UKC

First, an apology for any errors - I've been writing this Friday evening and am rushing before I leave for Pembroke. Mea Calpa on the ones that will inevitably turn up.

UKC Fit Club is not a substitute for the training diary but to use with ( or without ) it as a motivational tool for all.

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles here: 
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502
and here
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16421.msg287007/topicseen.htm...

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week’s activity, noting goals, successes and failures and to swap ideas.

Anyone interested in starting is very welcome but 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 to help achieve your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Link to last weeks (bicentenary) thread
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=442223

Repeat posters - 37
AJM
Daniel Heath - thats a very busy week. Do you find the variety means you don't need to do rest days?
Miles - 7c indoors but only 7a at Cheddar - I reckon I'm nearer the other way round.
jamesgreenfield - sounds like a pretty busy week. Good volume and at a good level
mattrm - sounds like the prep for Scotland is going well
Charlie_Zero - better technique can't harm
Murd - good work on getting on the 7a - good for the head, good for the arms
Sankey - any more luck with the mileage this week?
andy farnell - I'm tempted to emulate biscuit and wish you a happy 30th Good couple of bouldering sessions there.
Eagle River - good work on the 7a+, keep plugging away with the 7b
seankenny - get well soon!
Liam M - meeting other people who are both inspiring and insane is always good fun isn't it...
biscuit - good progress on the 7a+
leon - good work on the V5. I'd agree that more climbing is better than more core if you've got the facilities for it
petestack - did you get some hill days this weekend?
Steve John B - bad luck on the achilles
JimmyKay - did you decide how to focus the training? If it were me I'd be doing routes intervals, intense circuits, things like that, basically get as pumped as possible for as long as possible for the next few weeks...
Thickhead - dreaming of climbing - good sign in my book
grubes - maybe bad at recording, but still, you can definitely remember 3 sessions, which isn't so bad
Stone Donkey - everyone needs a quiet week every once in a while
IainRUK - another steady week
Mark Torrance - you going to be doing more club stuff then? Good crowd?
Kevster - I know that feeling of being jaded with the local wall
jkarran - glad to hear youre back on the road to psyche
plexiglass_nick - good volume there.
viking - good week, good few sessions done
catt - any better sleep patterns this week? They can really mess with your training - well done for plugging through them.
Eric the Red - good on you for pushing through
chris05 - calf any better?
andy - 5 day conference - as "exciting" as it sounds?
Goonie - good to hear youre getting on well with it. I had a look at some links but couldn't find out much except the idea of fitness being masked by fatigue - will have to look harder this week
Curious Yellow - have you stepped up a gear yet?
ayuplass - sometimes rest is what you need - it can be tough juggling everything at once
fimm - shame about the hamstring spoiling climbing
Steve Perry (Pezz) - hope you managed to get out on the real stuff this weekend - I feel your frustration
richardh - bad luck on the manflu. Hope you've recovered this past week
Rob Naylor - hope you managed to get out climbing in the end

Absentees - 2
fried
endless winter



Welcome: 2
phja - good to have you with us
Tony B - welcome back. Hope you get things back on track soon

In reply to AJM:

Still waiting...

M: Rest
T: 4.5mile trail run 120m ascent
W: 4.5mile trail run 120m ascent
T: 16mile fell run Carneddau (Bwlch-Yr Elen and back) 1400m ascent
F: Nothing
S: AM 20mile road run (2h30m) 600m ascent PM 3mile trail run 200m ascent
S: 6mile fell run Sychnant Pass 400m ascent

In reply to AJM:

thanks AJM,

week of skiing with family in France, first 3/4 days very lethargic, and with entire family of 4 in studio flat - not the best. Remainder of week picked up and feel ok to embark on training next week.

restart the year's plans on monday three weeks in I think. Will try to have a productive week this week, and then keep it going. I'm going to start with a general get back up to speed week with some stretching, and then embark on a strength phase.

In reply to AJM:

thanks AJM...

been an ok week for me...not as much done as would like...have picked up a small injury in ring finger, a bit swollen and tender but should be good by Monday.

STG: get more leader confidence. get back outside.

MTG: get strong before Font in April.

LTG: get back into trad...lead E1 solid. start sport climbing.

M: rest
T: indoor bouldering (strength training), finger board workout
W: 5 mile run (40min)
T: Indoor climbing (routes and bouldering)
F: rest
s: rest
S: 5 mile run, stretching and sit-ups/press-ups.

got a busy week coming up..hope to get 2 or 3 sessions in...and get oudoors at the wknd.

In reply to AJM:
Cheers again Andy,
Good week on the whole. Moved a fair few holds around in the loft earlier in the week so it felt a little fresher up there, still working out new stuff probably at the cost of a fingerboard session.
Had a good afternoon at the wall, felt much stronger, put this down to having better sleep, had been suffering from about 2 weeks of poor rest and insomnia, think it had took it’s toll on last week. On sighted 6b+ …was on tr as there no qd’s or the route, ticked another 6b+ & a 6b that I had left alone for a while after a few failures. Had another go at the 7a on comp wall, still getting shut down on it but will give it more work, certainly good fall practice.
On another note I have decided to buy myself a small van to make it easier to get out more. Far more econmical than my car and just about big enough so I can kip in the back. Hope this will give more chance to get on the real stuff, not even tried bouldering outdoors yet so should sort myself a mat and head out….will be needing recommendations for good venues as I have no idea!

M: Home Bouldering, 1hr 30
T: Rest
W: Rest
T: Wall session 3hr 20
F: Home Bouldering, 1hr 10
S: Home Bouldering, 2hr
S: Fingerboard 1hr

STG: Regular on sites of F6b’s and F6c’s
MTG: F7a indoor…get out side more
LTG: E # ‘s

In reply to AJM: The problem is I can only get out on rock perhaps once a month whereas I climb indoors about 4 times a week so it's much easier to work a route that way. I also haven't climbed loads on rock so my route-reading skills are a bit poor.

Monday: I actually can't remember what I did, I think I may have done some bouldering but really not sure.
Tuesday: Bit hungover - rest
Wednesday: Routes. Wasn't going well, failed a 6c+ and then a 6c so I decided to a bit of bouldering.
Thursday: As Tuesday.
Friday: Some more routes, cleaned the 6c (NOT an achievement, I couldn't believe I fell off it on Wednesday) then did some more bouldering.
Saturday: Bouldering. Felt VERY powerful for some reason, so much so that I ended up leaving early because I was scared I'd push my luck a bit too far and land badly on a small hold and injure myself or something.
Sunday: Rest probably.

Bouldering summary: For the last 9 months I'd been pretty bored of bouldering at the local wall because they stopped setting the type of problems I liked (powerful, body-tension type moves onto fairly small holds) but they seemed to have gone back to the old style this week. Anyway, I've been enjoying bouldering alot atm, I'm thinking I'll spend most of next week bouldering (competition next Sat which is convenient) and then focus on routes after that.

In reply to AJM:

What is this UKC Fitclub?

In reply to AJM:

Cheers. I might give this a go since I had a good week (for me!) last week and I really want to keep that up!

Mon - Swim 45 mins
Tues - Indoor bouldering 45 mins, swim 20 mins
Wed - Swim 45 mins
Thurs - Swim 45 mins
Fri - I did go swimming but was only in 5 mins before a kid puked up and they had to close it!
Sat - Swim 45 mins
Sun - 2 mile road run (first time I've ever been running), swim 45 mins

In reply to AJM:

Managed to run further in one session, but not got the mileage up.

Does anyone know a good 10 km time to aim for as a milepost to a sub 2 hours half marathon?

