UKC

Well here I am with the gig that no one wants, David Moyes to Tom's Sir Alex Ferguson so prepare for a drop in quality and supporter dissatisfaction until I get the boot and someone better takes over (I can however promise an increase in the number of football analogies though, Clive).

This week I'm asking a lot of questions, sorry, I've not really been following everyone's objectives.

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

Last week’s thread can be found here: 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_657-711528

Incidentally, I'm not around for the next two weeks (my stint officially starts on the 17th of November) so someone else will need to stand in.

Posters

AJM - I'm sure I'm not the only one keen to know your FB benchmarks, although from my perspective anything on the 8mm holds is fanciful and I was only able to bodyweight hang the 10mm when I was at my best.

annak - It seems like there is a huge discrepancy between your lead and boulder grades, I expect the 7b+ goal will fall pretty soon. Where are you going in December?

mattrm - I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume a "3m walk" is 3 miles and not three minutes?! If so, nice to see some consistency. Is 14st your fighting weight, are you watching you diet to get down to it or relying on exercise?

Paul16 - I'm not normally one to tell people what they *should* do but I have to agree with others that Wings of Unreason is a poor choice of head-point goal. Logistics aside, its neither dangerous nor physical so a great on-sight and it gets all of its three stars for the "can I, can't?" nature of the jump. As you also have sport climbing goals I'd get on something hard and safe with fiddly gear so you get properly pumped. How long is phase 1 of your plan? The arc training looks useful but I wouldn't view it as something to be done in a block but something that needs to be continued on a pretty much permanent basis because, as I understand it, building up a base with this low intensity stuff takes months or years.

Ally Smith -Hope you have been nursing the good doctor back to health in a sympathetic manner and not feeling sorry for yourself with your own ailments! You seem to be in the 'experimenting with different things' stage of your training, is that fair or is there a grand plan?

Steve Jones - I wish I lived in Keswick! What would you say the split is going to be between concentrating on running and concentrating on climbing? What's the aim for the winter?

Ardo - Is there still much climbing to be had in the Roca Verde area at this time of year? I had it in my mind it was a summerish venue? How long have you got left of your trip?

Powderpuff - Good effort on cycling to the wall. Seems like you had a good balanced week, more of the same this week?

Somerset Swede Basher - What time frame was your pull up pyramid? Sounds like if you complete that then Weedkiller footless (did this used to have its own name?) is a formality!

ianstevens - Have you moved from N Wales to Newcastle? Is this permanent? Are all the Crimpd workouts part of a plan you've put together or are you on a Lattice (light?) plan?

AlanLittle - Time to bring out your big goal for your 60th? Is it possible to climb in the Frankenjura throughout the winter or will you be indoors?

Bones - Lots of good stuff there but I'm worried we might lose you to the world of Cross Fit! 

planetmarshall - Hope you didn't over do it on the training and arrived in Turkey sufficiently rested. On the subject of your LTG if you've never redpointed then I imagine a whole number jump in grades is possible if you get the tactics right. If you can do 5 pulls ups that's all the beef that's required.

SFrancis - Congratulations on the pilot qualification, what does it mean you can now do that you couldn't before? Shitty news about you're GF's drop in psych, plenty of time over winter for it to come back, walls are the best place for that sort of thing anyway.

Liamhutch89 - Unfortunately slopers are a finger strength thing as well. I'd have thought you'd be better doing a block of repeaters than a different type of max hang. If you are going on a board then that should do for recruitment anyway, a bit of hypertrophy (not sure if that applies to fingers but that sort of principle) is probably required.

biscuit - What are the new circuits like at BUK? Anything I'll be able to train on (LH board I'm interested in). I won't opine on injuries to a physio!

the sheep - "Got a 5k run in but that’s all" Who are you and what have you done with the real sheep?

Tom Green - Tom who? Don't leave me hanging just as I'm getting into TFTOA, we need an alpinist after guy and planetmarshell have reinvented themselves as sport climbers and alex has disappeared.

Hi Tyler thanks for prosiding over FC.

Not a bad week .....

Monday: at the wall, climbed the couple of v4 & v5 problems. Tried the v6 with the huge(for a weakling) last move...failure but it feels different, it feels like it wants to be climbed ...more failures and then success! V6 completed ...mike drop.

