Programming For Kayaking And Climbing

 A good thing to remember when planning: if you get tired reading it, imagine what you are going to feel like doing it. Charlie Francis.

This could be the precis of my training log which I typically lay out a week in advance. It would be interesting to keep a paper log, because there would be a certain number of corrections that might be instructive in hindsight. As it is, my training log is a computer spreadsheet and if I switch around a paddle day with a climbing day or move a strength training day because I am not recovered that detail is overwritten and lost to analysis.

PC: N. Blacklock

I am back into training for kayaking while still training for climbing, which makes programming an exercise in creativity and frustration. As an older athlete, the dream of doubling up - two legitimate training sessions on one day - is just that, a dream. Recovery, particularly after hard efforts just takes so damn long, and trying to squeeze one more hard training or performance session in per week is so often counter-productive. Everything goes backwards and super-compensation rapidly becomes de-compensation. Ego checking at the door is mandatory.

Performance days sometimes yield surprising and unexpected results, like when you send a climb with no expectation of doing so or post a much faster than normal time on a regular aerobic training run. Our recent trip up Mount Donovan in Deua National Park involved 2200 metres of elevation gain in 1.5 days and most of that was bushwacking through rough and steep terrain carrying heavy packs. I felt pretty good the day after and finished the week up with a long climbing day, two paddle days - one all out sprinting - and a strength training session.

But then again, that could be why I am feeling a bit smashed this week and struggling to get through park bench workouts and modest climbing days. One thing about getting older, besides its inevitability, is recovery cannot be rushed, something that in the heady days of youth, climbing and skiing seven days a week, month after month, was simply unimaginable.