UKC

Been busy.  Post will be up later tonight.

Evening all! Good spirits after the big win at the Euros today. A decent week from me with a good Moonboard session and got my annual sport climb in for the year!

Last Week:

M - Weigh-in at 77.9kg.

T - Rest.

W - Moonboard. Felt strong! Managed a couple newbies plus last session's elusive clock problem. Problems are "Clock N Load" and "The Lank Bank". Not sure why I felt strong, maybe skipping the no-hangs made me feel extra recovered? Better temps? Bit of both?

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S - Sport climbing at Llanymynech Quarry. Very poor at recovering and clipping, but my headgame was decent after a little time above the clips. Managed Slobberlob (7b) on the second RP after figuring the sequence.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Max no-hangs.

T - Rest.

W or T - Moonboard.

F - Rest.

S, S - Hopefully some great climbing somewhere. Weather looks good!

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers. 

Further delayed, but I will finalise in the early morning.  Sorry - got visitors and it seems rude to abandon them!

At last!

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/fit_club_week_801-750025

An entertaining week of discussions on the thread, with quite a bit of interest looking ahead to weeks 900 and 1000.  Certainly the second of these needs a big build up!

SSB: I think you are probably still enjoying Jersey – hopefully with a bit less of the lifeguarding going on!  Not sure whether you are intending to climb over there, but people on Guernsey recommended Jersey on my last trip over.  I think it is pretty similar to quite a lot of Cornwall.  Anyway, some time on the beach is always nice!

Unusual to see a training week from you at this time of year – your reports are normally full of redpoints and hard trad headpoints, but you’ve had a week of running and bouldering indoors by the look of things.  Presumably, you still have some holiday left when you return?

JayK :  Vince is an odd one isn’t he – can look absolutely peerless, but then never looked truly comfortable batting in tests.  I guess there have always been players who excel at county level, but struggle against five good bowlers.

Not that lax with stretching, although I recognise you didn’t hit your usual once a day targets!  As ever, you’ve put in a decent week of work though, including a very early session on the board!  That is quite some enthusiasm!  Good sessions either side of actually getting on some rock as well.  Good to see LPQ getting some attention – I haven’t considered it in recent years and had almost forgotten that it exists.  I remember it as pretty fingery.

Hope it all helps with Colorado!  I look forward to the reports.

Steve Claw:  I’ve been trying to persuade my partners of your methods Steve, but so far no-one seems interested in a top-rope blast to finish off those fingers!  I think some of my regular crew would be up for it, so I will keep trying.

I think the reports do indicate a pretty hot week everywhere!  Having the discipline to head indoors is very dedicated.  Good benchmarks on the hangs there which is more evidence for your method.  A decent trad day on Friday – were these just routes you had restored by cleaning or new things?  If they were new, then hats off for finding so many in an area that has gone pretty quiet for decades now!

Biscuit:  As I think I mentioned mid-week, being able to climb 6c+ all day long is a perfect grounding for an awful lot of trad, so hopefully the lack of oomph for some of the sport stuff isn’t that critical in terms of the things you really want to do.  That said, it is interesting how quickly some specific strengths fade if you don’t get the miles in.  I guess one solution is to do plenty of limestone trad, as it will often include ‘burly’, if not quite at the level of many sport routes! 

Anyway, I hope the new training block is helping rebalance your skills set and gives you some confidence on the steep stuff that you’ve identified as missing.  Mind you, Scafell has some steep stuff!

Alan:  Good stuff Alan - plenty of work in that week though references to cham cream is dangerously close to cycling porn.

Great that you are back on the bike as part of your weekly routine and nice to have worked out a good circuit that you like doing – that alone will keep you at it.  I am quite jealous of the big hills that you have around – not a bad option getting some alpine fitness going if you’ve got injury issues preventing much climbing.

Won’t the rice just dry out when the weather conditions are more helpful?

Some interesting analysis on things that won’t be targets!  It sounds an impressive horseshoe and probably looks fantastic until you see it in close-up detail!  Anyway, threads on things that won’t be targets has considerable potential to drain time!