Thursday: at the wall , climbed the couple of v4 & v5 problems. Tried the v6 again, no success but after monday the burning need to do it isn't there anymore plus I dont feel great. Tried the v7 a couple more times and then did a set of 20 sit ups and press ups, and a set of 10 eccentric wrist curls.

Sunday: warmed up taking kids to wall v1, v2 then some pull ups...came back home and did some max hangs on the 35 degree slopers with a cheat and then for the first time in ages I did two one arm hangs on the 45s with a big cheat.
Theraband exercises for shoulders, 3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups , 3 sets of 10 leg raises and eccentric wrist curls

Aim for November to be decided when I see the new set at the wall this week.

Have a good week fellow clubbers!

if I look back, I think my best ever was about 67kg pulled one arm (so bw-5 at the time or 92%, although it would be a bit less currently as I’m a few kilos up on that) for 5s on a lattice edge. I imagine it’s maybe a bit less impressive due to pulley friction since it isn’t some 99% efficient job, but as long as I’m consistent it doesn’t really matter. On the micros, 2 handed about 87kg for 10s on the 10mm and 78kg for 5s on the 8mm were my best efforts. On a bm2k, about 100kg on the AA slot and 95kg on the little rails on a 2k also for 10s.

this week though, I had my mum down at the start of the week so only fitted two sessions in. I had a pretty decent fingerboard session - 5s at 76kg on the 8mm isn’t a bad way to start the season - and I went to the wall where I did some reasonable volume and a few things that took a couple of goes. 

Im hoping to do a bit more work in a more aggressive crimp this winter - my lattice edge grip is quite a relaxed half crimp, so much so it’s not enormously different from my open hand 4-finger grip (where I need some bend in the middle finger in order to engage the pinkie due to finger lengths), and I wonder if that’s not translating terribly well to smaller holds where I really do have to crimp more. Both the Dartmoor projects I’ve put any time into involve some pretty serious crimping. Also want to do more offset pull-ups and similar things since I feel like I lack a bit when it comes to that sort of thing.

its quite hard to know how much climbing I’ll get the chance to do next year, although I’m hoping to take some parental leave to stack the deck a little bit in my favour. On the assumption that bouldering is logistically easiest that may end up being my main focus and an area I could try to make actual progress on (you don’t need much time to train strength, so my lack of time is less of an issue). In other areas I’d like to keep ticking over at a reasonable level but don’t have much in the way of expectations, see how we get on I guess...

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 1lbs (STS)

M - 3m walk
T - Rest
W - 3m walk
T - 3m walk
F - Push ups
S - 3m run
S - 4m walk

Yes, it's miles.  In the middle of Cardiff, there's a lovely park/arboretum called Bute Park.  There's a loop from my office, up through the park, over the River Taff and back down the side of that.  It's actually about 3.5 miles, but I round it up.  I managed to do that most days in my lunchbreak.  Some days I also get the train in, which also involves a 4 mile walk, so if I push it a bit, then that's 7 miles in a day.

14 st is miles of any kind of fighting weight.  12 st would be amazing at this point.  11 st would be what I should be, but I don't think I was 11 st apart from a brief moment in my early teens, when I went past that.  I was around 11st 10lbs or so when I was onsighting the odd HVS about 5 years ago.

Gained another percent.  Weight stayed the same.  Have really given up trying on the weight front.  I'll probably be lazy next week as well and then try another short bash to push me back under 14st.  Excercise is doing well tho and I'm happy to be on target for a 70% month and to have pushed up from 43 to 44% for the overall.  Which means I'm still well on target for the 50%.  Also happy to have gotten out for a run, even if the meadow I normally run through resembles a lake at the moment.

Oct - 70%
YTD - 44%

I think I'm much the same in this respect. I've always been a natural open-hander, which is good for pulley longevity, but not so great when it comes to really having to bear down on something small & sharp.

Just a quick status report,  more thoughts on goals to follow. My week was totally consumed by continuation/worsening of last week's throat infection, costing me a weekend of no family commitments, available motivated partner and glorious autumn sunshine. 

STG: Get over irritating persistent autumn virus.
MTG: Actually get up something in what remains of the autumn season. Could I just have missed the last decent chance?
LTG: Rethink in progress

M-T: lurgy
F: Still not feeling great by any means, but sufficiently recovering/bored to manage a max hangs session
S: 
S: Feeling considerably better, but resisted the temptation to make a premature dash to the wall and hinder recovery. Half an hour stretching in front of the telly while watching the IFSC lead finals and a good max hangs session.

