UKC

Evening, apologies for the late post- had to tear myself away from Stanage and get back to London to get it done!

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

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 gives an excellent breakdown on training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing: http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/training-for-sport-climbi...

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_576-682212

You can look back at your previous posts here (to some extent… it’s still a work in progress, this now goes back to FC500): http://ukc-fitclub-user-posts.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/users.html

Ally Smith: Congrats on sending the Wire, sounds like you are in extremely good form! 

Bones: All STG’s ticked last week… nice one! Tie for some outdoor bouldering?

Si dH: Did the rest of the trip follow the strong start?

hms: Had to look up the word ‘desultory’. I think I will be able to use that one fairly often now!

AJM: How did the quest for a 7A+ go?

Alan Little: Great to hear you enjoyed your trip, and sounds like a nice way to end the trip with a project tick for your son!

guy127917: Back into the swing of it, but keep improving the diet

biscuit: I have a vision of attaching one of this grip strength squeeze things to the bottom of your handlebars on both sides so you can practice grip strength whilst grinding up big passes…

powderpuff: Have you seen Tom Randall’s “magic stretch” for golfers elbow?

mrchewy: I sympathise with you re cancelled flights- so draining! Seems like you made the most of the trip though, sounds a lot more fun than horus of rain bowing and using the stairmaster!

Tom Green: I assume you completed your core session…

Climbthatpitch: You’re putting in some really good weeks, taking it easy if you need it sounds sensible. How did the lurgy pan out this week?

Richard Popp: I have previously found doing easy laps focussing on quality movements does wonders to improve my fluidity on rock, I think it’s just creating/reinforcing the muscle memory- do you do any movement drills? 

MauraLorrissey: We had the same thing with the van, think we overpaid because of hysteria… I’ve heard shit is getting real on the bike front!

Dandan82: How did the elbow stuff go this week? I have my fingers crossed you can get a good training run into May..

Just Tintin: Did you make it out in the end?

Brodes: What makes a pull up ‘hollow body’?

Tyler: Looking forward to a trip report..

mattrm: Sounds like you are taking a kaizen approach… keep it up!

the sheep: Smiley face after the brick session… all those miles must be paying off!!

AWOL: cyan, planetmarshall, Ardo, the fasting, Andy Nelson

Hey Guy, Font went pretty well from a climbing perspective, I did one 7B and about 5 other 7s depending what I take the grade for. From 4 days' climbing with a baby to watch over I was happy with this. The whole holiday worked pretty well too so I'm hopeful we could do something similar again. 

Cheers guy. The ferry has just floated through the mouth of Poole harbour so nearly home!

Overall a very good week. Only let down was poor infant sleep, which is at least one thing that contributed to a feeling of downward momentum as the end of the week approached (that plus thinner skin and warmer weather!).

Saturday and Sunday as last week - 7A-ish at 95.2

Monday - Cuisiniere. Tried Beetlejuice (7A+) (couldn't figure the release across rightwards), Excalibur (7A) (fell off a few times clattering my knee and sacked it). Then onwards to Pensees Cachees (7B). Surprised myself by managing the first hard move and getting to the point of the second, which is a hard high right foot placement. Very pleased. Scraped my way up Bizarre Bizarre (7A-ish) at the end of the day on the last of my skin

Tuesday - rest. Wet.

Wednesday - slightly wet. took advantage of a few hours weather window and did about 10 problems at Gorge aux Chats.

Thursday - Roche aux Sabots. Not a great day. Couldn't figure the toehook on Jeu de Toit (7A). Got a bit frustrated, skin a bit sore, feeling weary, finding the easy stuff hard (lots of thin feet and tricky moves compared with easier juggler blues at Chats).

Friday - Elephant. Nice day. Managed Lepreux Directe and Voie Michaud, both about 6C. Tried and failed on Le Coeur (7A) on the reach from the heart, which felt puzzlingly easy first go and nails thereafter. Cheekily staticed the stand start to Barre Fixe (6B) via a crazy dropknee.

