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_580-683850

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

Flailing Old Gymnast: Congrats on getting the job- Cumbria should offer plenty of excuses for getting out on the bike! Where are you located at the moment?

hms: Hope you got some of that movement flow going in the sun this weekend?

AJM: Interesting conclusions from the lattice re-test. I like that you are thinking about the numbers mean and the factors that affect them before making decisions based on them. What style of climbing is smith rocks generally- endurancey similar to RRG?

Si dH: Really cool to follow your progress because you seem to really have a plan and follow it. When do you get good conditions on the mentalist- is it int the sun etc?

Andy Nelson: 3 months is plenty of time to get the hours in- just keep that date and peak in mind!

Powderpuff: If I recall correctly you were starting to add some fingerboard sessions in a short while back- did you change your mind about that or is it just a case of the ‘invisible home fingerboard’ (mine is so dusty!)?

AlanLittle: “I don't want to stake the success of the whole year on one trip” very sensible! Maybe something like non-linear periodisation would work? (ala Logical Progression)

Mattrm: Well enjoy your holiday this week then!

MauraLorrissey: Great stuff, you can do a lot in 10 weeks, I’m looking forward to hearing about the gains!

mrchewy: Thanks for the beta- I shall instruct Jen to obtain some Thai sticks although I think it’s more likely she will hit me with them than massage my feet!

Dandan82: Struggling to think of any STGs on a bank holiday weekend!? Hope you got out and enjoyed the weather!

Bones: Get some Thai Sticks please

Ally Smith: Such numeric progression. I am a bit special so that sort of thing pleases me. 

the sheep: Seems like you are going to find the step from duathlon to tri fairly straightforward given your volume of swimming training. Were you planning on doing anything more specifically for run/bike training this time around or just keep building the volume?

Brodes: Several people here have used family pets as training weights, an oven glove/canned food is an excellent addition to the esoterica files

Tom Green: I’m not familiar with the Sandstone way- what is it/how did it go?

TheFasting: Well done for getting a few maintenance sessions in when you are really busy, should definitely make difference. I’ll definitely be checking out Bohuslän- not one I’ve heard of before but sounds great

Richard Popp: Well I look forward to seeing what you decide is the way forward for your climbing/training. Remind me, what’s your local area? Are you able to get out in the evenings?

Ardo: You said you are planning to set some BHAGs- this can be really hard to nail down (I guess you don’t really need to nail them down that much anyway), but I’m really interested to see what sort of big things you would love to work toward.

Just Tintin: Lovely to meet Ben and yourself at the weekend. How did you get on at Dovedale etc? 

Tyler: Your Tuesday update was a rollercoaster, great to hear progress is being made and you’re feeling good about it!

planetmarshall: Great route list, looking at that should help with the motivation!

Cyan: How about trying some of those lattice ‘stick this 20 minute block on the end of your normal bouldering’ training ideas?

biscuit: Peanut M&M’s… good mix of simple carbs and fat! How did your your big planned ride go?

guy127917: Good running volume- but time to turn it up a notch

AWOL: Climbthatpitch

Thanks Guy. Actually I don't think I'm very good at following training programmes but I've found I do better if my training is focused on a fairly short term goal rather than something a long way off.

I adapted my training this week to focus on front 3 max hang strength and it seems to have helped (probably some initial nervous system gains I guess? Perhaps also building on the pocket work I've already been doing for the last 3-4 weeks.) Going to keep this up for at least a couple more weeks then see where I'm at. Next weekend I have a stag do to go to in Berlin, so no climbing.

Mentalist is fairly reliable in spring/summer fortunately, it takes run off but dries pretty fast and faces north so stays out of the sun. Lots of trees so it does get a bit humid sometimes, especially if there is no wind. Main problem is that it eats skin so lots of taping required.

P.S. I meant to ask - what method do you use for measuring fat and muscle kg like you mentioned on last week's thread? I used to have some body analyser scales 5-6 years ago but they kept breaking down, wondering if there is something better now.

Hi all, happy bank hols! Thanks for statting from a trip away Guy... much appreciated. 

A funny week last week... poor for training and some injuries (first ones for ages) but good for achievements. 

Last Week:

M: Rest

T: Climbing at Roaches, six pitches at VS and HVS, felt pretty chilled but hurt my bicep undercutting on Rhodren (HVS 5b)

W: Core session (upped the progressions, felt good) and max strength session (abandoned due to sore bicep)

T: Theraband session 

F: Carb loading (don’t know if this is still thought to be a good thing, but I’ve always wanted to carb load and this is the first time I’ve had the justification!)

