UKC

UKC fit club week 444

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 Ally Smith 20 Sep 2015
Stats later, me and AJM are off fit a bike ride
 biscuit 20 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers Ally. Weather looks cracking. Enjoy the ride.

Good and bad this week.

Good: commuted to college twice - 60 miles in total. Diet has been good.Fatness is reducing, according to the scales.

Climbed at Langcliffe Quarry with Nomics. Great session and a great little crag. Warmed up on a 6b, which felt as shaky and scary as last week. I was intending to potter about in the 6b area but she persuaded me to have a go on a 7a. Long story short after some faffing i got it. So 7a in a session after pretty much 18mths off felt quite good, especially as it's not a soft one.

Some basic errors in sequence remembering, trying again with not enough rest etc but that'll come back with time.

Had a day setting on the tall wall. Fun, but hard work, and counts as climbing and a general workout.

Bad: fell off my bike on the commute. Landed right on the point of my left elbow, which is bloody sore, and it hurt my shoulder as well. Seems to be settling now though. Also hurt my left pinky and ring finger which are still sore.

Injury list is adding up as i've also got an AC joint strain in my right shoulder. I've been ignoring it for a while but setting on Thursday really aggravated it. I think it was the hauling.

Also got a peroneal strain in my right calf. Dates back to a bad ankle twist a few months ago and i think that's what led to the plantar fascia problems that cut me out of the ultra. Been ignoring it ( there's a pattern forming here ) but it's got to the stage where i'm limping in pain when i get out of bed and it's constantly uncomfortable so time to tackle it.

Had 4 big days in work and 2 in college so only the one climbing session and not much physio etc done this week. This will happen once a month so i need to plan it in as a rest/easy week i think and blast the other three.

STG's

Back to Langcliffe ( weather permitting ) and get another 7a, or maybe a 7a+ which Nomics made look really easy so it must be right?

1 indoor session

1 beastmaker session

Phsyio leg, shoulders and fingers.

Gym session

If i get time work on the weaknesses in core/hips that got flagged up the other week at the gym.


It's time to stick a goal for 2016. For the next 12 mths i have the time to climb outdoors at least once a week, extra free time during college holidays and not much stress on the horizon. Next October i'll be full time at Uni, working and trying to fit kids stuff in and that'll be like that for the following 3 yrs. So if i'm going to do it it'll be this year. 8a or get injured trying is the goal. I would guess something at Kilnsey as that'd fit for peaking next summer holidays. Any suggestions welcome.
 mrchewy 20 Sep 2015
In reply to biscuit:


> So if i'm going to do it it'll be this year. 8a or get injured trying is the goal.

Fingers crossed for an injury free run at it. Nice goal.

OP Ally Smith 20 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:
UKC Fit Club is not a substitute for the training diary but to use with (or without) it as a motivational tool for all.

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here:http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502  The following training article by Alex Barrows is the bible for training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing:
http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/training-for-sport-climb...
with information about scheduling a training regime to peak in time for a trip/competition can be found here:http://ukbouldering.com/media/pdf/periodisation.pdf

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity, noting goals, successes and failures and to swap ideas.  Anyone interested in starting is very welcome but you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits to help achieve your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity

Psyche video of the week: suggestion please? Stuck with a poor internet connection in AJMs van

Fitclubber of the week award – Dr Nick Russell - congratulations!

Nick Russell - hi everybody!
Richard Popp - new quarry is an acquired taste; did you do the fingerboard benchmarking yet?
AJM - Swanage trad bimbling won't get you fit for Kaly - hit the FO campus hard!
Dandan82 - fingers crossed the elbows have survived?
Mattrm - good day at The Yat. More trad this week?
Flopiscle - congratulations on winning - the margin doesn't matter! More scooter running this week?
Tyler - indoor DWS cowardice compensated for by the outhouse session. Good to see some stated goals too.
Joyce - aero cap intensity sounds about right now. Did you do your Percival highball?
Hms - great progress on cc. Hope the shoulder hold up for your French trip.
Ally Smith - needs to improve the quality of drinking "training"
Mutl3y - I meant route 8a, but if you're psyched for the font variety - BRING IT!
Biscuit - must be great outside after such a break. You'll get back into the grit mojo soon enough
Alexm198 - three day epic must have earned a big dinner when you finally got down?
Humperdink - enjoy Portugal, don't forget your trainers
Just tintin - congratulations on feeling solid at E1 - onwards and upwards next year?
Planetmarshall - bet you're looking forward to kalymnos as the UK weather starts to turn a bit nasty?
Exile - super close on the 7b project - nail it, then get back on the fingerboard and reap the benefits
0.5viking - not being able to do the moves on a 7a doesn't mean you can't RP that grade. Try again before dismissing that route?

Thanks AJM for assistance with this weeks stats from the back of his comfy van
Post edited at 13:46
 Exile 20 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks for doing fit club again Ally.

2015 aims:

Winter VI 7 - Tick.

Spring / early Summer 7b RP - Countash, Mill Side Scar - Tick.

Summer quick build through E1 / E2 / E3s on slate before trying to OS Malice in Wonderland, (E3 / E4) Although may be getting side tracked!

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

M: am - 1hr road ride. (Winter endurance)
T: am - 1hr 30min warm up and finger board. (Contact strength)
W: am - 50min fast road run. (Winter endurance)
T: am - 35min road run at recovery pace. (Winter endurance(
F: am - 1hr 30min warm up and finger board. (Contact strength)
S: 5hrs scramble and mountain walk. (Winter endurance)
S: am - 1hr 30min warm up and finger board. (Contact strength)

Work and visitors conspired to mean no time on the project, but a solid week.
 The Fox 20 Sep 2015
In reply to biscuit:

>So if i'm going to do it it'll be this year. 8a or get injured trying is the goal. I would guess something at Kilnsey as that'd fit for peaking next summer holidays. Any suggestions welcome.


The Bulge KilnseyThe Bulge (aka Let Them Eat Jellybeans) (8a)
 biscuit 20 Sep 2015
In reply to The Fox:

It's on the list of possibles/probables Paul, cheers. Do you have beta?

Weekends are tricky for me but Tuesdays/Fridays are possible days if you ever find yourself at a loose end mid week
 flopsicle 20 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks Ally. I was probably more pleased to win by a narrow margin, romping home is not as good and I did feel like I climbed to my own best - that I was most pleased about. This week has been busy with my mum work and daughters dad ahasn't had her today so it might look a bit lazy.

Mon - School run, carrying scooter home Just 1.6 miles as had to start work.

Tues - Nowt, drove to school due to heavy rain.

