UKC

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fitclub 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.

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 

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...

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_579-683485

You can look back at your previous posts here (to some extent… it’s still a work in progress, this now goes back to FC500): http://ukc-fitclub-user-posts.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/users.html

Si dH: Interesting- 7 years is a long time I only ask because you sorted of alluded to work capacity stuff and Kris fro Power Company was talking about it as something that could potentially help with bouldering (in moderation, if you never do it now). I’m sure he wouldn’t replace any specific session though if you are time pressed. Also… massive fist bump for Eastwood Traverse!

Tom Green: Good job getting the core and max strength sessions in as well as some real climbing and running!! 

Tyler: I’ve never seen anything like the detailed beta you got for the Bulge, feel like this is a new language.

MauraLorrissey: Are you taping your finger when climbing btw? major realisation of the week for me was I need to immobilise the joint for a while when climbing to avoid aggravating it. I hear you have a new pull up plan?

Alan Little: Congrats on the 7A, nice milestone! So did you decide on a plan to make your MTG’s happen? 

mrchewy: Great to have some detailed beta! Thats about 20minutes/pitch, I take it you are pretty slick with your rope work, belays etc?

Flailing old gymnast: Good mileage- nice to start your campaign strong! I don’t know how tall you are but 8st12 seems extremely light, another stone would be a big proportion of your body!?

guy127917: Get planning!

hms: Nice work getting out and using climbing as a de-stresser, we don’t have to push ourselves every day eh.

Dandan82: “Try to at least start all sessions” I like this approach, very Kaizen. How did it go?

Ally Smith: Solid week mate, V8, V9 and V10 sends, and some training!

the sheep: Thanks for the write-up! Sounds like it went pretty much perfectly then and very happy you could feel the training behind you. You have to ignore the aero bikes at the start.. it doesn’t mean they know how to pace themselves!

AJM: Ah cool destination, how did you decide on that? Good goals as well- do you have a sense of how you will split time between the 4 disciplines?

Brodes: Great to hear you’re making progress both with overall strength and hang boarding- how are the plans for returning to climbing?

Powderpuff: Excellent to hear the elbows are feeling better. The problem with stretches like that is we tend to stop doing them as soon as they start working..

Just Tintin: Thanks- John Peel has gone on my list with gear beta- one of the best reasons to read everyones posts each week. 

mattrm: Hope you got your run in last week? Consistency is king with the running- gets your mind to just accept it and relax. 

Ardo: Nice work on the E3- sounds like that climb has quite an arsenal of different styles?

Bones: Nice week’s work, I hope you felt good about it- seems like your activity aligned well with your goals.

Cyan: 90% functionality- so you can do everything except… moonwalk?

biscuit: You did not miss the deadline, I was not Mr Early Morning Bird today. For the Fred what are you doing in terms of nutrition during the ride? 1kg of gels?

Richard Popp: Keep it simple, consistent and progressive

AWOL: TheFasting, Climbthatpitch, Andy Nelson, planetmarshall

Am I first?

Im 5ft2 and female so 8st12 is by no means underweight. I know what’s what I look at feel good at so that’s the aim. It was what I weighed about 4 years ago and it peaked at <gulp> 12 stone (wtf happened there?!) and I’m currently just over 10st so I know it’s feasible to get back to 8st12.

Monday and Tuesday rode to work so that was 52 miles.

Wednesday I was off work. My lovely uncle had a stroke. He’s out of hospital now though so that’s a relief.

Thursday 26 miles to work. Late afternoon had awful chest pains right through to my back and a flippety heart beat. Considered going to A&E but I didn’t want to freak my mum out by asking for a lift and an ambulance seemed a bit OTT. Lasted about two hours and then calmed down. Anyone free to offer me a diagnosis please put your hands up I’m waging a sprained rib muscle and panicking causing the funny heart beat. 

Friday: funeral of a friends husband. Bad day all round.

Saturday and Sunday: didn’t ride either due to an acute case of CBA. 

So only 78 miles on bike done this week.

Could be worse. Could be better. I’m not going to beat myself up about it too much. I’m getting strong again and my favourite jeans nearly fit me. So as a measure that’s all positive. 

Next week: Job interview tomorrow so I’m riding to that. This could end up with me working in Cumbria which is sort of exiting but incredibly daunting at the same time. It’s not somewhere I’d ever considered moving to. Still, it’s a job opportunity and payrise I can’t really afford to overlook.

Riding to work rest of the week, plus gymnastics Monday and Tuesday eves, then at the weekend I hope to get a Saturday ride in and then belated birthday celebrations Saturday eve through to Sunday eve. 

Til next week. 

Thanks Guy. Steady week. Had hoped to get outside on Weds but a 40mph freezing cold wind made us default to UCR instead!

