UKC

Placeholder while AJM slacks off eating scampi and chips.... 

Pfft.

I'm gonna slack off to Swizzy then. Stuff this hanging around whilst he stuffs his face - there's a midnight ferry to catch.

Did some stuff including autobelay. 

See you all in a month.

Thanks Rebecca. I hope you don’t succumb to the temptation of an illicit McFlurry on the way home.....

if if anyone is interested in joining us, there’s another Fit Club gathering weekend of August 18, hopefully Pembroke. They started life as family meets but are probably open to everyone who isn’t going to be bothered by the fact that young children are there and that faff levels might therefore be higher than they might otherwise be.

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fitclub is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation. Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502 

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

Last week’s thread can be found here: 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_589-6886...

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

Posters:

AJM

mattrm - nice to see you last weekend and this - look forwards to August for round 3!

Rebecca Ting - solid work on Errant in poor conditions, but a black mark for such a late posting!

hms - old skool crimping traverses bred many strong folk in the past! Back this week?

Si dH - so is one of those problems going to go on the list, or are you still thinking about Powerband?

AlanLittle - glad to hear you’re keeping positive. In terms of August, I don’t think we have the time to travel to the North but if you end up down south do let us know....

Dandan82 - we found the blacknor and Lulworth combo day worked a while ago for us. It’s not often I find it, but a decent north facing crag in Dorset would be a big of a boon in hot weather like this!

Biscuit - so, how did it go?

Ally Smith - good work at the Cornice - did you get back up to Kilnsey?

the sheep - what is a “brick session”? I’d initially assumed “brick hard” but I’m not sure from your post whether in fact it’s something more specialised? I imagine Saturday afternoons work in this heat must have been an effort...

Tom Green - I usually try to do it in advance, but last week was a rather disorganised one. I thought I’d have more time, but just never quite made it!

Jamming Dodger - 130 miles per week through a hot summer will make it hard to stay out of shape! Bad luck needing the van repair - is it all sorted now?

mrchewy - bad news re your sister. Excited for you with the boat though! Enjoy Swizzy...

Tyler - so, go on then, how did it go before holiday “ruins everything”!?

MauraLorrissey - house buying, kids - that’s one hell of a week! Hope the packing went well this week?

PowderPuff - good density session then - I feel like I should try to do that with some of the local stuff I’ve done at some point. How was your week?

Planetmarshall - that’s a shame about the course. Never been to Shining Clough, always thought it looked good. Enjoy Cham!

Ardo - I feel your pain in terms of motivation to train in this heat! Cold beer is just more appealing isn’t it

Cyan - how has the goal setting gone? I assume there was more of all the sunshine this weekend?

Climbthatpitch - enjoy Cham too!

Richard Popp - hot walls are tough aren’t they. Our local is considering opening for a 6am-9am shift over the summer which I think would be great in the cool of the morning. Bad news re hospital - hope things get better...

Bones - nice one slaying a demon! What news of goals...?

Fit Club 600 goals:

AJM - some DWS (progress on Gates of Greyskull, ticked Z-Cars), some E2/3 (2x E2), 10/13 weeks of consistent weekday training (2/3)

Dandan82 - 3600s handstand (152/3600), +60kg pull-up (+50kg), 6 fr7 onsights in a day

Richard Popp - a new 7a

Ally Smith - 8b/+ x2 (0/2), 8a/+ x5 (0/5), 7b-c+ x10 (1/10)

Thanks Andy. I'll definitely try them again but don't want to make a goal out of them at the moment. It's good to have some stuff I'm more relaxed about

STG (July-August):

3x ~ 7Bs in North Wales

MTGs (September-November):

Caviar 

Powerband (stretch goal...) 

LTGs:

7B+ on my next Font trip. 

Powerband if not in 2018. 

M: Tried an lattice ancap training session (from the Crimpd app) which is 6 sets of 5 x 7/3 repeaters with a 2 minute rest between sets.  It should have been at 80% of max hang weight (which would mean adding about 15kg to bodyweight) but to feel my way in and protect my fingers a bit i decided to do the first session at bodyweight, ie about 67% of max. I then proceeded to find this really hard and failed on the last set, which tells me my ancap is definitely bad!

T: rest

W:  Evening session at Forest Rock trying Cracked up (f7B). Managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by falling off the finishing match twice. Will have to go back.

T: rest

F: rest

S:  Had a few hours bouldering in N Wales. Played on The Minimum (V7) and The Witch (f7B). Couldn't do either in the heat but got sequences sorted. More to go back to in cooler weather.

S: the heat has really got to me today. I've just spent all day in the house reading and eating food. Planned ancap session definitely not happening.

