UKC

Greetings comrades.

Apologies for late post... stats in the morning, but any keen beans are welcome to post before then!

Morning Tom.

Nothing hugely exciting to report from me, no outdoors this week just some training.

Monday - last ticket on my carnet for the wall expired Monday, so Monday it had to be. Late, as I had to do bedtime first, and therefore not an especially long session. A good one though, I ticked a few things I had tried and failed on previously and flashed some things that felt relatively hard.

Tuesday - I think I did a couple of sets of knee to bar.

Wednesday - too much beer at after work drinks

Thursday - operating at <100% all day. Tired and early bed.

Friday - I think I did some more knee to bar

Saturday - Crimpd 5-on-3-off session, higher intensity, aerocap not recovery, but useful for standardising timings. Then away for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday - Crimpd 1-on-1-off, followed by sets of knee to bar.

I feel like I'm seeing progress.

- The reps of knee to bar (which is quite good for mid back, and I'm finding I prefer to pull-ups as unlikely to do anything to my elbow, which I'm nervous about after last year's flare up) are gradually going upwards. I want to start trying to do some pullup and chinup reps too, to work the rest of the chain, but nevertheless happy with these in isolation.

- the foot on campus is feeling better. The last time I did 1-on-1-off it got a bit slappy towards the end as I was definitely building a cumulative pump. This time I felt like I was recovering better such that I could do a harder sequence, crossing over a bit in the ladders, with more control. A medium pump which stuck around for a while afterwards but nothing unmanageable. A sign fitness is improving.

Got about a month of decent rock mileage coming up. May be out Tuesday evening, I've got Friday afternoon off too possibly, and then hopefully something at the weekend too.

Hi Tom,

Going to be keen this week given that I've been AWOL the last three(?) weeks - been super busy with work and life! Needless to say training has suffered a little. Rather than a full post, I'll (re)establish my goals and provide some summary. Back to proper posts from next week!

Goals

STG: 1) 100kg on the AA slot by 01/06; 2) 5k PB by 05/06; 3) Write a routes/boulders ticklist for the summer. 

MTG: 1) Under 7.5 hours in Snowdon Skyline (Sept); 2) Do the summer ticklist.

LTG: 8a before 30 (October 2020).

Font trip planned for early September and some scope for the Alps in August.

Last few weeks:

Running heavy as I'm gearing up for September. Achievements are an 18:45 5K (PB is 18:32), 11th in the Moel Elio race and 20th in the Cadair Race (90 secs quicker than my best time from previous events). 

Naf all climbing. A few <HVS bits is about the sum of it.

Ok, back on it... sorry for the delay!

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 3   

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_634-704546

Posters:

AJM -Strong week! Great work on racking up the E-points and nice job with the 7a+ onsights. Dinosaur would be a very worthy goal -long neck and small brain, eh?! Looks like your plan of getting the mileage in is off to a flier. Keep up the good work.

Tom Green -Knee is still a bit of an issue and working away means the current management strategy is to ignore it rather than get it checked out. However, it doesn't seem to be a problem for climbing, so keep getting in the indoor and rock mileage.

Somerset Swede Basher -I've heard that long sessions of manual labour are what most doctors prescribe for lurgy these days, so I'm surprised it didn't seem to work for you! ;-p Have you managed to shake it off this week?

biscuit -8/10 sounds like a solid week to me. Good work! Gutted about the lurgy -I was hoping the tough session was just the after effects of a few big weeks. Hopefully this week's report will be about beating the plague in to submission?

Alan Little -Are you home from Kalymnos now, or still living the sunny sport dream? Sounds like a great week, both from a climbing point of view and a learning point of view. Worth booking in with Gaz and Adrian, I'm guessing? Have you managed to keep all of those tips in mind for your second week? (By the way, if I had a pound for every time I got 'trapped in the gravity well'...) ;-D

guy127917 -If you've a tweaky finger then Elder Crack is probably a good safe choice! Sounds like last week was good and varied. Are you feeling back in the habit of running now? Also, remind me, are there any big mountain adventures on the Goal list at the moment? (I'm too lazy to look back over previous posts to check!)