Saturday - back to Cuisiniere. Gave it my all on Pensees Cachees, got closer (feet a few inches from the pocket) in worse conditions (warmer, stiller, more humid, thinner skin and more tired). Really solid tries though so pleased. Beasted after that.

Sunday - homewards via a foggy lunch and touristing in Bayeux.

So a good trip. Skin very thin and toe also rubbed quite badly so priority for next week is to heal up before Dartmoor next weekend which marks the end of my winter boulder season. 

Font was good. Keen to go back. Got more of a feel for the place and a load of things I know I'd like to try now. Learning lessons:

- some venues I just don't necessarily get on with, Sabots for example Vs Chats and Elephant, for easier stuff.

- stiff edging shoes a necessity for anything polished and vertical

- for circuits, stiff but comfy flat shoes - rubbed my toe doing volume in totally unsuitable footwear.

- definitely seen improvements in some areas but the 7A-a-day level maybe some way off

- deterioration over the week which is partly a sleep management issues I think, plus showery/changeable weather meaning a flexing rest cycle (Wednesday was only climbing because Saturday looked wet, and maybe contributed to poor Thursday?)

Onwards to Dartmoor, then some fitness training perhaps!

Evening all!

Still hobbling but in much less pain thankfully. 

This week: 3x fingerboard, 3x core, 2x frenchies, lots of slow walking. And yesterday I managed to climb - up to V2 _extremely_ carefully. Can't really contemplate falling off yet but a little bit of climbing is much better than none at all

Thanks Guy! Jealous that you were in Stanage.

The week started on good form, but by Wednesday I wasn't well after lunch and the next two days were a wipe out. 

Anyway, excited to start training on my bike  

STG/Weekly:

*do 5 pull ups (by the time Jen arrives) - no progress

*lead a 18 (5c) at Kangaroo Point (currently at 14) - had a easy session of leading max grade 14

*3 climbing session per week (either boulder, top rope or lead) - 1 session

*1 longer ride per week (>10km) - yes, tick

MTG:

*100km cycle - Brisbane to Bay (17th June) - have now entered 

*Lead "Zeitgeist" - 3 pitches, 17(5b), 13(4b), 15(4c) - by June

*Lead "Troposphere" - 5 pitches, 15, 17, 18, 15, 16 - by June

LTG:

*buy a van by the end of 2018 - still looking 

*sport climbing trip Blue Mountains with Bones (October) - lead a 21 / Bunny Bucket Buttress (18) - https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/australia/blue-mountains/bells-line-of-roa...

*climb a big wall before I'm 40

Monday:

KP session - lead 12, 13 / top 14, 14

Tuesday: 

Mt Coot-tha hike: 5.9km, 180m elevation, 1hr 7min

Wednesday:

AM: squats session - x10 sets (x6 squats 25kg/x6 push ups) / upright rows, dead rows, step ups, run x 3 sets / core exercises

Thursday:

rest/ill 

Friday:

rest/ill 

Saturday:

Indoor lead session: lead a 23! wooo! also lead two purple routes (17/18). 

Sunday:

Learnt to use my new cycling shoes/cleats: 45 mins at the Nundah cycling circuit. 

Went for a ride through the city afterwards: 20km /1 hour

How convenient that you now know what "desultory" means - see Saturday.

STG: 

Having a bit of a think about this. My climbing year is not off to a good start: a hard winter that prevented getting outside on rock rounded off by the best part of a month's training lost to illness. My first few ventures outside have been - consequently & understandably - not promising. Have abandoned the idea of a spring trip to Kaly - simply no chance of being fit enough to make it worthwhile. Save that for the Autumn. 

But that leaves me with a short term question mark. Do I focus everything on a big autumn offensive for Kalymnos, starting with a bouldering oriented strength phase now for a few weeks - such as I would have done before Font if I could? Or do I stay on a more general "bit of everything" programme designed to try to salvage a decent spring season on the local crags despite a poor start?

