UKC

Hi All.

Happy Easter! I hope the Easter Weekend is big on trips away and light on chocolate eggs! (Just kidding, hope it's full of both -even Fit Club needs a chocolate binge every now and again!)

A slightly sketchy FC post this week as I'm on the road -apologies!

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.

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 2   

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_630-703268

Posters:

AJM -Great job with the 7a+. What exactly have you done to your leg? Is it mended now?

Tom Green -not bad... can you keep that momentum going? Also, need to be more proactive in getting trad mileage and cramming in prehab.

Somerset Swede Basher -If it stays this hot limestone is going to be the only option! Sounds like a big mileage week last week -has the skin (and girl-band-finger) recovered enough for more ticking this week? 

biscuit -I like the pragmatic approach to balancing things up with uni chaos. I'm always keen for Lancs quarries, so ping me an email if you fancy any midweek sessions there. How has your first week of conditioning and flexibility goals gone?

Alan Little -Was this week a steadier week? Ante upped but not too much?! Priority number one has to be NOT GETTING INJURED in the lead up to Kalymnos. Better to be slightly less fit and uninjured than more fit but crocked!

guy127917 -Sorry to hear about the bad back -did it recover enough for some bank hol weekend adventures?

SFrancis -Some cracking (no pun intended!) routes in last weeks log -nice work. I feel your pain with thin hands -they seem so much harder than they should?! The AnCap should be easily remedied -quite rapid gains once you get started. Enjoy Font...

Ardo -An arse kicking at Hen Cloud? -what other result is there from a day at Hen Cloud?! Loving the STG's some classics on the shortlist and some nice variety too. What's that outstanding 7a project?!

Powerpuff -V6 will soon be the new default grade for you! Awesome work. Well done on the weight too -I've no idea what range would be good for you but if you're happy I'm happy! 

the sheep -I wish my healthy weeks were as good as your recovery weeks! How did you find putting longer runs back to back on Sat/Sun? Apparently it's a good way of prepping longer distance.

alexm198 -Glad to hear you felt a bit cooked from the previous high vol week -I was beginning to think you were superhuman! Those ME phase Z1 volumes really start getting out of control... I remember how draining mine were last summer (and I wasn't quite as high vol as you are). Nice alpine hitlist -doubt the schreckhorn and bietchshorn routes get that many ascents?

Jackob -strong FC debut last week! Can you top that this week?!

Tyler -hope Skye has been a good trip? Hips holding up ok? Sorry to hear that work is hotting up -it has a bad habit of getting in the way of the good stuff.

Bones -Must be satisfying feeling the benefit of all those core workouts on the steeper problems? Real live gainz! Good to hear that the trad leading is more chilled out. Any specific routes on this summer's ticklist? 

climb that pitch -9 out of 10 is pretty good (IMO!) even if a lot of it is highlighting things we already know (I guess that's the point -we know a lot of these things -just don't act on them!) Nice work with the E2 tick.

Ally Smith -the force testing trial sounds interesting. What are the looking in to (or is it still a bit hush hush?!) A ten year project?! Must be the worst route there if it's taken you that long to see it off! How's the mono training going? What's the regime looking like? 

Lornajkelly -Great work on the Cto5k progress. Don't worry about hills -building up 'tougher' terrain can easily be introduced later, but the important thing is laying a good foundation by increasing distance/duration on nicer terrain. Keep plugging away!

mattrm -One slightly easier week is not stagnating! You can soon get that back on track. Hopefully this week was better, although if not it's not the end of the world!

PlanetMarshall -Glad you're back on track. Did you get out in the Peak this weekend?

Ianstevens -Welcome back from the trip! Good work for keeping some structure to the training whilst away! Svalbard will be a bit different?! Sounds really interesting even if it does disrupt the training and climbing a bit. Have you started pulling a plan together for keeping things ticking over whilst on the road?

Rebecca Ting -no, no, no! You can't just swan back in here with your talk about touring 40000s, skiing powder and trees. Especially trees... I love skiing trees! Tell us more about altitude bouldering... do you notice the difference over relatively short numbers of moves?

MIA: Cyan, 

Thanks Tom. Too most of the week off since I was waking up in pain, but by Thursday it had mainly subsided and was more stiffness than actual pain. Did a shortish social bouldering session on Friday and avoided doing anything too strenuous, though did manage all the moves on a v7 for the first time, just need to link next session. Felt pretty good over the weekend- we did a couple of days of fun trad classics and didn't have any issues. Unfortunately I have also picked up a slight middle finger DIP injury on my left hand (for my future reference) so mainly stuck to crack climbing, which was actually awesome.