M: Bouldering at Foundry - one new problem, and progress on others
T:
W: Ran 4.5 miles
T: Bouldering at Works
F:
S:
S: Ran 10 km (55 mins)

STG: Regular Wall sessions + Increase weekly running mileage
MTG: Enter fell race / 10 k + do some winter climbing
LTG: Half marathon < 2 hours in May + would like a PB sport climb (os 6b+ / RP 6c)

In reply to AJM:
Mon - Karate session & some extra stretching
Tue - Dead hangs 3 sets small & medium rockring, a paving stone pinches
Wed - As tue
Thu - Wall, a few warm ups then worked on a 6b. 2 falls. Need to power up it quicker - it's only a short route - too much f*nnying around on the clips. Folowed up with some bouldering - all the problems have been reset but none have been graded
Fri - Beers
Sat - more beer
Sun - about to go outside and try 1 minute of deadhangs - 7 secs on 3 secs off (saw it here somewhere as power endurance training method)

In reply to AJM: It really is. I seem to be coming across loads of inspirational characters lately. Either that or just looking for and finding inspiration in a huge range of folks. Anyway, to this week

Mon: Nothing (was intending to do turbo trainer session, but discovered puncture and lack of spare inner tubes).
Tue: 14k run, including 9k or so at a hard constant effort through middle.
Wed: 5k easy run at lunch, intervals pyramid in evening (2x90s, 2x135s, 2x 180s, 135s, 90s, 2x 10s sprints)
Thu: 45mins steady swim
Fri: 36k cycle to Upton and back. Absolutely frozen by end.
Sat: 24k run along bank of Severn. The mud was so thick and heavy it drew all energy from me, and turned my shoes into thick clumpy slicks at points!
Sun: 38k cycle, including a couple of mini climbs to see how my legs coped. They pretty much didn't - I'm lacking a lot of leg power at the moment, but hopefully it will come back fairly quickly if I keep the mileage up. May go for short run when tea has settled.

Decent week, good mileage and balance of decent sessions. Yesterday's run especially was very hard work, though will probably act as good strength endurance session when I run on something more solid.

Swimming technique seems to have wained a little though, and Worcester pool is just annoying for erratic crowds and trying to achieve a consistent session. As such I may go and speak to the folks at Worcester Tri Club, in the hope I can get some decent swim coaching and sessions. I'm toying with the idea of entering a half iron man distance tri later in the year, but it will largely depend upon if I can find an environment to sort my swimming out.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM

STG (april 2011): 7b at malham
MTG: (december 2011): 7b+ outdoors

Mon: Routes session, got back on the 7b and got two moves higher than last time, just two from the top now.
Tues: beastmaker, didn't want to push it as it was the first time back on it since tweaking a finger pulley.
Thurs: Indoor bouldering. Went for volume and did lots of the v5/v6 circuit and got some V6s on the comp wall first go which was good.
Sun: Malham. Got on a 7b for the first time but was limited in choice by the seepage so got on personal services. Felt really hard and I did the usual trick of using one sequence then trying to find a better sequence without luck and reverting back to the original sequence once I was too tired to have a decent attempt! Think I've got all the moves how I want them so I can have a proper go at it next time i'm there.

This week I'll put some good advice I got today into action and actually train stamina properly by lapping routes indoors instead of just climbing ones I find hard.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers AJM.

Quieter week this week. In retrospect I feel I overdid the bouldering last week, as my arms were still stiff and tiring easily during a routes session on Tues.

On Thurs I did a long stamina routes session and was very pleased with the number and quality of the climbs I got done.

Today a routes session to keep things ticking over.

Next week - one decent bouldering session, one decent stamina session and a routes session.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy, pembroke sounds like a score, just a touch jealous. I might try for real rock next weekend. Maybe some sport climbing though.

Still a little jaded by my local so went to another wall for a couple of boudering sessions. I'll have to go somewhere with decent grading to see where I'm at.

Have a bouldering comp (just fun type one) on this friday, so maybe I'll have a chance to compare skills with others.

Ta, Kev

mon
tues Indoor - rope stuff, got on the hardish greens, it will go, just have to remember the sequence. Nice to get on something in the 7's again. G is a good motivator. Just as well as the falling practice wasn't sitting too comfy, falling is OK untill I think about it.
wed
thur Indoor - bouldering, climbed poorly
fri
sat
sun Indoor - bouldering, climbed poorly again.

In reply to AJM:
Thanks Andy, I hope you enjoy Pembroke. Also thanks to Kev for re-describing my laziness as planned rest! Actually I do feel quite motivated. It’s been a little over a year since I started Fitclub. When I started I’d done two 7a routes. I’ve now done 20 routes between 7a and 7b+ on a variety of rock types and angles.

My long term aim is to climb 8a and I think it might be a tangible objective for 2012. My 8a game plan is: between now and June, I’m going to target a weakness in bouldering and short (20-30 move) routes. I have a trip to Font planned in April and was thinking of a sport climbing trip in early June (possibly to Frakenjura?). Then in the late summer/autumn I’m going to shift the focus to endurance for longer routes with the aim of a redpointing longer routes in the autumn. Next year I'll stop targeting the weaknesses and switch to focusing on goal orientated improvements for a specific 8a.

Goals for 2011 (Can’t wait for the snow to melt but it probably won’t happen until March)
Tick ten 7A and 7A+ boulder problems (with at least one in Font) in different styles: including
Kru Klux Klan - 7A slab – Pihlajamäki
Hanoi Rocks - 7A+ compression – Hakunila
Pot Smoker – 7A overhang crimps – Myllis
Hammas – 7A+ roof – Grottan

Improve redpoint grade to 7c for short powerful routes
Babyface – 7b Muurla
Molotov Coctail – 7b+ Backnas
Purple Haze – 7c – Backnas
Tornado – 7b+ - Nummi
Baby gym – 7c - Reventeenvuori

The other goal is to try a couple of 8a routes to pick a suitable project for next year.

At the moment I’ve been trying to get some mileage at bouldering and will do the same next week to transit between rest and training. I also plan to make some kind of assessment for next week on hold type and moves require specific work.

Last week
Bouldering Mileage Tue, Thur and Sat (went pretty well)
Today rope climbing: not hugely productive as was quite achy from the bouldering. But did try a route which I’d be really keen to work. I dogged it pretty badly but I think it might be feasible as a mid term project. Originally it was graded 8a but this was changed to 7b-7c, so I have no idea how hard it really is. It’s certainly more than 30 moves but I don’t intend to focus solely on short routes.

In reply to AJM: Thanks Andy.

Not much to report unfortunately, pulled a calf muscle (no idea how) in the week so no running for a few more days. Achilles seems ok though!

M-S "rest"

In reply to AJM:

Mon: Not feeling great.
Tues: Nothing.
Wed: Bouldering at Westway, flashed a V3 and did a V4 third go.
Thurs: Nothing.
Fri: Out with the better half.
Sat: Bouldering at the Westway, climbed up to V4, nearly got a V5. Good session.
Sun: Nothing.

Even tho I didn't do much, it was a good week coming back from flu the week before, and I had a couple of good sessions bouldering.

Aims for this week: another bouldering session, a routes/mileage session and hopefully get out next weekend if the weather is okay.

In reply to AJM:
STG: 60 problems in a session(failed). 4 leader falls (failed).
MTG: 65 problems within 2 hours. 12 leader falls.
LTG(2011): Classic top end e3 (Foil?, Sunlover?, Pleasure Dome?, Test Case?, Kafoozalem?, Dream Liberator?)
VLTG(2012?): Classic e5 (Positron?, Right Wall?)

Falls this week:0 (0 this year)
Weight: 9'11", 10.3% fat.
Focus: Local endurance. Week 5/6.

Mon: Lazy.
Tue: 95 mins home bouldering (50 problems v0-v3). Wrist curls.
Wed: Rest.
Thu: Lazy.
Fri: 120 mins routes (24 routes 5-6c).
Sat: Lazy.
Sun: 140 mins routes (20 routes 5-6c).

Still not taking any falls. Put it down to a major lack of motivation at the moment.

Similar story to last week, felt tired all week, as a result every core & antagonistic session was blown out.

Doing 50 problems on Tuesday was really really tedious.

