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.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_871-7659...

Somerset swede basher: That TR of Master's Edge certainly looks like a good start to the current cold spell. Consider the earlier drop of psyche as a bit of a deload! Hope you've managed to make the most of the crisp conditions.

Tyler: Sounds like it has been a better week, some improvements, getting some 7s done and pushing yourself a bit. No word on the elbow, has it been behaving?

Ian Parnell: Good week, full of running, climbing and training. Glad to see you got out both days of the weekend, the southeastern grit is something special isn't it? Judging by your IG post you've had a blinder of a day out recently, I am looking forward to the writeup! Brad's Arete has a great landing, not quite highball (4.5m at a guess?), but the top is a little spooky as the feet are poor and smeary. Worth trying! Happy to share beta if you want it.

Steve Claw: Two big days! That FoD crack sounds meaty. Impressive work on the quick 7c route as well. Keep up the rehab, it is challenging and often not motivating, but you know it's good for ya!

AlanLittle: Steady improvement this week, good to see a little-and-often approach to activity, it seems to be working. Glad to see you're seeing signs of form coming back as well, must be doing wonders for your psyche.

Tom Green: Good effort on Doug, it's a beefy one. Requires tricks and tenacity! Hope the muscle strains are quick to heal so you can get back to heel cranking. Nice work at Caley as well, must be good to square away 18-year unfinished business!

Ally Smith: Great board action as always. Seeing lots of undercutting and bicep malarkey - dead keen on Sub Moron then eh? Not long until the annual Xmas Dugout mayhem!

Derek Furze: That is a busy couple of weeks, I hope things are settling and becoming more manageable now. I can't imagine driving all the way from Cambridge to go to Independence Quarry! Hope to see a bit more of psyched-on-training-and-climbing Derek soon.

Liam P: "A Horrible Hole", well yes, it is an urban limestone cave! Great week from you though, plenty of training and a good session on the project to boot. Surely you've had more time on it this week, hopefully with less keying and more sending!

SteveJC94: Consider it a deload, those weeks happen from time to time. Good fitness either way. Did those promising conditions come to fruition for you?

mattrm: 25k hit plus a climbing session? Great week! As you say, keep the momentum going, nice work.

AJM: When all of life happens at once you have to let things go by the wayside sometimes. Next week is always another chance, hopefully things work out and the shoulder tweak doesn't stick around too long. 

Randy: A great week training on your travels. Not really much else to say is there? Keep up the consistency.

Small Step: Welcome back, the last few weeks sounds challenging, but you seem to be taking care of yourself which is good to hear. Sorry about your friend's situation, even as a bystander it's heartbreaking to hear what's going on. Hope things are looking up for you. You seem to be operating at a good level at the wall, so least!

In reply to Ross Barker:

Cheers Ross. A quick early post for me. Busy in work so took this as a Week 4 deload since I started my revamped training goals.

Managed to get on Knuckle Duster on Friday and rapped 3 of 4 knuckles first try. They’re right on the joint so open/bleed if I bend them too far. Frustrating but I have my beta pretty much dialled now - just need to get on and do it (once nicely scabbed up!)

Parents down next weekend so some big mid-week garage sessions coming up. STG timelime is creeping up fast!

STG (end Dec):

• 2 sessions per week.
• Benchmarks: Fingers- 20mm Block Lift 1RM @60kg (53.5kg), Block Pinch Lift @ 20kg (18.5kg). Core- Unassisted Standing Ab Wheel (75%), Ring Wipers with Ankle Weight  (Tick). Pull- Weighted Pullup 1RM @50kg (47kg), OA Lock Off @90%BW (Tick). Push- RTO Dip with 75deg lean (45deg).

MTG (April):

• 3 off my Brizzle boulder List (1/3)
• 3 off my Cheddar List.

LTG (next 6 months):

• 1 off my Headpoint List.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross for the encouragement and info on Brad’s Arete, I’ll definitely go and have a look but sounds scary for a wuss like me.