Failed the ancap goal in the first week. Im going to replace it with a FitClub600 goal - to be able to complete a repeater ancap routine with the recommended weight (ie 80% of max hang.)

Feedback from the lattice research project was disappointing in that I was just told I was weaker than average for my grade in every area and should train everything.   I've asked them for any more insight they could give, but no response.

Si

This is now a bit out of chronology, but there we go, this week’s updates already in it.

didnt really manage consistency the week. I attempted to fingerboard and do some weights/trx late week, probably Wed/Thur, but the fingerboard session was poor and I shouldn’t really be stacking things up late week anyway.

did get a load of dws done though.

Friday - Lulworth after work. Low tide the whole time I was there and the group had psyche for something distant from Gates (and I want some people vaguely nearby when I try it just in case I land badly). So I joined in on Z-Cars, which takes the low traverse under Horny, hands and heels along the rail, until you can make some stiff pulls to get a bit more upright, then push on upwards for a bit, lay one on for the porthole on Horny, and then do the crux of that and finish across it. Got that third go, pretty chuffed. 7b but I don’t think it’s an easy one. Certainly the most boulder moves I’ve done on DWS.

Saturday - back to Lulworth. Played tour guide for a bit and was glad to see people appreciating some of the routes. So did the Maypole, Captain Bastard, repeated Horny and found it pretty steady. Also some swimming. 2 goes on Gates - the first a fall low down which was a poor effort. The second was much better, got back to the previous high point, pulled the move instead of jumping, and the one after which is a move to a stabilising intermediate, and fell off the one after that, which is to a big jug but my feet came off and I couldn’t hold the swing. If I can hold that hold and match, there’s then 3moves to what videos make look like a good hold, from which there’s just a topout (which people do fall off). Great scenes with lots of psyche flowing at the crag, a fair few people topped it out over the afternoon. Fish and chips and mega shoulder sunburn.

sunday - 3rd day on at Lulworth. My back muscles could feel it but it was too good not to. If I’m honest I didn’t achieve much but it was great for the psyche to see big teams on Mark of the Beast and Adenochrome - it’s nice to see people demystifying stuff, especially Mark of the Beast which has a bit of a reputation, since I don’t think any of my usual crowd have done it. I did the crux of the Laws traverse there and back, and I fell off not that far into the steep bit on Animal Magnetism, just didn’t seem to be getting the weight through my feet, tired core I guess.

Great outdoor climbing. Good psyche. All is good. Z cars was cool, and another piece of the Lulworth progression in the bag - in my entirely personal list (since you ask, Maypole, Laws, Horny, Animal Mag, Z-Cars, Window, Crazy Notion, Gates, Mark of the Beast, Adenochrome - far from everything but notable cool looking lines that get done fairly often) I could, with a really good run, clear up everything below MotB this season given it’s still early July. More progress on Gates and fell off going for the move this time too which is good.

not sure what this week holds. A friend is back in the U.K. and catching up with folk at the wall Tuesday which might scupper my Tuesday evening Lulworth session - but maybe a short and late one Wednesday? Supposed to be a fairly quiet weekend this weekend but the lovely wife is uncommonly psyched and there are high morning soring tides which would be ideal for Portland so I’m hoping it won’t be entirely without climbing.

That's surprising - certainly for bouldering ice ice al been told my fingers should climb more than they actually do, and I'm sure yours are stronger than mine!

Unfortunately this was yet another week from hell at work which has left me feeling mentally wrung out. My plans for after work sessions largely got turned into fingerboarding. Did get out twice but the hot weather is not helping achievement.

M - cycle commute. TRX Is Ys Ts. Yoga in evening

T - cycle commute. FB 10/3/5/4 x4 with +6kg.

W - cycle commute. 

T - work day swap. WQ in evening trying the 7a+ which is turning out to be an annoyingly tough cookie. Lots of progress but one tiny sequence still eludes me. Mind you it wasn't really 'bone down on crimp' conditions, even though it was in the shade.

F - cycle commute. FB 7/3/6/3 various AA pocket finger combos with various added weight. 7/3/6/1 x10 on deep slots with +6kg

S - core session. Various pinch grip & wrist curls in evening.

S - Tyle y Coch, trying a 7b. Some really excellent sequences up to the crux, which is rather hard off truly terrible undercuts - I could not get up into them. Consensus on UKC is that the route is really easy, but a bit of stalking revealed that everyone whose done it has also done multiple routes in the 8s and is a bloke. Defo worth a rematch but grade seems fair to harsh for petite female. 

in short it didn't.