S: Sandstone trail in 9:35 (STG -TICKED!!) 54km at 10:35/km avg. 1100m vert gain. Fairly nicely surfaced trails between Frodsham and Whitchurch. 

S: Rest/build a bar out of pallets. Intermittent staring at very swollen right knee. 

So, put to bed one of my STGs, having a (mostly) nice time doing it, but seem to have injured something in my right knee. I’m hoping it’s nothing too bad as it would be a bad time to disrupt my training plan. Given that I’ve jumped from only running half marathon distances to Saturday’s ultra distance without any real appropriate training it was entirely predictable that I’d pick up an injury... although cardio fitness was not a problem I think my legs just weren’t accustomed to the long mileage. 

First 25km felt fine, though running unsupported meant I was crryingvuite a lot of water and food so my bag felt heavy at 4kg. Lesson 1: don’t need as much food as I thought. 

25-35km felt tough but enjoyable, being the main hilly section. R knee starting to hurt a little but still cruising at 7:30/km pace. 

35-45km started being very painful. R knee, L shin, L hamstring and both ankles starting to hurt. Especially R knee. Pace falling and a few stops to stretch and try and massage the pain out of my legs. 

45-54km: legs in agony now! Walked the last 8km as couldn’t handle the pain from R knee. Finished in an anticlimax of pain and misery!! 

Strava actually gave my time as 7:06... I hadn’t realised it doesn’t count pauses? It also highlighted how all of those food stops, sock changes, etc add up, although a large proportion of my stops will have come from the last 10-15km when my legs were falling apart and I was giving myself pain respite! Lesson 2: keep moving while snacking instead of stopping for food? Lesson 3: either don’t get sore or be mentally tougher at keeping going through the pain?!

it was interesting to see my pace was super consistent between 6:45/km and 7:45/km until the 40km point where it slowed ( and then slowed to walking pace from 46km)

Next Week:

See how the leg feels...

STG/Q2

Sandstone Trail in <10h (tick!)

E1 on 3+ Rock types

Boulder 6B in Lofoten 

The last two times I used a company called Body Scan, and a method called DEXA which is basically a whole body X-ray which is then analysed by some algorithm for density etc. The numbers it gives are a bit different to callipers because it includes visceral fat (and your brain) and it also tells you muscle mass and bone density, and it works per body region. It’s ‘cool’ but as with most of these things normally just tells you what you already know and/or you don’t really change your behaviour anyway! The downside is it’s 150 quid a pop, although they email out offers every now and again- both of mine have actually cost <60. 

However I actually went on some super fancy omron ones which claimed to measure visceral fat, and to my surprise they were actually very close to the same results for visceral and overall fat. My belief is the conductivity ones are less consistent, but if you always use at the same time of day they should be good. I think Biscuit claims insider knowledge that the cheap omron ones use the same technology so that may still be a good solution.

Nice work on the ultra, good weekend to get in some ice baths...

STG: Long weekend coming up - get some sport climbing in *somehwere* despite the terrible weather forecast.

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

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

Frustrating. Perfect conditions at the weekend but all my regular partners connived to be hors de combat with dubious excuses - family, injuries, orchestra rehearsals. "Should", per current training priorities, have gone bouldering but couldn't raise the motivation; decided I've been missing the mountains & went for a walk instead.

On the upside though, Kalymnos flights booked.

M: rest

T: Sudelfeld. Headed out to my local crap-but-convenient bouldering spot in search of the next proj. There's a 7A that gets three stars and is by consensus supposed to be soft, but I did not find it so. It's a style that's completely foreign to me, fridge-hugging up a blunt arete; I failed to even leave the ground.

W: Wall, Thalkirchen. Mostly moderate aerobic base mileage & some falling practice. One minor milestone though: I onsighted a 6b by my routesetting nemesis. According to my logbook I've onsighted over fifty 6b's at this wall, but never one by her. Until today. 

T: An hour mobility, stretching, shoulders etc.

F: Morning physio appointment. Physio is optimistic about sorting my impingement issues out; big emphasis on stretching & practicing movement patterns in front of a mittor.

S: Boulderwelt, circuits

S: Alpspitze hillwalking in big boots with lots of spring snow. Plan was hike up, lift down, but the lift was closed. Hiking down in big boots is hard on the feet, especially when you haven't worn them for a while.

