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_club_week_752-7381...

AJM - How did the Wales trip go? I must confess I associate Ogwen mostly with big mountaineering link-ups in Cwm Idwal

Ally Smith - the Wednesday session doesn't sound *too* dreadful in terms of at least getting some useful learning out of poor conditions

biscuit - hillwalking, trad climbing, sport climbing, board climbing. A very, erm, diverse week. Hope the diet change pulled you out of the spell of weirdness

Liam P - another couple of solid maintenance sessions. I hope the Pembroke trip went/is going well?

planetmarshall - I always thought Crafnant looked on paper like *the* crag for classic E2's, although I never made it up there.

Ross Barker - good solo efforts on the sandstone. Glad to hear the elbow & finger are behaving themselves

Si dH - Armathwaite does look like an idyllic spot - did you see that documentary that was out a while back about Pete Whillance & Co there in the 70s?

Somerset swede basher - Uphill looks quite a bit more impressive than the average quarry, am impressed by the FitClub Meet ticklist

Steve Claw - a week of good sport (and woody) tickage there.

the sheep - now that looks like a more balanced approach to the tri disciplines.

Tom Green - a FitClubber on t'Moors. Franco would be proud of you

Tyler - 12kmh is 8 minute mile pace, which surely must have been feasible if you were ever running regularly? Although the few times I've been on them I've found treadmills feel disconcertingly different from actual running.

AlanLittle - good results on the board power phase; good determination (mainly on the part of your belayer) to press on on the Plankenstein classic despite first spots of rain halfway up.

===============  REMINDER - CALL FOR NEXT FIT CLUB MODERATOR ===============

As mentioned last week, I shall be passing the Fit Club MC microphone on to somebody else at the end of October. But to whom?
 

In reply to AlanLittle:

Unless you have any other takers I don't mind doing from when you finish 'til Christmas. Some posts might have to be on a Monday eve as Mrs. Swede often needs the laptop on a Sunday eve but can always but a placeholder on from my phone. 

In reply to AlanLittle:

Cheers Alan, and thanks for statting, you've been doing a fine job! I wouldn't mind chipping into the Fit Club posting if needed, but I'm not sure I could sink the extra investment to be doing it each week. If nobody is keen to do it full-time perhaps we could work out some sort of rotation for people who don't mind it occasionally?

Cheers! Similar story this week, my body is generally pretty happy pulling hard at the moment, let's hope it stays that way. Should get back onto the wagon for antagonists and core work to keep this up.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Terrace session. Repeated Northumberland Wonderland (f7A) and Sams direct Northumberland Wonderland eliminate) (f7A+) (still soft), tentatively pulled back onto Rigpa (V9) and the finger was happy to oblige, though I still wasn't giving it 100%.

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - Morning gym session. Warmed up and did a couple of comp problems, a quick 45 minutes on the Moonboard, then some more comp problems. Was only on the 6B+ benchmarks on the board but no dramas with the finger, even on some of the more aggressive holds.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Rigpa (V9). Really excited to give it some beans.

T - Rest.

W - Rest.

T - Possibly  Crag B?

F - Rest.

S, S - Busy near Bury, but hopefully can squeeze in an hour or two somewhere. Maybe Buckstones Edge (Nont Sarah's)?

Goals:

Rehabilitate finger (going rather well).

Reckless.

Rigpa.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Thanks Alan. Armathwaite is nice - I didn't, was it on ukc?

Holiday week for me but mostly just relaxing and seeing people, with a few bits of climbing thrown in.

M: rest

T: rest

W: had a couple of hours at Carrock fell in the morning. Did Undercut Arete (f6C+) and tried the moves on a few other things.

T: rest/drive home from Lakes.

F: met a friend at Cheedale Cornice. First time bolt clipping in 2 years (and that was only one route, I haven't done it seriously in 5); predictable results i.e. I got spanked by some of the first sport routes I ever redpointed over a decade ago. However my forearms definitely got some work and I was pleased I managed to bolt to bolt up a 7a+ without either a clip stick or any panicking, and take a couple of falls in a fairly relaxed fashion. Enjoyed the climbing and catching up with people. Camped over in the Peak on my own, didn't sleep much...

S: met another friend, rained off climbing so went for a walk instead. Decided to do a loop of the kinder scout plateau - think approx 16-17 miles total in poor weather. Good day out but not a rest day!

