UKC

Link to last week's thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=604737
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
Psyche video of the week: vimeo.com/31326082

I think the final Portland list for 10/11 jan was looking like:

AJM
Mrchewy
Hms +1

Kevster
Curious Yellow
Nick R
mattrm
Dandan+some
Just Tintin +1


AJM
JimmyKay - boom! Top job...
Dandan82 - how're you finding the new plan?
Nick Russell - good to see you last Monday and nice to see progress on Prisoner
hms - so close on Chulilla! How's week one of the real Chulilla plan gone?
mbh - 18/20 is a pretty good stat
Exile - sounds like a good start of season confidence boost! You been out again yet?
Jeriqo- what's "LSR"?
Joughton - 3 sessions at last. Into the home straight for Antalya now then?
IainRUK - nice quiet week
Ally Smith - another 8a onsight, good job...
Creedence - I think that's quite common, I end up shifting into more of a chisel grip where the longer fingers are moving towards a half crimp. Doesn't feel that tweaky to me, but then to date I have only managed to injure my fingers open handing, so I'm obviously just weird.
mattrm - DIYtastic!
mrchewy - wide vs narrow grip pull-ups is to do with arms vs back isn't it, in terms of where the bulk of the effort comes?
Just Tintin - must be good getting the work stuff sorted out, prospect of more free time rearing its head...
Humperdink - awesome result, both this week and the improvement in every distance over the year, you must be well chuffed.
williemiller - at least you're seeing progress on the climbing front. Managed to get running again yet?
Ian Rock - racing weight is good isn't it. Think I'll be getting back on that bandwagon post christmas.
maria85 - something's better than nothing!
The Ex-Engineer - good week
Kevster - how did this week go, any improvement?

In reply to AJM:

Just to give people some advance notice - if at all possible I wouldn't mind handing the Fit Club baton on sometime early in the new year.

So, it's time to ask not what your Fit Club can do for you, but what you can do for your Fit Club!

But yeah, if anyone feels they have benefited from posting, and has the time to kick the thread off each week, then it's a job that needs doing and most people who do it generally find it quite interesting too.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy,

A little unreliable to take the baton on myself. Thanks to those who do though!

This week, has been better than last. Actually climbed - indoors at the Reach, just one session, but OS 7b (soft) and several 7a/+s. Also tried the comp eliminator again. It was the clip I failed on in the comp which actually was the crux. The rest of the climb went fine. Not the most training intensive week, but still, bobbing along.

I hope to get outside soon. Good weekend for getting out just passed - look forward to the real climbers posts of daring do. I am hopeful of getting out over the festive season.

Is there a xmas/new year FC? I know that it's normally skipped, though the weekend falls OK this year.

Thanks, and Merry xmas all!

Kev

In reply to AJM:

Yeah, good to see you too. Pleased to report that Prisoner went down this week! Turns out the start really isn't that bad with a bit of familiarity. On to harder things now...

M - Gym
T - TCA, circuits. 3x3s at about 20 moves to failure and 1:1 rest interval. I put it down at the time as generic "power endurance" and re-reading the Barrows article it seems to have some elements of AeroPow and AnCap. Either way, a bit of a beast of a set so probably doing some good!
W - Rest
T - Nothing
F - Brean. Ticked Prisoner of Conscience! A bit of a go on The Guilt Edge (7c) (7c alternative finish). Feels pretty hard, but I have some ideas for next time
S - Gym
S - First day of skiing trip. Getting the hang of it again after primarily snowboarding for the past few years.

I've decided to set my sights on The Milky Bar Kid (8a) at Brean. For anybody interested but not familiar with the crag, it's a link-up taking in the cruxes of 3 independent routes. Prisoner of Conscience is step 1. Seems like a good goal because I can pick up 1x7b+, 2x7c and 1x7c+ on the way to ticking an 8a, rather than just plugging away at the same route for weeks. On the other hand, that mantle on El Chocco could be a bit of a heartbreaker! My current project, The Guilt Edge isn't really on this list but will help me get the start of Prisoner wired.

