UKC

Morning FitClubbers!

Link to last week£s thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=647814

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.

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=641125

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...

Last week£s posters:
Mattrm - Hope your recovery is going well, make sure you let us know how you are getting on
Si dH - I think the positive frame of mind is probably the only thing between you and success on the traverse, think positive!
Hms - Sorry to hear about your Father, but I like your positive response to it.
AJM - Switzerland sounds like good fun, I take it you£ve been there a few times then?
Humptydumpty - Welcome back, solo 6c+?! I don£t care if there was aid, that£s bonkers, well done!
Bobling - Hope you had a good holiday overall, good news on the leg, I hope the Osteo can deliver their promises!
Ian Bell - See you after Indonesia, I hope you can keep some kind of regime going while you are there, Hotel room workouts I guess?
Emily - I guess you have to keep chipping away at these mind games, it will come. Did you lead the 7a+ at Kilnsey? If so, thats pretty impressive to me.
SteveM - Good to have some previous benchmarks to strive for though, are they all climbing benchmarks or running/riding too?
Nick Russell - I never fail to be amazed by things like running 54km in a week, I just find it inconceivable! 7c in a day is a good ambitious target.
Dandan82 - Coming back from a holiday to Kaly without injuries? Unheard of.
Ally Smith - I hadn£t considered the back putting paid to all core training, hopefully you can regain that reasonably fast when the back is better?
Leeboy1985 - Good job on hitting 82kg, you£re doing well on the short term goals currently.
Tyler - Did you consider bending your arm? Was it successful£?
Hokkyokusei - £ I should probably enter a 10k road race before I put too much weight back on.£ or, you know, stop putting weight back on!
D1 - Interested to see if you were able to try out your layers, snacks and water approach to keeping the energy up?
JayK - I£m glad you mentioned physio and long term solutions at the end there, ibuprofen and taping doesn£t sound like a long term winner£
Biscuit - I imagine you are one of very few people who skip a session because you are aware it would not be productive after 12 hr work days, that£s good to see.
Just Tintin - 1533?!
Curious Yellow - I£ve never even heard of shapeshifter, must have a look. When you say generous do you mean soft?
EDIT for latecomer!:
Heelhookofglory - Glad to hear you are feeling better, I found my general health and resistance to minor illness was much higher after I ditched processed foods

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks me, interesting week...

M: Wanted to go for an aero session to ease myself back into climbing after Kaly and to wake my muscles up ready for my Lattice Assessment on Wednesday, unfortunately an MOT fail meant I spent the evening replacing ball joint dust covers, rubbish.

T: Rest

W: Lattice Board, see below

T: MTB ride at a little local discovery, a nice flat-ish loop singletrack and then a few runs down a built trail, probably only 5-6 miles in all

F: DIY club; Concrete foundation strip for my garage.

S: Indoor; Calshot. After advice from Tom on Wednesday, went for 10 minutes of 1min on 1min off at 7a, did 2 sets but elbow was complaining a little so left it at that. Pulled off the biggest flapper on my pinkie that i've ever seen.

S: Might get some bricks laid in a bit

So, the Lattice, here are my scores:

- finger strength +3kg, 105% on Tom's new test edge (this is 8c redpoint territory!)
- Top end; 56 moves (this is NOT 8c territory, barely even 7c)
- Steep decline - 42,30,21,18,15,14,14 (these middle numbers are guesstimates based on the graph, but start and finish and number of sets is right)
- Leveling off at 14 moves 24.4% an-cap
- Aerobic power and efficiency 33.26%

Suggestions were to get AnCap up to 25-30%, Aerobic Efficiency up to 45-50% and not to lose my ace, the finger strength.

Basically i'm totally out of whack, I don't have the right balance of energy systems to take advantage of my frankly ludicrous finger strength.
The only number I don't quite understand is the Aerobic Efficiency, does anyone know how this is worked out and what it represents?

Although i'm not currently getting a training plan from Tom, his recommendation to me for the next 2 months before Margalef were to do solely 10 minute set AeroCap sessions on around 6a-6b difficulty, and 10 min sets of min on-min off at around 7a. I guess this second exercise is AeroPow but im wondering how it should feel? I did it yesterday and it's not long enough to get pumped so it feels constantly do-able all the way to last rep, the only thing it really elicits is high heart rate and breathing increase, is that right?

I'm enthusiastic to build on this, especially as it seems quite low risk from an injury point of view, the focus being on volume rather than really powerful stuff, i'm hopeful that I can make some good gains!

In reply to Dandan:

On the aeropow you should be pumped. If you aren't then the circuit is too short or the rest too long. The point of aeropow training as I understand it is to get boxed out of your brains. Either by doing on/off circuits like you or by replicating similar through FoC.

In reply to Dandan:

Ps I just checked and I am right.
Read the Barrows pdf linked in your starter post, it explains the exercises all fairly well.