Tuesday and Thursday were good conditions but I still came up short, despite getting to the crux pretty  easily. On my last go on Thursday I almost had it, I think I had my hand on the hold and just let go! Afterwards as I was slumped on the bolt, through tears of frustration I focused on a marked foothold. It had been there the whole time I'd been trying the route but I had ignored it as being too high but now I was clutching at straws. A quick test proved it might be an improvement but a proper test would have to wait until Saturday. 

Saturday was as warm as it has been with no wind and I was pretty tired (I fell out the knee bar on one occasion!) I stayed all day waiting for it to cool but it didn't (didn't stop Aly ticking though) and although I matched my high point and got the drop knee in twice I made no impression on the crux, the jury still out on my new sequence. I came home and cobbled together a finger board to take on holiday.

The holiday has started and the food is ready good here, this could be catastrophic. 

Thanks AJM. Another hectic week. Managed to still train most mornings but not a lot of climbing in the evenings. My flat settled Thursday so spent the next 3 days moving/unpacking/cleaning. 

STG/Weekly:

*do 5 pull ups (by the time Jen arrives)/new goal x2 sets of 3x3 chins or pulls ups each week as minimum - on hold... to much going on to focus on it. 

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

MTG:

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

*Lead "Troposphere" - 5 pitches, 15, 17, 18, 15, 16 - by end July LTG: * lead The Most Monstrous Monster (21)  https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/australia/glasshouse-mountains/tibrogargan...

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

*climb a big wall before I'm 40 

Monday:

Training - dead-lifts, repeated my PB MAX RM1 82.5kg 

Tuesday:

Mt Coot-ha hike, 1hr 

Indoor lead session 

Wednesday:

Training - upper body strength

Thursday:

Training - high heart rate workout

Friday:

Training - lots of step ups

Moving day

Saturday:

More moving 

Sunday:

rest/sooo much cleaning

Not even a mc-postmix Diet Coke! 

Cheers Andy, we have done a lot more multi-crag days recently but never considered Portland and Swanage in a oner, something to consider...

Good week for me, no outdoor climbing due to social commitments but I kept myself busy, the back is definitely not getting worse so that's a result too.

M: 78 seconds of handstands, no significant long single handstands.

T: Gym; Deadlift 3x4 at 70kg, 90kg, 90kg. I had a bit of a technique epiphany after listening to a Dan John podcast, I had been squatting down to the bar instead of treating the exercise as a hip hinge only. Immediately jumped 20kg and it felt better than ever. 100kg is an inevitability.
Squat 3x4 at 60kg, 70kg, 70kg. Still feel this in my back so didn't push too hard, hips are slowly being coerced into submission on a deep squat.
Bench 3x4 at 60kg, 60kg, 60kg.
Standing shoulder press; 3x4 at 40kg, 45kg, 45kg.
Indoor boulder; Absolute sweatbox, slab session, even after just a few of these sessions i'm definitely standing on my feet more confidently and using my whole bodyweight effectively to move around the wall, who could have guessed practice helped?
56 seconds of handstands including a 24 second hold.

W: Super leg DOMS, just horrendous. Mini core session.
54 seconds of handstands including a 36 second hold, yesss!

T: Gym; Leg DOMS still very much present so just did top half;
Bench 3x4 at 60kg, 65kg, 65kg. I've got no spotter so it's hard to push further, although the rack does have bail out bars which I realised would avoid chest-crushing embarrassment if I failed, so I should load the weights up with confidence.
Standing shoulder press 3x4 at 45kg, 45kg, 45kg.
Weighted chin up 2x 50kg, 1x 55kg, 2x 50kg. 55 is the absolute limit right now so i'm going to move to 4 rep max for a few weeks and try to break through. Calculator says that will be +43kg, I've a feeling that's optimistic...
Indoor Boulder; Supposed to be doing aretes and volumes but my legs were so sore that I went for some steep stuff instead, felt ok considering I've barely climbed a roof for a month.
74 seconds of handstands, another 28 second hold.

F: Very little, bit of DIY club, lots of errand running then pack up to head to peak for some friend's wedding. Totally forgot to do handstands before we left.

S: Fantastic wedding in a fantastic venue in Edale, I think the local crags must have been quiet because the wedding was almost entirely climbers! Ate my bodyweight in pizza, barbecue, cheese and cake, washed down with G&T. Handstands were considered but dismissed.

S: Drive home, fueled on left over cake. Had to make up for the lack of handstands over the weekend so I did 113 seconds of handstands, with - wait for it - a 44 second hold!!

New Lattice plan starts this week, it will be good to get back to some more rigid structure. They have very kindly put in a session for my gym work to continue so I don't have to load it on top of everything else. Lower overall volumes this time around, it did get a bit bonkers before so hopefully I can get more 100% complete weeks and be able to put full effort into every session without worrying about the 11 other sessions that are coming up that week...