Thanks guy, it’s the ‘official’ sandstone trail ultra next weekend so I’m intrigued to see what time proper ultra runners do it in this year! Think the record is four hours something! (This was the reason for rushing it in this week... before the trails were too ploughed up!)

The cheaper scales seem to be okay - we had them when I was a lightweight rower and they were calibrated against one more formal fat test mid-season and seemed fine. 

On the subject of body composition scans there are quite often free opportunities as part of current hospital studies into diabetes so you can find out about your fat and help some research! 

DEXA was really good - I did one as part of a diabetes study at local hospital. They wanted control group of non-diabetics aged 23-45. Result was 22.5% body fat which in women is athletic side of normal (but high for a climber who wants to perform better) and zero visceral fat, which explains why I get cold and hungry quickly and grumpily. 

Thanks folks. Dexa is not commercially available anywhere convenient so I'll keep my eye out for local hospital trials!

Tempted by the more expensive Omron scales that include hand electrodes, but put off by them not being waterproof

Hey Guy,

I very nearly used the fingerboard this week but I had the opportunity to go to the wall instead.

I would like to add a fingerboard session to my weeks training more regularly but I feel either my elbows or my fingers are too tired/tweaky  to deal with another session.

Wednesday: went to the walll and climbed 3 of the v4-6 circuit which I was pleased with. Also got closer to climbing the last problem in the previous circuit which is super tricky. Did 2 sets of the usual exercises and used the magic stretch.

Friday: wall again, tired several more of the v4-6 cicuit. Some tricky problems there,  felt a little tired. Climbed one of the problems. 2 sets of the usual exercises and used the magic stretch several times throughout the seseion. 

Weirdly it appears the magic stretch has fixed my right elbow but my left elbow feels worse than ever! I need to check my form is perfect when stretching and remember the follow helps my elbows.

-warm up throughly

-stretch through out climbing sessions.

-complete 3 sets of exercises each session

-crimp less open hand more

-use momentum and push and pull with feet more.

-better posture.

It confirms what a client (who worked for Omron) once told me. They all have the same tech inside, but the more expensive ones have more fancy options. I've used one that told me % of fat in each limb. I reckon they're certainly good enough to spot a trend. Mine have always been 2% out I think, but consistently so. 

But i'll also back up that if just used as a one off they do just tell you what you already know - so do your favourite jeans not fitting, or spotting a muffin top in the mirror.

Mine have the hand electrodes and that is supposed to be 'better'. Waterproof? Mine have lived in the bathroom and got wet loads of times. Not submerged obviously but wet and no issues.

Cheers Guy. Yes peanut M&M's are the perfect endurance fuel - for me anyway. 

SO the big ride went well thanks. We did the Northern passes x2. Keswick>Honister Pass>Newlands>Whinlatter>Newlands>Honister then up the back of Skiddaw and Blencathra to come back to Keswick via Mosedale. Agonisingly close to 100miles (a few hundred metres short), so I've technically still not done a hundred miler, but 3100m of ascent went OK. 

It was windy all the way and got considerably worse for the second half as the temps dropped and the rain came in. I would describe some parts as deeply unpleasant on a bike. But all good toughness training. In those conditions I was very pleased with an average speed of 20kph and just under 8hrs. That used to be my target speed for 40km flattish rides when I started getting serious a few months ago.

Recovered well enough to do a 50k 1000m ish ride round the Dales on Friday. It felt short and easy.

Resting up this week. May do a leg spinner or two. Lots of sleep and stretching.

I have forgotten what climbing is and how to do it. Back to it after next Sunday's ride.

I'm making an assumption that the ones without hand electrodes are only able to measure impedance through your lower body, whereas those with them will be able to average the whole. I do a lot more upper body exercise than lower so I suspect they would give different results...at least that was the theory in my head.

I'll have more of a think before buying anything. I'm interested because I'm a lot heavier than I was a year ago (10 -12 lbs) but have managed to get a bit stronger and am climbing reasonably well...so I'm slightly uncertain in my mind what my ''fighting weight' should now be, and thought some indication of bodyfat/muscle% might help. It would have helped to have had bodyfat results from a year ago too though, which obviously I don't.

Cheers guy. From what I gather, Smith is fingers, tech, vert stuff. Some very clean cut corners and aretes too. Long pitches, but a different kind of enduro to the Red as it’s generally less steep.