In reply to Si dH:

Cheers, I'll read the barrows doc again, I've read it several times over but can't seem to retain the information!
I have a weird relationship with pump, I find it very hard to get pump through training, it only really surfaces briefly if I rush my warm up and push too hard too fast.
I seem to go from fine to power fade without any pump, I'm not saying this is a good thing, it could be a sign of how out of balance my energy systems are.
I really want to fire all these questions at Tom but as I'm not paying for a training plan it seems like his responsibility to me is done and I don't want to pester him.

In reply to Dandan:

I suggest you listen to Tom's training beta podcast - from 56 to 61 minutes

https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/tom-randall/

and Alex Barrows - from 37 to 40ish

https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/alex-barrows/

In this podcast, Tom categorises the minute on minute off work as a form of higher intensity Aerobic Capacity and Alex too discusses doing as short as 30 seconds on 30 seconds off, and also categorises it as Aerobic Capacity. Tom mentions NOT getting very pumped.

SidH is correct, AeroPow should get you pumped, but you should confirm with Tom whether he meant the 1 on 1 off as AeroPow or Aerocap, i suspect its the latter.

In reply to conorcussell:

This could make more sense, I'll have a listen, cheers!

In reply to Dandan:
Shapeshifter links Jurassic Shift into the top of Buoys will be Buoys via about two bolts-worth of thin powerful moves, your mutant finger strength would make short work of it! It might be a case of do it before it gets downgraded though...

Mon: Rest.
Tues: (Slightly!) weighted pullups on edges, fingerboard. Felt crap.
Wedns: Rings x2.
Thurs: Tired so just did a few routes.
Fri: Fingerboard am. Wall pm 4x4 laps on short steep 6b+.
Sat: Bouldered for about an hour.
Sun: Boulder problem doubles x6. Double laps on 7a x12. Need a rest day...

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dandan, I hope so. Technically I was on the leading end of the rope on that 7a+, but seeing as I had the first two bolts pre-clipped and never made it to a position where I could clip the fourth, there was precious little actual climbing above a bolt involved really. I was mainly working the moves from the ground to the third clip, which I did manage to get right through. The next part was easier (I think) but scarier stuff so I kept backing off.

Very lazy week this week; I think I needed a bit of a rest from too many weekends away in a row. I really could have gone for a run or a swim or something though. Feeling more refreshed after a chill out this weekend.

Mon Climbing at Cheddar. Flashed a 6a - I very rarely climb anything first try outside so this was very nice, especially as I got absolutely terrified around the penultimate bolt but managed to calm down, think about it a bit more and convince myself I could make the clip instead of giving up. Then flailed at a hard 6b+.
Tue Nothing.
Wed Nothing.
Thu Nothing.
Fri Climbing at UCR. Not many routes but one of them was a 6b+ flash that felt pretty good. Got really scared on a 6c which was depressing as I normally manage to avoid this problem intruding on my indoor climbing to that extent.
Sat Nothing.
Sun Bouldering at TCA, a few of the new yellows (V1-4 allegedly? Not sure I found any V1s in there) and a couple of goes on the steep 6b circuit. Kept falling off two moves from the end.

Goals:

Short term (Aug)

• work on fear
  • mixed results this week; I did manage to try and get past this on the Cheddar 6a, with a good outcome
• work on Rustler (6c) some more
  • couldn't get keen for this route this week, went to a different bit of Cheddar

Medium term (Aug, Sep, Oct)

• maintain weight in 56-58kg range
  • still 59.5kg
• go outdoor climbing with a good attitude
  • pretty good at Cheddar this week

Maybe someday

• redpoint something legitimately beginning with 7 indoors?
• redpoint another something beginning with 7 outdoors??
• lead a VS???

In reply to Dandan:


Spectacular results!

Now don't forget the most important part of the process of getting up a hard route, getting on one (and sticking with it)! If routes are what you are after I'd pay heed to what Moose said last week, you can get very (and relevantly) fit at the crag.

In reply to Dandan:
Cheers Dan. You're right about Eastwood but I'm not enjoying it any more, will go back to it in early winter and hopefully totally crush it.

2016 goals:

- Maintain a weight of around 11 stone measured Sunday night

- Good range of 'up' f7B/+s
- Wright's Traverse (f7B) (done)
- moffatrocity (f7B+) (done)
- The Eastwood Traverse (f7B+)
- The Mentalist (f7C)
- Paint it Black (f7C)
- Tetris (f7C)

- Arch Enemies (7c+) (done)
- The Free Monster (8a)

