UKC

If we want a FC meet with my house as a base I'm not around either the weekend of March 16th nor March 23rd, if we are going elsewhere my availability doesn't matter!

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_879-7674...

SSB - Climbing into the night with axes after days of no sleep, simulated altitude, verglassed rock, are you planning something big in the alps? All the purples with a hangover is good going, are you also challenging for Derek’s party king crown?

Steve Claw - There was an old advert with Boon Speed and the strapline was “Boon climbs anywhere, Boon climbings anything”. I think this applies to a few here, so good to see people dodging storms and getting out on snow, trad, sport, often on the same day. I thought I knew most rock climbing venues but I get a proper eduction reading your entries every week.

mattrm - delighted to see you back in the running habit but I’m also pretty interested in your furniture builds, are these flat pack assembly or are you woodworking?

Ian Parnell - Its a long time until prime season, getting your trad on this early in the year puts you ahead of the game. Besides taking that rest will be more of a lesson than if you cruised it, it’ll be at the forefront of your mind next time you are tempted! I’d steer clear of Quietus though if you’re after a confidence boost.

Alan Little - Your year sounds really exciting, how well situated are you for getting out trading at the weekends, is it all sport where you are?

Derek Furze - Had you ever actually met the woman when you bought the house?  On to more boring matters “7:3 repeater block lifts 20 mm edge at 20.4kg” sounds a lot, would this equate to about 40kg max lift. Looking at Lattice data that means you should be bouldering about 7C, a new PB to celebrate!

Tigh - Have you heard of the book Training for the New Alpinism by Steve House? It might be just the thing for you if you want to get a bit structured with your training and has been popular with a few on here over the last few years(there’s also Training for the Uphill Athlete which is less climbing focused).

Ross Baker - You didn’t want to do that link up anyway, that road leads to stamina training and the next thing you know you’re roped up below a 40 meter tufa in Chulilla!

dave frost - That sounds like a fantastic move, what a great location to be moving to. Is there much work to be done in you new place or is it just a bit of titivation? What’s the climbing wall situation around there, that has been the biggest downside to my move to rural Wales from urban England.

Ed Booth - Good job on the Medium and sorry to see you go (I think a Bladerunner quote is appropriate here) hopefully I’ll bump into you at a N. Wales crag this summer.

Ally Smith - Your Saturday session was pretty impressive and I’m now invested in the Shoulder Move project.

Tom Green - Exciting times, can’t wait to hear about the rest of your week.

Randy - I’m very much in agreement that you’re on track to do a one arm pull up, a seminal tick for any climber.

SteveJC94 - What an end to the trip, looks immense, the photo reminds me how much I used to enjoy tree skiing.

biscuit - Your ’not much to report’ would be a good week for me so pretty good for a week after a trip.

Weight - 14st 5lbs

STG - Maintain diet for Jan.

MTG - flat 10k 1 hour

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

BHAG - F7A boulder somewhere....

M - T - Rest

W - Pen-y-Fal and Deri loop, 14.5k, 588m asc about 2h 50m

T - F - Rest

S - 3 mile family hillwalk bimble around Twn-y-Gaer

S - 4.75km in 28:14!!!

Weekly kms - 19km

Diet status - Average

Ikea flatpack I'm afraid.  New house doesn't have anywhere suitable for woodworking.  So I'm mostly occupied with random bits of DIY.  Odd bit of plumbing.  That sort of thing.

So excited about this week, that I've started writing the post early.  So had a really nice long run on Weds.  Went very well, maintained a steady running pace over the three hours.  Went over a hill that I've only done once in the dark, so it was nice to get a different route done.  About 14.5k.

As I wasn't feeling the effects of Wednesday at all, I decided that if I did a 5k, I'd hit 19k, which is a 2k increase on last week's miles.  There's a new social running club started in town, so I went out on their Sunday 5k.  I've not done a 5k in a while and certainly not with a group.  As you often do when running in a group, I put a lot more effort in to keep up.  Managed to come in comfortably under 30 minutes.  Strava did it's usual sterling job of massively inflating my distance, so I checked online 4.75k in 28:14.  I did have an STG somewhere of a 30 minute 5k.  So I'm dead chuffed with that.

