A Word About Training...

So in the midst of all my weekend trips, a critical--but not-yet-discussed--component of maintaining my climbing fitness has been my gym sessions during the week.  It has been interesting throughout this process to see what kind of routes I've been able to climb during different stages of pregnancy, and to compare how differently I feel from one week to the next.  For example, as I've gained more weight, I've become TERRIBLE at climbing anything overhanging, while vertical routes remain pretty easy for me.  Most likely because my upper body strength has not kept up with my growing belly?  Another anomaly I've noticed is that instead of having more and more difficulty climbing in general, I have had tons of ups and downs where I'm barely able to get up a 5.11a one day, only to onsight a 5.12a the next.  Weird! (Ok, the onsighting a 12a thing hasn't happened for several weeks, but you get the picture...).

Here has been the overall gym training schedule that I've been sticking with since day 1 of pregnancy:

1) Climb in the gym at least 2 times a week (sometimes I only get one in though...)
2) Climb a minimum of 8 routes each climbing session
3) Do approximately 4 warm-up routes in the 5.10 range
4) Transition to 1-2 moderate 5.11s
5) Climb a route at the maximum of my ability; 5.12 or 5.11c/d, 1-2 times
6) Run a couple laps on a moderate 5.11 or 5.10 to warm down

Of course there has been some flux here and there on this schedule depending on how I feel any given day, but for the most part I've been able to stick to it.  I anticipated that I'd be maxing out on 11a's by now, but so far I'm still able to onsight most 11d's that I get on as long as they don't have long sections of steep incline.  The primary challenges that I've faced throughout the pregnancy have been a lack of energy during the earlier stages, core strength, and now in the later stages the biggest issue has been my ability to comfortably move my knees up very far past my belly (because it smushes the baby up into my ribs).  Oh, that, and putting on/taking off my shoes at the beginning and end of each route.  That's the real crux!