M: Rest
T: Bouldering at Blackwell Dale after work. Really enjoyed the session and ended up trying things in my car's headlights for a good half hour after dark. Reminded me why I did so much of it last year. Ticked off Jerry's Traverse Reverse (f7A+) (L to R, which for me is quite a bit harder than R to L) then tried the moves on Paint it Black. I think I only actually did a couple of them, but none felt totally desperate, which given I was already tired is good. A more focussed session calls. (I also tried Orange Si (f7B) given the appropriate name, but it's totally brick hard.)
W: In the evening I did a max hang session on the fingerboard. Warm up then 4x 10 second one arm hangs with (-12.4kg) on either side (half crimp on 20mm edge). Then 4 x 10 second one arm hangs with (-6.8 kg) on either side (front 3 in good BM2000 pockets). Felt some pain in my right middle two flexor unit on the last of those, so stopped. That's what I get for fingerboarding the day after bouldering. Also did some core work (trying to progress towards a front lever while warming up my fingers for the max hang session.)
T: Rest
F: Rest
S: 3rd session Free Monster. After a bolt-to-bolt to put the clips in, on my first proper go I got half a move further in to the crux from the ground than last week (for anyone who knows the route, that means making the match on the poor crimps but then falling off before reaching the flake.) I then rested a couple of minutes on the rope (not very long) then pulled back on a move lower and climbed to the top - so overlapping halves. Also in the process found a better foot position for the penultimate move, which was a bit of a throw but is now more static. Next go, I got a half move further again, ie reached the flake, bit didn't catch right amd couldn't reel my core in enough to get my feet high without the good bit. Fell off and lowered. At this point I was definitely on redpoint. Sparing the details I had two more goes, on both of which I felt super strong but made technical errors (once missing a hold, next go a foot slip) that meant I fell off early in the crux.)
S: Just done (almost) a max hang session and some core work. Same as previous one arm max hang sessions, but dropped the weight assistance on the edge to 11.3kg.

Injury catalogue: no significant change this week. The tweak I felt on Wednesday had subsided again by Saturday such that I didn't feel it at all on the crux pocket like I had the week before. Need to keep being careful on it. I could feel the shoulders and elbows being a tiny bit tight at times but no real pain.

Weight last Sunday night was 11st 0lb.

Another good week. Part of me is a bit gutted about yesterday - I think I could actually have ticked it if I'd just done everything technically right on my strongest go. But realistically, feeling that good on an 8a third session is really positive. Just hope conditions are as good next weekend. The breeze yesterday helped I think.

Si

In reply to Dandan:

Got to ask by the way, what finger strength training have you done in the past to build up that level of finger strength?


I've been doing 3 weeks of my current 1 arm training now and wondering whether to adapt it slightly, or maybe do 3 weeks of weighted 2 armers and then go back to it. Think it's usually good to change things up regularly... anyone have a view?

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dan. This was always going to be a stressful week and turned out to be a pretty successful one too.

M - cycle commute. Armistice wall in evening. Finally ticked Remebrance - eveything jusgt flowed perfectly and it felt really easy. I've been keeping the sequence for this alive in my head for about 10 months, reworking it in my mind, so now I can forget about it. Another project needed.
T - cycle commute.
W - cycle commute. UCR circuits on the way home. Keeping the rests fairly short, thrashed round the 6c+ & 7a circuits as many tomes as possible.
T - D2 got A level results. They were very good so she it into her first choice uni, big relief. D1 & I went to Cheddar, back to The Wave. I tried a 7c and had a real struggle getting anywhere much on it. I guess that grade in basically 7m of climbing is going to be tough!
F - couple of miles walking. Core session.
S - TCA trying the yellows. Agree with Emily that there seem precious few at the lower end, and many of them have huge moves in a rather 'lazy setting' way. There are ~9 I either haven't tried or didn't get, and several more of thse will probably go with practise.
S - UCR 14 routes in pairs which included a 7b clean second try and getting to the penultimate hold on another 7b too. Either I'm getting better or they are a bit soft.

Feeling indecently strong at the moment. Hoping to get outside at least one evening this week and possibly next weekend too. Organising trips also needs to get underway - long weekend in Spain with D1 should be possible once D2 is at uni.

In reply to hms:
Good job on Remembrance! Pass on my congratulations to D2

In reply to hms:

Yeah, I thought this as well (although I kind of enjoyed some of the big moves!) - especially with the way the feet were set, ie just gratuitously missing on unusually many of the problems.

In reply to Si dH:


I've only done specific finger training in the last couple of years, I've followed Chris Webb parsons 6 week program twice in a row a year or two ago and one and half times more recently, but that's pretty much it.
I've never managed to stick a regular 7:3 varying-grip repeaters for long, normally through other injuries stopping me training. I've always enjoyed crimps over other hold types, I guess it must be partially a natural advantage?

In reply to Dandan:

Cheers Dan. I didn't skip the session a few weeks previously after a similar hard week at work and couldn't string more than 2 moves together. Lesson learned!

Slightly regretting it now though as Kilnsey seems to have turned into a waterfall so not going tomorrow.

It's been a funny week. I've felt jaded all week. I rested on Monday as I was knackered after work but just don't seem to have been able to get it back. Was going to train Tuesday, but didn't. Then Friday, too tired. Yesterday was offered up but I couldn't get off the couch. Coached the squad today and did some boulders from a comp last week with them. They were hard, I felt OK (and most importantly managed one that they couldn't do) but afterwards I felt wiped out. So no training after work as planned.

May well head to the depot tomorrow and see how I get on after another early night.

In reply to Dandan:
Fair enough. Is your open hand strength also good then (eg front/back 3) or are you way stronger in a crimp position?

In reply to Curious Yellow:

Thanks CY. I'll email you this evening!

