UKC

I'm happy to do stats again, but like last week it won't be until tomorrow morning. Happy for anyone to post early or someone to jump in with stats between now and then.

Cheers Ally.

My scales broke during the week, which means my benchmarks are imprecise. However, I managed two good fingerboard sessions - one focusing on the slopers, where I managed to get up to what’s probably about 90kg for 5-6s. This is apparently, according to my logs, aboout half the hang time at the same weight as my p.b., which is moderately encouraging since That was a fair way through a cycle and this is my second session on them in some time. The second was very good, a bit of a breakthrough on the 8mm micros. From my previous times where they felt very unpredictable, something just clicked this time and I was doing 5-6s at bodyweight+6 (82-3?). Good result.

today I had a fun day out at Cheddar. Turned up and was a bit disappointed to find fencing across the bottom of High Rock, which the gorge staff said we weren’t allowed to climb behind. Seems like slightly mixed messaging here as apparently they’ve been up for ages and some people have been told it’s ok. But anyway, based on what we were told we decided to go to Acid Rock instead and tried Ahimsa (E3 5c). Probably the hardest trad I’ve tried to lead in years, first trad climb for months, unchalked, what could go wrong. Thankfully I’ve done it before so pressure. I gave it a decent go, not feeling super fit but fell off the last and hardest move of the hard bit on pitch 1, tried hard. Then a Rebecca took a bit of a lob on p2 because it was wet. I went to go and get gear back - up and down climbed so a bit faffy. I had a quick thought about Thor (HVS 5b) but wasn’t really feeling it, feet cold and a bit slippy feeling and fingers a bit chilly too. Went and thrashed on Speedfreak (7a+) in late afternoon sun to finish off, had one decent go where my hand slipped rearranging on what should have been a good hold, shoulders a bit blasted after that. Hard work day out. Didn’t really achieve anything, but put some effort in and it’s still probably my best day out climbing since Smith...

Morning all! Standard stats blurb: 

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

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

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_621-7002...

Posters:

Powerpuff - good week - lots of strength training. Any tips for doing multiple pull-ups on the slopers? I always seem to start slipping by 2nd or 3rd rep...

AJM - already reported; trying hard can be very satisfying, even if it doesn't result in ticks. Do you think the micro progress might be finger "pulp" adaptations?

Me - tut tut - winter limestone indulgence again; fatty needs to swerve the beer & cake more too

the sheep - the metronomic training continues - did you drop the intensity to cope with the arm DOMS post gym?

mattrm - feeling better now?

Lornajkelly - welcome back. Keep up the shoulder conditioning

Tom Green - Have fun in the alps. Jaz is burly as F! Trying out some fruit-boots made it much easier - are these tactics you've adopted?

Somerset Swede Basher - Did you get out this week? Great weather for it...

Alan Little - Good to keep plugging away whilst looking after snotty little 'un. 

SFrancis - No real surprise that a week of ice climbing has dented your rock/plastic pulling ability. Do you feel stronger again this week?

biscuit - Did you go to Plywood masters or go outside with the lovely weekend weather?

Bones - did you tick the Hackney Wick V6?

Ardo - more training/back rehab progressthis week?

Cyan - Enjoy Spain - stop sending me pictures of blue sky - it's not helping me compose stats!

Ianstevens - at it every day again! Peak & North Wales report?

Tyler - glad to hear that your hip is responding to some rehab - keep at it. "Well nourished" - I know the feeling...

Climbthatpitch - Scottish conditions look poo - how was the peak?

Rebecca Ting - same as before "any mid-week training, or just more weekend warrioring?" Cheddar?

guy127917 - ticking over nicely - More HW boulders this week?

alexm198 - Awaiting the Dolomites report - I'm hoping there's more to it than driving between destinations...

Week 7

M – Lunchtime max-hangs. Progress on rehabbing back up to true max – 10s hang on 58kg in BM2K-AA. Other grips: Little slot/crimp felt greasy (32kg) but nailed on some solid increases with back2, back3 & +15kg on the sloper (it just needed a decent brush, bendy mount didn’t seem to be holding me back too much). The max-hangs are starting to feel a little stale and that I’ve plateaued. Think some 1-arm work or repeaters are now needed to keep things fresh. 10x 7/6/3/1 aero-cap after work.

T – Rest. Stretching only. Left index finger a little grumpy – probably the mono on Tarantula (f7C) from last week?

