UKC

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.

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...  2

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 weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_692-7210...

Psyche video - youtube.com/watch?v=mtLegY2QVDk&

Welcome to UKC Baby & Toddler Club!

AJM - Nice bouldering sessions and I'm deeply impressed you managed to make it work with a toddler in tow.

Si dH - Yes, I'd sort of assumed it was your woodie.  Nice sessions on that and congrats on the f7As.  Longridge does look ace doesn't it.

Somerset swede basher - Excellent job on the cake front.  Lots of nice soloing it sounds.  Good job onf the reccing too.

Ally Smith - Crust 2 Dust sounds interesting.  Glad to hear the forearm is on the mend.

the sheep - I work in IT.  Seeing the Peregrine Falcon sounds lovely.  Nice amount of runs.

Tom Green - Sometimes you've gotta have fun haven't you.  Great week.  Do what Ally says and fix the elbows!

Bones - Don't listen to me too much, I'm a worrier.  It'll all work out fine and you'll get plenty of stuff done I'm sure.  Lots of great running there.

AlanLittle - It'll come I'm sure, just keep plugging away at it.  Spate Liebe sounds like great fun.

Thanks to Rebecca for the psyche video

Hi all. Thanks, Matt, for top statting as per, and thanks to everyone who contributed elbow based wisdom.

This week was the start of the next block of higher training volume, although binned off some training in favour of real climbing (100% not sorry!)

Week 26: 

M: Hill run. 94min Z1/2, 13.4km, 568m vert, 7:00/km.

T: Sport climbing at Llanymynech. Fell off Gaza Strippers (6b+) two bolts from the top -damn those pitches are long! Swimming in the river (turns out the current is fast enough to act as a treadmill -awesome workout!)

W: Core Sesh. 2 sets of the usual circuit. Then river swimming again -good shoulder work out!

T: Trad climbing at Staden. Excellent choice to stay out of the sun. Felt good to be on the sharp end after a lot of bouldering and shunting. Highlights were Bicycle Repair Man (E1 5b) (working my weakness by getting stuck in to some finger cracks) and The Nails (E1 5b).

F: Nowt. V long work day.

S: Strength and core sesh. Felt good to be back on the TRX after skipping it for a week or so!

S: Hill run. 127min Z1/2. 18.8km, 764m vert, 6:49/km. Board session. Limit bouldering, Circuits.

Week 27:

Building volume.

225 min Z1

30min Z3

2 Core sessions

2 Strength sessions

3 Climbing sessions (2 Aerocap; 2 Strength/Ancap; 1 Aeropow)

2 Prehab sessions

STG (End July):

Max Hangs 78kg total (TICK: 79.5kg)

Weighted Pull-Ups 90kg total 3RM (TICK: 92kg)

Squat 70kg 3RM 

Deadlift 85kg 3RM 

3 sets of core circuit. 

Cheshire Cat, Stigarete.

Curfew, Gaza Strippers.

Clean shunt/TR of Marlene in the Corner (E5 6a)  Imagination (E3 6a) 

Run the Stretton Skyline

MTG (End Sept):

Eliminator, Yates' Layaway.

Grid Iron, Traction Control.

Black Wall Direct, Red Square, Digitron.

Cheshire Gritstone Trail

Cheers again Matt.

I decided to take a rest from the board for most of this week and do some fingerboarding on pockets instead. I mostly felt very weak!

M: rest. Put some new holds on the board.

T: fingerboard session and TRX. I felt very weak on two finger pockets - especially in the heat and humidity. I could only just hold bodyweight on the medium pockets, which in the past I have been able to add about 20kg on!

W: rest. Put some more new holds on the board

T: planned training session got cancelled in favour of a beer; it was too hot to actually move.

F: early morning fingerboard session. Did several sets of back 2 and front 2 hangs at bodyweight. Not amazing but significantly better than Tuesday.

