UKC

Placeholder until I'm back online tomorrow.
Stats then.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Decent week.. coaching the team is quite a time commitment so doing easy days when needed, still 90 miles and 3 good sessions.. need to start racing more now..

m: lunc 6.5 miles trails and around newton lake, steady 7:20 pace. Pm: 3.5 miles with XC team
t: tired eveing run 7:47 pace
w: am: 5am run around cooper river. 2.6 miles at XC then 6.6 with 3.6 at tempo pace 5:43 pace around Cooper river.. felt tired so good session considering
t: am: runaround newton and cooper river at 6:30 am, 8 min mile pace, nice run. Pm: 5.16 around newton and cooper with with missus
f:am: 20.1 miles 6:40 pace in Philly, felt great. pm: 5 miles slow with the XC team
s: very easy 5.1 miles 8 min pace
s: 13.2 miles 6:52 pace on roads and trail, very warm, and very very humid..

In reply to Ally Smith:
The hols continues in Wales as I arrange to climb with a mate who's kid is being coached by James McHaffie all week, thus the choice of crag is Caff's.

Mon - Drive to North Wales. Flippin' wet at the club cottage in Caoel Curig.
Tue - The Great Orme for the first time. Warm up on a twin roofed 6a near Parisella's Cave. Total flash pump in the left arm yet again. Normally I'd bail but I had to retrieve the draws... kept going when I shouldn't have. Pumped mad on a 5+ next. Spent rest of the day working a 6b - totally boxed.
Wed - Wake up to bruising on the palm from the flash pump. I've had it before but it's an indicator of how pumped I get. Anyway - went to Tremadog. Did Scratch VS, lovely climb. Then onto Barbarian. I went up and made a belay lower than usual as the others were on Fingerlickin' and Khalid led the hard pitch. Bloody hell - it was a strong pitch. Really not the stuff I usually do and I struggled with the top roof. Eventually pulled off when shouting "slack". Wouldn't have managed it clean anyway.
Thu - Llandulas Cave. Got on a 6a to warm-up but it was obvious the left arm was stuffed. The bruising from the flash pump had calmed down but there's a definite tear in the upper arm/shoulder. Rest day then. Khalid onsighted 6c outside for the first time. It was great watching the kids with Caff, good beta resulting in some decent climbing.
Fri - Holyhead Mountain. Desperately windy, Khalid led some HVS next to Brothers, watched the kids on King Bee and then bailed to the Indy climbing wall. Flashed some 5c problems that seems soft but the arm was still not in any shape to climb. Cameron almost flashed 8a, falling at the last hold due to leaving his feet behind.
Sat - Climbing Station, Loughborough. Arm tight and sore still. Flashed the VB-0 circuit and the V0-1 circuit. Did some blues and reds and oranges (up to V3 max), plus had a go at some tough slab things (V5/7). Stopped when I felt the arm complaining.
Sun - Rest the arm today.

A cracking week despite the injury. Not climbed with Khalid before, so it was nice to see him push his sports grade and onsight Barbarian. He's only managed one E2 before, so a tough lead at E1 was great to witness. Catrin and Cameron are both in the GB Youth leading team and again, ace to watch them doing trad and sports leads.
Also headed up to The Hall of the Mountain Kings with Caff to have a look at the boulder problem he's working for the next few weeks. It's pretty cool in there.

No idea what causes the left arm to pump so much - I think maybe over gripping to start with, till my right arm starts working properly (old injury) but it was stupidly severe this time. The base of the thumb was properly bruised within hours.

So seeing the physio on Tuesday for a couple of hours as been running a fair bit lately and the legs need a massage and the arm can get looked at whilst I'm there.

The Peak next week. Hoorah! Then back to work. Balls!

In reply to mrchewy:

Edit: Went to the wall today and did V0 about thirty times and the odd V1 and 2. Not a lot but it all helps. Arm felt sore by the end.