W – Bouldering by lantern. More puerile ticking of link-ups/variations. A couple of meaty numbers tamed by copious quantities of gaffer taped kneepads and tape gloves. 7A x2, 7A+, 7C/+ (8a+ link), 7C+/8A FA (8b link?) Corkscrew (f8A) Knackered! https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt56-HAh80M/

T – 10x 7/3/6/1 @ BW-15kg aero-cap. Crimpd static core, then another round of fingerboard aero-cap.

F – Nothing.

S – DIY club is just about finished – just in time for gardening club to kick off! I should have amassed lots of brownie points come route season?

FoC aero-power test before dinner; brief warm up, then smashed 5min 50s = 8b+/c fitness? 1:1 work/rest interval and lovely decay curve down to 25% an-cap. Really don’t know how I’ve managed this whilst only training aero-cap once a week and concentrating on strength & an-cap!?!

S – More gardening, 29km flat biking (MTB on back roads) then Crimpd static core in front of TV.

Cheers for the stats Ally.

Change is as good as a rest and all that. Normally take a rest day when I have a couple of bad days back-to-back (or one very bad day) and did get close last week, but not quite. Given my running goals later in the year, training tired is good mental adjustment for longer races. On the note of volume, I'll cross 100 hours this year today!

North Wales didn't happen sadly as my partner for the weekend had to bail last minute and I was unable to source a new one. In the Peak at the start of the week things went far better, got up Trackside (f7A) (STG tick there) and had a nice afternoon doing easy stuff at  Burbage South Valley Boulders. And productive work wise. Ticked off all my sessions again. Lost 0.5 kg of winter chub despite making (and eating...) a load of brownies Friday.

Nothing exciting planned this week, but will do a max hang test to see if I can get another STG ticked.

Goals

 STGs: 1) Max Hangs on the AA slot to 90.5kg (currently 88.3kg) by 24/2. 2) Get up any 7A boulder done ; 3) Complete all planned sessions for weeks up to the start of March (3 climb, 2 hangboard, 2 strength, 2 runs) (7/9) 4) Triple figures of points in the CWIF (in the 70s last year IIRC).

MTG (April 2019): 1) Climb >10 7s (sport) by the end of April. 2) Down to 70.5 kg in same period (currently 71.8 kg, 7 day average)

LTG (end of summer 2019): Depends on winter progress - either a 7c or an 8a. 7.5 hours for the Snowdon Skyline race (Sept 2019).

Last Week (2019.7)

Monday: Curbar boulders - Trackside (f7A) and some easier warm ups. Got dark so some Irn Bru problems in the Works.

Tuesday: 1) Yoga; 2) 5/5+ Burbage south circuit - 11 problems in 2 hours including faff time.

Wednesday: 1) Yoga; 2) Works problems < wasp

Thursday: 1) Yoga; 2) Run 12.2km, 355m elevation; 3) Gym (trashed skin!): pull ups 5x5+2kg; TRX Reverse Fly 4x4; TRX IYT 10x3; TRX Reverse IYT 10x3

Friday: Bike (outside!) 57.8km, 1037m elevation, 208W NP. Dragged round by my "friend" and felt pretty terrible throughout.

Saturday: 1) Yoga; 2) 90% hangs on AA slot x 6 @ 81.4kg; 3) Parkrun in 19:19, first over the line thanks to a lack of attendees due to a local race (but forgot barcode...); 4) Crimpd flexibility - upper body and legs. Bit of DIY Club knocking down a friends wall.

Sunday: 1) Yoga; 2) 90% hangs on AA slot x 6 @ 82.5kg; 3) Run 16.1km, 476m elevation; 4) Core - crimpd static holds session

It can, yes. Succeeding is best, but if I fail having tried really hard then there's still definitely a lot of satisfaction that just isn't there if you don't really give it 100%. And I can feel the aches today!

I don't really know, to be honest. Maybe pulp, maybe just riding out the inherent "pinginess" of the hold size, maybe hanging differently somehow... as long as it isn't just a one-off I don't mind too much!

Should try them again this week, plus the wall, might try a campus session to make sure the power is fired up - Font is getting close now! Busy Saturday for a lot of the day but fingers crossed maybe for a day or half day out Sunday? Looks sunny currently.

Thanks Ally!  Yeah it's still feeling good and I'm worrying less about feeling it pinch when it does happen, as my physio tells me it's not necessarily a sign of damage.  I'm starting to trust it more and I managed to forget about it for big chunks of the day on Saturday, when I took some friends toproping at Froggatt.