MTG (2018): Onsight 7a; redpoint 7b multiple times on routes that aren't pure boulder problems

LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

M: 

T: Bike one hour

W: Bike one hour  

T: Beastmaker max hangs, rotator cuff stuff

F: Bike one hour  

S: Sport climbing, Nassereith. Well, we have to start (again) somewhere. Three easy routes that I've done before to warm up, repeated a 6b & 6c that I've done before, then had a bit of a desultory play on a nice looking 7a that did indeed turn out to have very good climbing. Potential future project, but didn't feel like I had any chance of a serious go today.

S: Went out in search of a possible close-to-home bouldering project, and might have found one. Even allowing for the fact that almost any bouldering area is going to seem underwhelming the week after returning from Font, Sudelfeld in the Bavarian Alps really is shite. But I managed to find one nice looking 7A that seems to be not completely impossible. Had a play on it & found that I can hold the holds, so finger strength as such not the limiting factor. It's more about body tension, positioning, momentum, all that stuff. 

You're not the first person to ask this recently, here's the advice I got from Tom about improving pocket or mono strength;

After warming up but before getting stuck into proper climbing or a training session, loop a sling around a chin-up bar, tree branch, tall friend or other suitable item so that the sling dangles down to somewhere around shoulder height. Hook whichever set of fingers you want to train into the sling to the first knuckle only, then set your feet under the bar and lean back until your arm is straight but your shoulders are still parallel to the bar. Hold it for a count of 10. Do 2-4 reps on each finger/fingers.
I do middle two first before moving to swearing finger monos then ring finger monos (which are really flipping hard)

The amount your body leans from the vertical dictates the difficulty, moving your feet further under the bar or varying the length of the sling alters the amount of lean so you can always adjust things to the right level, regardless of where you set your sling up. I shuffle my feet around between different finger combos, some are stronger than others.

I did this 2/3 times a week for a couple of months and the difference it made was incredible, I lost that red-hot feeling down the tendon in the forearm when I loaded a mono, and was actually able to bear down hard and fast on a mono to hold a swing or cut loose without feeling like my tendon was going to twang like an elastic band. I'm back on this exercise now in readiness for Margalef and am seeing improvement again after only 3 weeks.

Personally, I would train with the focus on the Autumn, and take any good ticks or training PB's along the way as bonuses. We are only 5 months from Autumn, that's time to fit a good solid training cycle in, with a nice gentle ramp up to start so that you don't pick up any new injuries. It doesn't mean you can't climb outside now as much as possible, just keep it structured with your eye on a slightly longer term goal.

I'n a slightly related matter, as Mrs Dandan will no longer be a teacher next September, we are planning to do 2 weeks in Kaly, most likely the 2nd and 3rd weeks, it would be cool if we could meet up out there, I'd feel pretty desultory if we couldn't...

Thanks Dan. What sort of session do you think should be done immediately after this exercise? Eg does it help to also do a pocket-focused fingerboard session just after, or do you think this would be likely to lead to injury?

Thanks Guy,
Elbow has been behaving this week, plus we have pinpointed the remaining issue so can hopefully more effectively treat it. 7 weeks of training left before Margalef, i'm feeling good and am confident that I can improve further and peak nicely for some good ticks.

M: Boulder Comp; I went along because Mrs Dandan was keen, my elbow was still feeling delicate so I planned to take it steady just to get a score on the board (it's a series). As it turned out the elbow warmed up nicely, and the problems weren't really that hard, I felt pretty fresh after 25 problems. They had just got a load of new volumes so a lot of problems were world-cup tricky style which aren't so exhausting I guess.
Anyway I ticked every problem which I've never done before, got 235 and won!
The point losses were 1 silly lack of concentration, 1 balancey start, 1 low percentage dyno and 1 beta tweak so I honestly think with a little luck I could potentially have got a clean sweep.
MrsD came 4th too which was awesome.

T: Physio; Pinpointed the elbow issue to the pronator teres, which is the muscle that twists your wrist. The problem would appear to be in the muscle belly and not the tendon which is good news, a bit of massage and a new exercise to perform and we should see some improvement.
Conditioning; dumbell press, hanging shoulder depressions, low rows, reverse flys, typewriters.