I'll probably stick to around 20k next week.  Same long run route I reckon and I'll probably do the Sunday 5k again.

It's been poor dietwise, but honestly, I'm doing well otherwise at the moment, so I just don't care.  It would be nice to loose the belly.  But there we go.

Brilliant Matt.  Great time.  You must be delighted!

Week 4 of Shark completed!

Entertaining comments!  Yes, I had met her, but she was nineteen at the time, so 36 years later, I didn't immediately recognise her!  More importantly, the 'should be' 7C bouldering seems completely at odds with reality to me, but I think 40kg lifts would work, but I can't fit enough weight on the lifting pin to test it out.  I will probably source some additional weight next month and then test out this concept of yours...

An interesting week for me...

Sun - only exercise bike for 15kms as tired from felling trees.

Mon - work at home, but test out the assisted hangs warm-up routine.  Very interesting to use the pulleys and take weight off and can see this helping with lock offs on my next cycle.  Game changing I think Liam said and I can see what he means.  I did five max hang sets at varying levels below BW, then one at plus a little for a warm up routine, then progressed up with six sets up to my usual maximum of 15.9kg.  I'm not sure it felt any different, but it did mean I did twice as many hangs overall.  Weighted pull ups in sets of five progressing up to 15.9kg.  This meant 35 weighted pull ups, so a fairly good session.  Exercise bike for 15 mins.

Tues - 7:3 x 12 at 21.6kg.  Pinch block lifts up to 8kg.  Exercise bike for 15 mins.

Wed - everyone take a seat.  Worked in the morning then went to a wall!  Stoke Awesome Walls.  Did 40 problems Red, Blue and Green.  All flashed.  Going again this week.  Confirmed my view that it is nothing like climbing, but better exercise than stuff in the hotel room.

Thurs - long day.  On the bike when I got back at 10 pm.

Fri - Stoney West for six routes.  A good laugh.

Sat - a busy day with life admin stuff and helping step son with tax return.  Managed a stint on the bike.

Thanks Tyler. I'd love something big in the Alps but unfortunately probably not until the kids are much older. 

Mon. Rest

Tues. 5km run

Wed. Stanage boulder session. Did Sloper Reverse (f7A+) and then Pum Pius (f7A+). Also a cheeky flash of Shatner's Bassoon (f7A).

Thurs. 5km run.

Fri. Rest

Sat. Out on the grit, nothing new ticked.

Sun. Steady 3km run with the junior fell group. Tried to go to Burbage West in the eve but the warm air had rolled in and it was all condensed. Considered it an injury dodged and gave up.

Matt if you're able to handle increased training load and get pbs then I wouldn't worry too much about the diet. As long as the extra output of energy isn't sending you into feeding frenzies your weight should stabilise into what is healthy for you in the long term. Good job on the 5K.

Another progressive week for distance and a major life milestone!!

Monday was a rest day 

Tuesday a 15k cycle to work and 1k lunchtime swim

Wednesday 1k swim

Thursday 6k trail run at night trying out new head torch. It was excellent 👍🏻 

Friday, 1k swim 

Saturday, 15k trail run, wonderful sunny morning. Could have gone longer which is good for future plans 

Sunday, huge day. 50th birthday, gifts in yin and yang. A 50k ultra race entry and single malt whisky 

Have to say I feel amazingly lucky that despite all the medical issues over the last decade I still feel young fit and up for the challenge 😊

It's looking good, very much at the firming up dates and making bookings stage now.

Sorta. There a plenty of easier warm up routes in the Frankenjura and elsewhere where the bolting is such that it's wise to carry a couple of slings and a few wires, but the nearest place with extensive real trad is pretty much the Dolomites. Which is a bit far for weekends, and not really the time of year - although there are a couple of things I might have my eye on for late summer if I'm properly mountain fit after Scotland & Norway, weather and willing partners permitting.