A pretty good week overall:

M:  Couch to 5k week 4

Tu:  Climbing - leading!  Only a 4 and a 4+ but it's better than nothing.  I also tried a 5 on a vertical wall and a 6a on a slab.  Couldn't finish the 6a but I got pretty close.  It's a little upsetting to see how much strength I've lost and weight gained in the few months I was out of action, but at least I know my starting point now.

W:  Rest

Th:  Another rest, exhausted after a pretty intense week in the lab

F:  The couch to 5k week 4 run I should've done on Thursday!

Sa:  Day out to Froggatt, led 2 things I've done before but one was a VDiff and my head took it fairly well.  The plan was to toprope a couple of harder things but I tried a HS (4c) that I've half led before and couldn't even get off the ground.  It's an awkward start move but again it shows me that my new starting point is a lot lower than I would've liked it to be.  Though over the course of the day walking to the crag, up and down the descent path sorting top ropes and then back to the car my fitbit clocked 8 miles.  And I can log it as a teaching day for my RCI course.

Su:  couch to 5k week 4.  This kicked my arse substantially, but probably because of the consecutive run-walk-run of the weekend.  Still, I'm going to repeat week 4 rather than move on to week 5 because the third run in week 5 is the hardest in the entire podcast and I'm not ready for that yet!

Hi Ally, congrats on pulling hard at nudas tartan. I've always struggled to work out where things go on that right hand side. I've managed lots of mini sessions this week but no other exercise.

Mon. Rest

Tues. Tried to find dry rock at stoney.  Minus ten v wet except the right hand side, did the double double 6C 2nd go. Parts of toms roof v wet, tried that move on fig 8 but didn't really get much further. Left with my left bicep in tatters and my right wondering if it was going to ever get used!

Wed. Tor session, everything wet except pinches wall so had a nemesis slaying session on there. 7A 2x7Bs and a 7B+, all things I've tried before but never managed til today. Made up for yesterday's spanking.

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. Curbar. Left my ego in the car and spent the entire session on slacktrack 6C+.Got it eventually. Wanted to try sidetrack but I can't reach the start holds!

Sat. Rest.

Sun. Burbage North. Conditions were amazing. Did Banana Boycott 7A+ first go though I've tried it before. Then did Banana Finger low traverse 7B which took ages to get a sequence on but felt ok once I'd worked it out. Some other stuff in the 6s too.

Cheers Ally. Neither option in the end. I've decided to give the shoulder a week off from climbing to allow it to settle properly. It's got to the point where day to day it doesn't bother me but it reacted to both climbing sessions last week. Painful overnight/when sleeping but fine once up and about the next day. However that's not ideal so sacrificing a week should be worth it. I've got a Winter boulder league final on 3rd March I want to be fully fit for.

Exciting news is a trip is on the cards for October. Goal will be something around on-sighting 7b - depends how the Summer goes. 

Climbed twice. Nothing exciting. Once at BUK on Thursday to test if I really should enter the comp or not. Not was the answer, as explained above. Had a good try hard session though on 3 of the hardest V4's I've ever been on. Got one of them in the end. Thinking of claiming a V6 week 666 goal for it it was that hard. 

Did some good rides in lieu of skiing and climbing being off the cards. Nipped for a session at Chill factore. Still improving on the skis.

Sleep and diet were good - too much booze (and cats) at the weekend led to a bad nights sleep.

I have started counting what I eat again - more to look at protein intake than calories. I could easily tidy up a couple of hundred calories a day, which will be worth doing, and my protein intake doesn't change between exercising and non exercising days. I was quite under a few times. 

This week:

Finish my last EVER uni essay. I can't begin to say how good that feels. Just two exams and a dissertation to get through now. 

Shoulder physio every day and lots of it! Hopefully stop the clunking.

No climbing - but only until Thursday, woo hoo! I may do routes rather than boulder.

Maybe bike later in the week

Possibly ski at the weekend if some sort of weather miracle happens and loads of snow lands in Scotland. 

Chill Factore session - I need to sort out my ideal boot/ski/binding combo

Diet - 2250cal a day (adjusted for exercise) and hit my protein requirements. DQS 20+ each day. I've dropped the DQS score whilst i'm finding ways of getting protein in without significantly upping my calories. There's only so many lentils you can eat. 

