UKC

Fit club 889 Part 2

Sorry, I’ve made a right balls up with the numbering, this week is definitely 889 but we had an 889 two weeks ago and last week (labelled 887) should have been 888!

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_887-769377?v...

Whe hey, clocks have gone back, after work outdoor activities can commence! We’ve made it through another winter, now we can all emerge from our treadmills and climbing walls, blinking into the sunlight.

Ian Parnell - Two really positive sessions there this week, some proper stoic running followed by holding it together on the E2, when increased fitness helped you through the slight wobble. Soon there’ll be times when your mental toughness will be back dragging your failing arms through a sticky patch and there’ll be no stopping you

Derek Furze - Campus board development sounds pretty exciting. I’m in agreement with most people that FoC is a brilliant way to get PE, I think 1,3,5 is better than 1,2,3,4,5 for me, if you’ve got an even bigger board adding foot movement into the mix can also be a major benefit. On that note I would always favour reducing foothold size over reducing rung size, work that core.

Ross Barker - Congratulations! I was going to comment on Matlock Upper Quarries as a honeymoon destination but then I saw the video of Full Time and thought, fair enough it looks great!

SSB - Exciting times, I expect we’re all awaiting Master’s Edge updates. Well done on taking the fall, it must be very easy to just do ‘one more top rope’ with that sort of thing.

mattrm - Great consistency with the running, possibly more important than the overall distance for habit creation. I hope a slam describes some sort of skating manoeuvre rather than an impact. Ive never been a fan of silent feet, good footwork comes from increased confidence and strong ankles so just climbing as much as possible during a session will teach you more.

Steve Claw - The logbook entry before yours for Reckless sounds terrifying, no wonder there are no other entries! You certainly seem to have a penchant for esoteria even when repeating routes.

Tom Green - Well done on Doug; I know that’s this week but as you are statting next week I’m worried you might not give yourself the props you deserve. For one of the most well travelled climbers I know you don’t have pick some venues for you highlights reel….White Goods, Dug Out!

Ally Smith - Enjoy your holiday, I’m sure a break from the board will do you good.

AJM - Good to see you being psyched on the board, it’s amazing how just a couple of circuits can yield an awful lot of variety/combinations. Solid forearm pump is hard to get on the board so it’s good you’ve found a way!

Randy - As you say another good week and it just seems you need to put it altogether to make the outdoor goals you had last year achievable. Are you still working on a OAPU?

Tigh - Hope you’ve had a good week, the weather has been a bit changeable but then I guess that’s not necessarily a bad thing given your goal. Sorry, I didn’t send an email about meeting up until Thursday that was when I remembered you were here.

The sheep - How did the run training reboot go, weather has been pretty reasonable for getting some miles in I’d have thought?

Small Step - Carpe diem! Congratulations on booking the trip, the financial implications will soon be forgotten whilst the memories of the trip will last forever.

In reply to Tyler: Thanks for the stats and nice words Ash. Nice to have a big up from an outside voice as I've felt a bit frustrated recently about slow progression. I've also been really enjoying the live banter and inspired by the climbing on the FC WhatsApp.

STG (this month) – maintain a grip on daily life, get good weekly routine going. 1. Climb some nemesis grit E1-2s clean. 2. Six boulder problems 6B+ or harder by end of March (I did 4 in total in 2023) FAIL 4/6. 3. Attempt 2 on run climb project.

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Give me strength – shoulders and core. 2. Climb some safe grit E3 routes. 3. Rheinstor Lower Traverse??

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Trip to Sanctuary Wall. 3. Redpoint a 7b+.

Mon – Nothing

Tues – Couple of hours at Pleasley Vale in the Spring sunshine only got up a couple of easier things, but tried 4 hard (for me) things 6B-6C+, close on some of them.

Wed – First visit, exploring Hollin Hill. Climbed only dry-ish thing Paleolithic (f6A+). Not given any stars but actually a very good problem with nice big moves and some interesting mag lime holds. Another half dozen things 6B-6C here for when it dries out. Will be great training for Sanctuary Wall.