2014 goals
Sport: 8a. Best RP: 7c.
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. Made it to 381/416km then dropped out with a dodgy knee. Failed on both counts.
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 knee better
Let's see what a week's skiing does for it...

Prisoner of Conscience (7b+) at Brean
Tick!

The Milky Bar Kid, 8a
Prisoner of Conscience -> The Guilt Edge -> Bullworker -> Prisoner of Bullworker -> El Chocco -> The Milky Bar Kid

2-finger (front and middle) repeaters on BM1000 small pockets

In reply to AJM:
A poor week with 2 sessions due to hangover, pre-Xmas visit to family and 'cut' finger. The sessions themselves were OK but my left index finger hasn't healed properly and despite taping it up, climbing on it has made it worse.

STG. Find partners for routes. - I found one for Saturday but needed to allow my finger to heal properly...
MTG. Train 4 times per week. - Fail.
LTG. tbc

M - hangover
T - Boulder
W - rest
T - travel to Scotland
F - Boulder (Avertical World, Dundee)
S - rest
S - rest

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy. Training is going ok but it's hard.

M - cycle commute. hard bouldering - pick 6 problems V2-V5, spend 15 mins on each trying every single move. Then 15 mins ARC. This was really exhausting session.
T - strength & conditioning which boils down to lots of pressups and waving around a dumb-bell in various inventive ways.
W - cycle commute. bouldering 5x5s then 15 mins ARC. Again, this session was exhausting
T - cycle commute, but otherwise a rest day - hurrah!
F - strength & conditioning. Also walked 4 miles.
S - had hoped to do some easier routes outside but weather was an uninviting uniform grey. Strength & conditioning.
S - routes 4x4s. This was supposed to be 6a, 6b+, 6c, 7a with some extra downclimbing on the 6c & 7a too. Found I could climb 6a with zero pump until the cows came home, 6b+ took a bit more concentration but was totally doable. 6c I made a bad route choice & got pumped stupid, never actually doing what turned out to be a v distinct crux. There wasn't a 7a available that I'd done before, so tried a 7a+ onsight on a useful line, then 3x6c (high end) afterwards. Got to the final move of the 7a+ which was pleasing as I was far from fresh.

So overall feeling was that the 4x4 route grades weren't quite right for me at the moment, given the relative lack of routes I've been doing recently, and route choice is incredibly important. The other thing is that I have to be incredibly careful with pressups. The second iteration each time of the S&C exercises my L elbow gave a sharp pain & collapsed, so I've not tried to repeat them each set.

I suspect that I may not be able to get much done on rock. Nick suggested I went to Brean with him, but I couldn't face the physical & mental effort on top of the rest of the plan so regretfully declined. Maybe when I'm a little more in the swing of things I might be able to get rock working alongside - I'll see,

In reply to AJM:
I've been out of Fit Club for awhile due to illness, I've been really bad the last two weeks but i'm better now. Managed my first session in ages today at Nesscliffe, had a good day:

Did an awesome highball called Joesef Merrick's pet badger (f7A) and BTB (f6C) on the same wall. The 7A is one of the best problems I've done at Nesscliffe, it was first done last year on a newly developed wall called "Sally's Garden"

Then did the 3 6B+'s on the Hawk Wall: flashed The Rampant Chopper (V4), did Moon Spinner (V4) and Buzz Meeks (V4) in a few goes.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks for doing it recently Andy, I'll happily take over for a while in the New Year. When do you want me to start? 4th Jan?

In reply to Nick Russell:

Thanks for stepping up!

Don't mind really - I'll do next week, but then whenever you fancy after that. Happy to do it for the 4th and post the portland meet, but happy to pass it over sooner if you prefer.

In reply to Nick Russell:

Well done on Prisoner!

I'd have thought that 1:1 rest times pushes it towards AeroPow - 1:2 - 1:4 would be AnCap intervals...

Based on Ally's experiences, onsighting 8a is easier than Milky Bar Kid!

In reply to hms:

Sounds tough!