M - cycle commute, yoga in evening
T - cycle commute. Home via UCR for a circuit session. Tried the tough 7b which after a lot of work I managed to put together up to hold 20. Beyond there gets even tougher. Good session.
W - cycle commute. UCR in evening. Can't remember what I did though, which is a bit strange, think it was a dozen routes in pairs.
T - cycle commute. Home via UCR for another circuit session, this time on the steep 7a. Can reliably get round to hold 34 but refuse to do the final 10 moves as it involves roof monkeying which I know trashes my shoulder. Did up to 35 a lot of times and felt pretty darn tired.
F - drove to parents.
S - drove home. Core session plus shoulder rehab in evening.
S - back to UCR again. Warm-up 4 routes, then various 7a/+ type routes in singles, about 7 all told, then 4 routes warm-down. Ticked 2 7as, got to final move on a 3rd, worked the crux of a 7a+ so can do that one in 2 overlapping halves but too tired to get the tick.

so a good steady week. No fingerboard but that was slightly deliberate as I can't help feeling that getting the movement and flow of climbing may be more important for me at the moment.

We started with a "let's try to go long haul before we have to pay for a seat for miniAJM" (although last time I looked it was including him a seat, so by the time we go that consideration may or may not be something we build into the actual booking!). Looking at sport climbing and assuming we didn't have time to go to Australia left a fairly short and fairly US-focused list. We removed Montana (ten sleep, article on here a while ago, amongst others) as too difficult to get a team together for (we'd have wanted to do a mini road trip), we removed rifle/etc for the season (we can't really go until after the middle of Sept), and so on. Eventually Smith won out for us over RRG because the other nearby stuff seemed better - we figured we might be doing day on day off alternating childminding, potentially, so it had to have a nice place for rest days included .bend sounded nicer than near the red.

Goals - well, we have some FC meetups in the diary which will give some opportunity for trad, plus a few other opportunities with trad-y friends we're seeing. That plus an odd extra day at home is probably it for trad. DWS is probably my August and September plan, basically. Bouldering in evenings and whenever there's nothing else in plan. Sport the same but probably a preference over bouldering where possible (at heart, I prefer ropes even if I do enjoy bouldering). So they each have their place, but who knows how the balance of opportunity will pan out!

Cheers Guy. 

Howdy crew,

Quick one...

This past week, for extenuating circumstances I have done nothing. Not a single pull-up, not one press up nor single session at the wall. My bike has been broken so I haven't commuted to work on anything but the tube.

The week before:

Tuesday big session at WestWay. Then a few days rest before three days in Font Yay!

But struggled. A lot. On stuff I've previously flashed. Made one climb I was happy with. Did not tick my STG of Le Flipper 6B. Pretty bummed. Hope to get a late season session though. 

Sooooo, next week. Back on the horse. Three months to the Alps trip, time to put in the hours. 

Plan for week is

M - 90 minute low cardio, plus gym strength. T- climbing at Westway, either lead if my partner can make it, else bouldering on overhangs if not. W - possibly a swim (aiming for 1km min). Th morning core session, pm low aerobic session (ideally a tentative run, outdoors) plus packing for stag-weekend. F - leave for stag do. Weekend, stag do plus, some riding of bikes and maybe. 

Emotive motivation, being able to summit on Aug 5th (objective is Matterhorn, but conditions will dictate) Go!

Oh, and @Guy, Font from London. Finish work at 5:45, sleeping in the forest by 12:30am. Dead easy via Eurotunnel

A mixed week for me. Good sessions but a shadow cast by grumbling joints.

Monday rest

Tuesday wall. Far better session than the previous one, got the green circuit fairly easily this time and did a number of laps on this and on this-into-red, where I was getting maybe half way back across the red.

Wednesday - wall. Lattice. Detail below

Thursday/Friday - rest

Saturday - outside, Battleship. A day pass with MrsAJM, which was really nice. Nothing too hard, usual "I've not worn a rope in 6 months" faff and bumbling. Forearms nicely exercised. Highlight probably Buoys will be Buoys (6b+), which I've done before but which is still great.

Sunday - short session at the wall. Productive though.

Elbow a bit grumbly this week. I first felt it on one of the FoC sessions last week, the very repetitive nature makes it always a bit of a danger. Been grumbling on and off all week. Bit sore after today doing things like carrying oven trays round, although not really sore doing any of the diagnostic exercises in Make or Break. I think I'm going to have a fairly restful week on the arms, maybe dust the bike off on Tuesday, and see if that nips it in the bud - I have just dramatically changed my training type and this week was for me moderately high volume so fingers crossed it's a temporary overload thing.

The Lattice session gathered some useful info but was marred by poor logistics and tactics.

- so 53 moves first go. But I'd forgotten you can nestle the dishes! Had a short rest and another go and hit 53 again. So maybe that's 53, maybe it's a bit more if nestling when fresh.

- the decay curve from 70% went ok - 37, 31 (so a decrease, indicating as expected aerobic fitness not high), 21..... And then I pulled a flapper on the pinkie nestling in the dishes. Harrumph!!

- overall this tells me I'm potentially a little fitter than the test I did in June last year in a similarly unfit state (48). And for what it's worth ~50 moves is 8a on their conversion table?

- it also tells me I ought to focus on AnCap a bit this training cycle as well as aerocap. I've always had quite high AnCap in the past. But with gradual improvements elsewhere maybe that's no longer the case? I'm taking this from an absolute best case of 39% when completely unfit (21/53), and noting that the bottom of the fraction could maybe be slightly higher and the top of the fraction is very unlikely to be my steady state level - I'd expect to have gone down at least another step from there if I hadn't pulled the flapper. 30% or maybe less isn't beyond the bounds of plausibility which isn't so high that I could focus all my time elsewhere...