FC600:
60 minutes of handstanding - 527/3600 seconds. Stretch goal - 60 second hold!
+60kg pull up - +55kg
6 onsights 7a or higher in a day (in Kaly) - Picked Secret Garden as a potential venue...

STG: (last week)
* 1 min hamstring stretch every day - FAIL, probably 5/7
* At least 1 core session - mini-tick
* Another 30 second handstand! - TICK x2!

STG: (this week)
* 1 min hamstring stretch every day -
* Every session on new plan - 
* Another 30 second handstand - 

MTG: (up to Kaly in September)
* Onsight 7c in Kaly, suggestions welcome
* 7c in a day on Portland
* 3 good ring muscle ups in a row
* Squat and Deadlift 100kg - Sq-70kg DL-90kg

LTG: (This Year)
* 150 ticks in logbook - 86/150
* tick 3 x 8a - 0/3
* tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 3/10
* Squat and deadlift 2x bodyweight
* Go to Kilnsey - August with Ally?
* Get to December without any new injuries
* reasonably static muscle up
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last

BHAG:
* 9a by March 2022 (40th Birthday)
* Stage 1a of BHAG is 8b by the end of the year

Thinking of changing my BHAG around, I'm just not sure it's the right direction for me and the way I climb. I'm probably more likely to onsight 8a+ or even 8b than ever tick 9a, or perhaps do 8b/+ in a day, something like that. Hypothetically, if you redpointed 9a in 10 sessions, what would you expect to onsight / quick redpoint?

Bear in mind that my results are being compared against 7C boulderers. Since each of my 7Cs have taken me over ten sessions, I'm not surprised I'm a bit weak. However there are a couple of reasons I think I'm a bit 'weak' on the two armed lattice edge test they are now doing, rather than one arm tests I've done in the past. I have hung up to 70kg one armed (65kg+ consistently) but can only hang about 115kg two-armed, not 130-140kg as you might expect. The first reason is to do with my little finger- with two arms i can't rotate my body to a position where it's properly engaged on the edge. The second is that the test is now strict half-crimp and as soon as you fall out of a perfect half crimp it's a fail. I always used to allow myself to drag when testing at home. These changes both make it substantially harder for me on a lattice edge. Maybe some people suffer less from them?

Edit: weirdly i also find that my left shoulder sags out and let's me down after a while in the two position - more so than in one arm hangs.

Yes, I know you're in a different cohort, but my lattice scores last June (90%) was within the range for V9/7C, so bridging the gap between our actual achievements in theory and making it pertinent. I found it hard to believe from my own perception of where I am Vs 7C but that's what they said. 

Interesting on 2 Vs 1, I can picture the whole pinkie issue. Never tried it myself, more weight than I really fancy dangling off me ..

FC600 goals - flesh out a solid pyramid of ticks.

8b/+ x2: x/x

8a/+ x5: x/x/x/Perfect Storm/Easy Rider

7b-c+ x10: x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x

Week 27

M – Cheedale Cornice. Did a slightly loose 6b+ warm-up, then dogged Easy Rider (8a) before doing it steady 1st RP. Hauled the drill and brushes up and set to on equipping a newbie diagonally rightwards into Roof Warrior. Got all but one move and some okay sized links; hard crimp-to-head-height-undercut on Dreadnaught I only did in 2 overlapping halves – think this is in the 8b/+ range? Good mid-week project whilst it’s dry. Shoulders way too pooped for a 4th tie-in. Aid/dog & strip only. 

T – Big evening of training! 33km biking in the sun. 3 rounds of rings – 15 reps instead of 12. 5 sets An-cap hangs 10/3/5/4 +15kg on Lattice edge (good powered out feeling on last reps). Finally 1on/1off Aero-cap FoC (40s plank in each rest interval).

W – Early start for work; felt properly bushed but surprised by lack of DOMS – must be fit at the moment… Minor aches from L ring finger. Evening work social.

T – Skipped planned hotel gym session as hotel bed had made my back sore.

F – Nowt

S – Kilnsey with Tyler. Guns in the Sky (8b+) investigation x2. Hmm, not sure if this is a good project – it’s filthy – there’s a bastard hard move to get the break line (did it with tension), and even after chatting to the FA I’m not sure if the move to leave the break is independent of Freakshow. The Perfect Storm (7c+) attempted RP putting the draws in. Fell on the crux, re-worked it a little, then RP 45min later powered by 50th b’day cake (not mine!) 8a fo sho.

S – Mostly DIY, gardening and MTB fettling club. Then 11mile flat MTB around Tatton.

