UKC

UKC Fit Club is not a substitute for the training diary but to use with (or without) it as a motivational tool for all.

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502

The following training article by Alex Barrows has recently been brought up http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/training-for-sport-climb... It contains information about the four main "energy systems" and how to train each one specifically.

Psyche video of the week - vimeo.com/99564444 - TomPR on an 8c+ - Suggestions welcome

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity, noting goals, successes and failures and to swap ideas.

Anyone interested in starting is very welcome but you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits to help achieve your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity

Link to last week's thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=591094

Joughton - Well done on the 8a. Glad you've got it ticked. Can't wait to see what you get done in Pembroke.
Exile - Lots of E2s, well done.
mbh - Lots of quality running there.
hms - Hope you're enjoying France.
Just Tintin - Stanage fest sounds good. No harm in a weeks worth of bouldering.
Tubb93 - Well done on the V4s.
Nick Russell - Not just hitting the classics, smushing the classics. Excellent week again. Stuff training for a while and enjoy the classics.
Ally Smith - E5 and E3, nice. New woman? Well done . Hope the new house goes well also. Keep the physio up!!!
Dandan82 - Glad to see the shoulder is feeling well again.
Luke Owens - Lots of good bouldering there. Hope you get the Dinbren proj done soon.
Humperdink - I'm sure the 4 minute mile will come soon. Keep up the good training.
Curious Yellow - Lots of bouldering. Did you have a good weekend away?
Sankey - Good luck with Free and Even Easier...
Leon - How did the 6cs go?

AWOL
mrchewey
stevemarkperry (in the Alps)

I originally said I'd do Fit Club till July, so if anyone wants to take over for a few months, feel free.

In reply to mattrm:

We seem to be missing quite a few? No JimmyKay, Biscuit, Jamming dodger, PPG to name the ones I can remember. Hope you're all out crushing!

In reply to mattrm:

I can do a couple of weeks of UKCFC until the house move goes through. i won't take any prisoners from slackers though...

In reply to mattrm: Cheers Matt, yeah I'm still pretty chuffed with it!

Decent week this week, could have done more but other plans got in the way.

Mon - Cycled to Hobby, warmed up then did laps on the Back Wall Traverse - still can't do 'there and back' which is an annoying lack of fitness. Also attempted a lower-level traverse, which I reckon will be a hard 8a or harder if linked in from the start of the normal traverse.
Tue - rest
Wed - Cycled to Hobby again. Straight on the Traverse this time, feeling easier than Monday. Tried lower project again and made a surprisingly decent link on what I thought was hard ground only to discpver the crux comes straight after with no rest.
Thurs - rest
Fri - Stoney in the rain, first Trad day of the season. Warmed up onsighting Helicon, a soft E3, then doing a 6b+/E3 on Dad's gear. Felt strong so decided to have a go on Traffic Jam, E5 6b. Climbed the easy ground up to half-height, got some perfect bomber gear arranged after much fiddling, then reversed to the floor. Went up again to scout out the moves and get the sequence visualised, then reversed to the floor again. Went up again and smashed it, first time I've done 6b moves on an E5 i.e first time I've done 6b moves in a committing situation, and definitely the hardest moves I've done on gear. Dead pleased.
Sat - rest
Sun - only two hours sleep so no training, will hit it hard tomorrow. Maybe.

So yeah mega pleased with the E5 onsight on the return to trad climbing, first time placing gear since September!

Cheers, Jake

In reply to mattrm:


Thanks for the stats, Matt. Another good week, but didn't get as far afield as the last few.

M - Rest
T - Goblin Combe, attempted 2 E4s. The first (Mithril) was soft and if I'd just committed would have gone no problem first time. As it was, I sat on the rope. The second (The White Tower) was hard, but I went for it and fell off. Climbed clean 3rd yo-yo (I'm totally counting that as a valid ascent :p).
W - Swimming, 1.9km
T - 9km run (8 x 1:00 on/2:00 off intervals). Core
F - TCA (bouldering). Felt very good to say that I haven't been indoor bouldering for months. Core.
S - Walk in the Brecon Beacons
S - New Quarry (to my shame). Did Bitter and Twisted, 7b (but soft) pretty easily.