Built a campus board on Saturday. Strange thing to do when you've had tennis elbow for 10 months I know...

Hardly felt elbow during training this week but pressing down on the tendon area generated mild pain. Physio booked for Tuesday.

Probably could have hit the 60 problem STG on Sunday if I wasn't hungover, instead had a poor session down the wall.

STG next week: a plan for curing the tennis elbow.

Mon - nothing
Tue - 5m easy
Wed - 8m trail run around Gwydyr
Thu - nothing
Fri - 4m easy on the road
Sat - nothing
Sun - 12m up and along Creigiau Gleision and back around Cowlyd
Weekly Mileage = 29

In reply to AJM:

At the moment it's almost an automatic reaction to run and do press ups if I'm not climbing. I think running is always beneficial after strength work, but sometimes my shoulders are too tired to do press ups, like this morning.

M - Weghted pull ups 20lb
20min run med intensity
T - Light run
44 close press ups/2min
W - Bouldering Nottingham
T - 19min run med intensity
Leading Derby 7a and 7a+
F - Close press ups
Weighted pull ups 25lb
S - Millstone VS - too wet
Bouldering The Works
S - 18min run med intensity
Leading Nottingham 6c and 7a. Well chuffed with a "Nottingham 7a" :P

Flipping mental week. I didn't intend to have 5 days on but it just kind of happened.

I guess It's an experiment to see if overloading training over 5 days pays off with the following rest. - and I DO need to rest now, especially for my elbow tendons.

Thanks AJM,
Dan

In reply to AJM: Cheers. Actually it was 5 one day conferences on the bounce - even more "exciting"...

Good week, with mileage reaching respectable levels and no injury.

M: 10m with 6m at 6:40 pace - good session.
T: 4m recovery - slow. Also inadvertently entered the 3 Peaks race, which is 2 weeks after London. So London marathon is now officially a "training run"!
W: 8m steady run at lunchtime - lovely weather, and didn't expect to get out so one of those runs where you think you've stolen an extra day of your life!
T: 4m recovery
F Too nice not to go out so 5m at about 7:40 pace
S: snoozing
S: 2m warm up then Brass Monkey half. Kept it fairly steady as an average HR of 150 shows. Aimed for 6:30 pace throughout and apart from the last 3 when the breeze slowed me a bit I managed it without ever feeling stretched. 1:25:03, so happy with that at this stage.

In reply to Eagle River:

Nice to meet you today. You'll get the 7b as soon as you've got a sequence. Your sequence for my route was a strong one so you've got the strength and i thought your footwork was accurate and smooth. You looked good and kept form well until you came off.

Fitness comes quick so a bit of work on that and it'll come together.

I tried one more time after you'd gone. Came off at the same point ( using your sequence i hasten to add ) got the rope wrapped round the back of my leg, inverted and went arse first into the wall. Owch !

Got the beta sorted off Simon for next time though :0)

In reply to AJM:

OK, first timer here. I have big goals this year, and have already been finding a busy life getting in the way. So here goes:

Goals:
Lose 3 stone, based on 15 stone 2 after Christmas 2010.
Sport climbing: redpoint 7a. Currently able to onsight 6a at my local wall (The castle), not able to get to rock easily until June, so a castle 7a is my benchmark.
Trad - just do more. Again, this will be modified in June.

Right now experimenting with 4-3-2-1 peridosiation based on Hörst, with exercises from Hague and Hunter. In a Technique and Stamina phase this week.

This week:
M 14 routes between 4 and 6a at the Castle on top-rope. All onsight. Some climbed down.
T 1.75 mile run in about 18min. Felt easy.
W 9 Routes at the Westway. 4 on top rope, 5 lead. All clean onsights except one 6b lead redpoint
T
F 13 short routes at the castle. 5 TR, 8 lead. All leads clean onsights. 5-6a+
S Supervising Noob. A couple of V0s.
S Nowt.

Plan for next week:
(Technique and stamina week)
M 2 mile run. Supervising more Noobs at wall.
T Nowt. Away with work
W Routes at the castle.
T Routes at the castle
F 2.25 mile run.
S easy 30 minute run
S Unplanned climbing trip. Bouldering at craggy 2?

In reply to AJM:

<STG> - pre Chateauvert

Get a roped session and a bouldering session in per week, plus beastmaker and hopefully outdoor at weekends

Laps on 4x 6b+ with the only rest being lowering and retying <currently completed 2.5x>

6c+ redpoint on the pocket route at the Warehouse <Currently done in 2>

3 7s or some good onsights during Chateauvert

<MTG> - before Easter

• 10 routes at E2/7a or above
  
• Include at least 2 routes from local hitlist of harder routes
  
• Focus on onsight days on pumpy trad and onsight/fast redpoint days on sport, try to build up volume
  
• Intervals on 6c+/7a indoors
  
• V5 indoors, V4 outdoors
  
• Bike odometer to 1500km - currently at 361

<LTG>

• Well rounded E3 leader, tackling routes in committing locations
  
• E4 onsight
  
• 7c redpoints at Cheddar and Portland
  
• 7a/+ onsights at hard continental crags

<BHAG>

• Big mountain routes like Tempi Moderne, Comici etc
  
• E5 onsights
  
• 8a/+ redpoint
  
• 7b/+ onsights at hard continental crags
  
• Some big silly bike ride like Pyrenees coast to coast or Tour du Mont Blanc or something

M: Resting, achey and sore
T: Went to Basingstoke for work. Reading Climbing Centre on the way home, good wall albeit the grades inconsistent still. 2x5+, 1x6a, 2x6a+ (one of which was probably the biggest fight of the day), 1x6b, 1x6b+. Also tried 1x6b (fell from the last move, massively tough sandbag) and 2x6c (fell from the crux on one, and grabbed the chains because I couldn't clip them on the other). Ran out of power at the end and failed very high on 2 more 6bs. No big successes, but I've got a lot further than I've done before on 6cs, and covered a lot of the ground on the failures, so I reckon the intensity is still going up.
W: Rest
T: Warehouse, Gloucester. 2x6a, 2x6a+, 1x6b+. Also did laps on the 6b+ (managed 2.5x on the 6b+ with only reties, might have got more if I hadn't stupidly stood on the rope on the third lap). Fell from the last move of a super-slopey 6b too. Also did the 6c+ in two, got a few clips I reckon I can do better, and the top wall felt a lot steadier this time. Should go, then I reckon my next challenge is to get to being able to lap it
F: Rest
S: Pembroke. Started very cold. Did a few easy routes to warm up. Seconded an E1. Tried to lead an E2, failed because of a wet hold and rubbish gear - if only 1 had happened I might have fared better. Hey ho - you got to be in the game to stand a chance of winning it, and it wasn't really a route that played to my strengths
S: Pembroke. Range East had started seeping sadly, so we went for a walk. Came home and did a Beastmaker session - tried hard, but I reckon today is a heavy gravity day, felt like I was making no progress with back and front 2, and couldn't get near last week's highs on middle 2. Never mind - maybe after a bit of a rest.....

Maybe out this weekend again, hopefully. Be good to get some progress towards the E2/Fr7 goal.

AJM

In reply to AJM:

STG: V6 outdoors (End of March 2011)
MTG: V7 indoors or outdoors (end of May 2011)
LTG: V8 outdoors (2011)

Mon: rest
Tue: rest
Wed: Bouldered at Castle up to V4
Thu: rest
Fri: Bouldered at Castle up to V4 (including 3 new V4's)
Sat: rest
Sun: Bouldered at Arch including 2 x V5's, and 5 x V4's

Thanks AJM. The V5's that I could do at the Castle have been removed this week, so I need to find some more that are doable! I had another good session at the Arch and almost did another couple of V5's there, so I'm definately almost as strong as I was before xmas. I'm going to change my days down the wall this week to try to squeeze in 4 sessions - Mon, Thurs, Fri and Sunday. Fingers crossed!