STG (this month) – maintain a grip on daily life, maintain and enjoy climbing and training when possible. 1. Success on some Grit E1/2 nemeses.

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Give me strength – shoulders and core.

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Get properly to grips with safe Grit E3s. 3. Rheinstor Lower Traverse (f7A)?? 4. Attempt 2 on run climb project. 5. Trip to Sanctuary Wall

Mon – Strength training. Finger block lifts 20mm edge 20 secs 5kg, 7.5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 20kg, 25kg, 30kg (pb). 10secs lifts 35kg (pb), 36.25kg Left 6 secs Right 10 secs (pb). Pull ups 5 x 2 +10kg, Ring support holds 5 x 10sec, Deadlifts 5 x 5 x (45kg, 50, 55, 55, 55), Overhead lift 5 x 5 x 25kg.

Tues –  Awesome Walls – ARC endurance 4 x 10mins off 10 mins on autobelays. Found this harder than normal, think I was tired from the previous days weight training.

Wed – Nothing

Thurs – Nothing

Fri – Nothing

Saturday – Run/climb project lite. 15 crags (1 route on each), 24.5 miles in 8 hours 50mins. After trying the Peak Classic rock round I wanted to find a new run/climb project with better climb to run ratio. So set myself the target of seeing how many crags I could link up in a day. I’d initially planned for 20, but a slightly late start, typically under-estimating the mileage and getting a calf strain 8 miles in meant I cut it down to 15. This was just as well as I got to the 15th route, Mutiny Crack (HS 4b), in the gloom. Crags climbed on; Stanage (as the motherlode counts as 5!) Stanage Far End, High Neb, Plantation, Popular, Far Right, Higgar Tor, Carl Wark, Owler Tor, Millstone, Lawrencefield, Yarncliffe, Tegness Pinnacle, Froggatt, Burbage South and Burbage North. The crux was that many of the top outs were covered in thick hoar frost.

Sunday – Nothing

Reflection - Surprised to get finger lift pbs after 2 weeks off, or perhaps I shouldn’t be as that is how super-compensation is supposed to work. Saturday’s big outing came close to turning into a bit of a suffer fest, but luckily the quality of the climbing (30 stars!) and the beauty of the weather and conditions made up for the discomfort from mile 8 onwards. I felt stiff before I started and should have done some short loosener runs during the week. I think the cold (both in muscle elasticity and hard lumpy ground) and mixing running and foot jamming were factors in the injury. One thing that surprised me was how well I could still climb at the end despite struggling to walk. Having visited 15 on one of the shortest days of the year I'd like to try a mid summer version, but I think running fitness will be the limiting factor. I’ve no real short or even mid term goals now, which is probably good as if I want to do the Classic Rock round and routes on Sanctuary Wall then I’d benefit from a really solid long training block.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross. Gradual easing-back-in, while not yet 100% healthy, continues. I feel like any hard cardio would still be a very bad idea, but moderate doses of climbing seem to be ok.

STG: Regain full health and resume normal training
MTG: Summer '24 uk trad trip with my son and/or Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter 24 or 25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M: 
T:    Still feeling too crappy for my Tuesday evening group wall session. Really starting to miss it, not only from a social perspective, nut also the stylistic limitations of mostly-vertical autobelay training. I need to get back on - and fall off - steeper stuff.

W:    Meanwhile however: Thalkirchen afternoon autobelay session. 6a 6b 6a+ 6b 6b+ 6b 6b 7a (attempt - too late in the session)
    Bike 45 minutes there & back, for the first time since pre-illness. Bitterly cold, but not much ice on the bike paths yet.

T:     Half an hour stretching before bed

F:    Wall, Boulderwelt. Had intended to go on the kilterboard at Thalkirchen, but was in town for Christmas shopping so decided to visit the city centre Boulderwelt instead. Have't been there for a while, and have done most of my bouldering this year on boards, so this session really brought it home to me just how far apart my interests & priorities and modern indoor bouldering style are. Still had a fairly enjoyable session though and felt like I'd done some work, so it's all good. 
    Rounded the session off with half an hour shoulders & stretching.