Ardo -Logbook stalking shows a great day at Chatsworth. Well done for racking up some trad airtime too! I've got a couple of hectic work weeks coming up, but I'll be keen to get out through June and July so I'll get in touch and we can get back to Charming Crack for the grudge match! How has getting back on the training wagon gone this week? 

Powderpuff -I feel your pain about work getting in the way of training psyche. Well done for soldiering on with it. How long until that holiday to recharge the batteries? Also, how did you get on with the core stuff? Did you try any new exercises?

the sheep -running in long grass feels a bit like running in water! I reckon it must be good for some sort of training, although I've never worked out quite what! Good work with the Saturday biathlon-ing… how does the transition between bike and running feel?

alexm198 -Yes! Glad to hear Peru is on. And coming up fast too! Sounds like a bit of tapering and a LOT of injury avoidance is in order? How long are you out there? Have you got a plan for not losing fitness through the trip?! ;-p

Jackob -Strong start to the trip -top job. And good work keeping off the Mythos too! Has week two gone to plan? STG ticks or just having a great time?

Tyler -Nice squat ascent! I've not done anything on the l'M -would you recommend the VM? Glad to hear you got a good honest Wilton roughing up!! What were the routes? I'll be keen to get back to my old stomping ground when work's a bit less hectic, so let me know if you fancy more Wilton action!

Ally Smith -8a second go? Braap, braap, braap!! Can't argue with that! However, your description of VNB sounds like you're protesting too much... go on, you know you want to! 

Lornajkelly -sorry to hear the darkness has reared it's head. I hope this week has been a better one? (On a slight diversion, I got the term 'the darkness' from the Ellis James & John Robins podcast -which is mostly comedy stuff, but they touch on Black Dog related issues from time to time. Have a listen -you'll either love it or hate it!!) Loving the tri-plan... looks like a good progression. 

PlanetMarshall -If Pabbay's anything like Mingulay then putting a bit of AeroPow time in will stand you in good stead! Not long now... you must be getting pretty psyched? How's this week been for climbing? Managed to get some indoor mileage?

Niall_li -Hope Edinburgh provided the rest that you needed for your finger! How's it been this week? Interesting that you've found heel-hooking a weakness. I always seem to pull muscles in my ass when heal hooking -which seems crazy given how big those muscles are compared to the shit little ones in our forearms. Ally Smith probably does more heel-hooking than most -what do we need to be training Ally? 

Rebecca Ting -Cleaning to the point of injury is mental! What were you thinking?! Hope this week has been a bit less domestic and that the fingertips haven't held you back?

Cu Chullain -wow, sounds like a good week! Didn't understand any of it though! Are those numbers for running, rowing, cycling, swimming?!?! Hit us up with your goals...

mattrm -Well done on the running -although gutted to hear about the shins. It's such a fine balance between getting stuck in vs allowing your body to adapt to the stresses. Hope they soon settle down. At least it gives you the opportunity to get in to the swimming for this year's goal. Have you a decent pool nearby?

Bones -Type 2 Fun -the essence of Lake District climbing! Nice work with the trad mileage. Where have you made the strength gains? -always nice to be able to feel the training working, well done.

climb that pitch -enjoy the hols! Get those brownie points in the bag and give us a shout when you're back!

SFrancis -Well, that was a post of two halves! Sorry to hear the lurgy claimed another victim and hope you are getting back on track this week. Work stuff seems to be dragging a lot of Fit Club down at the moment. Great work on the flash (semi-onsight!) of Colors though -should help get the psyche back post-lurgy? Sometimes an enforced lay off can be a bit of springboard to the next good run!

MIA: Ianstevens, Cyan

Hi Tom,

Finger feeling grand this week, guess all the whisky in Edinburgh cured it

Weirdly I seem to end up pulling with my calf muscle when heel hooking! need to get my hamstrings and glutes working I think. Wonder if hip mobility comes into play a bit as well? All exercise or drill suggestions welcome

Mon - Climbfit class (also feeling heavy from Edinburgh weekend) but performed pretty well I think. knackered after weighted climbing

Tues - Pilates, rest

Weds - Boulderworld for a crack at the comp wall, first 20 all flashed (apart from dropping first go on 15 by being a bit too casual), aim was to hit about 220 points so on trackish for that. Shoulder sore after the session which is a bit concerning. Apparently my body is only able for half a weeks climbing atm!

