UKC

Hey guys: placeholder in case anybody has a burning urge to post their week's doings in the middle of Easter weekend.

I'm back from a day's cragging, getting fed & into bed ready to head out again in the morning. Stats to follow tomorrow evening.

Cheers Alan. I’ll post now, since I’m off work this fortnight which makes the Sunday still a logical break point. Been a good week with some unseasonably nice weather but it looks like its back to duvets and multiple layers from tomorrow. Got on some rock, got on some interesting problems and made some progress.

Staycation week #1

Monday - a taste of freedom. Head to Winspit with Sean. Rattled through 8 easy routes to ease back into things, a few new things and a few repeats up to 6a+. A lovely day with the weather just getting better and better. Short session but a good one.

Tuesday - St Aldhelms with MrsAJM. Repeated some of the better easier stuff, then tried Mikes Wall with little progress. At the end I tried The Drifter (7A) which is a compression sort of problem getting over a roof. Made some progress, got either 1 or two moves left to work out to get to what looks like a good hold. One to return to, although since it’s on an exposed headland the upcoming cold snap may complicate things. Glorious weather - https://www.instagram.com/p/CNDBntvDTmJ/?igshid=1t1083g932tx7

Wednesday - fridge hugging muscles aching! Subluminal with MrsAJM. Promised sun never quite broke through. Did 3 easy routes to blow away cobwebs before sore toes curbed enthusiasm. Came home and chilled.

Thursday - rest. Saw my parents for the first time since October

Friday - glorious sunshine, off to the New Cuttings with miniAJM. Had a decent session trying Sub Youth (7A+). Best go videoed here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNKxlskDe9P/?igshid=w1jjuywyo72m

From either the hold I reached from or tried to reach to with the right - I’m not wholly sure (the one I reached from is small and quite sharp and feels like it would be awkwardly placed for standing up fully on the heel on, the one I’m reaching to is definitely bigger but a bit of a stretch and my fumbling fingers haven’t found a super bit of it yet) - you then get the left foot up maybe a foot from where it was - there’s a foot immediately under the strip roof. Then you stand right up and throw for a jug in the flowstone.

Saturday - new forest to see my sister. In theory an active rest day although it felt more active and less restful than I had expected! About 5 miles walking, lots of picking up and otherwise wrangling children.

Sunday - back to the new forest in far better weather for an actual rest day seeing my in-laws. Lots of loafing about in the sunshine.

Cheers for posting, doubt I'll be climbing tomorrow so seems like a logical decision to post my rambling now.

Been a decent week I'd say, climbed on a new sector of my local crag and then explored a totally new venue in a county I'd never climbed in before!

Apologies in advance for the massive wall of text for Saturday!

Last Week:

M - Rest

T - Sally's Garden. Got Joesef Merrick's pet badger (f7A) (more like 6B) with some atypical beta, only using one of the two monos. Felt confident at height as well, it seems the weekend circuit at Grinshill helped with headgame!

W - 50 pushups

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - Thorn Crag, absolutely blissful day out. Managed Elemental (f6C) 2nd go which was unexpected given my pulley strain, then a couple of easy highballs and the classic Burnt Heather (f6B). Then played on And For My Next Trick (f7A) but couldn't find finger-friendly beta. Next went to Bad Moon Rising (f7B+), sussed most of the moves and the rest felt close, but knew it definitely wouldn't go then due to conditions and finger, so left before I used all my skin.

Lastly we ended up at the Seaview Boulders, the highlight for me was just whipping around easy boulders with mates, not worrying about padding them out too much and enjoying the last bit of sunlight. A friend spotted Yule Jewel (f7B) but we didn't have the guidebook to hand, ended up doing some weird standing eliminate - No match for climb id:622439.

S - 5 mile walk. Could've done without it considering the previous day!

Next Week:

M - Maybe some light no-hangs to encourage A2 recovery?

T - Rest

W, T - Grinshill maybe?

F - Rest

S, S - Praying for good weather, hopefully a good day out cragging!

Goals:

Recover strained A2

Suavito

Tierdrop

Rigpa

Cheers Alan. Slowly getting back in to climbing outdoors after the enforced layoff! 

M: Rest.

T:  Max Hangs 15mm 7s (+127%). Same as 6 weeks ago which I’m happy with as I’ve been training endurance.