Morning Tyler, thanks for stepping up to the plate with stats. Sticking to big holds all week again this week and finger feeling a bit happier for it. Weedkiller footless isn't a massive goal, just a barometer for how strong I am at present. I woulnt be too unhappy if I never did it. Pull up pyramid was 60sec rest until I got to 5 then 90sec rest between the bigger sets. No CV exercise this week but I took kids from work out in the Peak mon-wed and was doing about 5miles walking each day so that sort of made up for it.

STG. Mend poorly finger.

MTG. Climb a grit 8A this winter.

LTG. 8b route next summer (short and bouldery link up at the Tor).

Nemesis Goal. Jerrys traverse at Cratcliffe

Mon. Warmed up for pull ups but elbows in the red zone so gave them another days rest and just did some core leg raises.

Tues. AW Sheffield. 3x up down up down on the big slopers on the campus board. Managed to 13579 on the first ups then just no matching on the second up. No matching on the downs. Followed this with 10mins on 10mins off on the auto belays x3. 6b up and 6a down.

Wed and Thurs. Rest

Fri. AW Stockport. Lead mileage session. A handful of 6s to warm up then 6x 7as, 2x 7a+s and a 7b. All first go which I was pleased with - must be soft there! Didn't feel too gassed afterwards but soon stiffened up after I stopped.

Sat. Rest.

Sun. Depot Sheffield. 4x up down on the big campus slopers. I felt like my inner Captain Dyno had been replaced by the Evil Dr. Static again but I wonder if the slopers are just much less travelled than at AW making them less grippy. Some laps round the circuit board happy on everything below 7b but fell off the end of the 7b 5 times. One for next time. No lunch then a massive dinner just before climbing was probably not the best fuelling strategy. 

Congratulations on your new position as chief fitclub encourager!

This week was a bit of a writeoff, got the proper lurgy.

M: rest

T: sick

W: ambitiously took bouldering pad to work because the weather was lovely, felt terrible on the commute, sat at my desk sweating for half an hour then went home and got back under the duvet.

Th: sick

F: sick

Sa: slightly less sick, but just knackered

Su: sport climbing outdoors in the sunshine, against all odds. Got up a really hard n7 in a couple of tries, which I was quite pleased with. 

STG / end of the year: lead an indoor 7b+, boulder 7A+

MTG / spring: lead outdoor 7b+, boulder 7A+

Morning Ash - spot on stats - very much in an experimentation phase with no distinct plan. 

My general ambition is to complete a bunch of FAs in North Wales & Yorkshire over the next year. These vary in length and difficulty, but the majority are horizontal in nature, so I need to keep bouldering on steep ground and get more into the "board style", especially for one of the Yorkshire projects. I also need to up my cheating game; get back to previous kneebar strength and be able to do inverted sit-ups from toe-hooks...

Still a bit snotty this week, and work travel got in the way also.

Week 43 

M – BFR fingerboard. 110 mmHg. 12 sets of 15 shrugs (38kg on mobile board) followed by smallest edge hang. 8x 10mm micro then 4 sets half crimp Lattice. Already an improvement on last week.

T – An-cap triples. Chapel 30 degree board: V6, V6, V5 problems. 3x10 dips in the longer rest intervals. Ab & groin Compex.

W – Film debut. Glad of my downie as professional film work involves even more hanging around than belaying a protracted trad on-sight! Forearm, brachialis, Ab & groin Compex.

T – Nowt – more filming then travelling home.

F – After listening to the PowerCompanyPodcast with Tyler Nielson, did a bunch of long duration isometrics (front3 crimp (-20kg) & 4finger drag (+18kg) "Crimpd" density hangs; 120degree lock-off; straight & sideways)

S – Quick trip to Boardroom Lights-Out. Mostly to collect some draws from the Gresham. Did an hour on the moonboard upto 7A (the one 7A I did was easier than the "6A+" I tried warming up on!) Had a great chat with Neil about Yorkshire new-routing then a quick go at the speed, grip-dynamometer and Psicobloc competitions (qualified for final in the latter, but wasn’t there for the evening final).