W: Indoor Boulder; 1/2 a Capacity power session on the traverse wall, 2 reps of problem with 30 sec rest, 3 sets with 10 min rest.
Lower body flexibility.

T: Nothing, boring wedding.

F: Outdoor routes; We rolled the dice and headed to Wallsend, hoping it wouldn't be super grimy and it was in great condition! After a dirty warm up I ticked Old Speckled Hen (7a) which is 7a all day, then onsighted Stay Golden (7b) and Sweet Smell of Success (7b)! I'd had these in my sights for years but never got on them, they were a joy to climb, MrsD has taken a liking to stay Golden as a project too.
I felt really good on the rock, really 'rock fit' with good movement, good head, and both 7b's went with very little trouble which is encouraging.

S: Dive team core; only manged 70%, felt pretty tired from Friday's exploits.
Aero Fingerboard; 7/3 for 10 minutes at 30% max hang

S: Lower body flexibility.
Also did a fair bit of chiseling which my elbow dealt with really well.

STG: (last week)

* Remember to do breathing exercises on climbing days - TICK
* 100% of 'dive team core' session - FAIL 70%
* 30 second handstand - FAIL

STG: (next week)

* Remember to do breathing exercises on climbing days
* If we get outside, tick Sang Froid (7c) in a day
* 30 second handstand 

MTG: (next few months)
* Pull on Nina mala/flash over in Margalef in May
* 7c in a day on Portland
* 8a in a day in Margalef in May
* Pick a lattice max moves target for May based on result from last test EDIT- Tom says just try hard!

LTG: (This Year)
* 150 ticks in logbook - 45/150
* tick 3 x 8a
* tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 1/10
* Go to Kilnsey
* Get to December without any new injuries
* +bodyweight pull ups (2 reps)
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last  BHAG:
* 9a by March 2022 (40th Birthday)
* Stage 1a of BHAG is 8b by the end of the year

Really want to try some of the boulders around Portland. Not sure when I will get the chance to outdoor boulder but certainly some outdoor leading soon. 

Did a little max strength work last week and am feeling much keener now. Just needed a little push. Fairly gentle week but looking forward to being a bit more on it in the coming days. I am also re-thinking training slightly as I really want to see gains in my climbing and I think the base phase could take away from that somewhat. 

My current amended plan is:
- two max strength and killer core sessions per week (well fuelled and rested)
- two additional sessions to build more on weaknesses e.g. squat/box step-up/hanging leg raise
- daily stretching - possibly yoga sessions - to work on tight neck, shoulders and legs
- long hours zone 1/2 as before incorporating more hills to improve aerobic endurance (fasted) - ideas for this in a flat city are very welcome
- 2-3 runs per week because I think they are helping my aerobic fitness even if Housey and Johnston says not - plus I like them
- as many climbing sessions as I can humanly do (between 2 and 5 per week)

Base phase - week 1 plan:
Aerobic activity - 300 mins
Zone 1/2 (walk/running/stairmaster) time - 240 mins
Climbing sessions - 2
Fingerboard sessions - 0
Max strength sessions - 2

Benchmarks:
Boulder grade max: V4
Lead climb max: 6c+
Top-rope max (it does count): 7a
Weighted pull-top max: 8.75kg x 1 rep
Max bench press: tbc
Max deadlift: tbc

Monday: Great bouldering session. These are so fun at the moment. Working hard on some of the more difficult pink circuit (v4/5). Fell much stronger in the cave and overhangs in general.

Tuesday: 1hr zone1/2 stairmaster - avHR 152bpm maxHR 165bpm (z3 17%, z2 68%, z1 16%) level 4/5 (40:20)

Wednesday: flat run 4.49 miles, 48:27 mins (10:48min/mi), avHR 164bpm maxHR 175bpm (z3-82%, z2-13%, z1-6%). Then another boulder session - got a piss dyno that I found really hard and chickened out of doing another one.

Thursday: max strength session. Really good. Felt it a couple of days later. Deadlifts, pull-ups, clean and press. Will make more of an effort to mark progress on these next week.