Randy:  Excellent!  Good to see that I’m not the only one utilising the partying excuse, though midweek is taking it to a whole new level.  If you’ve managed parties and visits to the gym then you have clearly got India out of your system!  A good solid week returning from sickness, including a good session outdoors as I think you’d normally be pretty happy with 7a second go? 

The gym work seems to be going well as the one-arm locks offs are looking very solid and your pull up numbers are good.  Along with all of the other work you do in the gym, this is got to be a strong base level of fitness.  I have got back to pull ups myself this week – I’d forgotten how much I enjoy them!

AJM:  Shame that illness and the heat forced a change of plan this week, but it does sound like you had your hands full with family stuff.

I really like the idea of week 900 and 1000 goals.  I have been thinking about it, but haven’t as yet formulated anything.  Quite a few people seem interested in setting something out though and I think the quite ling-term nature of it could be useful.  After all, I have spent a couple of years getting back up to the odd E2, but I do feel like I am making steady progress even though I am climbing twice a week at most.  At my peak, I used to think that three times a week was essential to step up the grades.

FWIW, in the old days we always used to translate 6c and 6c+ as E4, with most 7a’s feeling like E5.  If you manage to get anywhere close to 8a, it would give you loads in hand for trad at those grades, particularly if it is Swanage type stuff!

Good board session – presumably trying to mimic Frankenjura?

Ross BarkerI Yes – I did mean trying to nail down ‘bulletproof’, though I recognise that you are probably able to assess how things feel quite well on your bouldering sessions anyway.

That is a good week – a 2 kg step-up is great progress.  If it feels steady then you probably need to do a session where you benchmark.  Do consecutive sets where you deliberately step the weight up each time to find your new limit, then use that to set your new training level.  I think Ally suggested 90% of ‘best’ is the level to work at, but I’m sure he’ll confirm or otherwise.  I certainly found it useful as I was probably training too light at one point.  I surprised myself how much more weight I could add! 

I really like the Ormes as well.  Must get back there in the Autumn as loads of trad classics to go at!

Tyler:  Love it!  Sketching between the holds clearly a particular strength then?  Also excellent to see your growing career as an influencer developing.

Not a bad week climbing though, with a fair bit more done than recently.  Not sure quite how Llandulas Cave fits into any alpine training scheme, but what do I know?  Possibly, the lack of shoddy Welsh quarries in my training plan explains my relative lack of high-altitude success.  I did look at the guide following your exploits though and it does look like it might warrant a visit.  Rhoscolyn – another place on my ‘why haven’t I climbed here more often?’ than once…

Tom Green:  More reports of Fit Club goes soloing.  Seems to be the current fashion.  I agree with the points about having your head together – fairly important when the routes are big.  I can remember soloing Zelda at Wintours Leap when I was without a partner once and having to focus fairly hard to get through the polish!  Good work turning every day into a triathlon though – a good way of bringing training benefit to a day on the beach!  Barafundle Bay is a wonderful beach and it is a great bit of coastline to be running as well.

You are ticking off those venue goals very well.  Can’t wait to see what the two big Alpine goals are going to be, especially if Llandulas Cave is the training for them!  Presumably focusing on the Dollies?!

Entertained by your Desert Island E4s from the Lancashire quarries!

Ally:  As with many, the heat features in the reports with most using it as a rapid weight loss programme.  Those hangs on the central slots are going well – that is the kind of thing that Ross could aim at presumably with his bulletproof fingers goal?  Generally some really good numbers on the hangs with F2, M” and sloper all good and a decent board session again.  Those 4x4 sessions sound hard if you are dropping ones from the second set.

The Gorge comes good again!  It doesn’t look that extensive though, so you must be close to having covered every hold by now?  Obviously the destination of choice for you though as it features most week’s somehow, so I hope there is still stuff to keep you entertained.