Handstand Push-up 3x 1.5. Annoyingly I’ve stalled on the reps for the last 3 weeks. First set I almost got 2 full reps but wasn’t to be. Need more frequency.

W: Had to travel in to work.

T: Had to travel in to work.

F: First time out in 3 months! Had a half day at Swanage to blow off the cobwebs, and there were a few! Abbd in to Flake Ledge without the Lead Ropes so had to use a trax to climb out on the Ab Rope. Then realised we were on the wrong part of the crag anyway. Did a couple of VDiffs then had a look at Coral Prison (VS) but the sea was getting rough. Great to be out again.

S: Fairy Cave Quarry. Stepping back up in the grades. Mersey Tunnel (S), Ash Tree Wall (VS), Caveman (VS), and Rob’s Crack (VS). Increase in forearm stamina has been offset by bad footwork and cowardice.

S: Rest day. Was feeling it after only a couple days cragging. Must have been a shock to the senses!

With another week off work I’m climbing Tue-Thu and will get a training session in over the weekend.

I’ve read through the FitClub Training articles and have come up with a new plan for when the gyms open 12 Apr. The 10wk Eric Hörst plan was good, but 2 weeks endurance training is nowhere near enough for me. I’ve based a new programme on the Alex Barrows’ Article and the Crimpd App. Also need to dust off the climbing goals now  I’m back out!

Happy Easter FitClub.

Hope you are enjoying Easter Alan, sounds like you are managing to get out now.

Mon. Today should have been a shit day. I was still tired from Saturday, my skin was thin and it was about 15degrees too warm for grit but somehow I managed to do T Crack (f7B). Longest running project from circa 2006/7 put to bed. Seemed fine today, not sure what I've been messing about at for so so long? Celebrated by slicing my left index finger open on one of the Razor Roof link ups.

Tues. Mostly a rest day. Taped up and had a little potter about in North Tegness Quarry  Tegness Quarries but all the top outs were choss so I sacked it off. 4 decent easy problems done. 5km ride to collect the car. 

Wed. Tried to climb at Lees Bottom but everything right of the wall was wet and I struggled to warm up on the harder stuff to the left. Did all the moves on Mr. Creosote but not in any sort of convincing way. Manged The Only Way is A6 from 2 moves in to the end but didn't put time into the hard move at the start as I couldn't slap with the sliced skin from Monday. Good to see a couple of younger/stronger/more talented lads out climbing well.

Thurs. 14km steady mtb to the swings with mini swede on the back.

Fri. Rest

Sat. Sport climbing. Went for a look at an 8a I tried last year. Refined my beta and made some good links. Could do with the break being drier. It would be OK if you were over strong but I need a descent rest there!

Sun. 16km kiddy bike ride, mini swede on the back, small swede riding. He's almost tall enough for the next bike up now which will mean we can go a bit faster soon. It must be frustrating to have 14inch wheels and one gear, he spins out at about 10kph and can't go any faster. 

Nice to see Fairy Cave getting some action. I thought Rob's Crack was great but the stand out route of the quarry for me was Balch's Slide (HS 4a). Best route I've done at the grade? Yes it's a bit run out but I thought the climbing was fantastic. Worth getting on if you go back. 

Cheers Alan - hope yesterday was a good day?

Mon - Hangs, sidepulls and some TRX.

Wed - Hangs (sore) and a little canoe. 

Sun - 14k walk in the south west of the county.

A difficult week personally and that overshadowed everything.

Tried a single blade in the canoe for the first time but it's slow. Cracked the technique quick enough but using a kayak paddle seems much better for training, even if you get wetter.

A hard week at work left me completely battered by Fri lunch and I promptly fell asleep on the sofa. Worked Saturday too.

Lots of massage for the back.

It gets a bad press for being loose but there’s some real diamonds. 

I had a flick through my Logbook and in 2013 I said Balch’s was a ‘nice warmup’. Must have been feeling brave as it looks thin!

Might have to go back for the Alzheimer’s Onsight.

Thanks Alan.

M: afternoon trip to Widdop. Did Splashdown (f6B) and Pot Black (f6C) quickly and then spent a while trying Hurricane (7A). I got very close but kept fumbling the crux hold and it's a skin eater, so I moved on to try the moves on Fight on Black (7B). This is something I want to put more time into when I can get a decent length session in good conditions. The key slopers were in the sun today and I was blinded by the sun as well on one of the key moves reaching up the arete. I worked out the best way to do the start for me, good to get a feel for it.