Making 2nd batch of sour dough with Nick's culture this morning - much more bubbly and wetter than first try.

Fingers crossed I've not created a monster...

she is called Audrey for a reason

Is there some good sourdough beta going around? Mine is hugely temperamental ...

We acquired some of Nick R's starter, which had the benefit of a good few months of expert tending before being handed over to folk such as ourselves!

If you remind me, I can breed you some up for next time we see you.

That would be fab. Mine is called Inigo Montoya (I killed his father) and he is out to get me. Or at least pretend to be unbubbly for large periods of time. 

Move over DIY club, sourdough is where it's at?

Cheers, a brick session is just doing two of the triathlon activities back to back. When I get the chance I like to do the bike run one as its a really strange feeling in the legs getting off the bike and trying to run and the heat certainly didn't help! Anyway bit of a quieter week gone by which went as follows; 

Monday, 1km lunchtime swim

Tuesday, 2km lunchtime swim and 16km ride home

Wednesday, 7km run in the evening

Thursday, 2km lunchtime swim followed by stretch clas

Friday, 43km ride home

Saturday, rest/taxi service to swim galas

Sunday, 7.5km run

STG: At least one decent weekend sport climbing weekend in July. Yes, for some value of "decent". See below
MTG (2018): Onsight 7a; redpoint 7b multiple times on routes that aren't pure boulder problems
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

Strength phase (emphasis, not exclusive) of the Hörst 4-3-2-1 cycle, week 3 of 3.

M: Bike 1½ hours, 15 minutes shoulder mobility
T: Back to one strength session a day. Max hangs. Still struggling with warmth, humidity & general greasiness on wooden edges. Better than Sunday though, first good session for a fortnight in fact
W: Team outing with work. Couple of hours easy hikng up to a hut for lunch, but then ate far too much barbecue & got completely hammered in the evening. Oops. I don't do it often though.
T: Had planned to go to Boulderwelt but was called out for family computer troubleshooting instead. Max hangs instead.
F: Rest day.
S: Frankenjura. Managed to get out with an old friend I haven't seen for ages, and went on an old project I haven't been on for ages. Very bouldery 7a with a dyno crux. I touched the target hold on 3 out of 4 goes - progress - but held it 0 out of 3. He otoh got it for his first 7a redpoint. Team victory, hurrah.
S: Frankenjura. Was wasted. Pottered on some easy routes, belayed my friend. Made not of an excellent crag (Rote Wand) with 30 metre endurance routes - a rarity in the 'jura that will be useful in the Autumn for pre-Kaly fitness benchmarking.

One the one hand: I got out and had a good time with a friend. But no tick, and being completely wrecked for the weekend after a handful of goes on a pure bouldering-on-a-rope project, with no endurance component to speak of, does seem to point to an alarming lack of session stamina. Although this was on the back of a very heavy week at work, both partying and actual working, which hopefully might account for some of it.

•Mo: General walking, 7.1m
•Tu: General walking, 7.7m
•We: General walking, 7.2m. 10 problems, (v3). 4x12 s max hangs x3
•Th: Commuting walk, 7.5m
•Fr: General walking, 9.8m. 2 sport routes, (6a).
•Sa: General walking, 5.7m. 4 sport routes, (6b+).
•Su: General walking, 7.3m. Admin day.

• weight 10st, 4/15.3%

Same as last week really. One more climb, but no gym, so all balances out. Flat purchase completion in sight, so be nice to get that done, dusted and try to increase the psyche levels to get out climbing.

AJM, managed to avoid the beer garden temptations, did you? Also, on holiday in August, so w/e of 18th is a possibility.

That's the weekend after I return home, unfortunately. Would like to make it to Pembroke again at some point.

Good week in Cham, though some unstable weather put paid to any particularly lofty ambitions.

Mon - Les Lépidoptères (D 5b) and finishing up Papillons Arête (D+ 5c), a good civillized start to the week.

Tue - Took the lift up to the Grands Montets and did East Ridge (PD+ 4c). Another fairly low stress day, psyched for bigger and harder things.

Wed - Grands Montets again, headed over to the Argentiere Hut with the intention of doing Flèche Rousse Ridge (AD 3), to be told by the very helpful guardian that we were way too late in the day, which we really should have known. Climbed the rather fun Arete du Rabouin and had a beer at the hut. Missed the lift and walked back to Argentiere.

Thu - Poor weather day. Discussed options for the week and decided to try a gamble on Grands Montets Ridge (D+) after a chat with the staff at the OHM

Fri - Can see the Grands Montets Ridge (D+) from the valley, there's now way too much snow on it and it needs a good few days of good weather. We sack it off and decide to bivvy up at the base of the Nantillons Glacier to try Charmoz-Grépon Traverse (D+ 6b) on Sat.