Ger_the_Gog:  Some really good miles completed again, so you must be getting pretty hill fit by now.  There is loads of fairly confusing stuff on training zones so I tis worth reading around a bit.  I noticed that you were up in zone three for a proportion of the time.  I think the idea is that if you are going to step up above zone two, it is best to really push it – my understanding is that low zone 3 delivers almost nothing in terms of training endurance as Alan says take a look at Kipchoge’s training plan!

Good to see that you are still on the weights and plenty of that general conditioning in the mix again.  Love seeing the data and the smug selfies!

Good to see you eagerly posting further reports as the week went on!

SteveJC94:  Up until now I had assumed your board sessions were at home, but am now embarrassed to see that you are going to the ones nearby.  Given that I am in Disley, I haven’t really got much excuse other than time!  I don’t know the Depot, but I have looked at the Awesome Walls Moonboard on the rare occasions that I visit.  I definitely need to add more variety into my training next winter and it will probably be the way to go.  I agree that having one at home would be a fantastic asset, but I can’t think of anywhere to put one other than building a garden room to house it.

Good work on the limit problems and one still to project on your return.  Have a good trip.

Sheep:  Glad that the Peak visit went well though you were here in the height of the heat.  Good idea getting down the caves on the really hot days.  Sounds like you did plenty of really pleasant walks and took in some of the sights,

No swimming!  That’s a bit of a shock, but I’m sure you will be back on it soon.  Good to see a run makes an appearance once the unpacking was sorted!  I need to get back to this when the cooler weather arrives as I’m sure my injury will have cleared by now.  Just pressed for time at present.

Not sure about the punter description – you put some regular, good distances together.

Liam P:  Delighted that you managed to get out and had some fairly impressive results straight away!  That pull strength clearly working for you if you have a 7a ready to go.  I hope the ‘drumbeat’ works to keep your motivation going and gives the rewards of actually getting out in the sunshine on rocks as a regular return on your investment.  Very disciplined to be thinking like a sport climber – I have to admit that if I am getting out infrequently, I just want to get loads done, so am inclined to stick with a grade I can onsight.  Whatever works well for you and I look forward to the send report!

Two training sessions early in the week, despite being really busy with work.  One was a usual mix of stretching, push ups, pull ups to help with easing back into it, but the second was an interesting attempt to weave things in around work.  I set up for pull ups and then just did some every time I went past the board on the way to the printer or the coffee machine.  It meant I stuck to sets of five, but I did all of them on the fingerboards slots and slopers rather than the jugs - managed to do 75 in total and felt strong - not bad for a non-training day!

Friday had a day off so went to Robin Proctors Scar - seven routes up to 6b so a nice session with someone I'd not met before.  Got plenty of mite bites today so probably picked them up there!  No climbing or training possible this week coming, but should have time the following week to get stuff done.

Morning all. Interesting discussion last week on zones, pacing etc had a positive influence on my activities this weekend.

STG: Get my shoulders working again
MTG: Autumn Kalymnos trip with my son, shoulders permitting
MTG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    After yesterday's tough day on the hill,  a fairly active active recovery day: 20 minutes stretching in the morning, a total of about 45 minutes pootling about on the bike on errands, 20 minutes shoulder rehab in the evening
T:    ... but today the tiredness caught up with me so I opted for an actual rest day
W:    
T:    Bike 1¼ hours. Slight refinements to my woodland circuit, upping the trails and reducing the roads by another few hundred metres.
F:    
S: Dug my heartrate monitor out of the cellar and went out for 1¼ hours on the bike at a nose-breathing "could do this all day" pace that turns out to be 101 bpm average.

S: Hillwalking, Zugpsitze from the Austrian side via Gatterl. This starts higher and is longer than the Höllental route from the German side that I did in june, so is ideal for keeping my "vert per hour" ego in check and learning to go at a sustainable pace instead. Which worked out well - not trying to go fast for the first couple of hours, in fact deliberately trying to go slower, resulted in me feeling consistently ok all day, instead of dying for the last hour or two before the summit like on previous trips. Of course one could argue that "don't set off at an unsustainable sprint" is an absolutely basic mountain pacing lesson I should have learned decades ago, but better late than never eh?