Sleep - 8 hrs a night x 7

Thanks Ally. Appreciate the effort you (and others) put into keeping this rolling

STG: Weather is improving: get outside
MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project 
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

M: 
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Allowed myself to be swayed from the path of aerocap righteousness by the discovery that two of my projects are due to come down next week. No tick on either of them, but the urgency of feeling that the routes practically evaporating underneath me as I climbed them did motivate me to actually try hard and fall off instead of taking the coward's way out. Getting better at falling off will have more term effect on my climbing than whether or not I redpoint a particular piece of plastic.
W: 
T: Wall, Boulderwelt. Weak attempt at a bouldering session
F: 
S: Actual climbing!! Schönhofen. Typical early season nerves, exacerbated by a cold start having got up too early and arrived while the crag was still in the shade. Didn't try anything ambitious, but got some mileage in & started to get my real rock head back together after what felt like a long winter.
S: Wall, Weyarn. Autobelay aerocap mileage.

I have a painful rope burn on my ankle from Tuesday, suggesting that it must have been behind the rope at some point when I fell off. Oops. Note to self: be more careful.

Ticking along to a point... my bad weeks haven't looked that bad on paper! Fingerboarding died a death, restarting next week with renewed vigour.

Monday: rest

Tuesday: Indoor football, nearly killed me!

Wednesday: General bouldering- short session, felt pretty rubbish

Thursday: More bouldering, felt a little better

Friday: Nice 5 mile run

Saturday: 13km run, kind of hard but not too bad

Sunday: 13km run, starting to feel quite a bit better. Full length bouldering session, feeling good.

Continuing with broken leg rehab. It's a slow process but every day shows small improvements. 5 weeks since surgery I can weight the leg enough to stand with weight distributed evenly, and can just about hobble around without the crutches for a few steps.

I did the upper body routines from the TFTNA Alpine Combine and the result was woeful. Not massively surprised since I haven't done any training since before Nepal in mid-November, and I suspect most of my calories are going into healing my leg (although I don't actually know if that's how it works - would be interested to know if any medical types are lurking)

Fitness test:

Ring Dips in 60s: 9
Situps in 60s: 18
Pullups in 60s: 6
Pressups in 60s: 14

Last Week:

Daily: Leg rehab. Some ankle stretches and a wander round the courtyard on crutches with partial weight on the leg.
2 General Strength sessions:
2 sets of Situps/Pullups/Ring Dips/Pressups

STG

2 General Strength sessions. Increase to 3 sets.
Do a max hang test on the Beastmaker from the Crimpd app

MTG

Leg rehab. Looking ahead to the 3 month mark when I should be able to start non-weight bearing cardio like cycling and swimming. Not sure yet how climbing fits into this - might be able to get on a top rope and do some easy stuff.

LTG

Full recovery from the leg injury at about the 6 month mark.
Pabbay/Mingulay end June.

Sorry - No idea on how many calories actually go into mending broken bones/soft tissue.

However, intrgued by this strength testing - what are the benchmarks?

It's a basic fitness test from Training for the New Alpinism - 

• 300m Vertical Ascent or Box Step with 20% bodweight pack (I used to do Jacob's Ladder but I don't really think it's steep enough) Obviously can't do this one! 
• Dips in 60 seconds
• Situps in 60 seconds
• Pullups in 60 seconds
• Box jumps in 60s (Can't do this one either...)
• Push-ups in 60 seconds.

See this screenshot for what they think are good numbers. I used to score 'excellent' - now I've dropped a couple of categories...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sgz6jwu2vu4dxry/Screenshot_20190219-121314.png?dl...

A bit of googling found this - 

http://www.sygdoms.com/pdf/fracture/8.pdf

From the referenced research (the original is behind a paywall) - 

"In trauma patients with long bone injuries, a hypermetabolic response occurs. The greater the severity of the injury, the larger the catabolism, with a marked loss in body nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorous on the first day after injury (5). The resultant increase in calorific intake required to keep up with the metabolic demands can exceed 6000 calld, nearly three times that of a normal active adult (6). If this nutritional demand is not met, patient recovery is adversely affected."

So yeah, pretty significant. I think I might pay a bit more attention to what I'm eating.

If you do the box step you do 300 meters of ascent and descent do you have to do the same if doing this test outdoors?

You mean the descent? No I don't think so, though if you use the box step as a benchmark it obviously won't be comparable if on the next test you use an outdoor hill climb.