Another quiet but reasonably solid training week. Big thaw so back out & about on the bike as much as possible.

STG: Regain full health and resume normal training
STG: Kilterboard 5C @ 45°
MTG: Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip
MTG. DAV Lofoten meet
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter '25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M:     
T:    Wall, Thalkirchen. Kilterboard. Didn't go as hard as Friday: a few good goes on the current crimp project, then shifted to things in the flash-to-couple-of-goes range. Rounded the session off, and kicked off the Norwegian granite training campaign, with a few tentative goes on the crack machine.
    Brief visit to the weights room to attend to shoulder health: overhead presses, face pulls, one-arm scap pulls
    And once again bike riding weather - just as well since my weight has crept up over the last couple of months, as illness and weather have interfered with any calorie burning activities.

W:    Pull-ps, bulgarian split squats, stretching & mobility

T:     Cycled into town for a browse through some guidebooks in the DAV library, and to buy crack gloves and DMM offsets. Norwegian granite here I come. 
    Crazy weather. Two weeks ago I was testing winter sleeping bags; today it's too hot to wear gloves on the bike.

F:    Wall, Thalkirchen. Kilterboard. Another decent session - ticked my current dyno mini-project, and generally my confidence on jumpy stuff is improving. As long as it's small jumps between big holds.
    Forgot to bring my new gloves for the crack machine: Bare Hand Gang
    Shoulder routine again same as Monday.
    Bike to & from.

S:    Bike 2 hours: the Scotland cardio fitness campaign begins

S:    Wall, Boulderwelt. Some moderate bouldering to warm up, then steep circuits. Can't do all my endurance training on vertical-ish autobelays.
    Shoulders, bike.
 

Happy 50th Sheep!

Yeah well done. Solid gradual progress is the 🗝️. Sounds like a nice running route too

Happy Birthday!

Thank you 😊

Thanks for the recommendations on the books, hadn't heard of em so I will check them out. 

Decent week training but no climbing

M Strength session 

T Rest

W - 15 min easy run, 10 x 20sec sprints then 15 min easy run 

Th - 35 mins easy run then 10 mins as hard as possible 

F - Rest 

S - 18 km hike along Jurassic coast in my shiny new B3 boots. Felt like I was in ski boots. Feet absolutely hated me after this walk. Christ But these boots are really not made for walkin....But it was good to have the boots on for 4 hours and see how bloody heavy they are and yeah I need to get stronger and my feet need to get used to not being able to move while walking!

Su - Dog walk/Rest

Thanks Tyler for the stats. Don’t panic I’m not rushing to get back on Quietus just yet. It’s kicked my arse hard enough that it’s near the end of my long list of nemesis grit routes. But I’m pleased to report I’m now a proud E1 leader again and with no titivating!

STG (this month) – maintain a grip on daily life, get good weekly routine going. 1. Climb E1 clean (tick yeah!)

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Give me strength – shoulders and core. 2. Climb some safe grit E3 routes. 3. Six boulder problems 6B+ or harder by March (I did 4 in total in 2023) 1/6.

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Rheinstor Lower Traverse?? 3. Attempt 2 on run climb project. 4. Trip to Sanctuary Wall

Mon – Nothing

Tues – Shoulders, toe hooking and full body strength and conditioning. Added in a couple more exercises as recommended to me by Biscuit. 8 exercises coupled in supersets 8 reps x 3 sets. 20mins on treadmill 2miles easy.

Wed - Finger block lifts 20mm edge 20 secs half crimp. 5kg, 10, 15, 20, 25, 27.5 x 4

Thursday - Nothing

Fri – Nothing

Sat – Headed down to Swindon to see my folks and sneaked in a 30 min 3 mile easy run whilst the car was charging.