Sat - Friday's weather was much worse than expected, and despite a clear morning the crags are now sopping wet. We decide that to attempt the ridge would be at best unpleasant and so take the cablecar down for a proper breakfast and a bit of sleep. We look at various options for Sunday and make a plan based on me having to be at Geneva for my flight home at 21:35

Sun  - We take the first lift up to the Midi for the Midi-Plan Traverse (AD), a good option as it's there and back so we can just turn around if time gets pressing. We were doing quite well until yours truly had a massive clusterf*ck of an abseil and had to chop a couple of metres off James' rope. We turned around about 30 minutes from the Plan. Massive slog back to the Midi - I find there and back routes hugely unsatisfying to be honest but it was a good end to the trip. The Midi was so busy it took about 2 hours to eventually get back down to the valley, missed my transfer and had to Easybus it (no easy task with 30kg of baggage). Flight back such a massive pain in the arse, now thinking about driving next time.

Lessons learned - need more time so as not to feel under pressure to climb every day, and to be able to wait for weather windows. Next year, take at least two weeks, preferably three. And drive down.

STG

 - A few days rest this week then back into training mode for my planned work break in November.
 - Still hot so maybe Chee Tor this weekend?

MTG

 - Routes : 

The File (VS 4c)
Suicide Wall (HVS 5b)
The Hen Cloud HVSs

The Right Unconquerable (HVS 5a)
The Left Unconquerable (E1 5b)
Flying Buttress Direct (E1 5b)
Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c)
Brown's Eliminate (E2 5b)
The Rasp (E2 5b)
Regent Street (E2 5c)

- Problems

Crescent Arête (f5+)
Banana Finger (f6A)

LTG

- Ama Dablam possibly end 2018
- US/Canada trip in Winter 2018

BHAG

London Wall (E5 6a)
The 1938 Route (ED2)
American Direct (ED1 6c+)

Fitclub 600 Goals

E2 onsight. Looking at The Rasp (E2 5b), looks like a pretty physical outing but that could mean it might be succumb to a physical training approach.

On the other hand, I've only climbed one E1 this year so I may be bonkers. However, nothing ventured...

I came to those conclusions myself about the Alps ~ 11 years ago, along with the need to get to Scotland each year for at least a week too if I was ever going to get better.

It's a big commitment. Ultimately I only managed 3 proper trips to the Alps before life meant the number of weeks' holidayit needed me to dedicate each year became completely unfeasible. I do miss it though  Good luck doing better! 

Hi Andy

Ok week training wise, especially considering had a mini break at the end of the week with the family.

Monday:felt tired which is becoming a trend, perhaps I need better rest/diet on Sundays perhaps??? Just guessing. Climbed 5 easy problems then one set of execises @ the wall.

Wednesday: felt better as the session went on. Aim: climb 2 problems in each circuit before moving up to the next circuit.
Climbed 2  problems in v2-3, v3-4 and v3-5 circuits. And then climbed a new problem in the v4-6 circuit which again felt v6.

Hoping to climb outside/get to the wall 3 times this week as I've only been managing 2 climbing sessions a week recently, plus work will be busy next week.
 

I found much the same - I realised that getting good at alpinism would require committing a lot of my holiday allowance to trips with at least a medium risk of getting nothing done (since leaving uni, both Scotland and the Alps have required holiday rather than being weekend options). I did it for a while after uni but gradually drifted towards more reliable options...

In part, some of my enjoyment (if occasionally retrospective!) of pre-alpine rock (Wendenstock et al) is that it offers a balance - a way to get into the mountains (which I do still love) combined with a lower investment since some of the time commitment falls away (they're day routes, the need for Scottish mileage to maintain snow/mixed proficiency falls away, and so on). That plus it's some of the best rock I've climbed on, of course.

Question for the floor. I'm currently on holiday so I am not climbing but I plan to use the week for prerehab. There's a gym here and I made myself a portable finger board (a friend said it looked like I'd dismantled someone's favela but it's not about the aesthetics!). I'm doing a daily stretch/Pilates/yoga class. So what does everyone suggest for a struggling sport climber?

I also need to get knee bar fit so tried inclined sit-ups clutching a 15kg disk but this seemed to strain my back more than my abs but knee barring is all about the abs isn't it?

After too many bad winter trips to Scotland and the Alps being too condition dependent, I've just spent the day doing granite single pitch at 1800m after an abseil in. No drama and no stress apart from realising that jumaring back up is flipping hard!

I don't really have bad trips to Swizzy in summer now I stopped all the ice ace nonsense.