S: short morning board session, I only had under an hour so didn't really get going, but played around trying some moves on the new holds. Some of them should probably be described as "aspirational".

S: morning trip to climb at  Lees Bottom for the first time. I did all the moves on the 7A+ through the main roof but by the time I worked out the crux start, I was too tired to be able to link the rest. Resting strategy was poor, I was rushing a bit much. One to go back to. (This was my first trip back to the Peak since moving to Liverpool. It took about 90 minutes each way so not too bad although there are lots of closer venues. I'll probably leave Lees Bottom until next time the North West is drenched in rain again.)

Back to the board this week but I'll try to keep up a session per week of pocket fingerboarding too. 

Si

Thanks Matt. He likes clambering round on bits of rock and playing with toys in the dirt so it seems to work.

A disgracefully small amount of actual training this week. All well and good now when I can get out a little more but when I go back to work in a weeks time I need to get back into actual training. At the minute I want to rest the day before I go out, which is understandable, but the combo of crimpy vert lime bouldering with sea level spikiness and water dunking is playing havoc with my skin so I sort of find myself wanting to rest afterwards too!

Still, I got out twice this week which is good.

Monday - rest again. I mangled the nail/cuticle on one of my fingers Saturday so decided to rest again since it hurt to do a lot of things.

Tuesday - with plans afoot for Wednesday I decided to do the same.

Wednesday - climbing. Dws again but with more dunking this time. Did a bunch of usual warmups and then fell off Russian Roulette (6b+, highlighted my ability to not recover on anything, fell off the end of the traverse trying to get started on the crack), Bare Reputation (7a+, done before but I said I’d try to chalk some of it up for my friend), and jumped off The Swinging Nineties (7b) (7b, all the roofs) to clear my head. The latter is one of my hopeful projects for the season, my friend made some reasonable progress so keen to get back on it and try properly. More roof than lots of climbers probably think exists on Portland, but you drop in from clifftop level and traverse out into the middle of it so its exposure from the word go. No ticks but good to get out there and try hard on some things.

Thursday - my work day so rest

Friday - walking to and fro the garage for car service and some laps of the park with miniAJM - about 90 mins all told.

Saturday - another trip out with miniAJM. A start which didn’t point to great things - I drove through rain most of the way there - but when I got there the sun had been out about 10 minutes so Neddyfields was all dry. Except the problem I really wanted to try, which was entirely dry but had a deep puddle under it. If Phat Slapper wasn’t really my style, Neddyfields is next level! For those who haven’t been, it’s vert and crimpy lime with a sheen of flowstone over the top of a lot of it and was one of the original training venues for the Portland locals back in the day. That means some very small holds, unobvious sequences, and most importantly for me some very small and slick flowstone feet. I’m sure that enough mileage would let me learn how to stand on them in the right kind of way, but since I never get that it always feels like it has its own private grading system. I did a bunch of easier things that I’ve done before, failed on several things, spent a while trying a 6A+ sitter that I made small progress on, and confirmed that I couldn’t really work anything much around the puddle on Pete’s Rib which was what I actually wanted to try. Frustrating in some ways, but I suppose perseverance would make me a better climber and it is very accessible with the little one, so maybe one to return to more frequently than previously...

vimeo.com/332927156

Sunday - rest

Thanks Matt. Plugging away it is then!

STG: Finalise planning & book huts for July Dolomites trip
MTG: Autumn Kalymnos trip? Do a beginner ski tour in spring 2021
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Bike one hour
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Perhaps some vague glimmerings of mojo returning?
W: Box step-ups one hour with Dolomite-hut-approach-realistic rucksack weight
T: 
F:    Boulderwelt. I actually enjoy plastic bouldering, unlike plastic routes, and should probably start doing rather more of it.
S-S: Family hike & bivvy weekend, Wetterstein. This has been a bit of a tradition with some friends for a few years, and now feels like maybe the only/last chance to get the teenage offspring to engage in family outdoor activity. My son insisted on bivvying instead of taking a tent - the first time he has shown any interest in mountain-related activities since giving up bouldering a couple of years ago - remained cheerful outside in a character building multi-hour thunderstorm, and says he wants to do it again. In better weather next time. Result!
 