T: rest

W: took my son out to Trowbarrow. We spent half our time exploring the quarry but I managed to find time to work out all the moves on Ned's Problem (7B) and had a couple of good goes on it. On the best I fell off slapping the arete at the end, so pretty close to doing the problem. Good result for a first session, especially as it was really hot.

T: rest

F: had to cancel a planned trip to meet a friend at Earl Crag. My son had had a runny nose for a few days but overnight it developed in to a cough, so off to the testing centre then into isolation we went. I also had a sore throat and temporary head ache come on myself. Felt slightly better later on so did some scap pull-ups (6 * 8/2/8/2/8/2 just with bodyweight) and a hip mobility routine. Both our tests came back negative, phew.

S-M: still ill, so just rested

Hoping I'll be well enough to do more climbing this week. I was supposed to be out today but had to cancel again. Fortunately I've been able to combine being ill with childcare and let my wife do all her own stuff that she wanted to get done, so she's fairly understanding about me going out climbing more this week instead.

Si

Hi Alan, hope the climbing went well and you had a good couple of days.

Another low volume week, just the two trail runs. 12.5 and 10 km respectively. I enjoyed both despite them being tough going. Just can’t quite get the enthusiasm up to get out more. However had an e mail to say my new bike wheels will arrive in a couple of weeks so need to get out more to feel I have earned them!!

Warmer weather always helps too.

Thanks. Yesterday wasn't particularly but today was. No spoilers for next week's report though.

Well, you lot are keen. Well done. I'll finished the stats as if I hadn't read any of this week's reports, otherwise I risk not being able to think of anything to say next week.

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_club_week_732-7328...

Lockdown esoterica Psyche Vid. Grinshill seems to be quite the genre: vimeo.com/5511408 Looks like a mix of quarried and natural?

AJM - good effort on the fourteen sessions. Hope you were able to make good use of the saved-up skin.

alexm198 - terribly sorry to hear about your knee, but dropping out of the ultra sounds like a wise call. And tbh the way things are looking I'll be quite surprised anyway if public sporting events are happening again as early as June.

Ally Smith -  good 14th birthday 14 benchmark session, impressive continued commitment to Gardening Fitness. 

biscuit - some kind of virus thing and three days on, not surprised you were wiped out on Sunday. Like the sound of Fairy Steps though.

Liam P - welcome to Calf Prehab Club. Look forward to hearing what the fingerboard gainz bring on the actual rock.

mrchewy - if I recall correctly work triggering shoulder problems for you isn't new. Hoiw's it gone since? Glad to hear the knee is handlikng the longer walks ok.

Ross Barker - giving the finger - not to mention the rest of you - a rest sounds like a good idea. Hope it's behaving itself a bit better now? Meanwhile, an E7 with no logged ascents in a quarry with questionable rock quality? Ok. Have fun.

Si dH - Pex is a pretty good first day out, and Hart's a stout solo - iirc I only ever shunted it when I used to go there

Somerset swede basher - good windy pad wrestling efforts. I thought as a former obsessive guidebook reader I'd heard of most crags in the Peak, but Sugworth is an entirely new one on me. 

the sheep - back up to 12,5km? Well done.

Tom Green - good effort on the Q1 goals. Q2 looks ambitious - substantial gains on strength metrics *and* a return to a full climbing and running programme? We'll be watching with interest. 

AlanLittle - local bouldering esoterica better than expected *and* a usable climbing wall subsitute? Would be good news if it didn't feel like I was likely to be relying on them on them for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, the left rotator cuff and work plus climbing can mean misery but the rest this last two years from climbing has been okay, that was a good start to giving it some help.

At work I'm trying to use the left arm more and more for everything to try and give it some strength back.

A never ending battle I think but currently, it's okayish.

I keep nearly forgetting to post my own log.

STG: Weight back below 85kg. Start Couch To 5k. Get back on one of my local project/goal routes
MTG: Complete one of my local (Zellerwand) 7a projects - short, sharp power endurance. Complete Couch to 5k
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: 1½ hours bike.
T: Max hangs, scap pulls, shoulder presses.
    45 minutes bike as warm up for 15 minutes jog/walk intervals. No calf explosion, yay. Still amazing how much harder jogging a few hundred metres on the flat feels compared to, says, carrying a rucksack uphill at 500 metres/hours for a couple of hours. But I suppose it's all about what movement patterns one is & isn't used to at any given time.
    Rode past a playground that had one of those easy climbing walls for kids, except this one looked to be about thirty metres long. Lockdown ARC venue?
    
