UKC

UKC FitClub Week 787

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/ukcfitclubweek_786-746256?...

Morning FitClubbers,

Happy Easter! Hopefully you’re all making the most of the long weekend with lots of FitClub activity. I’m still away visiting in-laws so another post from my phone. Don’t be shy if any bloopers pop up.

Stats:

Ross Barker: May be low-volume but it’s obviously working. That’s an epic day of limit bouldering. Might be worth going back for The Ramp Up if you feel on a roll? 

SteveJC94: Great news on the pulley. How long has the recovery taken so far? Have you changed anything in your routine to avoid it happening again? Any routes in mind with all this endurance training or are you just training a weakness? So many questions!

Randy: Bikram Bouldering - coming to a wall near you!

Steve Claw: It’s strangely enjoyable to be fair. Although I’m often neglecting to post my own training due to lack of time. Have you got any training programmes in mind or are you looking to pick a goal and train specifics?

AJM: I shuddered reading that! Must have been a nightmare, especially with the nippers. At least you’re now on holiday and no doubt making the most of it. Excited to read the trip report as we’ve just booked for July!

Biscuit: You’re not wrong about going in the right direction. That’s a beast of a week! Numbers are looking good too. 71kg @14%BF is in the sweet spot. How tall are you? Have you assigned a date for the start of trad season or playing it by ear?

SSB: Well to be honest, it’s about time you had an actual deload week instead of the deload weeks where you go out and smash 7c+. Looking forward to hearing what you get done in Spain.

Alan: Make hay while the sun shines! Or whatever the winter version is. Forgot to ask you what you thought of the book? I found the Long Max Hang Protocols and train Full Crimp the stand out pieces. Ned has also recently done an episode on the Nugget Podcast which I’ve yet to listen to.

Tyler: Good effort on the 7a. Did you get the RP? Or any plans to go back for it?

Ally: If it’s any consolation, you should be over the worst of it soon/now. I felt ok in week 2 but only tested -ve on day 12! Hopefully there’s no long lasting side effects and you’re back to full fitness.

Tom Green: On a positive note, you got back out on crampons after a significant injury so I’d take that as a success.

Derek Furze: Seriously impressive weight loss with little drop in strength. What tweaks have you made to your diet? Reading your comments looks like Intermittent Fasting and Keto. Either way, can’t argue with the results.

The Sheep: Still cranking out the lengths despite feeling under the weather. Nothing like a bit of groundwork for some bonus exercise!

SulkySaluki: Welcome back to FitClub! Strong first post with some good goals and identifying weaknesses. We’re not a million miles apart so I’ll be watching what you get up to. Do you find cycling carries over to Alpine Slope Bashing? I’ve always chucked the rack in a bag and done laps of hills but sorting my bike out seems logistically easier as I don’t live near many big hills.

JCK: I feel you with life getting in the way. Keep posting to keep the habit going and get back on the wagon as soon as you can.

Planet Marshal: Well done on the new grade! I found 6b+ a bit of a gateway as 6c+ soon followed. Hopefully you find the same.

Have a good week!

Thanks, if I’m there I’ll do it but I’ll not make a special visit. Still struggling for partners so I’m not sure how much climbing I’ll get done this year, if anyone fancies coming over I can put people up here (the house is now comfortably warm and we fixed the shower issue which was causing me a lot of stress).

M&T: Nothing

W: PyB 6000 points so a good session

T: Nothing, had to turn down a return visit to Tram Station crag with Tom due to parents visiting.