Hi,

The van isn't sorted yet as £600 is a big chunk to burn when there's a couple more weeks til payday so i'm hanging onto it in case anything more pressing occurs in the meantime. The happy upside of this is that i'm forced to ride to work. It has been harder in this heat but I never get home thinking "I wish I hadn't done that" so I just bear that in mind when i'm grumping my way out of bed and pulling the kit on. I actually enjoy my commute and collecting meggles on Strava. Sad really...

I could prob drive the van. But its just not worth the consequences if the engine overheats....

Had a bit of a sore back the past week and into this week so gymnastics has been out. I think its my work bike set up. I keep meaning to address it but once I get home I CBA... Its a nagging lower back ache, will see how it goes this week.

Last week I did four days of riding so only 104 miles. I would have come home via Rivington for a more scenic and extended ride, but the fires up there are still burning.

This week, more of the same. Will sack off gymnastics this week too I think as I don't want to aggravate the back.

Have a good week everyone, stay safe in whatever you do and enjoy this extended, bonkers, once in a lifetime, brilliant but scorching heatwave

H

It's on my list too so if you fancy a Rasp party/cheerleader, let us know

Cheers Andy. Looks like everyone is enjoying the weather back home. 

So this week we did the Marmotte. That was about it and that was enough. 175km and 5000m of ascent. Strava time 10hrs 7min and official time 10hrs 40min. It nearly didn’t happen as Rachel got t-boned by a car at a junction on our last training ride. Stitches required, but her and the bike were tough enough to recover for the day. 

Boiling hot day. Stupid amounts of time spent going up massive hills. Ate my own body weight in cheese from the feed stations and generally loved it. 

Paced it possibly a bit slow in the first half but it was good to finish strong and overtake lots of people on Alp D’Huez. Finished 4404 out of between 8 and 9k riders. A lot got timed out at base of alp d’huez so don’t show on the results. 

Sampled some of the climbing the area has to offer and it’s great. But been too tired to do much with it. It seems I can’t climb hard and bike hard at the same time. 

I feel the need to get back to climbing now but I am weak as a kitten and need to get strong. Probably going to use the rest of summer to sort out niggles and trad and then get strong over winter. 

Current list of niggles is:

neck - both sides but right worse than left

left shoulder - longstanding issue

left hip and knee - need to re strengthen 

right ankle - still gives me grief on slabs following a sprain 2 yrs ago

right thumb - De Quervains.

i also want to get more flexible in lower limbs. 

I have got my handstand bet a week on Wednesday so I need to keep on that too. Got an 8 second one today. Best yet. 

Thanks AJM

Had a cracking time but there are a few things I need to work on to improve. The one that will have the most pay back = My Head

The weather forecast made life a bit hard.

Going to call this the end of the year so a bit of a run down from me starting with negatives from the alps so I can decided what I am going to work on over the coming year.

Negatives

Exposed snow aretes - I can do them but I slow down - Going to spend as much time on exposed scrambling as I can

Scree - bloody cant stand the stuff - again I can do it but I slow down - Time for some laps at the bottom of Cwfry 

Speed - I can keep going all day but at slow pace - need to include more z3 work this next year to increase my pace. Still need to keep up the large base of z1 as this did do good more on this later

Positives

Climbing - as long as I have a rope and gear there is no issue

Fitness - this has improved massively - I can now go all day and recover easily the next day. We beat every guidebook time on the climbs. I think this is to do with the z1 running

Weight - I've managed to go from 87kg down to 76kg. Waist form 4 inches down to 36 inches. Still more to o around the waist but would be happy at this weight and converting it to muscle

S - Traversée des Crochues (PD+ 4a) then sport climbing at  Les Gaillands

M - Southeast Ridge (AD 4c) then sport climbing at  Servoz. There was a bar across the road from this crag that could be quite dangerous

T - Drove through to italy and went up the cable car and crossed the glacier to the midi hut as the lift was closed and we got told it would open Saturday

W - Arete des Cosmiques (AD 3). When we got to the top it was full of people as they had reopened the lift. Slightly strange stood belaying while people were taking photos. Back across the glacier and drove to grand paradiso 

T - Gran Paradiso summit (summit) From the valley floor to the summit and back in a day. Was not to bad only took 9 hours. Whiteout conditions on top and gales. Reminded me of Scotland

F - Drove back to Cham. Weather was a bit crap so spent the day in town and had a look at the acadamy

S - Sport climbing at  Les Gaillands. Drove home 

Next time I go 2 weeks will have to be a minimum. This year we got to know the area and what to do in bad weather.

Going to spend the next few month trying to improve my rock climbing. 