Thurs - Rest

Friday - neck spasm and sore shoulder

Sat - Climbed FM in the mournes, nice slabby multipitch Vdiff. shoulder was fine on it, but also didn't involve much pulling

Sunday - rest/gardening

Off to see the physio on Tuesday, hopefully all is well with the shoulder. Think it might actually be coming from my neck, fingers crossed!

Thanks Tom, another great set of stats, as always. This week has been a bit of a write off. Lurgy has been present all week or though there was a lull thurs and Fri when I got a couple of short sessions in. Had an ofsted inspection at work with devoured two days and was quite stressful. Also Mini swede basher has had chicken pox which has not led to a particularly restful time at home. Had a short session at the Tor on Thurs and ticked Let's Get Ready To Rumbleweed (Standing Start) (f7C+) but this is only really a different finish to the problem I did last week, only 4 moves of new climbing. Did all the moves on the sit start in isolation. Went back Fri and did the start in a oner and into part of the rest of the problem a couple of times but lurgy was trying to rear its head again so wasn't feeling energetic enough for the full link.

This week I'm hoping to shake the lurgy and start making attempts at the 666/LTG of 8A now I've got everything worked. 

Thanks for stat'ing again Tom; mediocre week from me after a good weekend. Hopefully shift the lurgy soon so that I can enjoy the bank holiday weekend.

Week 20 - Public

M – Rest – 22km flat biking on an empty stomach – felt very much like hard work. Evening gardening club.

T – Evening dash to Kilnsey to finish off Aboriginal Sin (8a). Tight for time I probably cocked up the whole session by bashing my funny bone and getting stupidly pumped trying to do the route with just the directissima start as a warm-up. 2nd go I got through the majority of hard climbing but couldn’t lock off my left arm on the last big move. This might have been the funny bone, over-gripping from exposure, or simply me being a bit shit recently and hence finding 7C+ easier than 7c+...*

W – 16km flat biking, felt faster than Monday, but Strava said same average power output. Regenerative aero-cap 10x 7/3/6/1 @-15kg with moderate BFR pressure. Stretching in front of TV.

T – Full max hang session with all grips on BM2K; hard work! Front-3, middle2 & back2 all quite down on winter scores, other grips fair to middling. Need to work on ring-finger again. Evening gardening club and stretching.

F – Snotty nose club – partly explaining how hard the max hangs felt?

S – Potter in the garden club

S – More pottering; bought a new bed.

*Alternate explanation - this '89 route from Dave Pegg is an absolute sandbag - feels comparable to Mandela to me...

Thanks. Another tough week but I hopefully put it to bed with an amazing weekend in Langdale. I did the full Langdale Pikes route on Saturday, including Sergeant Man and High Raise, 12 miles in total and I'll calculate the height climbed when I get to a map tonight. It was brutally hard but i did it and I'm really proud of myself. I also made friends with a couple of dogs, which always helps.  

Sunday was originally going to be a day on Long Scar in Wrynose but I couldn't secure any partners so it was recon instead. It's a shame really, because I could see S and HS stuff that I could probably have managed. And I now don't think there's another occasion to go climbing before the end of the month, so the STG will have to be pushed back. Still, it was nice to get out in the fresh air. Hopefully some runs this week, though I'll have to step back a few weeks so I don't overface myself

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 4lbs (1lb gain)

M - Rest

T - Scuba diving

W - S - Rest

S - 5k run

Unsurprisingly the difference between last week and this week is pretty stark.  Last week I was well rested and had plenty of sleep.  I felt great.  This week I was woken up early repeatedly.  I felt awful.  Sadly my lad was quite ill this week, hence the early starts.  Poor thing.  He's better now tho.  So after the diving, I didn't end up doing much.  I wasn't really expecting much from the diving to be honest.  Apart from wanting to do this one specific dive I've never had a massive interest in it.  It was great fun however and I'm keen to do it again.  The fitness requirements are much lower than I thought they would be, which is good.