Weds - 3.6 miles and a new PB for 2 miles (16.48) - 2nd mile was uphill! 1.5 hrs leading, top roping.

Thurs - 2.4 mile run. 5.5 mile bike ride but 312 ft of it uphill.

Fri - couple of miles on the bike. 2 hrs bouldering - drills, 1 hr ropes, some drills 1 real climb.

Sat - 2 hrs bouoldering, new problems up at NCC, the grades were bonkers but did get a couple that people usually better than me struggled with or couldn't get up.

Sun - Had daughter and not done anything! Contemplated getting the trx out but mowed the lawn instead!

Next week I'm going to log head stuff along with exercise, watching bouldering, listening to tutorials, reading articles etc. I want that to be something I stay conciously aware of as part of improving. I need to think up some new goals too.
 J B Oughton 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith: Absenteeism has been due to spending the last three weeks in Yosemite (I might not have mentioned it earlier, it didn't really fit in with any training goals apart from to climb lots). It also explains why I'm up late - I'm rubbish at dealing with jetlag!

I won't write three weeks of trip report but here's a quick summary of the main bits:

Cookie Cliff: Quick couple of routes the afternoon we arrived. Waverley Wafer (5.11a) was graded 10c (about E2) in the old topo we had. Turned out to be the biggest fight of my life - nearly three up at the top. Then did Butterballs (5.11c) which was much more technical but took less effort. Both mega-classics which were the hardest routes of their kind in the valley when they were done.

Lost Arrow Spire (Tip only) (A2): Big steep walk in the day before and then bivied at the top for dads birthday. Abbed down into the 'notch' then I lead both pitches as my first proper aid lead - I'm quite a slow aid climber. Tyrolean traverse escape from the tip was very exciting.

Freeblast - the first ten pitches of Salathe Wall on El Cap, at 11b. Individual pitches wouldve been E4 but the whole thing was more like E5 I think. All free, with an annoying slip on each of the (ridiculously thin) crux slab pitches. Abbed down fixed lines.

Salathe Wall (5.13c), El Capitan - After a rest day we jugged and hauled up fixed lined to our highpoint from Freeblast, freed a pitch at E2ish, then bivied on Lung Ledge. Day 2 was the worst day with some terrifying wide crack climbing and some hard aid with a couple of free pitches at E3ish thrown in to cheer me up, not to mention an amazing bivi on El Cap Spire. Day 3 was awesome, managing to free a couple of the crux aid pitches at about E4 with some incredible climbing with crazy El Cap exposure. Unfortunately as we'd been climbing quickly by freeing and linking pitches we caught up with a party who'd set off the day before, we went from having loads of time, to having to wait behind them and climb by head torch to reach Long Ledge - very frustrating. The last day was short but tough (we'd made sure we got up earlier than the slow party we shared the bivi with). The C2 pitch above the Ledge is now is very difficult to aid as a crucial peg had broken. Dad had to retreat down and send me up to free it, featuring what felt like a bold E4 6a sequence, which is tough considering the old obligatory free grade was 5.9 (HVS)! Read on UKC Logbooks that a couple of parties had had to bail there due to the absence of that peg. Anyway, a couple more quick aid pitches (I just wanted to get up at this point) and we were at the top of my first big wall!

All in all it was a much more enjoyable experience than I was lead to believe it would be, particularly with the amount of free climbing I managed to do (I did all the free, Dad did all the hard aid, and we shared the rest). I was also glad to do more than my share of the pitches because I was worried I'd just be 'along for the ride' with Dad who's quite experienced on El Cap.

East Buttress (5.10c) of Middle Cathedral: a super speedy ascent of an 11 pitch E2 in about four hours.

Cookie Cliff (again): went for another quick afternoon on the one drizzly day. A nice little indicator of my granite progression managing to do Outer Limits (5.10c) and Cookie Monster (5.12a), which are similar grades to those routes on the first day, with a lot less trouble this time!

Snake Dike (5.7) on Half Dome - the easiest way up Half Dome sneaking up the back in eight pitches on amazing knobbly dikes, and a great way to finish the trip.

So those are all the highlights of a great few weeks in the Valley really. The only downside was I missed out on an ascent of midnight lightning when it lay 100m from my tent! Unfortunately its quite highball so I had no pads for most of the time, and connie's weren't ideal when it was around 25°C in the evenings! No massive grades either, with the Rockfax grade conversion telling me I did a few E4s, but 'Valley Grades' have a massive reputation for being traditional and sandbaggy so I was never really going go be pushing my grade on a new rocktype - although I do feel a lot more proficient at crack climbing now!

I am feeling a BHAG coming on to free El Cap though...

Cheers, Jake
 J B Oughton 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith: Oops, maybe not a very quick summary haha
 alexm198 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Bonjourno Ally, hope you're well. I think after the three day battle I probably couldn't be arsed to cook anything! Pretty shocking week this week, weather has been pretty bad and other things have got in the way (e.g. job interview prep and proofreading my other half's masters thesis...nightmare).

M: Rest - poor weather.
T: Tried to go check out conditions up high, having to make a trail across the glacier was hard work after all the fresh snow of the last few days, got halfway to our intended destination before finding ourselves in a labyrinth of thinly bridged crevasses. Every so often you'd take a step and hear a 'whoomph' as the snowbridge fractured underneath you. Happened three or four times so we gave up and ran away. Essentially a three hour walk with a 250m ascent back up the Midi at the end.
W: Dry tooling at the zoo. Interesting to find that strength wise I felt okay, being able to pull off some throwy (for me) reaches and lock things off, but my stamina has gone to sh*t. More of this needed!
T: Rest - poor weather.
F: Finally did a core workout, got depressingly spanked. Much more psyched to get this back to being a regular thing though.
S: 30 minutes of yoga.
S: Goulotte des Allemands (TD 5), Triangle du Tacul. Alternate finish due to conditions at about Scottish V 6. 15 minutes of yoga in the evening.

Spending this coming week in London with the girlfriend so it'll be a chilled one.

Last week's goals: 3 more ticks weather didn't play ball but I'm glad to have got a route and some tooling done. Core workout tick.

STG (this week): Some yoga and/or core workout.
 AJM 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers Ally. I was thinking of Swanage as capillarisation and head training

Mixed week.

Went out for my planned test ride on Tuesday. Got up abbotsbury and whiteway, just about, but they killed me for the rest of the ride. Bailed back to Dorchester after a while as I just couldn't push uphill any more. New highs of heart rate and of the amount of time I can grind away painfully up slow hills. So good and bad, although mainly bad.

Did some solid training during the week. A very good aeropow training session, a debilitating AnCap session, and probably some other stuff too. Had to rest Friday though as body was telling me it really needed a rest.