Sunday – Wynd Cliff with an old friend. Followed him on Cardiac (VS 4c) and then led The Firebird (E1 5b) and Phoenix (E1 5a). The Firebird had lots of damp bits on the initial bold wall and so had to avoid quite a few of the useful holds. Pleased I was able to keep it together and build a couple of positive experiences on the sharp end.

Reflection - Ended up doing less in my deload week than planned, due to busy work and home life. Enjoyed being out on the rock today and reassuring myself that I can actually lead E1! But increasingly aware that my mushy head isn’t just due to the long layoff from trad routes. I think my home stress has just reduced bandwidth for everything else in life. One example is that at work I’m being more forgetful about things than normal and I think it’s having a similar effect on my capacity for ‘coping’ on the rock. Not too much I can do really other than not rush the process of rebuilding my trad brain.

Good morning everyone, hope you're all doing well. Hope you've had a good birthday, sheep!

Haha, it's certainly not a primary goal on my list! Going through a phase of not liking the dugout at the moment anyway, give it a few months and I'll be trying it again.

I've had a pretty good week, one of my goals for the year was to finish all the 6C+ benchmarks (an easy one given the timeframe tbh) so that's done and dusted. Had another session on Louisville Lip which I'm describing as "alright", I think trying to link up more than a few moves on it really exposed how poor my technique becomes when I'm tired. The moves aren't too bad in isolation but quite easy to fall off with a poor body position.

Last Week:

Avg weight 76.9kg

M - Ice baths before bed.

T -  Moonboard. Finished off the last two 6C+s, YYFY! Pleased to also flash ACG24, poor name but some good crimping. Finger feels really good. Not rushing into dynamicism yet, mind. Ice baths before bed.

W - Ice baths before bed.

T - Spent a little time on the new set at the gym. Some challenging stuff, especially given the humidity and temp rise. Then onto the Moonboard, with a newbie "21 Jump Street", then just working odd moves on problems old and new. Sussed the crux of "Forever Impossible", so might give that a whirl from the ground next session. Ice baths before bed.

F - Rest.

S - Louisville Lip (V10). Refined the minutiae of the sequence, and repeated all the moves, but little progress otherwise. Furthest go from the start was slapping the LH shoulder hold, but I reckon I could do better if the skin on my RH was tougher!

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Manage session load and build better habits.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

Louisville Lip.

My lackadaisical approach to recording what I'm doing strikes again, although nowhere near as badly this week.

I went to the indoor wall and I didn't get asymmetric doms in my busted shoulder the next day. This is a big plus! Be nice to start using the wall a bit more regularly, although at the same time it's probably less relevant than a bit more stamina time.

Hamstring still continues ok, it feels a bit tight and it'll be a little while still before I go full bore heel hooking with it just to be safe, but I'm not getting any pain from it so I guess keep rehabbing and stretching it and make an effort to stretch it before climbing especially if it's cold.

A decent enough week. 

Monday - rehab, I think?

Tuesday - my sons birthday, nothing

Wednesday - aero session on the new circuit at lunch

Thursday - rehab, I think?

Friday - walking to and fro work but otherwise nothing really. Ten minutes of stretching in the evening?

Saturday - wall session. Seemed decent enough, I wasn’t firing on all cylinders but at the same time I managed to do a bunch of stuff without anything tweaking again.

Sunday - kids birthday party. Rehab in the evening. I'd hoped to do aero board session as well but got caught up in party faff

Hi all. Thanks for statting, Tyler.

Some of you have already heard about my week -thanks for the counselling! A somewhat mixed week in which I got nothing done (by conventional measures of getting stuff done!) but still had an ok time. 