Hey Ally, ta for t'stats. 

Walking, stretching, Physio and massage through the start, with some actual outdoor climbing at the back of the week

Physio Monday: piriformis and hip mobility, with one alignment stretch/exercise added. Twas a painful walk home. Massage with cupping on Wednesday, ooh er Matron. Trad two days on the bounce, Friday and Saturday, boxed on Sunday.

Hi Ally, 

Thanks for prosiding over fit club again.

Sorry for not replying to your post last week, I kept meaning to but work kept getting in the way.

I doubt you need advice from me sir.... your a proper climber! But seen as you've asked.... I seem to spend most of my fingerboard time on the slopers so that obviously helps....that and this wonderful thing called chalk

Work still very full on at the moment and I've got the dreaded man cold now, just one session last week before I got the lurgy.

Monday: went to the wall and climbed 3x v4 and 1x v5. 3 sets of 20 push ups and sit ups and 3 sets of 10 leg raises and eccentric wrist curls.

Back bad at present too...need some more running shoes and to improve my posture when sitting at my desk at work to resolve this. I considered buying a weight vest today but thought better of it given my history of back and shoulder issues.....minus one man points for me!

Pull hard people!

Cheers, the major muscle groups used for swimming were thankfully resilient to the weights set so only knocked the intensity a wee bit. The other muscles hurt when used in different ways so increasing the complementary strength in these is hopefully a good idea. Had another good week gone by.

Monday; 2.5km swim

Tuesday, light weights set, 2km swim and a 26km ride home

Wednesday light weights set, 2km swim and 1 hour intervals set in the evening (7.5km including warm up and cool down)

Thursday; 2km swim and stretch class, helping with C25K group in the evening

Friday, at primary school open day so no swim, 6.5km run in the evening

Saturday, social run with the wife and some of her run club. Was supposed to be 12 miles but rounded up to 13.5 to get the half marathon distance in. Pretty much a year to the day since I last ran a half 

Sunday, gentle 6.5km trail run

I ended up at Tom's Roof last night as the Tor was grim!

I got Figure of 8 (f7B+) done - the key for me was to get quite sideways on foothold S, almost outside edging. That way, I was able to hold the lock-off and get the pinch quite statically.

I managed to repeat Let's go round again (fig 8 reverse) (f7C) at the end of the session - for me, that feels easier than Fig 8 as I can lank the first move and lurch the reserve move off foothold S. Might have it on video...

although we all know that resorting to lank is, in fact, cheating!!!

STG - 14st

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

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

Weight - 14st 8lbs

M - W - Rest

T - Indoor routes

F - S - Rest

Yes, much better.  Still a bit worn down at the start of the week tho.  Managed to get down the local wall with routes.  There is a bouldering only wall that's nearer, but my normal climbing partner isn't a fan, so I travelled a bit more.  It's the Rock UK/ Summit/WICC wall.  It's got some pretty long routes with some of the 'old school' moulded wall panels, including a massive (for an indoor wall) double overhang.  I think I mostly did 4/5s, the routes there seem fairly sensibly graded.  It's not too expensive either and has just had a refit, so it's all nice and new inside.  My mate had a good bash on a 6c and got with in a few moves of the clip, which is great for him.  I'm trying to make sure I get better sleep and hopefully things'll improve over the next few months.

Been experimenting with "overnight" protein to do this of late - idea is that you have it 30 mins before bed and it releases slowly overnight. Whether or not this actually happens is a bit moot, after dinner (c. 7:30 - 8 pm) I'd never used to eat more, and I guess by 10:30 I can handle more protein. IIRC 25g protein for 110kcal. Could be worth a go?

Unfortunately the hip is beyond redemption but I was entering a spiral as I got more immobile other bits of my body were suffering (plus it's quite surprising how you can still climb at a level whilst being incredibly weak in non climbing related excercise).

M: Rest

T: BoulderUK or Rockover 

We: BoulderUK or Rockover. We need of these evenings I nearly managed 10,10, 9 pull ups 

T: Rest

F: Took day off and had first day of the year at the Cove. Glorious sunny day but failed miserably on the warmups (it gets worse every year) then had a couple of dogging goes on Free and Easy. Generally dismal but confirmed I could just about get myself into the high Rockover on the crux with a lot of pain and whinging.

S: Couldn't believe how tired I was after yesterday, I don't think I try hard enough indoors so when I go outside I get smacked about a bit.