F: Went up Yr Wyddfa via Crib Goch decsebded into Nant Péris from Llechog in case I ever want to do the Welsh 3000, great way to do it apart from a shitty few hundred meters  

S: Thought I’d fill and paint the window ledges in the front bedrooms, unfortunately, by the time I’d scraped away the wet rot there was nothing left to fill! Another expensive job to be done. Tragically went to PyB wall, really enjoyed it and managed two off my project list, 4000 points, short session and felt pretty strong.
S: Just returned from a run following most of the Snowdonia half route. My app said 815 meter of ascent compared to the official 647m, didn’t run around Llyn Crafnant so only did 17.98km in 2:05 which would put me on track for 2:30 if it weren’t for the fact I was barley able to run by the ends and there was not another 3km in my legs. 
No weight lost which is the only place I see the extra 3km coming from, drastic measures needed…

Cheers Liam and happy Easter to you to! I injured it the last week of December so about 15 weeks for full recovery - definitely feeling weaker as a result! I'm definitely crimping less and trying to improve my 3 finger drag strength as much as possible, but crimping is a hard habit to break. I've got a few routes in mind, particularly as I'm off to Pembroke in 2 weeks and Lewis & Harris at the end of May, with most of the routes being fairly long so good fitness is key. The immediate goals I've got for those trips are Bloody Sunday (E4 6a), Star Wars (E4 5c), Air Space Factor (E2 5b), The Prozac Link (E4 5c), Neptune (E3 5c) and Star of the Sea (E1 5b). 

The more long term goal, having walked past the bottom of it last year and being blown away is to redpoint Statement of Youth (8a). I've only sport climbed 7b and the longest I've spent redpointing a route is 2 hours so I think I'm a fair way off ticking this!

Now that I';ve been given the all clear to start training again, I've embarked on another periodised training plan, with 

Quite a good week all things considered:
 

M - Rest day.

T - 1 minute on 1 minute off on the circuit board x 10 (6c; 7a; 6c; 7a; 6c; 7a; 6c; 6c; 6c; 6c) followed by some strength and conditioning (5x5 Weighted Pull Ups (+8kg); 30x4 Bicycle Crunches; 10x4 dips; 10x3 Windscreen Wipers; 10x4 Lat Pulldown; 30x4 Russian Twists; 10x3 Hanging Leg Raises; 10x4 Seated Row; 10x4 Push Ups).

W - 4 x 4 lead routes

T - Rest day. 

F - Short of a partner so took the static rope to Lawrencefield and had a few goes on Pool Wall (E5 6b). Worked the route 3 times and got the gear and moves fairly sussed. Given the hot weather I may well wait until a cool spell returns  to lead it. 

S - Rest day, spent most of the day sunbathing in Bar San Juan with a glass of Sangria.

S - Went for an easy morning walk with the folks up to White Nancy. Managed to squeeze in a quick afternoon ride, with 45k in zone 3 across out to Bollington and back.

Plan for next week:

M - 1 on 1 off circuits plus Strength and Conditioning.

T - Easy indoor route climbing with a friend. 

W - Routes endurance session. 

T - Rest day.

F - Aero 4 circuits. 

S - Rest day.

S - A day on the grit for a Turn Up & Tie On day for my climbing club. 

Happy Easter! Thoughts on Beastmaking to follow: meanwhile, what I've been up to:

STG: Need to start thinking about climbing plans/targets. 
MTG: 1H 2022: onsight 6c+
MTG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    
T:    
W:    Beastmaking
T:    Half an hour jog in the woods
F:  Good Friday. Plan was to ski today, but my son wasn't feeling well so we opted for a leisurely tourist drive to the mountains with stops for coffee & castles en route.
S:    Skiing, Kaunertal
S:    Skiing, Kaunertal

I was in two minds about whether to spend Easter weekend winding up the ski season or kicking off the climbing season. Kaunertal is scenically the most beautiful ski area I know, and there's still some very good snow above 2000 metres, so happy with my decision. But now that's the ski season definitely wrapped up. Time to think about some climbing goals. Or just simply going climbing for a start.

Thanks again Liam,

Still another week of no training as such, and I'm away next week so none coming up either.  I am seeing where things take me at the moment.  This week has just been simple "climb hard" and I intend to do a bit more of that, and see what I find I need in terms of any specific training.