I'm starting to attempt E4s a bit more routinely, and getting my head round the idea that I might succeed. I had two contrasting experiences on the 2 I attempted this week. The first (Mithril) was soft and if I'd just committed would have gone no problem first time. As it was, I sat on the rope. If somebody had told me it was E2, I'd probably not have had a problem. The second (The White Tower) was hard, but I went for it and fell off. Climbed clean 3rd yo-yo. (I'm totally claiming that as a valid style of ascent :p)

Partly inspired by watching the world cup, I went indoor bouldering this week for the first time in ages. I actually felt pretty good - maybe I haven't lost too much strength.

2014 goals
Sport: 8a. Best RP: 7c
Trad: Some more E4s including solid-at-the-grade onsight(s). Attempted: 8, clean onsight: 1 (+3 others I feel I've 'succeeded' on, one way or another)
Trad: Staffs NIAD Bird bans lifted, planning to get over there in a couple of weeks
Running: Don't get injured, more mileage than last year. 229/416km down.
Swimming: Enter some competitions, get some 'benchmark' times. 58.69 100fr*, 26.98 (26.3*) 50 fr, 1:12.34 100 bk, 31.12 50 fly*, 1:09.58 100 IM
*Relay splits

Short-term goals

Get some sport mileage in 7b-7c range.
Another (soft) 7b

Plan/train for trips in September: 1 week in Lundy, 2 weeks in North East US.
Get back on the bouldering for cruxy Rumney routes

In reply to mattrm:

I did say I was bailing for a while - works been too busy and then I have six weeks away in Swizzy.

I've been doing what I can but it's certainly not structured, even if I feel stronger than I have in a long while. It's not training by any definition.

I have decided to climb full-time however, from Oct '15. Van, north Spain and a small income from renting out my place. Sorted.

In reply to mrchewy:


I knew you were AWOL for a reason, I just couldn't remember why.



YYFY!!! Sounds super cool. If you can afford it, do it! Awesome.

In reply to mrchewy:

Sounds good. If you want any advice on van logistics (where to stay, where to get gas, where to do washing, etc) jfor any of the crags we went to just give me a shout.

And that means you've got 15 months to get strong. Sport climbing will only make you weak!

In reply to mattrm:

Arrived in France without incident, but to heavy rain. It was continued to rain in stair-rods for 15 hours. Now mid-morning and its subsided to grey drizzle. Stuff to get done today so no major worries, but would appreciate any hints from you all as to best crags in Tarn/Boffi/Jonte if it continues v wet, as the forecast looks dodgy to say the least. Which is a bit of a bugger, as this is supposed to be one of the driest months!

M TRX
T New Quarry, character building trad.
W UCR, 12 routes to 6c+. Seriously hot.
T Bloc, lots of V2-4, inc a dyno - yes, a dyno!!
F Shipham quarry, few nice routes bt a v small venue so probably not worth a return visit. Got a 6c second go as the crux sequence is odd. Had a very tentative play on a 7a as I was lowering off another route, but too late in the day and we were cold - didn't have enough layers as it's been so nice recently.
S rest
S travel

In reply to Nick Russell:

The latest topo only gives bitter & twisted as 7a+. Never been tempted myself due to the obscene level of polish - not something the trad horrors seem to suffer from!

Haven't tried Mithril. Had a go seconding Mithril direct a few years ago and that is v good.

In reply to mattrm:

Thanks Matt, I failed miserably on Gardening club this week, Fit club was a different matter though...

M: Shoulder; Smith press, upright row, front dumbell raise, machine front raise, seated lateral raise, cable reverse fly
T: Chest; Dumbell Press, machine press, pec dec
W: Core; Crunches, L hangs, hanging knee raises, front levers
T:
F:
S: Climb TCA; various
S:

A good week of training sessions, everything is feeling solid and healthy. I managed to dumbell press more than my bodyweight which I was really chuffed with, I can bench my bodyweight plus 20% quite comfortably but doing it with dumbells requires a lot more stability which is exactly the kind of strength I want.

