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Climbing/Living Tip of the Month
E N D U R A N C E
By Calvin Landrus
Calvin on typical steep terrain at The Red
“Ah-Hah” moments often happen when you least expect it.
This one happened in September
when I was back in my climbing gym after taking more than two months off due to a
tendon/ligament injury in my left ring finger. Due to its severity, I had done no
training specifically for climbing.
Not wanting to be re-injured on plastic, I choose to begin on a 90 move, large-hold traverse.
I wasn’t expecting much for two reasons. Surely, the layoff will have caused a loss in
strength, and even when I was in good shape last spring, this route was only an occasional
send for me. I start moving and find myself effortlessly gliding along. When I get to
the endurance crux, I cruise right through it and easily made my way to the finish.
Being surprised and still not pumped, I lapped the traverse again for 180 move mega-burn.
“Wow! Where did that come from?”
Suddenly, I realized that I had traded my climbing training time for general endurance
training. I had increased my aerobic training dramatically…biking, running and hiking
up some Oregon volcanoes. The connection between great cardiovascular fitness and endurance
climbing was never more evident.
I continued towards a fully recovered finger by doing more long, big-hold workouts on steep
terrain. This approach was also congruent with my plans to visit the Red River Gorge in
October. I did many laps on the “Rock and Roller” and continued my aerobic training.
The endurance training really paid dividends at the Red.
This was my first visit and the steep terrain was completely overwhelming. The statement
everyone makes, “Its all about hanging-on,” I found to be true. After acclimatizing for a
couple of days, I found I had great endurance. So I began to move up the grades and was
able to hang onto a climb that matched my hardest redpoint ever, and I did it as a flash
ascent. I credit the success of that flash to the aerobic base I had built.
C L I M B I N G - T I P
No matter how strong your grip strength is you will loose it on a climb
if your cardiovascular system is overtaxed. Including general endurance training in your
work out program will delay the point at which grip-strength failure will occur.
Endurance is needed in living as well. Calvin Coolidge once said, "Nothing in the world
can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful
men with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
Great people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of endurance. They simply
don't know how to quit. They just keep on "keeping on." A person's greatness is not
determined by his or her fame, position, wealth or climbing ability. It’s determined by
what it takes to discourage that person. You can tell a lot about someone by watching how
he or she responds to criticism or failure. It reveals character.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DISCOURAGE YOU?
Things don't go your way?
Expectations are not met?
Someone disapproves of how you did it?
The Bible says this: "Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we
will reap a harvest of blessing, if we don't get discouraged and give up." (Galatians 6:9)
L I V I N G - T I P
When you are tempted to give up on doing the right thing, consider what blessing
you will be missing out on. Hang-on with an attitude of endurance!
Want to passed this onto a friend? E-mail this web address:
www.srcfc.org/gear/tip1.asp
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