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...     also this - https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGfCg7DbkK/?igshid=4a1o55jwpus2

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

And for those looking for more theoretical background, there's a useful subject index of published research studies on the Beta Angel project. Not sure how actively maintained if is though. https://beta-angel.com/research/research-inventory/

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_cub_week_729-73202...

Psyche Vid. Coming soon: Shropshire. But first, the last of the Leicestershire series as suggested by the sheep - and a venue I've actually climbed at! youtube.com/watch?v=h_svXvzFm9Q& 

Fit Club fourteenth birthday the week after next. What are you doing fourteen of by 25th March? 

Some impressive ticks last week - lockdown training clearly working. And this week? All aboard the Shropshire Send Train?

AJM - did the campusing continue? Hopefully not another three sessions.

alexm198 - I thought an advantage of doing going somewhere like the Zugspitze Nordwand in winter was supposed to be that the choss would be nicely frozen together? Look forward to hearing what you got up to in this weekend's weird conditions.

Ally Smith - I hope this week saw a return of mojo and working skin

BarneyLoosemore - good moonboard tickage. Did the postponed deload happen this week?

biscuit - how did the train vs climb dilemma work out?

Liam P - solid board & handstand work. Impressed by five minute moving hangs - I really struggle to get motivated for hangboard endurance work.

mrchewy - welcome back! Hope the finger's healing nicely.

Ross Barker - often difficult to gauge when you're stagnating on a project and it's time for a break. How's the A2 pulley behaving?

Si dH - I can never remember whether it's feed a cold, starve a fever or vice versa. Either way it sounds like the fish & chips rehab programme was a good idea.

Somerset swede basher - "keen to do something in a short window of opportunity" indeed. The week's climbing haul does indeed sound great.

the sheep - distance learning must have given rise to a whole new range of "couldn't upload my homework" excuses. Will have to ask my son about it. Better luck posting this week. Meanwhile, glad to hear the cautious return to running mileage seems to be going well.

Tom Green - sounds like good fingerboard progress. Did you make it back onto the prehab wagon?

Tyler -  bike fitness will come back I'm sure. I'm often on the lookout for partners in crime for an alpine route or two in the summer, if you're anywhere the eastern Alps or Dolomites. 

AlanLittle - so, back on track after the scooter accident / no shoes comedy deload week?

Thanks Alan. It did, but only twice this week, out of my 4 sessions overall. If I’m honest I had hoped to do 5 this week, but a surge of work midweek took that opportunity away.

Nevertheless, one good campus session and one promising campus session, and the planche progression and pinch block sessions felt good too. And some other useful things along the way - plans coming together for June, South Wales Rock psyche created, and I’ve applied Soft Grip to the crack trainer too - planning to fix it by the fingerboard and then I’ll need to do an aerobic session working on the thumb pump! Been thinking idly about the planche stuff, having some sort of calisthenics hold to work towards has been a lot better for encouraging consistency of what is basically antagonist training than anything I’ve found previously. Have to have a think about what obvious next moves might be to further encourage me along those lines...

14th anniversary fitclub goal - 14 quality relevant sessions by 25/03 [8/14]

Monday - light day - 5-3-5-3-5 aerobic foot on campus session.

Tuesday - busy and stressful at work - rest

Wednesday - see Tuesday. Should have done something bigger on Monday to have something to rest after! Did get South Wales Rock as a late birthday present, so much psyche from that.....

Thursday - see Tuesday

Friday - after so much resting I decided it ought to be campus time. I managed to squeeze in a short session before lunch. Usual warmups, and then 3 goes at 1-4-5 each side. 2 successes out of the 6, but a number of the failures were close - for example I overshot and hit the top of the board once, and I fumbled the catch on 5 once or twice. This is encouraging, in that those are the kind of failures that could change to success with just a few percent difference. Another good session. Then in the evening I watched Hueco on youtube and did planche progression stuff.

Saturday - got the pinch block out. Worked up to about 5s hangs on both widths (45mm and 90mm) at 17.5kg (plus the block). Getting some squeeze on!

Sunday - campus day again. To get going: 1-2-3-4-3-2-1, 1-3-4, 1-2-4 (messy), 1.5-4-5 (fumbled both sides). Then

- 1.5-2-5 - hit it once, but only just and in a drag, which I struggle with on these rungs - I couldn’t bump to close it up, nor could I match from that.

- 1.5-2-5 - managed to get a slightly better grip on it this time and on both sides, but couldn’t quite match! Close...