Thursday - 4 mile run round the woods, easy pace but aware left Achilles is upset.

Fri – Nothing

Sat – Beautiful day but plans to go do some routes scuppered by having to do 4 different child taxi-ing journeys spread throughout the day! Squeezed in a quick visit to Roche Abbey. Not climbing well. Flailed on usual things, then went to Impossible Roof and flailed on some new things. Feeling a bit sulky. That evening photographed a short eared owl (see pics) and felt much better about life.

Sunday – Morning at Moat Buttress, misty and cold then windy and cold. Tried the moves on Moat People (7b+). Couldn’t do the 2-3 move crux although managed all the other moves – just! Some of them are really good so could be a possible long-term project. Will definitely come back for the 7a link up with Afloat in the Moat (6c+), although it includes one of the hardest moves on Moat People so it might take a bit of working. 3 x 10 push ups.

Reflection - Unfortunately my knees, calves and left Achilles are a bit niggly from last week’s big run. Luckily supposed to be a de-load week, so laid off the running this week. I had annual leave to use up and after recent wet weather I couldn’t resist the moments of sunshine so ended up with 4 climbing sessions. All intense limestone, so feeling a bit battered on all fronts, especially my ego! I do wonder sometimes how I can climb for so long yet seemingly be so incompetent. Anyway winge over, I’m sure all this thrashing about will be useful for something in the long run. I've been a bit vague on goals this year but I think if I find the right 7b+ sport route it would make a suitable challenge. I’ve only ever climbed one, 25 years ago!

In reply to Tyler:

Weight - 14st 7lbs

STG - 10km fell loop in 1h 45m

MTG - 30 mile ultra (July 24)

LTG? keep on trucking?  stay fit? ummm

BHAG - F7A boulder somewhere / kickflip

M - T - Rest

F - 5k run
S - S - Rest

Weekly kms - 5k

Diet status - Okish

Lots of childcare this week, which is great fun, but that, horrible weather and a lack of motivation have done a number on my running.  Oops sorry, that's wrong, it's a 'deload' week.  All planned for.  Nothing to see here!

Slightly seriously, the weather has been horrible, cold, wet and windy.  I really hope that there's some kind of improvement soon.  However there's now three full months to the ultra, so hopefully the base I've created over the past few months will be enough as I now need to stretch it out a reasonable amount.  Also recce the middle part, but I've just checked the route map and there's actually litle of that that I've not run.  But still, I'll do a few of the middle parts.

Also got to get a bouldering pad this month and get out doing a bit more of that.  Unfortunately there's no venues of the quality of The Dug Out near by so I'll just have to make do with Biblins Cave, Dinas Rock and others.  Currently planning on getting a Moon Warrior or Saturn.  Think I'll veer towards the larger one, just got to check it'll fit the car.  Happy to take any recommendations anyone has tho.

In reply to Tyler:

I'm only hoping that you managed to sort out the mix up over which week we're on without having to check back to week one!  I have them on my computer (nerd or what), so can confirm your conclusion!

In reply to Tyler:

Thank you Tyler.

I do love a bit of esoterica,  and its always good to find something of a gem when you digging about in stuff no-one else is interested in.

Had a quiet lazy week so going to call it a cheeky "deload" ahead of Font, to which I have just arrived.

Tuesday - Indoor boulders and autobelays.  Autos felt ok and fairly easy, but boulders all felt nails (but it was Redpoint?).

Weather is looking touch and go this week, but will hopefully get some Font blocks sent!

In reply to Tyler:

Thanks Tyler, yes, there is always the temptation to go for another top rope but I though of Eds reflection on Eye of the Tiger a few weeks ago and knew I'd feel the same. Leads attempts after a top rope warm up from now on. Unfortunately the weather has been rubbish and my partner is away for a couple of weeks so I'm going to work on power endurance instead as I think that is probably the next thing to target to allow success.

Mon. Circuit board session at the depot. Got pumped, didn't rest much, got pumped again. Repeat for 2hrs.

Tues. 6km run.

Wed. Rest

Thurs. Dug out with Ross. Pleased to do Digging A Lass (f7B+).

