At the end of the 2011 Fall climbing season, Nadya sent her first 12b, Gung-Ho and was very excited. This motivated her to train with me over the winter with hopes to send a few more 12b's and maybe even a 12c this spring. So the training happened. Our training schedule was not as strict as it could have been, but it was definitely way more training than we have done in the past. We did the standard periodization style training starting with strength, moving on to power, then finishing up with power endurance. The power endurance portion of our training was cut short and almost cut out completely due to the unusually warm winter and early arrival of spring. So, beginning with the second weekend of March, we started climbing outside again.
Watching Nadya climb I could tell that she definitely had more strength and power than before. On our first weekend back we went to Military so that she could get on Tissue Tiger. After sending Gung-Ho, Nadya decided that this would be her next 12b. She worked the moves and found herself pumped after the first half of the climb. I was kind of expecting that since we barely got into the power endurance block of our training. The crux of the route also turned out to be a little tough for her. However, on her second go, she was able to figure out the crux and make it to the chains with no problem. Unfortunately, her next couple of attempts left her stuck at the crux once again. Why? What is going on? This disappointed her since she thought she would be stronger from all the training this past winter.
I kept telling her that the training was working and that maybe she wasn't doing something right at the crux. She made it to the anchors already so I know she had the strength. She probably just forgot how she did it. It turned out I was right. Of course ;). I guess Nadya was pinching some left-hand crimp at the start of the crux instead of crimping it, which was preventing her from locking off deep enough to reach up to a right-hand pocket. After discovering this, the move became easy. She also found herself stuck on the left-hand crimp right below the India hold. I soon discovered that she was hitting it at the worst spot possible. Upon this knowledge and the discovery of a key foot, this move also became piece of cake. So the next three weekends ended up becoming a power endurance training block for Nadya. Contrary to what she thought, the strength and power training did pay off. She didn't fail on the crux moves of Tissue Tiger because she was weak, but because she was making it much more difficult for herself.
This past Friday, Nadya sent the rig on her first go, making it look easy. Piece of cake. It's nice to see the little Russian smile :).
But wait, there's more... Stay tuned for the Crushin' Russian Part 2.
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