UKC

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fit club 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.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_860-7637...

Well, I think summer is over. Hopefully you've all managed to get some good days in! Been some good crack boulder chat as well, conspiring about more meetups!

mattrm: That dive does sound pretty sweet! It really is another world down there. Not the fastest 10k, sure, but considering elevation, heat, off the back of illness, I'd say you gave it a fine effort. Looking forward to hearing more this week.

Tom Green: Ah yes, the classic "took the pads for a walk" day out. Excellent work on The Jim Grin, that's a great tick in the ol' logbook! Any more sport goals this year or looking forward to getting the tools out, or more mountain days before it gets too cold?

Derek Furze: 4km ain't a bad run (Though I may be biased as a non runner!), particularly given the conditions etc. Glad to see you got a day out with Tom, but sorry to hear about the shoulder. Is it an old chronic thing that's popping up again, or something new that needs to be nipped in the bud?

inglesp: Great training week, and good effort on the hitlist route. Acknowledgement of progress on that E1 is brilliant too, always good to feel like you're on good form! Ice lollies well deserved.

AlanLittle: Thanks for the inflatable pillow beta! These days I normally sleep in or near the car and can justify taking a normal pillow. Luxury! Reasonably quiet week which is fair given the last couple, but good to see you're getting back on the project, hopefully you'll see a little progress this week.

Ian Parnell: Thanks for your thoughts on the finger injury. It's more of a re-injury in July, as around April it had started to feel more or less normal. But before re-injury I had also tweaked a different finger which is now fine, but added another layer of complication. But yes, I think chronic tendinopathy sounds plausible, so trying a progressive overload thing with days of complete rest seems promising. Good to see you're having a crack (wahey!) at String Theory, and I hope to hear more of it in the future. Solid training efforts this week as well, shame about the smeggy limestone!

Somerset swede basher: Good effort getting out despite limited time, and impressive 7b+ wetpointing! You must find some good local projects to reap the rewards of strong stamina - esoteric Raven Tor linkups?

Ally Smith: Strong training work despite the scorching weather! Thanks for finding a bunch of soft 7C+s as well I only know one guy who's done Statik and I'm pretty sure he weighs about 4kg! Trying hard but keeping un-tweaky is the aim of the game, so it's good to see you're keeping that up.

Tyler: Fab week! Hope you've had a great time so far, unfortunate flapper incident but getting out on the rock and tackling challenging routes is just brilliant. Glad to see some psyche for upcoming trips as well.

biscuit: Good effort on the trav. I've only climbed on that wall the once but I can remember how slick it was, proper pumpy stuff! Fruit and vegetables are overrated anyway, aren't McDonalds beef patties all the rage these days? Hope you managed to find some dry rock out and about.

Randy: Strong training as always. The sore throat could indeed have just been the dry cold air of a well conditioned office. A friend of mine once thought he had covid due to a similar experience! Glad to see the foot is making some incremental improvements too, I can sympathise with the fear of missing out a good chunk of time to injury.

Liam P: Good week! Solid training day and exploring local crags sounds absolutely delightful. Also great to hear you're settling in well.

SteveJC94: Playing it safe does sound like the right call to a layman like me. Impressive cardio, you'll be fit as a fiddle by the time you're using the finger again!

AJM: Nice little trip away. Thought it might be a bit too oven-like on the granite, but it seems you got the aspect nailed and got some good routes in. Shame Sunday had a wet start, but it must've been nice to not be roasting. Ice cream on Saturday was a good call! What's the plan for getting the shoulder behaving?

Steve Claw: Solid new routing as we've come to expect. That microroute/highball 7b thing sounds enticing, I'd like to hear how future sessions go! So now it's Lundy time, right?

Small Step: That day out on Monday sounds absolutely magical! Plenty of good training and volume in the week as well. Sorry that the complexities of your PTSD are inhibiting partnerships and such, and sorry that I haven't got any valuable insights either!

the sheep: Great week. Like clockwork. No further comment really, keep it up!

Thanks for the stats.  The dive was really magical.