Monday-Thursday: nothing

Friday: Social bouldering

Saturday: Higgar Tor, finally got on and sent the The File (VS 4c) Then headed to Yarncliff to escape the heat of the sun. S.T.P. (VS 5a) a suprisingly fun unstarred route. 

Sunday: Bamford, 8 fun routes VS-HVS, highlights The Happy Wanderer (HVS 5a) and Wrinkled Wall (VS 4c) Really great day- sun, cool wind and the crag was pretty empty.

This week I will get back to running, starting gentle and stretching the lower back afterwards. Hoping to tick that v7, and quite psyched to do 500 lead falls as per Seans recommendation!

Thanks Tom. The body finds ways of making us back off when we need to.

STG: Kalymnos: learn useful stuff in the coaching session (first week); find congenial climbing partners (second week)
MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project 
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

Easter Lurgy. Solved the risk-of-incipient-overtraining problem by spending three days in bed sick. 

M: 
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Routes. An alarming session: started well but faded shockingly quickly. Was thinking I definitely need to back off a bit if I want to avoid arriving on Kalymnos wrecked instead of fit.
W: ... until I went down with a sudden sore throat & fever in the night, hopefully explaining the evening's dismal performance. Spent the day in bed.
T: Ditto
F: Ditto
S: Easter family outing to Innsbruck. Had a look round the new wall - impressive - but didn't climb.
S: Wall, Freimann. Quick evening session on return from family outing, repeated my February lattice benchmark. First sets (aerocap?) unchanged but a substantial improvement in the later sets. Total result compared to last November: ~20%  improvement across the board. Doesn't seem like a bad winter's work.

Thanks Tom. Great stating as always, particularly impressive if you are on the road, kudos. This week I've taken full advantage of having a different Easter break to my wife and kids (I work in Derbyshire and they work/nursery down the road in S Yorkshire). I looked at my logbook for last year and it looks like I only used a rope outside 5 times so I thought I'd better tie in seeing as I had enough time.

Mon. Two Tier at Chee Dale. I'd forgotten how beautiful it was down here! Had a look at Orange Sunshine 7c+. I didn't really know what I'd be able to manage so aimed high with the attitude that if success was certain what's the challenge? Managed to top rope it in a session but struggled to find a position I could clip from for the 3rd bolt so no leads. 

Tues. Rest and 13km on the roadbike. 

Wed. Back to Two Tier and ticked off Orange Sunshine (7c+) also did a handful of 6s. Hardest route since 2015 though mostly through going bouldering instead, still really pleased though.

Thurs. 18km on the mtb with the kids.

Fri. Family trip to Gisburn Forest trail centre. Did the red 16km loop while Mrs Swede Basher had the kids then we swapped over so she could do a lap. Then another 10km of quiet lanes with the kids too.

Sat. 8km mtb ride with the kids. 

Sun. Went to Miners Ten near Carsington. 1st visit to the crag. Both harder and better than expected. Did all the up problems then the 7a traverse Miner's Ten (f7A) which I fell off the last move of 3 times before I got it so pretty tired after this. Then 20km on the mtb with the kids. 

Thanks! Been a while since I onsighted anything especially hard, especially an unchalked one.

Basically, I tripped up, and because of the way the ground lay as I put my feet down I just forcibly stretched the inside of my leg by my groin with the weight of a stumbling me+rucksack. The bit which flared up later on was the back of my knee, something compensatory I think, basically ok walking but not very pleasant lifting my foot up (stepping up big steps or putting feet up on footholds when climbing).

Thankfully it seems to be ok now, bit of rest sorted it out.

This week was a reminder of how delicate the work:faffife:climbing balance is these days. Work ramped up, and on the faff side we had to do the final admin for buying a new car, as well as packing for going away for Easter, and therefore climbing got squeezed out until Easter weekend.

Easter weekend itself was great. We went away for a few days out of the weekend with miniAJM safely esconced with his grandparents, and enjoyed some glorious weather in Yorkshire...

Friday - drove up in the morning to Almscliff. Decided to have a go at ticking all the ***/top50 routes from Northern England up to a certain point. This was a really good varied day, mix of styles, stuff I wouldn't usually do, and all that. I had to do 2 things not on the list as a result of queues at the start, and ended up with 2 routes left from the HVS-and-below list at the end of the day - shoulders feeling too tired for Great Western. Best route probably Overhanging Groove (HVS 5a), hardest (and by a country mile - the idea that this could share the same grade as OG genuinely baffles me, I could easily have fallen off without some helpful chalk to guide the way - there are more amenable E2s out there than doing this on a hot sunny day) was Demon Wall (HVS 5a), which is probably what ruined my shoulders for Great Western.