In reply to Dandan:

I was saying to Nick R only today that I bet you'd be stronger than Ally and I was right

Hopefully I should have my lattice edge up at home and you can chortle at how weak my score is fwiw I was on 44 moves and about 30% ancap a month or so before I went to Kaly last year (so hopefully with the extra few weeks would have been similar or slightly fewer headline moves by the time I actually got out there. That was off 90% on Toms old test edge.

Toms had me on 1on1off before and I think it said not pumped at the start bit building over the session to a reasonably decent pump by the end, or something like that...

In reply to Curious Yellow:


+1 to that, congrats both

In reply to Si dH:

Yeah it's pretty reasonable all around I think, I don't consciously think much about how i'm holding stuff, I just grab it however I can so I probably end up in a crimp position 90% of the time if I can. Also I never, ever do closed crimp, I don't know why.

In reply to Dandan:

I feel we are very similar. Very strong, but can't hang on for sh!t! I'm very interested in the lattice board test. I'm sure Ally would find it hilarious (and believable) if I could barely manage 40 moves. :-D

In reply to Dandan:


I've climbed in Switzerland a nunber of times, but wendenstock only last year out of those.

Not a bad week although let down by today a bit really.

- Tired from holiday Monday
- Dug another 2 stumps out Tuesday and Wednesday. Tweaked something in the back of my wrist a bit so have held off on any more of that in recent days.
- wall Thursday. Nothing too exciting but first visit in a while, some new problems and a few goes on some circuits.
- nothing Friday
- wall with TonyB on Saturday. Some good goes on some relatively tough problems, felt like a good session. Also brewed beer, tidied shed, mowed lawn and did light garden admin, bought shoes and a large number of other things - a productive day.
- Swanage today with Nick R, mrsAJM and TonyB. Some sort of hard off route variant of spook seconded to warm up then a fun hvs chimney Strapiombo (HVS 5b) . Went down to try Oceanid (E2 5b) but it was cold and windy by then and the humidity was up so I got to the first belay after a bit of a greasy sandy first pitch and just decided I didn't want to. Abbed off and escaped up a vs. Nick stormed up Warlord (E4 6a) which looked really good.

Today was a bit frustrating. We had a load of psyche inducing chat about all these routes we wanted to do and all that and then when I get on the rock it all just feels as far away as ever. I seem to be very dependent on my head state to get anything done and I just don't know how to manage that state properly. I'm sure I'm stronger than I was in 2013 and technically I'm probably a better climber too - whilst I may have been fitter then the thing which is really missing is the mental state which says "e3s are no bother, you might have to fight a bit but you'll be fine". I want that back because there's a load of cool trad out there I want to do with E3, E4 and E5 grades attached to it. Harrumph.

In reply to AJM:
You'll get it back soon enough. When I've been lacking trad mojo in the past I've found the most important thing is just maximising onsight mileage for a few weeks, evwn if you have to drop a grade or two.
I'd be even worse than you at the moment anyway.

In reply to AJM:
.


Yer, thinking about this, it might be that Dan's session is just relatively short? 10 mins of 1on/1off is only actually 5mins on the wall. When i did circuits aeropow the circuit took me about 1 minute 10 climbing at max speed, and I did 8 reps before a long rest. I was boxed by the 7th or 8th. Dan - maybe just try doing a few more? And obviously make sure you eliminate any holds that are juggy enough to be rests.

In reply to Dandan:

Holiday was great thanks! This week was back to normal for me. A good week over all with at least one short term goal achieved (42+ press ups in 2 mins). Whilst doing my swimming on Monday I also resolved to request a climbing pass this weekend which was granted - the weather crapped out though but instead of just staying at home we went to Redpoint, where I had my first roped session indoors for about 6 years. Was good fun and I learnt to use a Gri-Gri, I can see myself being sucked into a sport maelstrom with the rest of you guys ; ). I now have a couple of new goals for hitting wall grades.

Stats:
Mon - P43 (Yay, short term goal achieved!), S37
Tues - Swim, 1650m. 40 mins.
Weds - P42, S37
Thurs - P44, S38
Fri - Beer, wine, fags. Tut tut.
Sat - Hungover.
Sun - Redpoint, wondering when everyone at the wall became 15 years younger than me. 6a with one rest.
Weight: 72.70
Injury report: Leg feeling a bit better but still not right, Osteo was optimistic I would be running on it again in a couple of weeks which I would love - my wife ran a club 7k today and the buzz was great, I just wanted to join right in! Have been faithfully doing exercises as prescribed and have a follow up appointment next week.

Goals:
Short Term (next four weeks)
Sort out some sort of training regime/goals/structure. Hopefully the ability to use Fitclub as a yardstick to record progress and to clarify objectives and tactics will help with this! Tick. We are making progress. Remove this one.
Make progress towards press-up sit up targets e.g: 44 press ups in 2 mins and 50 sit ups. Tick press ups, now amended to 50, need to make better progress on sit ups.
Flash 6a at the wall.