S:    Half a metre of snow overnight - biggest December snowfall in a century according to the local news. If I'd been fully healthy I'd have grabbed my skis and headed out. Could be the start of an epic winter; more likely it's all thaw next week, and twenty degrees by Christmas. Every winter there comes a moment when I think "if I just bought some cross country skis, I could use them instead of my mountainbike to go out in the local woods". Every winter it lasts about a week.

S:  Wall, Thalkirchen. Routes 5c 6a 6b 6b 6c+ (2 attempts) 6a+ (was supposed to be an up-down-up on the autobelay - ha ha no)

Don't know when I'll next be able to get out on rock with any regularity. Tried to convince the lad to go to Leonidio between Christmas & New Year, but he's already signed up for lucrative holiday shifts at the climbing wall.
 

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross i will do my best

Recap last week:

Mon - Wed: Rest and some more travel inside of India

Thur: Weighted Pullups + 8kg: 2x12,11, Fingerboard Repeaters, 75% BW, 4x12x7,3 with 2 min rest, felt pretty tired which was not too suprising after boarding a flight almost every day and constant climate changes (yes the climate in India varies from region to region)

Fri: Fun 23h travel back to Munich. Just made it in time to my company's christmas party in the evening.

Sat: Spent 45 minutes freeing my car from half a meter of snow (i am not exaggerating it really was that much ), which turned out to be a more strenous exercise than i originally though. Though i should not complain too much. If had traveled one day later i would have been stuck in Frankfurt as Munich airport was closed the whole day and also railway operation was suspended due to record breaking snowfall.

Sun: First climbing session in 3 weeks. Just did a bunch of volume of easier boulders and traverses. Finished the session with 4x12 Pullups, which felt harder than expected.

Unfortunately, it turned out my knee is still bothering a little bit on heel hooks, flag moves and drop knees which basically limits the available problems a lot. Maybe it is time too focus on the Campus Board the next weeks.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Cheers Ross. 

I had a moment of realization this week when I did some maths and realized the last time I could climb 100% across a range of styles was January 2022. Hamstring took out most of 2022, then the baton passed on to my shoulder which is still charging on. I've been able to do stuff, obviously - vertical-ish wall climbing was fine in summer 22 for example - but still.

Started the week well with two rehab sessions. Had plans to climb Saturday. But on Friday I tweaked my bicep playing with the kids (hanging them upside down and pretending to drop them and similar). It's still twingy today. So that wrote off Saturday and my planned aero session Sunday (and plans to climb with a friend Monday evening). Very frustrating. I can still do pushing - I did a third session of rehab on Saturday - so I guess I'll just be concentrating on rehab for a bit and hopefully working out what other climbing relevant stuff I can do once it's calmed down a bit.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Good evening everyone, a pretty good week from me. A classic day-on-day-off schedule with outdoor climbing in Shropshire, Wales, and the Peak! I managed the finger pretty well throughout and it's still steadily improving, and climbing-wise I've managed energy and tactics pretty well to get quite a few reasonably hard problems done.

I've still got a couple days of annual leave to use before Xmas so hopefully I'll have more midweek outings, plus maybe some more dugout linkup sieging.

Last Week:

Avg weight 77.2kg.

M - Ice baths before bed.

T - Took the pads out for a bushwhack to an unfortunately damp Crag B, so had a quick hit at the dugout. Reacquainted the sequence and then boshed out A Mon With A Spade (f7A). Square edged jugs feel a bit uncomfy on the middle finger but it ended up okay. Ice baths before bed.

W - Busy work scuppered grit plans.

T - Beddgelert Forest. A lot of damp but Clear Spot (f7A+) was in decent nick. Spent about 90 minutes sussing a sequence and warming up, then boshed it out first RP. Almost died on the wet descent! Swung by Wurst Case Scenario (f7B) as it was roadside, sort of on the way home, and I had a little bit of daylight left. Got up it in a couple of goes, maybe 7A/+? Quite basic board snatching. The handholds were sharp, so I could take them pretty passively and it didn't aggravate the finger.