Saturday - Malham right wing. Too hot, and so I struggled if I'm honest. Main idea for the day had been to try Wombat (E2 5c) but I just felt a bit sun blasted, so did a few easier routes, loafed in the sun and caught up with friends.

Sunday - back to Almscliff for a few hours in the morning to knock off Parson's Chimney (HS 4b) and the magnificent Great Western (HVS 5a), which was an excellent finale before heading back to my in-laws to catch up with them and the wee man.

Nothing as hard as I'd initially had in my head (I'd been thinking of Wombat, and maybe of one of the big Almscliff E3s), but an awful lot of really nice climbing and just good to get some decent volume in - often I just end up doing a warm-up and a hard route and that's more or less it, especially on more faffy sea cliffs etc.

Hopefully a micro climb to break the journey home today, some training in the week, and fingers crossed a day somewhere at the weekend... work will be busy, but it should all fit...

Good effort!

Hits me every time I come over for a short visit too. I prefer the rock in the Frankenjura, but the Peak definitely beats it for scenic beauty.

Cheers Tom, second longer run was hard work but as I was out with the wife who was completing 20 miles as part of her marathon prep I didn’t have any room to complain

Exercise wise it’s been bit of a week off as I have been off with the kids for the Easter hols. Have been out for nice walks, yomps up streams, built tree houses and had a day at the zoo so all good. We did pop down to the in laws at the end of the week. They live on an island off the Essex coast so we did a run we have always wanted to do and went all round the island. A fab 20km with a bit of road but mainly trail over salt marshes with some beach too. Nice 6km trail run at home on the Sunday to end the week. 

I did - but OMG it's hot...

Still struggling a bit to get back into a rhythm - Oxford is a bit of dead zone climbing-wise, but I hope to use the opportunity to get to the South West at some point.

Tue - Some max strength sessions in the gym. Wide pullups, Bench Press, Seated Shoulder Press and bent over rows. Still can't really do anything leg-wise

Fri - A few solos up on Castle Naze. So hot...

Sat - A bit of self-belaying at  Smalldale Quarry. Tried using Petzl's recommended setup but it was a massive faff, the ascender grabs the rope while climbing resulting in needing about three hands to actually climb. I think a two-pulley setup would be much more efficient.

Sun - Went to  Hen Cloud, and was pleasantly surprised to find a bit of shade. Seconded Central Climb (VS 4c), which I still think is nails at HS. Then got the onsight of Hen Cloud Eliminate (HVS 5b), which I was massively pleased about. First HVS since breaking my leg and bodes well for Pabbay in a few months.

STG

Get back into a rhythm, at least a couple of max strength gym sessions and some time in the pool. Investigate Oxford Brookes.

MTG

Leg recovery. My ankle is still quite painful, but maybe try a few longer walks. Start ramping up the climb difficulty, would like to climb at least a couple of E2s before Pabbay.

LTG

Pabbay end of June.

Many thanks Tom, you're very good at being motivational, I really appreciate it.

STG - 14st

MTG - Goblin Girl (6b) 6c at Navigation, then WFD

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

Weight - 14st 10lbs

M - Rest

T - Rest

W - 3 mile walk

T - 3 mile walk

F - Rest

S - 3 mile walk

S - Sunday Roast

March Overall - 51%

April Overall - 40%

2019 - 40%

Well March was good in the end.  Yeah, the week wasn't as awful as I'd thought it might be.  Still not feeling amazing.  Quite ill today as well.  We've all got it, the house is a right plague pit at the moment.  I hope to get some swimming done towards the end of the week and fingers crossed I'll maybe do a run.

SMART goals - 1 Swim, 1 Run, 2 Walks

Thanks for statting on the road, Tom. Good dedication!

Yeah you're not wrong! I'm starting to appreciate how thin the line is between pushing really hard in a crucial training phase and overtraining! Having to take recovery quite seriously at the moment...

Nice alpine hitlist -doubt the schreckhorn and bietchshorn routes get that many ascents?

Probably not! I only heard of the Schreckhorn south pillar because of a Ben Tibbetts instagram post ages ago. It's a beautiful line though. And the Bietschhorn was a friend's idea. Apparently it doesn't get much traffic as it's just shy of 4000m.

Anyway, back up to some pretty heavy mileage this week. Sadly not of the climbing sort, but I expect to be doing more of that in the next 6-8 weeks or so. 

Last Week (Base Week 22/30)

M: 2h Z1 stairmaster. An episode of Mark Twight's Dissect podcast with Scott Backes got me through this one. Recommended!

T: ARC session @ Westway. Warmed up with some forearm mobility exercises from Crimpd and the usual scap pull-ups, normal pull-ups, leg raises and some easy hangs. Then did 2x30min blocks with a 30min rest in between. The first block was alternating 4+, 5+ and 6a on the autobelay, then stuck to 4+ and 5+ in the second block. 