Mixed week for me. Hand and wrist still a bit messed up. Grazing gone, but innards still giving me issues on some moves.

Went for a bike ride today, test the new bike out. 28.4 miles, 1,217 feet ascent. Was riding with Ali who hasn't done so much cycling of late so I could have gone faster, but it was a nice ride and there was a buffeting headwind in places.

Climbing wise the plan had a very easy first week to account for the f*cked hand. Plan called for:
Continuity: 1 (aerocap)
Linked Boulder: 1 (ancap)
Conditioning: 1

Managed all 3. Linked Boulder was tough but pitched about right. Continuity felt ok. Conditioning was tough, a bit wristy on the offset pull-ups. Wrist really really doesn't like anything where the wrist rolls, like gym rings or the pull:push motion the bottom hand goes through on offset pull-ups.

Training load roughly doubles next week:
Split continuity: 1 (aerocap)
Continuity: 1 (aerocap)
Boulder intervals: 1 (ancap)
Conditioning: 2
Fingerboard: 1

Let then fun Commence!

In reply to AJM:
I'm a bit nervous joining but here goes!

Mon - 0.8 mile hill run, 8 mins
Tues - 2 miles, 20 mins hill running
Weds - 2 miles, 20 mins hill running, 45 mins aqua aerobics
Thurs - 0
Fri - 2 miles, 20 mins hill running, 2.5 hour climbing session indoors
Sat - 1.5 hr climbing indoors
Sun - 1 mile hill run, 2 hr climbing.

Assorted pull ups, squats, push ups - just stuff as and when through the week but I haven't totted it up.

My goal is to get a uk tech 6a indoors in 2015 and to maintain some training till the last of the winter bouldering league in April.

Hope I got that right....
.
Oh and cheers for all the work that goes into the thread too.

In reply to flopsicle:

Welcome to the club popsicle!

In reply to flopsicle:

We don't bite! Welcome

In reply to AJM:

Cheers for doing fitclub chap, much appreciated as you head into retirement. Interestingly (or not), I've only ever injured my fingers openhanded and have to chisel the middle finger as it's longer than the others by a fair margin.

Anyways - wished I could say it was manflu but it was blatantly worse... all flippin' week.

Mon - Nowt
Tue - Nowt
Wed - Yoga class (too hippy mumbo jumbo tonight)
Thu - Nice yoga class
Fri - Froggatt. Peed it down all day on and off. Sat in the cave, seconded some hideous Severe chimney thing.
Sat - Wharncliffe, nice and dry, very windy. Felt much rougher than yesterday but tried to 2nd an E1 my mate was warming up on. Started heaving halfway up and bailed. Wrapped up in every item of clothing available and just belayed all day.
Sun - Froggatt. Seconded Chequers Buttress but was wheezing ridiculously. Everything was damp all day, crap really.

Had high hopes for Friday but rain stopped play and sitting around in the damp kicked the virus off again.

Hopefully better weeek to report next time.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks for doing fit club Andy - no, not got out again yet

Aims:

Winter start with VI 7 - Start winter, tick, VI 7, not yet

Spring 7b RP - Countash, Mill Side Scar

Summer quick build through E1 / E2 to get on some more E3s and consolidate at the grade

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

M: 30min road run (winter endurance)
T: Rest
W: 30min road run (winter endurance)
T: Rest
F: 30min road run (winter endurance)
S: Rest
S:1hr strength - climbing wall

Weight: 12st

Been busy at work, felt tired and training a lot, for me, so had a very easy week before the wheels came completely off. Feel better for it.

In reply to flopsicle:

Welcome!

LSR is a long slow paced run, which is my excuse for plodding these days!
Poor week last week with works do etc

Mon - easy run 50 mins
Thu - mtb 30 mins
Sat - biked to pick car up after yesterday's work do, ouch

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM, the plan is, er, not going exactly to plan so far...