In reply to AJM: Cheers, have a good break.

M: 3 miles. 2 hrs at wall.
t: 8 miles, hill reps.
w: 5.5 mile road run, 2 hrs at wall
tunch: track, 3 x 1 mile reps. pm: 7 mile trail run
f: rest, 2 hrs at wall. first none running day for over a month,
s: am: 3 miles. pm: XC race.. poor run, feeling ill, chesty cough. 23rd.
s: 12 mile fell run, 1250m ascent, Carneddau PBR leg from Ogwen as a loop. pm: 1.5 hrs at wall, 8 routes 5b > 6a+

In reply to AJM:


Really nice crowd. Very welcoming and, crucially, this particular subsection of them wasn't too fast. I'm less convinced to the value of quick intervals as marathon preparation (at my modest standard and experience) though. Tempo runs are possibly more valuable.

M: am 3.5 run road flat
T: am 4.3 run road flat, pm 3.5 run road mild hill
W:
T: 6 miles road run, mild hills
F:
S: road run, mild hills - 3 miles with child then 6 miles pace
S: road run, mild hills - 3 miles with child then 9 miles just below tempo

In reply to AJM:

AJM, hope you have a nice time in Pembroke.

STG - 25:45 5k, Consolidate HS (9/10 - 2nds | 6/10 leads), 12st 3lbs weight TICK, Onsight 5+ (with out any dogging)
MTG - 25:30 5k, Consolidate VS (4/10 - 2nds | 3/10 leads), 12st weight, Climb 6a
LTG - 25:15 5k, Lead HVS, 11st 10lbs, Climb 6b
VLTG - Lead E1, Climb 6c, maintain weight
Aspirational - Climb E5/6, Scottish Winter VI, WI5, Redpoint 8a, stay injury free & maintain 11st 7lbs

Weight - 12st 3lbs

M - Shoulder rehab only
T - 5k run, co, ca & sh rehab
W - co, ca & sh rehab
T - co, ca & sh rehab
F - Rest
S - 13.2k, 1039m ascent with 16kg pack
S - 7k walk and 8k run

Diet went well this week, dropped a few pounds. Introduced some push-ups into the core routine and my shoulder felt ok. Only light work, but I feel I should do something for my upper body ahead of Scotland. The walk on Saturday was pretty long and probably similar to what I'll be doing most days in a couple of weeks. The pack contained my full summer rack and ropes, along with all winter gear, so was heavier than what I'll have in Scotland. I wasn't totally dead by the end of it, which was good. Feeling a bit battered today, so might go for a rest day tomorrow. Didn't run as much as I wanted to as my ankle was iffy at the start of the week. Rested it and it's fine now tho. I think things are going ok so far. Fingers crossed.

In reply to Sankey:

Hi Sankey
I'm not an expert at this distance, but it doesn't sound like you'll have any trouble with a <2hour half if you just ran 10k in 55min. Because you can improve a lot in 4 months.

How long have you been training so far?
I'd almost say you're making it easy for yourself, why not go for 1:45 or 1:50? no offence by the way, you know your abilities better than a stranger like me

In reply to AJM:

So I decided that the ideal training for El Chorro would be..... Gritstone bouldering.

Well it wasn't really training, the weather was gorgeous and I needed to vitamin D. Went out on wednesday and trashed all four finger tips on my left hand. Despite them still bleeding a little I climbed on grit again on friday, But just completely taped up.

Most of the problems I did however, were pumpy-ish traverses come to think of it.. So maybe it can count as a little stamina training?

I'm feeling very strong at the moment, don't really know why as I have touched a finger board in months. Despite this I managed 34 pull-ups in a minute yesterday; 5 one-armers in a row on my left arm today and a 1-4-7 on the new campus board at redpoint... It seems climbing is the best training for.... training...?

Ticked off 2 more grit v8's. Zippy's Traverse(took a bit of time to work out) and Mark's Roof(2nd redpoint after playing on the mantle a little). I was quite happy to do that so quickly. Would love to try some v9's and 10's on the grit but I need my skin to heal before heading back to chorro, 2 weeks today.

M-Work. Set and Test routes. Played on the new 8a+/b that we set. Which was very hard indeed! Some hard cruxes! Very good though. Very psyched about working that.
T-Rest
W-Stanage - Zippy's Traverse, Extended Green Traverse and a couple of other problems. Trashed my fingers on H** Top - should have done this.
T- Rest my poor fingers.
F- Curbar and Gardom's. Early Doors and Mark's Roof and a couple of other bits and bobs.
S-Work... 34pull-ups in a minute. Has anyone else counted the number of pull-ups in a minute they have done? Bit of lock training on Alek's bar.
S-Work. 5 one armers on left arm. 3 on right. Did a couple more throughout the night. 1-4-7 on left and right arm. About a minute locked on the small crimps on beast maker.

Haven't trained this much in ages! Psyched for climbing. Loved the grit in the week. To be fair it was more to do with just being outside.

In reply to JimmyKay:

Oh dear, I've just re-read that comment and it is littered with errors. I apologise for this!

In reply to JimmyKay:

Spelling, Grammer, Punctuation. I graduated in June and have completely lost the ability to construct a sentence. It may also have something to do with the fact that I worked 12hours today and trained a little afterwards. Bath time....

In reply to AJM:
Cheers AJM

STG (end of march): get out on rock.Tick
Amtrax - el chorro
RP 6b+ - el chorro
onsight a HVS and maybe a E1
Set up a beastmaker at home - moving due to lack of funds
MTG end of june:
RP 6c?
Onsight E2
Flash Browns eliminate
1 font 6A+/6B
Set up a beastmaker at home
LTG end of 2011:
Get solid at E1/2 onsight
no major injuries
boulder v6
RP 7a

Last weeks targets:
Record exercises better - No
Get out on rock!!! - YES!!!!
1 swimming session - No
some weights. - Yes included in shoulder exercises
shoulder work every day - no
3+ climbing sessions (indoor or out)- No

M: Nothing working on the house
T: Shoulder exercise
W: Nothing working on the house
T: Shoulder exercises
F: Core and shoulder exercises
S: Core. Also shoulder exercises and some walking
S: Burbage North. Soloed a S o/s and 2 HVD (repeats). Worked banana fingers again I did not complete. Worked Remergence and hanging did not complete either. Went to cleos edge but it started to rain so will have to go back and do it another time.

Too much house work not enough climbing!! Good sunday though was really nice conditions at burbage till it rained.

In reply to biscuit:

Hi Andy,

I was there for the inverted fall! I think it really impressed the group of teenage girls watching from the beck. You'll get that route first time when fresh, the top move usually feels fine early in the day but harder and harder as you get tired.

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM. It's been a quiet week sport/training-wise for me, mostly I've been busy, lazy and moving house... not necessarily in that order. It has on the other hand been a good week with what feels like a little step forward, my first 7c albeit indoors. It was beginning to bug me, from day one I could do all the moves and two overlapping links but it eventually took ~10 sessions to finally clip the chains. No running this week, no good excuse.

This coming week is looking likely to be another lazy-ish one with a long weekend in NI coming up but I'm now really looking forward to spring and getting back out to Kilnsey and Malham once the evenings draw out. Hopefully I can catch up with some fellow fit-clubbers this year for beta

M: Indoor, Oaklands. Bouldering and routes, a few good redpoint attempts but no success.
T:
W: Indoor, Oaklands. YYFY! Bit of a warmup then success first go on the project.
T:
F:
S:
S:

Goals for the year, much as before:
Keep motivated
Something in the 7c/8a range
<40min 10k

jk

In reply to biscuit:

Generally you looked really solid on it but a couple of times going for holds on hard moves you seemed to suddenly lose concentration or confidence for some reason.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy. Nice one on the roped laps. When I was doing them they felt very relevant for redpointing endurance routes - sounds like you are making good progress on them?