W: 2h Z1 stairmaster. 

T: Muscular Endurance in the weights room. Managed to get 4 times through the circuit. Felt hard but attainable. Interestingly, some of the exercises almost felt like they became easier on lap 3/4. Don't think my form was dropping, so maybe just a warm-up effect. Over 100 pull-ups in this session. Grim.  

F: Totally wankered from the ME session. Chilled ARC session @ Westway in the evening. The same 2x30min with 30min rest. Stuck to 4+/5+ routes again. Felt good. Seem to be seeing some endurance benefit from this already.  

S: 32km/600m segment run of the North Downs Way, Merstham-Otford. Z1-Z3 (avg. HR 153). Absolutely punishing in the heat and with a strongish headwind most of the time. Took 3h50 in total. The best thing that came out of this run was the genius idea of spreading caramel GU gel on a banana. Portable banoffee!

S: Rest

Last week's goals:

• 8h Z1 [Bish]
• 2 ARC sessions [Bash]
• 1 muscular endurance session, four times through the circuit. [Bosh]
• Weekend running/climbing solo objective if weather plays ball. 30km leg of the North Downs Way -or- a climbing objective if partners/conditions are forthcoming. [Bosh 2.0]

Goals

This Week

• 12h Z1
• 2 ARC sessions

• Welsh 3000s running/climbing sufferfest...

STG (End of April 2019)

• Average 8.5h Z1 across the 7 weeks between now and end of April [Rolling average: 7.3] 
• Build up to 5 times through the muscular endurance circuit [Current: 4] 
• 2 alpine lines >700m (not necessarily rock)* [Current: 0/2] 
• 1 alpine rock lines >700m >6b in preparation for Bugaboos (might be touch and go with conditions this early)* [Current: 0/1] 

MTG (End of July 2019)*

• 2 more alpine rock lines >700m >6b in preparation for Bugaboos*
• All Along the Watchtower (5.12a)*

LTG (End of September 2019)

• 6x5000m peaks on the Bezengi wall, Caucasus.*

*All kind of in flux at the moment. Hoping to get some more concrete plans in place this week. 

Thanks for stats Tom! Finally emerging from a couple of months of being persistently injured and/or ill. Relaxed and sunny Easter in Yorkshire has definitely helped the rehab!

Mon: Rest.

Tues: Wall. Monster session on 45, great new set.

Wedns: Wall. Rematch with 45, tired but got a few more problems done.

Thurs: Rest.

Fri: Trow Gill. Very hot. Lazy day. Did a few 6's.

Sat: Malham. Hotter. 2x VS then sat around in the sun.

Sun: Trollers Gill. Did some easy mystery routes and then had a couple of topropes on Angelic Upstart (7a, short and bouldery).

Thanks for doing the stats while on the move. That's some dedication

Well this week I took the advice to not shout take and it has worked really well. Spent my first ever day projecting a route on Monday and I can see why people do it as it was good to work out all the beta and put it together.

I spent most of my day in work Wednesday going through the climb in my head before going back to manage to clip the chains on my second go of the day

M -  AM - Core workout

        PM - Went to Wyndcliff Quarry and warmed up on One in the Oven (6a+), Spent the rest of the afternoon working the moves on Wilkinson's Sword (7a). To be honest the crux was finding a stable position to clip the 3rd bolt. Took a few falls and it gets very close to the ground

T - 8.7km run and some push ups

W - Back to Wyndcliff Quarry and ticked Wilkinson's Sword (7a) on my second go. Climbed flowed really well all the moves felt ok and I was not that pumped at the end of it. Spent the rest of the afternoon having a play onSometimes I Think I'll Kill You (7a+)

T - 7km run

F - 6km run and some push ups

S - Core workout

S - 6.5km run

Lee

Cheers for the stating, admirable commitment on a sunny bank holiday.

Lots to report this week obviously although not as much as you might imagine or I would have liked.

M: Travel to Torridon, picked up hire campervan and Jason on the way. I've known Jason for over 30 years, we did out first E3's, E4's and E5's together, enjoyed his first (my second) alpine benightment together and went to my first (his second) all night rave together. He also has the the dubious honour of being the only climber I know who is actually weaker than me but despite this he has an impressive tick-list (inc. 1000 different routes on Stanage) by sheer force of will, I've never seen him fall off but he always looks as though he is about to! He now lives in Oz and this year we both turn 50 soon this trip we hoped to roll back the years a little. Spoiler alert: we failed. Dismally.

