Climbing Training Update 1.5 - Performance Day (10/10/12)

          Ah, its good to be back!  Last week I took the majority of the week off to recover from some serious overtraining and a strained right forearm.  I did do some climbing last week and only one day of light jiu jitsu.  I tried to keep my diet on schedule, but was a bit lax seeing the need to recover before resuming my training in full.  This posts is quick update of my "Performance Day" which is scheduled for once per week.  Eric J. Horst recommends a 3:1 ratio of practice to performance days, mine actual ration is about 4:1.  These results will be republished in my weekly update at the end of the week.  Enjoy!

Highest Grade Completed (unclean) - 5.9+ (indoor / toprope)
Highest Completed Greenpoint (toprope clean) - 5.9 (indoor)

Performance Day Records:
*only clean climbs were counted
Date / Location - Route / Setting / Grade / Time / Performance Rating (seconds x grade)
9/26 / UWG - The Purp / indoor / 5.8+ / untimed / not available
9/30 / UWG - Green Holds / indoor / 5.9+ / untimed / not available
10/10 / UWG - Hello Kitty / indoor / 5.9  / 4 min / 1416
10/10 / UWG - Crystalize / indoor / 5.8 / 1 min, 20 sec / 464
10/10 / UWG - Zebra Trout / indoor / 5.8 / 1 min, 28 sec / 510.4

Notes on Performance Days:
          These recorded times are NOT for the purpose of comparing to other people's accomplishments.  While I am competitive by nature these records are merely for the purpose of tracking my own progress.  My typical Performance Day usually starts with a very light warm up followed by a hard (for me) route that I have been practicing and working on; my latest project.  I take as long as I need to recover from this maximal effort.  I like to get the hardest or most difficult part out of the way first.  I then pick a route that I am familiar with and can climb easily and do a timed ascent.  I usually plan on doing three "business routes" and then finish the day with some experimenting and messing around on the wall to celebrate.  In the future I will continue to push my limit and do the hardest route first, so the grade will (hopefully) increase over time.  One of the easy routes, probably "Crystalize", will serve as a control group and will remain in the Performance Day lineup.  The third route of choice will increase in difficulty over time as my skill and efficiency increase, but will remain securely below the green/redpoint grade.

A Few Words on Rating Performance:
          Now that I have logged a few timed routes there are some things worth mentioning.  When looking at my data we can see that Performance Rating is not the be-all-end-all statistic.  Climbing the same difficulty route in a shorter amount of time produces a lower score, yet is a more difficult task.  However, in comparing different grades we can see that it is fairly accurate in terms of effort exerted on the ascent.  We see that the score of my latest greenpoint (5.9) has a score multitudes higher than the other entries.  This tells me several things.  1)  PR is not an accurate discriminant for routes of the same grade.  2)  PR is reasonably accurate in terms of subjective effort exerted on both climbs of varying and equal grade (eg:  it takes more effort to hang on a 5.9 for 4 minutes than a 5.8 for a minute and a half).  However, there is one stipulation to this principle and that is the mathematical inaccuracy of the grading system.  By this I mean that mathematically 5.9 is greater than 5.10, however, a 5.10 route is more difficult to climb than a 5.9.  This can be corrected, if one wishes to compare >5.9 routes with <5.9 routes by making the mathematical corrections (ie: a 5.9 route is calculated as 5.09 and a 5.10 route calculated as 5.1)  Below you will find the same results with this correction made, and such they will be calculated in the future.


Date / Location - Route / Setting / Grade / Time / Performance Rating (seconds x adjusted grade)
9/26 / UWG - The Purp / indoor / 5.8+ / untimed / not available
9/30 / UWG - Green Holds / indoor / 5.9+ / untimed / not available
10/10 / UWG - Hello Kitty / indoor / 5.9  / 4 min / 1221.6 (5.09 x 4 min x 60 sec/min)
10/10 / UWG - Crystalize / indoor / 5.8 / 1 min, 20 sec / 406.4
10/10 / UWG - Zebra Trout / indoor / 5.8 / 1 min, 28 sec / 447.04