On Sunday I risked a run again and decided to see how far I could get up Sugar Loaf.  Which was further than I expected.  A bit under half way in 45 minutes.  So that's good.  No pain, so I just need to stick to spaced out 5ks for a few more weeks.  The averages are dipping badly, but that's hardly unsurprising.  I need to keep things steady now so I can try and ramp up a bit more at the end of the year.

May avg - 30%

2019 avg - 37%

Cheers Tom, transition went well, legs dint feel too heavy and got into my stride well. Not long to go now so quite a few bits falling into place over the last week. 

Monday, 1km lunchtime swim, had some fun practising different sighting techniques for open water

Tuesday, 5k run and into the pool for a 1km swim

Wednesday, 2km swim

Thursday, 1km swim and stretch class. 26km ride home in the evening

Friday,  2km lunchtime swim, 26km ride home and staight out for a 1.5km run with the youngest 

Saturday, fun day wandering round the zoo with the kids

Sunday, introduction to open water swimming session. Good fun and can appreciate what to expect on race day a bit more now too. Getting the wetsuit offf in transition 1 is seemingly going to be the toughest bit!! Swam just over 2km too   

Thanks Tom. I'm sure better protected things would suit me more, but that one has the best photo!

Back in rainy Bavaria

STG: Kalymnos: find congenial climbing partners (second week): yes
MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project. Currently: 2
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60

Kalymnos 2019 Week Two: climbing with random strangers from whatsapp (and FitClub).

M: Telendos, Lambda. Back to my favourite crag, and a contender for my best sport climbing day ever. Flashed Hotel Simi (6b+) (fantastic) and Schwjieschwanzerrected (6b+) (not as good, but harder) before racing the sun to a redpoint of Chardonnay (7a+).
T:    Odyssey. Unsurprisingly not much left in the tank after yesterday. Did a few pitches, bailed early.
W: Rest day. Rented a 125 - because there is no such thing as too much horsepower - and went for a ride over to Vathy. 
T: Managed to meet up with Jackob of this parish for a trip to Sikati, where I avoided the issue entirely by adopting Les Pirates de Sikati (7a+) as my project for the day. Excellent route, "slabby" only relative to the other routes here. I got the technical crux in the middle sorted after a couple of goes but continued to take wingers off the redpoint crux on a bulge at the finish until it was time to go home.  Definitely need to go back, both for Pirates and to get some proper stalactite humping done.
F: Walked up to Kalydna for a return match on Ixion, my project from last week. But it was (a) wet and (b) nevertheless being sieged, Himalayan style, by a huge Polish team. Probably wouldn't have got far on it anyway, judging by my performance having wandered round the corner to Poets where I found Ibria (6c) quite hard enough for today, thank you very much. (6b+ in Aris' guide, but a rare case where I think the higher rockfax grade feels justified). Good to have Ixion as a project to come back to.
S: Travel home. Had kind of hoped to sneak in a couple of early morning goodbye routes, but as it turned out I had to get the 10 o'clock ferry for a 3:30 flight. Pleasant lunch at Mastichari followed by too long sitting around the grotty airport terminal.
S: Resisted the temptation to go to the wall; having read Tom Randall's new blog post on training mistakes, I think the wise thing to do now would be a post-trip light week. Didn't bother going to watch the bouldering world cup live either. Seated places were sold out & I didn't fancy standing around in the hot sun for hours. Watched it on the telly like everybody else while catching up on domestic chores.

The first week with Adrian & Gaz's coaching group was excellent. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I picked up some tips on tactics and footwork that I think will definitely help move me forward (or upward) in the longer term. The second week started very well too, but not being naturally gregarious I found the uncertainty of being without a definite climbing partner stressful. Turned out alright in the end, still not sure if I would do it again though. 

Seems like ten days would be about the right length of trip for me. As a weekend punter I'm unused to longer trips, and even on a cycle of hard day / easier day / rest day I seem to be pretty wrecked by the second half of the second week. Otoh I was close on Pirates on Thursday, and had I got that I might have quite a different view of the matter.