Fri. Family walk in the Shropshire hills (9km ish)

Sat. More family time and cheese eating!

Sun. Early doors big dug out session with Tom. Added Digging a muddy lass (f7C) to the cave. Sketched my way along A Mon With A Spade (f7A) with some on the fly beta changes then managed the least convincing looking accent of Douglass (f7B+) where I think I must have looked like I was off every move after the Doug jug but somehow never fell off. A big mileage day.

In reply to Tyler:

Thanks for your final set Tyler and glad you are on the mend.

A slightly odd week for me where I somehow didn't get very much done.  I've had a bit of a finger tweak, so put a bit more rest in and avoided too much heavy loading, so less done overall.  However;

Monday - repeater sets at 21.6kg left-hand and 22.8kg right-hand.  Quite good, steady progress on these and intend to persist.  60 pull ups and 30 push ups.  Still not pushed up to 100 pull ups yet, but am still in recovery from whatever I had through February.  Felt like it was possible, but, needed to cook.

Tues - nothing

Wed - good set of weighted pull ups with sets of five at 4.5, 6.8, 9 and 11.3kg, then fours at 12.6 and 13.7kg; threes at 14.8 and 15.9kg, before twos at 17, 18.2, 19.3, 20.5 and 21.6kg.  44 pull ups in total and a high point for the year.  Max hangs on two grips intermingled up to 14.8kg. Six sets of stretching and core across the session.

Thurs - long day with work

Fri - a run, though.really just a test to see how it felt.  However, managed a couple of km at steady 6 mins pace with no adverse effects, so seems possible at last!

Sat - repeater block lifts at 21.6kg in amongst preparation for family visit.

Reflection;  well on track to smash my training targets, but at the cost of a slow start to getting actual climbing done.  However, it's been triggered by illness, work and weather and the consolation is that I should have catch up time in spades soon.  Very impressed with those giving the Dug Out and Pleasley etc. a battering.

In reply to Tyler:

Hi everyone. Thanks for the write up, Tyler -it's been a hugely entertaining quarter of stats... good combo of insight, comedy and heckling!

Thanks for the positive vibes re Doug too! 

Week 13:

M: Fingerboarding (ran out of time for full strength sesh).

T: Trail run. 11.2km, 444m vert, 7:54/km. Very unmotivated, so used project shopping to tempt me out for a run along the Eglwyseg escarpement. Stopped at Dinbren and Craig Arthur to scope out routes mid run.

W: Bouldering. Got Doug (f7A+) -something I hadn't ever really believed would happen! Feels a bit surreal to have suddenly climbed my first 7A. I had thought this would be a clearly defined goal I worked towards through 2024/25, not something that would happen almost accidentally! Interested to see if I can climb other real 7As now, or whether this was just a bit of a fluke because Doug is such a weird, knacky problem?

T: Bouldering. Quick sesh at Slipstones between a job finishing and rain starting. Went to see off a nemesis problem from a couple of years ago Bert Wells (f5+) but still couldn't pull off the floor! A good humbling to fail on something two full number grades below yesterday's triumph!

F: Trail run. 10.9km, 421m vert, 7:14/km. Starting to feel less clunky on the runs, so time to start building back to normal mileage.

S: Strength sesh. 

S: Bouldering at the Dugout. Felt a bit under-gunned but, having written up the week, just realised I was probably a bit tired from the previous evening's strength sesh. Managed the couple of moves to get Shovel (f6B) and started piecing together A Spade (f6B) (surely not 6B?!?) in between watching SSB absolutely crush the place! Impressive stuff.

Week 14:

M: Run.

T: Bouldering.

W: Poss climbing.

T: Run.

F: Strength & Core.

S: Hill walk.

S: Strength & Core.

Goals...

Still thinking about this. I hadn't really made any plans past March, as I wanted all my focus to be on my winter alpine targets. Now I'm left wondering what to do with the rest of the year... do I want to keep up a spread of mediocre performance across lots of different disciplines or try and focus on getting good at something for once? I'll come up with an answer, but just not this week!

