Fitting in climbing / strength&core / running

Hey maxf,
Great question! Especially “Do these plans survive contact w/ life?” LOL

Some thoughts/experiences:
1) Do my workouts first thing in the morning. I lay everything out the night before so all I have to do is wake up, gear up, and go. No thinking, no hesitation, no chance for interfering distractions to pop up

2) Find multiple activity/workout partners who have the same time/day/schedule to do an activity/workout with me. If Partner A can’t make it, then Partner B hopefully can. Great support and I find it can double up as “hang out” time (esp. hikes & climbing)

3) On recovery days, I invite friends from a different social group for easy jogs/activities. They may not be training for anything but they’re interested to just “get out”. Which works well for me as I want an easy run/climb and I can catch up with different people (variety’s the spice of life!)

4) Constantly check the weather (helps w/ #1)

5) Listen to my body & keep some schedule flexibility. Sometimes I just push it too hard and need an extra break…so I give myself one. I’ve had too many times when I just “sucked it up” and pushed through only to get sick. Really annoying when you’re the only person you can blame lol

Another method that can work well is to use block periodization for your training. You dedicate a ‘block’ to emphasizing 1-2 fundamental qualities of your sport goals. During that block other qualities are put on the back burner and only touched upon occasionally for maintenance. I’ve used this with a number of high level alpinists and XC skiers. Both require a broad array of skills and fitness. Training all of these at once is a nightmare and really impossible.

Block length can vary greatly. I’ve had good luck with 2-6 week range. Examples would be: An aerobic base emphasis with rock climbing maintenance 1-2x/week. An ME block and aerobic base focus with indoor climbing/bouldering maintenance.

This works best for already fit and well skilled athletes. It is much easier to maintain a level of fitness/skill than it is to build it in the first place.

Having a shot gun approach of trying to hit every energy system, every modality, every skill set in an artificially imposed 7 day cycle can easily lead to over training and burnout. How do I know? I’ve cooked a few athletes trying this early in my coaching career.

This is why our plans and our books focus on a few fundamental qualities at a time. We do not advocate trying to eat the whole elephant at one sitting.

Steve tells a story from his days when I was coaching him: His climbing partners stopped calling him to go climbing. They got tired of hearing him say “I’d love to climb but I have to train.”

Scott