Hey Guy 

Agreed it' easy to forget these key exercises which keep the proverbial machine running! Thanks again for drawing my attention to the magic stretch. 

My left elbow was a little sore this morning but that may just be down to general fatigue.

Monday, climbed 7 of the v3-5 circuit at the wall. 2 sets of push ups , scissors, eccentric wrist curls and sit ups.

Wednesday, felt tired but managed 2 or 3 (can't remember) of the same circuit at the wall.

Friday, climbed 3 of the 4 tricky remaining problems on this circuit that I hadn't yet climbed. Also worked the final problem which is tough and certainly harder than v5.

Today i managed to fit in a couple sets of exercises (as monday).

Wouldn't go so far as to call it an actual *plan*, not just yet anyway. But a friend has signed up for Kaly in the autumn. Same time as last year - late October - but we'll be better focused this time. We're going as pair not as a big crew, and both wanting to project at the same 7a/b level. 

So the main focus is five months of a somewhat periodised plan for that.

I don't want to stake the success of the whole year on one trip at the end though, so I'm not going to completely neglect getting some decent ticks in, hopefully including an old project or two, in the Frankenjura and other local areas in the meantime.

I was considering trying this later in the year (from 2 hours back up the M1). Any advice? How long do you really have to leave prior to departure at Eurotunnel?

STG: Strength Phase: 7A boulder #2

MTG (2018): Onsight 7a; redpoint 7b multiple times on routes that aren't pure boulder problems

LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

M: Bike one hour.

T: Bike one hour then Boulderwelt with my son. Still looking for that project difficulty sweet spot somewhere between "not hard enough" and "ridiculous". Think I may have found one at the end of the session. Also the lad played a blinder today and is starting to regularly burn me off on certain types of problem. Proud dad. 

W: Wall, Thalkirchen. Horribly busy, so another shorter session. Seven routes including a (rare) 6c onsight.

T: 

F: Bike one hour

S: Plombergstein near Salzburg. My preference would have been to have a look at a repoint project or two in the Frankenjura, but my climbing partner du jour was more motivated for some moderate multipitch stuff. So aerobic base mileage: 2 x 5 pitch rather pleasant 5c's

Huge amounts of very impressive looking hard sport climbing at this crag too, although in a very old school vertical & thin style.

S. Another moderate five-pitch 5c in the morning, then bailed in the face of menacing-looking thunderclouds building up over the Dachstein. 

Ran into Melissa le Neve in a cafe on the the way home. Didn't have the nerve to ask whether her presence in a cafe in Bavaria means she's finally got her finger out & ticked AD.

STG - Re-establish exercise 'normality' and loose some weight

MTG - 6c at Navigation, then WFD

LTG - Probably bouldering, bearing in mind Trad will be hard for the next few years...

Weight - 14st 7lbs

M - Rest

T - 25 routes at the Rec

W - S - Rest

Got my dates a bit mixed up, I wasn't going on holiday last week, that's this week coming.  Anyhow, the session I did at the start of the week was great.  Managed to get 25 routes done.  Did then struggle to do anything much for the rest of the week.  But that was a great start.  No running, but there we go.  As I will actually be on holiday next week, the run is more likely, but the climbing less so.

I just had to rifle through a bunch of old emails because of my terrible memory but i'm pretty sure the decay should have started at 75%, I'm not sure how that would affect your results...?

Top man Guy, lots of great encouragement for everyone. Re Salbit West Grat - bolted belays help hugely with speed when compared to good old UK multipitch. I climb reasonably on granite but last summer when a pitch was easier, I was really trying to up the pace. René is just plain good, super experienced. Also, I think being relaxed and being there to enjoy the day first and foremost is key - smile a lot and it doesn't seem hard work. We'll head up early to the hut the day before and relax, enjoying a few beers rather than leaving it late and starting out tired. 

Work has dominated the week, 7 days and some late finishes. So didn't do a fingerboard session as I felt there was too much risk of injury. I'm tired and starting to be a little clumsy - following John Kettle's advice on using the traffic light system for deciding whether and how to train. Today for example, I was rubbing down woodwork for maybe 6hrs, which is the crimping bend to the fingers... this morning my forearms are solid and my fingers achy. I've woken up early most days and stretched, then after work when warm, I've done some weighted antagonist shizzle and on Fri I had an infra red and Bamboo stick massage. I've now got some super movement in the right shoulder but wow, it was pretty full on at the time.

Also on Tue, the new girlfriend used Thai sticks on my feet and the next day walking to work was wonderful. We cram our feet into tiny climbing shoes and never give it much thought, so it was nice to pay them some special attention.

So 'training' goes well. Lots of time on feet and commitment when tired, if not much climbing other than step Ladders.

Kaizen indeed (now that i've googled it). The week went pretty well, and in fact it was kind of ironic that I chose this week to suggest trying to 'start' all sessions, as one session got cut short due to no fault of my own...