Week 4:

M: Failed attempt at Dolga nemska smer (The Long German Route) (D). Up the trail we put in the day before to pick up cached gear. Broke last few hundred metres of trail to base of Triglav N wall. Big spindrift sloughs coming down the Bence-Bergant (our plan B route and also the access to our plan A route) so hid under a rock and had a brew to see if things would settle down. It kind of settled down, so got on the route. Bence-Bergant start looked v thin and bold, so further post-holing round to the normal Slovenian start. Moved together with microtraxions up the German route -some good neve but lots of powder-covered limestone slabs. Easy climbing but felt a bit slip-offable (it felt Scottish IV -partner thought V 4) with very limited gear (in my block I placed 11 pieces in ~180m) which felt pretty sketchy given how tenuous much of the climbing was. Moving slower than anticipated (about 30 mins per pitch despite moving together -had been hoping for closer to 20). Worried that the harder climbing at the top of the wall would be desperate in these conditions. Bailed.

T: Rest.

W: More failing. Went for a day hit on Nad Sitom Glava. Neither of the two routes (an M5+ and a WI4+) were in, but unfortunately we could only tell this when we reached them (they are tucked in to a deep gully). Had a little poke around to see if they would go without ice, but they were clearly not on the cards. Then stuff started falling down the gully from higher up the mountain so we ran away. Did however find an amazing belay cave/bivvy cave!

T: Travel home.

F: Rest.

S: Strength session.

S: Nowt. Struggled to summon motivation for anything. 

Week 5:

M: Run.

T: Bouldering.

W: Hill walk.

T: Strength & Core.

F: Skiing.

S: Run.

S: Strength and Core.

STG (end March):

Maintain finger strength -average 2 sessions/week.

Consistent strength and conditioning -average 2 sessions/week.

Get ski practice in: 5+ sessions Dec-Feb.

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1 off Slovenian Winter list (FAIL).

1+ off Alpine Winter list.

Does anyone know much about walls in Edinburgh? 

I'll be there without a car in mid Feb. Need something that ideally is ok to get to from the centre without a car, decent facilities to train stamina ideally, and preferably no massive "single use penalty" (expensive first time registration fees, prices to massively incentivise pass-holders, etc).

Ratho obviously has appeal for the big lead walls but it looks like a pain to get to from the centre?

Sorry I’ve just noticed I didn’t write anything for you this week - and on your Birthday!

Not sure what happened but apologies to you as well (also to anyone else I inadvertently missed)

I too feel heavily invested in Shoulder Move, but alas once again it didn't happen.

Week 4

M – Max hang session.  6 sets 7 wide-arm pull-ups on the min to warm-up. Progressive 20mm half-crimp deadhangs; 26-51kg in 5kg increments. Working set: 6x10s BW+61kg chisel. Felt easier than 57kg with tape 2 weeks ago. Intrigued what my new 7s max is. >70kg?

T –5min foot-on floor circuits to warm-up, then 8x 6B+ to 6C+ flashes. Feeling stronger than expected, I swapped the planned aero-cap session for an-cap. Crimpd 6in6 session; set 1&2 7A+ BMs, last set swapped to half 7A+ half 7A as power faded (and still dropped half the reps).

W – 5x 6B+ flashes for a short warm-up, then aero-cap boulders based on Crimpd Drop-Interval session (25% extra rest, ‘cos I still anticipated being duff at these); 6C+, 6C x2, 6B+ x2, wooden jugs; 2.5min rest; x5. Much better intensity; breathing hard by the end, but no falls. This session is hard on the skin – reopened a pinkie split.

T – Core = 3x50 sit-ups, 3x50 crunchies and 50 side-plank crunches (these were still hardest of the lot – more work needed!)

F – Rest

S – Rest

S – Evening board after daytime DIY. 12x 6B+ to 7A warm-up flashes.

• 6x goes at Shoulder Move with best coupe of goes tickling the jug with 3 tips. Tried a couple of alternative betas but quickly realised they wouldn’t work.
• “For Dong” 7B+ BM. Worked it, but was way too worked from earlier efforts.
• “2017” 7B+ BM. Again, too worked to complete, but found a cheeky beta tweak (semi-guppy on B13).

Thank you Tyler,

Well, I have a beauty for you this week!  Been playing at the much under visited  Spion Kop.  An amazing venue of up to 30m vertical quarried sandstone, proper hard, but somewhat abandoned by climbers and very overgrown.