In reply to Ally Smith:

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.) TICKED SOME OF THIS

Next winter start with VI 7

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

M: 1hr fell run
T: 40min road run
W: 2hrs climbing. TR Interstellar Overdrive, 6c, as Chapel Head. Mate had a go at onsighting it and then we had a few goes before dark. Steady to a hard top move.
T: Nothing
F: 1hr fell run
S: Nothing
S: 2.5hrs climbing. TR Bornville, (5+,) then retro flash of A Fistful of Steroids, (6b+***,) at Scout Scar.

Weight: Unsure

Need to get a little cardio fitter for the winter so glad to get three good runs in. Wasn't that motivated by Interstellar Overdrive but pleased to effectively onsight A Fistful of Steroids.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks for doing the stats Ally.

STG - Sport pyramid - 6a (2/10), 6b (1/6), 6c (0/1) - Trad pyramid - VS (1/10), HVS (0/6), E1 (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 - 12st 4lbs (+1lb, ate poorly)

M - Rest
T - Shoulder pre-hab
W - 20 mins core
T - 5k run
F - Night in the pub with a mate
S - Day out with family
S - Trad @ Wintours Leap + 100 dish tucks

Nice days climbing today. Did a four pitch route at Wintours Leap. Only HS, but it was a good route. Also Joe and I have never multi-pitched together, so good to have done that before Morocco. Ate so badly this week. Then went out down the pub on Friday (which was nice, good chat with a good mate). Made an ok start on getting my core back.

Finally got a tennis ball. Not sure about it, but the shoulder is getting better.

Maintain DQS every day this week (no bloody cake or beer)
2 core work out
5k run (run faster, try harder!)
3 shoulder pre-hab
Climbing twice

In reply to Ally Smith:

Interesting week - think I did quite a lot.

M - BH, piddled down. Went to Bloc & tried some comp problems and also lots of stuff on their steep wall. Got a 6b & a 6b+ (potato holds), so quite chuffed.
T - Another psycho-coach session from D2. A mere 17 routes this time. Went in too fast so first half was underacheiving. After a cup of tea & a rest, then managed 6c x 2 (a beef one) followed immediately by 6c+ x 2 (a more fiddly one).
W - cycle commute. TRX in evening.
T - cycle commute. UCR in evening. Got quite busy so my plan of projecting the bits I was stuck on on a couple of hard routes got shelved. Bit of a meh session.
F - UCR in afternoon with D1. Recognised Lucy Creamer so went for a chat. She was wandering round wondering if there was anyone to climb with, so we said 'yes'! She is SO good - wafted up stuff that I can only grunt up & fall off. Meant we didn't get that many routes in, but certainly made me try harder and fall off rather than squeak 'take' pathetically.
S - rest
S - Portishead quarry with D1. Defnitely her day - she worked and got a 6c & 6c+. The 7a+ I was planning on working was covered in a veneer of mud & unclimbable. Had toyed with the idea of giving Highway One a go, but it is 40m with no lower off but shrubs far above, so would really need some pre-rigging if we needed to do any working (which we would!). One to go back to with better planning and more time. I just don't get these is it sport/is it trad routes - if only this one had a decent lower off it would get traffic!

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks in advance Ally. Probably best climbing training week in a long time in terms of volume and grade achievement, and feeling in a really good place leading both indoors and at WildCat. Hoping for good weather next weekend to go and jump on some classics and push my lead grades again.

M – Boulder Climbing Unit: 25 problems up to V4
T – Boulder Brookes: 17 x green and 4 x blue onsight. Worked others.
W – Lead Brooks: 12 route pyramid to 6b+ onsight testing new grades.
T – Rest
F – Boulder Climbing Unit: 33 problems up to V5
S – Lead WildCat. Loving the local crag and multipitch!
S – More WildCat then zoom back to Oxford for wedding reception.

Revised short term goals (September)
1. More cardio – could easily shift 3kg this way.
2. Train antagonists, at least one bench press session per week and use finger grip to do pulling exercises
3. Try some 7as at Masson Lees.
4. Tick all of Harborough Rocks (apart from the Pete Whittaker E6 roof crack) to demonstrate commitment as the new crag moderator!