Unsurprisingly, the best videos are of the sponsored heros, mainly on To Bolt, which is America’s first 5.14 so has a certain iconic status. Which is handy in one way as one of the classic 13a routes (Darkness At Noon (5.13a)is right next door so gives you an idea of the style even if hopefully not quite on such tiny holds. Example here:  youtube.com/watch?v=yOfYNX82_xw& 

{very long video of Just Do It, one of the other iconic ones, here too, worth it for the views of the Monkey, which was the spire I want to do on our trip -  youtube.com/watch?v=X-5om6lG_d8& }

I’ve done nothing really this week. I spent most of the week fretting about my elbow, so didn’t do anything (well, some life admin, but that’s not really training). Then I had to cancel Saturdays climbing because the little man was ill. Had a bbq instead, but again it’s not really training!

I got out yesterday to the promenade. A few warmups and then a few goes at Down in the Sewer (7b). This is a steep crack/overhanging groove which has a few roofs to pass. Got all the moves but it’s quite hard and quite greasy by the end of the day (too steep to get direct sun in the back of the groove, and gets clammy once the sun moves off the rest of it).

But what I had some elbow grumbles on the warmups, nothing on the route itself, which is encouraging, I was getting a bit worried about that. So more motivation going into this coming week.

Need a bit more direction though. I’ve got the annual goals fairly sorted, but struggling a bit with goals in this “getting back into ropes” stage as I have a habit of wanting to save things for some future state when I’m fitter and better so am never quite sure what to get on when I need to be looking at say lower/middle 7s to get back in the swing of things, because I’m always thinking “but you should be trying to flash that” which is all well and good in one sense but then it leaves me a bit directionless when I do get out because I rarely want to get on something really inspiring and ***.

I think I just need to get over myself really and accept that with limited rock mileage these days I might as well just get stuck in in most cases.

Progress has slowed a little since so still a bit of a stretch goal.

M: BUK bouldering on new set, felt best I have for ages, did a load of V5 quickly which I've not really done at the new wall.

T: Back to BUK, bit more sluggish. Managed a couple more V5 but failed on more, maybe not an easy set after all. 

W: Rest

T: House of Pain, there's been a reset and I still can't get to the top of the board! Did my deadhang bench mark and managed 46 and 44 secs, my best from last year was 42 secs.

F: Rest

S: Kilnsey, didn't do moves through roof (damp) but managed clip in roof from ground. No break through, probably need to go on it less frequently for a bit (after BH Monday) and train harder in between visits.

S: Sacked off going to Nesscliffe due to skin, tiredness and a need to revise. 

Thanks guy!

To get an offer and have the interview go so well was a real confidence boost. I’ve been in a really strange mood over it all week. Excited but actually quite nervous. I’ve been at my current company for 10 years and although I’ve moaned about it and flat out felt like walking out at times it has undeniably been a big chunk of my life so it will be sad to leave some of it behind. My boss has been amazing over the past year so I feel a bit bad about jumping ship at their busiest time but I’m going to do as much as I can before I leave. Turns out the new job starts in Bolton and I have a training period and all the other things you’d expect so my commute will be almost bang on the same, but in a slightly different direction. So I won’t lose miles there. This week however I started working from home until I leave this job, so my miles will be made up of ad hoc rides rather than my commute.

Monday: job interview, dog walk

Tues and wed: cycled to work 56 miles.

Tuesday evening should have been gymnastics but had a friend round so that went out of the window. Lovely evening though.

Thurs Friday working from home so zero miles. Just some dog walking. And actually working so little time to do a decent ride.

Saturday: 8 mile dog walk. It was meant to be a 50 mile club ride but I pulled out of it. Then Saturday eve through to about ten minutes ago, lots of drinking and socialising. Saw people I’ve not seen in a while and gorgeous weather to boot. Fell asleep on the sofa at 6pm after an afternoon drinking and trying to stop the dog eating other people’s burgers (he got one) and was wiped out! 

So ultimately, nothing fit club worthy this week! But a fantastic week in general. I think I’ve deserved it.

this week I’ll be in the office once but apart from that it’ll be dog walking and some biking. I haven’t planned anything out yet. 

I phoned about the van on Thursday and the roof is almost done but now he’s going to be doing the floor for me as well. New properly cut 18mm ply with Altro flooring. It’ll look great. Me and a couple of girlfriends in the pub yesterday made a semi plan for Kendal calling festival, so if we can get tickets we’re off to that. If not though we’ll go away in the van anyway.