My endurance training over the winter clearly worked. I did better on longer routes, and got totally shut down on powerful bouldery ones, which maybe doesn't bode too well for the upcoming Frankenjura season. Time for a strength training cycle.

Cheers Tom. Lurgy on the retreat and I've been climbing outdoors again. Whoop whoop!

I’ve toned a couple of the daily goals down now as I’m on placement and aiming on getting outdoors as much as possible.

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(ish) - E2 classics

October sport trip – 7b in a day

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

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

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

Get some E2’s done!

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

Flexibility - 5 x a week

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

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).

Core – 3 x a week.

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

Shoulder(s)

Low rows 1 x a day.

Last week

I’d give myself 7/10 for last week.

Climbing – Forgot to say I’d been to South Castle Crag the week before. VS, HVS(2nd) and E1 done. The E1 went ok.

This week I went to Wilton one. VS warm up then seconded Tyler on Wombat Crack (E2) and then led Central Route (E1). Felt harder than the previous E1. Very slow but Tyler won the ‘who can place the most gear’ competition.

Bouldering at the Roaches. Coaching day with the squad. They smashed it! Seeing tiny kids crushing 3 Pocket Slab and other classics was ace. I got some easier classics done a 6C, 6C+ and was annoyingly close to a 7A.  Left shoulder is still weaker when trying hard. I tried Joe’s arete one handed and couldn’t manage the mantel with my left arm. Lack of leg/hip flexibility was shown up on a couple of problems. Should have got them but couldn’t get my leg up. Also strength at end of range. Once shoulders are on form this will become a bigger focus.

Diet - over 25 DQS for 5/7 days and 5/7 for 2250cals per day.

Flexibility – 4/7. Left shoulder feels like it’s making progress. Side splits measured at 190cm mid april

Conditioning – press-ups managed 4/7 but not without rest.

Core – Not done.

Repeaters – FOC – 5 sets done before coaching

Shoulders – Still improving, left now seems to be lagging behind the right.

This week:

As short term goals with:

Missed an outdoor night tonight as partner couldn’t make it. However the massive jam on the M60 would have put paid to it anyway I think. Should get to Trowbarrow and then some trad over the BH weekend along with some bike riding. Possible trad night Thursday as well.

Weigh myself and do body fat every day to establish a base line.  Though it seems to be going in the right direction I need to keep on top of it. 

Not really back in the habit of running, forcing myself out with the backstop of 3 times a week. I'll up that to 4 this week. The weather is so nice it's criminal not to get out of the office/house, especially if we are not out climbing at the weekend. 

I actually don't have any trips in the diary at the moment. I think Yosemite and maybe South Africa are in the works but still tbc. I think this is probably contributing to my general motivational dip- I'm happy ticking over in the short term but not really moving towards any target. I haven't been sport climbing yet this year (!) which I'd normally be pushing training for at this kind of time, and finger strength/boulder training has been railroaded a bit by the finger. On the other hand I have really enjoyed all our trips this year, am still generally improving with experience, and don't feel too bothered it so maybe nothing to worry about. Mountainwise I just don't see how to fit it in with my new work schedule- 4 weeks a year outside of London is just insufficient for anything serious. 

Monday: Rest (planned)

Tuesday: 8km gentle run, decent bouldering session (I think?)

Wednesday: Rest (unplanned)

Thursday: Rest (unplanned)

Friday: Bouldering, was terrible for some reason (maybe a hard set!?)

Saturday: Easy 8km run. Happily could do a muscle up (bit cheatey onto one arm) and front lever (momentary) when challenged. Would like to improve on these. 

Sunday: Faster 8km run. Good lead session, 18 routes up to 7a, feel like I have now brushed off leading cobwebs, took some whips. 

Pretty lazy week really- technically met my 3 runs 3 climbs goal, but not really forward progress. This week will include 4 runs (5 for a brownie point), and 4 climbing/bouldering sessions. 

Fantastic stating as per usual. Slow start to the week, but my endurance seems to have stayed, but a massively noticeable drop in power.