S: major leg DOMS, R&R

I am still off work this coming week but at home. I have lots of jobs to catch up with but should hopefully get back on the training wagon too.

Si

In reply to AlanLittle:

Thanks Alan, I'd not been to Uphill before but I'm keen to take a look at the classic E6. I'm almost tempted to go for a cheeky onsight attempt seeing as I got on OK with the style there and it's got plenty of fixed gear but I won't be down that way for a while so can get scared about that another time. I've never tried to onsight an E6 but I've got quite a few E6s and 7s first go on a top rope so maybe I'm just being a massive scaredy pants! Anyway, this week...

Mon. Yesterday I replaced lunch with a bike ride and woke up starving today. Spent most the day eating then headed to cragX in the evening and finally managed moffatrocity (f7B+), I think that's taken me 4 sessions but it could be as many as 6, I've lost count! Also managed the first move of Cherokee Lane (the hardest 7A+ ever!) after about as many sessions having short goes at it. Might get another move next time!

Tues. 7km run.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. Headed to Anston Stones Wood for a go at Fine Beta 7C. Managed two over lapping sections and a couple of decent burns from the start where I fell getting my heel onto the beta blocker jug. New high point on previous attempts a few years ago, keen for a rematch soon. 

Fri. 16km spin with the kids around Ladybower.

Sat. Rest. Not much sleep after getting up at 3.30am to drive Mrs. Swede's (wasted) best friend home. Also got up early to take the kids out so Mrs Swede could sleep in. Many brownie points earnt.

Sun. After two days of rain and humidity levels somewhere between cloud forest and coral reef I wasn't hopeful and after walking into Fine Beta with 4 pads I found it totally condensed. Bailed to Roche which was also really humid but at least it was mostly dry. Managed an 7B (f7B) eliminate and spent ages trying Miller Times 7B+. Just one move I couldn't do. Found several ways to nearly do it so maybe one will work in less moist conditions. 

In reply to AlanLittle:

Thank you Alan, last week was good on the Sport, as I felt really solid at 7b, usually on the first RP.

Back in Bristol this week, lots of work done and training but got some elbow issues going on.

M - Indoor session. Fingerboard, 10s hangs +10kg felt ok, should increase weight. Then rope session all in the mid 7's. 3*20 Press-ups

T - Rest

W - Indoor Boulder session. Played on the Woody, not always completing problems, but spending time getting moves done at max effort. Followed with a play on lots of boulders of all grades, max sent V6.  3*20 press-ups

T - Rest. Elbows are causing issues.  I have for a while now been getting uncomfortable feeling in my elbows and numbness in little finger, especially at night, waking me up if I sleep with arms bent.  Did a google and it looks like classic symptoms of Ulner Nerve / Cubital Tunnel.  Not sure how to treat this, but decided to dial back the training intensity with the elbows.

F - Was going to train, but exhausted from work, and felt elbows needed a rest.

S - Nothing

S - Afternoon TRS in Avon. Returned to Main Wall Eliminate (E4 6a) climbed ok, but felt very XS on the hollow flakes that I backed away from a few weeks ago on lead. Climbed it twice, but not sure I want to come back for the lead, feels scary. Then went on to the top via Pilot Error (E3 5b) which wasn't hard, but trundled a beast sized block from it.  With limited time, went on to explore the new routes on Avon Gorge (Main Area) (Fairyland) Oberon (7b), Titania (7b+), The Faerie Queene (7c) which are very short and bouldery so the moves feel much harder than the grades they get. Tried one of them, but it felt nails, will return when I have more time.

Does anyone have any similar elbow Ulner nerve / Cubital tunnel experience?

In reply to Si dH:

That's next week's Psyche Vid sorted then (hope I can still find it!)

In reply to AlanLittle:

STG: plan autumn sport trip, assuming no delta 4th wave / 3rd lockdown
STG: Summer 2021: Fill out my couple-of-goes pyramid around the 6c-ish level before moving back onto harder projects. (Currently fialing, see Saturday)
MTG: Autumn 2021 sport trip. Ditch the lockdown weightbelt (3 to 5 kgs) beforehand and get fit 
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: 45 minutes stretching, mobility, foam roalling. Trying to undo some of the damage from yesterday's big hike with a big rucksack
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Routes, starting to try to build some endurance for the autumn
W: 
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. More routes. Would normally have bouldered today, but I had some scores to settle from Tuesday. OK shortish session
F: Feeling grotty all day, with some kind of snuffles that turned up negative on a covid test and didn't respond to antihistamines either. Other common cold & similar viruses do still exist after all, even if masks & distancing mostly keep them at bay too. Managed half an hour stretching in the evening.