Medium Term (over course of next year)
Get up a 6c at the wall.
Fix whatever the f**k it is that is stopping me from running.
Start ticking a few routes that are local that I really need to do - Unknown Wall at Avon, The Pat Littlejohn VS's at Wyndcliffe, Suspension Flake at Hound Tor, Osiris at Fall Bay, Tons in Pembs, Tons at Chair Ladder, LBJ and Anvil Corus at Bosi
Lots of others that I'll add to this list as I remember/come across them.

Long Term
I'd love to run a marathon! The Cuillin Ridge, DoWH
BHAG - Cenotaph Corner

In reply to Si dH:

I think my worry is that if the trick is tons of rock mileage then this might be my last chance for some time!

In reply to Dandan:


BONKERS!

I was consistently OS'ing 7c when i was scoring in the mid 40s, let alone mid 50s, so I think you might need to tune up your tactics and route reading too?


Pretty good, but don't ignore this type of training, otherwise you'll end up out of kilter the other way around! (Probably highly unlikely given the finger-strength score!)

This is a bit of a mystery to me too - think this is Remus' magic stats correlation rather than a simply calculable number?

This would probably turn you into f8b UK climber?




- 10 minute set AeroCap sessions on around 6a-6b difficulty
low-end aero-cap work - good opportunity to wire in some technique drills too?

- and 10 min sets of min on-min off at around 7a.
This is still aero-cap, just more intense. y keeping the work down to 1min, you shouldn't get too pumped,

I did it yesterday and it's not long enough to get pumped so it feels constantly do-able all the way to last rep, the only thing it really elicits is high heart rate and breathing increase, is that right?

Sounds like you've got the intensity right then "aerobic" = using oxygen = breathing hard and elevated heart-rate, not pumped and producing so much lactate you're getting pumped.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Fwiw last time I saw Tom mid 40s was 7b/+ (~40 for 7b, ~50 for b+, etc)

In reply to Dandan:
Benchmarks in everything Climbing ones tend to be based on grade or "feel". Quantifying grade is easy. But "feel" is my mental state/calmness/flow whilst climbing, I find this comes really easily when soloing but I fight for it when climbing on gear or bolts. Right now, I'm feeling like the flow on VS is coming - but haven't tried anything run-out yet - which is when it usually runs out! Lots of variety in multi-/single-pitch, locations and different rock types are planned for the long weekend including some HVS (and maybe a well protected E1). Running, biking, etc are generally just the usual time to do X. One thing I struggle with is quantifying the "feel" goals and making them progressive. Any ideas?



STG (end of August)
Re-establish fitness habits; get back climbing, running, biking and some antagonistics/core work
Focus on trad outdoors
Have a fun long bank holiday weekend in North Wales (change of location, not going to Pembroke any more)

MTG (end of 2016)
Solid at UK HVS
Regular exercise schedule

LTG (2017 and beyond)
Orange alpine circuit at Font
Multi-day ski tours
Denali
Yosemite big walling again

BHAG
Big wall solo

Last week was
Mon Lunchtime run, 33 min trails. 3 VS at Ilkley Quarry in the evening.
Tue Hilly loop on the road bike before work, 1hr. Climbing at Almscliff afterwards, another couple of VS for me. Followed Will on a couple of harder routes, cheated by pulling on the gear on Shuffle Crack 5c and fell off lots on Arries Ook 6a.
Wed Back at Almscliff, another couple of VS.
Thu One way commute sucking my brother's back wheel, 1hr.
Fri Bouldering at Harrogate, fitting in a session in between work commitments. Hot and sweaty but did everything up to purple and half the greens.
Sat Visiting Newcastle for the weekend so no climbing. Did local Parkrun (first time there) in 20m53s. Pushed really hard and thought I'd overcooked myself afer the first mile but I was still catching people in front all the way to the line. Really pleased with the time, only 1.5 mins slower than my PB from 2010.
Sun Easy run on Tynemouth Longsands, mostly barefoot in the water. Was only going to do 30 mins but it was a lovely sunny morning so did 2 slow laps of the beach. 1hr. Left Achilles was very tight all weekend, lots of stretching throughout. More needed.

In summary: Feeling good (apart from left Achilles). Change of location to North Wales for next weekend, looking forward to jumping on more difficult routes and trying hard!

In reply to biscuit:

Most of North Buttress and the Bulge are probably out for a while but there's climbable stuff towards the left side - I had a full weekend there trying Last Action Hero. Always prudent to have a perma-dry fall-back project.

In reply to Dandan:

Feeling quite tired at the moment – Team GB owes me >10hrs sleep!