My second big volume week this week. Definitely feel this is an area I have neglected in the past. Managed to ramp up the amount I was doing quite a bit, but to work out where I am going with it I did some back of the envelope calculations. Let's take a standard redpointing day on, for the sake of the example, a 7c, aiming to do it in a day. Six goes would be a pretty reasonable amount of climbing to expect a decent stab at getting it ticked - one go to get the clips in, two goes working the moves and three redpoints. Let's say the busines end of the route is 40 moves long. That works out as 240 moves in a day, which roughly equates to doing 40 of your average 6 move boulder problem. Potentially on a 7c those moves could be up to V4 or V5. Immediately it becomes clear why I was getting shut down on eg. Infernal Din after two goes and why progress on projects has slowed to a crawl - I just haven't been doing remotely enough hard climbing in a day during training to have the stamina to manage more than a couple of decent goes in a day. I really should listen more to the SCC as it goes on and on about this stuff.

Basically to be in the right fitness ballpark for routing season and to make the most of my days at the crag, I think I need to be aiming at having the stamina to manage 2 laps of a CIR (ie. a circuit of 15 problems at V4 to V5, then going back round and repeating it) plus do enough easier problems (eg. Black circuit/V0-3) to take it up to 50 problems in total. That's a lot of climbing.

STG
January training goal: indoor boulder 4x V6 and 1xV7. 4x CIR, 2x Density. 4x quality fingerboard. 6x volume bouldering - hit 60/session.
February training goal:6x V6, 2xV7.
Volume goal by Feb 28 - 2 laps of 15x V4/5 + 20x V0-3 in a session.
Weight back to 63.5kg by Apr 30
Hall of Mirrors and Road Rage by Apr 30. 7b and 7b+ - Easter trip to Yorkshire
Indoor projects: Arch: black 7b+, red v7 done, Castle: blue (v7?) and orange (v6?) on wave.

MTG
Onsight 7a+
Onsight/Flash pyramid for 7b (1x6c+, 1x7b) ticked: (7x6c+, 5x7a, 2x7a+)
7c+ Pyramid (1x7b, 2x7b+, 1x7c, 1x7c+) ticked: (7x7b, 2x7b+, 1x7c)
40 pitches led at 6c to 7a+ in 2011 (current total: 1)
F8a redpoint in 2011

LTG
Onsight 7b+
Supercool, Infinite Gravity

M: Arch - Project & volume session. Ticked the red V7 from last week. Pleased - though I don't do enough at this level to assess grades properly, this one definitely felt a good notch harder than the soft one a few weeks ago and a bit harder than the stuff I usually do. Did a CIR at V4/5 and a further 15 probs at V2-4. 50 Problems Total (29xV0-3, 16xV4, 3xV5, 1xV6, 1xV7). Total shutdown.
T: Westway - easy routes session. 10 pitches up to 6b+. Lots of falling, focus on clipping positions. Bicep curls, pull ups, and a basic repeater set.
W: Castle - feeling like death warmed up - managed a light volume session, aiming for active rest. 31 Problems total (9xV0-, 21xV-3, 1xV4)
T: Castle - surprisingly feeling much better. Monster volume session - aiming to do all the 'green tag' routes in the centre (V0 to V3) plus as much of the black circuit as possible (also V0 to V3). 75 problems total (7xV0-, 65xV0-3, 3xV4) Offset pull ups & bicep curls.
F:
S:
S:

Goals for this week:
2x CIR (at V4 at Castle, V4/5 at Arch). Aim for 200 problems total volume. Tick a V6 or V7. Easy leading session - falling + clipping. Bicep curls + pull ups x2.

In reply to shark & Eagle River:

Ah didn't realise you were still there Steve. It better bloody had go 1st time.Cheers.

Simon: always been a problem of mine. I used to think it was fear of falling but now i am much better at that. It seems to be indecision creeping in and i doubt my sequence, hang around for ages, fail to commit and then go at it half hearted. I scuppered myself on a RP at the wall the other week when i changed my plan to use a foothold i had previously tried and had decided was wrong. Not surprisingly i failed.

Lots learnt though + thanks for the beta/encouragement. I will be better when i come back.

In reply to AJM:

M - Penrith performance
T - Core 200
W - repeaters + core 200
T - Rest
F - Repeaters + core 200
S - rest
S - Malham

A week of ups and downs. Got the 7a+ at the wall. 5th go overall including 2 bolt to bolts. One more to do then time to complete the 7b pyramid by getting a 7b done.

Finally got back into fingerboarding. Not very strenuous as just building back into it and getting into the habit.

Malham had many positives but one serious negative that i didn't get a 7a done.

Picked consenting as it was dry. One long bolt to bolt and i had a sequence coming together - much better than last year. One top rope where i messed the sequence up at the bottom but got to the 3rd clip. Rested briefly and carried on to the top. Lowered off and got straight back on at 2nd bolt and went to top again.The top move i failed on later felt easy.

Seriously confident now and decided to go for it next go. Fluffed it at the top getting to the hold to clip 4th bolt. This proved to be my nemesis and after 2 strange goes where i didn't even get to the 3rd clip i had a proper go and again fell at the same spot. Got some new beta now so it WILL go next time.

So much better in comparison to my first day on rock last year and i've not done any fitness work to speak of since mid Nov so when i am strong and fit it'll be simple ;0)

Got a very sore hip so core may be out this week. Going to go for a last week of easy volume and then get strong. Got 2 friends with boards so one visit a week to each, bouldering outside/inside weather permitting, routes session for fitness maintenance and a fingerboard session will be the plan.

In reply to AJM: Cheers Andy.

Goals - 8b, 7B+.

Tues - circuits at the Hanger, then some random problems to finish off. 60 problems in 2 hrs.
Wed - beastmaker. 40 mins repeaters and pull-ups
Thurs - rest
Fri - 45 mins intensive beastmaker repeaters and pull-ups.
Sat - family
Sun - Trowbarrow bouldering. Get spanked on everything I tried, but at least I failed on a harder grade of problem than usual, which is an improvement of sorts. Felt beasted afterwards, which was good.

Andy F

In reply to AJM:

Two out of two, Andy! And without any real compromise on the running front, although there'll probably have to be to engineer a repeat this weekend...

M: Rest
T: Run Invercoe Boathouse, 12.4 miles hilly road
W: Run Dam by Ciaran Path, 9.1 miles/2,100 ft (memorable by moonlight)
T: Run Full Grey Mare's + Penstock, 10.0 miles/2,500 ft
F: Run Nine-mile loop, 9.0 miles/2,000 ft
S: Walk Sgor na h-Ulaidh by Aonach Dubh a' Ghlinne & Stob an Fhuarain
S: Walk/Climb Creag Meagaidh by Raeburn's Gully (I), then round An Cearcallach, Meall Coire Choille-rais, Puist Coire Ardair, Creag Mhor and Sron a' Choire

Tried to make Tuesday's road run some kind of tempo thing, but should be significantly quicker than the 8:12 miling recorded (been monitoring the weight again since New Year and it's coming down, but still nowhere near racing weight)! Wednesday's trip to the Dam was spectacular running towards the rising moon with snow-streaked hills (Mamores, Aonach Eagach, Buachaille) bright in the night sky. Quite slippy too, although Thursday and Friday were icier and all three off-road nights slowed by the conditions. Then a good weekend of big boot work, with Sunday's Meagaidh round something I'd had in mind (pending suitable conditions) for a while.

Current Goals:
Winter ML Assessment, 14–18 February
More climbing (lots to do, but fancy Orion and Zero!)
Highlander Mountain Marathon, 16–17 April
Highland Fling (Milngavie to Tyndrum, 53 miles), 30 April
West Highland Way Race (95 miles, sub-20 or bust!), 18 June
No Fuss Events 10 in the Glen (10-hour trail race), 16 July
Possible Rigby Round (if not squeezed out by 10 in the Glen)

Thanks once again...