S: Back to the cove, managed to find some new holds on Consenting which enabled me to claw my way to the top (I've probably done this route nearly 1000 times proving the adage that here's always new beta to learn on a Malham route). Had to leave early so put clips in F&E and dogged through the crux ok then went from above crux to last bolt so pretty good link considering Fridays effort, it is a very conditionsy route though. 

Good commitment Tyler - I really should get on Breach of the Peace if you fancy a catch on Free & Easy some time soon?

I had a similar experience last weekend - the repositioning of the 3rd and 4th bolts has really thrown my sequence - having to stop twice in quick succession in unfamiliar positions kept leading to really unpleasant footwork mix-ups.

Hey Tyler, reading your post and the 'Unfortunately the hip is beyond redemption' comment: do you know if the hip is the root cause or a symptom? Asking as it seems my back problem has stemmed from hip issue, so starting to investigate that now, alongside long standing ankle problem. :-

Nice work! I managed to destroy my shoulder yesterday moving a bunk bed so I might be out for a few weeks that said..  Its my right so could probably practice that move! I found that using the far right of the foothold helped. What did you do with you left? Just scum it on the stuff to the left of S? 

I've not had a proper look at lets go round again. At 5'9'' I suspect I won't be lanking that first move but I'm getting better at jumping! 

Boo! I hope it's not too bad and you can climb again soon.

Yep - it's not really on anything

Hey Ally,

I haven’t been back to Hackney Wick to tick the black V6. I’ll make every attempt to send it next time I visit if it is still there.

I’ve been trying to improve my power by working on some harder overhung routes. Some improvement but core is definitely a weak point. Has anyone seen the Shauna Coxey core workout? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/get-inspired/46843134

I’ve had a quick look and it’s pretty doable at home so I am going to try to do that next week. So will report on it the week after next on UKC as I am posting late.

Been really struggling with my motivation this year but am on the up with good eating and getting out so just gonna keep on posting and trying.

Looking for a new east London-based gym with some decent group classes/trainers to help point out form and weak points etc. Think I would benefit from that kind of social interaction and accountability.

Let's go round again (fig 8 reverse) (f7C) beta https://www.instagram.com/p/BuN-G0Vh4bd/

Coo, I'm keen to get do an Uneasy Peace but am a bit scared but hooking up would be great.

I was on a TR so can't use that as an excuse although I last week I was definitely thrown by the new higher position of the lower off on F&EE requiring an additional move!

I definitely have a diagnosed hip issue but I've never been flexible so not sure if the back is worse as a result or I'm just noticing it more because I can't bend the leg. In answer to your question I think they are related but only in as much as I moving about less and less and therefore stiffening up generally. I've just signed up to a clinical trial for pain relief for arthritis in the hip, I have an appointment next week so will find out more then but it's with Synexus if you are interested.

More weekend warrioring last week I’m afraid, though it was high stakes with the local wall lead comp on Sat and a day out at Cheddar Sun testing AJM’s catching skills (thanks Andy!) with a rather large fall from a wet foothold leaving me temporarily inverted. Sobering but an excellent enjoyable day out of trying hard, if not actually achieving anything. And oh the pain for the next few days - shoulders well used and minor whiplash. Shame about the rockfall on High Rocks area as Coronation Street looks supercool...

You can reach the pinch with your feet on!!! 

Hi Ally, thanks for doing the stats. And apologies again for a late reply.

Dolomites ended up being a slightly strange trip, in as much as it involved considerably less climbing than I'd anticipated. This was largely due to conditions and the logistical teething problems always associated with going somewhere novel (and somewhere without a lot of existing 'infrastructure', like Chamonix or other alpine honeypots). 

That said, got some good skiing done and it's cemented the fact that this is something I desperately need to work on in order to round out my alpine climbing skillset. I am quite happy on black pisted runs, and on off-piste terrain to around red steepness, but my technique needs a lot of work, and I don't have enough skill 'in hand' to manage when you add in factors like tired legs from a day of climbing, heavy pack, sub-optimal snow conditions, etc. So I'd be interested to hear from any keen skiers here what the best way of improving would be? Intuitively I think my options would be something like the Alison Culshaw course (distasteful timing to ask -- sorry Andrew!) or just continuing to work on off-piste skiing without all the added faff of climbing gear (by doing hut-to-hut tours and the like).