The goal is still to get that 8a found and done this year along with being able to do most average 7c's in a day.

M - Putting the Rad back in Trad!  E1,E3 6a, VS, E2 5c, E1 

T - Indoor Ropes.  Low volume but hard, only tied in 3 times.  7b on-sight, 7c worked, same 7c RP attempt and managed 2/3 of it.

W - TRS had a quick hour to play on a 7b+ I have TR before, but with a new bouldery finish.

T - TRS Red Snapper and Chips (7c) Only went up it twice, first was to learn the hold locations as it was completely clean of chalk.  Second go I got the beta and did all the moves, but only managed crux "dyno" once as would need big rest to do a move like that again.  No time or skin left to do the full route from the ground, but happy that if I had more time (and a partner) then this could possibly have gone in a day.

Sounds like you need to get into Redpointing   If you can do it that quickly then your probably not on something hard enough.  Go up a grade or 2, you might surprise yourself. 

It always feels impossible the first go up, but so long as you can start linking moves on the next go then your progressing, so stick with it.

Useful advice - ‘always feels impossible the first go up’.  I am going to have a go at this!

Indeed. I love that first day transition from "this is ridiculous" to "this is feasible with a bit of work".

Cheers Liam, I think it will be a few more weeks until I’m back on the wagon.. This week a bout of back pain stopped me from doing anything fancy. Had big plans for the weekend as a friend was visiting, but they didn’t happen. 

Sat: Went up Ben Vane summit (summit).

Sun: A bit of easy climbing at  Benny Beg. Really enjoyed climbing in the sun again!

Have a good week all!

Certainly looks that way. In the past I've always had a very ground up or onsight approach to climbing which no doubt has limited my climbing

Well I like the sound of that. I started working boulders a lot more this winter so I'd be interested to see what can be achieved with plenty of time on a route. My thinking is if I can hold positions, at some point I'll be strong enough to move between holds. 

Hi Liam, thanks again for the excellent stats work.

Mon. Headed to Sella for some on sighting. Didnt spend ages there as my mother in law had the kids. Also had to lead whatever Mrs. Swede wanted to climb so she could have a top rope so a mix of 4s and 5s with a few other bits too. Highlights were onsights of La cosa (7a) and A golpe de pecho (7a+). 0.5km swim later on. 

Tues. I ran down to  Cala Ximo with the intention of checking out the short DWS routes. When I got there the sea was hitting the approach traverse, the rock was really smeggy, 7m looked a lot higher than I imagined and I wasn't convinced I'd be able to get out the rough sea easily so I, quite literally, ran away! 8km run in total. 0.5km swim later on. 

Wed. 10km run with Mrs Swede. Very hilly but steady pace. 0.5km swim. 

Thurs. 10km walk with the kids, hills.

Fri. Back to Sella. Similar day to Monday. Highlights were an onsight of the brilliant (but really soft) La Picadura (7a) and a 2nd go ground up of Mandolin Wind (7a+) after a complete omnishambles first go. I managed to get wrong handed on the boulder problem start, have a bit of a panic that I was going to hit the deck from the 2nd bolt when I Zclipped it by accident then got really pumped trying to sort it all out. Fine 2nd go.

Sat. Travel day.

Sun. 18km on the bike with the kids, very steady pace then a lamp session at Anston. It's my second session on Dangerous Action Man Wrestling. It's only really 2 hard moves. I managed the first last session and the 2nd this session but never managed to link them. Feels hard!

Hi everyone. Thanks for the stats, Liam.

OK-ish week. Feel like I need to regain motivation and discipline with the training side of things. I had a pretty good twelve week cycle, but the new cycle hasn't got off to a great start. Partly because of life being busy, partly due to getting out more, but probably partly due to lack of organisation too. Going to go back to scheduling sessions for the week to try and improve this.

Week 15:

M: Nowt -long work day.

T: Nowt -the day got away from me.