Wed - Cleaned and shunted Labour of Love (E6 6b), beautiful climbing, hard and sustained, no rests, but a few good shake outs.  My fitness can only manage about 12-15m at the moment, so can do it in 2 halves, but the moves are all ok.

Fri - Cleaned and shunted Love Story (E4 6a) again brilliant climbing, crux felt really hard for the grade, but that might change in dryer conditions

In the evening did a very quick indoor boulder and nearly got a V9, which would be first for me, but it was crimpy.

You'll be entertained to know that I went to Spion Kop in the pissing rain one day and spent the day cleaning what became Fingermouse and most of E2 things around to the right of DM.  Before I could get back there (I lived in Chesterfield then), Martin Crocker had steamed in and done them all!  I think (subsequently) some have been attributed to Dave Hope.

Coincidentally Spion Kop is one of the places I’d heard of as there was a picture of Matt Ward on the FA of Labour of Love in a magazine I had so I’ve always assumed it was a major venue. Funny how, in the past, a single entry in a magazine be it a route, or first ascensionist or even an opinion would be so influential in forming views (or maybe I was just very impressionable). That said, 11 logbook entries for an E6 makes it a trade route by your usual standards!

Our team assistant at work is already sending mails round about Oktoberfest, and I've decided as a measure of health self defence that I'm not going this year.

My health troubles last autumn started shortly after I attended the company Oktoberfest do, and I got covid immediately after the huge December snowfall meant I spent a week travelling on the underground instead of by bike or car. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. 

Other people eh? Avoid 'em like the plague. Literally

I always thought that place looked cool in the guide, but it never quite got to the top of my list when I was in Cheltenham...

Thanks for the stats Tyler

Mon: L-Sit 2x20s, 2x12 Pike Pushups, 40 Pushups, 20mm Block Lift Repeaters, 16,8kg, 6x12,7,3 with 2 min rest

Tues: Rest

Wed: One-Arm Pullups with a light assistance band: r: 5,5,4,4; l: 5,4,4,4; 20mm Block Lift Repeaters, 21,8kg, 6x12,7,3 with 2 min rest. Felt generally quite tired, but also had a lot of stress at work

Thur: Rest, feeling a little bit sick

Fri: Still not 100% fit, so just did repeaters lifts as they are generally not that taxing on the body

Sat: Rest

Sun: One-Arm Pullups with a light assistance band: r: 5,5,5,5; l: 5,5,5,5; 20mm Block Lift Repeaters, 21,8kg, 6x12,7,3 with 2 min rest, another really strong pullup session, the rest did again pay off

Pullup strength is continue to increase, but i also feel the load at i am putting on my body and need to ensure that i plan enough rest, even if it means taking 3 rest day from any shoulder focused training. Knee is also feeling good, so i probably will be able to do some easy climbing next week.

M: Pretty sure I went on my board but don’t remember what I did. 

T: I think I did some yoga

W: Had to go to Manchester so called in at Climbing Hut on way back. Interested to see they have a replica of Burden of Dreams, even at 25 degrees I don’t think I could have pulled on so didn’t embarrass myself by trying.

T: Possibly some yoga

F: Nowt

S: Yoga then went on my wall. After a bit of warming up I had a few goes at the yellow and red traverse and managed it for the first time ever. Despite dry firing off a couple of times it never felt in doubt and I definitely feel stronger than when I set it although it’d be pretty dispiriting if I wasn’t. After that I end to went to checkout Traverse of the Gogs. Not as windy as forecast but I couldn’t really most of the moves, the route grade seems a bit out but if some of the sequences are font 7A+ (the alternative grade) then I wouldn’t expect to be able to do that anyway. I think I’ll give it another look.

S: Battered from yesterday but had arranged to go to the wall. 9 tie ins, managed the three 6c+ I fell off last week (at least one of them must be 7a) but blew a 7a OS and my 7a+ RP. Got properly battered and a pretty decent effort considering how tired I felt at the beginning.