M: Indoor Boulder; Progressive AnCap, 3 reps of 6 move problem with 24s rest. 6 sets with 4 min rest. Still knocking out all reps despite decreased rests, and I thought I'd set the problem too hard!
Campus Laddering; like a lattice decay test, foot on campussing until failure, rest equal to work time and repeat until the number of moves levels off. I only did 1 of 2 required sets as I think the setup at The Project was too easy (the rungs are quite comfy). I was supposed to level off at around 30 secs and I levelled at 90 secs so I did half a bazillion hand moves and my skin was screaming. I'm going to point to the comfy holds and not some incredible improvement in my fitness for the long reps! 
It wasn't until afterwards that idiot Dan realised I have access to an actual Lattice board, so i'll do this session on there next time! Duh.

T: Dive Team Core; 100% complete again! Went a lot faster this time too.

W: Indoor boulder; Progressive Ancap, up to 7 moves and 21 seconds rest, still managed every rep!
Lower Body Flexibility

T: Indoor Routes; 2 on 1 off, did this on a 7b+ but skipped out the last 2 hard moves and finished on a 7a+ to keep the intensity right. 

F: Fingerboard, 7/3 x5, 4 sets at 85% max hang on AA edge. Done at +30kg

S: Indoor Routes; 30 moves, rest equal to work time, then 28 moves, 26, 24... 12 moves (10 reps) x 2 sets. This session got cut short when the wall manager came over to tell us they had changed their opening hours and we had to leave, despite their website saying they were open for a further 2 hours (which we had checked before we left). No apology, no attempt to mediate, maybe give us 20 mins to finish the session, he had the lights off and was out the door before i'd filled my protein shake.
Cue a very mild complaint to Hants.gov asking for our entry fee back, which I think is pretty fair in the circumstances, we didn't complain about the manager specifically but i'm thinking we should have, it was really poor customer service towards two decade-long loyal customers.
Went home and did half a session of Recruitment Cascades on the moon board to make up for it, 7 reps of hard problem with 2.5min rests. 1.5 sets.

S: Bouldershed; 8 problems ascending in difficulty, 1-3 tries on each, good rests. Got up early to do this and spent the rest of the day destroying the front garden to try to find and replace my front fence. The elbow was an absolute champ through all this, it's feeling good this morning, it's really coming on well recently, taking a lot of abuse.
Lower body flexibility.

STG: (last week)
* Try to at least start all sessions (big week) - TICK
* repeat 100% of 'dive team core' session - TICK
* 30 second handstand - FAIL but did do a 20 sec one from a kick-up, definitely improving

STG: (this week)
* Struggling to think of any...
* 30 second handstand - 

MTG: (next few months)
* Pull on Nina mala/flash over in Margalef in May
* 7c in a day on Portland
* 8a in a day in Margalef in May
* Pick a lattice max moves target for May based on result from last test EDIT- Tom says just try hard!

LTG: (This Year)
* 150 ticks in logbook - 51/150
* tick 3 x 8a
* tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 1/10
* Go to Kilnsey
* Get to December without any new injuries
* +bodyweight pull ups (2 reps)
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last

BHAG:
* 9a by March 2022 (40th Birthday)
* Stage 1a of BHAG is 8b by the end of the year

Ah ok. Oops. 5% is only 2-3 more moves so I suspect probably wouldn't have impacted the conclusions that much given they're already incomplete - I'd have done 40 moves, then maybe slightly less than 31 (on the grounds that the extra moves should have impacted more than the extra rest - that's the point after all)... Maybe made the aerobic picture look worse, but I knew that already...

Too many days rest and poor diet this week. I went to visit a friend for three days - often makes me feel very lazy and despondent being out of my usual routine. Looking forward to getting back on track this week.

Base phase - week 3 actual:
Aerobic activity - 180 mins
Zone 1/2 (walk/running/stairmaster and mainly fasted) time - 0 mins
Climbing sessions - 1
Fingerboard sessions - 0
Max strength sessions - Did one of these this week. My legs felt a little feeble after the run the previous day but still managed to break some previous max weights
Stretching - working on doing stretches each time I do any kind of activity and did one yoga session this week which was very hard - tight muscles!

PLAN:
Base phase - week 4 plan:
Aerobic activity - 367 mins
Zone 1/2 (walk/running/stairmaster) time - 277 mins
Climbing sessions - 2
Fingerboard sessions - 0
Max strength sessions - 2
Stretching -

Benchmarks:
Boulder grade max: V4
Lead climb max: 6c+
Top-rope max (it does count): 7a
Weighted pull-top max: 14kg x 1 rep
Max bench press: 45kg x 4
Max incline bench press: 40kg x 3
Max deadlift: tbc
Back squats: 60kg x 4

Monday: 15.94 miles, 3:00hrs (11.19min/mi), avHR 174bpm maxHR 190bpm (z5-1%, z4-45%, z3-53%, z2-1%, z1-0%) - flat with one teeny hill

Tuesday: Max strength session. Multiple sets of the following:
Hack squats - 4/5 reps up to 140kg
Back squats - 40kg fine, lost form a bit at 60kg today
Incline bench press - 30kg and a few at 40kg but reduced weight for form
Bench press 40kg x4, 45kg x4 for a few sets, tried 1 at 50kg but needed assistance
Weighted pull-ups 2x10kg, 2x12kg, 1x14kg - using a bit of momentum on larger weights

Wednesday: Boulder session at Stronghold with Cyan. Had a great session. Worked some of the yellow comp routes and the white circuit (V4-6?). Really enjoyed working these routes - need to work on my tiny crimp strength, my fingers fell apart!