I went to see Nina the Physio on Saturday, it was a very positive session, I have another raft of ridiculous looking stretches to do, (I swear she just picks exercises that make me look stupid) she was happy enough with my finger to say I can go climb and use fingerboards again but just dont push too hard too fast.
Without further ado, I went to TCA where I fully intended to just do the one or two lowest difficulty circuits, I ended up getting on a couple of reds and even a 6c+ on the mothership! The finger felt ok though and it was fine the next day so I am very pleased with that. To be honest the 6c+ felt easy, the only difficulty was due to favouring my dodgy finger, if the finger was fully fixed it felt like I would have cruised it. It seems all this gym work I am doing has kept me reasonably strong...
I kind of feel like I was just reminding my finger of what I expect of it, in case it thought it was going to have an easy life!

I'll start putting some goals up again in the next couple of weeks now that I might actually be able to go do some climbing!

In reply to hms:


I know, you've told me before. It's pretty borderline either way. Polish isn't too much of a problem really - it's just part of the 'character' of the route! New Quarry rock does seem to be particularly prone to polish.

If you've done Mithril Direct, you've done the main part of Mithril. If you're not doing the direct finish, it just wanders off left on easy ground to get to the (quite vicious, I think) finish of The Goblin King. The direct is probably a more natural line, though I didn't give it much thought at the time.

In reply to hms:

The wall by Couilles de Cul doesn't seem to get too wet. Damned sector I've done on the 3rd of Jan after about 15 hours of solid rain and the yellow rock was bone dry.

Basically, it's fairly easy to get a broad idea of what rock will stay dry - look for yellow rock. Grey/black rock is where the water runs, yellow is where it doesn't. Go for yellow with as much rock above you as you can get to hamper runoff. And if its actually raining, obviously, look for overhang too.

On that basis I'd also suggest most of Tenessee, certainly around the cave that ailes au desir goes through. Probably some of the stuff in amphi will also stay dry. Stuff like Oasif and Causse are mainly yellow too iirc although Oasif has some black at the tops? The stuff at de que fas aqui will likewise probably stay dry although probably isn't rainproof for actually climbing. There's caves at Boffi although I wouldn't recommend them unless you have no other option, especially given the walkin. Don't know about the Jonte.

But look through the guide for yellow rock with overhangs above it and you'll probably be ok.

In reply to mattrm:
Thanks again Matt! Another week of bouldering...just so tired and need a holiday that I don't seem to be having much interest or stamina for routes at the moment. Spent early part of the week in midge hell, but started sleeping properly by the weekend so hopefully less tired this week and holiday on 17th!

M- Rest
T – Boulder Brookes: working blue circuit with 2 new completions.
W – Boulder Milton Keynes: 12x vb-v1 blue 11x v0-v2 pink 14x v2-v3 green 4x v3-v5 orange
T – Rest
F - Very short cycle
S – Harborough bouldering: 20 problems to V1. Invented a line and some sit starts.
S – Recce walk to look at Shining Cliff. Vegetated and midgey at the moment so on the list for Winter.
Boulder Climbing Unit: 20 problems including 2 v5-7s – they must be graded wrong as onsighted one and got the other after a couple of goes.

In reply to mattrm:

Sorry for absences. Nice to be missed though

Just been mad busy with life and not organised to get anything worthwhile done. Kept meaning to post but didn't get round to posting and there wasn't much to say anyway.

This week was mildly better. Got a dceent run in on Monday- 10 mile loop for the planned 32 mile trail run.

Also got back to Kilnsey and on 50 for 5. It had been a while and was predictably not a great session. I've not 'trained' for ages and need to pull my finger out. I did get a minor breakthrough on the crux at the top by finally getting a workable sequence for me. Going to take a lot to get it linked in to be able to execute that sequence after the climbing before it. But it's progress and as i'm doing little climbing and nil training that's encouraging. General consenus from regular Kilnsey climbers is it should be 7c really, or 7b++. Good to hear as it feels much harder that Truth Drug did.