T: Forecast was for rain in the afternoon, I really wanted to do Diabaig Pillar but have not lead a trad route harder than VS for four years so decided a warm up was in order; Route Two (HVS 5a). Possibly the best HVS I've done (although it should be billed as the best E1 I've ever done). By the time we got down it started raining and I was gutted to be told by someone else at the crag that the Pillar is actually easier. Jase was keen to hit Skye so we did not hang around until the next day to do the pillar.

W: Despite the nailed on forecast it was raining when we woke up, we hung around and then suddenly it cleared so in a panic we set off late to try and do a bit of the Cuillin Ridge. By the time I got to the top of Gars Bheinn 3.5 hours later I was totally drained. The last 200 meters took about an hour, I was seriously worried I would not be able to get back to the campsite under my own steam. I've always considered myself reasonable 'off the couch' but it dawned on me I've done nothing aerobically since Oct 2014 and although I got sport climbing fit last year there's a big difference between off the couch when you are younger and reasonably active and off the couch when all you do is sit at a desk and drive *everywhere*! Once started on the ridge things improved but my legs were drained and on any uphill bit I slowed to a crawl. It was interesting how much difference it made dumping the bags even though I was only carrying a rope and water. TD gap was more daunting looking than I had imagined it would be and we were both glad we had brought climbing gear. After Sgurr Alistair we descended the Great Stone Shoot (slowly). We were gutted not to make it to the Inn Pin but after a late start and in my state it would have been pushing it. Its hard to complain given the perfect conditions, the place is amazing and I'm keen to go back and do the other sections, most of all I'm pleased my hips were not the problem despite using only 800 mg of Ibuprofen. New carbon fibre walking poles helped as well (well worth the money).

T: Knackered, Skye was still in perfect nick but we couldn't face the walk into Sron na Ciche so we scoured the guide book for crags with no walk and headed to Glen Nevis. Disaster, the bridge across the Caledonian Canal was broken, we faced 2.5 hour diversion or an unspecific wait. Boredom got the better of us and we headed for  Creag Dubh (Newtonmore). Ticked off another 4 star classic (Inbred (HVS 5a)) and, as it shared the same belay, top roped The Fuhrer (E4 5c) which seemed sacrilegious at the time as its an Extreme Rock tick but not one I was ever likely to return for. As it was the gods punished us appropriately and we got the ab ropes stuck. Then our fortune changed. Before the recrimination really started about who's fault it was (Jason's) some locals turned up and said they'd climb up and free them so we wiled away the last hours in Scotland soaking up the sun and watching our new heros climb the route we'd just done.

F: Dropped off the van then headed to Armathwaite with the intention of doing Time and Motion Man, it was boiling and has a proper boulder problem start. It soon became apparent that, despite the sandy landing, my knees weren't up to repeated attempts it would take to do the start so we did Flasherman (VS 4c) just so we could say we'd climbed at the crag.

S: Rest. Drove to Pontefract and put down a deposit on a T5 (technically this will belong to Mrs T), its insulated, carpeted, has side windows with LEDs in the back so we can use it straight away but it will need converting.

S: Went out on bike to try and loosen the legs and remind myself what to do (its like riding a bike), I stayed on the road and will continue to do so until I get some miles back in my legs, there's obviously a lot to do to get myself into hill shape.

Overall it was a great trip, I climbed on Skye and Torridon which were both on the bucket list (although not bucket list routes) and overall we climbed on 4 'new to us' crags and I was reminded how much I enjoy being in the hills so now I might focus on getting fit enough to get amongst them a bit more. I also need to get back to some mobility exercises for my hip as, although it wasn't especially painful, it was very restrictive (my stride is about 25% shorter and I can't step up anything higher than about 12").

Cheers for the stats Tom. Much appreciated.

I'm staying pragmatic until mid May. I'll be on elective placement from then for a month in South Manchester and should have mid week eve's free. I'll keep you posted. 

Long term goals

TBC

666 fit club goals

6 x V6 slabs – 1 done

6 x V6 vert – 2 done

6 x V6 steep – 4 done

To be done at BUK for ‘proper’ grades

Medium Goals 2-6 mths (Mid June – Oct)

Shelterstone June - E2 classics

October sport trip – 7b in a day

Red wall traverse R-L (7b+ ish) by June Shelterstone trip

Short term goals 1-2 mths (to mid june)

Cimbing – get out as much as poss. Lancs quarries and Trowbarrow.

Diet– DQS 25+ per day. 2250kcal per day with 90g+ protein.

Flexibility - 2 x a day

Shoulder– left elbow touching the floor in supine with arms overhead. Currently approx. 4 cm off.

Legs/hips – palms to floor in standing with straight legs (challenged by one of the kids on the squad)

Measure side splits and focus on these for 2 mths.