Weeks 13th - 19th

M: Rest

T: A short boulder session, felt weak, just did a bit of mileage

W: A few routes at the wall, interestingly endurance seemed fine but just couldnt pull hard on anything. Lowered the grade did a few new routes and ended the session early.

T: Rest

F: 20 min light Z1ish run.

S: Headed to Wintours leap, various travel mixs ups and lack of up to date knowledge on access meant it took awhile to get to base of crag. Decided to warm up on King Kong (E1 5b), and got a bit too warmed up. I led P1 - burly moves around initial roof, its the first time ive wished I had a couple of hexes on the harness in ages and P3 - an enjoyable solo up some great rock. Vegetated, filthy, uninspiring gear, loose but an absolutely great adventure. Felt wiped out though still suffering a bit i think, so we had some lunch had a look around, will be back for Kanagaroo wall and Kaiser wall, as they look fantastic. Decided to climb Central Rib Route I (S 4a) as fast as we could in approach shoes, just under 30mins, but caught behind a pair at the top. Went and sat in the pub, sun, warm, pub garden, summer has arrived. Rounded a quality day off by seeing a seal swim up the river.

S: Family day. 

I've not done Kaiser - I'd quite like to - but my memory of Kangaroo Wall is that it was very worthwhile, well worth it.

Hey Tom,

Hope your knee is not feeling too bad this week.

Holiday is next week, should be good.

Im afraid I continue to be lazy with mixing up my core exercises and increasing the number of sessions and volume I do in a week.

Mon:biked to the wall repeated a v5 i'd done before then continued to work on a v6 and v7 I've not managed to climb yet. 3 sets of 20 sit ups and push ups, 3 sets of 10 leg raises & eccentric wrist curls.Theraband shoulder exercises..biked home.

Friday: climbed 3 easy routes on the auto belay then climbed a few problems up to v4.

Sunday: 3 max hangs on the fingerboard.

Hi Tom, as always, ta for stat-ting.  Likewise with work, but June is as free as a bird. Only managed to get one training session in due to work and it went much better than I anticipate a return to Charming Crack will. Good day trad-ing at Stoney on Sunday: first time back on limestone trad this year and quite a shock after grit mileage. Aiming to add get additional training in this week, with some ARC very much required after Sunday’s experience.

Last week's plan
Keep diet on track. ✓ ‘ish
Get back on the training wagon. ✓
Review LTGs. ✓

Mo:    Commuting walking, 8.6 miles.
Tu:    General walking, 7.6 miles. 22 probs; MH: 4*12/150; IDH: 4*4*10:10/90.
We:    Commuting walking, 7.8 miles.
Th:    Commuting walking, 8.1 miles. 
Fr:    General walking, 8.0 miles.
Sa:    General walking, 10.4 miles. 
Su:    General walking, 8.3 miles. 5 trad routes.
Weight: 10st 2lb/bf 15.2%

Next week's plan
Keep diet on track.
Increase training volume.
Do some work on van.
 

Hey Tom,

Thought I would join in on some of the fun

Since I started regular indoor bouldering and training in autumn I am super psyched that I am climbing way better than I ever have done before and this seems like a cool way to chart progress. So for me last week (11th - 19th) was a bit different as I had the week off work and stayed local and climbed on Portland pretty much every day.

Sat - Sport climbing - Ticked off a few 6's and spent some time working a 7a

Sun - Sport climbing - Half day on the island, ticked off a few classic 6's

Mon - Bouldering - Half day on the island, ticked off a few font 5's and easy 6's.

Tue - Sport / Shunting - Spent most of the day working a few easy 7's on my shunt.

Wed - Sport climbing - Ticked off a cracking 6c+ and spent some time working a classic 7a - ran out of beans to lead at the end of the day.

Thurs - Got to Battleship with the intention of climbing but too tired after so many days trying hard. Fluffed the warm-up so was belay bitch for the day instead

Fri - Rest, chill & beer

Sat - Sport climbing - Ticked off a couple of the easy 7's I was working earlier in the week. Had a play on a mates project (7b-ish maybe)

Sun - Sport climbing - Working another route

Cheers for statting Tom. Yep, injury avoidance is the name of the game at the moment. I've never got far enough in a training plan to know how to taper properly, either, so my mind's telling me I'm just losing fitness but I guess I do feel more physically rested...?

