UKC

Link to last week’s thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=634173
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 gives an excellent breakdown on training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing: http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/training-for-sport-climb...

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fitclub is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation.
Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club 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 and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Psyche video of the week: vimeo.com/66473915 - for those who've spent too long inside this winter and are feeling the love of plastic a bit too much

Posters:
Nick Russell - the weather hasn't been so great has it - I definitely feel like I've been snatching slots out on rock compared to last winter - I'm sure I had more full days out then
Emily - sounds like some good structure in your weekend sessions. From what I remember of the weather I'd have been after any excuse to avoid running in it as well! Hows the weight tracking going?
Si dH - from your question, did you do some double pullup benchmarking this week? I missed my fingerboard 2 session which is the weighted one so I've not done the return comparison of hangs vs pullups yet. Interesting slopers are your strongest grip of the ones you tried. I've made a comment to Joyce about pinching which might be relevant to you too.
JayK - I like the fact that on Sunday you basically decided to double down on your entire week!
Robin Brooke - how have you found tracking the weight for each hang individually? Any surprises?
hms - TAPER!
Curious Yellow - I didn't realise that was your second 6B+! Nice job. Packs it all into one move! How did your assessment work go?
biscuit - from what I remember, lots of AnCap work can bring on some serious pump as your body has been learning to up its lactate rate without necessarily also having built up the capacity to cope with it. Maybe thats why you're getting pumped fast on more intense stuff but also recovering well?
AJM
Dandan82 - more progress its all sounding good
TonyB - how did the week go? Hoping to catch up today!
hokkyokusei - the race sounds hard work!
The Ex-Engineer - how was this week? Your week may not have been perfect, but spare a thought for those of us who weren't out climbing 5 days of it!
Joyce - I think those pinch blocks will be better than rafters anyway because rafters will let you "cheat" by squeezing in at the shoulders and engaging your compression muscles whereas with the blocks its going to be all about isolating the thumb strength to drive the squeeze. Have you controlled for weight (i.e. expressed as a % of bodyweight) when comparing your results with Si's? You been on Underhand this week?
planetmarshall - how was Scotland? Your Wednesday session sounds like a pretty solid whole body conditioning effort.
Ian Bell - hope you found the many discussions of ARC useful to some extent. Filming sounds like a useful trick
stevemarkperry - hope the thumb is still mending. Pinching with a sore thumb is going to be a frustrating exercise!
cha1n - hope the discussions were helpful. I used to hog the less steep board at TCA when I wanted to do longer endurance efforts.
Humperdink - solid miles. How long til the champs now?
Joughton - I just wish I could improve from my current level without some form of structure! I'm very envious of your ability to just do a bit of endurance training for a few weeks before a trip and then go and casually knock out some mid-high Fr7 onsights, I really am!
mattrm - I'm the opposite with diet - with a big office theres always birthday cakes and things floating around, and in the week I'm stressed so don't resist very well. For me the weekends are where I can be more disciplined, especially if its a lazy weekend where actually I can quite easily skip breakfast and have a pretty healthy lunch and set myself up for a good diet day.
xbraddersx - we all have good weeks and bad weeks, so remember Sundays good roof session at the same time as you remember this week's "shambles"
Tyler - your world sounds manic at the minute, but 3 boulder sessions should be helping you maintain your level around everything else
Just Tintin - it sounds counterintuitive, but a concentrated burst of strength work as it sounds like you're doing at the moment could bring a step change in your climbing in itself, so you could yet make that step up. Think of it as the opportunity to do that strength training program you always wanted to do but always got distracted from by the siren calls of less focused indoor or outdoor climbing sessions. I appreciate thats easier said than done, but the first time I ever bought a fingerboard was the first time I sprained my ankle back in my student days, from the money I saved on petrol to the crag, and I just got stuck in whilst my ankle healed and once I'd got back into my groove with moving over rock that extra strength helped me make some decent progress that year
0.5viking - enjoy Rjukan? Sounds like good bouldering progress. Ironically I'm off route climbing this weekend - I've got a lot of short trips this winter so my focus has been flitting to and fro.
alexm198 - I'm really sorry to hear that
flopsicle - sneaking in at the last minute!

Lurkers:
Ally Smith keeping us on the straight and narrow


CAN ANYONE START THE THREAD NEXT WEEK PLEASE? I'M IN SPAIN.........

In reply to AJM:

Thanks, the weight is at least not going up! I have room to try a bit harder on that front: there's disturbingly little left in the pot of nutella that I bought on Monday for pancake day... Good week though, and I managed to catch up on my missed run.

Monday - swimming, sort of - went along to give technique tips to some friends who've entered a triathlon. So more of a splashabout, certainly not a focused session and I probably swam less than a km all told, much of it demos of either technique drills or good/bad technique contrasts.

Tuesday - yoga, 90 min class. More dog pose than anyone should reasonably have to tolerate. Plus, ran there and back for a total of 6.2km, 35 mins. Expected the running after to feel horrendous (esp as it's uphill) but actually it wasn't really any worse than my normal cycle back.

Wednesday - morning run, 6 x (90s fast, 3min jog) plus warmup and cooldown for total 7.2km in 39:38. Evening bouldering at TCA: a bit unfocused, did some greens and yellows, mucked about on a 6C.

Thursday - nothing.

Friday - climbing at UCR. Flashed a new 6b+ that definitely wasn't (more like 6a+?). Tried the black and green 6c again and fell off tickling the finishing jug - even closer than last time. Meant to try a different sequence at the top but I mucked it up (moved a foot before a hand) and had to reverse and re-do both moves - maaaybe I'd have got it if not for that? Would have had a rest and another go, but my partner had to leave. Bit of circuits instead: 6a, then most of the way round roof 6b.

Saturday - bouldering at TCA. Went round all the new purples (all flashes) then all the greens (all <=3 goes) taking minimal rest. Then circuits: 5c, 6a, made it halfway round the 6b+. Fun session except for the fact that I slipped unexpectedly off the slab not once but twice (while holding a massive jug?!) and scraped my arm/leg down it. This did little to help with my fear of falling off slabs.

Sunday - running, 35 min as 10 min easy warmup, 10 min build from ~6:00/km to ~4:10/km, 15 min easy cooldown for 6.1km total.

Goals / progress on them:

Short term (Feb)

• get weight trending downwards. More actionably: pay attention to food with this in mind
  • moving average is a whopping 100g down on last week's; at least it's not going up, but I can try harder here
• 2 runs/week per my plan in prep for Bristol 10k
  • 4/8 in Feb so far, caught up on last week's missed one so on track!
• do some high-volume climbing sessions
  • yes, I think Saturday's session counts so 1 this week and 3 so far in Feb
• do fall practice in every volume session
  • no, but letting myself off since it was at a bouldering wall! 2/3 so far

Medium term (Feb, Mar, Apr)

• follow running plan for Bristol 10k
  • 7/36 done, on track (took 3 out of the plan due to holiday that week; this won't be too much of an issue I think)
• climb with good attitude in Spain (mid March) and have fun even if I suck!
  • attitude was mostly better this week
• climb something outside in the UK if the weather ever cooperates

Minor miracle level "maybe someday" wishes

• redpoint something beginning with 7 indoors?
• redpoint something beginning with 7 outdoors??
• lead a VS??? (don't care whether onsight or after seconding a billion times, but this does include placing the gear myself)

In reply to AJM:

Thanks mate. Yep it hurt a bit.