- 1.5-2-5 - middling one side, the other side I got it fairly well but fumbled the match! Even closer!

- 1.5-2-5 - two more misses.

Proving a tough nut to crack, this one! Harder than 1-4-5 for me I think, the main move is a harder version of the 1-4 pull since the hands are offset... in theory matching should be easier than pulling through - but because it’s harder to get the upper hand well that isn’t really a benefit I’m seeing. Some progress, in that I couldn’t have failed much closer to success, but here a few more percent might see a few successes rather than on 1-4-5 where a few more percent might get me to more successes than fails. In the evening I did another session with a few goes at planche progressions, felt ok but a bit unstructured.

2021 Arbitrary training goals:

- 1.5-x-5 solidly on the campus board, then 1-x-5 [1.5-3-5 and 1.5-4-5 going well; 1-4-5 also]

- L sit to Tuck Planche on the paralettes as a marker point for having worked on a weakness [need to try to video this soon again]

- 5x5 @95kg, and actually do some stuff on offsets [92kg]

- some progress on a front lever

2021 Climbing goals:

- make use of continued working from home and hopefully greater tolerance of more remote working in future to do some longer hybrid climb/work trips [3 weeks Yorkshire and Lakes in June]

- make the June-June 12 months my best period of bouldering yet (current score 6700, score to beat c7200) [June feels challenging although a rolling 12 months some point this summer feels plausible]

- climb 7c/+ again

- work on my “why haven’t I already” and “harder local things to try” ticklist (start position 0% & 13% respectively)

- nail at least one of my Portland dws projects, try mark of the beast, and do some more stuff at Swanage and in south Devon.

Thanks Alan, good statting as ever!

M: Afternoon - 5*4 pull-ups with bodyweight +28kg.  Haven't felt like I've got to a point that I can increase my 5x5 load above 23-25kg so decided to try something slightly different. Not really sure this is the way forward. Evening - hip mobility routine and 3 x 10 second L-sits.

T: lunchtime - 6 sets of 30 second scap pull-ups (8/2/8/2/8/2)  on the incut edge with bodyweight plus 14 kg.

W: rest

T: decided to have a session on the board rather than following the plan because I knew I wouldn't have time at the weekend. Did my usual warm-up and one 7A, failed on another 7A, then  just played around trying some new stuff.

F: hip mobility routine followed by crimpd floor core session.

S: afternoon: 6 sets of repeaters (6* 7/3 with bodyweight +8kg on the incut edge. I also keep my triceps engaged and do a scap pull-up at the start of each 7 second rep.) Definitely getting a bit better at these.

S: rest

Missed off a TRX session from my plan this week, but considering the weekend was my wife's birthday followed by Mother's Day I think I did pretty well.

I've been a bit down psychologically the last few days. Despite following the exercises I was given for a couple of months now, my left ring finger DIP is still quite painful when fully extended and loaded - I can climb on the board after a warm-up but I am still nowhere near able to do a max hang in a half crimp on a flat or rounded fingerboard edge without pain (I can just about do bodyweight on a lattice edge without it hurting, maybe add a little if I'm well warmed up but not much.)  I'm also starting to lose faith that what I'm doing is actually going to help. This is worsened by the fact I'm probably now the heaviest I've ever been and have no way to know how well I'm climbing without any sort of external validation. I'm starting to worry that with the extra weight, lack of fingerstrength on small holds and no near term prospect of being able to train it, I'll be struggling to get up 6Cs when we are allowed out again. And there are bound to be some problems I just can't pull on due to the nature of the holds on my left hand. On the plus side, I've been doing a lot of shoulder training, some core work, and I'm confident I've made small gains recently in both hip flexibility and fingerboard repeaters (without my DIP extended.) So hopefully once I get outside it won't all feel so hard after all... I don't really have a clue.  Sorry for the self-indulgent moan.

Si

STG: Weight back below 85kg - eat when hungry not when bored. Start Couch To 5k.
MTG: Go climbing after lockdown? Get vaccinated before I get infected. 
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

Back to a slightly more serious level of activity after last week's deload/farce

M: Beastmaker max hangs, scap pull-ups, l-sits
T: Bike one hour.
W: Beastmaker max hangs. Good session, good numbers, felt oddly strong for some reason
    Bike one hour, quarter of an hour stretching.
T: Bike 1½ hours
F: Rest. Half an hour stretching.
S: Climbing, Zellerwand. More gradually easing back in; should probably start trying to some projects again soon.
S: Interesting weekend weather wise. Having climbed at Zellerwand in a teeshirt yesterday, I drove back to the same area today through a snowstorm on the autobahn to go hillwalking, expecting a couple of inches of new snow. Instead there was knee deep powder at the summit; should've brought a snowboard. Rather tiring without one.