Weekend with Ally in South Wales. Saturday, Trial Wall, some good puffing and panting from Ally to install the gear on Crime and Punishment (E5 or 7a+). Far more trad than the description would suggest, all the bolts are on the easy bit and the crux is on pegs and trad gear. Anyway, I managed to push through, try hard, and get the flash for the 7a+ tick. Had a struggle at the top until I managed to find a better rest position at which point things came back together well enough to pull through the finish. Hardest moves I've done on trad gear even if someone else installed it. Thinking about it afterwards the thing I wouldn't have done on lead was to commit without the beta. With the beta I reckon I could potentially have got to the finale, although whether I'd have pulled that is up for question.

Went to shipwreck later on but it wasn't really in condition. Wasn't really clear from the internet beta that it doesn't actually get any sun this time of year so if it's wet it doesn't dry fast. Had fancied a flash go on the 7b+ but it was wet so in general psyche was low so I mooches and basked in the glory of c&p.

Sunday we went biking in the morning - 47km and about 540m height gain. Nice ride. Found a very short and sharp hill towards the end.

Afternoon we went to Dinas. Fell off Berlin on the flash, worked the beta for the crux out and then lowered off. Got to the last moves in the groove on the second go, all onsight on the top, but fell off. Very frustrating, lost perspective and so couldn't see that the entire left wall would work as a hold except the chalky bit where I could see and was trying to put my foot. So I fell off. Annoying and frustrating. Fiddly climbing, quite trad.

Very pleased with c&p. Some good training in the week. Tried hard on the bike ride. Have new gears now so there's hope for the weekend, fingers crossed. Seeing coach on Saturday too so be interesting to see the stats.
 Dandan 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

> Dandan82 - fingers crossed the elbows have survived?

Thanks Ally, I can happily report that I still have 2 working elbows, along with a decent selection of other fully working body parts!

This is a 2 week roundup so prepare yourselves...

Week 443
M: Indoor boulder; 2x 500 move Aero/ARC circuits. also, as part of my warmup, cheekily flashed a new 15 move V6 that most were struggling on, I guess I haven't lost all my endurance...
T: Indoor routes; feeling mega sore from the sheer volume of moves the day before, took it steady, favoured the elbows and mooched about from 6a-7b
W:
T: Contracted my housemates flu/lurgy, brilliant.
F: really quick blast in the bouldershed to keep loose in between eating oranges and drinking lemsip by the litre
S: Travel to Kalymnos for my RocUp coaching Holiday!
S: Arginonta: The air con was broken in my room, the bar across the street had music blaring until 3am, I had to have the balcony door open to avoid drowning in my own sweat and I felt like I had been swallowing razor blades so I didn't sleep all that well.
With lingering lurgy, no sleep and un-conditioned elbows, I was glad that it was only a warm-up day for the coaches to gauge our climbing, I kept to 6c and below and was quite pleased with my restraint.
Everyone seemed to be very nervous about their climbing being under scrutiny, there was a lot of overgripping, under-used feet and bent arms. I just jumped on and enjoyed the routes, I was fully relaxed and apparently moved well from the off, which was good to hear.
We had big group meals out every night and I was a bit star struck to find myself sat between Leah Crane and Ben West on the first night, I know a lot of you Sheffield/Bristol types probably see them all the time but it was a novel experience for me, and what a top pair they are! Constantly happy to answer any questions and freely giving of a huge span of knowledge and advice, it very quickly just felt like a holiday with a bunch of mates instead of climbers and coaches.

Week 444

M: Panorama/Grande Grotte: My left elbow had a lingering dull ache since last week, similar to my usual brachialis ache but less intense and longer lasting. We previously narrowed the cause of this to bad form/dipping the shoulder when doing tricep extensions or some TRX stuff, but the weird thing was that I hadn't done anything like that for a couple of weeks. I did a brace of 6's to try and work out the ache, it seemed to feel ok so I got on Ivi (7a+) for a comfortable flash and the elbow actually felt better afterwards! Again I held back on any more as I really wanted to push on later in the holiday.

T: Rest, a couple of us trekked out to the Sikati cave just to see what the big deal is, we didn't take gear, it genuinely has to be seen to be believed, what is technically a 'hole in the ground' is actually a perception-bending cathedral of flowstone and stalactite forests, 70m deep in places, without a flat surface to be seen, it's definitely on my list of crags to re-visit with a rope and harness!

W: Secret Garden: I woke in the night, rolled over and could feel mucus literally flowing across my lungs from the change in orientation. Safe to say I woke up feeling a little under the weather.
I decided another rest day would be prudent, more chance for elbows to recover and I didn't exactly feel like I would put in a good performance. I tagged along to the crag anyway as it was the first day with Magnus Midtbo and I didn't want to miss a chance to see him crush. The secret garden looks great, I never pulled onto the rock but everyone seemed to love it despite slightly damp conditions.
Magnus made a 7c+/8a look like a 6a, but then I realised it is hard to get good beta from watching him as he is just so unbelievably strong that he genuinely doesn't need to use good technique at that level, he will never hang around working out a sequence, he'll just bear down and thug through it!

T: Odyssey: I always thought that the purpose of warm up climbs was to get moving without over-exerting yourself, especially avoiding any sort of pump until your muscles are warm and ready to pull hard.
Leah's take on warming up is that it is essential to generate a reasonable pump (not a debilitating full flash pump) to remind your body how to recover from it, making it easier to recover from on subsequent, harder climbs. This seemed completely alien to me, so warming up on a 6c+ felt very odd, and I did generate some pump, but it didn't seem to do any harm, I certainly didn't experience any more pump for the day, so there might be something to it.
In fact, I got straight onto Sardonique (8a) as a potential project with a plan to go bolt-to-bolt to get warm, but I actually got from the ground to 3 moves into the crux on the flash attempt, so maybe a pumpy warm up is a good thing!
Elbows were glad of the extended rest so I had 2 more goes on Sardonique with one redpoint attempt but I just didn't have the power endurance to get through the crux, it's too intense after 20 metres of climbing, definitely something I can train for though.
I asked Magnus to climb it to see if I could glean any new info about the crux from his ascent, but he's so damn strong that he onsighted the 7 move crux in 3 ridiculously powerful moves! Impressive but not much help to me!

F: Odyssey: Almost everyone had picked up a project so we returned, I had climbed harder yesterday than I had in probably any time in the preceding 3 months so I was aching - everywhere!
I didn't bother flinging myself at sardonique any more, but I did get a really comfortable onsight of Lucky Luca (7b) but blew the flash of Kulturistika (7b) going for the post-crux jug.
Magnus had the clips in the 8c Lucky Luca extension so I pulled on to feel the first hard move, amazingly it felt hard but not impossible, the kind of thing that would work with more training, not the sort of thing that just feels physically impossible, it was a very positive experience as the extension only has that and one more hard move (apparently). It made those ridiculous uber-grades feel one step closer to being a possibility one day.