F - Rest.

S - Newstones and Baldstones. Freezing! Great conditions but hard to keep my feet warm. Clawed my way up Baldstones Traverse (f7A+) despite numbing out at the end, just about held on. Another highlight was Stallone Arête (f6C+), a belting two mover on ace slopers, wouldn't be out of place in Font. Tried S & M (f7A+) at the end of the day and surprised myself by figuring out a pretty convincing sequence. Will hopefully return to finish it off at some point. Ice baths before bed.

S - Rest. Will try and remember ice baths!

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Manage session load and build better habits.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Arse I totally didn’t get around to posting last week. Apologies. Mad busy week at work/life after the trip and it passed me by.

Quick trip report: lovely!

Slightly more detailed report:

it was quite warm and with not much breeze. So not primo connies. It turns out my goal of onsighting 7b was spoilt by there not being many 7b’s to choose from and that were free. It seems to be an oddly sparse grade in Leonidio. Especially as grades are all over the place atm. With the Panjika guide, UKC and the new Aris rival guide often disagreeing. I tried 1 that everyone agreed was a 7b and it was just a split second beta decision that stopped it happening. 

But I got multiple 7’s each day and a fair few 7a+‘s that seemed agreed. All onsight. Pleased with that. I felt like I was climbing positively. 

Failed on one 7a+ that I just couldn’t dig deep enough for. I was trying out warming up completely off the rock using my edge and a tindeq. It seemed to work, but on that go my body was firing but my mind wasn’t.

The plan was to rest/take it easy this week before getting some good work in before we go to Spain on 27th. I’ve been strangely lethargic this week. Little to no psyche to climb and certainly not to pull hard. Not unusual after a trip I guess.

Two short (less than half an hour) goes at climbing that I bailed from as they just weren’t feeling any good and that’s been it. 

Going to try and reset this week and build up for the Spain trip.

I think I’ve got enough time for 3 weeks of training to try and make sure 7b onsight happens regularly in Spain. I’m looking forward to the try hard more than anything.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Yeah, it was a great week.  Thanks for the stats.

Weight - 14st 5lbs

STG - 30k a week by end of Dec

MTG - flat 10k 1 hour

LTG - 30 mile ultra (July 24) and 86 mile (Sept 24)

M - 5k with 350m ascent

T - Rest

W - 10k Pen-y-Fal, 450m asc

T - S - Rest

Weekly kms - 15k

I had planned to make it 20k this week, but just didn't really have enough get up and go in me over the weekend.  But 15kms is good enough.  Especially as it was all fell-running.  Included kids fell running club, as we were pretty fast this week, especially up the climb on the start.  Hopefully hit 20k next week, which should be very doable after a light week this week.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross, I must have gilded the lily a little as “getting some 7s done” is a generous interpretation of my one 7a all week. I’m not getting to the wall much and am still avoiding my board so elbows are ok but I’m pursuing some medical intervention anyway as they are far from cured. 
Big Wednesday: Up the Miners Track and Down the PyG. Novel to be able to park at Pen y Pass and see so few people on Yr Wyddfa - especially as it was a stonking day. Was knackered on the way to the Beacon afterwards but managed my usual session. 
F: Went to the doctor’s to get a referral for my medical insurance (elbow and feet). They were very close brûlèrent and offered all sorts of tests but were reluctant to give me the letter so until my blood tests are back I’m no further on! Bloody NHS with their diligent treatment and conscientious staff!

S: Screwed a couple of volumes on my wall, they look like they may be a game changer but it was tool cold to try!

S: Beacon session, I’ve now got 5 or 6 bits of unfinished business and will probably pick up another this week but after that the number should start coming down….

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thank you Ross,

I have not been doing the elbow rehab enough, and need to get into a routine with it.

Couple of days out, followed by really physical days at work in the cold.