Weight - 12st 2lbs

STG - 15k a week by mid-September

MTG - 10k 1 hour

LTG - 30 mile ultra (July 24) and 86 mile (Sept 24)

M - Chasing after kids on kids fell running club

T - Rest

W - 10k run, 500m asc, Pen-y-Fal - 1h 59m

T - F - Rest

S - 2k

S - 4k

Weekly mileage - 16k

So I was supposed to have increased the kms a bit more this week, but my normal 5k route was clobbered due to an event using the local meadow.  So I just did 4k on the road.  Got a bit of an odd knee twinge that's not going, but it's not hurting when I'm running, just the rest of the time.

10k went well, just couldn't quite keep up the pace at the end.  Still happy to come in under 2 hours.  Other stuff was fairly pedestrian, but still a good week.  Aim to build on it properly next week and hopefully get up to 18k or so.  Weather is looking grim, so that might not be super fun.  But let's try and keep the momentum going.

Also happy with a further 2lbs weight loss.  With in distance of getting under 14st for the first time in a very long time.

Thanks Ross, I am keen for a bit of raven tor actually but it's not my sport partners favourite place so it will have to wait until chee dale is irretrievably wet (which might be now!).

Mon. 6 sets of repeaters but on the 28mm edge to make it a lighter session. 5x5 pull ups, 3x10 press ups.

Tues. Rest

Wed. We met up with Ian for another play on String Theory (f7A). I don't know if it was the drier conditions or the newly purchased crack gloves but it went down pretty quickly tonight. Had a play on Blackfoot, didn't manage all the moves but will be worth returning to in cooler conditions.

Thurs. Bike on the rollers, nominally 26km.

Fri. Rest 

Sat. Same as Monday but back on the 20mm edge.

Sun. Running/scrambling combo further north than my usual haunts. 14km in total. Parked up on the Holmfirth road then ran down Rimmon Pit Clough (Grade-1) then headed up Birchen Clough (Summer) (Grade-1), along the top then up Trinnacle Chimney (M) for the full summit feeling then over to Dovestone for Central Gully (Summer) (Grade-1) which wasn't as loose as expected given the books calls it a winter only line, then some moor top contouring to finish up Holme Clough (Grade-1).

That's the hope, though my baseline shape is pretty shocking compared to my track tunning days as a teenager! 

M - Pre-running training plan 5km test. 20:05 (4:01/km)

T - Rest

W - 7.5km run (4k z2 ramping up into 3.5k z2). 38:33 (5:05/km)

T - Strength & conditioning. Press-ups 10x4. Lat pull-down 10x4. Seated row 10x3. Pull-ups 5x5.  Tricep dips 8x4

F - Zone 2 base run. 13km / 1hr10 (5:26/km)

S - Rest

S - Zone 2 base ride. 76km / 278m ascent / 2hr42mins (28kph average)

Thanks Ross for your statting. I've removed the question mark after String Theory and it's now become a fully fledged project. One of the best cracks in the Peak I reckon and at just the right level 'desperate but probably feasible' for me. 

STG (next month) – maintain a grip on daily life, maintain and enjoy climbing and training when possible

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Autumn run and climb project. 2. String Theory (f7A).

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Get properly to grips with safe Grit E3s. 3. Rheinstor Lower Traverse (f7A)??.

Mon – Depot bouldering. Warm up (5 x green, blue, black) attempted 8 reds got up 5, attempted 8 purples got up 1 (v techy slab), touched finishing hold on another and 2/3rds height on a couple more. Very hot and sweaty but managed to escape with skin just about intact.

Tues –  Nothing

Wed – Rowsley Wood. Met up with Swede and friend for a lamp lit session to figure out a bit more of String Theory (f7A). Pleasing progress; on my best effort I got to about halfway which includes most of the crux moves. Managed the whole thing in 3 sections.

Thursday – Finger block hangs half crimp 10 secs 2 mins rest 2.5kg, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 20, 25, 30, 32.5, 32.5, 33.75 (L 7 secs, R 10).

Friday – Nothing

Saturday – Finger block hangs half crimp 10 secs 2 mins rest 2.5kg, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 25, 30, 32.5, 33.75 (L10, R 10), 35 (L 3, R 5) New pb.

Sunday – 10 mile cross country run in about 1hr 50mins with lots sussing out pathways for my run/climb challenge.