I’m not sure if my stamina or PE is letting me down as my arms seem to blow up consistently at about 12-15 meters. My board is too steep for ARCing so not sure what I can do to address things if it is stamina.

Isn't it likely to be some of both?  Stamina simply because of time of year and lack of mileage ( and it isn't something you focus on anyway because of elbow issues).  PE because it is least trained energy system apparently.

Stamina is reasonably okay to work, if boring.  The issue is keeping your elbows going.  PE - I've no clue, so I will watch out for guidance. 

FWIW, block lifts are good in not touching the elbows, but appearing to build stamina.  I've been a bit unwell, but could still get through the sets!

Block lifts as well are probably something you could do in front of the telly or during important work meetings, to keep it exciting!

Yes, but if we need block lifts to bring excitement to the world, we're in more trouble than I thought 😂

Thanks Tyler, if only all ski days could be that good.

Quite a low volume week for me, still getting back into the swing of things.

M/T - Rest

W - 4km tempo run (4:10/km)

T - Rest

F - Unstructured over/under threshold intervals. 27km / 49m ascent / Average Power 205W / Normalised Power 217W

S - Rest

S - Zone 2 base ride. 70km / 297m ascent / Average Power 152W / Normalised Power 164W

You are correct it probably is both but I'm was musing more on whether the routes count as PE or 

Where's this from? I'd say most of my activity is in the PE range but I imagine this could be true for those who specifically train (its what the catches seem to focus on)

I thought the current trend was to train stamina by long low intensity activity, I can't imagine lifting blocks for 20 minutes at a time, even if it didn't affect elbows I can't imagine it being good for my back and posture. I'm still without a regular wall partner so I guess I'll be able to do lots on the auto belays each time I go to the Beacon 

Hi all,

The work on the house is pretty significant Tyler. A complete re wire, most walls need papers tripping and re plaster.New boiler, new radiators new kitchen. My wife and i can do quite a bit but its so time consuming we are trying to balance between paying others and doing our own work to save money.

Im not used to the hard graft anymore after 25 years in a desk job but i seem to be coping with a day full of manual work.

That was my exercise and training over the weekend  

The indoor climbing situation isnt too bad. There is rock and rapid in south molten which isnt far away. I htink there is a small climbing in barnstaple. I think thats about it. Not amazing but ok. The sea cliff climbing on the other hand is amazing althoguh the clm can be a bit scary at first im hoping ill get used to it.

I think i need a bit more detail in my STG. I htink consistent at 6a means doing 10 in a session. Last time i think i was at about 6 so a bit more to go.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Tyler,

Thanks for doing the stats, alas I was missing in action once again…after weeks & weeks of little or no work, I’m now swamped…any kind of structured training is a pipe dream. So I’m focusing on making sure I get to the wall twice a week and doing stuff in brief bursts during work breaks when I can, bit of stretching, hanging, upper body. So for here just the wall sessions of the last two weeks and the status of the ‘plastic projects’.

Week 879
18 Jan, wall, Thalkirchen: 9 routes, managed 3 ticks for the project list of 12 routes: so in total 6 of 12 climbed. Good progress, but on the other hand they were at the bottom end of the scale, 6b+ / 6c.

20 Jan, wall, Bad Aibling: 9 routes; was forced to improvise because two of the possible routes for the challenge no longer exist…new routes. Tried three new 6c+’s and got shut down on two of them; the one I can do is however overhanging…perhaps not what I needed for the overall endurance on the day; then again, it is a challenge, after all.