W: Had been up all night with food poisoning -spent the day feeling absolutely ruined.

T: Bouldering at Harmers Wood. Good session, but no cigar... didn't have the coordination to accurately slot in to a pocket at the top of the dead point, despite hitting the pocket a million times.

F: Trail run. 12.3km, 535m vert, 7:20/km. Fasted -something I plan on converting to, even though I absolutely hate it! Felt fine for the first 10km, but predictably awful towards the end, particularly on the uphills... confirmed by slower time/km than usual.

S: Climbing at Windgather(!) -this was an ill-conceived 'double bluff' where I thought "no one will climb at the busiest craglet in the Peak on a bank holiday weekend... they'll all be off for more exotic adventures" -turns out it was still fairly busy! Soloed 46 routes, up to VS. (This was a recce for trying to tick the crag in a day... I wanted to see how long it takes to do all the soloable routes: it took 4 hours taking it steady, which leaves loads of time to do the last dozen routes).

S: Hill walk (weighted). 38km, 970m vert, 15kg bag. 8 hours. Trying to get the legs back in to shape and realise that running isn't that specific to being able to carry a big bag up hill all day, so going to add more days like this in to my training over the next few months.

Week 16:

M: FB, strength, core, prehab.

T: Leg rehab, prehab, short run.

W: Climbing.

T: Leg rehab, prehab.

F: Climbing.

S: Long run.

S: FB, strength, core, prehab.

STG -end June:

Arc en ciel.

Ultra distance hill run. 

Eight of my big mountain day list (at least two on consecutive days). (0/8)

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees).

MTG -end Sept:

Two big alpine routes.

2022 Arbitrary training goals:

Roll over of last year's running targets: 35km vert and 1000km.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg.

Max Hangs: 95kg.

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg.

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink)

ALL of my local must-do list: 0/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 0/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 0/8

Start properly getting to know: Brimham 2/3, Almscliff 0/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 2/3.

(For lists see FitClub 772)

Late summer/autumn alpine trip.

Thanks for the statting again Liam.  Impressive completing all this on a phone!

Diet tweaks - basically gone for keto-ish, though I don't bother with measuring proportions of fat, protein and carbs like a true keto ninja might.  I have just eliminated all processed carbs and cut down on the starchy natural ones like potatoes.  These are now weekend only.  Alongside that and to ensure ketosis, I've moved to a daily 16/8 pattern - again, we are not hyperstrict with this as we allow tea and coffee with milk outside of the eating window and again weekends are impacted by our partying lifestyle.  Apparently, wine and beer include carbohydrates - who knew?  The tweaks have been remarkably easy and occasionally with work and travel I've gone 24 hours fasting without noticing.

A strange week with training, messed up a bit by weather being mixed, work and a wedding on Thursday, so only managed one session of reintroducing myself to the fingerboard.  It probably works for the time being to go easy anyway, but I am aiming to be back to a more scheduled approach by the month end and then to keep it going through the season.  I also need to get back to running - my excuse here is that my running partner has twisted her ankle and I am not that keen on running by myself, so it is now a fortnight since I ran anywhere as well.

A disgraceful effort really, but things like the car being smashed in a hit and run, having to organise the courtesy car for work travel and the my phone packing up has all introduced bothersome admin!

Hoping to get out with SSB on Tuesday and someone else on Thursday.  Over to Gogarth on my days off next week.

Re Beastmaking

I confess I have't read all the way through yet, still dipping into bits & pieces. It's certainly a very different perspective to other training books, which has to be a plus.

What's impressed me so far are Ned's thoughts in hand morphology, how relative finger lengths influence preferred grip styles. And for me as a natural & lifelong open hander, the importance of learning to crimp. What I'm actually doing at the moment (but haven't been mentioning in my log on here) is a "greasing the groove" approach doing a few moderate weight crimp sets daily.

Haven't looked at the long max hangs section yet, will definitely do so soon since you recommend it.

