midsummer lulls
We are in the dog days of summer here in Chattanooga and for both myself and my southeastern clients, this means we are in the thick of the offseason training period.
There's something sticky about this midsummer (or mid-extended training block) time that can be mentally challenging.
The initial excitement of starting a training plan has worn off a little...
and the motivation of good conditions and outdoor projects is still quite far away.
You've been training for a while and want to see the fruits of your labor.. but it's not time to perform yet.
You think you have some idea of how you "should" be climbing, but actually don't have a way to gauge where you're at. So if you don't meet your expectations for a session, things start to spiral.
Let me explain:
Many of us use our outdoor sessions to assess how our climbing is going: how we feel on our usual warm ups, how we climb on our project, if our moderate circuit is as dialed as we're used to.
But when we don't have that litmus, we try to measure ourselves by our indoor performance. While there's subjectivity both indoors and out, gym climbs have a high turnover rate and can be even less consistent in grading.
Here's an example from a conversation I had with a client last week. She is used to climbing around the V6-7 level in the gym and went in for a session on a new set where there was a new 7.
As she climbed on it, it quickly became apparent that it was a height-dependent climb. The V7 was relatively "soft" for taller folks but essentially impossible for shorter climbers.
She became frustrated because she felt like she wasn't performing at the level she "should" be. Her emotions took over and she placed a ton of importance of this one V7. So the conclusion she drew was, "I'm not climbing well right now."
We talked through it to rationalize the situation. First, the climb was clearly inequitable and so isn't a good test of her skills, strength, or ability. It was just a reachy climb.
I then gave her a hypothetical to think about: what if she tried this climb during the outdoor season? I told her, let's say you had a really good session on your outdoor project then came to the gym and had this experience on the reachy V7 - would you really care?
She said no, because how she climbs on a reachy V7 in the gym isn't important to her.
She only put more weight on it last week because of the midsummer lull - the context changed how much value she put on that climb.
If this is a situation you find yourself during long training periods, it could be worth occasionally checking in on benchmark climbs. Here's a previous blog I wrote on the topic: https://www.julietamanda.com/blog/what-is-a-climbing-benchmark
If you are in a lull: remember the goal of your sessions, the big picture of your training, and ask yourself if you're placing too much importance on an individual gym climb.