Reflection - Really enjoyed my first lamp light session on Wednesday. I just need to have a session with a portable fan and then I can call myself a proper boulderer. Of course, String Theory is a route pretending to be a boulder. Chatting with Swede the feeling is it might be E6 placing gear, so without solid E5? Also of note is these last few weeks I’ve started doing two finger sessions a week and that’s enabled me to give them a much needed push.

Yeah it was a good mini trip. There was a little more I could have done had it not been a bit dirty or had cows under it, but nevertheless good.

The shoulder - I have a bunch of rehab to do which I'm just chugging away at for now. I feel a bit like it's working although I haven't been doing the sorts of things that would make it angry so hard to be certain.

A quiet week this week, partly caused by a busy week at work plus a friend's leaving drinks which between them ate up a lot of time. I did some rehab, but basically that was it. This weekend my in-laws were here, we did a short walk but otherwise pretty quiet and chilled.

My parents visiting this coming weekend, so probably trying to stick with the rehab plan but otherwise likely quiet, unless the weather suddenly snaps back to good...

Thanks Ross, had a great time. Not much exercise this week but France is always a joy. 
T: Cycle around Lake Annecy, I persuaded Fi she should hire an eBike, unfortunately the battery wasn’t working so that slowed things down a bit but it was still an amazing day despite the heat. Fantastic swim in the lake half way around. 
Sun: Took three attempts to get up Vegas Nights (6c+), Great route but 7a all day long.
This week I need to get back into the no eating and some training groove, I’ve set myself a goal of 7a OS and 7a+ flash in Chulilla 

Lake Annecy.  That reminds me.  We used to have a family tradition of skinny dipping and when camping near Annecy went out late one evening for a dip to end the day.  Found a secluded bay and whole family and my brother stripped off and started to wade in.  The lake got deeper at a rate of 10cm per 10 m, or not very quickly, but after about 150m, was just deep enough to swim, so we had a splash about.

After surfacing, we noticed the quite swanky lakeside restaurant on the headland next to our bay, from which much laughter emitted.  The walk of shame across the now painful cobbles lasted for an eternity.  Kids have never forgiven me.

Thanks Ross. Another fairly low key training week for me, but an STG ticked.

STG: Go climbing - done
MTG: Autumn '23 tick my first 7a in two years, and/or something from my (long) local 6c+ projects list
MTG: Summer '24 uk trad trip with my son and/or Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter 24 or 25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M: Bike 1½ hours on a these days rare trip to the office & back 

T: Tindeq max pulls, weighted pullups, ring support l-sits

W: Woke up with sore ribs. I didn't notice anything while I was training yesterday evening, but now it feels like I probably strained an intercostal. Bugger.
    By the evening, though, the ribs had settled down enough for a kilterboard session at Thalkirchen. Went quite well, but had to cut is short because my skin was giving out after an hour or so. So little time on plastic lately.
    Since it was lashing down, and not feeling particularly in need of making up my cardio hours having done over 50 in the last month, I went in the car.

T: More hillwalking! And getting paid for it too! Another 1000 metres vert on a team outing with work to a hut above Garmisch. I walked up but got the lift down to save my aging knees
F:
S: 
S: Actually went climbing! Bolted multipitch in the Tannheimer, a range that I've somehow never previously got round to visiting despite it being a major alpine rock climbing area two hours drive from home. Wirklich oben bist du nie (6a) was very much multipitch-lite - friendly bolting, easy approach, only six pitches. "Only" VI+ too, but it's never wise to underestimate the Austrian VI+ grade in the mountains.
    Also: an encouraging discovery regarding fitness levels, Zone 2, aerobic threshold etc. One of the easy diy aerobic threshold tests is being able to talk coherently while exercising. I do most of my hillwalking alone - and even alone I feel too stupid to try reciting poetry (or whatever) out loud. But today I was on a crag approach with somebody I know quite well from the wall but we've not done much real climbing together. We were comparing notes on what we've each done and would like to do in the Dolomites, and I found I could carry on a reasonably relaxed conversation while hiking uphill at 600 vert metres per hour with a 10 kg rucksack. This felt like a brisk but not flat out pace, and was considerably better than I expected.

Morning all. Thanks for the write up, Ross. 

Feels like we're in the interim period where I'm starting to get excited for tooling season, but there are still enough dry days to prevent me wasting them in a dank quarry with a clear conscience! Actually catching myself hoping for bad weather!