M: Snotty
T: Snotty
W: Snotty
T: Strength and conditioning
F: Aborted indoor climb
S: Climb; Indoor 7b+, 7c, 7a, 7a+
S: Strength and conditioning

Monday was supposed to be the first day of the big new training plan, designed to get me super strong ready for Kalymnos in April next year.
Mentally, I was super psyched to get started on some good hard work to improve my performance, after dealing with various injuries for he last few months, I was ready to push hard again.
Physically however, my body had other ideas. First I managed to get a stinking cold that hit me on Monday, second, I tweaked the AC joint in my right shoulder somehow last week. A quick trip to the physio on monday suggested resting the shoulder for at least a week, it's not a painful injury but without good rest it won't be able to fix itself.

I put off starting the plan until Thursday when I did the first strength and conditioning session, basically 14 wide-ranging exercises done circuit style and repeated 3 times. My cold had subsided and the shoulder felt ok. It went well, I avoided damaging myself any further, and I did find out that my calves haven't done any decent exercise for a decade or so - agony the next day!

Friday was supposed to be 4x4 boulder problems, so off we trot to the local wall in Southampton, only to find it is shut, with no explanation, we even checked it was open on the website before we left so that was a big fat waste of time.

Saturday, hard routes at Calshot, I warmed up on the boulders, then got on the comp route that I did a few weeks back, it's now been graded 7b+. I got to the same point as I did on the comp before falling, albeit a little more comfortably which was nice. When I climbed it in the comp I was obviously lowered off as soon as I had fallen, but this time I got to pull back on and see what else the route had in store. It turns out it doesn't have a whole lot more, it's actually really cruxxy and the top section is a bit of a cruise! Yeah, nice comp route...
I then looked around for some harder stuff to work on - turns out the 7b+ is the hardest set route in the building! I found 2 7a+ and no more than 4 7a's in the whole place! A brief look back at the boulder wall showed the hardest route was v5, and soft at that! I guess they have set it based on the current clientele, I think any decent climbers in the area have abandoned Calshot in favour of The Project in Poole, but that doesn't help me when it's the only decent sized wall within an hour of my house!
I settled for a features only 7c which was just a bit crap, onsighted a 7a and then flailed around on a supposed 7a+ which was so badly set it made me want to break things.

Speaking of breaking things, my finger, which I thought was pretty much fixed, didn't enjoy Saturdays session at all and is now easily as sore as it was about 5 weeks ago, not too impressed with that.
It wasn't as if I ignored pain and kept climbing on it, it felt fine with no significant tweaks during the session, but the next day it was really painful.
Oh, and the AC joint doesn't seem to have sorted itself out at all, lovely.

Target: do all 7 sessions on the plan: 3/7 massive fail

Next week target: Do all sessions that don't involve hard climbing to try and rehab finger, so that leaves 3 sessions or 4 if I want to go to the wall just to do aerocap.

And don't talk to me about my new bathroom. Grr.

In reply to Dandan:



Re the project - that's interesting because whilst there's a few really strong folk there the depth of harder problems is way less than if you go to say tca in Bristol - definitely feels like they're pitching to a less good average audience.

Given how poorly located Calshot is I'm amazed that the project is so much further despite Calshot also being so far for you - there cant be that much in it from the A36 junction, only 10-15 minutes.

In reply to AJM:

Cheeky! Yeah - that route is turning into somewhat of a nemesis for me - back sometime in Jan to do the deed.


Seconded - did you use my pinch method?

Nice planned progression on the Brean routes; but try not to stagnate on the same crag and mix in some other local objectives?

In reply to AJM:

Felt like I was making good progress this week; then twang! NNFN!

BHAG:
- “La Geurre Sainte” 7b/+ multi-pitch in Wadi Rum
- Hard sport multi-pitch (8a region?) – something in Taghia maybe?
- Kaa’bah, 8c+ - gotta aim high!

LTG (2015):
- Do some adventurous cycle touring (maybe MTB Great Glen/West Highland way?)
>8b+ RP – cherry pick from the list below
- Fisheye & Humildes pas Casa, Oliana.
- Unjustified/Overjustified & Bat Route, Malham.
- Waddage, Mecca & Extension, Tor.
- True North, Kilnsey
>8a on-sight (turns out the lattice board is very non-linear and I need to aim for 110 moves for 8a+ OS; Eek!)