S: Travel home

S: Return of the Lurgy! Nearly collapsed from exhaustion while mowing the lawn, I think I picked up a fresh bug on the plane home!

Overall, I had a fantastic week, the whole experience was just amazing, a perfect combo of great rock, great people and a brilliantly organised trip, I would recommend a RocUp holiday to almost anyone wishing to really push things forward and have an awesome fun time doing it.
I was pleased with my performances especially considering my lingering lurgy and the pitiful 4 weeks of training I managed to squeeze in before the trip, obviously I would have liked to have been healthier and have had 6 months of training under my belt, but my performance in less than ideal circumstances gives me a lot of hope for future improvement. I would have liked a considerably longer ticklist, but at least I came home with working elbows!

STG: Get back on the wagon training wise, time to improve my power endurance!
Set the sardonique crux on my boulder wall

MTG: I'd still like that 8a, this year would be nice

LTG: I'll have a think.
 Dandan 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Edit:
UKC seems to think Sardonique (8a) is 8a+ but the app gives it 8a and I'd take it as such.
OP Ally Smith 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Dandan:

MTG (Daring to think the shoulder might not be perma-f*cked; objectives for remainder of 2015):
The Medium; f8a slate slab
Tony Slab Chamonix; another f8a slab
Kilnsey – go bolt a project before Gresham claims them all
Chulilla - La Montana Magica, f8a+/b (End Nov)
3x week finger board sessions
3x week core sessions – more than just the 8min ab app

77 mile Peak District Sportive without bonking too badly

74 kg & 6.4% BF before Chulilla trip

STG (next week)
- Rehab
- 2x >30km bike rides
- Do “daily ab workout” from silly app.
- Maintain sub 76kg weight;

Last week:
M - 35km cycling including a wind assisted PB, or 6. FB4: 70% An-cap hangs with open crimp and back-3. Needless to say, this left me feeling beasted 3rd day on. Low dish & side plank static core.
T - A real struggle to get out of bed, but thankfully much less DOMS than expected. Rehab, 8 & 5min core then fatty work meal
W - 35km cycling. Rehab, FB5 and 1on/1off 7:3 @60%. Managed 10 sets. Good progress on previous session.
T - Double bad; No exercise what so ever, and another fatty work meal.
F - Physio and not much else. Felt battered.
S - 5am start to drive to Gower. E4/5 6b warm-up was probably overcooking it! Soaking 7b+ 2nd go after dogging and drying. Quick play on Airshow, 8a/+. One to come back for when the crag isn’t piss wet through – high summer?
S - 48km ride with AJM after only planning a quick 20km spin; oops! Drove to Dinas Rock, did Berlin ext OS (7b) and dogged H1N1. (bouldery f8a)

The shoulder is starting to get back to strength, but not quite there – wouldn’t commit to slaps or any move where my foot might slip and load shoulder unexpectedly. Definite strength progress though


OP Ally Smith 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Dandan:

I'm away for the rest of the week with work and getting increasingly bogged down with admin bolx...

...Can anyone else do fit-club stats this week?
 Dandan 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

I'll sort the stats for a week (or more if needed), i'm in a much better place to offer positive, encouraging stats now that i'm back to climbing myself!
 Ian Bell 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Hi everyone

I used to post here but stopped a few years ago, decided to re-join Fit Club to help with the winter motivation. As background, I’ve been climbing (mostly sport) c10 years, live in London and mostly climb Portland / Swanage / Wye Valley way. Having climbed my first 7b last year I’ve been lazy this year and just done a bunch of 6c-7a climbs. Nice but not as satisfying. Goal therefore is to do a bit of training this winter and get on some harder climbs.

Immediate plan is to do some strength, mostly via bouldering until around Mid Nov. Will then do a bit of endurancy type stuff for a month or so (4x4 etc) to try and get fit for Tenerife.

Strength wise my weekly plan = 2x bouldering sessions, 1x hard route sessions per week. Hopefully 1x yoga session. Would appreciate any thoughts on whether I should be aiming for 3 boulder sessions in a week, am a little concerned if I do too much I’ll just get injured.

Goals wise

STG = another 7b by the end of Tenerife trip (going for c10 days over New Year)
MTG = at least 3x7b and 1x7b+ in 2016
BHAG = 8a by 40 (almost 34 now). May involve moving somewhere closer to rock!

Thanks all

Ian
OP Ally Smith 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Dandan:

Thanks Dan
 Nick Russell 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:
> Nick Russell - hi everybody!

Thanks for the stats Ally, and thanks for FCoTW award The Dr Nick joke may start to wear thin, but I'll keep going until then!

Just got back from a short trip to Barberine Gietroz with hms - no big numbers to report but pretty successful really. The wrist held up ok, and by the end I think I was getting a bit more used to the style/grading there - both a little unfamiliar at first.

M - TCA. Just bimbling really, good to do some actual climbing
T - Rest (it had been over a week since my last proper rest day).
W - 8.7km run with 10 x (1min on/2min off) intervals. I enjoy that kind of set!
T - Nothing - travel to Argentiere
F - Climbing at 'La Zone'. Three routes in all, 2 @ 6b+ and one 7a (second go). I really noticed that the routes are a lot longer (30m+) than I'm used to!
S - Climbing at 'Afrique'. Warm-up on 6b slab, then got on the classic of the crag, L'Epée de Damocles (6c). It took me 3 attempts, and what felt like about 7b-worth of effort. Unfamiliar style and tired from Friday?
S - Back to Afrique: it's a really great crag! Got on much better today. After another 6b slab warm-up, flashed Guillotine (7a), then Physiothérapie (6c+) (a much different style). Finally got on a 7a+ because I wasn't tired enough. I was pleased to fight my way up most of the route, but then fell of a crimpy, sequency section at the top.

Sunday was my redemption after a below-par day (performance-wise) on Saturday. I think Friday left me pretty tired, but I had started to adjust a bit to it by Sunday. I can tell that my technique needs a bit of work by the bruises on my knees!

I'm going to see how the (hopefully ex-) injuries go this week. The finger never really developed into a problem (I'd like to call it good early management/intervention?) and the wrist doesn't seem to have been too bothered by 3 days of climbing so I'm optimistic. If all's well by next Sunday, I'll think about some winter goals...
 Tyler 21 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

My wife offered to write this for me; "work, boulder, have a poo, weigh myself, work, repeat" but she is missing out the exciting detail which I know you all love to read so her goes.