I built a replica of the crux at AW and am going to do some 4x4's finishing on that. Benefits of working at a wall. I need to take advantage and actually do it.

On a good note i was honoured to be present when Nomics crushed Truth Drug at last. Seeing that has boosted me on to get 50 for 5 done.

In reply to mattrm:

STG - Sport pyramid - 6a (2/10), 6b (0/6), 6c (0/1) - Trad pyramid - HVS (0/10), E1 (0/6), E2 (0/1) 11st 10lbs weight
Aspirational - Climb E5/6 (London Wall), Scottish Winter V (Point 5, Zero, Minus etc), WI5, Redpoint 8a (Masada, Mortal Kombat & Cider Soak) stay injury free & maintain 11st.

Weight - 11st 13lbs (1lbs loss)

M - Tip runs
T - Tip runs
W - Crymlin - 6a+ flash and a 5+
T - Rest (working late)
F - Rest
S - Gelli - 6b+ on TR and 6a dogged
S - Digging up the garden and painting shed

Still struggling on the first route of the day. I just don't seem to be able to actually get a route I should be able to get clean. I know it's a weakness and I'm trying to fix it, by not wimping out on the first route. But I always end up getting a bit ooer and grabbing a draw.

I had been planning to get some trad done on Saturday, but the weather forecast was so changable, so ended up taking the easy route and going back to Gelli, as it's windy and quick drying. It was actually cold on Saturday, so I dread to think what it's like in Spring/Autumn. Got a 6b+ on top-rope, planning on heading back during the week to tick that. Then there's the other 6b there which I have to finish off. Got a 6a+ mid-week on club night. Dogged a 6a on Saturday, but only clean RPs/flashes/onsights count towards the pyramid (least dems the rules). Really got to get on some trad haven't done much this year so far.

Diet is back on and I only had one beer over the weekend. Even my 'crap food' for the weekend was ok, sushi and one bacon and egg muffin. Was 11st 12lbs mid-week. But still 11st 13lbs today, I'll take that.

The wife and I have pretty much decided on a plan for the rest of the garden, so I've got a lot more digging and graft a head of me. Wooo.

In reply to mattrm:

Yet more projects in-complete this week, though at least I had a couple of lack-lustre training sessions. Sleep patterns are almost back to normal, but would prefer it differently!
New woman is about to go off on an exped to Greenland, so that’s on hold for a while. Fingers crossed we can have a successful restart when she returns in August.

LTG (End 2014):
- Healthy shoulders & elbows – keep following the physio
- Get some proper “rat crimp” strength so that I can climb hard on peak lime
- Do “La Geurre Sainte” 7b/+ multi-pitch in Wadi Rum
- Do some adventurous cycle touring (maybe MTB Great Glen/West Highland way?)

MTG (Spring/Summer 2014):
- Buy a house and build some home training facilities; progressing nicely.
- Unjustified/Overjustified, Malham.
- Get back into trad and on-sight some E5s
- Aero-power training; keep an-cap, finger-boarding and aero-cap ticking over.
- Aim for fighting weight of 74kg and 6.6% BF – 74.2kg and 6.5% BF this morning

STG (The coming week)
- More injury niggles - Keep physio’ing the shoulder/back/finger

Last week:
M - Needed to clear my head and rather than go for alcoholic oblivion, went for the lactate version instead. 1:02:55 lap of black at Llandegla; which hurt, A LOT! Pretty sure I can shave a minute off the long climb when fit, but not sure where the other 2 minutes are going to come from for a sub hour lap? Fell asleep immediately
T - Dinbren – couple of new 6b/+ warm-ups, then got stuck into the link-up project. Did all the moves, including a ridiculous sideways lunge on a micro-crimper. Some decent links too, but my tips were raw by the time I was done. Repeated Dyperspace, 7c.
W - Nothing – London village. Ate and drank lots.
T - London village, then home and late evening an-cap using various V6/7 link-up traverses at Frodsham.
F - Campus and pull-up session with some repeaters thrown in for good measure. Front-2 hurt lots squeezing blood into my tips – barely managed a full set of repeaters. Push-ups and physio.
S - Painballing, then ate my own weight in BBQ meat and had a few beers.
S - Exquiste combination of DOMS from Friday and bruises from Saturday. Multiple RPs at The Toilet; Got inspired by Ted’s RP of Kaa’bah – skeletor looked well solid on the headwall - best go came when I changed my foot sequence by 3”, but dropped the upper crux undercut stretch. 40min lap of Llandegla Red – STRAVA says I took a minute off the first climb. Wanted to vomit soon after.