Medium term goals (October)
1. Consolidate 6a-6c sport (Tenerife over Half Term)
2. Get the hang of multipitch sport! (Tenerife over Half Term)
3. Get on rock as much as possible (revised goal of 80 sessions in 2014) – 40 so far
4. Learn to embrace failure (still not going well)
4. Move onto next phase of finger strength programme (Beastmaker 2?!)

Long term goals (2014)
Trad: Rack up E1 onsights. Lead E2. Second harder routes whenever there is opportunity.
Sport: Solid at 6b/6c outdoors, pushing 7a indoors ready for Yangshuo trip
Bouldering: Solid at V2/V3. Working V4/V5.
Running: Improve on Kielder Marathon time in October

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks Ally,
Another slightly off the boil week for me, I sold my pride and joy, my little mazda RX7 this week which left me slightly challenged for transport for a couple of days, (but it does mean I can now afford my wedding and a new bathroom!) along with a short week from the bank holiday threw me out of my routine, but i'm hopnig to pull it all back together this week.

I went climbing on Thursday, first time on decent length routes indoors since March as my regular partner has been skint and busy growing a sizeable beer belly so I have been bouldering since then. I found my endurance was lacking for anything over 6c, no wonder I couldn't touch Vulcan (7b+) a couple of weeks ago!
The bouldering has definitely helped bring my strength up, no single moves felt like they required more than about 60% effort even on 7a's, but I just didn't have the stamina to link them together. It's something I should be able to build back up pretty quickly though, i'll see how I get on this week.
A good warm up and down ensured fingers and elbows were absolutely spot on.

Went sea kayaking from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door on Saturday, it was absolutely fantastic! The wind was up and it was quite choppy but it just made it more fun, we paddled through Stair Hole cave and through Durdle Door with 5 foot waves crashing either side, it certainly made things interesting.
It was enjoyable for the incredible views of the Jurassic coast, the novelty of doing a different type of exercise, and for the fact that I felt strong and solid paddling, I had no tweaks or pains and very little DOMS from so much unusual (for me) shoulder intensive exercise, not to mention miraculously no blisters!
I would recommend it to anyone who is in the area, it was £50 for a half day, all gear provided, a really good activity.

Back on training this week, I'll try to get a climb, 2 gym sessions and a core session done, then maybe get out to Portland at the weekend, weather permitting.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Can someone suggest a psyche video please?

I'm only online when at work after moving out of Chester, so I'd be grateful if someone could volunteer to do Fit Club stats for the next couple of weeks while i get my sh1t together, ta.

Link to last week's thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=595921
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 is the bible for training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing:http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/training-for-sport-climb... with information about scheduling a training regime to peak in time for a trip/competition can be found here: http://ukbouldering.com/media/pdf/periodisation.pdf

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
mattrm – Don’t ignore the head training. 100+ dish-tucks in a oner is good going. How about adding some more varied elements to your core workouts if you find that exercise too easy?
IainRUK – congratulations on the new job – sounds like a good fit for you
mrchewy – Welcome back. Sounds like a soggy alpine trip – many have fallen foul of the apls weather this year. Hope North Wales goes well as a substitute.
grubes – broken in the new running shoes?
Joughton – EPIC WEEK! Lots of hardcore ticks making many of us jealous. More of the same this week?
hms – Sorry I’ve not replied to your email. Could be keen for a long weekend hit; not finalised holiday plans for next year. 22 routes should be good stamina training for Kaly?
Exile – nice work ticking 3* multi-pitch routes at either end of the country! Back on the training band wagon this week?
Nick Russell – varied trio of E3 ticks including some of the “softer” Avon routes!
Tubb93 – Psyched for Font?
Curious Yellow – all fixed on the ankle/toe front and back cranking?
Just Tintin – Back to the peak this week?
Ally Smith – Come on immune system – do your stuff!
Sankey – Back on Sticky Wicket again this week? IMHO it’s a tough 7b
Luke Owens – Good psyche climbing outdoors by headtorch and good on you for getting some quality ticks at Portland. (p.s. did you get your cars puncture fixed yet?)
Dandan82 – important lessons learned with about getting a good warm-up.
Humperdink – Out everyday and loving it. Good stuff!
biscuit – Marathon de Sable would be an awesome BHAG. Time to lay off the fags!