Got a severe cold, due to constant change between overclimatized hotel and office rooms and 37° outside temperature. I will never understand why they cool down the rooms so much in these hot countries in the first place and how my indian colleagues can wear just a T-Shirt being fine, while i am shivering despite wearing a shirt and jacket . The best part is whenever they come to the europe in the winter, they wear a sweat shirt and a coat inside and still seem to be cold although our room temperature is at least 5° warmer than in india

Anyway, at least Covid test was negative and i got back to germany on friday and could recover a little bit since then. Nevertheless, i will probably still need 2-3 more days before i can  start with some light training sessions again. 

Thanks for the stats Liam.

I tested negative on day 12 (sunday week 14) and started to feel a little more human soon after that. However, my favourite little germ factory has been at it again and i've caught another cold

Week 15

M – Cracking headache and lacking energy. Gentle afternoon walk. Later, wrist (p)rehab; 3x30s reverse holds with 8kg (my L wrist always feels cranky after time away).

T – 5x5 axle DL @80% ~100kg. Another round of wrist (p)rehab.

W – Butt DOMS! A few push-ups

T – 40min board session.

F – Woke with a sore throat. Germ factory at it again.

S – Finally bought a new car.

S – Nothing.

Cheers Liam. A brief report of two weeks together:

Previous week - mostly just rested ahead of my Font trip, but did a short board session on Wednesday evening. Travelled to Font Friday/Saturday.

This last week (Sunday through Saturday in Font with AJM, another old climbing friend and our families) - I climbed on 5 out of 7 days and we had great holiday weather so it was basically dry but hot all week (the one damp day, Wednesday, we just had a rest day.) I basically just did lots of circuit problems - mostly reds with a few blues and blacks. The hardest thing I did was 6C. I did spend an hour working one 7A but it had a move I didn't manage, so I moved on. In my current state of fitness and the hot weather, it seemed like 7A was going to take a lot of effort. This was the first Font trip I haven't spent most of my time working harder problems so it was a different experience for me, but I just enjoyed climbing with friends and taking the kids to the forest (the 4yo and friends loved being out there.) Since I haven't been able to get much done recently, it felt good just to do a lot of climbing. We got home an hour ago.

I think I'm going to take a break from FitClub for a while. I'm enjoying climbing at the moment but my level has dropped quite a bit and I don't feel like it's worth putting in the effort to train in a structured way and record it (significant, given current family constraints) until I feel able to try to regain my previous level and get out regularly again. I feel like I'm more inclined at the moment to just go and climb in an unstructured way when I have an opportunity, until such point that (1) I can get outside regularly and (2) feel like I have the general energy levels around childcare to lose the weight belt I've put on during the pandemic (the first essential step in regaining my previous level.) Then I expect I'll be more motivated to train and might start posting again. I have no idea when this might be though. I'll keep reading occasionally in the meantime to see how people are getting on!

Si

A shame to see you go, but understandable given the circumstances. Climbing is meant to be fun, after all!

Hey Liam, yeah it was far from ideal!

Si has already given some of the low down, but yeah, we were blessed with good weather most of the time, too hot for hard bouldering I think but very nice for the family. The various children formed a semi-feral pack and spent the whole holiday grubbing in the sand, climbing up boulders and leaping from the tops of them. My wife did a bit of climbing and relaxing and we saw a lot of people we knew, by accident, fortunate coincidence or semi-arrangement.

I have to confess I have a bit of a difficult relationship with warm weather trips to Font - it isn't my natural style and combined with idiosyncratic grading at times I find it a bit difficult to find things to focus on because it's so hard to know what's in the "hard but possible" camp. And sometimes on the easy stuff I find it hard to find flow, if it's a bit antistyle for me and the conditions, and I don't like it always feeling messy so that tends to frustrate me a bit. My best trip to Font in terms of achievement was a year when it wasn't too hot and I focused on harder things, and I do wonder if perhaps I should focus on that in future and aim for earlier in the year. In the end I did have some good days of easier mileage at the end but it took me a little while to get into it.