Friday: rest

Saturday: rest - gentle swim

Sunday: gentle swim. 1hr zone1/2 stair master - avHR 147bpm maxHR 159bpm (z2 73%, z1 26%) level 4/5 (40:20)

LTG:
To climb a big wall - El Cap
Lead 7a+ 2018
Run a trail marathon
Lead E1

MTG:
The Matterhorn 
Lead 30 x VS trad routes
Lead 5 HVS trad routes
Lead The Great Slab at Millstone Edge (HS 4b)
To lead one 7a lead indoors from each reset
Run a trail half marathon
To complete the TFTNA training plan base phase
Goals for Australia in September - 1. Bunny Bucket Buttress

STG:

To enjoy lead climbing, top-rope a little more on harder grades to take some pressure off and have fun - only bouldered last week
Fall practice each rope session - only bouldered last week
To plan my week every Sunday - yes
To keep a record of benchmarks in climbing and gym work - mainly

Excellent work on your leading and not falling off your bike with your new shoes!

Thanks Guy. So pleased I've enhanced people's vocabularies!

M - BH. 2 miles urban walking but not a lot else.
T - cycle commute. FB 10/3/5/4 x 6, first 3 with +2kg. Then 7/3/6/1 x 10 using 7kg assist and forcing myself to crimp not drag.
W - cycle commute. Redpoint autobelays. 32 routes in the hour, in blocks of 8.
T - cycle commute. Core session in evening.
F - cycle commute. Bike self-destructed on way back home and won't be fixed until Weds UCR in evening, 14 routes in pairs, all of them new so lots of onsighting.
S - 2 miles urban walking. Wrist curls, weighted pinches, OHP in evening.
S - UCR. Climbing in singles - amazing how much harder I can climb when not doing everything in pairs! Made huge progress on the only 7b in the wall (I kid you not). Quite excited to start really going for this one now that I've got through the lower crux and worked out viable beta for the headwall.

I just do it before climbing sessions, not before fingerboarding. It's kind of halfway between being a warm up and an exercise in itself, kind of a finger conditioning activity, so it might be fine to do before fingerboarding but maybe not entirely necessary. 2 or 3 times a week did the trick for me.

Thanks Dan more sharing here and for our conversation during the week about the same.

Si - with regards to my pocket training for Margalef, it was more a case of re-habituating my fingers to working in pocket combos rather than as a team of 4 which is a much more typical grip type for UK and foreign tufa yarding.

What I did for this was to pick 5 holds on the beastmaker 2000 and do a classic 7:3 repeater x6 with 3min rest. With no rest carried on into a 2nd round. As i got better at this i started adding weight, first 3kg, then 5kg. 

Front-3/back-3 in BM2K-AA

Front-2/middle-2 in deeper pocket

Back-2 in back-2 pocket

Many will think me weird, but for me front-3 was, and still is the most challenging grip type!

Thanks Guy - doing The Wire was a great surprise as for a long time I thought it was beyond me. Some accidental weight loss from burning the candle at both ends and a tiny beta tweak made it come together The cave is wet now, and i'm further away now that i've moved house so doing the link into Almost Familiar will have to wait  

Overall, another week of low volume, this time dictated by house moving

Week 14

M – BHM. 7mile flat and muddy bike ride around Tatton park, then house packing. 

T – An-cap triples (Lattice dishes 8 moves – much harder than before – 8 sets, 4min rest). Aero-cap 1on/1off on weird grey 7a circuit. Chit chat, then 10min continuity. Fairly beasted. Fairly dehydrated – need to drink more.

W – FB repeaters. Managed the whole double circuit @BW+5kg. First time I’ve done that 2nd day on. 5x 20 OHP with 8kg kettlebell each arm during various rest intervals. Then FB aero-cap – 12x 7/3/6/1 on BM2K big slots @BW+5kg. Did 45s plank in each rest period. Good beasting.