In reply to Tyler:

Good morning everyone, hope you're all having a good Easter weekend. Thanks for the stats stint, Tyler, you've done a brilliant job (it's surprisingly easy to muddle up the numbers)

Thanks! It was only 20 odd minutes from our accomodation and I actually found it a very pleasant spot. I can see why the local youths would head there for an afternoon spliff in the sun!

An okay week from me. Still feeling a little clunky but I think that improved a lot on Sunday by getting some good mileage in. Rehab was rather limited, but next week is always a new week.

Last Week:

Avg weight 79.3kg.

M - Rest.

T - AM 19kg OA density pickups. PM indoor bouldering on the newish set. Left tricep long head feels a little sore, not certain on the cause but it might have just been casually stretching earlier in the day. Kept things steady nonetheless, hopefully it clears up. Ice baths before bed.

W - Tricep feels a bit better. Rest.

T - Moist mission at The Dug Out. Mostly aimless pulling on odd bits and bobs, but mostly just enjoying chatting shit and talking beta with SSB. Dabbled on Crumble, Reverse Doug and trying the non-knee beta for In His Head. Also ripped the start hold off Muddy Shovel (f6C), sorry Ally! I hope I don't get a reputation, that's the second time in a couple weeks. Apparently little difference according to SSB, maybe I'm just feeling burned by dropping the flash. Or was it the flash dropping me?

F - Rest. Tricep fine now.

S - Rest.

S - Farley Woods. Nothing too hard, mostly just getting on a few bits in an area where I've not spent much time. Tree-mendous (f7A) was nice, though I'm not likely to go back for the extension I don't think. Would've liked to try Mentalist again but wet. Reasonably keen to return for that.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Manage session load and build better habits.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

Louisville Lip.

Rigpa.

In reply to Tyler:

Thanks for everyone’s good wishes last week, my cold cleared up pretty quickly though I’m still pretty congested. 
M: Not well and peed off at work

T: Not well and peed off at work. Filled in form for short career break.

W: Beacon, reasonable session considering but only managed 8 tie ins

T: Agreed 3 month career break starting in June with line manger, still a few hoops to go through before it’s confirmed  

F: Time to get serious about getting some fitness for June so went out on bike, did better than expected for about an hour then a hailstorm arrived and I got home 10 mins later absolutely soaked and freezing. 
S: Headed to Gogarth but only got as far as Holyhead Mountain because of tides, swell, forecast shower and cold. My plan was to only second but found a sliver moral courage and dogged my way up Shreddies (E2 5c). I never pushed myself to falling I did try pretty hard at points. I really thought that once I’d committed to a route I’d find the climbing pretty straight forward but that wasn’t the case but overall it was good to have made a start on reinventing myself as a trad climber. 
S: Felt battered but went to Penmaen Head, and fell off some 6c’s I found trivial many years ago. Reasonable amount of effort on my part so mentally I’m better than I thought I was but physically I’m miles off.

Conclusion: Shit ton of work to do over the next two months, on the lookout for partners for anything decent in the summer, here or in Europe

In reply to Tyler:

Currently not with 100% focus as my goal is at the moment to get back into climbing shape for the outdoor season. So i put it back more at maintenance level and probably will focus on it again in a couple of months.

Mon: Indoor Climbing, Boulderwelt east, One-Arm-Lockoffs with +4kg: 3-4 at various angles, did 2 6c/6c+ boulders after a couple of tries and checked out a couple of more boulders in that grade range

Tues: L-Sit 2x20s, 2x12 Pike-Pushups, 40 Pushups, 10 Lunges

Wed: First indoor rope climbing session since almost a year, took it easy and did just a couple of technical  6b-6b+ and got more pumped than expected. Probably more a technical problem than a physical one, just climbed too slowly, tried to control every move and rested way too much

Thur: Rest

Fri: Indoor Climbing, Boulderwelt east, did one 6c-6c+ boulder, afterwards flashed a bunch of easier problems in  the 6b-6b+, Pullups 4x12 with 2 min rest

Sat: Indoor Climbing, Boulderwelt east, Traverses, 6b+ flash, technical 7a after a couple of tries, tried to repeat the 6b+ that i flashed at the beginning of session but was too tired, afterwards two slab boulders in the 6a-6a+ range, 2x40 Pushups

Sun: Rest

Decent high volume week. I can feel that i am getting better in shape, but also accumulate some fatique from the high intensity and volume. Plan for the next week is thus to deload a little bit.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I think this about myself most weeks! 