No need to apologise. Providing the opportunity to share worries and motivation issues with a sympathetic & like-minded audience should be part of what this group is all about. Says so right there in the first paragraph!

I sympathise. These are the weirdest times most of us have lived through, and worries about how it's going to be afterwards are totally understandable. I'm at lifetime peak weight too, and although our less strict lockdown rules are allowing me to get out for the odd day's climbing when weather permits, it feels like the tide has gone out a long way. 

Cool, I’m getting increasingly psyched for this this week I’ve been researching the eastern alps although I’m not even sure what area that covers and I don’t have any guides. I’ve nearly ordered Extreme Alpine rock several times this week! Unfortunately I’d say chances of continental travel has taken a bit of a blow this week with a deteriorating COVID situation.

Monday - Outhouse, good session

Tue to Thu - Nothing, working late but basically lazy

Fri - 10 mins yoga

Sat - yoga then good session in the Outhouse. Nearly managed wood circuit which I’ve only done once and blue/orange swirls which I’ve never done

Sun - Yoga and put my last piece of insulated board in the loft. Still have a partition wall to do but it not longer looks derelict   

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_678-7169...

A bit further down this thread Alan pointed me at a few eastern Alps links that might be of use...

Cheers for statting again Alan, keep up the good work!

A2 is slowly mending but still feels sore to squeeze and loading in a half-crimp position. Three finger drag causes no pain, so I'm dead confident I've diagnosed it correctly. Still possible to climb if I keep smart about it.

Not a busy week in terms of climbing as I've been psyched on other things too, including a psyche video on this new crag which is in the works!

Last Week:

M - Rest

T - Secret crag. Repeated the *** 6C and concluded it's worth more like 6B+. Tried a semi-eliminate thing which involves a big off-balance rockover on a rather slick hold indeed, didn't realise how close I was with it until I checked some footage later. Also tried a stupid massive dyno which I'm sure will dislocate somebody's shoulder when it eventually gets caught. Fun time!

W - Rest

T - Bar core, 5x5 pull-ups +10kg, and some very light pulling on the injured A2 to rehab. 6x10 pushups to finish.

F - Rest, sore core and generally a bit stiff. Need to stretch!

S - Rest, couldn't be arsed to drag myself to the cave to be quite honest.

S - Rest

Next Week:

M - Light loading A2 for rehab, weighted 5x5s. Some sort of stretching to avoid shoulder stiffness.

T - Rest

W - Secret crag? 

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - Crag? Rehab? Training? Video games? Who knows!

S - Rest

Goals:

Rehab A2 strain

Suavito (on hold)

Tierdrop (on hold)

Rigpa

Struggling with a few niggles this week and having to find stuff I can do around them:

- Bruised my heel a couple of weeks ago, which seemed to heal then come back with a venegance.

- Dicky left knee (I've torn the miniscus previously - feels similar)

- Sore back.

Fingers are feeling robust though :-D

Week 10

M – 40km flat ride; lovely to be out for 90min and be back before sunset.

T – Low-end aero-cap. 5on/3off x3 foot-on-floor circuits.

W – Strength. Warm-up on the board (up to 7A), then:

5 sets x6 Lattice edge lifts @ 50kg

Started 5 x6 Rolling Thunder @47.5kg

6 x4 bench @60kg (these were hard! In retrospect I cocked up and forgot the weight of the bar; acually 66kg)

T – An-cap 6x6 on 7A+’s. Felt hard, especially wide compression moves with pec/deltoid DOMS. Very annoyingly, dropped off from last rep/last set and my lower back went into spasm and I limped back into the house ☹

F – Rest. Gentle wander into town to stretch my back and some light aero-cap grippers; 7/3/6/1x15@”30%”

S – 1-arm shoulder engagements; 8x 10s on / 50s off + 10kg. Aero-cap hangs; 10x 7/3/6/1@40% (BW-20kg).  

S – 1-arm max-hangs @BW-10kg. Hard but doable. 4x 7s hangs at BW F3SHC. 4x 7s hangs @BW+5kg B3. 5x5 bench @60kg.