M: Rest
T: outhouse, managed red, white and green problems for the first time. Three of my goals done in one evening. Boom! Best indoor session ever. Made no progress on GBH circuit. Added moves to the Thumb circuit so it's now an atheistic figure of eight and anew STG
W: Longridge, was utterly shit on first crux of second fifth, couldn't crimp a massive crimp. Got through it once and fell off matching the wobbly block then went from before the crux to matching the wobbly block (the end) so as close as can be.
T: Work
F: Worked late but went for a short session at Boulder UK. New half set downstairs, managed all new V5s (6 of them) and one of the two V6
S: Loooong work day
S: Even longer work day

This week has been shit as work has been a nightmare and looks set to continue. Hoped to train tonight (Monday) but haven't been able. Malham on Thursday so big day on GBH to see if it is realistic for next year then DIY and parents visit next weekend so no other opportunities
 Dandan 22 Sep 2015
In reply to Tyler:

UKC fit club Tyler style:

Work, warm up, climb, warm down, stretch, theraband, flexbar, armaid, climbskin, eat, voodoo floss, sleep, repeat
OP Ally Smith 22 Sep 2015
In reply to Dandan:

and the 19 year old Joughton version - "eat, sleep, climb, repeat"
 hms 22 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Shoulder is not good, giving me real cause for concern. Biggest issue is that it aches at night which wakes me up then I can't find a position to stop it aching and can't go back to sleep. I've had 2 weeks of utterly crap sleep and no combo of rest/rehab/painkillers/alcohol/hot baths/whatever seems to make any difference.

M - cycle commute
T - cycle commute. Bloc in evening but steered clear of anything with long/slappy moves on the left or serious foot slip potential.
W - cycle commute
T - travel to France
F - La Zone. 6b+, 6b+, got high on a 7a but no cigar & no time for 2nd go.
S - Afrique. 6b warmup, OS of Nick's dreaded 6c, which was flipping tough, failed on a 7a, heavy rain whilst I was reworking the lower crux so left clips in & retreated.
S - Afrique. 6b warmup, worked 7a crux, rest then got it clean. I have done easier 7bs I swear - it's a brute! Had a go at a 6c+ which was probably foolish as shoulder was not at all happy by this stage & I should have walked away, but last day of the trip etc. Got 1/2 way then out of power, dogged to top.

Excellent crags, would highly recommend, but the grading seemed extremely stiff, even allowing for unfamiliarity with the rock. Think I now need to have a very gentle week of rest & rehab before being told off by Nina next Monday.
In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks Ally. Definitely onwards and upwards next year. Kinda bummed out with the realisation that I’d just got overwhelmed by the battle of grit HVS and hadn’t tried any E1s until this summer. Onsighted E1 on grit this weekend, so will just ignore HVS and keep onsighting E1s and E2s! Also won the comp on Friday, so a good weekend.

M – Coaching then lead Brookes
T – rest
W – work
T –Lead Brookes
F – Bouldering Comp Final at Climbing Unit. Winner of Senior Female! (STG met)
S – Trad Burbage. Realised I’ve been wasting my time on HVS when I did E1 onsight as a warm up. Don’t know why I didn’t just start on E1s before!
S – Trad/boulder Gardoms. Weird crag on first inspection but some brilliant routes when you find them. There’s a bold bouldery soft E4 up the side of Apple Arete that is crying out to be tried next time…
 AJM 22 Sep 2015
In reply to hms:

Épée is a toughie isn't it!

Glad you had fun. Was gorge wet or did you just not fancy it?

Hope shoulder is on the mend soon...
 hms 22 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:

Gorge was dark damp & forbidding. Plus given how we were getting spanked on the other stuff, going harder/steeper seemed unwise (and not shoulder friendly either I suspect).
 J B Oughton 22 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith: you missed out hangover recovery in there!
 AJM 22 Sep 2015
In reply to hms:

Steeper = better holds

I might be passing through Bristol a week Friday BTw. Will keep you posted.
In reply to everyone: Hello again. I am afraid I rather lost all pysche over the summer but I am now back into training again...

T - First session for AGES. Boulder @ Brookes.
W - Boulder @ Brookes. Not good. Really struggling second day on...
T - rest
F - rest
S -Trad @ Hen Cloud & The Roaches.
Hen Cloud Eliminate (HVS 5b) rpt
2nd Rainbow Crack (VS 5a) rpt
Delstree (HVS 5a)
Alt LD Valkyrie (VS 4c) rpt
Wombat (E2 5b) rpt
Nothing hard but all *** routes.
S - Boulder @ Brookes. Got of to a good start flashing three Blue tags I'd failed on when tired earlier in the week but I then tired very quickly.

Generally lacking in session stamina and base fitness. Need to spend a month getting some fitness back...
 planetmarshall 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

A better week for training this week. Winding down for my Kalymnos trip now, so not too bothered about rest periods. Will need to be a bit more disciplined when I ramp back up for Winter, though.

Mon - 4x4s AW Stockport. A good session on the V1/2 routes on the steep wall but they've reset the routes now so need to find a new set to do.
Tue - Trail Run/10.4km/320m Shining Tor. Head torch needed for the descent!
Wed - Laps at AW Stockport. 2 sets 4 laps on 6a+ routes on the COnvex and Concave walls. Didn't find this to be as good an exercise as the 4x4s as it's too easy to rest, and I find the long routes in the tower better for endurance.
Thu - Rest
Fri - Rest
Sat - Full day climbing at Burbage North. Ticked another E1 - The Penultimate (E1 5b) - bold, technical and slabby. Another step on the route to Brown's Eliminate.
Sun - Went to the Lakes to do a trail run with a friend. 14km/740m.

Finally got a proper diagnosis for my hand injury. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xol086khz65wga5/Skitch.png?dl=0). There's some damage to the hamate/5th metacarpal interface - so the treatment would be to fuse the joints at the expense of some flexibility. I don't expect this to impact my climbing much, but I play the piano so there's a bit of concern there. I'll get the ball rolling on the NHS and will maybe explore some alternatives if any exist.

 Solsbury 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers Ally.
Funny old week last week. Lot going on at work which is distracting. I did go on fingerboard-not quite sure what I meant by "benchmarking" in hind sight but found out I can do 5 sets of 7sec hangs/3 second rest x 6 for jug, front three, back three, four finger crimp on Beastmaker 2000, but if I do that I effectively cant use my arms for 48 hours-not really sure what I proved-not so much looking at strength but more power endurance.