T - Checked out a new sport line I saw the other week, and saw it had holds, so gave it a clean and spent a fair while working out a beta on TR.  Got a working sequence in the end, but its hard and needs a super reach, even for me.  I think it will go at 7c, but I could be more for normal height people.

W - Checked out a few more new lines and despite much crowbar action, the first one just wasn't meant to be.  However, 2 other short bouldery ones I cleaned in the afternoon should be good and hard (7a/b?).  No time to shunt them properly as I was feeling worn out from the day before.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross, conditions have been great this week but I've only managed to get out in the grit once. 

Mon. Big circuit board session at the depot. Rest times were a bit variable as it was busy (2 - 6 mins) but 6a, 6b, 6c, 6c+, 7a+, 7b (last 3 moves fail), 7a+ (last 3 moves fail), 6c+, 6c, 6b, 6a. 3x10 press ups.

Tues. Rest.

Wed. Plantation lamp session. Spent most of the session on Captain Hook 7B. I tried this briefly once before and got totally shut down. Got it in two halves today, never managed the crux from the start but I've got the end wired now so hopefully only need to get through the crux once! Brief go at Matador on the way down but quickly realised I was tired.

Thurs and Fri. Rest, busy at work. Drive to Wales for big birthday bash.

Sat. Early doors winter fell run. Parked in Rhyd Ddu and run along the Nantlle Ridge (Grade-1) as far as the obelisk then circled back through Bethgelert Forest. 11km, 815m ascent. Winter fell running gear only just coping, this doesn't get a winter grade in the logbooks but I think it probably deserves grade I.

Sun. Dropped the kids off at pen y pass then parked just over the other side by the junction and legged it back up to join everyone. Snowy walk up to the big lake on the miners track. Mini swede cold despite all the ski wear so headed back before everyone stopped having fun.

Snowy crossing the Peak to get home. Could be interesting getting to work tomorrow!

Tyler- is the Beacon wall that you go to by the Chamois hut? I saw signs but wasn't sure if it was the same place or not?

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I’m still waiting for an opportunity to do the Nantlle Ridge, it looks ace. What was the weather like?

This is the Beacon so I guess it’s the one you saw (unfortunately there aren’t they many walls in N Wales!) https://maps.app.goo.gl/MXQZbpTUoAoi8cdj9?g_st=ic

In reply to Tyler:

The ridge is fun. Much easier than Crib Lem (my only other recent Welsh scramble to compare to), and much shorter sections of rock. The ground was frozen from the parking and any surface water too which made it quite slippery heading up to Y Garn and descending at the end. You couldn't see the top from the car but the cloud lifted now and again once we were up on the ridge itself. The hoared up rock was tricky in fell shoes and we had to take steeper but juggier ways around some of the slabs but all still type 1 fun. We were back at the car for about 10am after an early start so got down before the snow really came in, I suspect it would have been full on winter if we'd have been 12hrs later.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Brilliant success on the run-climb project, this must give you some added confidence to keep training for the longer version in high summer.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Cheers Ross - Two good board sessions and one not-so-good.  I'm hoping that i'll have the guns for Sub Moron in a few weeks time?

Week 47

M – Not so late board (finished at 9:15 instead of the more common 10:30pm). 5min silly dancing to get blood moving, then 10x 6B+ to 7A flashes to warm-up.

• “Static” 7C BM. 3x goes. Didn’t manage the rollover crux.
• “Biceps” 7C+ BM. 3x not-very-good-goes. Nowhere near as close to the crux jump as last Thurs.
• “Capone” 7B+ BM. Unexpected flash given the undercut and narrow pinch holds for my tweaky LH.
• “Das Schnitzel Alt” 7B+. Just 2 goes, felt a bit stronger, but still a way off.
• “Feather Lighter” 7C BM. Ticked in 3 goes. Another LH undercut crux completed without tweak 😊
• “Rhythm junkies” 7C+. Session flash. 7B?

