To be honest, last week I was pretty discouraged by how strenuous the level 6 routes felt to me. I thought I would need another 1-2 months to slowly progress back to working on 7's again. Turns out I had a great weekend. I had enough energy to warm up on 2 easy routes, work on a new 7- route on an arête (outer corner), one 7-/7 with scary slopers and bad footholds, one 7 on artificial structures, and finish strongly on a reachy white 7- that I have tried before. I was over the moon.
I don't really know if it's just a high energy day vs. a low energy day. Seems like it's quite important to warm up on a very easy route to let the arms and legs flow a bit and to build confidence. When I get the blood (and chi?) flowing, then the harder routes feel more doable. Also this does wonders for my mood and confidence: finish with a familiar route that has some challenges but is still within my capability. I was on such an endorphins (or dopamine or adrenaline?) high after this last climb that I deluded myself in thinking I could still climb more and that I would have enough energy to go jogging the next day to improve my cardio.
Turns out that in the middle of night I was awake again with pulsing sore arms. My guess is that when I'm on an endorphin high, I can push my body harder than normal. In this case the last climb I pull of some handhold hand switches that were quite strenuous for my hands and arms. I'm glad I can sometimes push my body this way. My guess is that confident people experience this high more commonly. This allows them to speak confidently even when they are not very sure about the subject they are being asked to speak about. I never thought that through climbing I could experience what confidence feels like, and that it is not there on low energy days.
I am hoping to get to the point that I can work on 7s even on low energy days. But then on good days I hope to be able to send the 7 routes and work on 7+s.
I don't really know if it's just a high energy day vs. a low energy day. Seems like it's quite important to warm up on a very easy route to let the arms and legs flow a bit and to build confidence. When I get the blood (and chi?) flowing, then the harder routes feel more doable. Also this does wonders for my mood and confidence: finish with a familiar route that has some challenges but is still within my capability. I was on such an endorphins (or dopamine or adrenaline?) high after this last climb that I deluded myself in thinking I could still climb more and that I would have enough energy to go jogging the next day to improve my cardio.
Turns out that in the middle of night I was awake again with pulsing sore arms. My guess is that when I'm on an endorphin high, I can push my body harder than normal. In this case the last climb I pull of some handhold hand switches that were quite strenuous for my hands and arms. I'm glad I can sometimes push my body this way. My guess is that confident people experience this high more commonly. This allows them to speak confidently even when they are not very sure about the subject they are being asked to speak about. I never thought that through climbing I could experience what confidence feels like, and that it is not there on low energy days.
I am hoping to get to the point that I can work on 7s even on low energy days. But then on good days I hope to be able to send the 7 routes and work on 7+s.
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