Conditioning – press ups every day when shoulders OK. Pull ups as often as possible.

5 x 10 rep press up sets (different hand position for each).

5 x 10 rep pull ups. 1 min rest.

These will act as a decent base to then start specific strengthening work.

Core – 3 x a week. Complete CRIMPD app core (static, floor, extended) for starters. That’s one each session, not all 3 in one session.

Repeaters – 1 x a week. Baseline sets to failure.

Shoulder(s)

Currently doing open chain stuff x 3 a day

One more week of this (?) then assess and progress exercises.

Last week

I’d give myself 8/10 for last week.

Climbing – one session at Trowbarrow on Red Wall traverse. I’ve always hated the start and the 1st 3rd. It’s all slopers with crap feet. So dedicated most of the session to sorting that out. Got a sequence now, if I can remember it.

Diet - over 25 DQS for 5/7 days and one near miss and same for 2250cals per day. Wine got in the way. But as it was BH weekend that’s not too bad.

Flexibility– Twice a day 6/7. Left shoulder feels like it’s making progress. Side splits measured at 190cm.

Conditioning – press-ups managed every day but not without rest. Didn’t manage any pull ups. Need to find somewhere to do them.

Core – 3 sessions done. Progress to be made on all 3. It seems I find 2 exercises very easy and 1 very hard on the CRIMPD app.

Repeaters – tried the CRIMPD app at body weight (AnCap). Too easy. Inc weight next week.

Shoulders – did lots on these. They’re still improving though many day to day movements are giving me grief. Open + closed chain, functional, resisted, exercises are the focus this next week,

 This week:

As short term goals with:

Climbing: 2 x Trowbarrow and get my first trad day in this year.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for looking after fit club again

Tue: biked to the wall, re climbed a v4, v5 and v6 i'd done before then worked on a v7 which felt easier than previous attempts, I'll take that!

Thurs:biked to the wall. Easy session, climbed boulder problems up to v3 then went up the auto belay a couple of times on easy routes. 3 sets of the usual exercises and shoulder theraband routine to finish.

Sat: 4 max hangs on fingerboard....even just hanging the 45 slopers on beastmaker 2000 was hard, im putting this down to the hot weather.

All day drinking session yesterday so need to look after myself in the days ahead to get back on track.

Hey Tom, impressive stat-ing and up to your usual high standard. A$$ kickings seem to be a regular occurrence recently: must review crag choices for some easier times! Quality Control at Chee Dale is due some more attention and added Hilti Sound System, (Masson Lee's), to the list after Sunday. Quietly confident of getting both done, weather and fitness allowing.

Mo:    General walking, 8.1 miles. 12 probs; MH: 4*12/150; IDH: 5*4*10:10/60; LB pyramid: 12321/90". BCs: 6b, 6a.

Tu:    General walking, 7.9 miles. 4 lead.

We:    General walking, 8.6 miles.

Th:    General walking, 7.2 miles.

Fr:    General walking, 7.3 miles. 5 trad.

Sa:    General walking, 9.4 miles.

Su:    General walking, 9.3 miles. 7 sport.

Weight: 10st 2lb/bf 15.0%

Kept diet on track. Ticked all week's plan and two good days outdoor. Headpointed/ground up an E1 at Gardom's during another hard trad day and flashed 6c at Masson, so a pretty good week. On holiday for a fortnight, so training on the back burner and climbing to the fore.

This week's plan

Be on holiday and climb. Maybe one training sesh, depending on partners and weather.

Review LTGs.

Correct - that 7c is quite probably the worst route at the Tor, hence ignoring it for so long!

Bit of a rubbish week from me - too much work, DIY and gardening to fit in much training. Multiple passes this week though - anyone fancy Nesscliffe on Saturday? (Weather permitting)

Week 16

M – Lunchtime Compex recovery session. After-work BFR aero-cap 10x 7/3/6/1 @30kg assist. Finished with good rings session. Wish I’d skipped the set of barbell curls though, as they aggravated elbows again.

T – Nowt: Early start for London commute. After work drinking & curry. Must stop this behaviour; fatty!

W – Was supposed to be a social boulder, but this being London it was disgustingly busy, so I stayed downstairs on the Moonboard, which thoroughly spanked my ass. One solitary 6C benchmark. R buttock very grouchy – hobbled home.

T – Nowt: Late home from London village.

F – Nowt: DIY club

S – Nowt: DIY & gardening club.

S – Nowt: DIY & gardening club (sore back).

Good week for climbing. Mixed week for training. Need to be more consistent with the core and strength work. And the prehab. So all the training that isn't actually running and climbing!

Week 16:

4h Z1 (Tick), 3 Climbing Sessions (Tick), 2 Core Sessions (Fail), 2 Strength Sessions (Fail), 2 Prehab Sessions (1/2).