Regardless, nice weather, good company, nice surroundings and good pastry so an excellent holiday even without any climbing!

On the ferry home now. Not sure plans for next week but I really need to sort out what's wrong with my right leg at some point as I still can't heel hook hard on it at all.

Evening all, good statting Liam.

Cheers, I'm still buzzing a bit now truth be told!

This weekend I've been in the county so not in the area, but unfortunately it faces north and is a bit seepy so can take a few days to dry out. It's also about an hour from home, so I'm less likely to risk a whole evening for it.

A good week from me, good weekend in Northumberland with plenty of punting going on. Left arm feels a bit weaker than usual when locking off but there's no pain, hopefully it sorts itself out.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Gym. Left pec was quite sore and tired, presumably a result of a very squeezy Saturday. Set a 14-move AnCap training problem which turned out to be about a grade too easy, but still worked the right energy system.

W - Rest.

T - Rest.

F - Shaftoe Crags. Good day, managed The Neb Roof (f6C) pretty quick. Got spanked on Real Slim Shady (f7A+), could do all the moves but linking was hard work. Finished off with an ascent of Viagra Plus Sit Start (f7B), whatever the grade may be.

S - Back Bowden Doors. Had a pretty restful morning wandering, then got on Severus Snape (f7B+). Can still do it in overlapping halves but unable to fully link. Going all-out yesterday was not a good tactic! Then had an explore of Kyloe-in-the-woods (Kyloe-In) without any intention of climbing.

S - Simonside. Was coaxed into seconding a neat HVS, then went off bouldering. Did La Proue (f7A) which was great fun, really enjoyed that. Then almost flashed Dulcinea (f7A+), falling a few moves from glory. Within a few goes I was able to get to the top jug, but adjusted and scrittled off. Did that again once more before I was unable to reach the same high point despite this, amazing venue, wicked views, great atmosphere. Absolute mission to walk in fully-loaded.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Got a day off, might nip to Wales?

W - Rest.

T - Rest.

F - Gym, unless The Ramp Up (f7B+) is dry.

S, S - Rest.

Goals:

Rehab finger.

The Ramp Up.

Good luck in your 'just go climbing' venture. I've found that by picking the right problem/route outdoors you can still manage to keep some form of training schedule e.g. light trad when you want an aerocap session or short hard bouldering for strength or power depending on the problem. Enjoy!

Thanks Liam!

Yes and no. On the one hand, when I've been fit on the bike (with very few walking miles) I've definitely also felt fit walking uphill. But on the only really alpine type days I've done (Dubh Ridge from Glenbrittle) I really felt it in the legs and feet - and the DOMS was horrendous. If you're also keeping up a minimal amount of of walking uphill to keep your legs conditioned I'd imagine cycling fitness would transfer across pretty well.

Speaking of which, back from Kalymnos this week and somewhat randomly I seem to have come back with quite a bit of psych for running. I've done a small amount but never really stuck with it in the past (generally find cycling more fun) but I now find the dog makes getting out on long rides really tricky and I've struggled to stick with the motivation - living in london zone 2 means bike rides are either pretty urban (eg early morning Regents Park laps) or getting outside the M25 which commits you to like 3 hours minimum to make the slog through outer london worthwhile. Anyway running is something that I can in principle do with the dog, and the efficiency benefit of being able to look after both our exercise needs at the same time is definitely worth a bit of effort to making it work. I have the sort of brain where a small amount of gamification works wonders for my motivation, and Zombies, Run! seems to tick the box for now. I've not yet got the bike out since getting back but you can't do everything.

M - Kalymnos last day - the only really cold day of the trip, ended up freezing our asses off at Sea Breeze (the clue is in the name I guess) did one route and then sacked it - felt pretty done after 2 weeks and happy to call the trip there. Took an afternoon walk up to the main crag to scout new sectors and generally get some psych for a repeat visit.

