I can get that sorted out I think I'll be much more capable of thinking through moves from the ground, visualizing myself on the wall (from the ground) and keeping my footwork clean so that I don't continue to destroy shoes as quickly as I have been by dragging my toe on the wall.

I am also going to start bouldering more, though I've said that before, because I want to get stronger at reading routes and using technique more ably. Rocking onto high feet, pulling through slippery holds, building core strength and dealing with difficult moves that require a bit of faith and concentration.

posted by GreSam @ 10:15