T – First phases of packing my house up into storage/selling off furniture. Took down the Beastmaker and campus board

F – Amazing work-out. A solid 12 hours of packing box and white goods deadlifting coupled with weighted walking; phone reckons a solid 15km! Add in a good dose of day-long stress to elevate blood pressure and BPM and it’s no surprise I slept like a log. Missing cat located at the literally the 11th hour.

S – Unpacking. I’m now officially homeless for 2 months.

S – More unpacking and DIY; how can re-wiring a 13kW shower be that stressful? Swore so loudly at a threaded screw that the lady thought I’d electrocuted myself!?!

I did the same but using the middle row BM1000 3 finger slots + AA batteries for all combos (so about 25mm deep?). Could do front 2 and middle 2 with generous added weight. The assist I needed for back 2 was hilarious though! I think it was really useful for Margalef - mind you, I really like pockets anyway.

One of my local walls used to have a system board on which you could do ladders on fairly shallow two finger pockets. I did a few rounds on those at the end of my warm up for three weeks before my first trip to the Frankenjura. It seemed to help.

Then for some reason they decided to take it down L

I'm sure you're not the first to make that discovery & won't be the last either

Cheers Guy, confident i will make it round the course (less than 2 weeks away now!) next goal is not coming last. Looking at last years times there were some seriously good athletes doing it. On the plus side I have got the race details and the bike leg is a lot flatter than the routes i have been training on. Also the runs are on trails and beach so all the winter running along muddy trails should have been god prep too.  

Anyway another light week as I was on leave with the kids for the start of the week so nothing to report early on.

Wednesday was supposed to be a day off diving but my buddy cried off ill. Took the opportunity to go for a run and clocked a fun 12.5km over some very muddy trails.

Thursday only a short swim, 400m as I was short on time so decided to clock an approximate time for a swim for a sprint tri leg. Worthwhile information (6mins 30 at easy pace) and used it to enter 2 sprint tris Also entered the wife and I for another half marathon in October. Expensive day!

Friday, 1600m swim to round up after the 400

Saturday, nothing 

Sunday, nice 6.8km run before the rain set in again.

Holding your body in a C shape (like a bowl) throughout the motion.  It feels like doing a chinup while holding a very mild front lever. Based on stiffness the next day it did seem to work different muscles than my usual chin-ups.

Booze: none.  Zero. 

Monday. Family holiday. Rest.

Tuesday. 4 miles bike. Rest

Weds. 9 miles bike. Well rested. Tried BeastMaker 5B workout (12 hangs of 7s on 3s off, then 2.5 min rest)- but had a very weak session. Had to assist many hangs with foot on floor. Still felt tough though.

Thurs. 17 miles bike. 1 hr CrossFit with barbell - but not intensive. Mainly shoulders - learning 'power snatch'.

Friday 9 miles bike. Rest.

Saturday. Rest

Sunday. 4ish hour session (home alone this weekend!): 100 push-ups, 100 sit ups, 100 air squats/lunges, around 60 min hangboarding, then 50 chin-ups, finished with 1 hour stretching and trying to roll irritated back muscle on a tennis ball. The hang boarding was not especially structured. I concentrated on hanging my weaker holds (45 degree slopers, and combinations of 1 good hold 1 bad hold) for sets of 3*12s with 60s rest between. This seemed kinder on the skin than the repeaters, but more strenuous on the muscles. Back felt 100% fine during workout, but started to cramp during stretching and rolling on tennis ball.

This week I'll do more crossfit, and more hangboarding, whilst studying lower back anatomy.  Based on many hours of research I think my left QL muscle is aggravated, so it cramps when stretched into e.g. a deep squat.  

Hi Guy, I  hope you had a good session at Stanage.

Just looked this up and no ive not seen this magic stretch before I will definitely give it a go, thanks. Im looking forward to the strange looks I'll get at the wall already!

Monday went to the wall. Climbed 2 of the v3-5 circuit to warm up, then worked on the new v4-6 circuit. Tried 6 problems made progress but didn't climb any.i Felt worked from fingerboarding the day before though.Finished with a core, press ups, eccentric wrist curls.

Thursday still felt worked but headed to the wall anyway and climbed a few new problems I'd not done before, 2 of the v3-5 circuit and also flashed 1 of the v4-6 circuit which I was pleased with. 