MTG (Winter ‘14/’15):
- Finish off all the remaining routes at Brean; 7c, 8a & 8a+/b link-ups
- Stay in gainful employment – redundancy looking less likely, but still not certain
- Headpoint some hard grit
- Decorate the house & build some home training facilities
- “French Pillar” Jebel Misht, E3 choss at New Year.
- Healthy shoulders, fingers & elbows – keep following the physio (boo – bad elbow & finger)
- 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
- Cut the lard; 76.1kg and 6.8% BF. New mantra is “Oli was 9st when he did The Zone”

STG (Last/next week)
- Rest/ice/fix elbow
- Rest/ice/fix finger

Last week:

M - Rest
T - Boulder mileage at AWS; elbow sore nowhere near as sore. 40 ish problems including lots of the V6 & 7’s 9 - some flashed. Even got close on one of the V8+’s. Such a big step up from last week. 6 tie-ins 5+-6c+ as warm-down – sort of aero-cap.
W - Finger-board (1) – 5 sets, 3 sets pull-ups (10, 8, 8) - hard. 150 weighted core movements. 70 Press-ups.
T - Work xmas party I; mulled wine and minced pie with festive carols. Beginning to feel a bit like Christmas…
F - Work xmas party II; 12 hours drinking. Lost track of post meal beer consumption. 3 hours bad dancing in a sweaty dungeon of a night club.
S - Squiffy morning. Stockport late afternoon. Good session doing 12 an-cap laps; worked out an ace link into the blue V6, then started working out other problems in the new set. “CRUNCH!” - same f*ckin’ ring finger as last time – just when I thought it was healing up nicely.
S - Sore finger despite icing. Flat 25 miles on bike; 1.5 hours.

In reply to Exile:

15/12/14 m 7.3 min mile road run around cwood, 7:53 pace
16/12/14 t 9.8 miles road run from the gym 6:53 pace
17/12/14 w 8.6 am: 4.5 on roads 8:30 pace, pm: slow trail run with huck and G 4 miles
18/12/14 t 10.7 road run around haddon et al.. 6:52 pace, cold.
19/12/14 f 8 miles steady 8 miler 7:30 pace newton and cooper rivers..
20/12/14 s no run fly back to the UK.. see the dog..
21/12/14 s am: 11.25 400m ascent trail run drumtochty forest. pm: 5.3 mile road run 7:20 pace.

60 mile week and now back into it after 2 weeks off..

In reply to AJM:

Yeah i've not been to the project enough to comment on the quality or breadth of the problems, all I know is it has drawn a lot of people I know away from Calshot, at least it has problems over V5!

i've just google mapped the two locations;
Calshot is 12.9 miles and 26 minutes from my door.
Project is 31.7 miles and 48 minutes from my door.
Quite a difference, and that doesn't include the faff getting parked at the project, whereas Calshot is pretty much handbrake turn at the front door and get climbing.
If that wasn't reason enough, a lot of my training needs long, roped routes, which are obviously a bit lacking at the project, they don't even have a circuit wall do they?
Hopefully I can speak to the team and Calshot and get some harder stuff set, not that it matters currently with my busted finger AGAIN.

Ally, I feel your pain on the finger front!

In reply to Dandan:

They have a freestanding boulder for infinite loop aerobic training and a traverse circuit board for power endurance circuits and linkups.

It's not too bad. Routes are a nice to have but you can still get plenty fit without them.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers for doing the thread Andy, and to Nick for taking over - much appreciated.

A week of injuries for me I'm afraid.