Lee

I'm the opposite all I was thinking while driving home was I wish I had flown 

Thanks Andy. Yep, gorgeous Portland weekend again. Climbing difficult to contemplate before about 6pm.

Mon - Fri: 3x boulder sessions. 5/9 remaining problems from last 2 sets and a couple of additional V5s.

Sat: Portland, Wallsend. Scorchio. Onsighted Peace in the 90's (6b+) and Once Upon a Time in The West (6c). 4 swims.

Sun: Portland, Cheyne Weares. Some nice easyish onsights and a very cruxy 6c 3rd go. 2 swims. Home to domestic drama and no sleep :-/

Goals for this week:

Start forming list of daydreams into list of goals.

Remember how to trad climb.

1x HVS? Motion Pictures or Run For Home if feeling brave?

Trad?!

I don't think I've done Motion Pictures, but as far as I recall the crux on Run for Home is in the head - lots of slings on concretion threads but not a lot else in places...

You should join in the dws fun... Makes good use of the heat of the day!

I suspect it may be a somewhat more reasonable objective for you, but will do!

As you have witnessed the entire sum-total of my week's activity (well apart from a couple of cycle commutes), I shall be brief... 

S/S - Can't believe I've never tried this DWS malarkey before. Brilliant fun and incredibly liberating. The Maypole (HVS 5b) lots of times and fantastic every time. Got a bit weak and couldn't quite land the chuck left on The Laws Traverse (E1 6a), so reversed the start to save that for another time. Fell off Horny Lil' Devil (7a) a few times around the porthole, then accidentally put it together the one time I had set up Ben with gopro on the beach side to film the splashdown ... ace route and by the skin of my teeth on the wide chuck. Late attempt on Animal Magnetism (7a+) towards the end but went a bit off piste and was tired so bailed. Another awesome climb. Lots of swimming and a crap bivy choice on the Saturday night (it turns out if you sleep in a wind tunnel with a square sleeping bag you become a windsock...who would have thought?!) 

Thanks to Team AJM for some great company, DWS tour guiding, pointing out all the boats, birds and dogs going past so we didn't miss any and sharing the double fish&chips guilt. Sorry to miss you Matt!

FC 600 Goals:

1. Do more DWS with Animal Magnetism (7a+) as target plus anything else Mr AJMiyagi invents

2. Do something Alpine that I've heard of in Cham

3. Strong pyramid of E1-3

4. Do a convincing handstand

Awesome effort for your first time on dws. When I went there with a couple of years back I found it pretty intimidating... Did the Maypole then went bouldering round the corner! 

Hi All. Thanks AJM.

Last week was a write-off. As in a complete training disaster.

First week since I started posting that I haven't done a single day of exercise of any sort.

Finished the week pretty knackered from work and utterly fed up from not having done any training. I hadn't realised how tied up my frame of mind is with exercise these days. Can't let another week like that happen.

Last week:

Nothing. Just an exhausting combo of work, too much alcohol and not enough sleep. 

Next week:

Sort myself out!!

5 hours Z1, including 3 hour hill run

2 Strength sessions: leg focus

2 Core sessions

1 Climbing session 

FC600 Goals:

600m of new route in Kyrgyzstan.

Think of it as a rest week

Great FC600 goal, hope you achieve it. 

Thanks Lee! It was more a rest weak!

Thanks! Fingers crossed!

Bon chance on the Westgrat. Sure you’ll nail it. Enjoy!

Sounds like some good mileage, even if circumstances did conspire against you a bit. Also, if you’re chopping ropes it’s much better that they’re your mate’s! Nice work!  

Awesome work on the trip! Great to hear the Z1 work is paying you back. And it sounds like it’s payed back well if you nailed the GP from the valley floor in such a respectable time, it must be a slog in summer! Nice one mate. 

STG - 14st

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

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

Weight - 14st 4lbs (1lbs gain)

M - Rest

T - 2.4k run

W - 10 Baby Core Movements (BCMs)

T - 4km

F - S - Rest / 2 miles walk on Sunday (Durdle Doors)

Managed to get a few short runs in.  Then was supposed to be climbing on Sunday at Lulworth cove with the rest of fit club.  However it was all going to be a bit hard so I wimped out basically.  My wife also wanted to go home as the heat and hayfever was getting to her.  We'd been out for most of the week anyway.  It was nice to briefly see AJM and clan as well as Ben.  Sadly Rebecca was on Maypole, so I missed her.    I also started doing some 'baby core movements' which is basically a bad sit-up while holding a baby.  He finds them funny and they definitely do something for my core.  The only good thing about the football so far is that it meant we had an amazing drive back home.  The roads were dead!