S: Konstein. Back on Schattenspiele, my bouldery routelet project from a couple of weeks ago. Weather forecast looked similar to then, but actually turned out quite a bit warmer & more humid which didn't help. Refined my sequence on the crux, but then fell off post (technical) crux three times before being too powered out to try any more. Progress, but still disappointing not to have the thing in the bag. 
Hard to say how hard bouldery sport routes really are in terms of technical difficulty - this one is graded UIAA VIII-/VIII (sandbag!); I'd say somewhere around E4 6b would be best way to convey the feel of it. Except with bolts.

S: Drove to the wall (Weyarn) intending to do an evening aerocap session on the autoberlays, onlyto discover that they close at ten not eleven at weekends so I would have had less than an hour. I'm sure there must be a crimpd aerocap session that it's possible to do in under and hour, but I didn't bother. Bought some beers from local village brewery in the petrol station on the way home instead.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Thanks Alan. Persistent drizzle/mist/greyness sadly. There’s some good bouldering in and around Ogwen - Sheep pen is on the hillside back from Ogwen towards Bethesda and is great, the milestone buttress boulders look good, and there are a few other clusters of stuff here and there too. 

A week in which the prevailing weather was set to “Great British Summer” - low cloud, clag, mizzle, and unseasonably cold! Didn’t really get anything done. 

I think if I had been really determined and been prepared to be reasonably antisocial in terms of last minute swerves of plans and so on, it would probably have been possible to do more - trek over to the Orme, visit Hylldrem, it might have been possible to ditch the others and do some stuff in the pass on Monday, and so on. But conditions wouldn’t have been that pleasant and the brownie point expenditure would have been high - sometimes it is best to go with the flow and do social things instead! And to be honest I was feeling pretty run down too - the week of having everyone at home in the run up, plus the combination of later nights and more drink than usual socialising and the same 5am starts with the children, all took it out of me. The latter obviously entirely self inflicted but a holiday that involved neither climbing nor socialising would have been a bit much! Weather looks better next week so hopefully be able to get out back at home.

Sunday as per last week - brief and fruitless attempt to boulder. Spent the rest of the day walking round Caernarfon, probably a couple of miles all told (did it twice, for one reason and another)

Monday - family walk - half the group went to the top of a very foggy snowdon, we walked with miniAJM as far as the old mine/level on Llyn Llydaw, after the causeway and before the path starts to rise towards Glaslyn. About 4 miles round trip.

Tuesday - lazy damp morning, cooked a curry for lunch, then in the afternoon walked about 5-6 miles flat along the coast near Caernarfon with miniAJM on his bike.

Wednesday - low cloud and drizzle again. Went to a beach on Anglesey, maybe 2 miles of walking carrying various children at different points...

Thursday - nothing really, just loafing about

Friday - best weather of the trip, probably. Sadly our time was spoken for by driving back to Shrewsbury to drop off the kids with my in-laws and then back again over to the Lleyn for a wedding on the Saturday.

Saturday - first lie in in over 2 years? Went for about a 40m walk down and along the beach - an interesting mashup of Dinorwic-esque post industrial decaying ironmongery (it was an old granite quarry/mining village) and dramatic seascapes reminiscent of north Cornwall. Wedding. Much dancing and excessive drinking. Not much else.

Sunday - loooong drive back home.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Our daughter has been going through some developmental leaps in the last 10 days; sitting up on her own, semi-crawling and has started teething. We've not been getting the best sleep so happy with what I've managed to keep up training wise. 

Week 33

M – 15min warm-up on the board, followed by fingerboard.

• Crimpd max-hang protocol, M2 using shallow pockets on BM2K; BW only. Hard but might have managed some extra weight? 
• Crimpd 70% repeaters. BW+21kg. 7/3/6/3 x6. Bloody hard. Failing in final rep from 3rd set onwards. Shoulders feeling worked as well as fingers. 
• 7x11 40kg bench-press
• 7x11 45kg Deadlift

T – Rest. No DOMS this week  More COMPEX for back spasm.