Have been doing molto obsessive reading of Dolomites topos and trip reports and very much have my eye on this little beauty: Perla Nera (E1), the Black Pearl. Not so little though - a complicated & serious traverse & ab approach brings you out at the top of a thousand metres of totally impassable death choss, down which retreat would be completely out of the question, and at the foot of 800 metres of immaculate pockety Pala limestone. Up which - if you manage to find the right way, which by all accounts is not a given - lead 18 pitches of up to VI+, although mostly a bit easier.  So basically I expect it to feel something like half a dozen Gogarth HVS's stacked on top of each other with an E1 crux. 

The descent is then a choice of a complex series of difficult to find abseils, or a five hour hike through the middle of one of the remotest parts of the Dolomites.

Closest I've some to it so far is gazing in awe from across the valley. Given a few routes to get my alpine trad head in order I should be well capable of doing the climbing, but getting the fitness for what is clearly a twelve hour plus day is going to be another matter. As is convincing somebody else to want to do it - my regular sport climbing partner has already refused point blank.

Thanks Matt. Been a productive week for me. Hopefully the rain forecast for next week won't be as epic as some of the forecasts. 

Mon. Rest. 

Tues. Went to chee dale to clip some bolts. A handful of 6s on Dogs Dinner buttress then managed a quick redpoint of Dog Dirt (7c). Ally, this is very flashable if you're over that way and the cornice turns out to be wet. The hand sequence is pretty obvious from the floor, worth taking the time to think about the feet before you set off (I didn't!). Wandered over to the cornice and had a quick trip up Cosmopolitan (which I've done before) just clip to clip to put the draws in for my partner.

Wed. 21km Road bike

Thurs. Rest 

Fri. Had a session working Aberration (8a). Managed to do all the moves but need a better sequence for the crux before I try to redpoint it. Feels very possible though.

Sat. 5km run

Sun. Added Short circuit reverse (f7B) to Odins Cave. The grade feels right for me as I found the last move pretty hard using a drop knee and reaching through with the left hand but I think it would probably feel the same as the original if your legs were long enough to reach the first knee bar then go again with the right hand. Cool problem though. 

Hey Alan, Tom Green tipped me off about your post -- the route you mention looks brilliant and I've wanted to get back to the Pala since climbing the north ridge of Monte Agner last year. So if you can't convince any of your regular partners, drop me a message and maybe we can figure something out.

Aberration (8a) went from feeling desperate to pretty steady with 2 easy to apply fixes:

- Morning session on a cool day (instead of a sweaty evening)

- Stiff boots (instead of squishy Dragons)

Might you be keen for another session in Odin's cave? I've only done The Dark Room; having some extra pads, spotter and beta on the other problem(s) would be most welcome.

;-o

Cheers, better again this week; managed to pull hard on the board again after a couple of light weeks rehab.

Week 26: 

M – 30km flat ride. Good pace despite erratic breezy weather.

T – Rest

W – Another day of leave at Kilnsey. Scorchio! Different warm-up; 6c Alacazam. Dogged, de-pegged, glued shattered hold on project. “7b” OS Floccinaucinihilipilificatious (7b). Dogged and did all the moves on the project includes a tasty 2-finger pocket, which thankfully my forearm tweak coped with handsomely. Game ON!  Quiet Flight Direct (7a+) retro-flash warm-down.

T – Loaded up with collagen protein and did a tendon density session; 3x 30s @BW+17.5kg for LH rehab. Felt considerably harder than last week, but not even mild discomfort: Winning :-D

Crimpd max-pinch: 19kg RH. 17.5kg LH. A few 9s lifts with RH. Still, pretty good for 2nd day on.