Week 34:
M - Rest. Stretching and foam rollering whilst watching Cav take Silver in the Omnium.
T - Devil’s Gorge – 4 tie-ins on the project. #1 Bolt-2-bolt; stinkingly hot on the headwall. #2 Bigger links; still hot. #3 RP attempt; didn’t get it all back at the rest and fell on the move leftwards on the headwall (didn’t really engage with the RH crimp). Did it in two overlapping sections. #4 RP attempt; again failed to get it all back, or engage on the crimp. Dog to top and strip. Another late night watching Team GB smash the velodrome!
W - Finished at 4pm and got training immediately with no commute. Good max hang session; improvements in all grips, including PBs for some of the rehab’d finger combos (front-3 still my weakest grip). 3x 5s 90 degree lock-off on deep slot + 8kg both sides. 15x 1 on/1 off FoC aero-cap with +3kg on harness. Painful in the sun! Antagonists & Core in the garden. WFH is ace sometimes!
T - Felt pretty bolx’d this morning; blood blisters from the FoC work & achy “pre-DOMS”. Yoga post work – same class as a before, but felt much harder after back injury.
F - Rest, foam roller and Olympics. Escaped without DOMS – always a good sign that my body is adapting well and I’m getting fit.
S - Should have gone back to DG, as the predicted rain never happened, but partners not available. Went to the Cave instead and had an ace session – Uni friends randomly arrived and had good gossip/chat/heckle too. Linked the crux middle section of The Wire for the first time, came off of the link up project (#4) and felt pretty worked, so chuffed to do a new link-up (7c+ ish) to wram-down. 10 knee-bar sit-ups felt hard, so didn’t push it.
S - Press-ups at breakfast, then 13miles walking along southern half of Sandstone Trail. No navigational errors this time, but 2miles longer than guessitimates before setting off.

Q3 functional goals:
- Benchmark finger strength % - Done. Now aiming for 2% point increase
- Benchmark an-cap – Done. Now aim for >10% increase in both parameters. Initially very specific training via laps of key 12-move sections of tTotG’s; Second fifth, Mr Skin, Bend, and Low Life
- Aim to increase static core strength to maximise use of tTotGs kneebar rests. >4min plank; >90s side plank; 90s V-sit with perfect form; 3x30 kneebar sit-ups in Parisella’s slot; maintain weekly yoga sessions. (The reality might be some way off as all core training is cancelled until back is better)

August route goals:
#1 - Traverse of the Gods, f8b+
Clean and do Gorge projects:
#2 - Devil’s Haircut extension; bouldery f8a+?
#3 - Link-up heaven; stamina f8b?
#4 - Broken Heart/Almost Familiar link-up, easy power-enduro f8b?
#5 - Clean new section and try all the moves on the Kilnsey project (probably a 2017 RP aim now)

In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers Ally, that's clarified a lot, really appreciate it.


Yes, very much so. My movement and choice of foot position is far from perfect, he commended me in changing my entire style from front-on to side-on but said I often take it too far and spend a lot of time and energy getting side on when a front-on move would be a lot quicker. I think this is more evident when I'm indoors, but still an issue for real routes. My route reading is awful but not something I've ever actively tried to develop, I need to do this.


I'm going to try and find out...




Good to know, I always worry I'm not pitching certain sessions at the right intensity.

With all this in mind, and in order to get the absolute most out of the information taken from the assessment, I've asked Tom to write me a plan for the next 7 months up to Easter. I now feel like I can legitimately pester him with all the questions I have!
I was committed to a plan with Robin but he has agreed to offset the cost against a movement and technique session instead, which is the one element that Tom doesn't really advise on, but I need a little help with. Robin is also excellent at route reading so I hope to glean a bit of advice from him on that too.

I'm now very, very excited about the next few months...

In reply to AJM:


Fair enough - either the board has changed angle, or Tom has moved the goal posts.

I counter your scores with my first test - 39 moves and I'd OS'd my first 7c+ 3 weeks beforehand...

In reply to SteveM:


Good goals should be SMART goals, SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, RELEVANT, TIMELY.
'Feel' doesn't really fit with this, I guess you need to stick with more measurable goals to track improvements and just see what happens to the 'feel' as you improve, I've always found that improvements in my physical performance tend to help me feel more confident going into routes. I'm not sure saying "I want this HVS to 'feel' better this week than it did last week" is something you can actively train towards?

In reply to Dandan:


Hello!


Ha ha! I suppose that's the alternative - though easier said than done!

m - rest
t - 10k cycling, ~6k running including 2 x 400m, 2 x 300m, 2 x 200m, 2 x 100m shuttles
w - 10k cycling
t - Trip to Scarborough on a steam train
f - rest
s - ~3k run. 5k Bradford parkrun 24:08
s - ~4k slow run

7 day average weight: 79.0kg, body fat 18.2%, which is an improvement.

STG - parkrun PB at Bradford or Halifax - didn't manage it this week
MTG - Complete the Yorkshireman Marathon (September) in 5hr30min.
LTG - Climb a big mountain next year.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Obviously individual performances will vary and you're right Toms benchmarks have definitely shifted with time - I'm just recanting the latest info I was given.

In reply to Dandan:
Mobility is fine, I just can't pull on it, even under minimal loads on huge holds. It gets better as I warm up but still only to the point were I can lock off for a moment if I can get myself into a bent arm position using my other limbs. Its like being a weaker version of the old me which, if you'd seen me climb before, you'd realise is a terrible state to be in.