Enjoy the rest of the BH! 

Yes that was the reason given. More of a bias towards lower body with feet only electrodes whereas with the hand electrodes as well it'll give a more accurate overall figure.

Monday: 45 Minute run

Tuesday: 30 mins stairmaster, 45 minutes run, short max strength session (bench, pull-ups front and back squats

Wednesday: Short bouldering session- made a stupid mistake of taping my bad finger on the wrong hand, instantly aggravated it on the right hand! That said I pulled onto a few moves on the wave and finger was fine, so its clearly not a serious injury

Thursday: 45 minute run

Friday: 8 pitches at Lawrencefield up to HVS, highlight was Delectable Variation. First time at Lawrencefield- had a lovely day.

Saturday: Met Just Tintin +1 for bouldering at Gardoms. Did a bunch of V0-1 warmups then flashed Start Roof Left Hand, before spending the rest of my skin on Marks Roof Original and Left. Jumped in the river, and then had a few beers in the evening.

Sunday: Jen was severely hungover so I went off to explore the Roaches with a boulder mat. Did a few easy solos and a bunch of nice slabby boulders. We did a couple of longer routes in the afternoon but it was really hot so bailed pretty early.

In conclusion- fun week with some lovely climbing. I’m not very good at recovery weeks- I spend the whole time feeling guilty. Looking back I also realise I didn’t take a whole day off which was probably a mistake. 

This week I will attempt to get the training (aka running and gym) volume back up. I think that means making the effort to do some endurance work whilst away at the weekend (Portland I think?). I have 4 full weeks of work left before I leave- aiming to do a lot of grindy z1 during that time! Muscular endurance workouts can wait until I have time to do them in the mountains.

FWIW the "fancy" ones I went on didn't have the hand thing. I make the assertion of fancy by virtue of them being much bigger than a home unit, and being operated by a liver health charity. I don't think the hand thing will actually 'bias' it towards lower leg tissues because when they work out their formulas they can obviously adjust it accordingly.

However I think that the more 'weird' your distribution is, the more inaccurate it will be- the whole formula for mapping impedance -> bf% will be based on the average build for any given height, sex and age. That's why some scales also have 'athlete mode'- to narrow down the expected body type as much as possible! If you are seriously top heavy, it won't work so well anyway, but I think you would have to go quite a long way for it to be useless. 

I think the best thing about the DEXA is having a image of my whole body in xray, it's weirdly satisfying to look at. However I was fairly disappointed to find out my brain is only 49th percentile in mass

Thanks Guy, I did get out although just the once due to various other commitments.
The week was good although I've suffered a small setback in the form of a sore finger, it's not a pulley issue and it *seems* to not affect climbing but I'll be keeping a close eye on it for a few weeks.

M: Rest

T: Indoor Boulder; Campus laddering - basically the decay part of a lattice test so I did it on the Lattice board. Using the SteveMac circuit where you hold below the intersection so no pinkie nestling is possible, I did reps to failure where rest time = work time. Times for set 1 were 2.08, 1.37, 1.18, 1.04, 1.00, 1.00. Set 2 was 1.47, 1.15, 1.06, 1.00, 0.56, 0.55. I didn't count moves on all the reps but the final rep of set 2 was 33 moves so I estimate the first rep of set 1 would have been in the 70's somewhere.

This is pretty encouraging as my final rep on the last lattice test (on the better holds) was 37, so to get 33 on harder holds seems pretty good. I'm doing a proper test today so we shall see how it goes.

W: Indoor Routes; 2 on 1 off x10. Did this on 7b, felt really good.
Lower body flexibility

T: Indoor Boulder; Recruitment Cascades - 7 reps of hard problem with 2.5 min rest, 1.5 sets. I did the first set on a project problem (in hindsight probably a bit hard, supposed to be 80%) which I managed to tick on the second rep and again on the fourth! Gets 7A+/B on the woody which is, I don't know, 8C in reality. Ok, maybe not but the grades are super stiff!
My finger felt a little sore after rep 5 but it was so mild that I thought it could just be tightness from all the tape on it protecting my tattered skin. I stopped that problem just in case and moved on.
Threshold up; 30 moves, rest time = work time then 28 moves, 26, 24 ... 12 moves. I just did 1 of 2 sets as my skin was destroyed.
Got home and the finger felt ok, no swelling, no tenderness that I could pinpoint, just a slight pain along the side of the finger around the end knuckle when flexing the finger under no load, which would fade after flexing it 4 or 5 times. Heavy loading caused no pain whatsoever.