Crap week. Injured my foot badly in BJJ on Thursday evening. Rolled over backwards on it from kneeling and bent it "a lot!" according to my training partner. Spent Friday afternoon in A&E and turns out it's a bad sprain so thankfully nothing is broken. Need to get this rested and sorted out before my first XC race of the season and Scotland trip. I'm seriously considering packing in BJJ as it's been 4 quite bad injuries in 9 months of training now and it's not as though I spar really hard either.

STGs (before Thursday March 10):
Rest and rehab foot. Hope I've not buggered my race and Scotland trip up.
Complete the R&R Winter Classic XC race 28 Feb and improve on previous results.
Improve on winter climbing grade in Scotland (March 4-10), currently II 2/3.

MTGs:
Enjoy XC race season on the bike.

LTGs (end of year):
No idea at the moment.

M: Rest
T: Walk up The Roaches with the dog and mucking about bouldering for 20 mins or so.
W: Rest
T: 1hr 15mins MTB intervals. Lovely to be out in the sun. 1hr BJJ, injured foot quite badly, not sure what the damage is yet but this sport is hacking me off now, far too many injuries in the 9 months I've been training. I don't roll hard or go crazy, it's just the nature of the beast. Seriously considering packing it in as it's stopping me from enjoying other things I love doing.
F: Spent the afternoon in A&E getting foot checkout out. Nothing broken thankfully but badly sprained.
S: Forced rest
S: Forced rest

Current weight: about 144 lbs.

In reply to AJM:
Nice psyche vid - he is a BEAST!!
think there was a lesson in there about less volume more quality


Much better thanks for advice, also helped by better quality training this week (rest and effort). Strangely I feel stronger on 3 finger 1 pad (IMR) than 4 finger 2 pad warm-up. Also seems I'm learning about recruitment as the 2nd set for each grip almost always feels better (at least for 4-5 repeaters) and I'm progressively adding hang weight for 2nd set. Could push a little bit harder next week (more hanging weight) but difficult to judge as a newbie when feeling tenderness in fingers, push or whether to consolidate patiently£

Periodized training, week 5 of 16 (currently in Strength phase) better quality work on the fingerboard this week following advice from FC'ers. Calibrated each grip type and increased hanging weight, also added core / strength exercises. Plus bit of swimming and fun leading.

M: Rest.

T: fingerboard (am) & outdoor swim 1.8km (pm): Fingerboard, much better with proper rest day prior and calibrating each grip, increased hang weight on all grips, no core work today. Fingerboard log here http://1drv.ms/1KKhD1k

W: fun leading at castle: onsight 6c, repeated 7a, partner wanted to try 2 different 7b+ (a third, and half way up, before dogged and shut-down on both) ruined thereafter! Warm-ups: 4x6a-6b

Th: core/strength home work out 90 mins. Arnold press squats, lunge twists, push up drop set, sit-ups, pull up set, swiss ball back raises, tricep dips, swiss ball passes, robots + front plank, side plank, lock-off tucks, swiss ball back raises.

F: fingerboard and smaller core/strength: same hang weight on all grips, plus added some strength and core exercises after, see link from Tuesday.

S: fun leading at castle: mainly belayer for GF helping her rehab, squeezed few climbs in. Repeats 2x7a, 6c, 2x6a, 5

Su: fingerboard and then outdoor swim 1.8km before dinner . same hang weight on all grips, no core work today, see link from Tuesday. Going swimming later with GF and then dinner.

STG:
• stick to 16 week periodized training plan
• consolidate indoor 7a and 7a+ indoor RP's
• get Girlfriend recovered from her Achilles tendon injury asap! she climbed again this week x2 all top-rope.
MTG:
• lots of 7a & 7a+ RP, and get on and try 7b outdoor in 2016 (france and spain - orpierre, ceuse, siruana, el chorro)
• E2 & E3 HP's in 2016, including cracks where I can find them
• plenty of long adventurous multi-pitch (swiss, france, italy - grimsel, verdon, dolomites, orco)
• leave job, leave country, climb lots starting april t-2months!!
BHAG's
Some current ambitions for future epics, which are a way off in terms of ability, endurance, courage, fitness, but I'd love to get there one day.
• La Fete des Nerfs, 300m, 7a+
• Mescalito, Paroi Rouge, 250m, 7c
• The Nose, 900m, 5.9 / C2
• Freerider, 900m, 7c (probably following someone better than me!)

In reply to AJM:

Just realised I got the weeks sort of confused.

Last week (564) was as follows:

M: Rest, knackered after getting in at 5am from Scotland.
T: 60 minute general strength session with core routine warmup.
W: 8.7km Z1
T: 8.7km Z1
F: Rest, flight to Glasgow. Impromptu workout in the form of sprinting through the airport to make the flight due to train being delayed.
S: Walked into the Ben, tried to do Tower Face of the Comb (VI 6) but started up a ramp system which was too low. Backed off, found the start of the route at about 1pm. A team was just starting up the second pitch at this point so we waited to see how fast they were moving - they were ludicrously slow so we binned it off. Weather took a turn for the worse so we just walked out. Really regret this, should've gone and done Cutlass or something.
S: Ming weather, wanted to go up to SCNL but binned it. Drove to the cairngorms and opted for Original Summer Route (IV 6) as we didn't start climbing until nearly 2pm. Bit of a consolation prize but it's all mileage eh.

This week just gone I didn't manage anything unfortunately. Back on the wagon next week. Flying out to Rjukan on Friday evening and spending next week out there which should be good.

STG (this week): 2 runs, 2 workouts. Get a few routes done off the Rjukan ticklist on Saturday and Sunday - depends on where we end up going. Some candidates:

- Gaustaspøkelse (WI-4)
- Jomfrua (WI-4)
- Tipp (WI-5)
- Topp (WI-5)
- Fyrstikka (WI-5)
- Bakveien (WI-4)
- Sabotørfossen (WI-5)

In reply to AJM:


I can do it next week, no worries.


It's all feeling pretty good too, I'm almost able to do whatever I like without worrying about the elbows, both when climbing and in day to day stuff. It's now becoming difficult to bother doing the rehab exercises, everything feels so good, but I'm determined not to let this relapse so i'm forcing myself to continue rehab exercises for the forseeable future.

M: Body weight antagonistic exercises + Aerobic circuits; awesome double session, everything felt great
T: Climbing, indoor routes up to 6c, did a little boulder to warm up as partner was late, but all feeling good
W: Body weight antagonistic exercises; these are improving so fast! I did an 8 second balanced handstand from pushing off the wall with my toes, just holding a handstand against the wall for 30 seconds now feels comfortable instead of a head-exploding fight to stay up! I filmed my first tucked planche exercise last week and filmed it again this week, the difference in form is noticeable, my back is much straighter and it already looks more stable.
T: Climbing indoor routes up to - wait for it - 7a! Yay! First one since 'the troubles', it didn't go clean and pumped me silly but it will go next time no problem at all.
F: Body weight antagonistic exercises again, really psyched for these at the mo, couldn't match my 8 second balanced free handstand from Wednesday but I was slightly worried about rolling onto the dog as I was at home!
S: Climbing, indoor routes up to 6c+ at Reading, didn't want to push too hard as it's not my local wall and their grades can be a bit mystifying in my experience, I didn't want to end up fighting through some massive sandbag. Good fun routes in general though.
S: DIY club, painting the banisters and hallway woodwork, there's a lot of door frames...