M - Cycle commute. Swimming, 1km mixed strokes.
T - Cycle commute. Jogged across road on lunch break and pulled up with a sharp pain which I found out was Piriformis Syndrome, literally a pain in the butt! Canned my evening run as couldn't walk.
W - Cycle commute. Rest.
T - Cycle commute. Pain had subsided so had a very easy 5km run.
F - Cycle commute. Bouldering - 3x3's on V0's.
S - Managed 4.6km into a run and then pulled up again with a pain in the buttocks and hip. Limping round the house I then stubbed my middle toe and dislocated the top joint.
S - Cancelled route climbing. Sulked!

Going to have bin the running off and stick to core and strength work for the next week or so over the Christmas break. Hopefully it will give me a chance to fully recover so I can hit 2015 running!

STG - 1 stone of weight loss, lost two this week without even trying. 12lbs to go.
Other goals I need to plan and rework for 2015.

In reply to AJM:
Thanks Andy. I've raised the Portland trip with the wife, but no official pass yet. I might just be down for a day, as it's not as far as I'd thought originally.

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

Weight - 12st 3lbs (STS)

M - W - Painting bits of kitchen
T - Finished another door
F - Fourth door + 50 x 2 dish tucks
S - Made two cabinets from scratch - sheets of ply are heavy
S - 50x2 dish tucks

Shocked that I've not put on weight. Been eating and drinking far too much not to have put on weight. Still I'm not going to complain at all. If I can stay close to 12st, then when I hit the training road again, it shouldn't be too hard to get down to 11st 7lbs fairly soon. Did a bit of core this week. Really getting keen to get back to climbing and training now I've had a few weeks off.

I'll probably do a list of goals for next year (and maybe a 5 year plan) but not this week.

Kitchen wise, I've made two doors from scratch, grooved them, cut the tenons, bashed out the mortices, glued them, fitted them and they're now being painted. I also made two cabinets on Saturday which was good, these are the two which are going next to the cooker. I made the worktop for them ages ago, so it's nice to finally sort out the worktop proper. Admittedly, I'm now realising what a bad job I did of that worktop, so I might redo them.

Goals for next week:
1 climb
1 run
core all the days I don't climb or run...

In reply to Ally Smith:
Cool, maybe I'll see you there some time!

Tried it, but my petite hands don't wrap around that block. With my foot on the low crystal (probably wouldn't have tried that without your suggestion) I only needed to use it as a 2 finger undercut to keep me into the rock.

Yeah, good point. I'll probably try to mix a bit of trad in there, which should provide some variety.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks, it was good fun when it went!

Yeah, sounds about right.

I'll take over after Portland then. Thanks again for doing it up to now.

In reply to AJM:
edit to say,as I meant to in the first place, : Thanks AJM for doing this!

52 miles, 6200 ft ascent, some hills, some off-road, and a 10K PB.

M - 7.2 miles hills
T -
W - 9.2 miles very hilly coast path, ascending sets of steps 8 times.
T - 6 miles over Carn Brae
F - 8.3 miles coast path to Gwithian beach and back. Never done the last part before. Lots of sun and white water. Stunning.
S - 14.3 miles
S - 7.5 miles, inc a 10k PB, in the staggering time of 44:40. Then drive to see elder daughter in Brum.

But never mind the actual running. Today, I went to buy some new off-road shoes. I wanted some Salomons or some Inov8s, but whatever I tried, they all seemed a terrible fit - way too narrow. I might have gone for the Brooks Cascadias, but they didn't have my size, so went again for another Mizuno something or other. These are bright blue and fit me really well, just like the Wave Ascends I have ripped apart after 700 miles. They'll be too slippy on steep mud and grass, but OK on hard, stony coast path and bits of road. Knobblier shoes will just have to wait.

I need some road shoes too. At least, I think so. The last four pairs have all been Brooks Adrenaline 12s. I have done 3200 miles between the last 3 pairs, and don't really distinguish between them any more, just so long as I get a left and right. What stops me buying shoes more often, of course, is money. But also, while I like shiny new things as much as anyone, running shoes are really not the most fun way to spend up to £100ish, and I don't want to do so any more often than necessary just because of hearsay. The shoes I swap between are grubby, but they are not obviously worn down on the sole and I can't say that I really notice them to be less springy or forgiving than they were when I first got each of them, but of course I do worry that I might be ruining my knees. Is there, does anyone know, any credible (peer reviewed would be nice) research out there that supports the oft-quoted (and repeated to me again today in the shop) figure of 400 miles tops as the point around when the risk of injury mounts? Apart from a bit of plantar fasciitis earlier this year, I don't get injured, or if I do, I don't notice it. But I am light (62 ish kg) and run regularly, including lots of rough off road. Also, I can't see the future, so don't know what the long term holds for me.