T – Supplementary training: Max-hangs; 2xBW+20, 2xBW+30, 2xBW+40kg on Lattice edge to warm-up, then 6x10s in RA pocket mimics (LH B3, RH F3) @BW+16kg. Pretty steady; hoping to see some solid gains here? 3x5 86kg conventional axle-deadlift. Hard, but gotta start somewhere. I also did a couple of reps of Saxonbar curls, then stopped as I felt a tweak in my L elbow; probably fatigue related from undercut problems the night before.

W – Slight back ache on waking. Some light core in front of the gogglebox (5x30 lying leg raises).

T – Back ache gone, replaced with mild hamstring DOMS. Not so late board (finished at 9:20pm). 4 degC in the garage, so more silly dancing to get blood moving, then 10x 6B+ to 7A flashes to warm-up. Elbow tweak eased as I warmed up.

• “2017” 7B+ BM. 3x goes. Didn’t manage the finishing jump.
• “Shoulder move” 7C BM. With tape on, I managed 5x goes on the last, crux move. Got progressively closer, but didn’t do it.
• “Hold Up…” 7C+ BM. Promising tickle of the bunched up crux (not my normal forte), but need holds moved back right 2 columns for the finish to be feasible.
• “Bad Moonboard Rising” 7C+ BM. Also promising tickle of the crux typewriter move (get ball of RF on instead of just toe).
• “Leocremaflanders” 7C BM. 5x goes getting progressively closer to holding the crux lurch. I might have finished it off with more time, but I’d promised to be back inside and wound down sufficiently for a 10pm bedtime, so called it a night.

F – Stretching and COMPEX core

S – Long day of (mostly) fun child wrangling. Evening stretching.

S – Not so late board. Cold, but also damp in the garage; non-bon-con ☹ Selected warm-ups by “oldest” rather than “most ascents” and (unsurprisingly) got a bunch of sandbag 6B+ and 6Cs that felt like 6B+ to 7A. 8x flashes, then 2x 7A+ further flashes.

• “Leocremaflanders” 7C BM. 3x goes not very close to crux lurch; too damp.
• “1 2 3 Stella” 7C BM. Promising furtle – one to come back to when the white sloper isn’t so minging.
• “Das Schnitzel Alt” 7B+ BM. 5x goes; feeling much better with a small adjust to get fingers engaged closer to DIP joint. Had best go yet, just 10cm short of f13.

3x10 press-ups. Very gentle reintroduction to some antagonist training.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Ross, not sure what your top level is - probably stratospheric, but never the less that seems like a pretty good week, hoovering up meaty sevens up and down the country!  

In reply to Ally Smith:

In a particularly perverse corner of my delusional mind there is a link up running from my front door of between 35-40 crags, mileage would be silly...but if I were Pete Whittaker and Shane Ohly's love child then it would be on. 

In reply to Ross Barker:

I think I still have psyche, but have just had too much life admin to manage lately.  Anyway, I am back to training (as trailed midweek) and have kept it rolling into this week.  My plan is two sessions a week through December to get back to base and then something more progressive from January.  In addition, I finished my second campus module, so have got a gentler way into the fairly brutal world of campusing.

Mon first session on the fingerboard (or anywhere!) for a long time.  Did four sets of five BW pull ups; four sets of max hangs at plus 9kg on three finger edges (hard); four sets of ten push ups; four sets of reverse curls; stretches and eight sets of shoulder rehab.  DOMS on Tues and Wed.

Tues work and lots of it

Wed 5km run.  First for a while so happy with 29:55 ish

Thurs and Fri loads of work and childcare... Disley Christmas lights etc.

Pleased to say that have subsequently completed both training and runs (Sun and Mon) so a good start to next week's report.  Got a bit more time so fully expect to get two training sessions and at least two runs done.  Aiming for 15 km a week in December.

Looking forward to goal-setting for next year.  Impressed by recent achievements across the group.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I'm childishly pleased if I get more than one crag in a day or anything above fifteen routes.  35-40!  Running?!