A very cautious approach this week, borderline lazy some might say.

Suffered on Monday with the covid jab side effects and took Tuesday and Wednesday as rest days.

Thursday went out for a 6km trail run. High winds, horizontal rain and heavy legs did nothing for the enjoyment factor!

After that motivation just went and i didnt make it out again. 

Therefore this week is going to be a restart, get used to the new routine now that im back to taking my eldest to college 3 time a week so im onsite at work too. Get out on the trails and out on the bike, build distance on both! 

Hi all. Thanks Alan, as usual, for solid feedack.

The question about prehab is pertinent, as the answer is no. Must try harder this week, especially with the legwork.

Week 10:

A week with highs and lows -better than lows and lows, but still felt a bit dissatisfying! 

M: Bouldering at Grinshill. My dugout debut as described in tedious detail in last week's thread (sorry)! Worked out the moves for Doug (f7A+) which didn't feel too unrealistic despite nominally being miles above my paygrade.

T: Prehab (arms & legs).

W: Max Hangs (new PB of 80 kg total). Strength sesh. 

T: Board sesh: limit bouldering. Finally got up GTH (STG tick). Had a depressingly lacklustre sesh on the cracks -not very encouraging for my 14th Birthday Goal. Trail Run: 6.1km, flat, 5:11/km. Felt fine -need to move on from Covid/hip paranoia and build up to running properly again.

F: Rest. Prehab (arms).

S: Hill run/weighted carries. 7km, 295m vert (+15kg), 6:43/km. I've decided to introduce weight in to the uphill element of one of my weekly runs (15L of water that can be poured away before the downhill) as a less boring alternative to mid-weight squats. Max Hangs. Strength sesh -reduced weights a bit as I felt tired and tweaky.

S: Bouldering at Grinshill. After last week's beta chat I'd already climbed Doug in my mind, which obviously meant I was in for a humbling sesh! Unfortunately it was even worse than just an anticlimactic shutdown -pulled a muscle in my ass on literally the first move of the first attempt! Carried on with the session anyway because I was there, but couldn't really make the most of my R leg and so just reached the same lowpoint as Monday. I don't think the strain will be a big problem -hopefully just a 48h annoyance. How do people warm up for heel hooky problems?!

Week 11:

Daily prehab

2 x climbing

2 x max hangs

2 x strength

2 x run

14th Birthday Goal:

14 consecutive crack laps: 1 lap is up+down. A lap may be on hands, fists or mixed.

STG (End Q1):

Max Hang total 79kg (TICK, 80kg)

Weighted Pull-up total 83kg (on target at 82kg)

Jug circuit 5-on, 3-off 

Board Problem 'GTH' (TICK)

Curfew (Still on covid-hold)

Run average 25km/week and Edale Skyline (Not going to happen, given the four week lay-off, etc)

MTG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 84kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Jug circuit 10-on, 10-off

Board Problem 'Le Grimpeur' (TICK)

Eliminator (V4)

Grid Iron (6c)

Black Wall (E1 5b)

Run average 35km/week and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

LTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Cairngorm Classic Rock IAD, El Cap nose-day (880m climbing) and Welsh 3000s

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

Personally I just do the heel hooks but not giving it 100% effort, just trying a bit harder each go until I feel warm enough to really crank. Hamstrings feel really crap afterwards otherwise.

Sounds sensible. Think I was a bit overexcited!

Yeah, just like other muscles, hamstrings need some easing into for heel-hooking.

1-legged glute bridges can be a good useful supplementary exercise, working both the core stabilisers and hamstring/glute e.g. https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/glute-bridge-variations#...

Cheers for the feedback Alan. Been feeling pretty lacklustre and grinding out the last few weeks of lockdown - I’m sure everyone’s the same!

However, I did tick two more lockdown goals: a full handstand push-up and my weight dipped below 182lbs. Also made a (small) dent in my 14th Birthday Goal of a 14 minute Hangboard Moving Hang (added 30 seconds).

Mon:

Hangboard Moving Hangs 5:15/2:30/1:45

One Arm Push-up 5/5/3

Tue:

Pull-ups 5x5 (40mm)

Wed:

Rest

Thu:

Hangboard Moving Hangs 5:30/2:45/2:00

Handstand push-ups (2.5”) 3x 2.5, 1.5, 1.5

Fri:

Pull-ups 6x6 (40mm)

Hero Stretch 5x5mins

Sat:

Rest

Sun:

Handstand push-ups (1.5”) 3x 1.5

Took the 1.5” book away and finally got a full range Handstand Push-up!