Thursday: rest

Friday: rest

Saturday: rest

Sunday: rest

LTG:
To climb a big wall - El Cap
Lead 7a+ 2018
Run a trail marathon
Lead E1

MTG:
The Matterhorn 
Lead 30 x VS trad routes
Lead 5 HVS trad routes
Lead The Great Slab at Millstone Edge (HS 4b)
To lead one 7a lead indoors from each reset
Run a trail half marathon
To complete the TFTNA training plan base phase
Goals for Australia in September - 1. Bunny Bucket Buttress

STG:

To enjoy lead climbing, take the pressure off and have fun - none
Fall practice each rope session - none
To plan my week every Sunday - no
To keep a record of benchmarks in climbing and gym work - mainly

Thanks Guy - hectic week of work meant this was an unplanned rest week. Smashed it at the weekend and topped off last weeks V8,9,10 with a V11

Week 17

M – Early start – travel to Hamburg. 5km walking before devouring a whole pizza with beer.

T – Early start/long day. Rushed 20min cardio & 20min core in hotel gym before team meal.

W – Early start/long day. Zero exercise, zero fresh air, too much sugar, caffeine & booze

T – Early start/long day. Only exercise was a 500m sprint in the airport! (hms take note - despite having only 30min spare to catch the plane I felt virtually zero stress in this scenario - I think I've become immune to travel stress with repeated exposure!?!)

F – Nowt.

S – Most of the day was lost to life/wedding/house admin, then brief indoor boulder with the lady. Tried to preserve skin, but got stuck into a tough V6 for 15min which wasn't ideal.

S – Cold at the cave; this contributed to the sluggish warm up, but yesterday’s boulder was probably also to blame. After an abortive attempt I managed Broken Sam (V11). Long rest, then tried Parisella’s Lip a few times & 2x RP on Broken Heart-Upper Cut – got close on both, but didn’t complete either.

Owed some time back from work, so hope to get out for a half day one day this week and maybe go to Kilnsey and see if the big project has dried out yet?

Cheers Guy, it was a cracking day, Final time adjusted for dead zones was 1 hour 22 so very happy. Now the dualthlon is done its time to crack on and prepare for the first bash at a triathlon (sprint distance and not until July). Past week went as follows;

Monday, 1 km lunchtime swim

Tuesday, 1 km lunchtime swim

Wednesday, 1 km lunchtime swim, 22km ride home and straight out for a 5km run

Thursday, 2 km lunchtime swim and stretch class,  10km evening run

Friday, 1 km lunchtime swim and 16km ride home

Saturday, rest

Sunday, 45 minute core and strength workout

I certainly feel stronger in fingers and core, at least measured in terms of hang board and leg raises. 

The lower back is slightly improved -  likely because I've got better at avoiding the movements that aggravate the problem muscle, rather than huge progress at relaxing/treating that stressed muscle. 

I have mixed views about a return to climbing soon.  I tend to be an all or nothing person, so I'd struggle to go for an easy bouldering session, or a trad weekend of nice easy routes.  I would inevitably end up pushing my limit, which might reverse the progress on my lower back.  This weekend I will be in the vicinity of southern sandstone, so I may sneak out to touch some rock for the first time since Feb.

Training this week was 3 crossfit sessions, lots of physio exercises, and one good fingerboard session.  The fingerboard session featured weighted hangs for the first time - amusingly using oven gloves/canned goods for the weights.  I had a boozy afternoon/late night on Weds which ate into training motivation.  Next week I will aim to pack in at least 2 fingerboard sessions and keep up with the physio exercises.

Training diary gory details:

Monday 23 April. 12 miles bike. 1/2 bottle wine at home.

Tuesday 19 miles bike. 1hr CrossFit. Not especially intensive. Included lots of chin-ups, and a 12min sets of 5 press-ups, 10 sit-ups, and 5 jump squats (bodyweight squat ending with a jump). The sit-ups slightly aggravated my tweaked back muscle.

Weds 4 miles bike, late night at networking event. 1/2 bottle wine.

Thurs. 15 miles bike. 1h with physio doing exercises to increase spinal mobility. 1h CrossFit.  Had to duck out of one of the workouts due to feeling a bit sick - probably due to booze and late night.

Friday 9 miles bike. 30 min physio exercises.

Saturday. 5 miles bike. Exhausting 1h 15min CrossFit lifting weights, burpees, squats, chin ups, skipping, ring dips.  Didn’t do much for rest of the day. 5min physio exercises.

Sunday. BM1K workout.

-5 sets of 10s hang, 3min rest on medium 4 finger holds. Not too hard. 6min rest.

