Pulling on the plastic!

Now that the training is in full swing I can honestly say that I think my biggest problem on the event will be the boredom and monotony of climbing the same route again and again and again and again and again times loads! Tonight's session was good tho as we decided to lead as many routes as we could graded 6a and below. We don't get the mileage but we were climbing at a higher grade than we will on the event and generally on considerably overhanging walls (as well as stopping for tea and flapjacks!)

Back to the laps tomorrow night tho!

Also, a quick thank you to James for his advice this evening, its cleared up a few things.

Robin

Training

Training is now in full swing. Due to work and family commitments Robin and myself are only able to train together twice a week in October but will up this to three sessions in November. When not together we are running, swimming and traversing on our own. Due to the nature of the challenge it’s important that we get our bodies used to consecutive efforts. So off to the wall we trot on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to pound up the same 4+ routes over and over and over again.



Ready for another ten?

In the middle of a climbing wall packed with climbers going about their business we stand at the same 4+, climbing through the same 15 or so moves. Everyone else stands, studying routes, pushing through hard moves, psyching themselves up and trying that blue route on the arête and pushing themselves to the limit on one single attempt while we carry on climbing, up and down, up and down. I too would love to be trying that blue route behind me but instead I carry on climbing the same route. I guess that’s part of the challenge, the mental focus to take on the mundane over the exciting. This training is a challenge, but a challenge that is so far removed from a normal evening at the wall that it feels like we are partaking in an entirely different sport at times. However strange it is to be training in this way, it comes with a feeling of accomplishment as we finish our hour and a half stint with 110 climbs under our belt and a feeling of relief that we are making progress.

Paul

Let the training begin

After six months of calculating, calling, emailing, meeting, asking, begging, pleading, praying, designing and thanking, everything, (well, almost everything) is finally in place for The Big Vertical Marathon Tour. A big thank you to everyone who has helped so far, from the walls and the hotels to all the companies that have kindly agreed to support the event. Thanks also go to all the amazing friends of the event for helping us way beyond the call of duty. And now the training begins!

Keep checking back in with us for news on our progress, events, prizes, pics, videos and more.

Paul

Website

While the others have been training hard my job has been to put together the Big Vertical Marathon Tour website. Andy over at Print Inc has done a great job with the logo and graphics for the site which has made my life much easier!

I've been working on ways we can get up-to-date news, pictures and video on here during the week itself. We're going to be pretty stretched during the event - Paul and Robin will have their hands full with the climbing. Cherry and I will be trying to keep things running during the day finding and supervising volunteer belayers, belaying ourselves, taking photos and video, and generally making sure the climbers have nothing to worry about other than calloused hands and stinky rock-shoe feet!

We'll be updating during the day using our Facebook Page which feeds onto the front page of the site, and longer blog posts in the evenings. We're hoping to capture some great photos, videos and time-lapse during the day, but getting these edited and uploaded in the evenings will be a challenge as we need to eat, drive to the next location and sleep as well.

It's going to be a tough week!

Justin