I had intended to go up the Brunntalgrat, which is a relatively rarely travelled route with some sections of cabled via ferrata but also a lot of exposed un-cabled scrambling, but when I got to the hut at the start of it I decided based on time and poor visibility to just hike up the normal Zugspitze summit path instead. What I could see of the Brunntalgrat looked worthwhile though, might come back for it - with a night at the hut because all the possible approaches are really long to do it in a day. 

@Ger: it turns out I can do significant uphill while staying in Zone 2, but only if nobody is watching: feels like moving in comically slow motion as soon as it gets the slightest bit steep or scrambly.

@Derek: you were right about the fuelling thing: I found I was much less hungry - and thirsty - than when I try to go fast.

Wait until you weigh yourself!  Yes, comically slow is about right, but it is better endurance training, so you will end up going faster, but still maintaining zone 2 - just takes a lot of discipline to start out 

Cheers Derek.

There's still potential at the gorge, but it will need some development work and I'm not sure I have the free-time needed to clean-up some of the more shattered sections into climbable routes.  Never say never though.

Week 30

M – Bar core A.

I was planning on 5 sets x3 1-armers using the Crimpd template for weighted pull-ups.

Warmed up with progressively bigger weights and 2-arms, then jumped straight in at BW-12kg (I remembered doing 3x 1-armers at BW-9kg previously, so this didn’t seem like a stupid assistance to pick, but boy was I wrong.)

First set, 3 reps no too much effort. 2nd set 2 reps only on both side. 3rd set 3 reps ground out at BW-18kg. Stopped there as L elbow started to feel a bit tweaky. I need to heavily reconsider this session…

T – 25km flat ride.  DOMS in posterior deltoids made stabilising 1-arm dead-hangs hard work. Crimpd timings; warmed up then -18, -10, and -5kg x6 hangs on BM2K central slot. Felt fairly hard but completed the lot.  Maybe time to drop a kg of assistance?  Then 5x5 bench-press.  Started at 60kg, but 3rd set felt too hard with no spotter, so dropped back to 55kg and did 6 reps for set 4&5.

W – Rest.

T – 2-arm hangs:

Mono 10s; -5kg x3 (felt hard)

F2 10s; +20, +25, +25kg

M2 10s; +23, +28kg (L index felt tweaky so no 3rd rep)

Sloper 10s +10, +12, +14kg

20 in 20 aero-power: 6C+’s again, but 10 different problems this time for more variety. Dropped 4 in total, mostly from unfamiliarity than fatigue. Good session.

F – Rest.

S – Board. Bunch of 6B+’s to warm-up, then new flashed both of the 6C+ and 7A benchmarks. The new 7A+ felt tweaky so I left it. Worked and eventually did “Goliath” 7B+. Happy with that as it has two antistyle dynos.

Then worked some harder things, using some Ravioli tips of holding individual positions and isolating individual moves. In this style made progress on an 8A benchmark and 8A+ non-benchmark.  Both of these will need some more strength in wide positions – something I already realised was a weakness and had started addressing with pull-ups and conditioning work for scapula retraction and external rotators.

Finished with Crimpd Bar core A.

S – Shoulder DOMS – quelle surprise! 27km flat ride, trying out the Google maps function for bike paths. Not perfect as it sent me down a gravelled bridleway on the road bike.  Later, 4mile walk near Oulton park with Squigg in rucksack. Chonk is getting quite heavy for much more than 2hrs of carrying.

'heavily reconsider'?  Lighter I reckon 🙂

Rope solo is the way to go, if you have the kit in your car, all the time,  you would be surprised what a quick 1 hour variation to a work journey can do

All new routes, a super rare opportunity. As soon as I abbed the crag, I was straight back the next day to get stuck in.  There has been lots going on in the Mendips, the new guide being published later this year should be quite an eye opener!

Quite week, but still 2 climbing sessions.

M - Nothing 

T - Back at crag x to add the last line, a hybrid E3 6a.