In reply to mbh:

No idea about any peer reviewed papers but my own experience with Asics road shoes was 600 miles or so. My right knee is basically bone on bone, grade 3 and 4 damage to it, plus a stretched medial ligament. The photos of the bone make for interesting viewing! Anyways, that's the figure my knee used to start to hurt when I was still running and for me it was like the shoes went over the hill in a matter of three or four runs. My Inov8s were a different story - just ran them till the tread had gone but I think the lack of cushioning made me focus on a better running style.

I miss running.

In reply to AJM:

M: Wansfell 'run' (ie. walk up fast, barely even jog on the down as sliding all over the place)
T: Yoga class
W: Nada
T: Wall session. First time in a long time, lots of easy milage.
F: Nada
S: Core session
S: 30 min run

5/7, getting slowly better! Really struggling to get back into the swing of things, am working 6 day weeks and trying to fit all sorts else in too, it all feels hectic. Hoping to stay in Ambleside more after new year, cutting out an hours driving each day and psyching me up for some early morning runs. Only goal for this week is to not eat tooooo much, there won't be much time for exercise, but off to Scotland next weekend, fingers crossed for snow.

In reply to mbh:


I can't quote any peer reviewed research, but I do think that being light and running off-road will help alot. Until really recently people ran for miles with nothing on their feet. Or sandals or uncushioned lightweight trainers. The cynic within me thinks that the 400 mile figure is just there to make you buy new shoes. I've also heard 500 miles more often than 400. I wouldn't worry that much about ruining your knees. There's any one of a large number of nasty things that could happen to you, having wonky knees is quite low on the list. If they're not hurting at the moment, then I'd say you're fine as you are.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy.

Well it's been an eventful and uneventful couple of weeks.

We didn't do the run as my Mum has been in intensive care in Newcastle so that stopped most stuff. She's on the mend now thankfully but will be in over Xmas so that will mean more time spent on the joys of the M1.

One climbing session done with PPG where i feel like i'm coming back to some form. 1 6c+ and 2 7a's done. Made really good progress on the 7a+ too that felt like the living end the other week. Managed to get it in 2 overlapping halves this week and should hopefully go next time. That will feel like real real progress as it's a real Ian Vickers crimpy, high stepping special.

Will get some running in over the hols but that'll be about it i think.

Happy Xmas everyone

In reply to AJM: Three sessions indeed, it's easy when you're only in lectures Monday to Wednesday!

We leave for Antalya on the 30th so I've spent the past week just really working on fitness problems, and I've noticed some big improvements already. That might just be down to getting over my cold and getting my confidence on a rope back.

Mon - rest
Tue - Stockport routes session. Routes up to 7b onsight, but also failed attempts at 7a, 7b and 7b+.
Wed - rest
Thurs - Stockport again. Warmed up bouldering but the 'easy' side was being reset so had to make do with the 45. Flashed up to V6, then routes up to 7a+ - very full of cold, felt awful!
Fri - rest
Sat - Great routes session at MCC. 6a, 6b, 7a, 7a, 7b/+, 7c all onsight. Nearly managed the harder 7c onsight as well but fell on the penultimate move because I didn't know the arete was in! Also managed four laps on the 7b/+, so fitness is coming back faster than I hoped.
Sun - rest, two Christmas dinners in one day - no meals required on Monday.

I'm finding climbing routes really interesting at the moment - hard moves just aren't holding me back any more, the only limiting factor is my fitness. So where I used to struggle at cruxes, now I can just power through hard moves after hard move until I eventually burn out. On the second 7c I think I climbed closer to my limit than I ever have previously, and I was amazed by how long I could push on for with an insane pump.