Weight:

181.2

The Hangboard Moving Hangs are now my main effort as one of my last remaining lockdown goals is the Crimpd 3x 10mins on/10mins off exercise. I’m hoping that a spectacular fail on my ‘14mins for the 14th Birthday’ goal might lead to me inadvertently ticking it - who knows, I might surprise myself!

It's nice to be around Alan, it's been a while.

M - Nothing

T - 24km walk up and out of the Nene valley and back into town and along the River.

W - Hills. 4.92km 52m Walk down slowly and run back up. First time for a year, so not many up runs.

T - Nothing

F - Hills.5.2km 48min Ran up all.

S - Nothing

Sun - 9km walk.

Finished the week with a right knee like a balloon but I expected that. I'll start with hills again on Wednesday. Two sessions max of that a week to start some 'mountain' fitness again.

I manage the knee with boswellia extract and the occasional hit of 600mg of ibruprofen.

The pinkie is healing well but became infected, so I've been on penicillin since Sunday. Tried weighting the finger but the fracture is still really painful. Patience is needed.

I had the Astra Zeneca jab this morning. Climbing gyms and travel for outdoors start soon... it'll be nice to put some of this behind us.

I stretch my hamstrings after my normal warm up.  Sit on the floor, the leg you want to stretch out straight, other bent.  Lean forward and touch your toes on the straight leg.  I've found long holds work well (30sec+).  I also put my heel up onto a high ledge then lean forward to stretch the hamstring out.

Cheers once again Alan! 

To some extent, yeah - 3 days of limit bouldering on the board, but with "proper" rest days in-between. I also dropped boulder triples/an-cap & some conditioning sessions to reduce the volume a bit/allow space for the limit bouldering to keep the specificity high. Not quite a proper "deload" week, but I'm feeling fresh & strong at the minute - no real indication of overtraining/perf decline

M - rest, stretches

T - 10s max FB test on the Lattice 20mm, half-crimp - managed +15kg or 120% BW. Definitely nothing particularly impressive, but quite chuffed given I was hanging just over BW on an easier edge back in Oct/Nov before taking training more seriously. Followed this with a short limit bouldering session, stopped early but generally felt good. Scapula activations and frenchies in the eve

W - rest, stretches

T - limit bouldering - great session! Ticked a couple 6B+ benchmarks in a few goes which was nice. Curls in the evening

F - rest, stretches

S - a long session of limit bouldering - probably the best yet on the board! A few 6B+/6C benchmarks. Close on another 6C, but too gassed by the end of the session to tick. Press-ups and curls in the eve

S - rest, stretches

Edit: forgot to add what I'll be doing 14 of for the fitclub birthday! For lack of anything more interesting/original, maybe 14 problems over 6B on the board? We'll see

I like it!

Depending on back/knee/heel being compliant, my 14th birthday challenge:

14x >7A Moonboard benchmarks in a session

So, guys, I have a question.

Been having a think about my short to medium term goals. Given mutation-driven third wave, EU vaccination fiasco etc, I don't really expect much by way of significant lockdown easing - climbing walls open, weekends in the Frankenjura etc - before about May or June.

For the time being day trips are still allowed though, so I'm thinking about what I can get done on my local crags. For example at the Zellerwand I've made serious attempts on three 7a's that are all in the same style - short, continuous ten-to-twenty move power endurance with no real rests and redpoint cruxes at the top.

This is very much anti-style for me: I've had successes at the grade on bouldery things with short cruxes, or on longer aerobic pump stuff, but that kind of short sharp conti (?) stuff kicks my ass every time. So, given that I can only get on an actual route one day a week (max, depending on weather) and only have access to a fingerboard the rest of the time, what can I do?

Thanks Alan, I'm not sure if its really spring like out there or whether I'm just feeling more spring like but I'm definitely happier out on the rock than hanging from my board.

Mon.  Took advantage of the last day of flexible working and got a short sport session in.  Not much at all dry at the crag but managed to successfully redpoint Baron Samedi (7b+).  Not a great route (poor rock quality after half height) but pretty much the only thing dry.  Still a nice session.