Week 880
25 Jan, wall, Thalkirchen: 8 routes; had a shot at 2 routes for the project; climbed decently but no ticks; powered out on one, slipped at the upper crux of the other. Status remains: 6 of 12…

27 Jan, wall, Bad Aibling: 9 routes; last session before the Big Challenge Day (10/11 Feb); worked 4 routes, ticked 3, fell at the last hard section of the other – an endurance route, it may well prove the bogey on BCD…really pleasing though was that I did the two 7a’s again. The best I’ve climbed them yet. So the routes are becoming easier…

If I’ve understood your challenge correctly you’ve now completed 6 routes which qualify for your challenge but you need to do them all in a session whereas you’ve only managed 3 in a session so far?

Yep, exactly. I’ve worked 8 routes, ticked 7 of them (others no longer exist). Who knows if there’ll be more route setting? Or a beginner group lays siege to the slab where one 7a is, sharing the line with a 5a…? So I need some options just in case…maybe I’ll have to try something completely new…😉
We’re doing it all on one day – have to earn the beer after (there may indeed be a second) …

Wishing everyone a good week – with decent health and injury recovery…

Paul

Given your description, it has probably a PE component but is not pure PE. In my point of view it helps to look at the involved energy systems. 12-15 m route definately has a aerobic component, probably similar to the demands of a mile race. But your also using your anaerobic energy system which is also a limiting factor here. So in the end you are failing because:

• Your aerobic capacity is not large enough to cover the demands of the route -> Possible solution: Improve capacity by doing a lot of easy climbing, without a significant pump level, e.g. Arcing but the crimpd app from the lattice guys also have some other suggestion
• As your aerobic capacity is not large enough, your anaerobic system kicks in and you start to produce lactate. Apparently, your capacity to tolerate lactacte level, which is trainable but only to a certain extent, is not large enough either which causes you to fall. Please note that technique also plays a role into this, as your technique usually deteriates when you are getting pumped. --> Possible solution: Improve lactate tolerance by doing a lot of medium intensity and medium volume climbing, e.g. the classic 4x4 boulders 

Probably not pure PE, but with some PE component. Based on my experience, unless on a specific training plan most climbers either:

• Do boulders at or above flash level with adequate rest, which addresses more the power and strength
• Climb routes which also involves a lof stamina

It is not too bad imo. The weight is not really heavy, and i personally just lift it by 1-2 inches, then i am already fully locked out. The repeater workouts that i did usually last 24-48 minutes, alternating between each arm and so far i've never felt anything in back afterwards. But also keep in mind that lifting blocks just isolates your forearms. So unless there is a specific reason that you want to do that, doing real climbing is always the better option if you have that opportunity.

Thanks as ever Ash. Yes good point. I feel like I'm getting some consistency now and a new work schedule is helping with work/life balance.

M - Gym. 30 min on the wall. Just at 6a. Flexibility.

T - Routes at Kendal. Working my weaknesses on the prow and steep wall. Lots of 'learning' also known as failing. Flexibility.

W - Flexibility. Boulder at BoulderUK. Got absolutely spanked and couldn't even do a V5, despite trying about 6. 

T - Rest

F - Garage board trying to make a decent kneebar station. Too tired after that (making it not using it) to do any climbs

S - Flexibility

S - Kilterboard at Lancaster - climbs I had tagged as good for warm ups have now become my projects...... Piecing together problems for a structured board session.

I feel like I'm getting into a decent routine. I'm hoping for another good week this week and then probably one more before a deload.

We went to Eden Rock Edinburgh, which was not too far from the centre. Definitely good enough for a visit. 

The PE comment came from Steve McClure observing that people typically train endurance and power, but often don't deliberately target PE.  That said, I agree that much of what you do is probably in that range, as you often go on stuff that you don't routinely flash, and which are long enough, steep enough and hard enough to be PE type things.

I agree with Randy's analysis really, especially the way the systems overlap.  Lopez made this point ages ago with the group on an endurance protocol all improving their strength and those a on a strength protocol getting gains in endurance.  It seems to me that my endurance-based repeater protocol with block lifts is also delivering strength - the weight is climbing just to maintain the pump and is now at a level I couldn't have done four weeks back.

Agree also with Randy that block lifts are very focused on forearms only, so a good break for my shoulders!