W - TR Session on the Wild West Project. Wasn't feeling energetic, and could even pull the starting crux for ages. Eventually got it and moved up writing the beta on my phone. Rest then went for it and got to 3rd crux, 1 move from the jug, so good progress.  No idea how I will ever be strong enough to do it and place gear!

T - Climbed a nice gentle 6a multi with a friend.

F - Sun - Nothing - mega DOMS from Wed.

Thanks for the stats Derek. Indoor sessions by necessity rather than design last week, I'd have got out if it was possible. We had a nice week in Jersey. It was a family trip so I didn't have the chance to explore what the rock has to offer but I've done loads of cardio instead. We have a general rule on family holidays that adult exercise is done and finished by 9am to allow propper family days. 

Mon. 6 sets of repeaters, 10km kiddy cycle, 6km kiddy walk. 

Tues. 43km solo fast cycle, 8km walk with Mrs. Swede.

Wed. 800m sea swim and 6km kiddy walk.

Thurs. 65km steady pace cycle with Mrs. Swede then 4 easy solos in the evening highlight being Hard Grit (HS 4b). I find it hard to assess the rock quality on granite and was massively put off when I had to top out through a massive spider web so I didn't do loads. 

Fri. 6 sets of repeaters, 11km kiddy cycle and 700m swim. 

Sat. Travel day, Jersey to the land of wine and cheese. 5km run in the eve. 

Sun. 900m swim. 

Plan for next week is more of the same Mon - wed, rest up Thurs and Fri ready for arrival in fontainebleau on Saturday. 

Thanks as always for the Stats Derek. It looks like currently i am taking too many things to a new level which affect my training, so i think i should be more happy with what i manage to get done under these circumstances.

Recap last week:

Mon: L-Sit 2x15s; handstand against the wall, 2x10 pike pushups,15 lunges, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; felt pretty much destroyed after the outdoor session on sunday but wanted to get at least something done

Tues: Rest (Dinner with colleagues)

Wed: Bouldering sessions in the gym. Warmup on normal boulders then went to the Kilterboard. Did a couple of 6b for warmup at 40° angle, and then got my ass kicked by 2 6c's. Finished the session with one-arm lock offs: 90°: 13s with right arm and 11s with left arm; 45°: 7s with right arm, 6s with left arm; 135° about 3s with each arm. All in all felt like i was lacking explosiveness and did not move very well on the board. But it was also my first session on a Kilterboard so maybe i need to get used to that

Thurs: L-Sit 2x20s; handstand against the wall, 2x12 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; weird session, felt generally tired and that i was lacking sleep but did perform quite well on the different exercises

Fri: Another Kilterboard Session, this time at 50° angle. Felt already tired in the beginning and my shoulder felt sore. Probably did not fully recover from the last session. Managed to get a 6a and 6a+ done after many tries and got close on a 6b. Finished the session with weigther pullups + 8kg: 2x8,6 with 3 min break. Grades in general felt way of the charts, compared to that the Moonboard grades are feeling soft. Does anybody else feels the same way about the Kilterboard or am i just weaker than i thought ?

Sat:  Another bouldering session in the gym, but this time on normal parcour boulders. Warmup up till about 6b. Then shortly projected two ~7a, where i felt that i could have a chance if would invest a couple of sessions in it. Then just did a bunch of volume, sending about 12-13 problems in 6a+ till 6b+ range, about 7 flashed and the rest after a couple of tries. Finished the session with some handstands. Managed to hold it once for about 5s without a wall, so some improvement in that area. I was quite pleasantly suprised with the session. Did not expect much, but got a lot of volume done, though i was completely wrecked afterwards.