M: Prehab. Elbows and shoulders.

T: Indoor Climbing. Max hangs and limit bouldering.

W: Trail Run. 60 min Z1, avg 6:20/km, 9.8km, 503m height gain, quite techy.

T: Rest -slightly sore back.

F: Road Run. 55min Z1, avg 5:20/km, 10.2km, 70m height gain, easy.

S: Climbing with good Z1 approach! Got completely shut down by second pitch of Plumbagin (E1 5b) -just couldn't work out how to do it! Embarrassing escape up Amphitheate Buttress.

S: Climbing (plus Z1 approach!) at Cloggy. Great - Bow Combination (HVS 5a) -fab.

Week 17 Plan:

5+ hours Z1 and 3 climbing sessions (including Welsh 3000 Sufferfest!)

2 Core Sessions.

1 Strength Session.

2 Prehab Sessions.

STG/Q2:

Average 300+m vert running per week (Currently 499m)

Bowland run/climbathon

N Wales El Cap Day

Welsh 3000s

MTG/Q3:

Cuillin ridge traverse

Average 300+m vert running per week

Some of: Salbit Westgrat, Piz Badile Cassin, Grand Montets ridge, Innominata, Cordier Pillar, etc...

666 Goals:

6 Crack routes of each size

6 Roof routes

6 E-points in a day

Mon - Indoor limit bouldering. Managed a V7 and a few V6s. Yoga + Fingerboard repeaters and pull up intervals.

Tue- antagonist + core.

Weds - Malham. Got on new dawn. Found it very hard as it was quite warm but did enjoy the route! 

Thurs - Rest day. Yoga session.

Fri - Kilnsey got on Dominatrix. Absolutely love this route! Struggled on the crux boulder problem finish.

Sat - Kilnsey again. Making solid progress on dominatrix, feels like it should go fairly quickly. + Fingerboard repeatersand pull up intervals.

Sun - Meant to be a rest day but ended up running around Fairfield horseshoe 12 miles and a 35ish mile bike ride around Windermere.

Haven't really met my goals in terms of yoga and core workouts, however feel like I have had a pretty manic week with work family friends ect. Hopefully up my game a little next week especially with the core workouts as I think this will be helpful on dominatrix and on my upcoming Kalymnos trip.

Thanks Tom Yeah, definitely feeling that steeper stuff is getting easier and also just climbing in general feels less strenuous. Cracks on the other hand....someone definitely needs to work on their crack climbing. 

Trad goals are currently: Oracle (6a) - short and sweet! I will add to the list but thanks for the push to start one. With trad I feel much more relaxed about goals as I am just getting myself happy with the style of climbing. I'm just not ready to really push with trad yet.

Mon: morning gym session (mainly legs).

Tues: rest

Weds: morning gym session - did ice cream makers with a lighter band (mainly core).

Thurs: morning gym session.

Fri: boulder session. Repeated a V5/V6 that I worked on previously and took a nose dive on another one. Fun session - got a V5 that I a tried a couple of times last week but this time with a little more dynamism for a reachy move.

Sat: Peak climbing at Higgar Tor and Yarncliffe Quarry. Ticked 2 more VS leads for my goal of 30. Got some great advice about lead climb falls (sport). 500 by Christmas but with zero stress!! Thanks Sean.

Sun: Peak climbing at Bamford. The climbing here was great, would like to go back there soon.

Thanks for the statting Tom!

It's been a blinder of an easter weekend for me.  Next week's update will feature two pretty awesome days out on the rock.  I'm so achey!

M:  rest

Tu:  couch to 5k week 6 run 1

W:  rest

Th:  wall session.  Turned up all psyched to tick a 6a before the easter weekend, only to find that there's not much at the wall at the moment in the 5+/6a category.  There's a few in the 4-5 bracket but then the flat walls seem to jump straight up to 6a+, and I didn't think it was clever to push my grade on an overhang (and realistically it wouldn't have gone even if I'd tried).  So after a decent warm-up I tried a 6a+.  Cruised most of it then bottled the crux, which I'm not surprised about, especially since it was the penultimate move.  Finished the route on the 5 on the same line.  I'm calling that an average 6a tick.  If there'd been a flat 6a there I'd have done it, redpointed if need be.  Was the best I could manage under the circumstances.  Hopefully next time they reset that section they'll plug that 5-6a+ gap so I can do it properly.  The rest was a joy - hopefully there was a 6a move in there but most of it was probably 5+

F:  couch to 5k week 6 run 2.  Down the canal, the day just starting to get warm, blue skies.  Lovely stuff, and the run felt fantastic

Sa:  rest

Su:  had a friend round for lunch - I made beef wellington with roast potatoes and carrots, then a coffee and chocolate roulade.  Had to go for a walk along the canal for it to settle (roughly 2.5 miles), then a late evening run (couch to 5k week 6 run 3) when I was feeling a bit less oppressively full.  Hard work but I think I was still weighed down by a substantial amount of fillet steak and puff pastry.  No regrets.