Saturday had a max hangs session on the fingerboard at home. Focused on slopers and front 3 open.finished with core and press ups.

Hi All. Thanks for the statting Guy -especially after a slog back to London town from the Peak!

You'll be shocked to hear that I totally sacked off the core session on getting home yesterday, so I'm one core session short of ticking my goals for last week. Ah well!

Last Week:

Some really enjoyable running (both low intensity and higher intensity) -reminding me how therapeutic running can be! Also, good to start getting back in to rock climbing -still feel very tentative heading back towards the upper end of my grades after not doing much on rock for a while!

M: Trail run -18.6km, 158mins, mostly Z1/Z2. Brutal sideways rain, hilly, muddy, technical, brilliant!

T: Rest.

W: Core and Max Strength -worked out a sensible (hopefully!) regime around weighted pull ups and isometric ice-tool hangs, so hopefully I'll have some gains to report over the next few weeks. 

T: Road run -8.8km at 4:46/km pace, Z3/Z4. Felt great pushing my pace after limiting myself to Z1 stuff!

F: Hill Sprints and Max Strength -may completely replace box steps/split squats with hill sprints in both my max strength sessions as they seem more convincingly useful... thoughts TFTNAers?!

S: Climbing at Curbar -some nice bouldering and some terrible route climbing! -felt a bit knackered and demotivated... maybe early season blues? maybe tired from the week's training? maybe consequence of not eating through the day?

S: Climbing at Stanage -felt miles better than Sat. Led some top quality routes and felt like I'm slowly getting back in to rock climbing again! Good to try some antistyle routes... need to force myself to do more of this.

This Week:

180min Z1

45min Z3

2 Core sessions

2 Hill sprints

2 Max strength sessions

2 Climbing sessions

STG/Q2:

E1 on 3 different rock types

Boulder f6B in Lofoten

Sandstone trail in <10h

MTG/Q3:

El Cap Nose day

New routes in Kyrgyzstan

LTG/Q3:

North Face Original Route (ED1)

Jaz (D8)

Red 17b (Le Flipper) (f6B)

Monday: Skipped out on lunchtime run, went to boulder but sacked it off feeling rotten

Tuesday: 45 minute run, shortish max strength session (front, back, split squats, pullups, bench, leg raises)

Wednesday: 45 minutes run, good bouldering session, sent a new v6

Thursday: 1:20 running, 45 minutes stairmaster

Friday: max strength session 2: (deadlifts, clean and press, pullups, core), short evening bouldering session at secret garden reminding myself how hard grit sit starts are

Saturday: 2:30 trail run, 500m ascent, fun bouldering and routes at Curbar. Avalanche Wall (HVS 5a) and Curbar Corner (f5) the highlights!

Sunday: Day at Stanage popular- highlight definitely Congo Corner (HVS 5b)

Not a bad week and great to get back on real rock, but volume not really enough, need to up my game! I felt pretty good on the grit, psyched for the upcoming good weather!

In other news I am leaving my job at the end of May, so time to work out some summer plans before Kryzgzstan!

Cheers Guy. It ended up being all about the bike and stretching.

2 commutes and 2x50km rides done. If I add the distances and height gains up they total about the same as the Fred. So I did it in a week and in 5 weeks I need to do it in a day. What could go wrong?

I felt very pleased with how I rode this week. Lots of pb's on strava, faster average speeds and just generally feeling good on the bike. 

This week i'm only going to get one commute in (I should have done one today but was just too tired after a busy weekend) but there's a big ride in the Lakes in the offing and then a recovery day ride the day after.

I'm not feeling confident about the Fred but I am feeling less scared.

So I'm getting the idea that I should do some repeaters as described by Ally/Helen and some finger loading as described by Dan. Both of these being aimed at removing pocket-based weaknesses when considered relative to 4-finger strength, rather than increasing overall tendon strength per se? (but to be fair, that weakness is what I have too.)