Week 37:

M: Trail run. 11.3km, 331m vert, 6:27/km. Legs felt a bit heavy from Saturday's long run.

T: Strength and prehab.

W: Trail run. 12.5km, 444m vert, 6:53/km.

T: Climbing at Trollers. Surprised myself by doing Angel Dust (7a+) on third redpoint. First 7a+ in a session (in fact first route harder than 6c in a session). Just shows that grades mean nothing... 5 sessions on the Jim Grin then one on the harder route next door! Madness! 

F: Climbing. Unplanned session back at Trollers (basically some friends were going and I had FOMO so went along for the social!) Knackered from previous day, but got on Cold Turkey (7b) as it shares the start of Angel Dust, so I thought I'd capitalise on having that wired. Worked out a sequence for the next two clips, but felt very hard. Maybe it'll feel better with fresh arms?

S: Road run. 14.9km, 52m vert, 5:45/km.

S: Rest.

Week 38:

M: Prehab.

T: Climbing.

W: Run/hill day.

T: Climbing.

F: Strength & Core.

S: Run.

S: Strength & Core.

STG (end Sept):

3 off big mountain day list (1/3)

Average twice weekly finger boarding. 

5+ off Lundy hit list (TICK).

MTG (end Dec):

Hidden Dragon or White Wall (Masson, not Millstone!)

100m D6/7 in a session.

110 days climbing for the year (currently 84).

1000 km running (currently 882km) and 40km vertical (currently 27.9km) for the year.

LTG (end March):

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1+ of Alpine Winter list.

Well done!  Getting a taste for steep stuff!  Can't wait to get back there myself

Thanks Derek. On reflection, I think the reason it went quickly is it is less steep and sustained than the Jim Grin, so I don't need to be quite so perfect on the moves to save my arms and I could get more tie-ins per session than on the Jim Grin. I think if I get on Barguest, I'll be back to sieging it!

7a+ in a session.  No excuses necessary.  The record books don't lie. 🙂

I’m very much with the kids on this one!

Thanks Ross for stats and your thoughtful encouragement!  Much needed!

On the running, I have struggled to keep it up reliably since my usual partner dropped off over summer.  They are now back to it, so likely to get more consistent again.  Started today with a proper one, but that's for next week.

On shoulder, it has been a long-term niggle that I rehabbed back to okay, then stopped doing anything.  I think it has been sparked off by heavy DIY rather than climbing, but it has been noticeable when climbing recently.  However, I have started rehab again.  Pretty sure it is rotator cuff.

Sun - shoulder rehab using some isometric exercises on the various rotations.

Mon - 4.5 km run - felt a bit ragged, but got around.  Shoulder rehab

Tues - Shoulder rehab.

Wed - an after morning work dash to LLanddulas Cave.  Several times this year, I have deferred plans for this venue on the basis that it has a damp reputation after rain.  For some reason, I didn't defer this time and arrived at 1.30 pm to a dripping Forgotten Sun sector.  However, went for a look at the cave area and it was a bit smeggy, but manageable.  Five routes in less than ideal conditions, so a poor return on the drive, but I liked the crag.  As we left, Forgotten Sun was largely dry, so it shouldn't take more than a couple of days to be in reasonable nick (as evidenced by Tyler's visit this week.

I think I'll get back there.  The routes are reasonably long, access is easy and probably 30 mins closer than Great Orme.  I quite liked the look of many of the other routes, including things that would be projects for me.  Another new venue ticked.

Thurs -  strained back badly working on caravan project.  Then...

Fri - Sun  Helped daughter clear garden at her new house.  This was something like a Vietnam Defoliation Squad role, but managed to open up access to a Lost World area of the garden by completing an eleven hour shift.  Julia ran the shredder non-stop throughout.  Great fun.

Reflection.  I've now gone about seven weeks with only managing to climb once each week and am definitely noticing that I'm going slowly backwards.  Work pattern is a real hassle in that I am not getting two consecutive days for a mountain trip anyway, but weather is managing to interfere as well.  Pattern will persist until Christmas, but I am shifting some commitments to give me a one week window in mid-October, where I will get to the hills if weather plays ball.  Shoulder a bit of a worry, but now on rehab, so hope to get it under control.