Tues. 14km run @ 4.44/km

Wed. 6x max hangs +28kgs. Lots of playing around with shoulder engagement.  I'm definitely too weak for 1 arm engagements even if I take a massive 30kgs off!  Does the fit club hive mind see anything wrong with weighting 2 armed ones?  I'm really scared of putting weights on with straight arms given previous elbow struggles.  Going slowing and pausing in places (a bit like a scap pull up version of frenchies) seems to make it harder without adding weight so I'm currently working on these. 3x10 press ups.

Thurs+Fri. rest/mega work days.

Sat.  First visit to Roche Abbey.  Great session.  Got 2 7As (one onsight) and a 7A+ but was most pleased with doing Enity (f7B+) (probably soft) Problems at 7B+ are rarely doable in a session for me so it was nice not to have to siege it into submission!

Sun.  9km run.

Do you fall off boxed at the end of the sequence, or do you fall off powered out in the middle somewhere?

If the former, then in theory I'd suggest power endurance and the latter maybe ancap are the weaknesses.

However, if you're looking in the short term, the best bang per buck is probably going to be some sort of variant on getting properly pumped out of your tree.

I'm afraid I'm not a great expert on power endurance training on a fingerboard, since I would use my foot on campus board for that, but tentatively I would suggest repeaters, and some sort of structure that allows you to do something like 2 minutes "on" (i.e. 7:3-ing) and 2 minutes off, for maybe 20 minutes or something. Minute on minute off also available for variety. Progression is by slowly trimming down the rest times.

I think you might mean resistance btw - I thought conti/continuous would be the longer enduro stuff. Not 100% on this.

I can’t help with training advice but are you trying these top down, i.e. going for increasing links from part way up rather than longer links from the ground. Also if you do manage a link to the top just TR the last few moves straight away get used to pulling them when knackered. 

Hi Alan, thanks for the stats.

Me too! Hell of a place to find out you're wrong. I spoke to a couple of folk who suggested we were probably off route, but also said that all options are equally horrible on that headwall. 

Week 15:

Overall quite a disappointing week that I'm trying to remain philosophical about. Had to skip 3 out of 5 runs due to various lower-body niggles, one of which (left knee) I am slightly worried is blossoming into a more serious issue. General dismay knocked my motivation for core and prehab, too, so I mainly ended up sitting around this week. 

M Descent from Zugspitze, -2000m, 13.5km, relatively involved.

T Much-needed rest

W Tentative 8.14km Z1, felt aerobically fine but had a fair amount of residual soreness in calves from the weekend, which made the whole thing a bit of a chore. Noticed some soreness in my left knee and outside of right ankle after I got back.

T Rest. Soreness remained, so decided to sack off the scheduled 16km.

F Rest. Still some soreness, plus busy day which culminated in me deciding to sack off the scheduled 11km.

S Knee and ankle felt OK, so headed out for 19.50km Z1, felt really good apart from an absolutely heinous headwind on the return leg and some horizontal rain. No issues with the ankle but the knee became fairly sore in the evening after I'd been back for an hour or so. 

S Rest. Knee pain still there in the morning, quite mild but noticeable when weighted. Decided to skip scheduled 16km and rethink the coming week's running.   

Overall I think I may need to spend this coming week resting and doing some physio stuff. Doc Google has me loosely thinking it might be patellar tendonitis, but I should probably try and book an appointment with an actual doctor if it carries on. 

Last week's goals:

• 70.8km running [27.64/70.8km]
• 1 core routine [-]
• 3 shin prehabs [0/3]

Goals:

STG (This Week)

• Sort out some relevant exercises for the knee
• Do those exercises every day 
• Explore cross-training options? Get a stationary bike?
• Tentative run on Saturday?

MTG (End of June 2021)

• Finish the Zugspitz Ultratrail
• Himmel und Hölle on the Zugspitze Nordwand [Tick - 7th March]
• Optimist on the Schneefernerkopf Westwand
• Eiger nordwand if borders are open and partners can travel

LTG (End of 2021)

• Himalaya Expedition (or plan B)

Obviously ignore this if you already have somebody & don't need a recommendation, but otherwise Dr Keinath in Giesing is Munich's favourite climbing orthopaedist. Good guy, helped me when I had shoulder trouble a few years back.

No but good idea, I probably should be. The one that I'm closest on finishes with a huge reach/deadpoint that is strenuous to set up for after a tricky clip. I'm still low percentage just doing the move in isolation, quite apart from climbing into the setup.

Also involves a fairly important flake-crimp that has been creaking since October, I'm surprised it has survived the winter. Can only hope it'll leave a bigger crimp when it goes.