Great week all in, 3 climbing sessions, 3 antag and a cardio. Muscles are all feeling good, my shoulders particularly feel really, well, stable at the moment, i'm trying to concentrate on keeping them from rolling forward while climbing and I think all the antag stuff is helping with that.
No sign of my bicep/elbow overuse issue appearing yet, although it's early days, I've not done 2 days on climbing yet so we will see. The physio I saw last week is confident that stronger triceps will combat it so hopefully all the antag work is helping with that.

Last weeks STG
Touch my toes! - TICK Getting slightly more flexible every day
2 climbing sessions, 15+ routes. - TICK 3 sessions, 11, 15 and 15 routes
Hold freestanding handstand for 5 seconds - TICK 8 seconds!

New STG
Touch my toes with my second knuckles (might take a few weeks)
3 climbing sessions, 7a clean.
Hold freestanding handstand for 10 seconds.

Upgraded MTG:
Stay healthy for Margalef and tick 10 '7' graded climbs while there. (seems fair)

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy. A bit SHOUTY?! So you'll be delighted to hear that tapering is indeed occuring.

Cycle commuting was hit by Storm Imogen, followed by me feeling rather rubbish, followed by a couple of horribly long busy days on my project at work.

M - nothing at all really.
T - UCR with Nick. 3 circuits to warm up, then ~13 routes, 7 in singles, 6 in doubles. Included 3 good goes on a couple of 7a+ routes - both really close.
W - felt crap, hence no cycle commute. Sensible fingerboard session in evening 7/3/6/3 on all holds apart from the v small crimps, taking about an hour.
T - cycle commute. TCA in evening. Accidentally did a really good warm-up by getting on the wrong set of problems, then tried the anon-comp problems (did all but 3) then tried the oranges. Did 6, final move on 4 more, still plenty left to try.
F - 12 hour work day. The end was basically just hanging around waiting to check stuff so as the office was deserted I did a fair number of press-ups and crunches to relieve the boredom!
S - various work stuff messed up the day. 3+ miles urban walking. Swiss ball week5 plus lots off trying to kneel on the ball which is huge fun. Thorough stretch/shoulder rehab in evening.
S - Bloc. Couple of circuits, then trying the Blokfest problems from last weekend. I don't know how many there were but 7 I couldn't do. Then on to doing some of the youth circuit where grades from piffling to 6b+ but who knows which are which.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy! Yeah - I was hoping another Sunday session like last week but I've been struck down by the illness going around at work. Fortunately it only hit me at 2am this morning so I still managed a good board session yesterday. Hoping to be back down the wall tomorrow to make up for this missed day.

M-Rest
T-Fingerboard session.
W-Campus board 25mins followed by foot-on campus 1min on 1 off for 10. Core session.
T-Rest
F- Felt really tired so I pottered around bouldering before living up a little to do a bit of endurance. (in hindsight this was the start of the illness)
S-Feeling really tired again had a big shot of espresso and smashed in a good board session. Managed to nail the problem I set last Saturday - Felt far easier. Managed three times on might left and once on my right (although the footholds are ever so slightly different up the right hand side which makes it more difficult) Progress!
S-Slobbed around drinking Lemsip and watching sport.

Looking forward to hearing about some ticks in Spain. I'm up in Conway next week - but shock horror it looks like it's raining most of the time!

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy. Not been benchmarking pull-ups, sticking to max 10s hangs for now. I just tried them a couple of times on the Monday to see how they felt. I think my max would be similar on the crimps but definitely less on the slopers.

You are right about pinching on rafters, although if you hang two that are fairly close together (shoulder width or less) I find this effect is fairly small. Hanging two wider ones is definitely easier.

Goals:
- Maintain a weight of around 11 stone measured Sunday night
- Jan/Feb: Jerry's Traverse (Cratcliffe) and at least 3 other grit 7Bs. [so far T Crack, A Case of Mistaken Identity and Monochrome. Jerry's Traverse is probably out due to the left shoulder problems.]
March: Do Crazy Horse (7B) and either Magic Bus or La Barre Fixe (7B+) in Font. After Font, do Moffatrocity (7B+) if it's dry, or Wright's Traverse (7B) if Moff is still wet.
April: Moffatrocity if not done in March, then Eastwood Traverse (7B+). Start doing some limestone or Churnet bouldering in the evenings again once the clocks change.
May/June/July: Do a few more Font 7Bs on limestone or sandstone, and do Arch Enemies (F7c+)
August: Continue bouldering (more limestone F7B/+s) and, if Arch Enemies went well, get on an F8a.
September: Do the F8a.
October: Once finished (for good or bad) with the F8a, try Paint it Black (Ft7C) at Blackwell Dale.
November/December: Finish off Paint it Black if it feels doable and stays dry for long enough. Then get on the grit, goals being a Ft7B+ and maybe try Tetris (Ft7C).


M: Max hang session on fingerboard. Same as Sunday but upped the weight slightly to 26.4kg on the 18mm edges with the AA battery bodge (same as for slopers.) Good session. ie, 26.4 kg for 10 seconds with 18mm edges ad 35 degree slopers, 0 kg for 10 seconds with the small 2 finger pockets.
T: Rest
W: Core session - 4 sets of 5 exercises as per previous weeks (narrow leg raises, side planks, wide leg raises, planks with feet on gym ball, upward-facing bridges, with heels on a chair.)
T: Max hang session on fingerboard. Similar to Monday but upped the weight to 27.5 kg on the 18mm edges (just!) Did teh same on the 2 finger pockets. Swapped out the slopers for hanging pinches on my cellar rafters/beams. They are 5cm across so quite a comfy pinch once sanded to remove splintery wood! With the narrow ones ie shoulder width apart, I found I could add 8kg. Doing them with hands wider apart is easier but more about shoulder strength than fingers/thumbs (and, in my current state, hurts.)
F: Rest. Had two half pints in the evening.
S: Rest. Hadn't slept properly and felt knackered. I really can't drink any more.
S: Bouldering at Burbage North. Did Hanging Rib and repeated the Ft6C-7A sloper-only variant to warm up- pleased this didn't hurt the shoulder, only felt it a bit. Then went and did Monochrome (Ft7B). Pleased with this, it;s a really good problem. Got a video that I'll put up on Vimeo later on. Then tried Giza (Ft7B) but need my left arm to be a cm longer. Shoulder was a bit achy after Monochrome but not badly aggravated. Giza was fine for it.

Weight last Sunday night was 11st 2lbs.


Focus is still going to be on fingerboard and shoulder rehab work now but I'm happy after today that I am seeing some progress with it and that as long as I pick my problems carefully, I can go out and climb hard one day per week while training on the board in the evenings. Fingers crossed, if the current trend continues I should be able to have a half-decent Font trip.