In reply to biscuit:


I'm hearing a lot of that nonsense from Paul too, there's no way it's the same grade as biological need, comedy and dominatrix. I'll take 'hard' 7b+ Maybe...

In reply to mattrm:

I've been regularly missing for the last couple of months. I wanted to stop moaning online about the finger injury as I was boring myself.

It's still not 100% but I've kept climbing by looking for routes without small crimps.

In the meantime I've done some finger friendly ticks at kilnsey (comedy, truth drug and the ashes, finally) and actually lead some trad routes! Had one session on dominatrix which will be the next project but haven't been back to it for 3 weeks or so.

In reply to Eagle River:

Fair enough. I hope it's back to full strength soon. Sounds like you're doing well tho, some good routes there.

In reply to Eagle River:


Agree re 50 for 5, it's basically an odd , awkward boulder problem at the end of a 7a+. Discontinuous routes are always hard to grade but I suspect the finish of Biological is at least as hard - and that's a lot more sustained beforehand.

In reply to mattrm:

After two months off climbing due to a toe op I am back on the recovery trail but lots of weight to lose.

Goals:
7a in chorro

M: Got the all clear from hospital no more bandages. Advised to take it easy as toe still needs more time to recover.
Core 472 movements
T: core 262 movements
W: rest
T: core 285 movements
F: 7.2k walk to work 1hour 8mins
Core 308 movements
S: Rokt two hours lack of fitness showed on third hour. Finger still felt tweaky after two months off.
S: Rest watched TDF.

Was really excited to climb indoors. hopefully climb again on wednesday but car less and bike is broken at the moment so struggling to get about.

In reply to mattrm:

ooh..forgot gardening club. We weeded front bed and sawed up two pallets for firewood (the latter not gardening but happens in garden).

In reply to mattrm:

I watered our cactus on Sunday. That's my gardening duties done for a few weeks!

In reply to mattrm: Missed last week.. just getting back into it after a few injuries.. hoping they are passed now. Nice trip to the catskills, saw my first black bear wandered through the campsite 20 yards away..

m: 12.16 total am: trail run out to hopkins pond. Pm: cooper rover with G
t 5 miles around newtone lake ITB band very sore.. pm: 0.5 mile run gave up leg sore
w 4 mile around lake, leg sore. 10 miles stationary bike core and rolling + stretching
t 20 miles stationary bike core and rolling + stretching
f 20 miles stationary bike core and rolling + stretching
s 3 mile hike catskills 15 miles stationary bike core and rolling + stretching
s 14.1 mile hike 1500m ascent wittenberg, cornell, slide loop
m 7.6 mile total am: hike berkshires. Pm: beach run 3 miles no pain
t 7.1 mile total am: beach run. Pm: road run 7:10 pace leg feeling OK
w 10 miles usual seabrook road 10 but back down beach 7:30 pace
t 15 miles total 1150 ascent pm: baldplate quick hike with G. eve: mainr road loop.
f 13.52 miles total 500m ascent, Hurricane Arthur passed over so shed loads of wind and rain am: maine road loop, 8:30 pace. Pm Maine loop with G 8:11 pace
s 13 miles total 1050m ascent am: usual loop 7:43 pace. Pm: hike up puzzle mountain Grafton Notch
s 4.4 mile road run collingswood newtone lake loop with G 8:30 pace at midnight.

In reply to mattrm:

Thanks for the stats Matt.

I did

M - 7.5 miles
T - 4.4 miles, PB on a local route
W - nothing
T - nothing
F - 10.5 miles around St Agnes Head
S - 17.1 miles slow
S - 11.9 miles, even slower.