S – Parents visiting. Ab & groin Compex. Gardening, pub lunch, shopping and evening concert – Andrea Bocelli – amazing voice.

Regrettably, I think I'm a natural somewhere-in-the-middle-er, since I wouldn't exactly say I'm a pockets monster either!

Cheers for stepping in Tyler. Much appreciated! I've updated my MTG for Wings to on-sight.

One cycle is 3 weeks on, 1 week off so next week is my first rest. The initial burst of ARC training is partly to find out where my limits are and how much time I can find in a week to train. ARC will be an on-going part of the program, so it's not intended to be a quick fix. I was doing 4x4's for the previous 3-4 months before starting this training, so defo long term base being built. Phase 1 of the programme runs around the first week in Dec.

Learnt a lesson about recovery time this week - Thursday entry below...

M - Morning: Chapel for some ARC and core. Evening shoulder mobility.
T - Evening: ARC - 2x25 mins with 10 min rest, 30 mins core @ Chapel. Bit of a break through session, stopped using the odd hands-off rest in the corner and rested by hanging from a jug instead. Felt like I did a proper session.
W - Core, stretching & mobility work.
T - Morning: FAIL! Started an ARC session and my arms just died 10 mins in. Didn't want to push through and risk injury so stopped. I then thought it through and realised my Monday morning guilt session meant I'd attempted 3 sessions in 72 hours. My body can't cope with that, so my lesson is that I need to be comfortable saying a day is a write off and have it as a bonus rest. Evening: MTB - learning to jump @ Dirt Factory in Manchester, surprisingly this was quite tiring.
F - Core, stretching & mobility work.
S - MTB @ Antur Stiniog all day.
S - ARC 2x30 with 10 min rest, 30 mins core and mobility to warm up @ Chapel - really good session, felt like I could have gone longer. Came away with that warm glow you get from a good training session where all goals have been met.

Started to introduce 5 mins of meditation to the daily routine. First one was Sunday after warming up at the Chapel, before getting on the walls. It's hard to be definitive about any results but it felt like I was 'in the zone' for the full session and more relaxed than usual. Be interesting to feel the impact of this over the coming weeks on my movement and ability to focus.

STG (Early Dec 2019): Build a base of endurance and good movement habits. Improve shoulder mobility and awareness of tension.

MTG (Spain, Early Feb 2020): Booking a trip to Costa Blanca for early Feb so eyeing up some goals for that trip. There's Kashba (6c+) at Sella I didn't finish last time so that's one. Any suggestions for routes around 6c+/7a at either Bellus or Gandia would be appreciated. Not bothered about the style - steep, slab, endurance, etc.

MTG (UK, March 2020): Redpoint Rubicon 7a & Kiss Me Hardy 7a+, head point San Melas E3 5c. On-sight of Wings of Unreason E4 5c/6a/6b (revised after advice on this thread - cheers!)

LTG (Sept 2020): Redpoint Brachiation Dance or Garderobe, both 7b+

 

I'm going for a lamp session at cratcliff on Wednesday evening if any bouldering types fancy joining me. Will leave Sheffield after kiddy bed time so hopefully get there for about 8pm. 

Sure you'll outperform Moyes on every count, especially if you continue down the analogy line. Cheers for taking over! If you're super desperate for a short-term replacement I can take up the Solksjaer role, but hopefully without gaining 6 extra months. (I could cover for a couple of weeks but have never done  stats before...)

You suspect correctly! As permanent as it gets in the life of an early-career academic, so could well be on the move again in 12 (now 10) months time. Quick liking life up here at present however, but the vagaries of the job market will decide my fate. All the crimpd sessions are indeed part of a Lite plan - thought I'd give it a go. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. More than anything its helping me to rest properly.

Goals

STG: Establish good routines (new (academic) year, new me), evidenced by completing (or at least trying to complete) all planned sessions. Keep on the fit club posts(!).

MTG: Get up a 7A+ by the end of January

LTG: 7B boulder AND 8a route by 8th October 2020

Before I move onto the week diary I'm going big: despite setting my MTG and LTG not all that long ago... I did a 7B boulder yesterday. Eliminate a probably a bit soft, but got to take them all! Actually going to keep my MTG, as 1) I skipped 7A+ and 2) some consolidation will be good.