Sun: Rest and traveling once again to India 

Review last weeks goals: 

• Get at least 7 hours sleep on average per night - Fail, a little more than 6 on average which is definately not enough
• Do at least two focused bouldering sessions in the gym - Fail, did 3 sessions but in two of them i was not really concentrated and was more occupied with being annoyed that i did not get up the boulders 
• Get back at doing weighted pullups - Check , Did one session 

Goals next week: 

• Get at least 7 hours sleep on average per night
• Adjust training load to the general stress that i currently have in my life. Not sure how to measure that maybe taking it easy when i am feeling tired instead of pushing through would be a good check mark

Not sure what i should think about this week. I feel progress in some areas but i also have the feeling that i pushing it too hard at the moment. My current life circumstances are not ideal for doing hard training and i don't think that i am adjusting my load correctly to reflect that.

Hi Fitties. Thanks again for more top commentary, Derek.

Glad you liked the desert island E4s!

Week 30:

A poor week for training and doing. Punctuated by a couple of decent days.

M: Nowt.

T: Nowt.

W: Shoulder prehab. 

T: Trail run. Lovely therapeutic run along the coast path. 14.6km, 265m vert, 5:53/km.

F: Bouldering at RAC. Chuffed to bits to finish off Pump Traverse (f6B+)

S: Nowt 

S: Nowt.

Week 31:

Prehab at least five days -no excuses.

Two runs.

Two fingerboard sessions -need to get back on this.

STG -end Sept:

Climb at four of my 'climb here more' crags (3/4).

Climb six of my local to-do list.

Allakazam.

Ultra distance run. 

Three of my big mountain day list.

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees). 

(Have pushed my alps trip back, so this remains an MTG.)

MTG -end Dec:

Two big alpine routes.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg.

Max Hangs: 95kg.

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg.

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK!

ALL of my local must-do list: 4/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 3/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 3/8

Start properly getting to know: Brimham 2/3, Almscliff 2/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 2/3.

(For lists see FitClub 772)

At least two big, classic alpine goals.

Cheers Derek. I'd love to have aboard at home but living in a flat, my training equipment is somewhat limited! Hopefully one day I'll be able to make my own cellar board. 

Looks like you got some great mileage in on Friday.

A very light week for me but managed to get some testing in:

M - HB max hangs testing. 20mm edge, half crimp, 7 second hangs. Max added weight = BW + 26kg (failed on + 28kg at 5 seconds). Total weight = 92kg (139% BW).

Minimum edge depth at BW = 8mm.

Followed this up with 5 board problems - 6C; 7A; 7A; 7A; 7A+

T - Rest

W - Easy routes 

T/F/S/S - Rest 

Not planning to get much done this week. I've brough shoes and a chalk bag to try and get some bouldering in, but no rope or harness. Kicking myself as we cycled past  Kangaroo Point yesterday which had some good looking lines for a city centre crag. 

Cheers Derek, hope you are recovered enough to get out for a run or two. I had planned to do some open water swimming with my daughter whilst in the Peak District but we felt it was not long enough from her surgery to risk it and i didn't want to upset her by going in anyway. However I have made up for it in terms of pool time over the last week which was good 

Monday, 2km lunchtime swim and 6k run in the evening

Tuesday, 1k swim

Wednesday, 2km lunchtime swim and 5.5k evening run

Thursday, 2km lunchtime swim, stretch class cancelled

Friday, 2km lunchtime swim and then stretch in my office. 3k run/walk in the evening with wife and eldest daughter as she starts couch to do 5k

Saturday, rest and dad taxi service

Sunday, 5k run

Just need to get back out on the bike now!!

Colorado is absolutely unreal. There is so much so nearby. I’m not sure how anyone gets any work done!

M- 75mins on the board followed by 10k intervals (5 efforts) pm stretch

T- 60mins on the board. PM Stretch.

W- 5k tempo with 2k warm up and 3k warm down. Stretch. White circuit at BBC (and a couple of reds) + 30mins on the board. 2 sets of core, 60 press-ups and 2 sets of shoulders.

T- AM 12.5k run, PM stretch

F- AM 1 arm max hangs x 2 both on -7.5kg lattice rung. PM travel to London.

S- London to Colorado…. Via Dallas. Lots of delays. Arrived at 1am.