Crushed to Dust Pt.1 Ironmind hub; working out max: Lifted 22kg + hub/krab etc (failed to move 25+ kg) - easiest bit of the CtoD challenge; already got a couple of kg over the required 20kg.

Crushed to Dust Pt.2 Rolling thunder; working out max: ~55+ kg max with both arms (failed to move 60+ kg) - a million miles off the 90kg/200lb required for CtoD.

(N.B. Crushed to Dust Pt.3 CoC#2 - not tried seriously yet; ~5mm from closing?)

Also attempted a FB session on the 35 degree slopers, but it was way too warm and could barely lift bodyweight

2x 10 bench @55kg. Felt hard.

F – Ride (41km @ 29kph inc Wizard Hill) / rest / thunderstorm. Core, groin and forearm COMPEX.

S – Forecast looked dire and started to lack motivation for another long drive to Yorkshire. DIY and gardening, then 90min Moonboard. Managed 15 problems: Lots of 6B+ to 7A+ benchmarks and a morpho 7C called Blackswing. Came within a whisker of flashing a Ben Moon benchmark 7B, but was then too knackered to finish it off. Among the ticks were 3 problems that spanked me hard: 2x “6C+” and even the “6B+” I tried warming down on. Gotta love the moonboard grades…

S – “Rest” – not so restful as spent 4 hours gardening followed by a big chunk of life-admin researching SPL

Thanks Alex. I haven't been on Agner - fortunately for me, from the sound of your excellent logbook write-up - but Perla Nera does sound a bit similar, except you traverse in above the jungle bashing and the actual climbing is hopefully nicer.

An obstacle for this year might be that non-wardened huts are closed indefinitely because of covid-19, but one could always bivvy instead. I'll bear you in mind

Yes that would be cool. I always take 4 pads which just about covers it but a few more would be nice! 

The dark room was reversed recently so there is an obvious there and back again to be done (7C+ into 7C+ = low 8A+ maybe? Hard to grade with all the knee bars).

I fell on the last move of what will become Full circuit (7B+?) last night. Should go quickly with fresh arms.

I'm going to head over on Tuesday eve about 8pm but it might be wet by then. The second hold on short circuit was already seeping last night (think I'd have done the full link if it'd been dry) but there was no condensation at all. Probably worth waiting til it's definately dry before meeting up as it's a much longer drive for you only to find it wet. 

Cheers Matt,

Steady week balancing work, home and exercise. 

Got out for a run 5 out of 7 days. Nice trails between 8 and 10km. Need to do some more different stuff so hoping to get out on the bike more and have also booked an open water swim session for me and the eldest as she is missing her pool training and we were all gutted by the announcement they are going to stay closed.

What was Lees Bottom like?  Was it (and the parking) easy to find using the details in the pdf guide?  I've been meaning to visit the place for ages but not got round to it yet.

It's fairly small but has enough problems for a few sessions in the 7s if you don't mind them feeling a bit tight/eliminate, and I thought the rock was comparable with other peak lime venues, not bad.

Parking is very easy to find. There is actually room for at least about 4 cars. The crag is 150 yards straight up the hill from the parking. 

STG - 14st / 30 minute 5k

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

LTG - ???

Weight - 15st

M - S - Nowt

The intermittent fasting has been much harder to do this week as I'm really quite tired due to a steady stream of very early wake ups from my son.  But I still managed to just about knock off a pound.  Hopefully I'll find it down the back of a sofa soon.  The lockdown is definitely lifting a bit more now.  Most of the BBNP is fairly accessible which is nice.  Not sure if I'll take advantage of that, but we'll see.  However the traffic is definitely increasing a lot and I'm not really looking forward to my asthma going back to where it is.  But it seems inevitable that's going to happen.  Thankfully we'll be working from home for the foreseeable, which is great for other health issues.  Otherwise it's mostly been family stuff and general mooching this week.  Motivation is low in general, but I'll hopefully manage a run next week.