Last Week (2019.43 L1.3)

M: 1) Climbing: Crimpd Linked Boulders (6Cish), Crimpd 1 on, 1 off (6b); 2) Conditioning: Weighted ups +2.5kg (4 x 5 reps and 1x4 at the end), Crimpd Stabiliser Conditioning; 3) Bike commute 10.7km

T: 1) Yoga; 2) 6 x 90% of max hangs, 10 sec, lattice rung (90.2kg total); Crimpd floor core (the worst); 3) BC 10.2km

W: 1) Climbing: Crimpd Strength Intervals (6B-C); Crimpd ARC (6a ish); 2) BC 10.7km

T: 1) Yoga; 2) BC: 8.1km (drive to Wales)

F: DIY Club - knocking down a wall

S: Bit more DIY. Headed up to the slate once it dried for a short play on Nick the Chisel (7b+) - most of the tricky moves sussed.

S: Big bouldering day. Went back to Bulling 747 (V6) but unable to latch the top hold, spent a long time slapping the top. Got bored and went down to the roadside with the intention of looking at Roadside Basic (V7). Ended up doing Chocolate Moose (f7A) and Chocolate Moose Eliminate (f7A+). The latter being my first 7B - although I suspect it's pretty soft... but can only go with what is in the book!

I'm of the same opinion here too - the lattice edge is great for general finger strength, but really needs supporting work with specific holds. Could be slopers, pinches or more likely for most of us chowing down on small holds

Thanks for asking. Looking at where I'm at right now, it's been clear for some time that 8a by my 60th birthday in just under a year and a half simply isn't realistic.

Where am I at? I did my first 7a five years ago, my first 7b two and half years ago, and have basically stagnated since then. I have done thirteen routes in total in that range. Not exactly an impressive or confidence-inspiring annual tick rate. 

Also, looking at them from the point of view of style I am a one trick pony. One of them had a steep crux - but only the crux, the rest was a slabby path. One was a 50 metre pumpfest. The rest: more or less vertical face climbing, bouldery or at most short power endurance. One on conglomerate, all the rest on limestone.

I did all of them in one to seven goes, so if I were willing to focus on something in that particular limited stylistic range and put more time in I could probably get up something quite a bit harder. I can think of a couple of 7c's that would be feasible if I were willing to put the hours in. But both are on obscure crags where it would be hard to persuade people to go, one is rarely in condition, neither is frankly all that inspiring. So no. 

So what then? 8a is out, 7c not sufficiently inspiring. Whereas there are loads of classics all over the place in the 7a/b range that I'd love to be able to walk up to with a sense of confidence and a realistic chance. So: I want to be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. 

How to make that measurable? How about: next year and the year after, I will climb the following routes at 7a or above:

1. two or more famous benchmark classics. If it's somewhere in Austria that you guys have never heard of I get to decide if it's a "famous benchmark classic", but this basically means something like Dampfhammer (7a) or DNA (7a).
2. one or more on granite or gneiss
3. two or more lengthy pumpfests
4. one or more on tufas
5. one or more seriously steep
6. one or more by Martin Grulich (author of the majority of Frankenjura mid grade classics) or Kurt Albert.
7. one or more onsight

In the whole Frankenjura? My guides are on loan somewhere at the minute, so I can't exactly throw loads of suggestions out there (the only thing which sticks in my head is Chasin' the Trane (Helmut Albrecht Gedenkweg) (7c), which has the history ticked off in spades and is supposed to be good if thin) but I'm surprised! The offer of my beta for Hitchhike the Plane (7c+) is still there should you ever want it.

Which is not, incidentally, to suggest that a well rounded low/mid 7s climber is not an excellent thing to be!

Thanks. The 7c's I was thinking of are ones I've actually been on, rather than all the potential candidates. I'm sure there are much better ones.

Everton Moyes, punching above weight or Man U Moyes, like a rabbit in the headlights?

Loads of climbing: had a few heavy rain days, but more of chasing the shade, t-shirt weather or perfect cloud cover. Think June is meant to be popular, but would be too hot for my limited temperature operating range. At least 3, probably 4 weeks left. Back to work in December, so there is a time limit!

Mo: 4 routes at Teverga before the rain. Spanked on the tufa.

Tu: 3 routes at Teverga, failed rp on 7a project with a big whipper to boot.

We: heavy rain, so rest day.

Th: morning rain, so take another rest day.