This would indeed be superhuman levels of fitness and determination.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi Derek good to see you back with your new training set up. I think the 35-40 routes isn't too big a challenge (they are easy ones), I've done a 100 a couple of times (John Arran and Shane Ohly did over 500 in a day!). It's visiting that many crags, plus I think the running might be close to 50 miles. As I say it's a pipe dream but I'd like to try a version of this midsummer to see what happens...! 

In reply to Ross Barker:

Hi everyone. Thanks for statting, Ross. And great work with your own week -looks like you're finding the right intensity for managing the finger but still smashing out the classy sevens.

Another mixed week for me -really fallen off the training wagon in the last three weeks, after a pretty consistent year up until then. Need to be more disciplined and organised to make sure the final 3-4 weeks of the year pick up to give a better foundation to 2024.

Week 48:

M: Strength, prehab. 

T: Rest -should have run, but the day got away from me.

W: Bouldering at Harmers. A poor call really -cons were mediocre (on a day where they were excellent elsewhere!) but I thought they might be good enough to get Yates' Layaway done. Basically, I've got it wired apart from the last, long move which I'm struggling to commit to. Think I need to go with other people, purely for the peer pressure! 

T: Alpine start/finish for work.

F: Climbing at Windgather. Finally got around to ticking all the Windgather routes in Western Grit in a day. On the drive over was regretting my life decisions, thinking that I was wasting a day of perfect cons that I could be doing some harder bouldering or climbing on, but actually turned out to be an amazing type 1 fun day. 59 routes, mostly VS and below with a couple of HVS and an E1, mostly soloed (rope on for a few VS, the HVSs and E1). Nice casual pace, everything felt easy until the last couple of routes (think it was a mental thing of knowing I was nearly done). Felt like a medium sized alpine route -which was kind of the point of doing it!

S: Nowt. Away for a weekend with friends and could have sneaked out for a boulder (cons were perfect) but was trying to be a good, normal human being so ended up resentfully doing sociable stuff!

S: As per Sat.

Week 49:

M: Prehab.

T: Work.

W: Run and climb.

T: Strength, core, prehab.

F: Run.

S: Strength, core, prehab.

S: Run.

STG (end Dec):

Maintain finger strength -average 2 sessions/week 

Increase core focus -average 2 sessions/week 

3 off big mountain day list (1/3).

Yates' Layaway (Probably not going to happen unless the weather seriously ups its game).

Hidden Dragon (TICK!) or White Wall (Masson, not Millstone!)

100m D6/7 in a session.

Year Goals:

110 days climbing for the year (currently 101).

1000 km running (TICK! -currently 1127km) with 40km vertical (currently 37.9km) for the year.

MTG (end March):

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1+ of Alpine Winter list.

Maintain finger strength -average 2 sessions/week.

Get ski practice in: 5+ sessions Dec-Feb.

In reply to Tom Green: Ticking the crag as part of a 'mixed week'. You have high standards Tom.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Haha! ‘Ticking the crag’ sounds great until you realise the crag is Windgather -not many routes and no hard ones! I was quite pleased with it though… it felt like a decent shift! And more importantly it was a fun use of a gorgeous day. Had the same issue that you encountered on Saturday though… thick rime on the top outs was a bit unnerving!

In reply to biscuit:

Good trip report. Looks like you’re in a good place for Spain based on your Leonidio performance. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Looks like your Saturday was one of those near perfect days! Great stuff. 
 

Looks like better cons and more day light will be all you need for the original run-climb plan. Bring on spring!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Bloody brilliant day out that Ian.

I can’t wait to see what Summer brings 

In reply to Tom Green:

Cheers Tom. I‘m hoping so. But I’m also trying not to get too worked up about it and enjoy the holiday whatever it brings. 
 

but we all know that’s impossible 😂 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Can't resist, but already on two training sessions and two runs this week!  Still keeping the training sessions short (four cycles of exercises rather than six), but form gradually coming back.  Should be ready to go big in January...