-6 sets of one hand in small 4 finger hold, the other in the 4 finger medium. alternating hands. No fails, but fairly hard. 6 min rest.

-I tried again with one hand on each of small and medium 4 finger holds but failed 1st set at around 8s. So did:

-5 sets of 10s/3min on medium edges with 3kg weight. 3kg being 6 cans of beans stuffed into oven gloves. 6min rest.

-Another 3 sets of 10s/3min/3kg sets then failed on the 4th.

30min physio exercises.

Hi All. Thanks Guy.

Yep -last week felt great, which made this week's low volume week feel a bit weird, but hopefully it will pay off and I'll be entering the second half of my Max Strength phase this week in top form!

Last Week:

M: Rest

T: Core and Max Strength

W: Road run. 8.8km at 5:27/km avg, flat, feels easy to stay in Z1/2 over this surface and gradient.

T: Bouldering Pimhill. 25min Z1 approach. Awful venue but did some f5Bs before running away!

F: Rest.

S: Road run. 14.3km at 5:20/km avg, flat, again managed to maintain Z1/2 throughout. 

S: Core and Max Strength

Next Week:

180 mins Z1 (in reality will be much more as planning on a Sandstone Way attempt on Sat)

2 Core

2 Max Strength

2 Hill Sprints

2 Climbing Sessions

STG/Q2:

Sandstone Way in <10h

E1 on 3+ rock types Power of the Mekon (E1 5b) Kayak (E2 5b) Californian Arete (E1 4c) Easter Edge (E1 5b)

Font 6B in Lofoten

MTG/Q3:

El Cap Nose day

New Routes in Kyrgyzstan

LTG/Q4:

North Face Original Route (ED1)

Jaz (D8)

I forgot to update again, but last week was so extreme it was hard to do anything. About 30 hours of work and 30 hours of school that had to be done before saturday to make time for a climbing trip.

Week 579:

Can't remember much training-wise, but climbing-wise.

Sunday: Went to  Kolsås (as always...) to climb some trad. Toproped a project 3 times, and still didn't work up the balls to climb it. Then I climbed Kjøkkentrappa (n5), my first n5 (F5b). Not really a PR after the 6a+/6b I did (I checked the conversions and they seem to vary), but it was steeper at least, and mostly a thin finger crack followed by some slopers. Very short route, like 6-8m.

Week 580:

- Tried to go bouldering but everything was wet so mostly tried a bunch of stuff and didn't make it.

- Had one strength session where I didn't make much progress but didn't backtrack either!

- At one point did a 1 hour box step session where I did 530-ish vertical meters

Friday:

- Long zone 1 session on Kolsås, about 2.5 hours going up and down the mountain. 4 laps, 200m vertical each way. Set some speed PRs, felt good, had to cut it short of my 4 hour goal because of real life getting in the way beforehand and after (errands, appointments, yada yada).

Saturday:

- First trip to Bohuslän, aka Scandinavian trad paradise. Granite cracks everywhere.

Day 1:

Warmed up by following Ödhumlan (n4), a really nice and even F4b route that was a joy to warm up on. Reminded me of Via Lara (n3+).

Then tried to find something else more interesting to climb. Decided to just go for it and climb Berguven (n6-), an F6a. The crux was at the start, and seemed doable. I somehow made it up, but feared for my life a few times of course. Started with some thin face/slab climbing, over into a big ass crack that I could walk inside (more of this please), then over into a slightly pumpy but short layback section. Felt good about cosolidating the 6 grade some more on trad.

Day 2:

Warmed up by following 50 Grader (n4), something as rare as a 4b with an overhanging section (but good holds).

Then did Johans Insteg (n5) and Över Till Slut (n5) sort of like a multipitch. First one was a short curved crack that felt okey. Second was climbing over a corner, onto a slab (like a bowl feature) and then up a flake in a vertical dihedral. Actually really liked that one. Two more 5bs on my list. People say I focus too much on grades but due to my recent 6a and 6a+/6b success I was confident enough to attempt these.

Then finished on Game On (n5), another 5b that was first a finger crack, then straight jamming and a vertical topout with some pinches and jugs. Feared for my life the whole way, was sure I was going to fall the whole way. Nowhere to place my feet during the thin finger crack section, and tough jamming above that followed by some technical tree climbing and a topout which didn't inspire confidence. How this is graded 5b I'll never know. Dude who followed it thought it was more like a 5c/soft 6a. I concur, but Bohusheads that are used to this emotional abuse will probably disagree.

Day 3:

Slight rain the whole day. Followed Cora (n4+) in the wet and was glad I didn't have to lead it. Then we decided to bail and drive home due to a forecasted downpour the next day.

Conclusion:

Bohus is tough and scary, but somehow also fun (I think...). Definitely going back.

I GOT THE JOB! Offer made less than an hour after I finished the interview. 

Cannot wait to start this new chapter of my life. Four weeks and counting. Yay!

So I will sit down this weekend and try and map something out focusing more on routes and circuits rather than problems that are too hard from me-short periods of ARC are not doing it for me-will throw in a home fingerboard session as well, which I quite enjoy.

Not sure what goals might be but surely I can get a Spanish or French 7a late autumn?