I've had an awful week. Went out Wed for 8 miles and still felt jaded. Went out Thursday intending to do a fast 10k and my calves were just failing. They were giving way under me and it was proper weird. I think it's too much mileage on the road (circumstances have made me do lots of tarmac miles recently) but if anyone's heard of anything similar I'd like to hear it. Maybe I'm viral.


Goal for last week 3rd consecutive 30+ mile week. 22 miles at the weekend. One cross training session and one pace run
Not achieved. Bit of a downer really. Missed out the long run for fear of burn out. Did 17.5 miles only.

M: rest
T: spin - 45 minutes, hard.
W: easy pace road run, 8 miles.
T: 3.3 miles, felt awful. Legs like lead and occasionally giving way. Virtually limped home
F: rest
S: 5.9 miles, had planned to do 7 but cut it short. Better than Thu but still sore
S: rest. Gave the long run a total miss so I can get two days off and one cross training day recovery for next week instead of one day off.

Goals for next week
see below
Goal for end of January
100 + miles in January. 10k in sub 43 mins. Have a full race plan for the year

Three month goal, end march
30miles + at the weekends and at least 3 40+ mile weeks. Sub 41 min 10k. Finished two races at least inc one marathon.

Six month goal, end june
More than one 40 mile weekend and 2-3 50+ mile weeks. Sub 40 min 10k. Finish two more races including one more marathon

12 month goal, 2011
Run ultra, sub 3:10 marathon, at least one really long distance challenge.

In reply to plexiglass_nick:


I reckon hitting 4 feels very doable over the next month - not quite sure where to go after that, maybe more, or maybe try and find something pumpier and do it on that instead. Which option did you plump for? I'm tempted to say that a harder route would be good for redpoints maybe, but trying to go for 6 or more laps would be good for more onsight fitness... I can't really cut the interval down any more except by toproping, and I prefer leading because of the pace, the clipping and the general "leading whilst pumped".



Thats a really interesting way of thinking about it Nick, cheers for sharing that.

My one thing though would be the 40 moves - I guess maybe youre just after longer routes than me. I reckon the "standard" UK power-endurance-y crux-y route is probably nearer 20! Trying to think back to routes I've tried, I think:

• Spy in the Sky I worked out had about 25 (its a power-endurance sort of section to a shake on steep ground into a bouldery crux move followed by a few more moves, I reckon about 13-14 moves to the shake then about 10 or 11 to easy ground)
  
• Speedfreak has about 15 until you get to the end of the main difficulties, then some stuff which is probably quite easy but fells harder when youre pumped.
  
• I have a vague feeling that Cream Tease was only 10 or so pretty intense moves
  
• Back in the more dim and distant past, I reckon that Still Waters was maybe 10 from the bottom of the crux to a shake, then maybe about the same albeit far easier to the top

If you are onto 40 move routes you're getting into pretty long routes by UK standards at least, so maybe the crux drops in difficulty a bit? I'd have hazarded a guess that for UK routes maybe 20-odd problems up to V5, dropping to maybe only going up to V4 as you approach the 40 problems in a session, but then who knows, its not like I've tried more than 1 7c.

Anyway, like I say, an interesting way of thinking about it. Means that when I feel brutalised by 35 problems at say V2-3 sort of level I'm only really fit enough for a good few goes on a 7a/+ or something. Can I use the excuse that I'm only really training for evening sessions, do you think

In reply to biscuit:

I think whilst goals are good, the first time out on rock for a while can always be a wobbler, and certainly the first time out on lime can take a bit of doing. I think that sounds like a great effort for a season starter well done, hope you get it next time.

In reply to AJM: cheers AJM, calf is finally feeling a bit better, got out for a run for the first time in a while today.

M: pull-ups, press-ups, BM (3x30 foot on moves, repeaters & max hangs), weights & core (500)
T: pull-ups, press-ups, BM (3x30 foot on moves, repeaters & max hangs), weights & core (500)
W: swim (60 lengths) & core (500)
T: nothing (pub)
F: swim (60 lengths)
S: bouldering at cratcliffe and RHS
S: nothing

Quite a good week overall, good to get out again, didn't get up anything new but did feel strong and improved on previous bests. I have got back into swimming, partly due to calf injury but also to get fit for surf trip to morocco in march.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy.

I developed a slightly worrying pain in my right shoulder after Thursday's session, it was still there during Friday's session. In light of this, I've decided to rest until the pain has completely passed. I'm hoping that it won't take long but I don't want to push things. I've not had a proper rest since around August last year anyway, so I'm due a weeks rest or so.

Started pre-hab on shoulders and elbows, which I will continue with throughout the week and there after. Will continue to post and hope to be climbing again next week - fingers crossed!

---------------------------
GOALS - above all else have fun and remain injury free
---------------------------

STG
O/S S trad
O/S HS trad

MTG
Lead 100 routes up to HVS (6 DONE)
O/S Cenotaph Corner
O/S Cemetery Gates
O/S F7a sport

LTG - hopefully some of these will be this year but will see how short and mediums go before setting dates
O/S Left Wall, fully consolidate at E2, O/S V5, H/P V7, O/S V6, H/P V8, H/P F8a sport, O/S F8a sport.

OTHER SIDELINE GOALS
O/S V4 bouldering
H/P Ousal Low trav at Churnet (V6)
H/P Rippler SS at Roaches UT (V6)

---------------------------
WEEKLY TOTALS
---------------------------

M: Rest
T: Rest
W: Rest
T: Bouldering at Awesome Walls. Great session, felt really confident and psyched for it and really went for 'committing' moves without hesitation. Good session. Keep eye on shoulders.
F: Steady session at Upper Limits, felt tired and shoulder felt irritable.
S: Rest
S: Shoulder and elbow pre-hab. Rest.

Weight: 142.8 lbs (+2 lbs from last wk)
Body Fat: ? % (?% from last wk) - measurements playing up
(Really don't trust my body fat percentage figure but on a week-by-week basis it's fine for keeping track of ups and downs.)

---------------------------
NUTRITION LOG (Daily guidelines only, I don't always stick exactly to them)
Please note that this is for me and won't work for everyone as nutritional requirements are very different from person to person.
---------------------------

BREAKFAST: Black coffee. Muesli, fruit, porridge with chopped fruit, toast (must be wholegrain or brown bread).
SNACK: Black coffee. Fruit / nuts and seeds.
LUNCH: Chicken pasta with fresh salad / chicken or ham salad sandwiches on wholegrain / brown bread.
SNACK: Fruit / nuts and seeds.
TEA: Chicken breast (or equivalent) usually with potato / pasta etc., and fresh veg (especially broccoli).
SUPPER: Cottage cheese.

TRAINING SUPPLEMENTS:

Reiki and meditation
Once a day: SiS 99% Pure Fish Oil supplement with vits etc.

In reply to Daniel Heath: Cheers, not really been putting that much time and effort into the running yet, but you are probably right, as the weather improves should get out more and maybe improve a bit, finger crossed!

In reply to AJM:


Hmm I'm not sure I'm a good example as I never really made roped laps work for me on a sustained training basis. Combination of arranging regular partners who are up for that sort of thing and finding endurance training on lead quite mentally draining (which indicates I need to do it more...!)

I would go with a number of laps that suits what sort of routes you are trying. For harder short-ish redpoints I reckon two laps or possibly four. Longer euro onsights perhaps six, but I am making a stab in the dark.


Yes and I have sort-of-intentionally padded out the number of moves in order to get a bit of margin, bearing in mind when you are working a route, you won't necessarily have the best sequence and also I am adding a bit on for doing sections repeatedly and miscellaneous flailing around on the working goes.