W – 5x5 wide pull-ups. Board warm-up and brief try of some harder problems confirmed I wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Contented with aero-power boulder intervals. First set I did the first half at 7A but then faded fast and from 12th onwards was dropping 6C/+’s. An hour later the second set was equally atrocious despite dropping the intensity to benchmark 6C’s from the start.

T – Rest. Weather crapped out so didn’t take the bike out.

F – Gorge after work. Pi$$ wet through in the gorge, but bizarrely dry on Sunset Sit (it’s next to another cave entrance so also suffers from condensation). Couple of 45min blocks working this. Good progress; some semi-decent links, unconvinced it’s only 7C+ though!

S –

• 5x5 95kg deadlifts with fat grips. Felt much harder than previous 5x5 sessions. Fingerboard:
• 6mm Crimpd small edge 7s. BW+10kg. Only managed 3 sets then switched to 8mm edge for last 3 sets as it was too intense.
• M2 BW+5kg 7s x6 (used same Crimpd timer)
• F3SHC 30s density hangs BW-15kg.

S – Soggy morning ride; 33km in 75min. Steady pacing apart from mashing the big ring up the only climb. Afternoon gardening, digging out bricks from 8” below the surface while trying to plant out some new herbaceous plants.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Thanks Alan. You're right about the mixed week. Rather than focussing on one aspect i try and do a little of each energy system each week. Periodised training bores me to death.

M - .5 of a regen session and rest

T - Rest - busy work day

W - Lower and upper body exercises - gentle introduction with super sets between upper and lower. Finished off with some IYT's.

T - .5 An Cap. Mobility

F - Back to Chapel Head and ticked Electric Warrior (7b). Went OK when i felt fresh and confident.

S - Rest - busy family stuff day

S - Back to Chapel Head again. It's still pretty dry. Had a couple of goes up Tricky Pricky Ears (7b). The crux (a big span to the left) was wet sadly. This will probably stay like that now. There is an alternative start that misses this one super hard move but still includes all the rest of the climbing including the redpoint crux (from a hands off rest through some amazing moves into and out of the grrove).  I went up the wrong groove first time. Conditions were very humid and everything felt hard. I'm hoping to get back with better connies and it'll feel not like the living end.

Not much training this week as i'm slightly protecting my left wrist which has a bit of a niggle. It gets annoyed by strenuous left undercuts. Sadly Electric Warrior was a series of these with the crux revolving around one.  Oops!

It feels OK now but needs an eye keeping on it and some rehab.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Podcast tip btw. I haven't followed the Enormocast closely for a while now, felt it had run out of steam, but last night whilst driving to & from the wall (missing out the climbing bit in between, oops) I listened to the recent-ish one with Pete Whittaker. That was good.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Cheers Alan. A mixed bag this week but finally made it on to actual rock after a 3 month paternity-induced layoff.

Wed:

First time at Pembroke so had a look around the classic crags: Saddle, Stennis, Flimston. Nothing to write home about but was pretty knackered after a 10 hour day and a load of low-grade mileage.

Bumped in to Angus and Hazel who were climbing something very hard at Stennis!

Thu:

Plans of jumping back up the grades on one of the 3* HVSs were scuppered by the mizzle. Bailed back east to the Wye Valley and clipped some bolts in the sun.

Long dry spell this week and I have another 2 day break planned in North Wales. Got my heart set on Cloggy but think it may be a bit late in the season. If anything it will be a nice walk.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Hi all. Thanks for the stats Alan.

Mediocre week, in that weather, moving house, being crap and disorganised, etc are conspiring to make it look unlikely I'll get any of my Shropshire projects ticked before leaving the area. This makes me think about the bigger picture... I need to look back at the last year, but I have a sneaky suspicion I've gone for 12-18 months without really ticking off any of my main goals. Maybe time to re-evaluate what I'm trying to achieve and how I'm trying to achieve it?!

Week 33:

M: Planned rest.

T: Fingerboarding (with the portable fingerboard -good extra challenge)

W: Hill run. 13km, 405m vert, 6:59/km. Heinous steep bracken bashing!

T: Board sesh. Limit bouldering and circuits. 

F: Planned rest

S: Board sesh. Limit bouldering and circuits.