My recovery is the only thing I'm a little worried about. I can get loads back from a good rest, but I'm struggling to get anything from micro-shakes or short rests on half-decent holds - particularly on crimps.

Either way, all this musing about indoor climbing probably has no reflection on my ability to climb burly tufa in Turkey!

Cheers, Jake

In reply to mbh:

Well done on the 10K PB but you'll go way quicker than that in a race! My research of 1 (ie me) is that I use road shoes for pretty much everything and I get 500-600 miles out of them before they get holes in the uppers and the soles are looking pretty worn. Its normally the holes in the uppers which end the shoes life although I have made some go longer. In general I always have my eye out for "cheap" shoes and so if I see some I might buy a couple of pairs. I tend to try and get shoes for £50 or less and if you watch start fitness, sweatshop etc and you know what you want then you can normally find some. I think they do lose cushioning etc but being light and off-road running offsets that. If you have more than one of the same though mark them up as apparently you should alternate shoes from one day to the next to allow them to "recover" . nb this research may not be worth anything!

In reply to AJM:

Cheers AJM - yep its been a great year competition-wise.

M: pm - 11M steady in 75:04, just didn't feel right at the end of the run
Tu: felt rough, slept most of the day
W: Felt better, went to work, felt like I could do a run by the evening but rested to make sure I was ok
Th: am - 9M steady in 60:18, pm - 4/5M easy in 31:07
F: Lunchtime - 8/9M off road in 57:10, pm - 5M steady in 32:56
Sa: XC Session in the mud/ gloop - 3 x 14mins off 2min jog - tough! 12M total, pm - 5/6M easy in 39:05
Su: am - Shattered, dragged my carcass out for 1:55:28 ~16/17M felt terrible after 10min but came round a bit towards the end, just a case of getting it done.

72M - wanted more miles but did the right thing to rest and get over whatever was in my system. Was then playing catch-up for the rest of the week. Now need to try and get the miles in ahead of the County XC champs in the new year.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM.

Started off the week well, but ended it in the midst of illness. Hopefully won't take too long to get back to full strength.

M - Rest
T - 45mins core strength work. Then FB repeaters. 3 sets.
Half crimp 30mm (+1kg), Front 3 30mm (+1kgs), 35° Sloper (-7kgs).
+1kg slopers, +1kg front 3.
W - Wall. 8 routes. Very close on 4 different 7a’s. Needing one rest on each of them. 6c, 6b+, 7a dog, 6b+, 6c+, 7a dog, 7a dog, 7a dog. Need to work on maintaining steady breathing. Aero Cap 4x4s - 6a+, 6a+, 6a, 6a.
T - Wall. Not feeling great, but figured I was tired from yesterday. 30 mins, 6 reps of 12 moves on system board. Aero Cap 4x4s - 6b, 6a, 6a+, 6a+.
F - Sick. That’s why I didn’t feel good yesterday. The usual work winter bug I think. Hopefully it’ll pass quickly.
S - Sick
S - Sick

In reply to AJM:

Managed 7 days in a row overlapping last week And this week. Pretty tiring jacking it up to that level so will try to stick at regular five sessions a week until stamina there.

M - Boulder Milton Keynes
T - Boulder Climbig Unit
W - Boulder Wirksworth
T - Boulder climbing Unit
F - rest
S - Boulder woolwich Reach
S - rest

This week has been really fun so looking forward to writing that up tomorrow!

In reply to AJM:
Quickly squeeze last weeks post in.

M-wall
T-wall
W-wall
T-works do
F-stayed in bed until 5pm ordered chinese and went back to sleep.
S-drove to peak, pouring it down, went to outside and pondered options. Bought the northumberland guide and headed north. Stopped at almscliffe. Managed Stu's roof (7C+) about third go with some local guys beta. Good tick.
S-Bowden doors. First visit for me and flashed a 7B and 7B+/C. Also did a 7B, B+ and C. Good day.