I've been diligent with my excercises again and still without improvement so I'm at the point of saying f*ck it and just climbing, it's what usually happens and eventually one injury gets replace by another so I stop worrying about it.....

M: Rehab
T: Rehab and Depot. Did the 7a circuit twice and failed on the 7a+
W: Rehab and yoga class
T: Worked late so no yoga but got to Depot and was rubbish on circuits, Galpinos suggested the new red circuit was easy so went for a furtle but was too knackered to do anything much
F: Rehab
S: Depot, tried a couple of steep reds to no avail, got on the blacks and realised I was way off the pace (to be expected, I suppose).
S: Depot, surprised myself by getting up all the Reds I tried, so some famous wad fail on one of the blacks and realised there's not much difference bwpetween the two at the moment.

Weight back under control, time to find a head point project....

In reply to AJM:


To be fair, he just said on my report that my max score of 56 was below where it should be, he didn't specify a grade, but as I have only flashed 7c (once), I guessed it couldn't correlate to a grade any higher than that. Unless he is comparing it against my fingers where it should be at something like 150+...

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dandan, maybe you should give running a try It's taken me a while to get to the stage where I can do that sort of mileage without feeling crippled afterwards, but if you read back to when IanRUK and Humperdink were posting on here, there's a whole level above that... they were regularly churning out 90 mile weeks!

M - Cheddar, Arch Rock. Ticked All Hands to the Pump (7b), second go. Got through the crux move on first go, then dropped it getting my feet up! Punter. Happy with the commitment (it was a big move, I wasn't sure if I'd get anywhere near it, but I made it) but lacking something in the follow-up
T - morning run. Hill reps
W - Rest. Well, sacked off plans due to work
T - Similar, but fit in another hill reps session
F - UCR. Short session (mainly to justify a visit to Pieminister on the way back, I think). Flashed a 7a+, flailed on the pink 7a I couldn't do ages ago. Had a go on a 7c (only marginally harder than the 7a, I think)
S - 9.8km run, with 2x3km at target pace (4:00/km). Not expecting to get close, but smashed it with the hard kilometres coming in at -1,-7,-7,-10,-4,-5!
S - Swanage with the AJMs and TonyB. Started with a couple of E1s (I was responsible for the 'hard, off-route variation' mentioned by AJM) Then got on Warlord (E4 6a). It wasn't a walk in the park, but I got to the top: another 'Extreme Rock' tick, and another E4 in the bag

This week I learnt that hill reps are really effective running training, especially if done after a period of high volume. Funny that. Now just have to apply the same principles to climbing! It was also the first week in ages that I've had to abandon climbing plans for work. Hopefully that won't happen again too frequently/at all.

STG

Trad: More E4, another E5? Another E4 tick at Swanage, and a good route as well!

Sport: progress on one of the projects. Took a week off the projects this week, and had some fun in a different area of Cheddar. Maybe Brean one evening this week

Running: over 100km in August, including 1 week with 50km. Tick on both fronts! With plenty of time to spare

MTG

Sub-90 in Bristol half in September. Running training is going well.

A tick of Right-Hand Man (8a) or Prisoner of Bullworker (7c+) could be on the cards. I've just got to get up the psyche to actually go back and work on them a bit more

LTG

Snowdonia marathon 2017

All the Avon Gorge routes in the West Country Climbs Rockfax.

BHAG

The Long Hope Route Thanks to The Fox for sending a load of beta over last week

Black Bean

In reply to Dandan:

Snap with losing so much sleep thanks to the Olympics. What a great couple of weeks though. Gutted it's all over! Aims for the next two weeks; start the training plan and get to the physio for the hamstring.

M-Rest
T-Signed up for a new 6 month pass. Planning on getting into a more regular training plan starting on Monday (today) as there is potential for Font in October and Margalef over Christmas. Casual bouldering at the wall.
W-More Casual bouldering. Also went for a hilly 4 miler.
T-Rest
F-Rest
S-Rest
S-Steady 6miler.

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dandan

Yeah my short term goals were going well until this week
I am going to use the excuse of 12 hour days everyday meant I was too busy but really it was just down to being lazy. Will turn it around this week though


This weeks goals
Drop to 81kg - Fail back up to 83kg
Run at least twice - Fail
Get a big hill day in hopefully with a mountaineering route in or if not a wild camp - Fail
Climb at least twice - Fail

Next weeks goals

Drop to 82kg -
2 mountain walks
Get a big hill day in hopefully with a mountaineering route in or if not a wild camp
Climb at least twice

MTG Sept 2016
Be steady on HS routes - looking good so far
Lead 1 VS route - Complete Exchange (VS 4b)
Revised goal - lead Arch Slab (VS 4c) Scavenger (VS 4c)The Druid (VS 4c) by end of Sept

LTG winter 2016/2017
Get experience in Scottish winter

BHAG
Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c)
Orion Face Direct (V 5)

Monday - Lazy
Tuesday - 1.5 hour walk up Pen Y fan - really good evening and managed to get a really good sunset shot so happy with this day.
Wednesday - Lazy
Thursday - Lazy
Friday -Indoor climbing. Led routes up to 6a. Top roped a 6b so this is a posative
Saturday - 7 hour walk around the black mountains in 55mph winds which was fun
Sunday - Lazy „ë.