Si

In reply to AJM:

After moaning about bad fortune with the weather, I spent all of today (sunny the length of the country, as far as I could tell) in the car.

M - Rest
T - UCR with hms. Warm-up on up/down pairs then 4x3 routes. Managed the first three mostly on 6c+ (with a couple of additional holds), had to drop the last set to 6b+. Really happy to be lapping 6c+, feels like a definite step up from last winter.
W - am: 6km run with 60 hard/60 easy intervals after warm-up.
pm: TCA with Emily. Unfocussed session, managed to tick a 6C+ on the Mothership (blue, nasty move out to a sloper on the lip, crimpy above).
T - Core.
F - Fingerboard. Still feeling good on the pockets, back 3 and middle 2 repeaters. If I'm doing back 3, I feel like I should go for front 2 next time. Drove up to Scotland.
S - North east buttress on Ben Nevis. Long day, windy, but otherwise pretty good conditions. We got a view from the top! (albeit with twilight rapidly setting in at that stage.)
S - Sore foot, partner knackered. Parked up in Glen Coe, decided against it, drove home in the sunshine.
Weight: 65.7kg

I'm a bit embarrassed to post that I drove up to Scotland for a single day/route. I've been having this problem with my foot every time I go out in winter for the past 3 years (in fact, I've only had 5 winter days, four years ago, when I don't recall it bothering me at all). I can force a second day, but only if my partner is keen! Definitely time to get that sorted.

I tried going to a physio last year, but he seemed more interested in treating the symptoms and suggesting generic solutions like not wearing stiff boots. I have a decent hypothesis about how it came about: a day snowboarding in 2013 caused some compression to the top of the foot (boots too tight) neatly separates the winter climbing days with no pain, and the days with pain. I just need to get somebody who's willing to listen to me and have a discussion about it.

STG - last minute trip prep for 13th March departure to Margalef.

Volume/endurance training: 8 sessions during February. 3/8

Keep up some strength: 5 fingerboard sessions before trip. 2/5

Don't get injured. The foot problems normally go away within ~48 hours so I'm not counting that.

See a physio about my foot. (And then another one, etc. if that doesn't go well)

MTG

spring: keep the pressure on the E4s. Still have to get on Central Wall (E4 6a), Star Wars (E4 5c), Mother Africa (E4 6a), Pacemaker (E5 6a), ...

summer/autumn sport trip: Ceuse or Frankenjura? Route objectives TBC when I actually plan something.

Sub-90 half marathon (Bristol half, September). Benchmark 10k (sub-40 in Bristol 10k, May).

LTG

varied E5 onsights

Get out to Orkney with The Fox

Snowdonia marathon I'll be up at midnight next New Year!

BHAG

The Long Hope Route

In reply to hms:


Have to make sure the message gets over

STG - Easter
- V6/7 (7A/+) in Albarracin (2x 7A), Bishop (not been yet) and at home (1x 7A). Try a local V8
- short trip 8a send (Mediterraneo (8a)?)
- local things to look at - Hall of Mirrors (7c), Nightmare Scenario (7c), maybe Fighting Torque (8a)
- get the regular weight logging back on track and manage the weight back down

MTG - 2016
- get on Infinite Gravity (8a+). Also try Fuel My Fire (8a+), The Cider Soak (8a), and some harder west coast 7s (Tennessee (7c), Saskatchewan Uranium Miner (7c) etc)
- maybe some onsighting if I can get a trip together
- get trad mojo back, get more E4s done, try to break into E5
- another adventure trip, back to wendenstock perhaps
- build on dws - swanage and Devon classics, push the boat out at lulworth.
- buy a house, do the Dragon Tour, other non climbing goals.

BHAG
- its been in the back of my mind for a while, and its a monstrous step from where I am now, but Tom Et Je Ris (8b+). Its probably even further away than 8a was when I started thinking about 8a, but you gotta try, right?
- single pitch E6, big adventure E5s and all the adventures that would bring (alps etc)

8/2 - rest, I think
9/2 - wall. Board session, plus attempts on another hard problem. Good session.
10/2 - wall. Progressive Ancap, solid session.
11/2 - big day at work, didnt get out till about 2030, so rest
12/2 - went to the wall but body just told me it had had enough still so went home and rested.
13/2 - friends visiting, so rest
14/2 - foot on campus at lunchtime. Increase in headline PB by ~20% which is good stuff. AnCap baseline has increased too. However the decline between the two was quicker suggesting a dip in my aerobic fitness (possibly absolute, but definitely relative). I guess before Chulilla I'd been training for enduro sport for months and had already had 2 weeks in Kalymnos mainly onsighting. Spoke to coach who doesn't seem too concerned.

A solid few sessions in the early week but then crashed pretty hard late week. Busy at work and that sort of thing. Probably means I've had a more thorough taper than I would otherwise have had (my sprinkling of short trips has caused havoc with getting all the peaks in the right place I think so tapers have generally been shorter in order to keep an eye on the next trip as well as the upcoming one).

Pleased with the progress on the quantitative benchmarks over the past few months - up by 20% against Chulilla on the max aeropower test, up by 15-20s on the AnCap baseline on the same test, up 7kg from post Chulilla on the double pullup benchmark, and weight is now definitely back into a comfortable zone (been 72kg or just below the past 3-4 days).

A few sessions next week then moment of truth at the weekend for whether this whole "8a in a weekend" thing is feasible right now.

Going to try and keep a good diet this week too and see if I can nose some individual readings down into the bottom half of the 71kg region or better (sub-71kg?) before I go. I'd originally had "sub 73 by Albarracin, sub 72 by Sella, sub 71 by Bishop" in mind as a sensible progression over the Winter/Spring but actually I've potentially got the ability to go a bit further on that. I think the lowest I had in previous phases of dedication was a hair over 70kg - it would be good to get to and beat that if current psyche and focus is maintained.

In reply to AJM:

Yes, very useful info thanks. I went to TCA at lunch on one of the days this week to attempt to do some endurance but turns out it was half-term and there were children everywhere - good for TCA but not me!

Mon - Nowt
Tues - TCA - 2 x 10 min on, 10 min off aerocap. 3 sets x 4 reps of ancap (linked boulder) 45s on 2.5 min off. Didn't get intensity right again, frustrating.
Wed - Nowt
Thurs - TCA - Round two of new orange circuit (up to 'Font 6C'). Completed all but the crimpy one in the steepest roof. In hindsight, not a great idea to leave it until so late in the session to try. Lots of these are a touch harder than 6C imo but typical TCA sandbags!
Fri - Nowt
Sat - Nowt/feeling a bit ill
Sun - (short)'Routes' at Wyndcliffe quarry with Joyce and Tom. 7 routes, E2 second, 6a, 6a, 6a+, 6b, 6c+ and '7b'. All first go (mostly repeats) but the 7b was a flash. Hard to grade the 7b really, new(ish) route and is essentially a boulder problem with an easy finish. Could potentially be the proposed grade for the short but we thought maybe 7a. Oh yeh, messed up the start of the 6c+ first try, lowered down and pulled back on and did it - doh. Messed around placing some gear on lead on one of the hybrid routes (1 hex, 1 cam, 1 RP). Really enjoyed it, psyched to get into trad!