Anyway
M-long day at work-shoulder and core
T-TCA, still suffering from Sundays fingerboard, not a good session
W-Shoulder and stretching
Th-TCA, better, ticked another blue, down to a handful, flashed a couple of yellows-next one up.
Fri-long day at work.
Sa-Shoulder and stretching
Sun-out to Cheddar, felt v confident on damp 6b, but struggled on Slalom 6c, lots of slips/falls. Dire on Shaking, felt seriously underpowered but aware that I am very busy at the minute. Brilliant to be on rock, not just a bit of tiredness but realistically I do need to spend more time on rock-I always improve duh. Enjoyed climbing with Ben.

Plans for thsi week-hopefully get out at the weekend and get a few more blues in the week. Would quite like to tick them all.

Cheers

Rich
In reply to Solsbury:

> Cheers Ally.

> Funny old week last week. Lot going on at work which is distracting. I did go on fingerboard-not quite sure what I meant by "benchmarking" in hind sight but found out I can do 5 sets of 7sec hangs/3 second rest x 6 for jug, front three, back three, four finger crimp on Beastmaker 2000, but if I do that I effectively cant use my arms for 48 hours-not really sure what I proved-not so much looking at strength but more power endurance.

I've just taken up fingerboarding myself (for the last 2-3 months), after years of being a weekend-only climber - a decade of feeling that trying hard when bouldering is sufficient "training", with anything more rigorous smacking too much of work, which is what climbing is my relief from!

Similarly to what I suspect is your case, I personally found that, if you can't hang one-armed, the standard holds seem best suited to power endurance "repeater" work-outs, which tire my arms for days and frankly don't float my boat. I want nasty crimp strength, I reckon my endurance is already addressed by sessions of working routes. Anything more testing of max-strength with the standard holds seems to require weights / pulleys, and/or 1-2 fingers combinations, and I really do not want to risk knacking a tendon mono-ing a fingerboard.

My own solution has been to buy a weight vest, and make inserts of varying thicknesses (approx 12 and 15 mm) that slot into the deep slots of the Beastmaker 2000. Using these I have been pursuing a "Lopez" style programme of relatively small numbers of weighted hangs. Maybe it is a coincidence, but I lately re-visited a few crimpy projects and found I could now do certain moves more easily (and recently ticked off a couple of sport projects). Also, the work-outs are pretty rapid (I use a few sets of repeaters to warm-up and top up the PE, and am still done after around an hour), and whilst you can certainly feel them the day after, they have so far not seemed to impinge on route sessions 2 days later. Might be an approach worth considering, although I am sure the more training versed members of forum, rather than recent converts, will soon be along with better advice.
 mattrm 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

STG - Sport pyramid - 6a (2/10), 6b (1/6), 6c (0/1) 12st
Aspirational - Climb E5/6 (London Wall), Scottish Winter V (Point 5, Zero, Minus, Orion), Redpoint 8a (Masada, Mortal Kombat & Cider Soak) stay injury free & maintain 11st

Weight - 12st 5lbs (2lbs gain)

M - 100 dish tucks
T - 100 dish tucks
W - 100 dish tucks
T - Rest
F - Travelling
S - Wedding
S - Sightseeing in Hamburg

Monthly Avg - 21%
Yearly Avg - 66%

Pretty poor week. Couldn't fit running shoes into the hand luggage and couldn't really be arsed to bother with trying harder to get some exercise in whilst in Hamburg at a mates wedding. We did quite a bit of walking around town, however, so that was better than nowt. Thankfully the wife likes a gentle stroll as much as I do. Over indulged a bit hence the weight gain. Need to try and keep that under control. Just doing the dish tucks is a bit lame really. I need to get a climbing session sorted out. I have been doing a fair bit of DIY recently trying to get the kitchen finished (believe it or not, it's still a work in progress). It would be nice to have the kitchen done by christmas.
 Joyce 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Morning Campers,

Ta muchly Ally and AJM for stat-ting this week. I'll keep on doing that Aero-Cap thang then, making it a harder as I get less bad at it. Good week, this week.

Training Diary WC 14/09/15

Monday – Running intervals: 8 x 400m intervals at 17:10 5K pace w/1min recovery. 3:27m/km overall (target 18:00 5K pace is 3:36m/km). Bang on. Felt good and felt fast – legs burned a bit but recovered after each rep.
Tuesday – Bloc with Ross – had a go at a couple of training things that Ross was trying from his ‘Randallisation’ training plan. Did the 3 goes at 3 hard problems in 6 mins with 6 mins rest. Great fun. Got to last hold twice on one, lacked oomph on following two... Then, AnCap (maybe) 12 move foot on campus reps on small rungs. Did 2 sets of 4 with 2 ½ mins rest and 5 mins between sets – missed out on a third set by accident. This didn’t seem to do much for me. Stuff to think about though.
Wednesday – Orienteering run around Westonbirt Arboretum. 7.5K in1:06:00 as mucho hunting in exotic foliage for controls and taking photos too. Great trot out.
Thursday – Biblins Cave – a great session. Repeated The Bulge (7A) twice from 2 attempts as a warm up. Then repeated the RH start (7A+) second go. Slurp of coffee before School of Burl (7B) went third go – properly stoked on this as it’s the first 7B that’s its own proper problem (as opposed to a being a link-up or just really long and steady) that I’ve done for a while. It’s also undercutty, steep and beefy as ‘ell – definitely my anti-style. Well stoked on this. Then I fell off the last move of School’s Out For Summer 7A+), a power endurance problem. Kept getting back on and started working it from the end – managed it from 4 moves of the start at the end of a session. Will be back for it.
Friday – BM 5B session – 77/84 doing Frenchies. Still tired from giving it the beans last night.
Saturday – Digging/sleeper shifting either side of a 11.2km ‘Long Run’ with Tom. It took 53:56 at 4:42m/km with 198m of ascent. Started at the speed of chat then wound it up in the last 5K as I paced Tom on home to close in on his 10K time – great fun.
Sunday – The Mighty ‘Sham. Pretty tired all over after Friday’s BM session so, after a promising start which included an extended start to Korky (7A) on The Slug, an attempt on The Loop (8a) got to my usual span/pocket plop off move and then attempts at Ames Wol (7A+/B) – the down hill second half – got steadily worse as the holds were quite greasy. So, settled for some An-Cap training and kept the doing 12-15 moves every few minutes for an hour or so – it’s all practice. Finished by tickling the holds on Slugtaste (E4 6a – needs a clean) and Stay On It (E4 6c) which requires me to be fresh.
STGs (this month) : Still keep up the aero-cap training keep on cranking on the steep/ the slopers and nail all the Yellows (2nd hardest circuit) and 8 Reds (hardest circuit) at TCA as well as the 7As on the Mothership.
Climb School Of Burl 7B – done - and School’s Out For Summer 7A+ at Biblins, as well as the second half of Peckitt’s Traverse 7C from the pinch.
Do more routes outside or inside to fix lack temporary lack of rope clipping ability!
Keep up with the antagonistic stuff. At least one BM session a week.
Weight = 70.3kg

Love from,
Joyce,
XXXX
 mattrm 24 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:
> Weekend with Ally in South Wales. Saturday, Trial Wall, some good puffing and panting from Ally to install the gear on Crime and Punishment (E5 or 7a+). Far more trad than the description would suggest, all the bolts are on the easy bit and the crux is on pegs and trad gear.