In reply to Ross Barker:

Honestly, I despair of you lot! Prime training months and you’re all out there climbing and running and mountaineering! RTFM! Props to Ally for hanging on bits of wood and plastic but disappointed the tights have made a reappearance 

In reply to Tyler:

Oddly enough, been browsing an old manual (Peak Rock).  It has any number of grit super routes being done in midwinter...🙂

In reply to Derek Furze:

True, these are also primo connies for hard grit but until SSB (or someone else…) does Master’s I’m sticking by what I said!

In reply to Tyler:

Prime training conditions seem to have returned judging by the weather forecast

In reply to Ross Barker:

Sadly not. My trip to Burbage on Friday resulted in 3 hours of constantly dropping the third move on Submergence, which I've never dropped before. Just one of those days where the psyche was there but my arms didn't get the message!

M - Fingerboard density hangs - 4 x 20s hangs at bodyweight. Squats 5x5, deadlifts 5x5, pull-ups 10x4, goblet squats 10 x 4

T - 3 x 8minute Sweet Spot Intervals on Zwift

W - 2hr board session, focusing on volume

T - Rest

F - A day failing on everything at Burbage

S - 40 minute threshold ride. Average power 246 watts, normalised power 262 watts

S - Open climbing session on the V5-V7 circuit

In reply to SteveJC94: I’d look at it this way Steve you almost did Submergence multiple times. Now obviously you can’t take the 7C but you’ve done multiple 7b+s in a row! Witness the fitness

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I suppose that’s a more positive way of looking at it! 

In reply to Tyler:

Prime training weather (so prime I've injured my calf!), but I see some people have gone and done The Zone (E9) at Curbar.  I despair and Tyler will be apoplectic...

In reply to Derek Furze:

...a bit more on the calf.  Went out this morning with the intention of doing 7 km and therefore hitting my December target in the first week of the month... 2.5 km in and feeling really steady, but then got a twinge in my calf.  Stopped to massage, but no good.  Limped back home and now feeling somewhat fed up.

After all, I will struggle to dance with this and I've got tickets to a massive rave in February (Judge Jules among others) so I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Hi Ross,

Thanks for the supportive comments from last week. Nothing has changed with my climbing partner; she is still in the clinic and, alas, her therapy is being disrupted by public sector strikes.

Last week went as follows:
Mon: stretching & flexibility upper body
Tue: Thalkirchen, autobelay session with my partner, who after 4-5 routes was more interested in having a decent (unobserved) shower and meal in the bistro. This gave me the opportunity to actually loosen up a bit and focus on climbing; ended up doing 4 x 6c/+.
Wed: stretching
Thu: wall, Thalkirchen, with an ‘alternative’ partner; good session, 11 routes: 9 leads and 2 autobelays; ticked a new 6c+ second go – worth mentioning only because on the first go I couldn’t find a good clip position approx. 2-3s into the route; decided to get on again straight away, something I rarely do…went quite smoothly and ended up wondering what the problem was clipping – better foot position; overall the second go was much more relaxed, seemed to be no need for any thinking…with the autobelays added in did 4 x 6c/+, 2 x 6b+, so was able to keep up the work on an endurance baseline…
Fri: stretching & light fingerboard session
Sat: as Alan detailed, the big snow came…and I caught a cold that has lingered on and is proving rather obstinate…gradually on the up now and I hope to be fit for an easy Sunday wall session…and get cracking again after that.

Best wishes to all.

In reply to Derek Furze:

...that's no good, Derek. What are you going to do after the 'fed up' feeling has evaporated? Do you any magic potions or tricks? Or even sensible things to do?

Hopefully it won't feel that bad after a bit of rest and elevation...

 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Ouch. That’s bad news, and something I‘ve struggled with for quite some time now. Talk to Dr Biscuit, he gave me some good advice 

In reply to Small Step:

I'm hoping that taking it easy over the weekend will see it back to normal, but no idea really what has caused it.  Feels like a 'pulled' muscle.  Pressure on toes makes it hurt though, so might affect climbing.  Most other training should be fine.  Fingers crossed 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yep, crossing fingers...

Seems good that you didn't force it (- or couldn't?)...took the limping gait instead on the way back home...

Hopefully you'll have good news on Monday.