S- Woke up at 3:45am. Headed to the RMNP lower chaos for day 1 on very little sleep. Managed to get on some mega classics like Tommy’s arête. This must make some global must climb tick list. Unreal. Brewery stop on the way home. Absolutely dead when we got back to the accommodation. Forced myself to stretch and then passed out. Slept like a baby.

Monday - a few hot spots on my skin. Wall with miniAJM. Decent session, tried some tricky problems and at the end tried a few goes at a suitable circuit, again with clips, to get a pump on, plus a go or two at foot on campus laps - stopped before my skin went though.

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - wall with miniAJM. No enduro stuff this time, a short session doing a bunch of easier slab and vert stuff, plus a few harder or steeper things. Trying not to go too hard before climbing thurs.

Thursday - MrsAJM not feeling well again so stuck closer to home to help with the tiny terrors. Did a slightly unstructured home board session getting some pump on.

Friday - MrsAJM still feeling a bit wiped out, some sort of post covid fatigue. Busy day at work then drove the children up to the in-laws in the evening, leaving her to try to sleep it off.

Saturday - took advantage of the grandparent cover to go to the Depot in Birmingham. Nice wall, quite flowy and fairly obvious setting (not too much trickery), but pretty sweaty and hot in the central section. Flashed a dozen of the “V1-3” circuit to warm up, then flashed twenty four of the “V3-5” circuit, plus three others second go. Grading obviously felt generous (it’s hardly font!), although the style was also conducive to flashing things which is certainly going to be another relevant factor. I felt like I was moving quite well and I was having to focus and pull moderately hard on some of the problems, so a good volume of reasonable level problems, density of some kind I guess.

Sunday - rest

this week too!

I sort of agree and sort of not…..

I tend to think that trad and sport onsighting are the best things to improve my trad onsighting, with sport redpointing and bouldering being slightly but definitely less relevant.

An 8a redpoint in a reasonable sort of time period (half a dozen sessions say) would probably for me translate to about 7b onsight, hopefully 7b+ (I’ve been close once or twice but never quite managed it).

But that’s certainly not the sort of onsight I could replicate on a trad climb of equivalent difficulty - it’s a going all out slapping 50% success rate sort of an onsight grade not a steady onsight grade that I could do with a few kilos of rack attached.

So maybe therefore 7b-ish onsight on sport might translate, optimistically, to being in the zone for 7a trad if supported by the right amount of trad mileage to be in a decent trad zone? It never has yet, but partly I think because I’ve never lined everything up at the same time. 

i know some people say they can basically onsight their max sport grade whilst carrying a rack - I think that’s probably some combination of not really being at their sport limit and also being quite good at cross-translating to trad (not being scared, running it out between good rests, those sorts of things which narrow the gap). Either way, I definitely can’t!

yes, absolutely - lots of open handing, trying to build the specificity of introducing clips, and some pump.

Thanks Derek. I hope you get through your busy period at work soon.

Yes, you're right. There's actually a lot of positives. My training to get trad fit has worked. Sadly I don't feel I've got the mileage in to capitalise on this and my head is lacking, I haven't even got on an E3 yet this year. I did a couple last year so this is hardly progress.  But I am itching to get on E3's now at least. I really do feel 'ready' and able to take the next step.

It's my ego talking really in my response to not being sport fit. But the last two weeks of training have left me feeling a bit sharper on climbing days. Interesting.

M - Stretch, shoulders, knee rehab, pulls - 5 x 5 pull ups on the minute.

Aerocap on circuit board. This worked out at 45 seconds on and 1 min off. 6b x 5, 6c, 6b, 6c, 6b, 6c.

T - Chapel Head Scar - Moonchild warm up a couple of times. More Games (7b) was the route I looked at. No chalk, hard to fathom out the bottom, sharp (very sharp). I finally figured the beta and stuck a fair few of the moves together, but I'm not sure I'm keen for a re match.

I chose it as I wasn't feeling up to War games at 7b+. Ian Cooksey was on Wargames (he retro flashed it) and said he though more games was way harder. I don't think it's one for the near future.