Great owl pics. I think good short-eared owl spots are worth more than a good climbing sesh!

In reply to Tyler:

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That's a mega bit of news.

In reply to Tyler:

Excellent.  I will doing a maximum of 1 day a week June - September, so will be at your beck and call for trad or bolts throughout.

Good to hear that you are having a break and well done on Yellow Wall.

In reply to Tyler:

My training programme for Scotland continues - including (I hope) the part where you make the training harder than the real thing. See Sunday.

STG: Kilterboard 5C @ 45°
STG: Thalkirchen 5.9 "easy" crack
MTG: Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip in May
MTG. DAV Lofoten meet in July
MTG: Im Extremen Fels ticks in August
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter '25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M:  Recovery day: feeling considerably better after last week's cold but still less than great. The temptation is always there to rush out and Do Something as soon as one's feeling halfway functional again, but wiser to wait a bit.

T:    Wall, Thalkirchen. Checked out the new bouldering wall, which was ok. Short & gentle convalescent session, so no kilter, crack machine or weights.
    Bike one hour.

W:  Bike one hour.

T:    Tindeq peak force pulls (strict half crimp), pullups, shoulders

F:    Hillwalking, Jochberg. My usual alpine cardio training consists of picking a reasonably steep hill and just blasting straight up it; today I aimed for a more Scotland-specific ridge hike with a bit more down-up-down after the first summit. Quite pleased with the initial ascent though: managed the 600 vert metres/hour that I regard as my benchmark for being in reasonable condition (albeit nowhere near Tom's one hour vert kilometre) - and the only person that passed me on the way up looked at most half my age.

S:    Wall, Gilching. Autobelay 5c 6a 6b 6b 6b 6c-to-7a (weak attempts) 6b 6b. An ok maintenance session with a useful amount of mileage at onsight level, although it was fairly clear that anything harder wasn't happening today.
    Bike one hour

S:    Hillwalking, Rabenkopf - Benediktenwand - Lenggries. I miscalculated a bit on this one. Benediktenwand is one of the higher Bavarian foothills, and there's still quite a bit of snow above about 1500 metres. The route I cunningly picked involves a long traverse of a north facing slope at about 1700 metres that turned out to be bloody hard work, and actually quite scary in a couple of spots - Inov8's not the best choice for step kicking. Turned what should have been just a longish 8-9 hour training hike into an eleven hour epic.
 

In reply to Tom Green:

It’s not totally agreed but I’m hopeful as the company I work for are in a financial mess (I asked about voluntary redundancy but they can’t afford to get rid of anyone!)

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yellow Wall? I wish, I’m not that brave Holyhead Mountain felt adventurous enough for this trip. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Did Hollins Hill look good? Did it look like it needs just a couple of dry days or waiting til Summer? Give me a shout if you are heading there again, I've been meaning to check it out for ages.

In reply to Tyler:

That bit with Bran Flake is called Yellow Wall as well.  Never stand in the way of someone trying to big you up...😂

In reply to Tyler:

Exciting times!

Though it doesn’t sound overly hopeful for the company……

I’m keen to get to The Orme/LPT over summer. We’ve got a week booked off each month May-August as well as weekends.

Probs not much trad though if you’re re inventing yourself as a trad climber. 

In reply to Tyler: Ash I’d been keen for some North Wales day hits - we could even go to Yellow Walls 😅

In reply to Somerset swede basher: in its own way I was quite impressed in a ‘locals rock for local people’ kind of way. It looked like it would come in this spring with a few dry days. The problem I did had some nice mag lime oval scooped pockets and a tufaesque pinch. Landing very flat. It has a reputation for being snappy when wet. Knowing your tastes there is a traverse ‘Return of the Ledge Shufflers (7b+) 😅

In reply to Tom Green:

Very impressed by your ascent of Doug, don’t forget the plus. 7A+ in my books is a very respectable level. With that strength and your one day ascent of a 7a+ route last year - you’ve probably got the potential for 7c sport project if you wanted to commit.