Last Week (Base Week 17/30):

M: Ski into Rifugio Tuckett. 4h of varying aerobic zone. A good day of fairly involved navigation and routefinding around suspect pockets of windslab, so a good learning experience. The effect of the last 6 months of aerobic training were really noticeable and I felt totally happy sustaining a fair skinning pace and breaking trail where necessary all day. 

T: Alpine start skinning up to the Bocca di Tuckett (see photos in my gallery) to attempt to make the second ascent of Tigersoft (ED1) on the north face of Cima Brenta. We went into the route without too much expectation, not knowing what conditions would be like, and it being the first time on limestone mixed for both of us. To be honest, by the time we got to pitch 3 I was quite close to suggesting a retreat as there was visibly less ice than in the pictures from the first ascent and the climbing looked pretty hardcore. However, I decided to saddle up and see if it went. It did, but it was one of the most serious leads I've put in in the mountains. Some very directional limestone mixed climbing on a vertical wall, and moves often relying on the small delaminating cobwebs of placage ice that hadn't yet been stripped. Considering the big pendulum potential, and how fiddly and shit some of the gear was, it probably clocked in around M6+ R. Nevertheless, I was really encouraged by how physically in-control I felt on this pitch as a result of all the training I've been doing. Strength or endurance were never limiting factors and I felt quite able to take my time figuring out mixed sequences or arranging fiddly gear. After this, and then another impressive heart-in-mouth lead from my partner on the next pitch, it was hard to resist feeling that we'd broken the back of the route. But two pitches higher up we were shut down by a complete lack of ice on a blank slab and were forced to retreat (no mean feat on a big limestone face that had only been climbed once). Back to the hut in good time. Disappointing overall, but as an indication of the effect of the last 6 months of training, I think there are some really encouraging lessons to take away from this.

W: Rest morning in the hut. Lots of coffee. 4h skin back to the top of the pisted area, and then 1h of pisted red runs down to town. Great fun!

T: Felt pretty beasted, had a full rest day. Tried to access the roadhead for the west face of Cima Tosa with the intention of skiing in on Friday, but heavy snowfall over the weekend had meant this was impassable for my little Skoda Fabia (even with the chains on!) Spoke to the guides in Madonna who declared conditions in the high mountains to be shite. Decided to sack it off and head up to the Ortler in the hope of attempting the north face.

F:  Arrived in Sulden, to find that the Ortler north face seemed to have been reduced to a 1200m strip of glacial ice. That, coupled with the fact that the approach would seem to have comprised >1km postholing underneath a row of menacing seracs on the ridge of the Normalweg meant that any psyche promptly dissipated. Spent the afternoon skiing around a mixture of pisted and non-pisted terrain by the Gran Zebru (which, incidentally, has a stunning north face which I would like to go back for at some point!)

S: Full day of skiing (my partner's last day, so no more serious climbing plans could be hatched!) Pretty happy to get some good mileage in on several black runs. Really happy with the new touring setup.

S: Travelling to drop partner off at Bolzano to catch a train to Milan. 

Last week's goals:

Shite! But overall I have reason to be happy with how the climbing went. 

• [-] 3x WI6 O/S
• [1-ish...] 2x Alpine routes

Goals:

STG (March 2019)

• [5/20] 20x Scottish winter routes (inc. 2 VIIs)
• [-] 3x WI6 O/S in Dolomites
• [1/3] 3x Alpine routes

MTG (July 2019)

• 3x alpine rock lines >700m >6b in preparation for Bugaboos 
• Push rock climbing grade, aim for 7a O/S

LTG (End 2019)

• All Along the Watchtower, North Howser Tower
• 5x5000m peaks on the Bezengi wall, Caucasus.

Absolute Beast!

Thanks for doing the stats Ally

The peak trip was amazing. Just wanted to get used to the rock and tick off some classic easier routes. Managed to lead 2 HVS and neither of these felt anywhere near my limit so next time I come back time to start pushing into the e numbers. 

Goal for next week. Record what I'm doing and not think about it on the Sunday morning. 

M - rest

T - rest

W - indoor climbing

T - 15km run in the peak

F - climb at popular end

S - climb at high neb

S - climb at the plantation 

Lee

Tricky customer the human body! Chronology for me points to manageable hip pain pushing the back out of alignment and causing sciatic issue. Back pretty much straight and getting there, but hopefully won't have to take up the info for the clinical trial. :-/

I hope that works out for you, as in my experience, it's not been the pain as much as the lack of light at the tunnel end that has been dispiriting.