AWOL:
JimmyKay

In reply to Ally Smith:


Yeah no exciting updates from me for a while but I do feel like I am consolidating things, fixing ALL the injuries, all the little tweaks and niggles, and not pushing things too hard too fast so I can get back to full strength and stay there without breaking myself.
Hopefully a more exciting update is due soon, i've got outdoor climbing booked in for both weekends coming, I must be able to tick something good!

In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers Ally. Wales was indeed okay and it's off to the Peak on Wednesday... I'll have to go back to work soon.

Psyche video? This one for me youtube.com/watch?v=8iyaCK-xf10& Beat Kammalander soloing 8a+

Only just noticed biscuit's goal... AWESOME! Best of luck, well jealous.

In reply to mrchewy:

Any volunteers to man UKCFC whilst I get back online?

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 - as much about being a skinny wretch as it is having strong digits it seems
- Do “La Geurre Sainte” 7b/+ multi-pitch in Wadi Rum
- Do some adventurous cycle touring (maybe MTB Great Glen/West Highland way?)

MTG (Autumn 2014):
- Decorate the house & build some home training facilities.
- On-sight 8a in Kalymnos
- Unjustified/Overjustified, Malham.
- Mecca & Waddage, Tor
- K5, Cheedale Cornice
- Re-visit trad & try and on-sight an E6?
- Ramp up an-cap and aero-cap aiming for a peak in the autumn; gentle finger-boarding to re-hab ring finger.
- Aim for fighting weight of 73kg and 6.4% BF – ?? Scales are packed somewhere

STG (The next 2 weeks) (REVIEW THIS WEEK)
- Keep on top of injury niggles – physio on shoulder & back; finger icing – shoulder got better, back & finger got worse.
- Do some an-cap & aero-cap - TICK
- Do some fingerboarding - FAIL
- Do the Dinbren link-up project - FAIL
- All the moves and small links on Mecca – TICK

STG (The next 2 weeks) (NEW THIS WEEK)
- Keep on top of injury niggles – physio on shoulder & back; finger icing.
- Do some an-cap & aero-cap
- Do some fingerboarding
- Do the Dinbren link-up project
- Pocket to top & ground to crux links on Mecca

Last week:
M - as per last week: Tor – poor goes on Mecca due to lack of power and thin skin. Tried, and did all the moves on the 8c extension (8a in isolation). Then belayed at Chee Cornice. Good links on K5 (8b), including a minor but important beta tweak entering Powerplant - lurgy still lingering.
T - Felt terrible. Not sure if blame should lie with red wine Monday night or continued lurgy. 10km gentle bike pootle nearly killed unfit colleague. 430 core & antagonist movements.
W - Much less abdominal DOMS than last week, so progress on the core front. Frodsham an-cap session; need to up the difficulty next time.
T - Last night in Chester = steady bike ride to and wobbly ride home from the pub
F - Moved out of house; did something nasty to my back. Went with a pop.
S - Rolling about on a tennis ball to ease spasming muscles.
S - Back physio/stretching.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Sorry Ally - I'm off on Wednesday again and don't have a fancy phone or tablet.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks Ally. Sorry I can't take over FC at the moment - I'm away from home the next 4 weeks. Won't be able to check in next week, but will do a double update the week after.

Tweaky finger is still tweaky and not really showing signs of improvement. It's annoying in that it's not really bad, but I don't want it to get worse. It's also really poor timing because I'm about to go on 3 weeks of trips.