Can you just skip the clip or extend it or the following one to a more useful location?

Wrt training, like AJM says it depends whether you are pumped or powered out.

If you are falling off pumped near the top, I would recommend either foot on campus between holds on your fingerboard (this worked great for me in the past, just keep going to failure, rest for the same time you managed to stay on for, then keep repeating until your rest and contact times reach a rough equilibrium - it'll take 30 minutes or so probably), or, whatever is the most appropriate of Lattice's repeater protocol suggestions, probably with 60% bodyweight or something. 

If you are powering out it's probably worth doing some stuff at higher load. Or find some fun hard boulder traverses to work at for a couple of months before getting on the routes, which is more interesting.

Obviously tactics are also king as Tyler alluded to. A couple of thoughts on routes of this type... I assume you are getting all the moves properly wired so you can climb it really fast? If the route doesn't have a defined crux and is at a grade you should be able to do in a few goes, it can be tempting not to take the time to do this really well, but it makes a big difference if you can learn every move as accurately as you would a boulder problem. And secondly, if there are some poor rests available on the better holds, then test out whether stopping there actually helps you or not, by trying the route with and without the rest. On one of the hardest routes I've done, which was of this type, there was a slopey rail about 5-6 moves from the top that most people rest at, but after repeatedly resting there on redpoint goes (thinking I was recovering) and falling off a couple of moves higher every time, I was amazed to discover that if I just carried on boshing through and completely ignored the rest position, I had more left in the tank at the top - that was how I eventually did the route. On the other hand a friend I worked the route with, who does loads of trad and has recovery capacity galore, couldn't get close if he ignored the rest - but he was able to stop there and properly recover before tackling the top. So it's always worth experimenting.

Loads of other useful advice around of course and apologies if this is teaching you to suck eggs

Experimenting with that is in the plan for the next session.

Will try to be useful and get back to this.

Yoga every day.

Sunday - ran 18k (608m height gain)

Thanks AJM, I guess I’ll never spend very long there so only need a few stellar routes (that neither Alexm nor Alan have never done). So far I’ve got Dülfer (VI+)Göttner (VI+)Dülfer (VI+)

but nothing closer to Munich that fits the life time ticklist mould

I've done the Totenkirchl but not the Fleischbank Dülfer. Would have nothing against doing the Totenkirchl one again either.

Don't rule out the northern Dolomites either - if you count front door to crag time, given the short walk in somewhere like the Sella Pass is hardly any further away in time than the Kaisergebirge (but requires three countries being out of lockdown rather than just two)

Doesn't look like I'm going to be learning any valuable lessons about anaerobic endurance or projecting tactics this weekend. Forecast is snow, sleet and highest temperatures around 2 or 3 degrees.

I haven't done any of those yet, definitely psyched for both Dülfers. I've heard the Totenkirchl Westwand is awesome. The Dachstein Sudwand would be another one to look at (e.g. the Schinkoverschneidung (VII-)). Or even the Watzmann Ostwand if you're feeling fit!

This is a useful ticklist: https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?id=3927

Thanks Alan, good beta. In the first instance I'm going to see if it's solved by taking some time off, but if it persists I'll check your man out.

Get in touch with your physio (if you haven't already) and let them know. It may be perfectly normal to be experiencing pain with your diagnosis and it doesn't mean more damage is happening. A bit like pulley injuries that still give us grief 6-9 months after. Or it may help them decide a different approach is needed. 

I'm in the middle of writing an article for UKC for how to train for heel hooks. Due out soon - once I get off my bum and finish it off.

Thanks Alan. You've really kept us going.

It seems a bit more obvious a few of us are struggling atm. There is hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel and it's great we have a space here to offload to a sympathetic audience without burdening our nearest and dearest.

How did the train vs climb dilemma work out?

I think i solved that dilemma by doing not very much at all. It was planned as a deload week but the week before kind of became that as i was really tired. Last week i have nothing in my training diary. This is the first time in a year i've not put anything in. I do remember feeling a bit meh after getting out for a lovely day of soloing and trad the week before and my psyche for training took a hit.

So i've no idea what i did. I'm sure i went on the board a couple of times and i did feel i was getting my snap back. The week before i'd been very lacking in top end power.

I have now got a plan written out for the next few weeks, starting next week and i'm feeling the psyche to keep training again.

My goal of Kleptomania is still the main focus and i'm looking at that for end of April as a good time to peak for it - fingers crossed for a Spring as good as last year. 