Didn't do as much endurance as I'd hoped this week but I suppose two out of three sessions doing endurancy stuff isn't bad, even if today's routes were incredibly short. Hearing someone who's great on crimps say that certain powerful/slopey problems in TCA were harder than the crimpy ones I thought were harder confirms my thoughts that my finger strength is pretty poor for my grade. Want to try and focus more on my finger strength but not on the fingerboard as I won't stick to it. Hope to do short but good quality sessions on the woody/crimpy boulders and then do some circuits/routes after. Maybe add in occasional benchmarking on a FB to check that strength IS actually improving.

Last weeks goals - More endurance combined with strength a little. No wild moves until back is better. Yep

Next week:
- Shorter sessions strength training to help avoid injury (sessions are currently too long imo and risking overuse injuries to pulleys), ideally on woody or crimpy (not dirt crimps), steep boulders.
- At least one session on endurance, ideally two.
- Re-introduce core and some form of pull-ups into sessions.
- Stretch and push-ups after every session.
- Restart Antagonistic exercises.

MTG

- Improve endurance and strength without getting injured (more use of open grip positions and getting weaker, half-crimp position stronger) and get out on rock whenever possible.
- Lead some trad routes
- Do some DWS

In reply to AJM:

Getting in on time this week!

Mon - Bleh! Nowt.

Tues - 2 mile hilly run, got a painful stitch.

Weds - Tried for 2 mile run but got another really bad stitch, tried like hell to run through it but an old bags hobbe was about me lot! 1 hr lead climbing, 1 hr drilling deadpoints and balance climbs.

Thurs - run still downed by a stitch in the same place but made 2 miles, just!

Fri - 3 miles hilly run, very hilly and no stitch YAY! 3 hrs climbing, some hard work, some chilled, got one more clip on lead project, gave some decent time to overhangs.

Sat - 1 hr climbing, fair bit on overhangs - most proud that I stuck to working my weakness (overhangs!) despite that room being jammed full of cool/good climbers at the time. Spent some time with friend's niece who came for the first time, rewarding as she was game and seemed quite a natural.

Sunday nutty sunday (same tune as BTRats:Monday...). 2 hrs at Depot, harder comp probs and played on reds a bit. I've got my best BL score ever - AND, there's still 2 I'm hopeful for, maybe even another flash. Then 3 hrs at notts climbing but quite chilled, still lead the headwall twice though, and bouldered prior. After 4 sessions in 3 days I feel well worn but happy. I loves me climbing....

In reply to AJM:

Been a busy week with work this week but now half term - hurray!

TUES - CYCLE - 24km 625m ascent
THURS - RUN - 6.6km 190m ascent
SAT - WALK - Bits and bobs around Portland with the family
SUN - WALK - Durdle Door and Old Harry's Rocks

Mid-week weight was right down but not weighed myself today. Average is certainly down a couple of pounds to around 12st 6.

Some more progress made with Alps planning - pretty much got the dates sorted but may be without a partner!!

Although half term, lots of family stuff this week, so not sure how much will get done. Fingers crossed!!

In reply to AJM:

F8a in a weekend would be immense. Looks like you're making good progress on the weight.

In reply to Si dH:


Screw that, I'd have no routes left down here after a few months! Motivation to not be so good...

In reply to Si dH:

I suppose I should fess up a bit on my terminology - its not quite a weekend, I've got the first part of next week off too. 2-rest-2 or something like that.

It would be a good sort of length of trip to benchmark my level against as Ali just really isn't super motivated by sport at the minute so I can see the long weekend hit becoming a more common thing to scratch the euro tufa itch.

Yeah I think it's going OK weight wise because I've got good psyche - when I was struggling for motivation the back end of last year I just couldn't be arsed with watching weight.

In reply to AJM: Just to make everyone more jealous this week, I managed a full 7 days out of 7 this week...
I also got on my two hardest ever Winter routes this weekend, thsnks to a super pysched partner

M - Ben Nevis, North East Buttress (IV 5)
T - Ben Nevis, Italian Right-Hand (IV 4)
W - Ben Nevis, The Cascade (IV 5) & Expert's Choice (III 4)
T - No match for crag id:16730, Chimney Rib (III 4) & Dukes Rib (II)
F - Ben Nevis, Waterfall Gully (IV 4) (first pitch, solo)
S - Beinn Bhan, Gully of the Gods (VI 6)
S - Beinn Dorain, Messiah (VI 7)

In reply to AJM:

Morning all

STG = 3x climbing. 2x15 mins yoga. Hopefully outdoors (?Llanmynech) at the weekend
MTG = 7a+ by end of Easter France trip (either France or UK)
LTG = 7b+ pyramid this year, at least 3x7a+, 2x7b,1x7b+. Done plenty of 7as over the last few years.
BHAG = 8a by 40

STG last week = FAIL. Did 3x climbing but didn't manage the yoga. Got to stop putting it off!

Tues – 5x10 mins ARC training. Mostly around 5 ish level of difficulty.
Fri - 5x5 set pyramids, usually topping out around 6b ish so prob averaging around 6a ish.
Sat - 2x5 set pyramids to warm up. 6a, 6b, 6c+, 7a on lead. Feeling quite knackered!

ARCing discussions useful last week, might tweak it a bit and go for the pyramids instead. Not sure if the intensity is a bit low or not at present but will stick with it as is for a few weeks to give the body time to adjust, certainly felt pretty battered on Sunday after 2 days on.

Hopefully get outside this coming weekend if the weather plays ball. Was thinking of visiting Llanmynech, has anyone been?

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy. It's a good point but tbh i haven't been doing enough AnCap to see any results like that yet. It's how i was performing before starting training too so no real surprises.

It's been a slack couple of weeks. This week's plan went wrong as i got ill from Thursday onwards. Spent some time this morning writing out a plan again to re-jig what i've got left before the trip to Chulilla in April. Plenty of time left to get improvements if i dig in.

I got one AnCap session in which was good then a routes session. It went OK. Back on the steep stuff. Recovery betwen routes was good but still not steep fit. Tried one 7a 3 or 4 times and kept falling off the crux as i was trying to technique my way up it. Turns out the best way is to abandon technique, stand up and fall over onto the hold. It'll go next time. Another i tried should be a goer for the future. Did OK on the onsight but got stuck on some pinches to clip. I couldn't let go of either to release a hand to clip. Body positioning issue. Be nice to benchmark being able to do all the steep 7a's before i go away. There's another i've been avoiding (hold style i don't like) i'll force myself onto next time.

Climbed a bit yesterday while coaching and felt a bit better. Still snotty but don't feel ill anymore. Found a nice new problem for AnCap work

Eating healthy, but not calorie counting, isn't doing the trick. So back to that from today to lose the last few stubborn pounds.

This coming week is busy as usual but got another Uni interview and a job interview to concentrate as well as kids over half term on so targets are:

Lose .5% body fat
Physio x 5 (still feeling really good from this)
1 x AnCap session
Maybe a fingerboard session if i can fit it in

In reply to AJM:


It was probably the hardest race I've ever run. So hard that I've not really recovered yet! Didn;t get much done at all this week. Didn't get to the gym on Monday because I was still ruined from the Trog. Did a 10k run on Wednesday and that was it. Got pissed at a house party on Saturday and didn't get up in time for the fifth and final Peco of the season at Roundhay Park Unurprisingly, I've put weight on.