W - Stretch, Shoulder, knees, pulls, fingerboard test (+35kg @ 70kgs body weight on lattice rung) and aero pow foot on campus session. First rep was good but a much more drastic drop off than there used to be.

T - rest

F - Up to Wasdale to stay in the newly done up FRCC hut for two nights. Walk up to Napes in the heat, it's a long walk from Wasdale. Climbed in the shade so the plan looked good. Did The Cayman (E2 5b). Set off without my small nuts which made the gear selection interesting as it's all small nuts. I also got Reynauds (whilst climbing) for the first time in my life after belaying my partner prior to me climbing. I got quite cold. I hope that never happens again. It also rained a bit. Still the best route I've done this year and I'm very pleased with how I climbed it. Well worth the walk in. It looked like rain so we left.

S - Wasdale flooded - went home. Lancaster wall- possibly the most humid wall in the country?A long ish session on the blues. a bit aimless but lots of try hard. Got a couple of steep long ones I didn't think I would.

S - Walked up Ingleborough.

Yeah it’s a bit eye opening how much time has passed since I last visited these places, nearly 30 years in the case of Rhoscolyn. 
 

M: 20 mins yoga

T: Cromlech boulders to test out my new mat, conclusion is it is very big and attracts sheep shit. I went to try left hand traverse and was dismayed to find I couldn’t do the crux move, a longer session might fix that as I didn’t warm up and rushed my goes. 
W: Managed to RP True Blood (7a+) but got schooled once again on Rapture

T: Pumped up tires on bike so went to investigate Gwydir Bach (aka the Marin Trail). Cycled up for about 20 mins and then got caught unawares by how hard/fast it felt on the return. Think I’ll be a bit more cautious when I go back, might make a medium term goal of completing Gwydir Fawr.

F: Nowt

S: Short session at Notice Board crag, been meaning to go and do Fiendish Beandish for decades (and still am, didn’t get on it!). Pleased with how I fought to the last bolt on my OS attempt Born Again (7a), disappointed at how little I fought above it. Got it next go

S: Walk with friends up Daear Ddu Ridge (Grade-1) didn’t enjoy the slow pace seems worse for my joints, guess I’m just on my feet for longer. 

Also did a couple more sessions of yoga and elbow rehab (which is having zero effect) during the week

Cheers Derek. Just need to get some stamina in the bank but it's hard to train without regular climbing. Hangboard Moving Hangs are like watching paint dry!

Wed

Leg Rehab

• Single Leg Calf Raises 5x 20 (5kg)
• Single Leg Leg Press 3x 20 (L 46kg)
• Leg Curls 3x 10 (BW)
• Leg Extension 5x 15 (L 18kg R iso hold)
• Hanging Leg Wipers 3x 12
• Back Extensors 3x 12

Thu

Fingers

• Crimp Block Pickups FullCrimp 5x 5 (30kg)

Sun

Trip to the wall

• Finger Pullups 10mm 4/3/3
• Weighted Pullups 4x 1/5/6/8 @ 46kg/31kg/21kg/11kg.
• 22mm Campus Board. Long Moves - slapped 1-5 again but couldn't stick it 2x 1-4 instead. Ladders (1-3-5), (1-4-5), still no (1-3-6).
• Went to train some route stamina but a comp was on so ended up bouldering for an hour instead.

Back for another session on Mr. Choo Choo (7a) this weekend. Lack of stamina will still be an issue but should have a lot more beta dialled.

Marin trail is exactly as you describe.  Lots of boring climbing, then all that up condensed into a short fast descent.  I prefer Penmachno for more sustained technicalities - especially on the far loop.

I'd be keen for a session on Fiendish Beanish too.  Msg me next time?

If the mountain biking sticks I’ll definitely get to Penmachno, I think the views are better as well but for getting fit having the Marin 1km from my door means I’ll stick with that for a bit, or even just stick to the fire roads in the way down as well  

I’m keen to revisit whenever I have a partner so just give me a shout when you’re able to get out. Even if I do get on FB before then I’ll happily come and hold your ropes on it