T - Travelling home from Kaly

W - Run with dog, 5.9km 7:04/km dog enthusiasm 3/10

T - AM Stronghold boulder - just casual bouldering but going ok for straight after an outdoor trip (managing a few of the white V4/5 circuit in a couple of goes) motivation really good. PM run with dog? more like slow walk with dog

F - rest day,  lots of slow walking and sitting on a boat in the sun

S - AM Stronghold boulder - more casual bouldering, more white circuit, brief training session (Deadlifts 5x5 25-40kg mostly reminding myself of the moment pattern, fingerboard deadhangs 8x1 7s). PM Run solo, 6km averaging 4:57/km over first 5k

S - rest, slow dog walks only

M - AM Epping Forest 5 mile hike with dog, PM run solo, 6.5k ~5:30-5:45/km

Accountability - goal was of 2-3 climbs, 2-3 bike, did 2 climbs, 4 runs, I'm going to count decent runs (either solo or with dog where the dog is actually in the mood to run as opposed to 80% sniffing things/slow walking/eating grass/staring at squirrels). Next week - 2 climbs, 2 conditioning, 2 bike or run

A Keep-It-Simple-Stupid conditioning workout is taking shape in my brain, I'm thinking like 3 basic weights exercises to stimulate as much muscle mass as possible, I'm thinking like a deadlift, a squat and maybe an overhead press, plus maybe a turkish get-up as they are just really satisfying to do. Then pull ups and a minimal set of fingerboard deadhangs to make it climbing specific.

A bit late to the party this week, only just back at work. if i can remember that far back the week went as follows;

Monday, 1km swim,

Tuesday 1km swim

Wednesday 1km swim and 6k evening run. Felt rubbish and was really slow

Thursday, knocked off work for Easter so no more swimming, did get a good 10k trail run in.

Rest of the time spent in the garden, putting in fences, laying flags, repairing guttering. All fun and games but boy did i ache 

Thanks Liam. Top statting! Much appreciated. I'm 5ft 8in (173cm?). 71kg is pretty close to (what used to be) my fighting weight for redpointing a good few years ago, but I seem to be maintaining it now quite easily.

M - Circuits at Kendal wall. Previously did 1:1 on the 6a circuit and managed 3 reps before failing - this was over Winter. So I started with 1:2 and did five sets. That wasn't doing much so went straight into 1:1 and did five sets. Stopped due to lack of time. That felt good.

T Circuits at BUK - wanted to work the shorter stuff so got on the small board at 6c+. Turns out it's quite long at 20 moves. Again i went in a bit easy at 2:1 and changed to 1:1 after 5 sets and did a further five sets. That was hard work.

W Bouldering session - rubbish. Very fatigued and tweaky from last week and two days of circuits. Failed on a lot of V6's and even a V5. Stopped early.

T Rest - i may have gone for a run?

F Gimmer - did the wet traverse pitch of Kipling Groove (HVS 5a) and then led Intern (E1 5b). One of the best routes I've ever done. Get on it if you haven't been on it. It all felt very steady and enjoyable. Just what I needed. Gear selection was good ( I took mine so we had two racks, but I can use mine much better) and I enjoyed every bit of it. It was a cold day with the wind though so we bailed after that.

S Rest

S Avoiding crowds at  Moughton Nab Fell off Avalon (6c) doing it the very hard way. I think I accidentally created Avalon direct.

A Power Of Good (7b) ripped me a massive flapper 3rd go trying the very hard dynamic start. Left it.

Tried Bucket Symphony (7a), which now has no bucket and is very hard and unpleasant.

Space Monkey (7a+) does indeed have a V5 start. I pieced it altogether bolt to bolt but didn't have a burn after i got spooked by a flake of death it looked like I needed to use. It turns out it's sika'd in. 