Fr: 3 routes at Teverga in the sun. Spanked again on the tufa, but getting closer to the rp.

Sa: shopping, watching the RWC SF on BBC text and washing me smalls in the hot sunshine. Valley walk and chilling out.

Su: back to tufa and same result.

Working some projects, making slow progress and avoiding the rain. Weather has picked up and been a lovely few days following some heavy rain. After Sunday's rp attempt I accept that just not fit/strong enough for off vertical, anti-style and decide to give up on the tufa project. A summer of trad has weakened the core, so sport feels pretty tough, c'est la vie. Just going to enjoy the climbing, sun and sights of Spain.

Next week's plan

RP 7a project, (much more in my style).

Start moving east to Lleidar area.

Is your op coming up? If so, hope all goes well and your back on your feet asap.

Hi Ash, thanks muchly for taking over the stats.

Absolutely not! They're all nuts. I am just unashamedly trying to get strong enough to knock out some cool and unexpected moves to show off at the gym. haha. This year I have mainly been gyming and bouldering so I have gotten a little stronger but I think my finger strength could do with some work. There are not a lot of crimpy climbs at Mile End so I think I need to supplement bouldering with a bit of fingerboarding or seek out some crimpy climbs. I'm not so into the idea of fingerboarding at the moment so it will probably be the latter. 

I also don't think I have been that great at recording my bouldering and haven't been outside very much so it might seem like all I do is gym gym gym.

This week I rested quite a lot - felt very lazy after the 10-mile race and just wanted to hibernate. Had a few strength breakthroughs at the gym. Can now get into a solid headstand quite easily and am able to do 'skin the cats'. I also got a little further on the V6/8 route I was trying at Mile End.

This is also quite a lazy post. Oh and I can now jump further. Wow, what a week.

Mon: gym - back squats

Tues: bouldering

Weds: gym - did one muscle-up using the purple band - IMPROVEMENT! 3 sets of 5 x 10kg pull-ups

Thurs: bouldering

Fri: Found out I can jump a lot further along (rather than up) now. Incredible.

Sat/Sun: rest

This week I promise to write notes to do a more detailed climbing write up. And also continue running training for next year's Great South Run.

Steve Jones - I wish I lived in Keswick! What would you say the split is going to be between concentrating on running and concentrating on climbing? What's the aim for the winter?

Yea - I'm pretty lucky to live here!

I'm hoping for a fairy even split (time wise) over winter - 2 sessions at the wall of about 2.5hrs each, two training sessions with the club (about 1.5hrs each) plus a long-ish run at the weekend 1.5-2hrs. Any weights will be slightly more focused on upper body climbing stuff, with core stuff hopefully helpful to both. Hopefully I'll get a few easy runs in to, but that is dependant on me being able to get out of bed early enough!

I'd love to do some proper winter stuff, but don't have the money or skills. Goals are still to do some bouldering (Bowderstone Crack) and indoor break into the 7's - preferably leading. Also day trips to the Peaks were mooted by my climbing buddy, so that'd be a plus.

M - rest

T - Club session - intervals,  10k, 75 mins

W - Indoor routes, 2hrs 20, nothing spectacular as we were both feeling quite tired

T - club session - intervals, then a jog around town putting the world to rights. The plan was to the go to met some folk and go to the Bowderstone but the weather was so carp I could hardly feel my fingers so assumed the climbing would be cancelled - it was.

F - Weights. aborted session - managed 3 sets 5 @  52.5kg bench press with pullups etc in the recovery. Think I was feeling the effects of both the run, but also the open mic/jam the night before (and the associated beer and cigaretts).

S - run over latrigg -7.2k, 380m, 42 mins - hard work after a day in the office eating a whole pack of digestives by myself. I also did 10 push ups per hour, but forgot to restart after lunch. think i did 5 or 6 set in total.   

Still one more week to go till Turkey - flying out Sat 2nd November.

Mon - AeroPow 'Broken Quarters' workout on the circuits at Depot Sheffield. Blue 6c. Feeling a bit better about these now, though it may just be familiarity with the circuit

Wed - Max Strength at the gym. Core, Wide Pullups, DB Bench Press, Deadlift.

Thu - AeroPow 'Broken Quarters' again.

Sat - AeroPow 'Boulder Intervals' at Substation Macclesfield. 10x Yellow (V1) problems EMOM. Couldn't really get on with the circuit board there - will stick to the ones at the various Depots.

