When goal setting goes bad...
So, since my last post I've been thinking an awful lot about what my paddling and climbing goals should be this summer. In turn, this has made me think back over the past year and how my goal setting and training have panned out.
I gotta say...I'm not totally happy with what I've been doing so far.
First, through last winter-summer-fall I spent a lot of time doing "cross training". Yoga, boot camp, weights, cross fit, etc. While this improved my overall fitness level, it often left me too tired to climb, paddle, ski, or whatever. Plus, it wasn't much fun! Crossfit and weights had their moments, but boot camp was complete and utter misery! What's more, I'm discovering fitness is a very perishable commodity. If you don't keep working out the benefits go away very rapidly. Meanwhile, skill training seems to last for years.
Lesson: spend more time training skills and less training fitness.
I set lots of volume goals (x days of an activity per week or over the season), a few specific goals (ski delirum dive, climb "gentians", etc.), and a few more vague and general goals (become a better tree skier). This worked out a little better. I hit 1 of my 2 volume goals this winter, and got in lots of skills practice along the way. However, sometimes I felt like just putting on the skis or picking up the tools counted as practice; there was a quantity goal, but no quality requirement.
Lesson: volume isn't enough; you need to show up, AND push yourself a little outside your comfort zone.
I took a lot of guided trips this winter. I discussed this in a previous post, but the upshot of it was I wound up visiting the standard local ice cragging areas over and over, and not doing as much hard ice and mixed climbing as I wanted to. On the other hand, the once guided backcountry ski day I managed was great.
Lesson: time to let go of guided trips, at least for rock and ice climbing. I think there's still a place for them in my skiing and paddling career.
I programmed the heck out of my season. I sat down in September and made a list of trips and courses I wanted to take, then booked them months in advance. This was good in that it helped me hit my volume goals, and bad in that it didn't leave me much room to adjust or adapt to new lessons and opportunities.
Lesson: plan the season in pencil. Leave myself room to adjust as I go along.
Finally, I've spend lots of time fighting burnout. Last summer especially, I reached a point where climbing wasn't any fun anymore. Part of it, interestingly enough, was spending TOO much time outside my comfort zone. I learned to sport lead, jumped on a lot of routes that felt scary, and started to associate fear with climbing.
So, with this in mind, my goals this season are:
1) Log at least 15 days climbing rock, and at least 15 days paddling my kayak. These are very modest volume goals. I ought to be able to meet both of them.
2) Climb Ha Ling (13 pitches, 5.6, trad gear), swinging leads all the way to the top. To do this, I'll need to take another trad leading course, and practice some trad skills at Lake Louise
3) Make the trip to the Kicking Horse river this August and drop at least 1 class-4 rapid. I can portage the 4+ rapids if I don't like the look of them. To do this, I'll need to spend lots of time on the local class 3 runs, like the upper Kananaskis river and the Red Deer river.
4) Take a few courses that will directly link up with my goals, and/or look like an adventure. This season it'll be the trad rock systems course with Yamnuska, white water week with the Rocky Mountain Paddling Centre, and a "mountain movement" course (moving quickly over non-technical terrain, a HUGE weakness of mine) with Will Gadd. This last one should be just plain cool! Getting to train with Gadd...I wonder if he'll sign my ice tool...
5) Every day I go out I will, at least once, try something I'm not certain I can do. It might be running a tricky rapid, leading a climb close to my limit, or just getting in one more lap on a cliff when I'm really tired at the end of the day. Every time I go out I will push my limits at least once.
6) If climbing and paddling ever start to feel like work, I'll find a way to make them fun again. That could mean cruising some easy sport routes, rigging a toprope on something challenging, going for a run on an easy river on a nice sunny day, or checking out a new destination with some good friends. The key is to never forget that this is supposed to be fun. I used to get excited that it would take me years, or even decades, to really master these sports. It's time to get some of that feeling back.
And so this weekend I'll try and log my first day rock climbing! :-)
Cheers all.
I gotta say...I'm not totally happy with what I've been doing so far.
First, through last winter-summer-fall I spent a lot of time doing "cross training". Yoga, boot camp, weights, cross fit, etc. While this improved my overall fitness level, it often left me too tired to climb, paddle, ski, or whatever. Plus, it wasn't much fun! Crossfit and weights had their moments, but boot camp was complete and utter misery! What's more, I'm discovering fitness is a very perishable commodity. If you don't keep working out the benefits go away very rapidly. Meanwhile, skill training seems to last for years.
Lesson: spend more time training skills and less training fitness.
I set lots of volume goals (x days of an activity per week or over the season), a few specific goals (ski delirum dive, climb "gentians", etc.), and a few more vague and general goals (become a better tree skier). This worked out a little better. I hit 1 of my 2 volume goals this winter, and got in lots of skills practice along the way. However, sometimes I felt like just putting on the skis or picking up the tools counted as practice; there was a quantity goal, but no quality requirement.
Lesson: volume isn't enough; you need to show up, AND push yourself a little outside your comfort zone.
I took a lot of guided trips this winter. I discussed this in a previous post, but the upshot of it was I wound up visiting the standard local ice cragging areas over and over, and not doing as much hard ice and mixed climbing as I wanted to. On the other hand, the once guided backcountry ski day I managed was great.
Lesson: time to let go of guided trips, at least for rock and ice climbing. I think there's still a place for them in my skiing and paddling career.
I programmed the heck out of my season. I sat down in September and made a list of trips and courses I wanted to take, then booked them months in advance. This was good in that it helped me hit my volume goals, and bad in that it didn't leave me much room to adjust or adapt to new lessons and opportunities.
Lesson: plan the season in pencil. Leave myself room to adjust as I go along.
Finally, I've spend lots of time fighting burnout. Last summer especially, I reached a point where climbing wasn't any fun anymore. Part of it, interestingly enough, was spending TOO much time outside my comfort zone. I learned to sport lead, jumped on a lot of routes that felt scary, and started to associate fear with climbing.
So, with this in mind, my goals this season are:
1) Log at least 15 days climbing rock, and at least 15 days paddling my kayak. These are very modest volume goals. I ought to be able to meet both of them.
2) Climb Ha Ling (13 pitches, 5.6, trad gear), swinging leads all the way to the top. To do this, I'll need to take another trad leading course, and practice some trad skills at Lake Louise
3) Make the trip to the Kicking Horse river this August and drop at least 1 class-4 rapid. I can portage the 4+ rapids if I don't like the look of them. To do this, I'll need to spend lots of time on the local class 3 runs, like the upper Kananaskis river and the Red Deer river.
4) Take a few courses that will directly link up with my goals, and/or look like an adventure. This season it'll be the trad rock systems course with Yamnuska, white water week with the Rocky Mountain Paddling Centre, and a "mountain movement" course (moving quickly over non-technical terrain, a HUGE weakness of mine) with Will Gadd. This last one should be just plain cool! Getting to train with Gadd...I wonder if he'll sign my ice tool...
5) Every day I go out I will, at least once, try something I'm not certain I can do. It might be running a tricky rapid, leading a climb close to my limit, or just getting in one more lap on a cliff when I'm really tired at the end of the day. Every time I go out I will push my limits at least once.
6) If climbing and paddling ever start to feel like work, I'll find a way to make them fun again. That could mean cruising some easy sport routes, rigging a toprope on something challenging, going for a run on an easy river on a nice sunny day, or checking out a new destination with some good friends. The key is to never forget that this is supposed to be fun. I used to get excited that it would take me years, or even decades, to really master these sports. It's time to get some of that feeling back.
And so this weekend I'll try and log my first day rock climbing! :-)
Cheers all.