W: 3x10 ARC on the newly discovered playground wall. This turns out to be way better than expected - only vertical but with quite a lot of actual smallish crimps. Having somewhere to go & something to do in the evening after work feels weird.
T: 
F: Max hangs then 3x12 ARC on the playground wall
   45 minutes stretching
S: Bike 45 minutes
S: Schönhofen. The main sector here has soem good routes but is horribly crowded at the moment, getting a bit sick of it. But then my mate spotted in the guidebook that there's another sector just another few minutes walk further along the river, where there was only one other team. Was already pretty tired by the time we arrived there but hasd a play on a couple of very nice routes - a good little find.

TOTALS FOR MARCH

THE GOOD

Actual climbing/bouldering days: four

Fingerboard sessions: ten

Z1/Z2 cardio hours: sixteen. More climbing, less hillwalking but still enough. 

Stretching & mobility sessions: eight

THE IMPROVED

Surprisingly usable playground climbing wall discoveries: one

THE STILL FIRMLY LOCKDOWN PLATEAUED

Average weight: 85.2 kgs

THE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

General strength & conditioning sessions: three. 
 

Clearly my sneaky (very) late reappearance last week was too sneaky for you Alan 😜

Harder week this week as had minor surgery on Monday to get rid of a lump from under my arm and have to be careful of not popping my stitches with my lats before they are out (2 weeks, so another week) which has been a bit annoying in the hangboard/ campus/ climbing / yoga front as arm above head engagement is out. 

• yoga every day (although no DFD, child, arm above head action which made my teaching a bit comedy)
• 11k run 350m height gain
• some walks to work
• Bouldering at Huntsham, the highlight of which was Under Stars is Best (f6C). Saw 2 squirrels and 3 deer.

Oops. Yes, you sneaked that one past me. It won't happen again.

Yes, it's on the mend, going for an active recovery approach, trying stuff which won't worsen the strain, but will still load it to promote blood flow. Seems to be working so far!

Haha, don't intend on actually getting on it too soon, but would be a neat highball project for the future after toprope practice. Certainly looks mint, and not "yer gunna die" height either.

Hi Fit Club. Thanks for statting Alan -glad you were out climbing yesterday.

Cheers! Q1 was a funny one as Covid nicked a few weeks running and limited travel meant that route climbing gave way to bouldering. I've worked out over the last few years that I tend to push harder with ambitious goals that I don't quite hit than I do with more achievable goals where I take my foot off the gas after I've ticked them (or when I'm getting close). 

Week 13:

Another week where I felt I couldn't justify training when it was sunny outside -possibly to my detriment...

M: Prehab and 'recovery' run (basically junk miles, but nice to run with Mrs G)

T: Bouldering at Helsby (started at Harmer's Wood but it was horrendously hot and humid so I wasn't getting any where on either of my projects). Saved the session by some hot but less humid cons -highlight was Arete and Mantel (V3).

W: Bouldering at Grinshill: allowed the sun to tempt me out despite my elbows feeling tweaky from yesterday -probably stupid as they were screaming after a short session. Home for ibuprofen and self-reproach. MUST BE MORE DISCIPLINED WITH PREHAB.

T: Trail run: 7.1km, 189m vert, 5:59/km (Z1). Prehab (Arms).

F: Recovery run (more junk miles with wife). Prehab (Arms + Legs).

S: Bouldering at Grinshill: great social session, with highlight being the slightly scary Tin Tin (f5+) and some good progress on Eliminator.

S: Hill run: 9.8km, 394m vert, 6:43/km (Z1). R hip slightly tweaky uphill. Prehab (Arms).