STG:  lead 6a indoors by easter (ticked the best way I could manage given route options, as described above).  

New STG:  still ruminating.  TBC, but open to suggestions if anyone has any advice?

MTG (week 666, end of 2019):  lead 5 Welsh VS outdoors.

LTG (35th birthday, end of 2021):  Comes The Dervish.

Thanks for the stats as always Tom, hope that being on the road meant a nice climbing trip for you! Yes, a little different but the context is that I'm a glaciologist, so a work trip there probably now makes a bit more sense - some cool research planned so will be interesting in that respect as a minimum! No plan as such, as I'm not leading the science plan, so I don't know how spare time will pan out. I've also not been up to the bit of Svalbard that we're going to before, so makes planning harder. I'll try to take a fingerboard, but if weight doesn't allow I suspect a lot of equipment free conditioning work will be on the cards. Running will be hard because of the gun requirements (I don't fancy taking a 10kg rifle with me on a run...) due to the polar bear risk. So going to be a tough one to get the training in! That all said, fieldwork is often physically taxing anyway.

Goals

Need to review the previous and adjust the last set considering the change to my schedule. Next week!

Last Week (2019.16)

Mon: Yoga

Tuesday: Independent project day for the students, so I was "stuck" in Mount Cook NP with an entire sunny day to play with! 1) Yoga, 2) "Run" up Mount Kitchener - in practice this was a bit of running, and an alpine-esque ridge which was amazing. 20.1km, 1739m elevation.

Wednesday: 1) Yoga (and post-fieldtrip booze up)

Thursday: 1) Yoga (stinking hangover)

Friday: 1) Lake Hayes 1/2 Marathon - massive PB of 82:01, 6th place.

Saturday: Planes

Sunday: More plane time, but back in the UK for breakfast. Dragged myself to the wall, managed to boulder <V5 and tried some problems <V6. Needless to say, felt tired.

This week:

Aim is to get back to normality and find the training rhythm I was in before going to NZ. Need to re-assess my finger strength after a month of data-lite sessions to inform hangboard work. 

Sounds like great training!

Ian, good news. I did some googling and you should be fine to go for a run: https://imgur.com/a/z5CeWZV

Yellow card: that type of language could see you getting a Peaks ban!

Thanks Tom, another sterling effort.

*Stretch everyday - Fail, but I am adding in more stretches.
*Climb something off the unfinished business list in font - Failed on Duroxamine last move, very hot and very busy. I'll go back to it when its a little colder and not so busy.  
*Climb a font 7, GF up a 6, and friend up a 6C - Fail on all fronts. Again some absolute classics climbed, and grades in font are absolute non-sense. I managed 6C didn't even try anything harder, my friend climbed multiple 6s, and my GF climbed multiple 5s, narrowly failed on topping out a couple of 6s.

*Do a new circuit one I haven't done before - Not the full circuit but did a few of the black circuit at Buthiers Piscine.

The main tick of the weekend was the amount of mileage I was able to do in the 6s, without my body giving up. A very noticeable difference compared with the last few times i've been. I think its better to stick to the classics/aesthetic lines in font without getting to hung up on grades, as there are climbs to massage the ego to be found, and then there are 6As that are the living end.

Week 15/04-21/04

M: Rest

T: Short strength session. Few max hangs and a 3/4 on 1-4-6, and a few boulders on the board

W: Packed.

T: Drove to Font.

F: Headed to Cuvier, very warm (28C), felt tired did a few boulders, failed on Duroxamine at last move. Met some friends at Isatis

S: Very warm again. A few warm ups and then to Apremont, failed on science friction, then ticked a few boulders in the vicinity, including John Gill, World's burliest 5, now thankfully upgraded to 6A but still not a gimme at that.  

S: Headed to Buthiers. Not been before, and absolutely brilliant. Some incredible boulders, some big highballs. Standouts were probably L'etrave, la Dynomastitque, Direct de culot ( a full blown dyno for anyone under 6 ft), and La voie lactee.  

 This weeks goals:

*Heading to Berdorf. Rain forecast for the weekend so not 100% whether any climbing will get done or whether it will be an extended drinking break in luxembourg city.

I mean the principle is sound, but my knees may collapse!

Perfect - can come back in one piece AND break the 100 m record

Where is this "Peaks" you speak of?