In reply to Tyler:

Hey all. Yeah I saw your email only on the weekend. I'd assumed you were sick so didn't bother you but my bad too,  I should have dropped you my phone number. 

Wales was awesome. Weather was all over the shop. Wind, rain, hail, snow and sunshine. Had it all. 

M - Y Garn circular loop 

T - Tryfan and circled all the way round to Y Garn again. 

W - Cnicht circular route. This was a wet one but the climb to the top was fun and I got a view for about 10seconds before the hail and snow arrived. 

F - Snowdon via the Pyg track. This was a funny day. Top 300m elevation had deep snow and all the tourists had arrived for the bank holiday and we're climbing in trainers. I was in B3 boots but struggled the last 150 m of the Pyg track. Had to kick steps for myself and all the peeps falling everywhere! The smart ones had crampons on. 

S - travelled back to Dorset. 

Got plans to visit again first May BH to do some longer days. And really keen to try more scrambling on Tryfan and Crib G. 

This week back to the gym. It's a deload week for me so will reduce running mileage by 30-40% and will do some strength work

Happy Easter all and have a good week 

In reply to Tigh:

That's a decent week given the weather!

In reply to Tigh:

I'd agree, excellent week there.

To anyone who's interested, there is a rough date in June being floated for a FC 900 meet.  Which is the 22nd/23rd of June. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Sound great! Have you got a topo or did you just use the ukc descriptions? Internet signal at the crag?

In reply to Tyler:

Thanks, and good news on the time out!

Tuesday - solid 1-on-1-off session. Tried hard, got pretty pumped.

Thursday - board. Again, enough time for a better warmup. Then onto links:

- on the small feet, did easy circuit into hard circuit, but in the easier direction (putting the crux of the hard circuit at the start of the second lap). Pretty hard work regardless.

- after a good test, then did it in the harder direction, pleased with that, it felt a bit harder but not actually that bad, some of it is just about really committing to doing the crux move properly

- then to cap it all off, did hard circuit x2 on small feet, in the harder direction.

Then as soon as school finished it was a taxi to the station, train to London, Eurostar to Lille.

Friday - TGV to Avignon, drive to Orpierre

Saturday - slow start, everyone tired from the travel. Went up to the crag, did a random 4. Then microAJM got scared working out how to lower off, it rained, miniAJM moped firstly because it was cold and then when we beat a retreat due to cold and wet because he hadn't got to climb, and we all got back with a range of things to dry out! Picked up our friends from the station late afternoon.

Sunday - it rained heavily overnight and all morning. There was a gap after lunch where we did a couple of miles walk up to a viewpoint in intermittent but light showers. Then it rained again heavily evening and overnight. 

A really solid pre trip couple of training sessions and we are here. Inauspicious start on Saturday but at least we tried to get out. Sunday we made the best of the day. Weather looking better for the rest of the week so more to report next week I hope.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

UKC has lots of vids that helped figure it out. By the way the easiest approach is walk along the green way till a path right, just past the bridge overhead, and then follow path into woods down to stream crossing, crags 100 yards back by stream.

In reply to mattrm:

Good for me Matt.  Thanks

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Cheers Ian. No idea whether it deserves the plus… not really sure how hard 7A/+ is supposed to feel, given how few problems I’ve done that are harder than 6B+!

Currently trying to work out what I want out of my summer season… it’s tempting to get stuck in to something really hard (for me!) at Dinbren, as I’ve really enjoyed flirting with projecting over the last couple of years. But I don’t know if I want to put loads of time in to a sport project at the expense of trad. Basically need to have a think about what I want (and then balance that against what I can realistically do with other life commitments!) and make some sort of plan. It kind of depends whether I think I can get a summer alps trip in, as that will dictate what I need to do over the next few months. 