M - 6km run, core
T - TCA. Finger hurt pulling on a hold for the first time so I stopped, iced it and did some core
W - 8km run. Probably a short core set.
T - Nothing
F - Core (3km run warm-up)
S - Shrewsbury Parkrun - 18:59. Good to slip in under 19:00 (just!) again.
S - Nothing

2014 goals
Sport: 8a. Best RP: 7c (2 of these now)
Trad: Some more E4s including solid-at-the-grade onsight(s). Attempted: 9, clean onsight: 1 (+3 others I feel I've 'succeeded' on, one way or another)
Trad: Staffs NIAD. Hahaha, had a go. Failed due to a "navigation" error.
Running: Don't get injured, more mileage than last year. 329/416km 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 the finger better
I won't have a concerted effort at this until October, but in the meantime I'll do what I can to prevent it from getting worse

Do something good in Lundy
If the finger's still no good, I figure I can concentrate on cracks or something!

Do something good in NH
I'd originally planned to concentrate on sport at Rumney but if the finger's still bothering me I'll shift to trad at Cathedral and Cannon.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers pal, sorted puncture before portland, ended up need 2 near tyres!

Heading out to Font for a week on Saturday, haven't bouldered in ages so i'm just going to enjoy it with the family.

M: 10 hour weather and traffic nightmare drive back from Portland

T: Rest/Unwell

W: Rest/Unwell

T: Rest

F: Bad weather meant a "climb what ever is dry" session on Pen Trwyn. Resulted in 2 brilliant routes. Onsighted the classic "Testament" (6c+) in less than ideal conditions, got flash pump but sucked it up and got it done.

Then came close to onsighting "Norman's Wisdom" (6c+), went the wrong way and couldn't reverse. Did it 2nd go.

S: Rest

S: First visit to The Diamond, holy hell what a crag! Did "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (7a+/b) 2nd go. Hardest route I've done of this length ~30m. Felt good all the way and was able to use the rests really well. I thought I was on Rub a Dub-Dub (7a) but some guys told me otherwise, nice to get another self-sandbag tick!

Tryed on-sighting Rub a Dub-Dub but fell on the crux high up, pumped out trying to figure out the moves. Then climbed to the top pretty easily.

Sun came onto the wall and conditions turned dire.

The Diamond is seriously inspiring, the type of routes there are what I want to get good at. Psyched to get back!

In reply to Ally Smith:

I can do Fit Club at some point on 7/9 and 14/9 as long as people don't mind it appearing sometime during the day subject to the mysteries of Peak signal... I will be in the army 21/9 so hopefully someone else can take it on by then?

Tintin

In reply to Ally Smith:
Thanks Ally yup almost 2 mins off my 5k pb

Goal:
Back up to 7a
7a in chorro
lose weight - No weigh in this week forgot
get core strength and body tension back - Getting there still not great

Recovery Week

M: Recovery ride 3.2k 50m ascent
Morning swim for knee. 31min 1k
T: Rest
W: Run. 5.2k. 32mins 57 secs 64m ascent. My 5k time was 31.42 previous best was 33.19
T: rest
F: rest
S: Swimming lesson. 40 mins working hard front crawl practise
Depot. Tired from swimming. Decent session went too hard too fast and could not maintain the pace.
S: Morning ride with a hangover. 31.2k with 541m ascent. Much better than last week. Hills felt more do able just got to keep at my pace.

Away with work all week with limited access training facility so hotel gym will need to do.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheer Ally.

I need something big to aim at as kids/work/life are interfering with climbing. Can't remember the last time i actually had a full day out. I always have to get stuff done, rush out, climb and then be back for a certain time. Shame as i felt really good at the start of the season. Climbing is still my No1 but i've got to be realistic or i'll just get frustrated. I'll be able to train over Winter and a big load of what was eating my time has now finished so fingers crossed.

Anyway whinging over.

Had 1 boulder session. More volume than anything. Flashed all the V1's to V3's and all the V4's apart from 2 i got 2nd go. Had a break and tried some V5's. Got most of them done. Grading a bit out of whack. About 40+ problems done.

Running came together this week. A few short runs, a hill session, no real long run but a good 7 miler in 56 mins. So after whinging i couldn't string 8min miles together on flat tarmac i then cruised it on the moors in crap weather and felt like i could go round again.