Happy Training
Lee

In reply to Dandan:


My feel goal is specific, attainable, relevant and timely. As you say, it's measurable that I'm struggling with. Has anyone used/quantified this; even a simple RAG or 1-5 score?

In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dan. 4 weeks of antibiotics. So I need to keep resting up to not cause a flare up of the infection again.

In reply to SteveM:

I haven't heard of anyone doing it, but if you think it's the best way od measuring your progress on trad then I don't see why it couldn't work. You could just assign a RAG status to how comfortable it felt and the grade immediately after climbing each route. After a year the trend of comfort level at each grade should definitely be measurable, given sufficient mileage.
An interesting concept actually, I've never thought of it before, but given that failures on trad are always undesirable, it's probably a better way of doing it than just looking at numbers of onsights vs fails.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Benchmarks will always evolve as the data grows and more or less we see most values stay the same (there has certainly been changes over the years particularly in the top end as that part of the data set has grown so much). The one area where there's an interesting spike is that people who are climbing 8a are over-strong and over-fit.... I think this shows a strong psychological effect around the grade.

In reply to Tom Randall - Lattice Training:


I suspect my own decrepit physiology might fall through the cracks in your modeling, unless the definition of "fit" includes having the mental discipline / tendancy to procrastinate needed to stay at a shake out until feeling better!

In reply to Dandan:

M: nothing
T: nothing
W: TCA tried a few of the yellows without knowing the grade of them. Found them fairly reachy so moved on to trying problems on the steep followed by a cpocpouple of circuits to finish me off.
Th: Cheddar with HMS. No luck on islands in the city. Can't find a small person way to do it! Tried a 7a left of millimetre war which was nice and I might have a proper go at instead of islands in the city.
F-S: went to Oxford and got food poisoning. Wasn't fun.

The food/water/rest combo worked well in keeping the energy up! Gives me a good excuse to eat biscuits

In reply to Dandan:

Cheers Dan. Yep it's made a huge difference so far. When I first started my bike training plan nearly 4 months ago I just couldn't stick to it at all. I've overhauled my diet quite a bit since then and I'd go as far as saying it's been the most important change I've made. Still a bit of work to do on it though.

Bike focus week. A good week and stuck to the plan. No climbing.

Mon: Rest
Tue: 1hr 15 min MTB sweet spots
Wed: 1.5hr MTB high cadence hills // bouldering in afternoon at The Roaches. Ticked a few problems on the amazing Far Skyline grit. It amazes me that not many people climb at this end compared to the Sloth end. The rock is so much better.
Thu: Rest
Fri: 1.5hr MTB zone 3 smooth
Sat: 1hr MTB trail skills (mud focus)
Sun: 1.5hr MTB trail skills (mud focus)

STGs:
Follow bike plan
Climb or strength train 2x per week
Tick indoor V3/4 circuit (white/red) 1/?
Complete 3rd row on indoor bouldering pyramid (V5/6) 0/2

MTGs (before end 2016):
Boulder V5/6
Get competent at skiing part 1: Levels 1-3 at Chill Factore TICK!
Get competent at skiing part 2: Levels 4-6 at Chill Factore (next week)
Get competent at skiing part 3: Get some mileage in!

In reply to Dandan:

Sorry a bit late and not a great week. Have now had another assessment so back on the plan from now onwards I hope! The sad/good? thing is that it is official that I now have to train my weaknesses and so have been put on a diet of aerocap and shoulder work and am only allowed to boulder and do core for fun once all the work is done! It is needed - was so sure I'd come back from injury and need to build back up gradually outdoors that I'm still surprised to be as good as I was, so need to start the next step. Goals wise, probably moving back to pre-break targets for 2016, providing weather gives me enough outside opportunities - appreciate that this might not be possible but will see how it goes and readjust as necessary.

So:

STG (Sept):
* long multipitch in Lakes in preparation for Morocco
* hit the training plan and build up fitness
* WCS admin

MTG (2016):
* TRAD: lead E3 onsight (suspect limestone!). Grit consolidation E1/2. Do lots of long multipitch in Morocco (Oct) especially Samazar Valley plus something on the Thumb. Start working E4 at Gardom's with a view to redpoint early 2017.
* BOULDER: consolidate 6C on different rock types - Razor Roof (f6C) will go in better conditions. Work 7A.
Project: Jerry's Traverse (f7A+) - though might not get enough sessions on this depending on weather/other goals. I think it needs 3-5.
* SPORT: 7a+/ 7b in Mallorca - Dec (7a onsight last year)
* TRAINING: stick to the plan and be able to complete one set of Tom's pull-ups (8 narrow/5 wide) without pulley assistance!

* other more boring things: CWLA assessment, development coach assessment. Start thinking more about Plan B!

M - rest
T - Boulder / campus brookes
W - fingerboard
T - rest
F - Boulder climbing unit comp problems
S - assessment.
S - Boulder climbing unit