I'm trying to marry this in my mind with the idea that max hangs are (usually) the best way to get stronger on other grip types. Anyone ever done pocket max hangs?

Yes I did 10s max weighed hangs on pockets (2 arms) as part of my fingerboard program last spring- they worked very well for me, the first time I trained pockets really. I can dig out my progress graph if you are interested. 

Sorry Guy, I was more thinking programmes specifically for pockets rather than as a part of a wider programme. I have trained pockets myself along with other things (including partly in my fingerboard programme over winter) but I've atill always had a relative weakness I think.

current goals... to fall more in climbing and not on the bike.

Remembering that I'm clipped in when I stop at lights appears to be a problem. Haven't hit the gravel yet though  

also your week sounds perfect! Love you got your training head back! 

Kinda sorta, but I certainly don't push as close to real max as I'm willing to with four finger grips.

Ta Guy - hope your own training goes well.

I was only back in the UK for a week, so worked flat out until Saturday evening. 

Up early every day to do stretching and physio, the stretching is keeping on top of the shoulder but not improving it, which I'm starting to think is going to come from getting stronger in general. Completely clattered by Sunday and packed my bag and I'm now in Swizzy for a week.

So nothing structured at all but happy I committed to 5am alarms to do whatever I could.

Goal - Salbit West Ridge in summer.

Not sure how good it was to come back into what is a strict training regime, though it maybe circumstances. I have suddenly found myself managing a seven day a week mental health crisis service and this has impacted. This is not permanent as it was to reduce the pressure on A&E over the winter and will be finishing soon. This combined with the weather and just coming back has led me to puzzle what I am doing and why, and whether I can do it.

A whole range of circumstances and knackeredness led me to decide to have a break last week with just one very poor session and one yoga class. I did keep up the rehab etc.

My psyche has returned, a very short but perfectly formed session yesterday showed me I can climb so will take stock and come back clearer by the end of the week. Aiming for three sessions this week and hoping to get out at the weekend.

Rich

Sounds like a good week Dan! How would you describe the style of those two 7bs? Both have been on my potential hit list for a while!

Cheers!

I'd call the routes sustained mainly, good jug hauling to get you off the ground and then only slightly over vertical, techy climbing the rest of the way but always on decent, defined holds, no scrabbling through a sea of sharp shells like Blacknor.

Sweet Smell is slightly harder than Stay Golden with a couple of notably harder moves but they are both pretty amenable at the grade.

I'm heading down tomorrow to try out a few more in that area.

Guy and I are in Portland this weekend if anyone is about. Thinking of heading to Blacknor beach tomorrow (Saturday).

Sorry, Dartmoor...

Thanks Guy - yes for a little potter but it was slow going - glad you enjoyed Stanage! 

M - Mallorca 7b

T - rest but results in, second in senior female in WBL as expected. Close call and if I’d started my comeback sooner it might have been a win! Goal for next year. 

W - rest

T - started stamina routes training at  the wall

F - working Marks at Gardoms. My stomach had been feeling funny for a couple of days and it was definitely not helping locking in on roof!

S - climbing unit boulder mileage

S - clifftop boulder eventually 

Sounds like they should definitely be on the list! I shall keep an eye on your further adventures in that area

Thanks for taking the time to do this guy

I managed to get rid of the lurgy by Tuesday so was extremely happy ended up you g away to Cornwall climbing on the weekend

I've repeated last week's plan again this week. It means I will lose a week in the muscle endurance phase.

M - lurgy

T - lurgy

W - run

T - run

F - max strength

S and s - cornwall

STG - Re-establish exercise 'normality' and loose some weight

MTG - 6c at Navigation, then WFD

LTG - Probably bouldering, bearing in mind Trad will be hard for the next few years...

Weight - 14st 7lbs

M - T - Rest

W - 17 routes

T - 90 sit ups

F - Rest

S - 3 mile run

S - 20 dish tucks

Really good session at the wall.  17 routes which is much better than normal.  The run was a proper slog, but I got round.  Did a few bits of core in the middle of it all.  Diet is moving in the right direction, but I still need to cut down on the snacking, especially at weekends.