Need to get some proper STG's going as milestones.

My goal for next year in running ( the UTLD 50 ) has suffered a blow. Entry opened today at 9. I got on at 9.30 and all 1000 places have gone !!!! The registration site says i'm on a waiting list and the main site says there is no waiting list. Very confusing. I have other options though but i loved that run when i did it so would have been a nice one to do again as it looks like the route hasn't changed.

In reply to biscuit:

And i meant to say that the cigs have just about gone. I'm using an e cigarette now and it seems to be doing the trick.

Fingers crossed.

In reply to mrchewy:

Good effort on Barbarian! - I did that 5/6 years ago and still remember it. Now repeat along with me: I must not do Joe Brown routes with tough sounding names, I must not do Joe Brown routes with tough sounding names, I must not....... (apologies if its not a Joe Brown route)

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks once again Ally!

Another enjoyable week of running this week. Coach allowed my to do a session (just the one!) as I'm racing next week but will probably have another week of very little in a few weeks time. Apparently I am still too fit and I have to become unfit. Tough gig! In my defence I have been trying to drink beer and eat crap and very enjoyable it is too!

M: 45:02 easy, 6/7M
Tu: 8M Steady in 50:50 going well and enjoyed it
W: 8M Steady in 51:16 moving well and loving the feeling of covering the ground quickly for little effort
Th: 7M easy/steady in 46:13
F: Took it easy and did 31:09 for my 5M loop felt good again
Sa: Session: 3x10min off 1min jog, short recovery to stop the reps being too quick. Started out at tempo pace and wound it up over the last rep. Covered ~5.9M for the reps + jog so happy with that. 9/10M total
Su: 12M steady with gf in 1:30:09.

~56M Week - all good although race next week could come as a bit of shock I'll just get stuck in and see what happens.

In reply to biscuit:



Well done mate. That's a big effort.

In reply to Humperdink:
... I think I now know precisely what you mean by that and I will repeat every night before bed. It's the hardest climb I've been on and I've breezed up E3 on 2nd and even trying to lead Eng 6a felt less intimidating.

I'd have called it 'Beast'.

In reply to Ally Smith:

The 20 minute core work out is this - youtube.com/watch?v=KUjFh4J1dnc&

I can't actually do 100 dish tucks in a go, it's 4 sets of 25.

TBH, I'm not doing anything about the head issues. Apart from giving HVS a miss for the time being. Just doing stuff I enjoy, easy VS routes basically. If I see a HVS I like the look of, I'll give it a bash. Otherwise I'm just not stressing about it. I guess I should probably read a Rock Warriors Way again.

In reply to biscuit:
Well done mate.
I am checking out stony edge on sunday if you fancy a boulder on the moors.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Hello!

I'm back starting fit club again after the traditional Spanish summer break - the Spanish 'season' runs from nowish til June, because August is too hot to do anything. I spent the whole of August surfing in Portugal, playing on the beach with my little girl, and eating and drinking too much good portuguese food and wine. The result is I am still pretty fit, but in all the 'wrong' places for climbing and cycling (i.e. swimming muscles). I have also put on about 5kg in weight, but I'm still at around 12% body fat, so it must be mostly muscle which has gone on. I'd like to try to and lose more of the fat to get sub 10%, and not lose all that swimming muscle. But at the same time I'd like to get back down to 67kg for climbing purposes. Tricky one.

I haven't actually been to the wall yet since coming back, but I suspect I'll be pretty rubbish. I'm going to get back into it with a couple of weeks of mostly traversing just to get skin and tendons back into it, then start hard bouldering again. Also I want to get back to my best re. cycling. So:

STG:
Lose 1 kg per week for 5 weeks (starting today)
Easy traversing at climbing wall
Assess cycling fitness with my usual loop.

MTG:
Tick Font 7C
Get sub 13 minutes on my favourite test climb http://www.strava.com/segments/1393830
Try to keep surfing as often as the waves hit the med over the winter.