Week 14:

Daily prehab

2 x climbing

2 x max hangs

2 x strength (retest 2RM Max for pull-ups and weight for max hangs)

3 x run (including one with weighted ascent)

New STG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 85kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Thug circuit 1-on, 1-off

Eliminator (V4); 

Grid Iron (6c)

15 Pembroke E-points (I'm going to be based in Pembroke for work for a chunk of time)

Edale Skyline and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

MTG (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

Sugworth Edge is only relatively recently developed and even more recently shared. There are a few crags round that way that have more to go at. Blindside Edge isn't climbed out though I think the cool looking prow there has been done, I've no idea why nobody had been interested in documenting Gibraltar rocks but there is a couple of days worth of fun there. There is even a whole quarry with good new route potential around there too but needs a good clean to make it worthwhile. Seek and ye shall find! I don't enjoy new routing as much as I feel I ought to but maybe I'll get into it when the kids are older. 

It certainly seemed like a nice little corner of the world the couple of times I've driven through that way.

Week 13

M – Was supposed to be Trowbarrow, but Biscuit’s condition report demolished any remaining psych and not long after, 4mths worth of disturbed sleep and lockdown BS caught up with me = long afternoon snooze. Swapped chain and cassette on road bike and took it out for a 17km gentle ride

T – Family BBQ: Nothing but gentle bicep curls with 568g weight

W – Early morning board. Tried hard on lots of 7C+/8A things but succeeded on none of them. However, still really happy with the session. Smashed 4x laps of the circuit at the end; maybe I could increase the difficulty a smidge now I’m familiar with it?

T – 33km road ride with cobbles and hills.

F – Drive to in-laws. Rushed lunch then met up at Harmer Hill for esoteric Shropshire sandstone sport. Birds Nest Cafe (8a+) was brilliant (dogged twice) but ArmHarmerWall (7a+) was let down by greasy rock.

S – Family walk. 11k steps.

S – Quick hit to the choss cave. After a warm-up, including doing Doug's Feet (f7A) for first time; cleaned, then quickly did new extended exit to In His Head (f7A+) to give Shropshire's Finest (f7B). After that, the obvious link of the two beckoned = Doug's Finest (f7C). Recharged with Easter chocolate and set about Shropshire Lass (f7A+) which was finally resolved with a different boot to get the L heel hook to work. No time to spare, thrashed myself with 3 quick goes to get the link form the back done; Douglass (f7B+) (hard 7B+ IMHO). Back at in-laws in time for Easter lamb roast :-D

Oh entirely my fault for being a Sunday morning chancer - the most annoying kind of person when you are doing FC stats as I recall Thanks for keeping us all going!

Thanks Alan! Apologies for my absence last week - was a bit manic with the moving in. All good now though, and a solid week of training all things considered

M - moving in

T - moving, stretches

W - limit bouldering, conditions weren't great (a bit humid) but not a bad session

T - rest, stretches

F - one-arm lock off 5s test: +2kg/+0kg L/R @90deg, +0kg/+0kg @125deg. Then limit bouldering - strong session. Ticked my first BM 7A which was nice

S - shoulder strength/mobility, stretches

S - weighted core, and a pretty casual board session in the afternoon. Was curious how the focus on strength and limit training had affected my endurance so finished off the session with a few sets of 5 on/3 off on jugs - pleasantly surprised given I've not trained any aspect of endurance in 2 months! It does make sense though

Thanks Alan. It's amazing how often another pair of eyes can spot the obvious. Yes, it's not a surprise i was tired, but it was to me at the time.

M - Max pinches, Str A, legs, circuits - first time doing 4 sets of 30:30 with 4min rest between sets. So boxed.

T - Work

W - Work

T - Routes at Gigg. 6b, 6c+, 6c+ (both very bouldery, one on sight one took 3 or 4 goes to get the move) 7a epic fail OS attempt. Putting the draw in at the 3rd bot my foot popped. Adrenalin sky rocketed, i down climbed all the way without weighting the rope. Didn't rest long enough to get over the massive pump, tried again, failed, carried on to the top, pulled a jug off in the chossy unprotected stuff at the top, couldn't see the lower off, found another loose hold, by now i was in ground fall zone. Finally saw the lower off and made it. One to go back for ;0)  

F - Hurt my back sorting out an exercise for a patient - shameful - planned climbing shelved. 

S - Back sore but managed to train Max pinches, Str B, legs, circuits again and even a 30 min jog

S - Back sore - but we had a family garden meet up anyway.

Some good stuff, some not so good stuff. 738 workload score which is up from 590 the week before.

I need to work on falling - next routes session i'll take some falls.

The plan this week is to increase the workload score and get out for some routes if it's possible with the weather. Today has been a washout.