F: Rest; skipped the planned fingerboard sessions for obvious reasons. No change in the finger.

S: Rest; Went to Birmingham to a 'maker' expo, it's the new youtube word for 'DIY enthusiast', dribbled over tools.

S: Portland; Headed down to Coastguard as it was due to be a scorcher so being right by the sea is always pleasant. The humidity was low too so the grease should have been at a minimum.
Warmed up and repeated Superfly Guy (7a) which Mrs Dandan then dispatched with ease to tick it off her 'to do' list, the rock was bone dry even in the shade.
Headed south towards Tennessee (7c) and got on it as soon as the tide allowed. The bottom looked sopping but was actually dry, pretty perfect conditions I reckon. I thought the onsight attempt was going well, I got through some tricky territory but was stopped at a blank section which turned out to be my redpoint crux. A bit of hanging about and the best I could come up with was a one-footed, diagonal lunge toward a flake which was hard even straight off the rope. I can't find any videos online so I'd be keen for any alternative beta, this move seems too hard for 7c after 10 moves of steep climbing with no shakeout. 
The black crozzle was starting to grease up on my first redpoint, although it wasn't the cause of failure, I got to exactly where I imagined I would and had almost nothing left for the lunge. More efficiency down low and a bit less overgripping on sweaty holds might help but some better beta seems the obvious solution. 7c in a day on Portland remains elusive, still, fantastic route, straight to the top of the 7c 'to do' list.
Finished off with The Bronx (6c+) which was surprisingly good, a straight on, frog-legged arete climb, pretty unusual but really good fun.

I taped the finger up on Sunday to reduce flex and kind of stop it from engaging too much, whether that helped or not I don't know but I didn't feel the finger all day and it was no worse the following day. I think a few weeks without any super heinous crimps should fix it, probably best to keep off the woody for now...

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

STG: (this week)
* Don't make finger worse! - 
* 30 second handstand - 

MTG: (next few months)
* Pull on Nina mala/flash over in Margalef in May - Sore finger is the mono finger so might have to change plan here
* 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

thanks Guy. I managed to get out 4 times in total but am feeling pretty beaten up now!

M - cycle commute. Yoga.
T - cycle commute. New Quarry in evening. 2 long 6b routes. What is it about this place - everything slopes the wrong way and I get pumped forearms almost instantaneously.
W - cycle commute. Back via UCR. New high point on '7a' circuit then went on to try hard on the '7b' one. Can now do the whole thing in 3 links.
T - cycle commute. UCR routes in evening, dozen in  pairs. Dispatched the powerful 7a+ easily. Came off the final move of the 7a again so have now worked it a little and know how to do it now. Did a 7b+ in 2 overlapping links.
F - some urban walking and gardening.
S - Cwmanan with Ally as first venue was seeping badly. Full sun, plus some seepage so not exactly mint connies! Got nowhere on a 7b, insanely long reaches. Failed on a 6c too - ended up taking off the harness and just trying the first move over and over as a boulder problem. After probably 30 attempts I was definitely a lot closer but still couldn't nail it. 
S - The Gap with Ally. Several long goes on Pleasant Valley Sunday, absolutely not a 7a+. Managed to put some long links together but 2 moves still eluded me. Skin starting to suffer - little sharp edged sandstone breaks. 
M - Ban y Gor with Ally. Homed in on a 7b which opinion deemed 'soft'. Well not for those of shorter stature it isn't. Ally could just reach the first move. I tried it dozens of times via various weird/powerful/balancy methods and still haven't done it. Did all of the other moved eventually although 1 in particular is very position dependant & reachy. Certainly worth coming back to.

after lots of time over 3 days retrying hard moves over and over I'm feeling pretty worked this morning. Plus am having to give myself a bit of a talking to that it it's not a good idea to get too focused on the tick - need to try to enjoy the experience and forget about the end goal  

Did you look at Encore at all? I remember that being v good...

More satisfying numerical progression over the weekend - 3 routes Saturday, 4 Sunday, 5 yesterday...