Ohhh, very nice. Have you done Adultress?

> Went to shipwreck later on but it wasn't really in condition. Wasn't really clear from the internet beta that it doesn't actually get any sun this time of year so if it's wet it doesn't dry fast.

Yeah, it's quite slow to dry. I've heard some folk say that it's not worth going there till June as it takes aaagggeeesss to dry. There is a facebook page for conditions, which you might find handy.

> Afternoon we went to Dinas. Fell off Berlin on the flash, worked the beta for the crux out and then lowered off. Got to the last moves in the groove on the second go, all onsight on the top, but fell off. Very frustrating, lost perspective and so couldn't see that the entire left wall would work as a hold except the chalky bit where I could see and was trying to put my foot. So I fell off. Annoying and frustrating. Fiddly climbing, quite trad.

It's a great route tho isn't it? It's on my hit list for next year. Do you or Ally have any good beta?
Post edited at 21:01
 0.5viking 24 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks for doing FC Ally! Good to hear shoulder is progressing! I think I would have been able to do the moves in a few sessions, but the problem is that that crag is quite far away and includes a ferry ride and since I do not own a car I´m not the one choosing the crag. I think I should incorporate 7a in my goals.

STG(next 2 weeks): focus on technique on harder climbs
MTG (end of year): climb a 7 or 7+
LTG(next year’s summer): be solid on 7+ (7a)

Weight: 68.8kg
M: rest
T: running, shoulders, triceps and core
W: climbing indoors, onsighted a 6a, redpointed a 6b second go (small holds and delicate moves, so feel the training on that style paid off). Then went for two overhanging routes with long moves and good holds, but got pumped quite early, so I should make a plan to work on power endurance.
T: rest
F: 2 hour bicycle ride
S: instructor course, climbed a 6b, 6b+ and 6c, all second go without working the moves in first try
S: instructor course, passed it , climbed 2 6a’s, and then failed on 3 6b’s of which I feel 2 are definitely harder, as a couple of 7a climbers couldn’t do those routes.
 AJM 24 Sep 2015
In reply to mattrm:

> Ohhh, very nice. Have you done Adultress?

I let Ally convince me I'd be fine warming up on C&P (he was just about right), so I haven't I'm afraid.

> Yeah, it's quite slow to dry. I've heard some folk say that it's not worth going there till June as it takes aaagggeeesss to dry. There is a facebook page for conditions, which you might find handy.

Yes, I'll probably join it next year. I'll hopefully go back next summer for the 7c+ and 8a/+, the latter in particular looked pretty cool.

> It's a great route tho isn't it? It's on my hit list for next year. Do you or Ally have any good beta?

Assuming that you found the same crux as me (getting stood up by bolts 2/3 on the lip of the roof) I found that for me having a heel on the left edge of the hanging blocks on the lip worked better for me than Allys beta which was to throw a toe out right. Either way we both cranked through to the flat edge on the hold above rather than trying to use the poorer sidepull bit below that.
 Solsbury 24 Sep 2015
In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Cheers Mr Moose, interesting points which I will squirrel away, assume your inserts are to make the slots less deep? Know little about Lopez regimes, had kind of assumed they relate to stronger climbers but....what do I know.

Thinking about my weaknesses the biggest is probably upper body strength to initiate and pull through moves, I have somewhere an old Gresham routine for lanky climbers on steep ground. I will probably focus on this once the weather finally closed in before moving on to fingers etc. Until then I am going to steer clear of the fingerboard and just get out as much as possible as well as trying to boulder twice a week, the bouldering really helps with body position, another weakness.

Will try and take a slightly more structured approach come December. Have to say shimming out the slots and pockets is a very elegant idea, thanks.

Rich
In reply to Solsbury:
Cheers, re my inserts, yup they are used to make the deep 4-finger slots less deep - in one orientation they make the slots around 19-20mm deep, rotated 90 degrees they made the slot around 17mm deep (a little deeper than the small edge but with a more positive radius). I might make some more if I need variety (although, I am not sure if it would be practicable to get a depth much less than the existing small edge). You can get special "Eva Lopez" boards with a full range of edges down to 6mm but they are very pricey, and as I already had a Beastmaker making shims seemed the best alternative.

I admit that it does seem a bit over-the-top for a fingerboard neophyte to straight-away buy a weight vest (!) but the alternative was having to use combinations with back-twos and monos etc. And, lazy chap that I am, I wanted to exercise my entire hand at once (and not risk blowing a tendon slipping out of a polished pocket). Plus, the claim for the weighted hang approach is that it yields the greatest gains for the least time / number of hangs. So, given that I am prone to elbow niggles it seemed the approach most likely to benefit whilst preserving my elbows (vast numbers of repeaters might be more applicable to my route climbing goals but it wouldn't be much good if I couldn't grip come the weekend).

By the way, when you fancy getting back onto the fingerboard, try looking at the UK Bouldering forum's wiki - lots of useful stuff there.


Post edited at 23:09
 AJM 25 Sep 2015
In reply to Joyce:

Depending on what exactly you were doing for foot on campus I would have thought 12 moves would be too fast/easy.

On a problem it's probably about 45 seconds to do 12 moves whereas I suspect it's significantly less for foot on campus.

I have been told in the last that ancap problem reps should be on something slightly above your flash grade - difficult to translate that onto foc but maybe gives an idea of how much effort you should be putting into each rep.
 mattrm 25 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:

> Yes, I'll probably join it next year. I'll hopefully go back next summer for the 7c+ and 8a/+, the latter in particular looked pretty cool.

Well if you need a belay, give me a yell.

> Assuming that you found the same crux as me (getting stood up by bolts 2/3 on the lip of the roof) I found that for me having a heel on the left edge of the hanging blocks on the lip worked better for me than Allys beta which was to throw a toe out right. Either way we both cranked through to the flat edge on the hold above rather than trying to use the poorer sidepull bit below that.

tompr also used a heel on the left. I tried both and failed either way. I actually found some of the technical moves at the top harder. The last groove before the easy moves was really hard for me. Couldn't do it at all. Still it's a good stretch goal for next year.