Last week was final week of seven day opening and hectic, also worked night shifts dealing with very distressed people. Managed to claw a boulder and circuit session and a routes session-very tired for both but felt good.

Managing to keep shoulder strength exercises but do need to practice and then do TRX exercises.

Work will drop off slowly but everything needs finishing and evaluations need to be drawn up but feel more relaxed already.

It was soft for e3 and more like a 6a+ with the amount of gear in it, but nice to get it clean and feel that it's not a million miles away from me leading.

STGs, (May-July)

• Sort training plan and diet

• Buy flat

• Set MT, LT and BHAGs

• weight target 10st 7lb/bf 15% (started at 11st 1lb/18% 1/1/18)

• e1 trad leads

• lead 7a outdoor

Mo: General walking, 6.4 miles. Admin!.
Tu: General walking, 6.8 miles. More admin.
We: General walking 6.3 miles.
Th: General walking, 7.4 miles.
Fr:  General walking, 7.5 miles. Lead climbing, (8 routes).
Sa: General walking, 6.5 miles. Rest day.
Su: General walking, 8.5 miles. Un-intended rest day.

- weight 10st 9lb/bf 16.5%

Cheers Guy. How's the planning going?

Lots of good routes in Dovedale - the other beta is to take secateurs, swimming stuff and river crossing shoes (Although maybe it's only me who has river crossing/swimming shoes???!) and be prepared for some scree running  

Having difficulty starting physio regime properly as all fingerboard edges of every size seem to be hitting something that hurts so I'm just doing the weights curls and rolly stuff for now. Toning down the massage as I massaged so hard I gave myself a blister. Muppet. 

M - boulder volume on non-painful holds

T - AM yoga PM conditioning

W-F too much work

S - Climbing Unit blues/looking at new yellows

S - Gardom's freeeezing. Can't reach the arete hold for Soft on the G (f7B) so need a new plan...need to research if it's legit to start off a double mat...

Won't make it any easier than it is for others, the crux is after you've pulled on - Id say just do it.

Si

Cheers Si, trying not to look at videos to look at mats as I didn't want to see the beta!

for those of shorter stature, starting off a double mat is always legit! There's a local bouldering problem where I can't reach the start holds even off a stack of folded up mats (and it isn't supposed to be a dynamic start or anything as the first holds are tiny little shallow dishes.)

Thanks Helen It's not even that I'm that short (5'7) - just that I have a long body and T-rex arms (-3 and a bit ape). That sounds like a very mean start! 

Off for a weekend of Peak District climbing tomorrow - anyone else about?

Unfortunately, as feared, the crucial beta I was after didn't work.

M: Rest

T: The big day, I've been on project deluded a few times last year and once this year but never when the moves through the roof were dry. Due to their nature I wasn't sure I would be able to do them even though they are not the crux. I suspected today the rock would be dry enough to try, requests had yielded detailed beta but they all mentioned a wide bridge which is like Kryptonite for me. I was nervous and turning up after work to see the roof still wet left me crest fallen. Two goes up and my hips were in agony, the wide bridge was impossible for me and even working it was exhausting due to the placement of the bolt. It was looking like I'd wasted all the previous sessions on a fools errand, even accounting for the fact the route is too hard for me in other ways anyway. I hobbled up for a third look in the dusk, same result and in desperation I threw in a knee bar to take off some weight to find I could reach a crimp below the crucial side pull! Tentatively I released the kneebar and didn't fall, I didn't really get my feet established on the sidewall but it looked promising. One more quick pull on confirmed I could do the move without a bridge, it was a bit more powerful but possible. I stripped the route without going more than one bolt into the hard climbing. 70 mile round trip after work, half a move competed, virtually unable to walk, I couldn't have been happier!

W: Rest and a bit of stretching.

T: Back on project deluded, redid the moves through the route but this time getting established in the groove. Went to top a couple of times, managed the RP crux at second attempt which was pleasing. Another good session.

F: Travel to Wales

S: A walk in The Carneddau, hip held up ok.

S: A walk up Elidir Fawr then an hour in Parasellas Cave (first visit for 7 years I think), tried Shothole start eventually managed most moves but I never really warmed up and my lower body had pretty much siezed up after the days walking. 

Between Friday night to Monday night we will Peak-Lakes-Peak so might overlap a bit. Keep us posted

I'll be bouldering somewhere on Sunday morning. Watching conditions reports but probably the Churnet.

Been struggling with some motivational issues lately which I won't bore FitClub with, but I seem to be back on the wagon with a half decent week last week and some new goals for the year.

Tue - Strength and conditioning.
Core.
Supersets -  Wide Pullups/Dumbell shoulder press, deadlift/ring dips
Wed - Yoga
Thu - Trail run (Stanage, Burbage, Higgar Tor loop), 7.74km/190m/1hr
Fri - Strength and Conditioning
Core.
Supersets -  Wide Pullups/Dumbell Shoulder Press, Bench Press/Ring dips, Deadlifts
Sun - Trad Climbing at  Lawrencefield (Meringue (HVS 5a))

STG

- 4 hours trail running at or below AeT
- Move Strength and Conditioning to Specific phase. Hill Sprints if conditions allow, otherwise Box Steps. Continue upper body work
- Do some benchmarks (eg, TFTNA Alpine Combine)
- Make use of a good Bank Holiday forecast. Go climbing.