Weight 82.7kg, Body fat 20.4%

Not heard yet if my entry for the Three Peaks Fell race has been accepted.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM. Much appreciated. Enjoy Spain.

STG - Keep doing some climbing

Weight - 12st 11lbs (1lbs loss)

M - 200 dish tucks
T - Rest
W - Rest
T - Rest
F - Rest
S - 5k run
S - Rest

Getting lazier and lazier tbh. Thought I'd gone climbing this week, but maybe I didn't. Least I got out for a run. Again the weekend was totally disastrous for my diet, which was going good through the week. Aims for next week:

1 climbing session (opt 2 climbing sessions)
1 run
1 core session
Maintain a good diet over the weekend...

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy, and everyone for the support. Yes, you're right I probably would never have done this stuff otherwise, so I will try to look on the positive side. The mental thing is the hardest. Really low at the moment generally. And watching my body change as my shoulders and butt get massive (for different reasons) while my right leg disappears (thigh is now shrivelling too).

This week I'm trying to experiment with L hangs just above the mat to work something slightly different, however it's quite hard not to get pumped out thighs as am tensing them ridiculously to compensate for being unbalanced by the weight of the boot. Any ideas? The top-roping last week was a nice change but my favourite thing about climbing is the combination of mental/physical stimulation so doing laps of a 5+ might grow old quite soon! Anyway, stop whining and dig in...

M - I was in the wall coaching anyway so had a go at top-roping on the overhang. 2 x clean one-legged on the 5+ - no sitting on the rope. Pull-ups.
T- doorway upper body stuff on rock rings/pull-up bar. Henceforth I will refer to this as "DUBS"
W - rest - DUBS
T - AM: 8 x 15 x 20kg bench press
PM: 5 x overhanging 5+. Pull-ups.
F - rest - rest.
S - 3 x overhanging 5+ and 6 x easier lines on the vertical TR wall. Pull-ups.
S - rest - DUBS.

In reply to Just Tintin:

Have you got any kind of pulley setup? If so, counterweighting that foot may be a solution.
I assume you've seen these?
http://www.onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/video-training-during...
http://www.onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/any-excuses.html

In reply to Just Tintin:

Great effort keeping the training going while injured. You've done more there than many do when un-injured. I can totally understand your feeling fed up, but keep it up and you're bound to reap the benefits long-term.

In reply to Si dH:

By the way, completely self-indulgently but if anyone is interested, I mentioned my vimeo feed above...this has videos of most of the harder problems I've done since last summer, so lots of beta if people are bouldering similar stuff to me in the midlands, and there is also a video on there that I put a bit more effort in to actually editing, of a recent Font trip.

I also find videos sometimes quite useful for self-analysis while I'm working a problem, especially if over multiple sessions.

https://vimeo.com/user42329154/videos

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy, bit of a mishap this week....

M: am - 4/5M in 34:27, pm - 9/10M in 68:53 windy!
Tu: lunchtime - road session: 5 x 1mile off 2mins. Times were 4:56, 4:52, 4:50, 4th rep, on for another good one when on the last corner which is quite sharp I put my foot on a small patch of mud and stacked it! Queue lots of swearing and loss of skin to my knee/ elbow. I also managed to complete embed a 1cm x 1cm pebble completely in my knee which took tweezers to pry out later. Was so frustrated in myself for not taking more care but it could have been a lot worse. 8M total with a slow jog back. pm - 4/5M home in 30:22 knee sore but ok
W: Didn't sleep well the previous night and knee was very sore running to work 4/5M in 30:40, pm - 8/9M home in 59:42
Th: am - 4/5M easy in 34:10, pm - 4/5M home in 30:24 knee improving each day but still uncomfortable and by protecting it I'm changing my running style which is making other things hurt
F: pm - 2M jog home + strides, knee much better, now have dilemma whether to race on Sat
Sa: decided to be sensible and not race the local XC league. Instead did an XC session on thick mud: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1,1,1 mins all with 90secs jog recovery, 10/11M total, pm - 30:02 easy 4M
Su: Knee ok after yesterdays session, did an easy14M with the wife 1:48:11 total

Total: 78M so not a bad week mileage wise and despite Tuesday's cock up I managed to keep running. Knee keeps improving so should be fine for National champs week after next.

In reply to Just Tintin:

My girlfriend has been waxing lyrical over yoga during her rehab from a ruptured/snapped Achilles tendon which resulted in a cast and airboot. If it catches your interest makes for good low impact option, good for core and mental...apparently. Good luck with your rehab and hope it goes quickly, the beginning is always the worst, can only get better and stronger from here!!!

In reply to Nick Russell:

Thanks Nick. I watched the Courtney Sanders one last week and was equally inspired and intimidated, but hadn't thought about what she was doing as a pulley system. It's funny, until this week I was untrusting of my pull-up bar, but now with it strung with all manner of things, faith has had to come fast!

In reply to robbiebrookie:

Thanks very much - yoga is definitely in the plan, and will give a focus to doing all the strength-building shapes I'll need to do for physio. Hope your girlfriend is enjoying her freedom!

In reply to Si dH:

Thanks! Trying to persuade the Unit to set me some traverses but they are encouraging me to eat pizza and drink hot chocolate instead.

Great to see your videos too. A much smoother version of Monochrome than the person I was spotting for a month ago!

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy, it was good to meet you on Sunday and I hope you have a productive trip to Spain.

This week wasn't great for me. I was still recovering from being ill the week before

Tue - easy bouldering - I didn't feel well enough to train properly
Wed - easy bouldering - see above
Thursday - antagonists and weighted pull ups
Friday - travel to Portland

Saturday - Was pretty wet all day and Portland was soaked. We checked the weather station and it wasn't raining in Swanage. We arrived in the drizzle and walked into Winspit. Mostly things were very wet but right at the end there was one dry line Solstice (7b). It isn't a great line and starts off going through what appear to be poorly detached blocks. Without having much of a choice we redpointed it to have saved something from the day.

Sunday - Was quite cold and we headed to Battleship. I had hoped to look at Zinc Oxide Mountain, but the bottom looked pretty damp. We did some warm ups, thought about giving Pump Hitler a go, but considered it better to do something shorter where we could switch leads quicker and not cool down to much. In the end we made a quick redpoint of Psychic EMF (7a+). I climbed half way bolt to bolt on the first go. Next go I went to the top bolt to bolt then sent it on the next go.

Monday - Had bright sunshine and looked like a great day for climbing. We headed down to The Cuttings. Did some very easy warm ups with my wife. The Sign of the Vulcan was seeping a little . I wasn't sure if it was a problem, but decided to play it safe. I thought about trying Hall of Mirrors, but in the end was a bit of a whimp and did Live by the Sword (7a+). It took one go to put in the bolts and suss the moves and then I sent it (just) next try. I'd be keen to try Hall of Mirrors, but if it is a short trip it might be worth going with someone who knows the beta.

All in all I completely failed on my goal of 3 7b's. This was obviously my fault for not trying any, but 3 7a+'s in sometimes challenging conditions didn't feel too bad. I've now done 6 routes graded in the 7's this year which doesn't feel bad given that it's only Feb.