Another 50 miles or so, just.

As for gardening, I pick at the dandelions in the front garden, while waiting for the GPS signal.

In reply to Eagle River:

Sounds like good rehab steve nice one.

In reply to ER & thebigfriendlymoose:

OK OK ! I wasn't trying to take the grade, honest Just happy that the reason i'm finding it hard ( apart from the obvious not much climbing, too fat and unfit ) is that it is harder than Truth Drug, which went quite quickly and people told me that was hard for 7b+. Just how hard can 7b+ get ???

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy - appreciated. I'll be in touch this week or next with some of my outline for Swizzy, hopefully catch up at some point. Can't see why not.

In reply to biscuit:

It'd be 7c on the continent.

Ted has taken 8b+ for overjustified; i on the otherhand have delegated the grading to taking whatever grade Emma does when she completes it...

In reply to Ally Smith:

It sounds like we have similar morals - i'll take whatever grade is reckoned to be the highest.

In reply to biscuit:


Have you tried Pantomime? Last year I ticked Comedy, the Truth Drug and Pantomime in consecutive days and the latter felt by far the hardest (that said, the other two I had worked on the previous year, whereas Pantomime was all done in a day, so I might just have been using a poor, hastily devised sequence).

In reply to mattrm:

Thanks for doing fit club Matt

Aims:

Rock this year: RP 7b, (A Vision of Things Gone Wild at Scout Scar) & lead some E3s, (White Noise, One Step Beyond, Empire, Paladin.)

Next winter start with VI 7

Long term aim, (18 months or so?) HP Exeguy (E6 6b) at Trowbarrow

M: Canoed 2/3 of Windermere before camping out - not really training but very nice.
T: Canoed remaining 1/3 of Windermere
W: Rain stopped play climbing so ended up doing 'butch' endurance traverses at the wall
T: 1hr fell run
F: 40min fingery 7a traverses for endurance
S: 50 min fell run on Ilkley Moor before watching the Tour come through. Checked out some routes I fancied shunting on Sunday morning but they were all pretty green so -
S: 35min fell run on Ilkley Moor before family cycle to Addingham and back to again watch the Tour come through.

Poor week for climbing, hopefully get back on it this week.

Weight: Still 11st 9lb - slightly down

In reply to biscuit:


I'm the same.

However I was trying to make a 6b+ harder than it was the other day as I felt it seemed a bit easy. Didn't want to take the tick with out it being 'proper'. With the benefit of hindsight, it was about right for the grade. Least it'll make the redpoint a bit less nuts. The route I was doing was a bit eliminate and probably about 6c. Seems to be a very British thing, to try and play down what you've done. Get to the top of a hard route and go 'Nahh, that's not HVS'.

In reply to mattrm: Cheers Matt!

After flashing a couple of 6c's last week I want to start improving my flash/on-sight grade. I've never cared much for this type of climbing but I really want to get into it, 7a on-sight would be a good goal to aim for.

Monday: Work gym - Shoulder strength exercises and some core

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Llanddulas - Flashed "Zoidburg" (6c) as a stiff warm up then went for a retro-flash on "Searching" (6c+). Tried but never did this a couple of years ago, it's very hard for 6c+, fell on the crux worked the move and did it next go, 7a for sure.

Thursday: Upper Pen Trwyn - Warmed up Flash/On-sighting "Drip, Drip, Drip" (6c), my mate had climbed up to the crux but didn't manage it so he came down. Felt like an on-sight for me. Great technical route.

Quickly put the clips in on "Homo Sapien" (7a+) one of the Ormes 3 star classic routes. Quickly found the holds and did some of the moves. Came down and had a redpoint falling at the 2nd bolt. Felt really tired and had a really bad split tip so basically wrote it off...

Mate had a go and fell in the same place and couldn't commit to climbing to the top. Instead of clipstick faff decided to have another ago and completely unexpectedly cruised it. A really good experience, felt like I learnt a lot from just having another go. Usually my fitness only allows a couple of good goes on things!

