Working with One's Limitation

In Wolvo you get to see a weekly change in the alpine flora as you do the hike in and out of the boulders. 2 weeks ago it was thistles. Last weekend it was certain white flowers that draped them selves over the steep hilside.

I've been, or should I say my left hand has been, injured for the last year. I was training for a South Africa trip last spring and tore my A-2 pulley on my 3rd left digit, made a loud pop, lame. Over the summer I, first, cancelled my trip to S Africa the, second, started running and swimming instead of climbing. I did that for 2.5 months last summer and made a rapid return to climbing v8/9 within a couple weeks of being back. I was nearing healed this past spring when I pulled onto a slab in Joe's Valley, a v4 called Bowling Ball, and felt a twing in my left ring finger. I'd been trying to avoid pockets with my middle finger and tweaked my ring finger in doing so. Early the next day, I went on a mission to finish off my long time crimp project, yep... ignoring the twing, and hiked out to Resident Evil v10. I felt strong, taped my finger well and quickly found myself with my hands matched over the lip, staring down the "starfish." At that point my left ring finger made a funny feeling and I dropped off.

In the months that followed I've tried tapping the finger and avoiding all crimps but this was hard, in particular cause i climbed at Movement this winter/spring. Long story short, I wanted to make this South Africa trip this summer and I didnt want to take another 2-3 months off so I tried doing hang-board sessions as a means of keeping some strength in a controlled routine. It's been a struggle no doubt but Im in the airport on my my to Rocklands and my finger has been feeling better and better the last few weeks, but clearly not 100% recovered or strength.

My routine was to do weighted hangs on edges and pinches 1 night a week and then to tape my finger multiple times during a boulder session to hold the pulley/tendon down, but never pushing it.

The other interesting aspect of this spring training was dealing with schedule. I'm spending more time at work then ever in my life and thus am forced to train wisely.

Here are a few observations on my training. Last summer I came back feeling strong and light after running and swimming all summer, 5lbs ligher than I am now. This summer I havent found the time to run and instead have trained finger power. The end result so far is that being light seems more important than finger power.

We'll see how South Africa goes. Stay tuned, I'll be in Rocklands in 36 hours.

Below is Tom C. on Grand Tension v10 at Lincoln Lake.

Sport medicine update #2 and Rocklands bouldering next post!!!!