In reply to AlanLittle:

You should definitely be chuffed with that. The vertical km is actually a bit of an empty boast… the lack of horizontal distance actually makes it really quick despite the vertical gain! And I definitely couldn’t maintain that pace for even another ten minutes… it’s a daft sprint rather than a sensible mountain pace! Your 600m/hr in the context of a bigger day is probably more impressive. 

In reply to biscuit:

That’s the problem here, half the sport climbing is more adventurous than I’d like! 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Excellent, I’m happy to second anything at Yellow Walls, even the real one

In reply to Tyler:

I'd hoped to pick a better week to resume logging activities with Fit Club but if I don't start I'll continue procrastinating forever.

So, on Sunday like everyone else who's been patiently waiting for the rain to stop, I headed to the Peak for the first trad routes of the season and had a very pleasant warm up on Heather Wall (VS 4c) trying to remember how to place gear and then seconded Manchester Buttress (HS 4b). Then I headed back over to Grotto Wall (HVS 4c), a route I have led before and should not have presented any difficulties. Then everything went a bit wrong.

I overstretched for the break, lost my footing and accelerated toward the ground, hitting the back of my head (fortunately protected by a helmet which will now need to be binned) on the way down and landing at the bottom of the hole at the base of the route.

Fortunately I walked away, although common sense prevailed and my climbing partners took me to Northern General after my vision went a bit...weird.

So...my short term goals will be recovering from a fractured coccyx (4-6) weeks, and then whatever the subsequent level of discomfort allows. I am however fairly optimistic since I'm not in quite as much pain as I was anticipating, though obviously feeling a bit foolish for what was an entirely avoidable accident.

Probably rest for the first couple of weeks then I may try to introduce some seated upper body work.

In reply to planetmarshall:

Wow!  That's some re-entry!  Good to see you back in such dramatic fashion anyway.  Hope recovery goes well and that you are back to it before too long.

PS...Grotto Wall always spooks me 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I meant to respond to your comments on the exercise bike...

I do 'push' somewhat, but obvs it is far too long to be a HIT workout really.  I don't really believe the computer and am fairly sure it overstates speed and distance, but I have no other marker to record other than time, which is accurate.  I did check the watts conversion roughly and I think it gave slightly over 200, which I suspect isn't possible at my age.  That said, I'm only doing 15 minutes and certainly couldn't do an hour (like Alan, Ally, Steve or Swede).

I considered not reporting the bike, but as long as I have some kind of marker, it gives me something to improve!

In reply to Derek Furze:

My bike riding is mostly at a very sedate Zone 1-ish pace, I'd be surprised if I was doing much above 100W average (based on dim & distant memories of spending time on rowing machines with power meters - oddly enough I don't have one on either of my bikes)

Also most days when I log "bike one hour" it's half an hour each way doing something else in between, except when I go out on the mountain bike at weekends.

In reply to planetmarshall: Cor Blimey Andrew sorry to hear that easing yourself back into trad didn’t go too smoothly. Good luck with the tail bone - have you got a donut cushion to sit on ?

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Hah, thanks Ian - I do indeed have a butt cushion (also for, amongst other things, anal fissures which is not something I ever want to know more about).

I'm actually not too uncomfortable and I've been given a pretty impressive selection of painkillers.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Bugger. I just discovered that my Rough Bounds trip in May coincides with the Cape Wrath Ultra race. Shouldn't effect me too much during the day as I intend to be up on the tops most of the time (weather permitting), but it might mean crowded valleys & campsites for the first few days until the racers head off northwards from Glenshiel.

In reply to Tyler:

Cheers Tyler, yes had a good week getting back into the run habit again.

Monday - Wednesday was work so a 1k swim each day

Thursday, finally some time to myself so got a 6.5k trail run in

Friday, 4k run with wife and eldest daughter 

Saturday, drive down to the in-laws via brother in law to see his new house 

Sunday, lovely 5k coastal run which made a nice change 😊

In reply to Tyler:

Cheers Tyler. Excellent stint, much appreciated.