MTG

- Peak District fell races Grindleford (21st June), Hope (27th June), Hathersage Beginning July). Achieve top 25% in at least one.

- Routes : 

The File (VS 4c)
Suicide Wall (HVS 5b)
The Hen Cloud HVSs
The Right Unconquerable (HVS 5a)
The Left Unconquerable (E1 5b)
Flying Buttress Direct (E1 5b)
Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c)
Brown's Eliminate (E2 5b)
The Rasp (E2 5b)
Regent Street (E2 5c)

- Problems

Crescent Arête (f5+)
Banana Finger (f6A)

- Possible Alpine trip in July. Routes TBD but on the list,

Innominata Ridge (D+)
Arête Ryan/East Ridge (D+)

LTG

- Ama Dablam possibly end 2018
- US/Canada trip in Winter 2018

BHAG

London Wall (E5 6a)
The 1938 Route (ED2)
American Direct (ED1 6c+)
 

Are any fitclubbers at a loose end on Monday? Would be quite keen to get off the beaten track if anyone else is in the Peak area. Maybe some high moorland gritstone or lime esoterica.

Excellent. The current plan is to travel up tomorrow morning and leave at some point on Monday. Hope to catch you up there at some point. Will post actions assuming internet!

I should definitely be able to figure out how to post to multiple people but I can't! Will update our position on here over the weekend.

Looks like a few of us are in the Peak this weekend. Guy and I will be around from tomorrow - exact positions will probably be weather dependent. Any chance of bringing the cat?

Ha, no. In fact if the weather is as predicted there's very little chance of her moving from the windowsill.

You'll just have to do Connoisseur's Choice, Sit-start (f7A+) instead...

Alas, no, it's the MC Hammer slide that's the problem. Well, that and drop-knees.

I am slack and have not re-started training yet, enjoying the bouldering too much. Feeling strong - perhaps my best ever week indoors?! Next week....

Ah well. Maybe next time.

(k)needless to say I also used the kneebar beta on that section, though i could reach a few more inches and get the side-pull instead of the crimp. 

Cool, think Guy has my mobile.

For those in the Peak District this weekend,  Guy and I are thinking of going to Stanage Plantation tomorrow  

Cheers Guy.

I've got a couple of gels in case of emergency. They don't work for me over a long event. Peanut M&M's do however so i'll be eating a couple of packets of those and i'll have some flap jack. There are feed stations on the way offering savoury stuff too. I did a long ride this week (but that's to report next week) and it all went well energy wise.

I managed 3 days of commuting and a 2 hr blast which i'm quite pleased with as it was last week of placement and I went to Ratho with the climbing squad so I made the best of a busy week. 180km ish I reckon and a definite increase in average speed and segments. All good.

I seem to have forgotten what climbing is but that's just how it is atm I guess.  

My plan for this week was/is to do a 100miler round the Lakes (3000m ascent+) and if that goes well I'll feel ready for the real thing. 

I also need to finally finish some bits off in the van - make the bed bigger and make the shelves inside the kitchen unit. So a BH weekend of DIY, but it'll be worth it for the Alps.

I don’t think anyone else is about but there has been a change of plan. A few of us will now be at Gardoms today It’s very beautiful and sunny!!

Monday: 3 hour strictly Z1 run (Jen was my pacemaker)

Tuesday: 45 minutes run, 1 hour stairmaster, max strength (bench, squats, pull-ups) including new pull-up PB of 2x34kg.

Wednesday: 5x10 minutes on / 10 minutes off aero climbing unto 6c

Thursday: 1 hour stairmaster, 45 minutes run

Friday: 6 x 10 minutes on / 10 minutes off aero climbing up to 6c. 

Saturday: 3 hours running (19 miles), 7 x 10 minutes on / 10 minutes off  aero climbing

Sunday: Rest day (felt like I needed it)

Good week- two long runs and the overall volume felt fine. Recovery/deload week this week with some fun trad climbing over bank holiday weekend, and then time to up the volume again.

I booked flights for my bugaboos trip, so that is definitely happening which is exciting. I know some of you have been there- any particular beta I should know (logistical/route/otherwise)?

In other news it came around to a follow-up DEXA scan I booked months ago. I’ve been putting this off because I know I am heavier than when I had the last one. Anyway the scan confirmed I am heavier, but that is down to losing 0.5kg fat and gaining 2kg muscle. Obviously this isn’t *bad* though it wasn’t my intention. I guess lifting heavy weights and eating a lot is always going to have that effect. I thought that doing upward of 10 hours of cardio each week prevent it, but apparently not. Maybe things will change when I’m not sitting in a cake filled office all day during the week. 

What was that I said about running /cycling and leg muscle?

Hope you folks have had fun in the Peak this weekend.  It must've been pretty hot at gardoms! 

Ha I genuinely didn’t put 2 and 2 together on that comment last week!

Gardoms was very hot- we didn’t last that long before going in the river! Same at the Roaches today- a lazy half attempt at climbing.