I have chosen this season's MTG based on what I can find time to do the most (with a young daughter it's easy to get out to the boulders or on the bike for a couple of hours, but getting out for a whole day is difficult). My LTG is still sport 8a, but it's senseless stating it - I confident that I could reach it if I really applied myself to sport climbing for a few months, but I just can't justify the time. So climbing = bouldering for the time being, and 7C is a realistic but challenging target (my previous best was around 7B back in March).

In reply to Ally Smith:

Hi all,

Was hoping to join fit club and try to keep a regular post of traing and stuff, so i can improve my trainig get some ideas and bring some to the table.

Bit of an up date, life of climbing for me

I live in north wales llysfaen, climb around 7a, boulder v6, and trad E1, climb at least 3 times a week and thinking of doing more days. Or sorting out some specific training on the days i do climb, (better use of time)ive been climbing about 4 years off and on, broke my foot, caught whooping cough, got fat, got a ps3, things like that got in way.

Im currently out of work so have lots of time to train and figure out how to use my time best , slpit routines, 5days a week? I have just set up a finger board at home so want to start using that with out killing my fingers.

Last two days ive been looking at the traing manual by Alex barrows, i think i get it but its new to me so its still a little confusing, but i get how it seperates the systems and then tells you how they are used in climbing and then how to train them i think??

I'll add what i did last week to get things started.

M - Rest

T - Rest

W - Bouldered on the orme, did V6 V5, where's my hippo and hip hop sit down start, no warm up just pulled on done them before

TH - Did v6 pumpsvill on a crag near me second go, last time i was on it i could only get half way and would get shut down, it been on my unfinised list for while, them did a v2 flashed a v5 then lapped a load of v'2s and v3's

FR - Went to the orme with Luke Owens, still mega sore and tired but good to be out, dodged the rain and warmed up on contusion 6c+ was ok but was sore and tired, then doged two 6c+'s close but had no power an so tired.

SA - Rest, well built a summer house/ shed at my brother in laws house

SU - First time to the diamond in llandudno wth luke owens, what a crag, biggest thing i have ever been on!! it really did intimidate me the size of the thing!Got on "it came from beneath the sea", and "rub a dub dub", dogged both, wasn't fresh and had a sore shoulders from days before, also had a mega fear of falling that day it held me back, i need to man up!
Did all the moves fine, felt strong but i think it opened up a weekness in my training, "power endurance"!!

Weigh my self for the first time in 1 year, last year i weighed 14.8 stone!! weighed my self this morning and was 12.4 stone, yikes! i have a phobia of scales! Kinda happy with that.

Im not the best at using forums and quoting but i'll learn, i cant spell for toffie, so excuse me on that if you would.

I want to add some STG MTG LTG but not sure where to start but i'll get some ready for next week.

Allways keen.

Alex

In reply to alexstudly:

Good to have you on board matey!

In reply to alexstudly:

Welcome to the club, I see you have already added some DIY-based info in your weekly report, you'll fit right in.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks again Ally

I hjave been AWOL for a couple of weeks as been on family holiday.

So I am going to update on the past three weeks!

Prior to be going on hols had a particuarily good week with a V7 going down and me also completing a set of routes in an area for the first time ever, by finishing off the last two problems on the panels. I also managed three of the projects I was working on.

Fingerboarding was going well also and fealt strong on one arm stuff and pullups as we did a test and I managed to do over 100 pullups in sets without too much trouble think I need to up the intensity on this by reducing hold size or off-setting etc.

Also got my weight down to 77.8kg

Then I went on holiday!! So no climbing for two weeks apart from a 2 hour stop at Font on the way back! which was not very productive, with me falling off the Marie Rose afew times before remembering it again. I tried helicoptre and Carnage but no ticks though managed a bit of progress on Carnage and feel better on the crimp.

Next week will be much attempting to get back into a routine and get back to where I was before the break!