The plan for this week is to get back into training. I've had two weeks off, so I'll be happy just to put good efforts in. My next trip is a week in Font at the start of April. My March weekends look a bit full, so it's hard to set outdoor goals before then.

In reply to TonyB:

Yes it was good to meet up. I can give some beta on hall of mirrors if you go back - I'd have done it on Sunday had I known you might try it!

In reply to Just Tintin:

Thanks re: videos. What sequence was your friend trying on Monochrome? My ascent didn't feel smooth to me!

In reply to AJM:

Not so much climbing for me this week, work has again totally taken over. However I only have 2 months of my current secondment left and feel like I'm into the home straight now... plus, Spain next week

Mon - Rest.
Tues - Part 1 of assessment.
Wedns - Rest.
Thurs - Part 2 of assessment.
Fri - Rest, sort of. About 13 hours at work
Sat - Castle. Boulder, got more involved than I intended and climbed until exhausted, lots at V3/4.
Sun - Arch North. Pretty much a repeat of Saturday at a different wall.

In reply to AJM:


Still not started the training program, I might have to sack it until after Easter and do some fitness training as I don't want to turn up in Spain unfit as well as weak. Went to Stockport to do routes for first time since, I think, before Christmas and failed to OS any of the three new 7as.

This week was three sessions including the aforementioned Stockport trip

In reply to Tyler:

The red 7a on the Mammut wall is horrendous!

In reply to Ally Smith:

Yes the old AWS grade tombola in full effect!

One for the floor, I went on a TRX yesterday for the first time ever. I did some butterfly's which were harder than I expected (I thought I'd end up parallel to the floor, I ended up at 45 degrees!). I'm not sure if these do anything to help my climbing (anyone know if/how they might help) but I felt great afterwards (all evening I had felt sluggish and immobile). Obviously it's early days but just thought it might be useful to others who've never tried them.

In reply to Tyler:
Not sure what a butterfly is. I've just started on them doing elbow extensions and I,y,t's. I'm on my knees and also at about 45 degrees. That's not a problem, just build up.

Supposed to be great for shoulder stability and strength - as long as you keep proper shoulder alignment.

I feel good after too.

In reply to biscuit:

Butterfly's (I got this from a YouTube video afterwards) are, I imagine, T's. i.e. drop and down to a sort of crucifix and then push yourself back up by bringing arms together, straight armed. I found it quite hard but am not sore yet today. I did 3x 10

I'm guessing should stability should help me lock off on steep stuff? In which case is there value in making the exrcise harder with fewer reps to build up strength?

In reply to AJM:

Thanks for doing the stats AJM. Enjoy your trip to Spain! Sounds smart to change a lot between bouldering and sports to keep psyche up. Rjukan was amazing, though quite busy due to the icefestival that we didn’t know about.

STG (next two weeks): have some progress on the purple 6c (am powered out at 6th clip)

MTG (end of year): Climb 5 7+es
Onsight 7-
Trad 7- redpoint and onsight 6

Lifetime: Hoka hey (25 pitches 7+ trad)
1938-route on the Eiger
Peuterey ridge

M: autobelay for an hour, 3 routes up, then 3 min rest and up again, onsighted new 6b, but got completely shutdown on another.
T: still pumped from monday, probably bad recovery due to being ill over the weekend.
W: rest
T: drive to Rjukan
F: Krokan, toproped on Kjøkkentrappa WI4, led an unknown WI5 afterwards, but it was so chopped up that it felt like drytooling a D4 (disclaimer, only drytooled on plastic). Spent 4 hours in ‘badeland’ (the swimminghall) afterwards.
S: Bølgen, planned on climbing ‘to menn og et foster WI4’, but there were two parties on it and one queuing, so went for ‘Bølgen WI3’ instead. Continued op longer than the guide said, which gave one more nice pillar. Did get the rope stuck twice due to abseiling through the forest. Abseiling over the waterfall not recommended if there are others below, which one team did and caused a lot of falling ice due to that I got a cut in my face. Led an alternative p1 because of the falling ice, which my partner and the team behind said was more like WI4, so I think I’m taking the tick .
S: Did ‘Vemorkbrufoss vest WI5’. Seconded both pitches as I got quite a big chunk of ice straight in the knee on Saturday and it felt a little unstable.

In reply to alexm198:

It might be worth to avoid the Krokan area, unless you want some easy ticks (see my post). They used it for toproping at the ice fest, so I guess the routes are even more chopped up than when I was there the day before the ice fest. Got some 'beta' for Sabotørfossen, that was that one should remember the bolted belay after pitch 2. The lad who told us had a perfect belay in ice, turned around and saw the bolts.. He did highly recommend the route though.

In reply to robbiebrookie:

Good to hear your GF is climbing again!
For crack climbing I really rated 'Ettringen' in Germany. It's maybe too long north for where you are planning to go, but it might have good weather if everything in the Alps is crap. Routes tend to be quite short, and there is a good mix of jamming-cracks, layback-cracks, stemming and compression aretes. Let me know if you want more info on the area.

In reply to Tyler:

I,y,t's covers all angles of above the head movement, antagonist and agonist and core. I'd do those rather than just T's. I think that rather than them being a strength exercise they are a stability/resistance exercise, though they will have a strength effect. I fell on my face in the T position (foot slip) and nearly dislocated both my shoulders so I'd be wary of beefing it up until you can do them perfectly.

The effect on your climbing will be stronger, more enduring shoulders. So stronger on shouldery moves, less injury prone (shoulder trouble often ends up in elbows) and able to keep going longer.

I doubt we'll see a definite link I.e. I can do ten perfect reps and can now climb a grade higher, but for the time it takes I think it's worth it.

In reply to biscuit:
Cheers Andy, FYI this was in Rochdale

In reply to AJM:


That would be useful. I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to get back though. We were thinking of going down that way with the family in March, but I think I'll just end up with a couple of hours so should almost certainly do something easier.

In reply to 0.5viking:

Thanks - yes great she is climbing, she just needs to get fit and strong now. Something I can empathize with...!

Ettringen looks interesting, had a quick look online for basic info, great to have new ideas, welcome any info your happy to share, I'm guessing its best in Spring/Autumn as Summer is too hot?

In reply to Si dH:

I remember liking your font video when I saw it last time and rewatched it yesterday. One day I'll need you to give me a ticklist for a trip there, although it might have to be as "anti-Font" a ticklist as possible for me to tick anything hard!

In reply to AJM:

I also like 'anti-font' problems in Font, at least to an extent Can certainly point you at some good ones.

In reply to AJM:


Still in Scotland! Hence the late reply - public wifi is a bit sluggish. Yeah, that's how I'm planning to continue with the conditioning into my first 8 week transition period, which should start next week.


Mon - Strength. Core warm up, Ring Dips, Rope grip Pullup, Box Step +35kg pack, hanging leg raise.
Tue - Dry tooling at Rope Race. Might do this for another week before completely finishing with Winter training until later in the year.
Wed - Rest
Thu - Some aerocap at AW Stockport. A 20 minute lap and 2x10 minute laps. Next time drop the grade a bit so I can climb for longer. A few practice falls.
Fri - Driving to Aviemore.
Sat - Walked into Beinn Dearg, had planned to have a go at soloing Penguin Gully (III 4) but initial pitch was mush and didn't fancy the alternative start. Kind of regret not giving it a go. Beautiful day, though.
Sun - Fuselage Gully (II). Had planned to do West Buttress (Winter) (IV 5) but went too high up the gully. Creating a 'bomber' belay to pitch past the wreckage is always fun. Another stunning day.