In Peru for three weeks. So not a super long time but hopefully long enough to get acclimatised and try some routes. Only a week away now!

Not too worried about losing fitness over the course of the trip -- between some big approaches and hopefully finding time to run the Chavin trail, I think fitness will be kept topped up. Strength maybe not so much! But I'll probably take a bit of proper time off once I'm back anyway and then start training again in August so you don't burn me off too much on our alpine soiree

Last Week (Base Week 25/30 - structure has gone out the window a bit here)

M: 1h20 Z1 cycling

T: 1h20 Z1 cycling

W: 1h30 Z1 cycling, and one last ME session in the gym. Two circuits. Felt actually pretty strong, but I think now that I've booked a trip my motivation for dank gym-based workouts is dwindling a bit! Warmed down with a gentle 20min run on the treadmill.

T: Rest

F: 20min Z1 cycling. Evening session @ Westway. Short fingerboard warmup, flashed a 7a and 6c+ which I was pleased with/surprised about. Then some unstructured bouldering up to V5/6. 

S: Visiting my brother in Sheffield. Couple of hours recovery pace/Z1 walking on Bleaklow moor Saturday evening and a wild camp. 

S: 10km more walking across the moors. Recovery pace/Z1.

Last week's goals:

• 6h Z1 [Tick-ish]
• 3 climbing sessions [1/3]
• ME session (2 circuits) [Tick]

Goals

This Week

• 6h Z1
• 3 climbing sessions (2 ARC, 1 bouldering)
• General strength session (keep it fun, don't beast yourself) 

STG (End of July 2019)

• Northeast ridge of Huascaran Norte
• Other cool things in Peru (Cayesh West Face, La Esfinge Original Route, potentially Alpamayo if the logistics make sense)
• Run the Chavin trail

LTG (End of September 2019)

• Finish running the North Downs Way
• Make plans for Alaska in spring 2020

I think Kangaroo wall looked more impressive, but i've heard kaiser really delivers on quality. Did you happen to do any variation on the second pitch of kangaroo wall? A friend suggested its best to miss the hard move on pitch 2 by traversing right along "Umbrella girdle", and going up the last bit of "Hyena Cage" pitch 2. Appears there is another variation going left to miss the move.

The Lakes on Saturday was very much type 2 fun! Sooooo cold. But the routes were brilliant.

I haven't done max weights at the gym yet but in general I can see improvements in my pull-ups and front-lever work. I have also done 90kg deadlifts x 2 reps (not sure what my max is yet) and doing 5 reps of 12kg pull-ups within sets of 2 other exercises. Working on skin-the-cats and able to get vertical on both front and back lever tuck on skinning kittens but can't quite manage to pull myself back from the back one. I haven't been recording my weights very consistently but I have definitely seen improvement in most of the weighted exercises at the gym. Will make more effort to record weights to visualise improvements.

Mon: rest

Tues: gym session, clean and press - finding these pretty tough.

Weds: gym front lever stuff and managed one rep of a new progression on muscle up: at the top of a pull-up move onto the forearm of each arm then move weight over the bar, back onto hands and push up, then a negative muscle up.

Thurs: rest

Fri: Boulder session. Consistently, flashing or working V5/V6 circuit now. Need to make sure I try V6 and V7 more often.

Sat: working on front lever and muscle ups at the local park gym. Short run followed by slight headache all day.

Sun: lead ropes

The VM was the first route I did after completing the Conville Trust course so I obviously thought it was brilliant but this was 31 years ago so not sure how relevant that experience is! I've done the Couzy route since and that wasn't as good. They are both handy for a short day and l'M has the advantage of being reachable from Montenvers

The VS I fell off was Flywalk (VS 4c) and the E1 I did was Anne. As you will see below I'm still keen for Wilton but I'll probably confine visits to evening, not sure that would work for you?