 AJM 25 Sep 2015
In reply to mattrm:

Will do!

If you get your hands in the right places to use them in a slightly gastonny way it will help you get the weight onto the heel better. The groove at the top was fiddly for sure. It's the sort of thing that will come with work though, its mainly techy and in the feet so is more responsive to practice than the more strengthy bottom crux.
 Mutl3y 26 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Hi ally, getting in before I am reported MIA or suchlike.

Turns out kidney stone with the proper start is quite a bit harder than the wrong start, so still no tick. And early doors with no spotter or beta is not thewalkoveri might have assumed.

Plus I have had the dreaded lurgy so no climbing in the past week anyway.

LIFe goal is still 8A.... if someone else can do it, I'm sure I can do it. Just might need to duck out of fit club for a couple of months as life takes over. I've got to get this wall built in my garage before the new baby comes along but that's a pretty boring subject for this forum.

Figure I will be back on when the new one relents enough to mean I can get back in the saddle properly.

Thanks to you, AJM, dandan and co for the fit club cheering along and good luck everyone with your goals. It was great climbing those 7s this year wouldn't have done it without etc.

M
 cha1n 28 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:

I was doing FOC out of laziness to be honest as I was working away and I didn't have time to make up a 12 move problem (you won't find any ready made ones that long at a wall) and it gets slightly confusing when you're in my situation where my max flash grade (Font 7B) isn't very far away from my max grade (Font 7C) and I can assure you that I'd have no chance of doing a 12 move 7B+ every 2.5 minutes.

I think I need to get Tom to help me out with this one as I'm not sure how important the climbing time is as it doesn't take me 45s to climb a 12 move problem, be that normal or FOC and I've been struggling to work out the intensity. Luckily my endurance is bad enough that FOC on small rungs (and purposely pausing between moves) was hard enough that I was really struggling.
 AJM 28 Sep 2015
In reply to cha1n:

I think the flash grade comment was from Ally so might be based on you being relatively in balance to start off with.

How long does it take you to climb 12 moves then?
 cha1n 28 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:

The flash comment is on my sheet from Tom on the exercise. Dunno, 20-30 seconds? Would be different if it was a route, taking clipping into account. I've only done the unit a few times and the other times it's had to be a traverse to get that many moves in and it doesn't take me long at all.

As I say, I'll try and get more info from Tom on it next time I have to do the unit, unless either of you can help on the intensity front? I'm on a rest week at the moment (whoop), so have some time before worrying about it.
OP Ally Smith 28 Sep 2015
In reply to cha1n:

I agree with the flash comment - don't think i've ever climbed 7B indoors let alone doing lots of them at set intervals.

Here's some ideas for 12 move problems for an-cap:
- Go outside! Stuff like weedkiller traverse, or Parisella's cave are awesome for an-cap length training problems.
- Make up a traverse that leads in to a set up problem at the wall
- Climb a sustained circuit for the prescribed number of moves; you'll have to pick a harder grade, but only do a short bit of it
- FO campus is unlikely to be anywhere near intense enough, even on the small rungs

Intensity wise, you need to gauge the session by how boxed you feel at the end - you want to be powered out, not pumped in the slightest. An inability to do anything vaguely hard post session is what you're looking for.

An-cap/aero-cap (continuity) is a good split session - you'll need a good 20min rest and a brew/flapjack before questing off on your aerobic work otherwise you're liable to bonk badly. Skin will hurt, deal with it you soft southern sh!te
 AJM 28 Sep 2015
In reply to cha1n:
Try measuring it. You might be surprised. If you can really do it in 20s that's under 2 seconds per hand movement including supporting foot movements.

Certainly 40-50 seconds when the feet weren't just jumping them between huge blobs was an OK benchmark for me. Getting below 30 would feel very unlikely and a massive departure from outdoor route pace which is probably a consoderation.

As ally says, not pumped but utterly powered down.

Edit: my local doesn't grade any thing so I don't know how hard my links have been but if I fell off my intended ancap circuit first or second go and then did it after that is certainly consider that a sensible place to have a go and start tweaking from.
Post edited at 14:18
 cha1n 28 Sep 2015
In reply to Ally Smith:

Cheers you two.

When doing it at the works I generally do 12 moves of an established circuit but it doesn't have to be very hard for me to fail on it at current levels of endurance. You'd be surprised regarding foc on small rungs, I was having to use medium rungs by the end of the exercise!

Will have a play when I get that unit again anyway. Focus is on bouldering again now anyway, staying away from lime for many months now I suspect.
 AJM 28 Sep 2015
In reply to cha1n:
If by small you mean "standard" metolius rung sizing which the interweb says are 19mm that's bigger than my aeropow foot on campus rungs (18mm with the edge rounded down). My max on those is 95 seconds which is what, nearly 70 moves (I have a 2/2 metronome at 90 so 45 moves per minute).

Possibly we start from very different places (you can see my stats and judge how yours differ) but based on that, our similar redpoint level and the fact that you're saying your endurance is what's holding you back as the session progresses I just can't see how that adds up to hitting ancap sort of intensity.

Edit: {I realise that the pattern of hand movements, the position and size of the feet, and so on make any attempt to compare different setups guesswork at best, so please don't take this as anything other than an approximate comparison. All I'm trying to suggest with it is that for an ancap session with pretty big rest times compared to climbing time you need to be on something pretty flipping hard}
Post edited at 18:22
 cha1n 28 Sep 2015
In reply to AJM:
Not sure what size they were, I don't think they were branded ones, it was the setup at bloc in Bristol - think they were approx. 1/2 to 2/3 pad in size but my memory is bad. The feet are also slopey rails there as opposed to incut/flat edges, like they are at the works (where I can do FOC for 1.5-2 mins).

I usually do; match on 1-3-5-match-3-1-match repeat on FOC. If it doesn't make any sense why I'm so poor, I have no explanation apart from that I'm a terrible endurance climber. I was climbing with Joyce who wasn't really struggling at all but I know he's put in a lot of effort into ancap of late where as I haven't.

I really need to find out from Tom what aspects of this unit are most important, I'm sure he'll clear things up. I'm not sure if it's the intensity or climbing time or both, but I can't go anywhere near my flash level for this or I'd manage 6-8 moves at best. Admittedly I've not climbed many (except weedkiller but I'm crap on lime, so found it quite hard) 12 move boulders at that grade as I don't really like traverses and it'd be pretty highball at 12 moves.

As I say, I'm currently jumping on a 7b+/7c (route) circuit and climbing 12 moves of that, seems to get me powered out, which seems to be the aim of the exercise.
Post edited at 18:57

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