Week 18

M – Early start – travel to London – happy to say I’ve dodged the redundancy bullet again

T – First time back at the Tor since Nov. Played about a bit, then got stuck into Cave Slave. Worked out the missing section, where the crux is not dabbing the floor; you’re so close to the deck you need to wear a tight-fitting top and have your chalk bag in your groin! On 2 occasions linked 13 moves from back to mid-problem kneebar, but faded on the stand-up to cave problem. Quite psyched for this and other Tor esoterica!

W – 4x squat/sit-up/OHP/press-up/rotator cuff conditioning circuits wearing 5kg vest. Side plank and plank intervals 40s on/20s off. Continuity aero-cap 7/3/60/0 with lightweight grippers; more of a recovery session.

T – Nowt – house buying stress escalating.

F – More house stress, then late drive to Bristol

S – Searching for an elusive combination of shady and dry rock. Ended up at Cwmaman. Some nails vert crimping was had; turns out the wall is actually just overhanging, explaining just why 6mm crimps are so hard to hold! 7b RP x2, 6b TR in trainers ‘cos my toes hurt.

S – The Gap – more hunting for shady & dry rock. 6b OS,7a OS, 7a+ Flon-sight, 7c/+ RP. Took a lob when a post crux hold disintegrated spectacularly! 4mm crimps on the crux of Mad at the Sun – tips trashed.

M – Ban-y-gor – finally found dry and shady rock, but arms and overall body feeling knackered. 6b OS, 6b+ OS, 7b+ RP, 7b RP, 6b OS.

it is indeed an excellent route - I did it a couple of years ago. Pleasant Valley Sunday actually feels harder, although I was trying the trick move off the wrong hold we found, on relooking at the photos that evening!

Cheers Guy, going to tailor my training to be more tri specific. As well as volume im going to start more swim sets with a 400m sprint, at least twice a week. Also have one or more bike to run sessions and a fast 5k run and a fast 20k ride to cover all bases. Last week was quite chilled as my wife has a half marathon next Sunday so her training has been the priority, making sure she gets to go out running whenever she needs to and fitting in around her. Anyway, last week went as follows;

Monday, bit rough after one too many shandies on Sunday so nothing

Tuesday, 1 km lunchtime swim, 5km evening run

Wednesday 1 km lunchtime swim, out running with the wife and her club in the evening. Intervals with hill sprints, ouch!! total distance 5.7km

Thursday, 2 km lunchtime swim followed by stretch class and a gentle 15km cycle home as the side wall of my front tyre had started to go and was bulging!

Friday, 1 km lunchtime swim and 26km ride home

Saturday, Dusted off the road bike at long last, had a fiddle with saddle height and position and took it out for a 10km blast. Managed to get the average speed over the magical 30km/hr and hit a top speed of 81km/hr. Absolute blast 

Sunday, gentle 5km woodland run whilst the youngest 2 were at gymnastics. 

Surely it is up to you to get the Thai Sticks!

I am managing to get three hour-long zone 1-2 sessions in quite consistently but this is far short of my goals. I can’t seem to fit in anymore. I am going to walk everywhere this week to try to get more in.

Base phase - week 4 actual:
Aerobic activity - 180 mins
Zone 1/2 (walk/running/stairmaster and mainly fasted) time - 180 mins
Climbing sessions - 2
Fingerboard sessions - 0
Max strength sessions - 1
Stretching - working on doing stretches each time I do any kind of activity

PLAN:
Base phase - week 5 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 - 4

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: rest 

Tuesday: Stairmaster zone1/2 (zone 3-4) avHR 152bpm maxHR 165bpm (z3-12%, z2-80%, z1-8%)
Max strength session. Multiple sets of the following:
Bit of core - crunches, hanging leg sits, weighted side planks
Bench press 40kg x8, 45kg x4 for a few sets, tried 1 at 50kg but again needed assistance - I haven’t quite got the technique right either
Back squats - 50kg felt good, not sure why I didn’t up the weight
Weighted pull-ups multiple sets of 1-2 10kg + 1-5kg

Wednesday: Treadmill zone 1/2, 2.67 miles, 60 mins (22:28min/mi), 628m climbed (incline 15) avHR 148bpm maxHR 159bpm (z3-2%, z2-71%, z1-28%).

Thursday: Stairmaster zone1/2 (zone 4-5) avHR 151bpm maxHR 158bpm (z3-1%, z2-88%, z1-11%) 

Friday: The Peak - 10 routes at Lawrencefield. I lead three VD’s.