The evening before we had found another venue in the area, which we only got to as it went dark.  It was a river nearby.  In we went into a fairly large pooled area.  Found myself talking to what I assumed was one of the kids just behind me.  On getting no answer, turned around to find I was being stalked by a surprisingly large beaver (of the animal variety)...

Thanks Ross.

Writing here from Lundy, unfortunately the weather is not great, but still getting out to enjoy whats on offer in the lower grades.

M - Avon E6 project, back and fully cleaned and shunted, bolt placed to protect ground fall at the upper crux.

T - Nothing

W - Geared an easy sport route for the children, and trad route close by.

T - Redpointed my new 7c overhanging route, that I couldn't do during the heat the week before.  Found it really hard, but also had been working the moves on shunt for an hour or so before, so had a full on work out.

F - Nothing 

S - Lundy - Arrived, all a bit damp. Climbed Shamrock (VS 4c),  great route, you can tell a real classic route by how good it is to climb in poor conditions (wet).  Saw a bit of unclimbed rock, thought it had a pair of VS's, went onsight up the righthand one, only to find an overhung off width with fist jams at the very back. A never give up attitude, and some hard thrutching later, gave an E2 5c? (I don't know how to grade this sort of thing).

S - Went out, again in changeable weather, partner forgot his harness.  Did a bit of shunting on Mammoth-Sandwich Island (E5 6c), no-one has been there in a while, removed vegetation, but too damp to do the crux. Also looking at the gear, its more likely E6.

Returned to the other new "VS" from the day before, and found it to be a very enjoyable E1 5b 😀

You once advised that Llanddulas Cave was worth driving past (I think with the view that it is best regarded as a local venue?).  My mate from Lancaster visited recently and thought it was 'really good' and I have to say I liked it as well, despite poor conditions.  You seem to end up there quite a bit and keep finding a 'great route' to reward your persistence! 

Good goals for Chulilla.

Cheers Ross, I like to keep a regular schedule for my exercise, had another similar week gone by, however do need to push some longer runs.

Monday, pushed for time so just a 0.5k swim at lunchtime, 11k run in the evening though

Tuesday, 1k lunchtime swim, 5k evening run

Wednesday, 1k lunchtime swim. going to try get a complimentary weights set in during the week and Wednesday evening seems like the best bet so had a trial run of getting over to the gym and back whilst the kids swim train, should be doable 

Thursday, 1k lunchtime swim followed by stretch class, 6k evening run

Friday, just the 1k lunchtime swim

Saturday, parent taxi day! Managed to escape in the afternoon for a run with the wife, we were due a 12k run but she had a niggle in her knee so we called it on 9k

Sunday, rest day.

Hi Ross, thanks for stats + encouragement!

Mon -- 12.5km run

Tue -- Wrist curls; forearm mobility.

Wed -- Projecting session at the Warehouse.  Somebody else was on my current 7a project so I did all the moves of an as-then ungraded route which turns out to be 7a+ -- felt very hard but not impossible.  Was then a bit too tired to try my intended project properly, but got to the top crux cleanly on lead, which is good progress.

Thu -- Upper body mobility A; hip & leg flexibility B; then 8km run.

Fri -- To Avon with aim of making a further dent in my hitlist, but spent most of the afternoon in traffic on M5 and only had time for Giant's Cave Buttress (VS 4c), which was nonetheless a fun way to spend the evening.

Sat -- 12.5km run.  In the evening I started doing the Lattice finger strength test (finding the max load with half crimps for 7s on 20mm edge) but ran out of time before reaching my limit.  I worked up from -28kg to +0 in increments of 4kg.

Sun -- Social bouldering up to V5.  Didn't try very hard on routes that I couldn't immediately do, but was reminded how much fun bouldering can be.  Upper body mobility B; 2 x 6 minute core.

Great work on Angel Dust Tom, well done.

Cheers Ross. Another decent garage session and a couple of bouldering trips. I’m getting absolutely spanked by the sandstone at the minute. It’s brilliant!