It looks like I forgot to post again last week. I think this training program feels a bit the same each week and I forgot it was a new week. 

M - Gym and max pinches 

T - Gigg South for some routes in the sun. Tried a 7a. Felt desperate. Went to get the clips out and it was suddenly easy. I just wasn't recruited for short, vert 7a from climbing 6a's and b's.

W - Boulder projecting on the steep stuff. Short but hard session. Gym.

T - Rest

F - Went to headpoint a route in Langdale, got rained off, went to the wall. Got the 7b+ I couldn't do the other week and then repeated it on top rope 6 times swapping leads. It is a vert short route and played to my strengths. Stopped as I didn't want to empty the tank too  much.

S - Gym

S - Went to check a newly bolted slate crag in the Lakes. Not much climbing actually done but one to go back to now we know where everything is. 

This program is making me feel fatigued but when I warm up I perform OK. I think it has encouraged me to try hard more often and recover well. I ticked an (indoor) 7c in 3 goes and am regularly ticking 7b+. I've started eating a lot more and sleep quality has improved. That's all good but feels a little like dancing on the edge. A few days off this week as we go to Italy on Saturday. That's a family/climbing trip so out of the ten days we're only expecting to climb for a few of them and scout the area out for potential future visits.

In reply to planetmarshall:

As someone who has a professional history in brain injury PLEASE make sure you get fully screened. I don't want to worry you but brain swelling can take a couple of weeks to show and can then be very dramatic and concussion is not the minor thing we used to think it was. 

Any symptoms get seen FAST.

Edit to add - bloody hell that's rough. I wish you a speedy recovery and alos never want to know about anal fissures.....

In reply to biscuit:

That was the priority at Northern General, and the reason I was seen so quickly. They kept me in overnight and seemed to think there was no cause for alarm, I trust that they know what they're doing having seen more than their fair share of climbing accidents.

If anything changes I'll follow it up.

In reply to biscuit:

You  may miss the odd one, but they are always interesting!  Liked the real-world demonstration that recruitment is (that) important.

I'd say it looks like you've made some good gains over recent history - ticking harder both indoors and out.

In reply to biscuit: Andy just wanted to let you know about this cool gadget that you can easily take to the crag to get some recruitment pulls before redpointing. It’s called an unlevel edge and you can get it here https://www.processphysiotherapy.co.uk/unlevel-edge

In reply to planetmarshall:

Good to hear - it's often patch up the broken bones and forget about the non bleeding head.

Glad you got the attention it needed and sorry if I put the wind up you.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Well actually I already have one and I attribute ALL my recent gains to using that just once a month. It really is a miracle. Everyone should buy one.......

In reply to planetmarshall:

Welcome back.  Nice way to make an entrance.  Hope you're well soon. 

In reply to Tyler:

Hi Tyler, thanks for your stint at the helm. I hope that things pan out well with what sounds like a stressful / dead-end work situation and you get those summer months nailed without work – and lots of opportunities for carpe diem!

Small Step - Carpe diem! Congratulations on booking the trip, the financial implications will soon be forgotten whilst the memories of the trip will last forever.

Carpe diem – indeed. When I hear the ancient saying, unfortunately my mind gets invaded by another of Rome’s finest sons, Francesco Totti…thankfully he drifts out again….

Good news during the week for me – my back is actually fine, just need to let things settle and build up slowly.

Thu – with this news I headed to the new boulder wall in Thalkirchen. Decent session considering it was my first for some time. Also did a small stint on the 15° spray wall. No falls taken and a lot of downclimbing.
Fri – walk in Kaisergebirge. Just 3.5 hours in one direction, turned around and went back the other way. Enjoyed being out and spent quite a while chilling next to / in a stream…
Sat – another boulder session. Basically the same but it felt far more solid and practised the odd fall to see how the back stood up. All good…
Sun – body under boulder shock. Skin wrecked, feet aching, ‘hungover muscles’…I loved it…😉
Just some light stretching between burst of spring cleaning…

Hoping everyone is getting out and about in some shape or form. Even Planet M. with that horrendous injury!
Good speed to all…