Lazarus (7b) was a bit damp down low. Pulled past that and did the rest. Terrified at the top when I noticed the block I was resting on was detached. In fairness this is the first thing is says on UKC about the route, but I hadn't read that.

I'm not sure why you go to the bother of bolting and manufacturing these routes but mak the holds you use razor sharp?

It was quiet though! A fair bit of trying hard, but no ticks. I feel that may be the way ahead for sport this year. But it's all about the trad so that's fine......

It really highlighted my weakness on the steep stuff. I can do steep and juggy, as I can stay straight armed. But steep UK limestone (and bouldering) is where my gains are next year.

This week will be climbingless I think. Busy work week due to BH and then it's the LakesFest. I doubt i'll get to climb as we'll be sorting stuff out. But I'm totally psyched for lots of trad and have sorted out Tuesdays off as well over Summer to make the most of it.

1:1 on the circuits, is that 1 minute on, 1 minute off? And then 3 reps or so per set?

I've had Intern on my list for years, so a good reminder.  Even better, I've been to Mougton Nab once - did loads, but always planned to go back for Bucket Symphony.  I think you've saved me a trip!

I remember finding Intern scary & desperate, at a time when I was a solid E1/2 trad leader. Just the kind of slopy shuffly climbing for which training on the vertical crimpy climbing walls of those days was completely useless.

'Slopy shuffly' - my anti-style!  However, supposed to train our weaknesses aren't we?

Climbing time:rest time 

Roughly anyway. I try to make circuits to be the same pace as I’d climb a red point at  and to not speed up to get round before failing. As it happens both circuits this week were about 1 minute long. Just re read my post and I got my ratio the wrong way round at BUK. That should also have been 1:2 to start with.

Without the bucket it’s not much of a route as it was all about that move.

We may well go back as there are some more trad relevant 7a+/b vertical (but short) routes on the left side that look quite good.

Intern was amazing. Get on it! 

It’s all a bit 3D at the bottom isn’t it?

Did you do it in one big pitch? That made it for me as there is a crux on the second pitch too and then the romp up the arête, 

Yes - I quite enjoyed Mougton Nab and still have stuff to do.  I'm sure it is still worth another visit.  Can always mess with the Mougton Mauler!

I've a week in the Lakes in May - Borrowdale based but might get round to Langdale one day to meet Duncan.  So much to do!

Lastly, I am usually available Tuesdays if you are short a partner and trad is where my heart lies 😀

Don't know, it was a long time ago and I no longer possess a Lakes guidebook. We did it as a linkup with KG, and I know I led the ramp on Intern and the 4c leftward traverse on KG. 

And Spring Bank in the afternoon. A good day.

Cheers, might give that a try next time. Bit more structured than just doing endurance circuits with however many minutes of rest I feel are appropriate.

Well we'll see - I'm doing more in the war of endurance training at the moment so won't be doing as much hard bouldering.

Last week - 

Like many others I was suffering from cold at the beginning of the week but managed to get out a couple of times.

Friday

Flat Wall Traverse (f6A) at Stanage. Attempting to slow it right down to get more of a training effect, I'm hoping to be able to do laps on this before the Lewis trip.

Saturday

Local trail run. 10.5km/400m

Sunday

Triangle Traverse (f6A+) at Burbage North. Another similar traverse line, more fingery but less steep. Aim to do laps in two sections.

Next week

• 2 trad leads at E1 or above. At least 1 at E2
• 20km trail running
• 2 AeroPow-style workouts. Seems a waste to go indoors so maybe some more boulder traverses, though should try and find some route laps to do. Maybe some Peak Lime sport.
• 1 Strength and Conditioning workout

That’s a great day! 
 

I had springbank in mind but was too cold 

Tuesdays are duly noted! I’ll be in touch.

I did Springbank last year (about 35 years since my previous ascent).  It was really good, with a tough section through the overlap.  Quite tiring getting the gear in, but it is bomber.