I agree with your point though, in that most of my redpoints last year came down to about 20 moves or less of hard climbing, with easier climbing before and/or after. However - notably - the routes where I found repeated goes really f*ck you up were Infernal Din (20ish moves to a V4ish crux and a good rest, then 20ish moves of V3 plus V4 to the top) and No Money No Dance, which is about 20 moves of about 6b+ish straight into a V5 crux, followed by a good rest and then about 20 moves of pumpy 7a+ to the top. In both cases the rest is crucial at the given grade and you can almost totally recover on the redpoint, but even though the hard climbing isn't continuous it still takes it out of you in terms of all-day stamina.

I don't think 40 problems all at V5 is necessarily what we are talking, but perhaps 10/V5, 20/V4 and 10/V3.

35 problems at V2/3 will buy you 5.25 goes according to the maths but possibly only if you skip the warm up In all seriousness though, that sounds like decent volume - if you pad that out with the same number of V0/1 problems you are up to 70 already. In any event, as you point out you get out on rock a bit more regularly than I do, and this is bearing in mind a weekend warrior strategy where it's more important to pack more quality climbing into a shorter space of time than if you are able to get out in the evenings.

I certainly don't think that level of fitness is mandatory for a redpoint at the grade, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten up anything last year - but I'm trying to make an attempt to get a bit more in the tank to speed up the process, to avoid spending 4+ days on one route as per last year.

In reply to AJM:
Cheers yes, stepped on the gas a bit. Quite jealous of your Pembroke trip! I was in Cornwall over the weekend, lovely weather but no chance to climb…

Mon – Arch. 2x V4 including hard black in new area; repeated lots of V3/4
Tues – Rest
Wedns – Castle. Short campus. 20 black problems. Good session.
Thurs – Castle. 4x V3. Offset and fingertip pullups.
Fri – Visiting family
Sat – Visiting family
Sun – Visiting family

In reply to AJM:
Mon - 40 min run/walk
Tues - rest
Weds - gym. 20mins cross trainer. Rower 3min/1 min rest x6. Treadmill - 10 min
Thurs - nowt
Fri - nowt
Sat - 30 mins run/walk

No climbing this week, too tired on Tuesday, couldn't be arsed on Thursday. Not sure why. Anyway CV goal ticked for week but climbing fail. Still concentrating on hill fitness by middle of Feb

In reply to biscuit: I scuppered myself on a RP at the wall the other week when i changed my plan to use a foothold i had previously tried and had decided was wrong


Yes. Always always always stick to the sequence unless and until you have thoroughly worked an alternative. Even then the original way (engram) can pop into your mind when you are under duress and cause fatal indecision. This is another reason to thoroughly explore all options when working a route before settling on a sequence in the first place. Oh yes and write the moves down for each hand and foot placement. If you are fuzzy about the correct sequence when writing then it usually indicates you havent worked that section enough. By using a word document you can amend sequences easily when re-working then read it like a script picturing the moves after helps embed THE alternative. Are you listenin' to me, son? I'm givin' ya pearls here.(name that quote)

In reply to AJM:

Only once back at the wall last week on Wednesday, was bouldering up V5.
Also did a finger board session at home once last week.
The rest was cycling.

This week isn't looking great at the moment for getting to wall so might be some finger board sessions

In reply to shark:

Last year i couldn't remember which foot to put in which shoe. My route reading + remembering is still poor but a lot better than it was. I did write stuff down last year ( you told me to do it then as well ) it really helped with retention.

I think it shows i wasn't certain of the sequence. That's the bit i need to get back on and work. Cheers.

Quote i am not sure. I have resisted the urge to google. I can see Al Pacino saying it while waving his arms around a lot but couldn't say which film.

In reply to AJM:

Hi Andy, Sleep was much better last week, got plenty and felt much better. I think it's a very overlooked area of any training. Not off to such a good start this week though. It's my own fault at being rubbish at getting an early night.

By Apr 2011
Font 7B - Possibles... Jerry's Traverse/T-Crack
French 7c - Possibles... El Chocco at Brean. Hall of Mirrors at the Cuttings.

Goals for the past week were 1 x campus, 1 campus/boulder, 1 x volume boulder session, 1 x run

For campus I refer to the rungs as bigs(1.5 joint), meds(1 joint), smalls(0.5 joint)

M - rest
T - Power: Campus @ Castle. Broke out the 5 year old routine I had in my locker. Not too bad, stuck the odd 1-4-6 on the bigs.
W - rest
T - Power: Campus @ Castle. Improvement. Hitting all 1-3-6 and 1-4-6 on bigs. Getting close to meds.
F - ME(aerobic): Volume bouldering @ Castle. 50 problems up to V3, but finished with a tough V4 for 50. Fitted it in 1hr45 and felt pretty close to bonking. Must eat better before these sessions, and during.
S - 6.7km run
S - Power: Boulder/Campus @ Castle. Session on the Wave picking up new problems and making progress on the Mauve(V7?) project. Can do all the moves and string better links now, but still lacking enough energy. Felt like big improvements sticking the crux moves though. Campus was pretty tired but was close to sticking the 1-3-6s on the meds, and pulling through on 1-4-6.

Weight hovering around 74.0kg by end of the week.

Second week of the plan down and feeling good about it. The campussing went well this week with an extra session over that planned, and notable improvements during the week.

This week will be PE focussed, but is reduced to 4 days owing to a non-climbing weekend away, so I will aim to do:
1 x 4x4 or variety thereof session on the Wave
1 x 4x4 or hard routes session.

If I can fit something extra or a run, great.

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

I seem to have lucked out with that in that (especially if you don't do any resting beyond retying) you can get them out of the way in about 10-15 minutes, and I have a fairly accommodating wall partner who doesn't seem to mind that.


Sounds sensible to me


Feels really hard (even when I downgrade it a bit to my level) but then I guess the only thing I've got to compare is doing problems for the first time - I've never really tried to CIT where you work on problems you already know, right?


I probably padded it out with about a half dozen easy problems as a warmup, so maybe I get up to 40 in total. Should probably have a go at doing an entire easy circuit before launching into the hard stuff to bulk up the volume.


I reckon thats a really good way to look at it, as the kind of thing you need in order to get things done quickly, rather than to do them in the first place.

In reply to AJM:

CIR even!

In reply to Eric the Red:

Any thoughts on this anyone? Still a bit 'weird' in the legs.

In reply to AJM:


Ah yeah that's a whole different world of difficult. I guess on a CIR of 15 problems I am trying up to maybe 3-5 of them for the first time - but generally I will already be able to do the problems - sometimes I'll spend the start of the session making sure I can do everything I plan to CIR on.

You improve at it really quickly as well if you stick with it, so what makes you feel sick/utterly destroyed tomorrow will probably feel fairly routine in a couple of months. My problem in the past was that I would use it as a fitness 'test' but not actually do it on a regular basis is it made me feel so knackered and I needed a couple of rest days - so didn't make particularly fast progress - there is that 'training vs. performing' thing again.

In reply to Eric the Red: Normally work/life stress or pre-illness?

I normally know when I'm getting ill or run down as my track times drop.

But when I'm stressed with work my running is just flat.

In reply to plexiglass_nick: Nick, if you would be so good as to refresh my memory - what exactly is CIR?

In reply to seankenny:

CIR is Self Coached Climber jargon - it stands for Continuous Intensity Repetitions. It is where you do 10 to 15 repetitions of boulder problems (or indeed routes) at the same grade, and is meant to be a strength/conditioning exercise and good for training all day stamina and increasing the volume of moderately hard climbing you can handle in a session.

Generally you would do it a couple of grades lower than your max boulder grade - ideally the sort of grade you might flash on a good day, or get within a few goes.

In reply to Eric the Red:

Eric - you say 3rd week of 30+ miles

Do you have an easy week every 3rd or fourth week? (consolidation week)

Change of surface is going to get you (as is doing more speed work than usual)

Can you get a sports massage - and take it a bit easy for a week.

I just had a disastrous day of overdoing it on Sunday - and have been resting (apart form bike commute) since to try get rid of the cold i got as a result.

In reply to jfw:

I did 2 x 30 mile weeks in a row, then blew up half way through third. The plan was for an easy week this week but I ended up having it last week.