Mon

• OA Hangs 18mm Drag 6x 7s (79% BW). Hit a plateau with these so will go to 80%BW then drop back to 25mm. Previously, I could One Arm Hang 25mm so will start to add weight on that hold size.
• Yves-Style Block Lifts 20mm HC 5x 5. Finally stumped up for some weight plates so gave these a go. Worked up to 40kg (very satisfying rubber matting/plate slams!)
• Weighted Pull-ups (123%BW) 5x 5
• Pistol Squats (small resistance band) 5x 5
• Standing Ab Wheel (small resistance band) 3x 3 

Fri

Had a spare couple hours after work so checked out some Avon Sandstone at Hanham Woods. Circuit of a dozen problems up to f6. Lots of choss, some death-routes, and some absolute gems. Not as good as Hambrook in my opinion but worth a trip back.

Sat

Back to Hambrook for a session on Youch! (f7A). Can get in to the crux crimps but need a bit more finger strength for the big lockoff move. Good problem for a project.

Sun

Complete washout!

Thanks mate. Good work on string theory! ST went quite quickly then… next stop Melvyn Bragg?!

Good afternoon everyone. A mild week from me. Not hugely motivated given the shoulder, and rather busy at times, but I've squeezed in some rehab and I'm generally happy with how it's doing. I'll try and ease back into climbing this week and see how it goes.

I'm pretty confident my shoulder issue is an impingement rather than a year or strain, which I suppose is good, and improvement so far seems good in general day to day life.

Last Week:

M - Some reasonably gentle band work on the shoulders, plus more various inconclusive shoulder tests. Seems to be slowly improving. Ice baths before bed.

T - Rest. Ice baths before bed.

W - Weigh-in at 77.5kg. Some garden work, nothing too hard or heavy, probably good load for the shoulder. Ice baths before bed.

T - More band work on the shoulder. Pain is definitely decreasing, especially once warmed up. Baby steps.

F - Long drive and plenty of walking.

S - More walking.

S - You guessed it! More walking.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Easing into climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Hopefully climbing if the shoulder behaves, else band work maybe.

F - Rest.

S, S - Again, climbing if shoulder OK.

Goals:

Rehab shoulder.

Rehab A2.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

Oberth Effect Proj.

Yeah, luckily i did not got sick. Fingers crossed that it stays like that next week despite Oktoberfest visits with my company

Mon: Leg-workout: Bodyweight squats, single leg calf raises, Lunges

Tues: Rest

Wed:  Assisted One-Arm-Lockoffs: 97,5% BW: 150°: 10s with right arm, 10s with left arm: 120°: right: 10s; left: 10s; 90°: right: 10s, left: 10s; 45°; right: 11s, left: 9s; 6x6x7,3 at 97,5% BW on 20mm egde, 50 Pushups; 

Thur: Rest

Fri: Leg-workout: Bodyweight squats, single leg calf raises, Lunges, ankle mobility 

Sat: Rest

Sun:  Assisted One-Arm-Lockoffs: 100% BW: 150°: 8s with right arm, 8s with left arm: 120°: right: 6s; left: 6s; 90°: right: 10s, left: 10s; 95% BW 45°; right: 13s, left: 9s; 6x6x7,3 at 97,5% BW on 20mm egde, 50 Pushuops, ankle mobility training

Another decent week and hit a new milestone for the lockoff training after removing the assistance completely for the higher angles. Felt quite solid always had 1-2s left in the tank. Now i just need to get a little bit stronger at 45°, and then i think i have a good base to attack the one-armer in the next months.

Even more important my foot is getting better. I am completely pain free now when walking and just sometimes have a little bit of discomfort after longer walks. It probably would be possible to start already climbing this week, but i would like to stay cautious as i don't want to injure it again. So i will keep working on my mobility, add some longer walks and once i've done a couple of 45 minutes to 60 minutes walk without any issues go back to climbing. I am also optimistic that the autumn climbing seasons continues till Christmas this year, if the general weather trend stays like that, as it feels like we are still in summer .

That is a very strong starting point pre training! Many people that i know would be happy to have that result after a 12 week training plan

Wow Steve!  Those runs are quick.

Thanks, though for a bit of context, my main sport from age 11-20 was as an 800/1,500m track runner in the summer season and cross-country in the winter.

I guess all those years of base mileage have served me well, even if I'm a lot slower than I was back then! 

This week has nearly run away with me again.

Did a little bit of training Monday to Wednesday in the run up to our week and a half off but nothing to write home about.