Sun - OMG IT HAS STOPPED RAINING!!!  Ramshaw Rocks. Less than 30mins from my house yet I've never been. The Crank (VS 5a), Seconded Louie Groove (E1 5b) and led The Great Zawn (HVS 5a). Flailed about a bit on Masochism (E1 5b) - the secret to that climb would be revealed the next day...

STG

Winding down a bit before heading to Antalya. Maybe just a couple of unstructured bouldering sessions.

MTG

Start thinking about some trips for 2020, and get back into a training cycle.

Don't let them con you into thinking that those daft things they do on the bar are pull-ups.

Cheers Ash.

Hopefully the last not very structured week for me this week. Half term and work interfering with climbing. 

Last week I did CrossFit again - hard session this time. Lifted some heavy things and ran around carrying less heavy things until I was tired. Good fun. 

Had a decent bike ride too. 60k and 1000m.

climbed 3 times. First routes session in however long. Got up to 6c on Kendal main wall. My finger held me back from wanting to try anything more. I wasn’t very fit! 

I did a quick circuit session at BUK as well after work. 

Summary - Finger is getting better and I feel like I’m gettting less fat. 

The board at BUK is as usual. Brutal, but good. I’m still trying to do the 7a+ so can’t comment on anything else but from what I’ve seen the 7b+ looks fun. 

Thanks Tyler for doing the stats.

Well its called "club pilot" basically the minimum required to fly at club sites without an instructor, and quite a few sites abroad require this just for basic insurance. Various other tasks have to be ticked off before you get the full "Pilot" qualification which allows cross county flights in the UK.

The plan is to get her back indoors and to take a few lobs, try and get her to forget the experience.

Week 21st -  27th

M: Rest

T: Bouldering mileage

W: rest

T: Bouldering mileage

F:  Rest

S: Rest

S: Went to Portland to try Zinc Oxide Mountain (7b+), friend had been on it previously and dispatched it first go after putting the draws in. I worked all the moves and made it to the top move, but just wasn't able to do the last move, and couldn't decide which hand to go with as I made both work, but both felt terrible. Ive tried the route previously last year, and wasnt enamored, thought it a bit sharp and traversy, but this time I get the hype, really brilliant moves. Will hopefully get back down to finish it off before the end of the year.

Next weeks goals:

Back to training in a constructive manner

Ive got a wedding on the sat, and aiming to head to the dry tooling fest for the sunday staying until Monday. I have to really try to abstain from the booze on the saturday!

HAha! The kipping ones? Not sure I know the point of those. I have never been to a crossfit class but I have heard they like to do things the 'quick' way. 

The rain stopped and I've been out bouldering 3 times this week:

s: almscliffe bouldering session - worked all the moves on underhand 7B+ which is the first of the grade i've got on. No good links yet but moves sussed out.

m: night session at Caley roadside - Repeated New Jerusalem 7A first go then worked on Crystal method 7B+ (nails), and ju ju club 7B+ (sorted the moves and some decent links)

t: gym session - 5 sets of muscle ups, front lever progressions (8s hold fully locked out arms in straddle position), 3 sets of 20s duration 1 armer negatives, 3 sets of barbel rows, various wrist curls and forearm work for c. 10 sets

w: caley again - ju ju club 7B+ is now ready to go, but I ran out of skin to crank off the juggy rail and had to abandon it. Went up to the crag and sent Slapstick arete sit start as my first '7B' but I think 7A+ is fair.

t: gym session - bench press for the 1st time in years just to see, worked up to 110kg x 3, handstand work and handstand pushups, 3 sets of back levers, box jumps, L sit holds

f: max hangs - usually do these every other day but have had a week off. up 2.5kg since last session

s: indoor bouldering session at the depot - felt stronger than I ever have on the board and managed to do a few problems statically that i've only ever done cutting loose

I've been waiting to feel overtrained and then take a day or 2 off but have had strong session after strong session so going with it. I'm feeling confident about my winter goal to send f7C.

Is anyone on point to cover tomorrow?

Ended up at the surgical assessment team early in the week for hernia pain. Deemed not urgent enough for emergency surgery so just waiting for an op date. Exercise is minimal now. Did a couple of 1 km swims. Going to take a leave of absence from here for a while now until recovery training starts.