Sunday and Monday were complete rest. Tuesday a spin class. Last night, went running again and it feels horrific. I've got my regular sports physio appointment in a week.

I think I'm going to change my shoes, get new orthotics and try and bring the massage forward. Looks like another 'consolidation' week for me in the meantime!

In reply to Eric the Red:

some people alternate easy / hard weeks - i am still trying to work out what's best for me.

i get bored with base type work - but i guess it makes sense to tone down or even avoid harder workouts, while increaseing milage (or at the very least not try increase volume/ intensity of harder workouts at the same time as increasing overall volume)

I am always too impatient - and lose a lot of consistency from overdoing it then having lay offs (when will i ever learn - but i am easily talked in to things)

In reply to jfw:

I'm the same, always overdo it. But I've had 5 really good months now building steadily to 30 mile weeks. Maybe I pushed the pace a bit much. Hmm, I can still run so not too bad.

Cue next weeks fitclub entry...

Terrible week. Popped a calf muscle. Agony. 6 weeks off.

In reply to AJM:

In Austria this week will Post when back don't mark me as absent please!

Gordon

In reply to plexiglass_nick: Thanks Nick. Do you tend to do 15 different problems, or include some repeats of the same problem? (ie. 3 problems done 5 times). How many sets and what kind of resting in between sets do they reckon?

In reply to seankenny:

In the best of all possible worlds it is 15 individual problems. In practical terms it often boils down to less than that - there might not be 15 problems at the wall at the right grade, or you might not be able to do all of them - but in the interests of training benefit I think repeating problems is the next best thing if it allows you to complete the exercise.

Personally I find a side benefit of having to do 15 individual problems is it forces you to address your weaknesses as (depending on your wall) you are likely to have to do problems that don't suit you. In my book it is ok to do eg. 7xV4 and 8xV3 as an intermediate step toward 15xV4 but in practice unless you are strict with yourself this can feel easier than even 15xV3 as you get to be more selective about which problems you attempt and so cherry pick the soft touches.

For example at the moment I can only do about 8 V4's at the castle but am bulking it out with an easy V5 and four problems on the blue circuit (V3 to V4 ish) and then going round for as much of a second lap as I can do before I fall over. At the weekend I am going to try doing CIR at V5 for the first time and that will probably be much more like 3 laps of 5 individual V5's but I figure you need to start somewhere.

In theory you are supposed to rest between problems so you are starting each one more or less recovered - it's about cumulative fatigue, not endurance. When I started doing them I was finding it a challenge to complete 15 problems in a 3 hour session, but according to the SCC you should be able to manage a CIR in about an hour as part of a training day in which you do other stuff (eg. work on technique, some threshold bouldering, some endurance work eg 4x4s, etc.) What I find is that if I am working out new problems/making flash attempts it takes more like 3 hours and you need to be quite strategic to be able to complete it. If you have the problems already wired, getting round in an hour feels more achievable and doing extra stuff in the session feels more reasonable. If you feel strong enough to go round on a second lap (ie. 30 problems) then I suspect there is training benefit in doing that but as to whether your energy would be better invested in doing only 15 problems one grade up, your guess is as good as mine.

In reply to plexiglass_nick: Thanks very much for that Nick, sounds like an excellent way to thrash yourself.

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

Good discussion Nick + Andy. Food for thought. I like the idea you have Nick of figuring out the moves in a day on a RP and relating that back to training.

For me CIR - the limited amount i've done - was quite frustrating. The walls i used ( Keswick + Kendal ) both had serious limitiations. Keswick only has 3 or 4 problems at each grade ( if that ) and Kendal doesn't grade it's problems, it just sticks them all in circuits so all yellows are anywhere between V1-v4. Finding a decent number of problems that you know are of the correct grade is hard. If it's left to me to decide if it's V2 or V3 i'll say it's V3 and take the easy way out ;0)

However i was finding V3's done with 3 mins rest easy enough. I then kind of stopped as according to SCC that's fine for where i wanted to be.

When i go back to them i'll be looking at doing it on a rope. More specific and easier to find the correct grades.

I've also read the CIR conversation with interest. Thanks Nick and Andy. It's something that hasn't worked well for me in the past, but I'd be keen to try again. It sounds quite simple but I've found it hard to find the right number of problems at the grade I want to do. Rather annoyingly our wall seems to be moving towards grading things Font 4, Font 5, Font 6 and Font 7. But I should be able to identify 15 problems from the Font 6s that I find quite hard and not care too much about what grade they are. The only annoying thing is that it is much harder to measure progress.

In reply to AJM:

M: rest
Tu: am swimming, pm turbo
W: club swim
Th: gentle 35 minute run, leg seems OK
F: swimming
Sa: cycled 60km in 2h30. Good to be out on the bike!
Su: am 40 minute run off road. pm Masters' swim class.

Still no climbing - how long before I get thrown out of Fit Club?

In reply to TonyB:


That's why i'm going for routes next time. More specific and easier to measure progress. Harder to find willing partner though :0(

Life is never easy is it ?

In reply to biscuit:

How are you thinking of doing roped CIR biscuit (my other half has reclaimed her copy of SCC, so I can't find it to check whether it says anything!)?

Are you looking a something you can do 15 of (matching the 15 problems on the bouldering one), say 6a/b or something? Or are you thinking of trying to match the intensity (say 100 tough moves on those 15 problems, 6-7 moves a problem) and doing maybe 4-5 routes at say a low/mid-7s sort of level?

I guess the two will bring on 2 totally different sorts of workout - one will be akin to doing 50-odd V0-2 sort of problems (7 moves each gives 350 moves which is about 15 20-25 move indoor routes) and be focused on knocking out a lot of easier moves (a day onsighting say), whereas the other is about 100 moves of high intensity stuff, (maybe nearer to having a couple of good goes on redpoint on a power-endurance sort of route).......

This is probably a daft question, because I'm sure SCC covers it, but like I say I can't find it to check...!

In reply to AJM:

Oh, and on the basis of the pump in my forearms last night and the ache in my shoulders today, I'm still holding a candle for roped intervals. I can't remember which training book I read which said that they were the gold standard for PE training, but for my needs I wouldn't choose to disagree

In reply to AJM:

if i want to 'get fit' to do a project it'll be roped intervals.

If i am finding that i can't get as many RP's in as i want in a day then CIR with the high intensity, trying to replicate the amount of moves i am wanting to achieve in a red point day.

Roped intervals ( especially if you can find something that matches your target route for length and type of moves ) have got to be the best for str endurance. They keep your head in the right place, get you used to climbing whilst suffering and bloody hurt. Got to be good like you say.

In reply to AJM: not a very good week for climbing, haven't done any to be honest due to having too much uni work, hopefully things will calm down and I'll be able to start training again and get close to goals again. It's quite hard juggling uni work and a lot of training, might look into setting up home campus board, possibly hanging from loft hatch. Thanks, James

STG: 7a indoors
MTG: E3 Stanage
LTG: Silk Stanage

In reply to AJM:


I've been reading a lot about this recently, too, and also reading your posts with interest, thanks.

As for the CIR bouldering to route conversion in SCC, it works out at around;

V2 = F6b - F6c
V3 = F6c+ / F7a+
V3/V4 = F7a+ / F7b

Doesn't seem to say anything about route length though.

In reply to Steve Perry (Pezz):

Interesting stuff - I reckon I can do/have done something approximating to a V3 CIR before, but I've not yet redpointed 6c+ indoors, let alone done 15 of them in a session. I'm sure there's a learning outcome there

In reply to AJM: actually scrap my last post, that will be this week's post

had a good week's climbing as far as I can remember, did quite a bit of bouldering, and one evening doing routes. I did one 6c plus dogged and failed on a 7a. This felt like a good session and I seem to be making some progress.

STG: 7a indoors
MTG: E3 Stanage
LTG: Silk Stanage