STG

Last weeks goals -


Still in Scotland. Next weeks goals to start a new transition period with a couple of general conditioning sessions and some low intensity aerobic work.

MTG

Continue to rehab right hand and left shoulder injuries. Week in Scotland in Feb, conditions permitting. Savage Slit (Winter) (V 6), Fallout Corner (Winter) (VI 7),The Guillotine (V 6), and Gully of the Gods (VI 6) are on the radar.

LTG

Recovery of left shoulder and right hand injuries.

Routes:
The HVSs on Hen Cloud and Millstone Edge
Cemetery Gates (E1 5b)
Brown's Eliminate (E2 5b)
Regent Street (E2 5c)
Shibboleth (E2 5c)
Steeple (E2 5c)

Periodized training plan with two peaks, one for Kalymnos in October. Not really settled on particular routes yet, but possibly

Wild Sex (6b)
DNA (7a)
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith (7a+)

Second peak for Winter 2016/17. Planning on taking 8-10 weeks off for Scottish Winter, Alps and Canada. Routes to be decided but would like some of the Alpine classics.

The North Face (TD+ 6a)

Learn to ski.

BHAG

The 1938 Route (ED2)
London Wall (E5 6a)
American Direct (ED1 6c+)

Something on El Capitan.

Morning Campers,

Ta muchly AJM. Apologies for the late post, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Training Diary WC 08/02/16
Strength Cycle/ Wk 4
Can’t Fault Your Enthusiasm, Just Your Sanity!

So, the main thing I worked out this week (and it kinda dawned on me as a possible problem a few weeks back) was that I shouldn't try to peak at both climbing and running at the same time. See, the plan was to send my bouldering uber-project Underhand AND set a 5K PB all in the same week but the higher intensity of my training (and accidental beasting at an impromptu circuits session) left me a touch too worn out to give it the full beans on Underhand and then nursing a bit of a cold and unable to do much cardiovascularly by 5K run day. Too much enthusiasm and a much too overly optimistic approach to what I could cram into a week performance wise scuppered me. Lesson learned.

Monday – Bouldering at The Red Goat, York with the familio. Focused on ‘heels to hands’ and slopers on my warm ups and a few problems from the V4 – V6 circuit (all but one onsight or in couple of goes) – felt more confident at these moves. Got on to a couple of ‘limit’ red problems, one of which included many moves I’m weak on i.e. dynos, gaston moves, slopers and ‘alien head slaps’ (the final hold was a huge rounded alien head that needed to be caught gently but confidently from a layback off of a poxy sidepull crimp. Managed this problem in 6 or 7 goes (maybe 6C+) and then enjoyed failing on a harder, steeper one until we chipped off. For what it’s worth, it felt like I could hang the small holds/slopers more comfortably than ever which may indicate that the current training is beginning to have an impact OR that I was very excited to actually be climbing in a proper wall and therefore had that ‘first time back, overly good-ness’ thang going on. Time will tell! Unfortunately, the bambino wasn’t impressed with her first climbing wall visit, kipping throughout the whole session.
Also, an hour of circuits (hard) with Lower Wharf Canoe Club in the evening, paired with an 11 year old who’s currently UK #1 at canoe slalom for his age group. I beat ‘im – go me (tongue firmly in cheek as I take the victory against a kid 3 ½ times younger than me although he gave me an excellent run for my money . Still, couldn’t get near the performance of my 59 year old father-in-law who took me along). Smashing fun.
Tuesday – Extended Intevals at York Racecourse (Parkrun course): 2 mile warm up then 5 x 1K at 3:36m/km pace with 60s recovery. This should give 18 mins of actual running and I managed it in 17:58 – could definitely feel the leg work from the circuits session yesterday so well stoked.
Wednesday – ‘The Cliff’. Freezing. Back on my 7B+ project, Underhand. Spent a good 4 hours on it and got to within half a pads width of glory, twice – my right finger tips caught the edge of a recessed slot that is the last hold of the crux sequence and I couldn’t udge ‘em further in. Had another wee play on Crusis (7B) and got the easy bottom section wired but pretty beasted by now. Finished by sending Flying Arete (6B) second go (had played on it many years ago but couldn’t remember it) although I did manage to fall upwards on the slopey top out! A brilliant day and I know that Underhand will go, it’s just all gotta come together (maybe at Easter…).
Thursday - Recovery. Drive home.
Friday – Recovery – bit of a sniffle coming.
Saturday – My parents babysat the sproglet for a couple of hours so the Good Lady Wife and I headed for Supershed for her first climbing session in 11 months – the return to rock has begun! Did a fair bit of Aero Cap/Aero Pow circuit action but rests not timed. Noticed that climbing really isn’t that aerobic (as in CV aerobic) as, even with a half decent cold, I could still smash out 60 or 70 steady moves – interesting.
Sunday – Based on yesterday’s ‘cold’ revelation, I headed to Wyndcliffe Quarry with Cha1n and Tom. Led Old Men Last Longer - 5c (onsight), Still Stuck on You - HVS 5a (repeat), Finishing Touch - 6b (repeat), Timmy's Poorly Hand - 7b (ground up, 3rd go – felt easier than 7b, maybe 6c+ even…), Mr Whippy - 6c+ (joint hardest onsight) and And The Crowds Went Wild - E2 5c (onsight). I was really impressed with how my endurance has improved, as well as my confidence to rest on holds and shake out/recover without gibbering – it made for a pretty non stressful day, including the E2. I did notice that I was a little lacking in ‘grunt’ for long reaches but I’ll work on this and my An Cap training phase for the next month should help with this, as will the odd steep board session.
Short Term Goals
Up the difficulty on the ol’ Aero Pow intervals to 6c/6c+ - didn’t do any.
Slopers, slopers, slopers, heel hooks, heel to hand matches, getting feet up and onto hand holds following a cut loose on overhangs, long locks between moves (and other weaknesses) – some at The Red Goat, felt good.
Do more routes outside or inside to fix lack temporary lack of rope clipping ability – went well.
At least one fingerboard session a week. Nope.
Write a new training plan – it’s in my head, just need to get it written down – nope.
Add in 2 sessions of ‘pull muscles’ strength training to max hangs sessions – nope.
3 Core sessions featuring the best of DanDan’s workout and L hangs, knee raises, windscreen wipers and front lever thangs – no.
Medium Term Goals
Climb The Loop from the ‘horn’ (nope – more interested in ‘The Poop’ than ‘The Loop’ just now).
Climb Underhand (7B+) at Almscliff in February Half Term – sooooo close.
Implement and stick to the new training plan – yup!
Weight = 70.7kg

AJM and Si, will do my hangs as percentages of body weight next week - ooh, the excitement!

Love from,
Joyce,
XXXX

In reply to Joyce:

Effort getting so close on 7B+. Just watched a video of underhand, looks like a good problem. Core-y at the start?