Preparing for the Storm.

Frank always said that in order to sail in stormy waters, one must first build a strong ship.

When we started training for the World Championships in Trampolining, we asked Frank to coach us and he started by taking us off the trampoline for about 8 weeks and conditioning us...

There was hell to pay when the head of Trampolining in Ireland discovered the Dublin based gymnasts hadn’t bounced in two months or so. No matter, because when we began training on trampoline again, each of us fulfilled the very maximum of what we were capable of to the tune of what seemed to be a very precise plan that Frank had devised. Our bodies were just very well prepared.

At the moment - I wouldn't stop climbing, and do conditioning for 2 months... though the thought occurred to me a while ago to stop climbing and finger board and campus (only) for three weeks in an attempt to strengthen my fingers, I was quickly discouraged from that. My technique and simply my climbing need a lot more work.

It seems to be the case in any sport that when one tries to up one's game, the body starts to break down. I've been on a slow but steady course of improvement over the last twelve months, and I suppose with the new year looming, there's always an inner will to want to do better.

I think that's human nature!

There won't be much change about what I'm doing at the board. It seems to be working for me and I like the track I'm on. I usually try to fit in 3 or 4 training sessions at the board each week. When it goes well, I milk it, when it's going badly, I do sit ups. It's outside the board time that things need to be shaken up!

I'm really looking forward to this year. I have a positive feeling that I can improve my bouldering, it's nice not to feel stuck I suppose.

I think upping my ability on rock is going to be about 3 things:

Eating right

Sleeping right

Training right

Those 3 aspects mean investing in my body.

Buying the right food and eating it... it even sounds obvious as I'm typing it, but I'm terrible at it. I'll happily survive for a day on 12 jaffa cakes and then wonder why my training the next evening didn't go so well. Also, I want to start drinking a lot more water... Again - I'd usually have tea with my 12 Jaffa Cakes and am probably existing as a very dehydrated person on a day to day basis.

Going to bed before midnight... I don't know why I do it, every night I sit up and do nothing when I could be sleeping, then I've to get out of bed at 7am for work. My muscles always feel terrible when I don't get enough sleep.

I think I'm pretty good at going to the board and training with a plan... but that plan never has an end aim... I do problems, then I do sit ups and then I go bouldering at the weekends. I think there needs to be a focus on what I want to get out of my board sessions - maybe I'll break them down into 6 week chunks or something with an aim at the end of each - must read up on that again!.

Hitting the ground running in the morning with a session in Wicklow... here's to a strong ship in 2012... I'd quite like to sail through a few storms!