S: Trail/road run. 16km, 156m vert, 6:01/km.

Week 34:

M: Rest

T: Fingerboard

W: Climbing

T: Run

F: Rest

S: Fingerboard

S: Run

STG (End August): clearly not gonna happen in that timeframe!

Eliminator (V4) and Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Grid Iron (6c) and Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Red Square (E2) and Black Wall (E1 5b)

Edale Skyline

2021 Goals:

35 E-points -currently miles off this, need to get out more.

Run 30km vert and 1000km -got a LOT to do to get these, but heading in the right direction!

In reply to Tom Green:

Hi Tom, I wouldn't get too down about not having achieved your specific goals. But I would ask, are they really what you want to do? As a casual reader I don't get the impression you have really tried any of your stated STGs very much - it doesn't seem like you have been on any of them in the last couple of months. In that context I don't think you should read anything in to the efficacy of your training. Equally, if you aren't actually that psyched for those goals any more then I wouldn't have any qualms about just changing them (I guess you'll be doing this when moving anyway?)

Si

In reply to Steve Claw:

Bent arm sleeping top tip:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSt2Efli48t/

In reply to Tom Green:

Where are you moving to Tom?

(edit: just text me if you'd rather not advertise it on the Internet!)

In reply to AlanLittle:

I went for a run over similar distance and amount of ascent with much less effort and managed 11.5 km/h so I think there might be a discrepancy between treadmill and outdoors. Possibly all moot now as my calf injury seems to have returned (I’ve not tested it on a run but I can definitely ‘feel’ my calf)

M: 20 min yoga I think

T: Rockover - I really struggle here, lots of big slopey holds. Briefly tried Moonboard for further humiliation and cannot do a single problem.

W: Run I mentioned above

T: Kilnsey, having said last week I rarely go backwards on projects I really struggled with going bolt to bolt on what I thought would be a trivial ascent of Witches Brew, my red point attempt was similarly dismal then it got dark (both mood and literally).

F: maybe 20 mins yoga

S: Trivial ascent of Witches Brew (7b) (without boulder problem start but traditionally not part of the route).

S: Tried a new wall in Manchester (https://www.blochausclimbing.com/) which was very enjoyable, really good wall but unfortunately still no closer than any other walls (I now have 6 walls between 29 and 35 min but nothing *really* local). 20 min yoga  

Injury register:

Left elbow golfers - working on this

Right calf - Thought I’d got rid of this but returned gradually after last run. Sports massage booked for next week

Toes - can’t do anything about this, not affecting me on short routes (other than I am not putting as much weight through them) but will have to wait and see how they cope on trad.

Left shoulder - seized up and was unresponsive to many Ibuprofen but climbing on Saturday seems to have sorted it….

In reply to Tyler:

Ooh, top idea! Can we all play?

• Ball of right foot sore. Suspect from recentish (last Autumn) switch to doing most of my climbing mileage in very soft Scarpa Veloces. OK while running, suprisingly - but see below regarding running
• Calf twinges/strains while attempting to resume running during lockdown. Followed Dr Biscuit's prehab programming & now easing very carefully back into small amounts of jogging
• Golfer's right elbow - was quite bad a few years ago, mostly under control now but not completely gone, have to be careful with it
• some kind of trapped nerve/impingement weirdness in left shoulder & upper trap. Suspect related to wfh desk posture but worse after climbing. This is starting to get worrying, might go to the doc
• arthritic left knee sore at the moment due to cold damp weather. This is no biggie, I've had it for years & know how to manage it.

Dare I jinx myself by saying absolutely no finger issues at the moment?

In reply to AlanLittle:

I think we might be better off just writing 50+ as shorthand. Let’s face it if a body part is not currently sore/broken it’s probably because our other injuries are preventing us putting much strain on it! 

In reply to Si dH:

Cheers Sí. Yep, good point about simply not actually making those STGs happen.

I think it’s partly that they are all ‘local project’ style goals, that I put down a couple of months ago when I’d realised they weren’t going to be local for much longer due to moving. But because of that they aren’t a big enough priority for me to have put them ahead of stuff like the sea stack trip or Cornwall.

And then for each STG route there are other little individual excuses (soft after rain, partner not interested in that crag, etc etc).
 

But I guess the bottom line is they aren’t lifelong climbing bucket list goals! Although I’m pretty psyched to get JtS finished.