This week has also been a bit rubbish due to a very busy work week and having my son. That's obviously not been rubbish it's just impacted time available for training.

So my 1 week planned deload has ended up being 3. 1 because I really needed it, 1 as I was just meh! and 1 that has just been a busy life week. I have done a bit this week so will report that next week and get back on the training waggon. 

Are you still keen for some limestone bouldering? I have lots of time booked off work in the two weeks from 29/03 when we are allowed to travel again, and would be keen to join you for a session at Trowbarrow if you still want to do your projects there.

Absolutely yes. I was at Fairy Steps yesterday. 

My weekday days off are Monday and Thursday. Just give me a shout.

Must be nice to live in a country that has a functioning vaccination programme!

But on the other hand, day trips have been allowed throughout our current lockdown and will hopefully remain so even when it gets extended for another month.

It's a bit swings and roundabouts isn't it. 

I'm jealous of you and Alex still being able to get out and do meaningful things this winter - whilst I'm thankful of having the beach so close I've missed climbing a lot more this lockdown and have generally found it harder and more frustrating - in part because large parts of it could have been avoided (both more widely in terms of more prompt action, and also I guess the rules not really reflecting what we now know about the fairly low risk of outdoor transmission).

I'd certainly accept a month or two more of non essential shops being closed and similar to have been able to day trip travel all winter - both from the perspective of climbing and of seeing family and friends. Obviously looking from a purely personal psychological level rather than considering any wider consequences. 

I have a week off from 29th and if planned in advance Mrs S is happy for me to go out climbing in that week. Would be keen for a Trowbarrow jolly as somewhere new to go

So do I, but I think it might be a little beyond my day trip range

It sounds like a pad party is forming! Afternoon is always better for the South face where the majority of the problems are, but there's a few to go at on the North side - Texas Hold 'Em is a must. Bring a knee pad! I think i'm familiar enough with it now to sort out any local beta specifications.

The Monday or Thursday would be the days for me - it's Good Friday on the Friday anyway and likely to be v busy.

AJM - i don't know how to make a sad face on here but if i could i would. I really hope it won't be long now.  

I'll be up there for a few weeks in June (well, Yorkshire followed by Keswick, neither of which is *that* nearby, but a lot more so than now!)...

And hoping to get out around home a load over Easter...

I look forward to a long overdue meet up when you're in Yorkshire/Keswick 

That would be good!

I can usually only do mornings but I think I could probably do an afternoon on that Monday 29th if the weather is good. I'll be trying to get out to other places later that week too although I might have to bring a 3yo with me!

I’m curious to know what it was in my years of posting on FC about injuries and weight gain that made you think I’m the sort of person who could manage an 850m “serious” route off their couch/sun lounger! 😂 😂😳. It does look good though and I’m getting very excited about  climbing some biggish classics over the next few years. I’ve just started rereading my copies of Vertical and Mountain Review and there are so many “new” or “unknown” places to visit. If it wasn’t for my calf I’d be all over the Z1

I take it there are more routes there than are mentioned here or is this a different place altogether?

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/watzmann-9878

Some of these discussions have certainly got me dusting off my destination/route ticklist, and adding new ones. Those wilder kaiser routes look good and somewhere totally off the usual radar for UK climbers. 

Yeah it’s crazy, I was flicking through a mag yesterday and it had an article on an amazing looking sport venue in Turkey I’d never heard of

That's the badger. There are indeed rather few routes for a wall that's 1800 metres high and about the same across. Maybe a dozen or so, of which only three get any real traffic. Basically lots of chossy scrambling on complicated ledge & terrace systems, with occasional bits of climbing on decent rock if you manage to find them - routefinding notoriously challenging. Lots of stonefall, not least from the via ferrata that goes along the summit ridge above the entire length of the wall. The descent goes down the wrong side of the mountain into an uninhabited valley miles from anywhere, along which you then trudge for hours and hours. Oh, and access to half the routes - like so many in the Alps these days - involves negotiating a bergschrund from hell that has got a lot worse in recent years.

Hermann Buhl soloed it in winter. Of course.

An essential rite of passage for locals, but not necessarily something to have on one's must-do list as a visitor looking for more Type 1 Fun. 

This all from what I've read & heard btw - I did intend to get on it last summer but huts were closed, which would have made the approach too long to have any realistic hoping of getting up & down in a day. Maybe this year.