Goals for week 387 were:

- Try to get two core sessions and 1 ring sessions. (tick)
- Three bouldering sessions (tick)
- 2 fingerboard sessions. (1 ticked)
- 1 pullup session. (tick)
- 2 press-ups sessions (1ticked)

LTG (End 2014):
- 8a (route to be decided)
- 7B & 7B+ (Mestizo traverse and Consolidated)
- Front Lever hold 5 sec.
- 1 arm 1/2 crimp campus rung 1st joint for 5 sec.
- Complete 3 seasons focussed periodisation training.
- weight under 75kg

MTG (Spring/Summer 2014):
- V7 (the Gutter, Roaches)
- trip to Ardeche now 7c minimum (massive fail)
- indoor V7 (Tick)
- try and get 2 days out each month on rock (failing but will change soon))
- Get the board in the Abbey built with Ben (Come on Ben)
- Weight under 77kg by August trip (Failed but close)

MTG to be revised for next post!

STG (The coming week)
- Try to get two core sessions and 1 ring sessions.
- Three bouldering sessions
- 2 fingerboard sessions.
- 1/2 pullup session.
- 2 press-ups sessions

Week 387:
M - Rest
T- Bouldering session (Wave) Fingerboard. Hard some progress very close to two projects. Completed the panels!
W- Bouldering session rings and core.
T- Bouldering session Panels & Wave Pressups. Great energy levels PB on Wavecompleted 3 projects, Fingerboard, core.
F- Rest Ski course at Hemel Snow Centre.
S- Rest Ski course at Hemel Snow Centre.
Su- Rest Ski course at Hemel Snow Centre.

Week 388:
M - Rest, Travel to Ardeche (long drive with baby)
T- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
W- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
T- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
F- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
S- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
Su- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!

Last Week:
M - Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
T- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
W- Rest and recuperate sunbathe!
T- Travel from Ardeche up to Nemours (long drive with wailing baby)
F- Punter around font and then 2 hours at Cuvier flailing feeling weak and heavy. Another long drive through Paris (repeat)
S- Unpack and get back into home life!
Su- 2 Hours at Mile End up to V6 attempted but feeling rather tired and weak.

Try and stay psyched for plastic, beast myself and get fit for hopefully a send of my projects at Dumby in 2 weeks!

Weight this week at 80.1kg kg (Sunday Morning), Could have been worse so not gutted recken I will get it under 78kg by end of week with some discpline!

Cheers all

Gordon

In reply to Luke Owens:

Thanks guys, excitied to start using some reflective methods in the traing side of things!!

In reply to Ally Smith: Cheers Ally for doing the stats!

Late reply this week as I didn't get home till late on Sunday and then left early on Monday morning.

Not such a good week for me, felt a bit mentally battered after last week, a bit worn out! Went climbing on the weekend for my Dad's birthday. Nearly had an epic at Gogarth after going off route on an E4 5c, involving both holds and pegs crumbling under body weight!

Sunday was better, with a couple of E4s onsight on Colossus Wall in the slate quarries - my hardest slate ticks so far and a place I'd love to return to.

This week has been off to a good start, with a couple of good ticks including a big milestone to report next week.

Cheers, Jake

In reply to Alun:



Good to see you back. That sounds like excellent fun I have to say. Always fancied doing a bit of surfing.

Goonie - Nice to see you back as well.

alex - Welcome to FC. Make sure the STGs are nice and achievable. If they're too hard, you'll just get demoralised. Look up SMART goals.

In reply to mattrm:
Ok thanks pal, will do.

In reply to Joughton:
Nice work on the Colossus wall Jake - look at that wall every time I walk past. Looks strenuous to me?

Welcome too, Alex.

In reply to mrchewy:

I'm sure someone will be along at some point to tell us it used to be HVS..... a real grade for real men!

In reply to Ally Smith:

Have just signed up for the Lakeland 50 next July so best get some running in.
This will be the hardest running related thing I've done to date, and I don't want to let the team down.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Damn right !

In reply to mattrm:

Thanks! It's good to be back!

Though judging by my efforts so far this week, I've got a lot of work to do :O