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 45 Minutes fingerboard Aerocap

In reply to mattrm:

In reply to mattrm:

Thanks Matt - good job its a "metric mile"(1500m) as running a imperial mile (1609m) in under 4 minutes is way beyond me!!

M: lunchtime - 30mins easy 4/5M
Tu: pm - 16mins easy + strides 2/3M
W: pm - 1500m @ Watford Open Meeting. Back to Watford looking once more for a sub 4 1500m. Conditions were good and felt ok warming up. Got out ok but it was a bit slow through the first 400m (65 sec) and bunched up on the second lap so that my tactic of running on the inside (shortest distance!) meant that I got boxed in. It was still too slow at 800m (2:10) but it did start to pick up down the back straight and coming into the home straight towards the bell I decided it was a case of now or never. Got out and started to move up, 5th at the bell in 2:58 and into 3rd with 300m to go. In a good position with 200 left but faded a bit and finished 5th but more importantly people hand timing reckoned I'd done it! Confirmed as 5th in 3:59.38 - get in!
Race vid here: http://www.tacdistancerunners.com/watford-open-meeting-wednesday-2nd-july.h... its the sixth one down.
Th: lunchtime - 5M easy in 35:04, pm 6M steady in 42:55
F: 7M steady in 48:08
Sa: Had another wedding to go to (tough life) so had to squeeze a session in dead early. It was drizzling and windy and on a bumpy grass track so times weren't too good. Felt tired as well (think thats all the excuses I have). Session was 3 x (400, 200, 600, 400) off 90 secs and 5 mins between sets. Times were: (70,33,1:46,71), (72,34,1:48,69), (71,34,1:48,68) 7M total
Su: 12/13M steady in 1:28:19

~52M Total, really happy to break another big barrier just one more to go now!

STG/MTG (end of year):
Sub 2 for 800 (2:00.64 so far)
Sub 4 for 1500 (Tick - 3:59.4)
Sub 15 for 5000 (Tick - 14:53)
Sub 31 for 10K
Run a half-marathon

In reply to mattrm: Cheers, ended up in the Peak for a change this weekend, found the flat holds on the routes I tried super pumpy, so was basically an outdoor training session rather than any proper RP attempts, money in the bank I guess!

M: Chilled day at H'boro rocks with friends, pottering around on micro routes
T: Bike 16.8 miles then off to Hannover on conference
W:
T:
F: Back from Hannover at midnight
S: Cheedale : Quality Control (7a) TR's and 6b+ to the left
S: Cheedale : Quality Control TR's and Countdown (7a+), the latter would make a good long term project for me

STG: RP 7b - seem to be RP'ing nowt just now!

MTG: Cassin Route Piz Badille end July - pray to the weather gods!

LTG: Assess after alps when hopefully the frequent work travel has stopped

In reply to Eagle River: Impressive ticks with an injured finger, good effort sticking with The Ashes!

In reply to Ally Smith:


Ok, sounds good. I'll take over again in a few weeks if no one else wants to take it on. Would be good to have a few weeks off.

In reply to mattrm:

MTG (July): E2 tick.
LTG(2014): Pleasure Dome.
VLTG(2015?): Classic e5 (Positron?, Right Wall?)

Mon: Arc(30 mins). 4x4(V3,V3,V3,V3). Repeaters.
Tue: Push-ups & Pull-ups.
Wed: Horseshoe.
Thu: Arc(30 mins). 4x4(V3,V3,V3,V3). Repeaters.
Fri: Core(349)
Sat: High Tor.
Sun: Arc(30 mins).

Disappointing evening at horseshoe on wednesday dogging my way up almost every route, even dogged routes I used to find relatively straightforward last year. On the plus side I did get to the top of everything, eventually

Went to High Tor for the evening on Saturday. Plan was to warm-up on debauchery & then do delicatessen. By the time we'd done debauchery it was time to go home, great route though.

So my climbing is still terrible but I'm still hopeful & I'm definitely getting fitter & stronger.

Failed the June STG (not a single E2 this year so far). Changed the LTG to be just Pleasure Dome (dropped Star Wars) & I think this is close to an impossible ask at the moment.