We got increasingly desperate with the forecast and eventually decided The Gower was the best destination weather wise. We had plans for everywhere from Scotland to Portland. Gower was the only one with more than one dry day. We went down on Thursday eve and arrived in the rain. It cleared up and we had a lovely day at Shipwreck Cove and Castaway Cove. Warmed up on a few routes up to 6b+ and then had a bash at Wrecking Ball (7b). Now I think back I'm not sure why I thought a Summer of trad and vertical limestone would see me in a good place to quickly smash out a super steep pumpy route. It turns out it didn't. I also got scared on it and that deffo held me back.

We only got the one day as the rain came in early. We beat a retreat and ended up at Kendal Wall on the Sunday for routes. I did some fall practice and then wanted to fall 'for real' so picked a 7b I'd not been able to do on the main wall and promptly did it. Oops! I then picked a 7c and came off on the onsight 3 moves off the 7b+ chains (routes here are graded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd chains). Second go was one move off. Both times I fell climbing and my head felt much better for it.

This week has been very good for getting some DIY and life admin jobs done, but hasn't been the wonderful end to the season we were hoping.

We are trying to salvage something by going to Llandudno tomorrow for a couple of days. Fingers crossed. 

Hi Ross, thanks for the encouragement and no worries with any ‘valuable insights’ into the trauma sequela – often enough I’m perplexed and baffled as to how, where and with what intensity these things crop up or intrude…indeed, living with this stuff, it’s always there, and that makes it difficult to get a handle on it at times…even during the past weekend in the mountains it was prevalent…and so the week went as follows:

Mon: Berlin trip recovery – very light stretching followed by walk / light jogging
Tue: hang board session, with pull ups. Felt quite good.
Wed: stretching, light upper body
Thu: stretching extended into hip-opener yoga routine…hadn’t done this routine (Lattice) for a while and noticed some decent improvements
Fri: Blaueishütte, back to the Berchtesgaden Alps. On the way up to the hut there’s a 6b+/6c sport multipitch. Partner was keen to have a go and there are enough 6a-6b sections to keep me interested as second. We did 4 of the 6 pitches before bailing – it got far too hot, the small holds on the hard sections were razorlike, and while all the passages 6a and upwards were of good quality rock, there was a bit too much loose stuff in between…although none of it was easy for me, I certainly enjoyed what I could do and was intrigued by what I couldn’t…
Sat: Blaueishütte - the motivation to return here was to finish off what we’d aborted at the end of July – but now ascending the glacier / snowfield and completing the horseshoe round. A nice idea…except for I’ve never done an alpine tour over ice…once I saw the conditions – although the glacier has shrunk to tiny dimensions it is quite steep and there was now no snow at all – I declined. Too much for the first time, although I’m sure my partner would have got me up and out of the ice. So he went off solo and I headed to the summit via the hiking path, which in itself is certainly no little picnic trail…lots of scrambling and two bits of climbing at UIAA 2-3…a small thing maybe for some, but to be able to say no was very important (PTSD complexities!). We met on the summit. Great day. Breathtaking views in a pretty exposed setting. After returning to the hut we had to descend further to the carpark, in all around 1800 meters from the summit…
Sun: accommodation found over the border in Waidring, Austria. Steinplatte across the road. Knackered from Sat and with the temperature rising, we decided to head back to Berchtesgaden for something easier – Schönheitskönigin von Schneizelreuth, Rabensteinhorn, multipitch sport, 6 pitches up to 6a. A really nice route I’d done five years ago, swing leads…for some reason (again, alas, I suspect PTSD-related stuff lurking) I decided to second. Big mistake – negative self-judgement the whole time, couldn’t turn it off…climbing-wise the day was saved by doing the first pitch of the Kugelbachweg, a 4-pitch extension to the summit that’s about 15 minutes away through the bushes – 6a+ and the first 12 meters or so were absolutely brilliant (and not that easy) …another long descent…

I’m away on the annuals from Saturday for two weeks, Elba, swimming, beaching like a seal, and a few longer walks – my first report back will be on16.10…

Wishing everyone good autumn weather for days out.

A cursory note from me; not a lot last week.  One wrist roller session the night before going away on holibobs. Regular gripper sessions whilst here; managed to close a CoC #2 for the first time and consistently do so daily since then.