Saturday: bouldering at Gardom’s with Guy, Just Tintin and friend. Flashed a V4 and worked a couple of routes on Mark’s roof. Great bouldering. Wasn’t very confident on the boulders there that weren’t roofs with nice, flat landings. Working on this.

Sunday: So, so ill from just three pints. Sooooo ill. Managed one, glorious climb in the afternoon sunshine.

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 - yes!
Fall practice each rope session - none
To plan my week every Sunday - no
To keep a record of benchmarks in climbing and gym work - yes

does slightly beg the question - 3 pints of what?!

From the state I was in on Sunday, you would think three pints of some evil spirit. In actuality just three pints of Peroni.

Evidently I don't take her out often enough

W/C 30/4/18, (Training week 1: hypertrophy/endurance, technique)

Mo: Commuting walk, 8.5 miles.

Tu: General walking, 7.0 miles. 15 problems(5 x 3, 4min rest), hang-board, (5 on/off x 6 x 6 sets).

We: General walking 6.3 miles. Rest day.

Th: General walking, 6.9 miles. 18 problems (1 x 6, 2 min rest + 6 x 2s, 4 min rest), 15 min ARC with footwork exercises.

Fr: Commuting walk, 7.8 miles. Gig in Manchester, with a few cheeky GnTs.

Sa: General walking, 12.8 miles.

Su: Walking, 7.5 miles. 6 Peak boulder problems.

- weight 10st 8lb/bf 16.3%

So, the BHAGs are big mountain based, so classic Alpine and high in the Himalayas being the ultimate. Waiting on confirmation of a sabbatical request and hopefully complete buying this flat before looking to putting some plans down, whilst remembering the reason for all this training/reading/planning: to get out climbing!

Yes, things are picking up gradually. Need to up the climbing volume a bit.

Last week - 

Mon - Z1-2 Trail run (Brown Knoll) 7.75km/190m/1:05
Thu - Hill Sprints (3x4x8s)
Fri - Z1-2 Trail run (Shining Tor) 9.1km/323m/1:25
Sun - Trad at Staden Quarry. The Nails (E1 5b). First extreme lead of the year, so fairly pleased by that, despite failing dismally on Bicycle Repair Man (E1 5b) and Welcome to Hard Times (Original Finish) (E2 5c).

STG - Mostly just increase volume.
 - 2x hill sprints or gym workouts. 
 - 4 hours Z1-2
 - 3 trad leads at HVS or above

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+)

We’re in Portland Friday/Saturday. Not sure what our plans are yet for tomorrow but if anyone is around let us know.

Not this weekend, but I am around the following one if you're around?

On holiday and didn't do much.  Well lots of strolling around with buggy, baby and wife, but that was about it.

Thanks Guy - good to meet you guys too. Definitely up for Portland over the Summer!

M - helped with Banff Film Festival in Abingdon

T - yoga and core

W-T lazy/finger rehab

F - Climbing Unit blues

S - Gardoms with Guy and Jen - not ideal grit conditions, but my finger is too tweaky to do lots of limestone so nice to chill on some sweaty slopers! Little river dip.

S - Dovedale climb and swim. Did Ten Craters of Wisdom (VS 5a) as a warm-up then couldn't be bothered to wait for my target routes to free up so lazed in river and ate ice cream

Ta Guy - nothing to report I'm afraid, another seven days at work straight and I was too whacked to even do any stretching.

Did spend the weekend in Wales sorting the roof on the club shed which was pretty physical at times. Happily I sit here writing this with a day off tomorrow! 

:Andy Nelson: 3 months is plenty of time to get the hours in- just keep that date and peak in mind!:

Thanks Guy.... am back to it....

PLan for the week was

"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. "

Actual went down like this:

M - 1hour treadmill run at Z1

T - 1h bike commute Z1 + 2 hours bouldering, easy stuff, on my own so not exactly amped to be pushing effort. Fingers still recovering from Font

W-1h bike commute Z1 + 1km swim Yes!! + Max strength (not really figured out the routine I'm going to use for this so felt a bit wasted)

Th 1h bike commute, plus packing for weekend

Fr- 1h bike commute

Saturday stag do boozeup and blazefest

Sunday - an icecream run on Mtn bikes.

Summary, about 5hours of easy Z1, plus a climb a swim, and a max strength session.

Next week... continue to 'get back into this' Got quite a lot going on, moving house, wedding in three weeks, busy at work, so properly structured training problematic

I reckon we will be