Pretty slow week for me due to father's 80th B'day celebrations.

M: I think I had the day off but don't think I did anything

T: Kilnsey with Ally, thought I'd get Vizzy Vu (7b) ticked but over cooked my B2B go and then was rubbish on RP attempt, tactics were off but really I'm just unfit. Pleased to claw my way up the full Directissima on a TR in the gloom.

W: Think I did some squats but not a full route

T: Back to Wilton with biscuit, he's already hinted that I put a considerable amount of gear in Wombat Chimney (E2 5b), I was just practising putting wires in again.... 

F to Sunday: Drove to St Davids and back for father's B'day which involved a lot of eating. Great to see bits of Wales I've never seen before, highlight was an up-close encounter with a Red Kite in the Elan Valley

Thanks so much for keeping track of my frankly shoddy posting Tom!

It's shamed me into posting this week and resolving to turn over a new leaf.  Currently getting back into trad after a decade or so of pretty much sport-only.  Rusty.   

Mon: ?Possibly a short boulder.  Can't remember.  

Tues: Rest.

Wedns: Rest.

Thurs: Wall.  Decent boulder. Did some stuff on the slab and ticked one of the V4's on the 45, current set is hard!

Fri: Headed to Pembroke. With one helmet and no ab rope or chalk bags.

Sat: Stennis Head.  Seconded Limbo and Cool for Cats, led Hercules.  Felt very steady which was nice. 

Sun: St Govan's. Abbed on climbing ropes and spent some time getting them unstuck.  Led Army Dreamers. Partner not up for going back down so went back to Stennis Head, led a VS and seconded an HS.  Good weekend.     

Off to Wales/Fairhead for a week and half but will try to post on Sunday for once!

No, I did the hard move - you might be able to dodge it if you try (it was years ago, so I couldn't comment on any detail re your two alternatives), but I remember it being very well protected...

Late to the party this week been having too much fun in Kalymnos

Mon: Spartacus. Flashed a 6b+ and a 7a also had 2 goes on Gladiator (7b). Didnt send it unfortunately but nice to see progress as in October i couldnt even get off the ground on this route.

Tues: Ghost Kitchen. Onsighted Dafni (6c+) and had a good onsight attempt on Ghost Rider (7b+) would have liked to have had a few more goes on this however the sun beat me to it. Went and dogged my way up Tzitziki (7c+) instead which felt absolutely desperate in the heat but an amazing new line. Did some TRX Antags stuff back at my aprtment too.

Weds: Rest - 90 Mins Yoga

Thurs: Sikati Cave - El Choco Loco (6b+) flash and Mort aux Chèvres (7b) flash. Could not have come any closer to onsighting Armata Sikati (7b) but fell on the last moves avoiding what looked to be a slimy wet tufa but was actually a huge undercling. Never been so gutted in my life to fall off a route. Felt absolutely exhausted/devastated and caved on my keto diet and got a mixed grill/ waffle with ice cream and a few beers.

Friday: Eros - Back on Mira que Tinc (7b+) no success unfortunately felt good but i was repeatedly short roped trying to make the dyno which was rather frustrating. Retro flashed Nymph (7a) which i struggled like mad with last year getting riducullously pumped. Ate more junk food (mainly baklava)

Sat: Rest Day. A bit of Yoga in the morning and managed to kickstart my keto diet again by the afternoon.

Sun: Iannis - Onsighted a 6c+ and very nearly onsighted a 7a+ to the right of it.  (1 hang). Had 2 goes on Tufa King Pumped (7b+) but it was tufa king greasy. (or maybe im just weak.)

Summary:

Another enjoyable week in Kalymnos. No STG goals achieved although i did come atnagonisingly close to onsighting a 7b. Hard to find a project as partners are not interested in multi day projects.

STG:

Send Dominatrix (7c), Climb a 7c in Kalymnos. Onsight a 7b in Kaly. 

LTG:

8a (+?) Ideally The Bulge (aka Let Them Eat Jellybeans) (8a) + Supercool (8a+)

I feel your pain - I fell off trying to get onto the ledge on that one! A magnificent route.