[NateGoodwin]

NateGoodwin on March 10, 2017 at 10:21 pm · in reply to: food on a route #4242

Yup, its all just PV=NRT….keep the canister warm and just about any self contained canister stove will do (jetfoil, reactor, etc.). I swear by the bowl of warm water trick that Colin talked about, like he said keep it topped off with warm water so it does not freeze to the canister, at the very least ket a hang kit or foam pad to insulate the canister. The only time I’ve run into a problem was at a balls cold bivy in Alaska when our bowl froze to the bottom of the stove, had to smash it with an ice tool to use the stove. We could barely get the reactor to crank out 3 L by the time we went to bed even though we were warming and swapping out the canisters. Moral of the story; have a backup plan because even water losses of 2% begin to affect performance, and just a 5% loss in water will decrease your capacity by 30%.

As far as food on route goes I swear by carbohydrate replacement gels and shakes when my heart rate may/is elevated and the workload is moderate to hard( favorites are Hammer gel and perpetuem) anything else, for me, won’t digest fast enough due to the decreased percentage of blood flow to the stomach during exercise. But I have found that really long days involving a ton of running on an all gel diet will cause stomach and bowel issues. Not fun.

Any “regular” solid food is restricted to long belays, brew stops, and bivis, but even then my rule of thumb is to keep it simple so that its easier to pallet (almond butter packets and salami). For hot meals I’ve found the best bang for your buck are the instant mashed potato packets mixed with olive oil, tuna, and some sort of seasoning. Depleted glycogen stores love the starch and the high fat content will keep you warm through the night. Oatmeal with some almond butter and coffee in the morning.

Ive heard about more ultra runners fueling with more fat centered food while racing/training and trying to avoid carbs. It would be cool to hear what Scott has to think about this issue from a physiology perspective, specifically if it could at all carry over to alpinism.

[NateGoodwin]

NateGoodwin on February 28, 2017 at 11:12 am · in reply to: Sports Psychology/Mental Training #4148

I’m stoked this discussion has taken off, great stuff being presented.
I’ve stared to make meditation and visualization training a part of my training plan and have noticed a big difference in terms of keeping my mind in check.
I had a couple leads early this season where the gear was atrocious and the climbing was nearing my limit, I got through the pitch but I could hardly say I styled it and more or less had a freak out. After both of these I started to doubt myself and entered a downward spiral of doubting myself more and more, that combined with increasing stress from school got me to a point where I was gripped on moderate ice climbs. Finally, after some upsetting leads that should have been cruiser for me I began to look more into mental training and as Steve said ‘mental toughness’. I’m finally back at a point where I can keep it together on harder climbs that protect well enough to keep me from hitting the deck.
One of the other topics I began researching heavily was the psychology behind “flow states”, or the state of peak performance, as all of my breakthrough climbs occurred while achieving a flow state. One of the biggest pieces of advice was to focus on the climbing rather than focusing on getting to the anchor/ top of the pitch, I’ve started repeating the mantra “Don’t think about it, just do it” in my head when I begin to get nervous.
I probably have to agree that whipper therapy does not really help with runout climbing, I’m perfectly comfortable going for it on a sport or trad route where I know the gear is bomber and plentiful.
Colin’s comment about completely investing yourself before a trip is very real, I know that when I train for an objective for 3-4 months I become allot more stubborn about backing off or letting small things trip me up.
“In my early/mid 20’s I would have tons of anxiety going up on big alpine objectives. I’d stare up at those walls and gulp, seriously wondering if I’d come back alive.”- Great to hear that you went through it too. The mental challenge has been one of my biggest draws to alpinism, It was easy enough to battle demons on smaller, safer routes, but on committing objectives it seems like my mind has been holding me back more than anything else.

I’m looking forward to hearing more of Steve and other’s ideas about the topic, it seems that resources addressing physical training are plentiful but resources addressing the arguably more important mind are few.