Running and Climbing

I enjoy it.

on thing i DO think it helped me with is IF you have any Intrest in starting a barefoot running program.

trying doing some bouldering barefoot(most gyms will not let you do this).

it WILL toughen your feet, and your ankles.

But, other that, i havent noticed any advantage.

well it is nice to be strong overall.

it strengthens your back as well as your leg muscles (especially those stabilizers). Gabe Jennings called it ... a good cross training sprot because you get strong without bulking up.

Keep up those crimpers.

Climbing is one of the few activities that can make me stop thinking about running, and vice-versa. I think it is the perfect complement for running, as it works all of the systems that running doesn't, like upper-body strength, lower body flexibility, agility and balance, and technical sequencing, meanwhile reinforcing the type of laser-like mental focus and determination it takes to compete well as a runner. As a runner/climber, I feel like the "Complete Animal", in the highest sense of the term. Also, having the upper-body strength makes me pretty tough to beat in the final 200m!

I climbed my first 5.13 eight days after running my PR for 1500. Some serious beer swilling then ensued.

Holy Shit, 5.13? Good work. Most climbing takes place in locales that are very conducive to some kick-ass trail running. I love taking a weekend to hit the trails and the rock.

I have been climbing for about 6 years and i even have a bouldering wall at my house. I have also climbed a 5.13 once. Mostly mid to hard 5.12's on sport. Climbing is excellent upper body conditioning and helps build balance.

Ahh.. yes, would agree with all of the above. I love rock climbing also and most runners already have the idea body type and mental toughness for rock climbing. It is a great workout and strengthens without adding bulk, much of the same way running does. It is a forgotten endurance sport. Any runners, climbers from around the SoCal, murrieta-temecula area?

I love climbing, but I haven't done much of it since I moved away from the CA in '99. The rock sucks where I live now, though there is ice climbing, alpine, mountaineering galore.

All kinds of climbing is fun, but I really loved bouldering. I spent many good days running and bouldering and free soloing easy climbs (often soloed up and down Swiss Cheese, 5.3-4, 80 ft on Goat Rock in running shoes, sometimes in the rain) in Castle Rock SP. I would go by myself or with one of my climber friends who was a decent runner. We would often run into climbers like Chris Sharma, who were absolutely amazing to watch... All my close friends in the late '90s were climbers, and we always go on road trips to Pinnacles, Yosemite, the Sierras, etc. where the running was also very fun too.

Using your body to pull moves on rock is really a cool feeling, just as running is can be really cool. I topped out at around 5.11, probably because of really weak abs mostly (could probably get a lot stronger though), but I was a very comfortable near my limit, sometimes free soloing 5.9s (the high and calm that you get when doing that kind of thing is sort of addicting). My friends were all 5.12+.

There really should be a running/climbing club or scene. It would be cool to climb with Gabe Jennings, among others with similar interests. Also, climber girls are HOT with lean and strong looking bodies, not sickly thin like many runners.

For some years I used to be a totally obsessive rock climber - at weekends and a totally obsessive runner throughout the week.

The trouble with this arrangement was that I felt that I couldn't dedicate myself to either sport to the level that i desired and still maintain my interest in the other sport.

This all rubbed along OK for a while, then one Easter on a long route I spent almost a hour on one belay, high on a sea cliff, very uncomfortable, being lashed by a near gale and stinging rain - soaked, cold and shrouded in roaring clattering nylon. Then I had to follow a very tricky traverse, in approaching hyperthermia. Not fun.

Haven't climbed since. Sold all of my ropes & gear.

Now I can run every chance I get without distractions and do you know what, my view of rock climbing now? I'd rather have a kick in the bollocks than go up a route.