UKC

Afternoon all! 

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_week_606-69495...

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

Posters:

AlanLittle - We loved the underclings but you do need to get in there early! YOu are certainly filling your days, got on anything at 7a thats over 30m yet?

Bones - “Toprope slabs up to 7b” 7b slabs?! Blimey, too rich for me!

Jamming Dodger - I imagine sea kayaking in Scotland will be pretty incredible, here’s hoping you can get fit enough to thoroughly enjoy it.

The Sheep - That 5.28 sprint sounds incredible, well done! How much work will it take to get another 27 seconds off?

Tyler - I should have known, I have vinyl flooring in my dining room , it’s fantastic, laid the entire floor with a kneeling pad and a stanley knife…

AJM - Your attitude to climbing styles is spot on, I wish I could look at anti-style routes with as much enthusiasm!

Ardo - What does “1 sport route, 9 lead routes” mean?

Biscuit - 666 goal suggestion - 6xV6 slabs, 6xV6 vert 6xV6 slopers?

Somerset swede basher - That circuit session sounds epic, sounds like you are climbing well?

Ally Smith - Good pinky news! Those max hangs sound really good too, combined with your bodyweight that’s some serious finger strength on your ‘weak’ grip type!

Lornajkelly - Welcome! Increasing your power to weight ratio is one of the fastest ways to make improvements, you’ll be dancing up 6b before you know it!

Planetmarshall - Good looking week, when do you head to Ama Dablam?

Hms - Your Spanish trip is going to feel like you just took off a weight belt! Sounded like an awesome holiday.

Dandan - Knucklewatch has been stepped down to “Don’t be a d***head and it will be fine”

Powderpuff - I hope this week has been going better than the last one!

Tom Green - That’s some serious lurgy, don’t go spreading it around the FitClub…

Guy127917 - Climb/fingerboard 6 times is quite a significant goal, how did you do this week?

Mattrm - What did your HIIT session consist of?

Liamhutch89 - Really impressive numbers, I think Ally is right in suggesting some considered rest periods.

Alexm198 - Have any Scottish routes come into condition yet? I know very little about winter climbing but I guess you have to take your weather windows when you can?

Rebecca Ting - Congrats on the house offer, always a stressful process. What is the path of the gods? A walk? Via ferrata?

Fit Club 666 goals:

AJM - Mark of the Beast (or Blue Planet/Privateer); E5 (or equivalent); sport onsight/“quick tick” & some from Colors/Tennessee/Paradise Lost/Bird of Paradise/Return of the Gunfighter

Ally Smith - Devils Gorge newbies; Rock Atrocity; press a sport climber; 8c+

Tom Green - Satanic Verses

Dandan82 - Horny Lil' Devil/Mark of the Beast/Camino a la Perdicion; +66kg weighted pullup - +60kg; 666 one-arm pullups - 4/666; 666 ‘good’ handstands 16/666 ; 66 routes at 7a and above including 6 routes at 7c+ and above - 2/66 0/6.

alexm198 - Versant Sataniques, 1938 route

Tom Green - 666m of arete on lancashire grit

Tyler - 66 yoga sessions; 66 routes at 7a and above, 6 routes at 7c and above

Bones - A front lever

Rebecca Ting - Fiesta de los Biceps (7a); Riding to Babylon (7a+); Stanage VS challenge

Erk! Me too. I had a look at a 7b granite slab in Ötztal once. Couldn't even begin to see how it might be possible to climb it.

Just a quickie before I go out for dinner.

Monday: resting from Sunday’s run. So I told myself.

tues/ wed 26 miles each day to work

Thursday: van was in garage in afternoon. So driveto work and ummm did nowt.

Friday: Ate a lot.

Saturday: nowt.

Sunday: 12 mile run. Was meant to be a half marathon, but partner was feeling a bit creaky and to be honest I was a bit pooped as well. But I reckon 12 miles with 1500ft of ascent isn’t too shabby. 

Never done sea kayaking before, so it will definitely have to be calm. If I’m being totally honest though I just don’t want to look fat in my wetsuit.

Seen some pics though and it does look absolutely beautiful. The scenery, not me in a wetsuit.

 Always good to try new stuff. Should be my new motto. But then I’d have to get a new motto every week and that sounds tiresome.

Have a good week.

Off for some fud. I’m starving.

Thanks Dan. Quite a quick update as this was always going to be a very light week.

Weds - TCA, as ever got cross at the setting

Sat - thoroughly enjoyable routes session at Redpoint. The route flowed, which the recent UCR ones do not. 7a flash x 2, 7a+ in a couple of goes, tried another 7a but it was a lot more fiddly and it was too late in the session by then.

And that was it apart from cycle commuting, some gardening (chopping down a tree) and urban walking.  

I didn't quite make the 6 days (5/7), but I haven't climbed three days in a row consistently for quite a while, it feels really good to be back indoors consistently with things to work on. Bit of a spanner in the works coming though- I have sorted a new job out, starting in December, and am going to Thailand for the next couple of weeks (to dive not climb) and probably surfing after that. It will reverse some of my recent strength and fitness gains, but it's the last chance I will have for a while so hey ho.

The upside is that I can start planning what I want to get out of next year now- I only have 5 weeks of holiday to play with, and doing a proper 5 day week again so I will definitely be restricted compared to previously. I don't think I'm going to be able to pursue every discipline in 2019, not sure what will give yet though (sport/alpine/trad/running etc). I'm looking forward to getting into a proper training routine again.

Monday: Run, bouldering the new set in the loft

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Run, bouldering on the wave, hard work. Found a cool v8 to project- really hard but most of the moves seem plausible with work.

Thursday: Lead routes, found a plausible 7b+ to work on

Friday: Run, Bouldering mainly in the mez, finished a few v5's I started, worked more on v8 project.

Saturday: Short run

Sunday: Lead routes, got further on project 7b+, actually did some lead fall practice, sent the wideboyz crack on top rope

Cheers for the stats Dan.

As usual in the run up to a holiday work prevented much else happening M-F though I did attempt 3 sets of FoC and was short by less than a minute in total which is a new PB.

S - Up at 3:30 for an early flight to Spain. Fell off a 6b+ which I think is a new low but I bet if you look at past entries I've probably said that many times! Then dogged up a 7a which. Ankle was in absolute agony at every left foot rock over, disappointed.

S: Warmed up on Lo romanof (6b+) more left foot rock overs meant more screaming than Ondra which is getting a bit embarrassing. Was pleased to have a reasonable flash go on Tikis Mikis (7a) as it's not my style and pretty run out. Got it second go by skin off my teeth. Battered and in pain I was happy to spend the rest of the day chilling in the sun. 

Will probably have to do more resting and less climbing than I anticipated as my ankle is worse than hoped. 

STG (October): Kalymnos: succeed on some steep endurance routes. 
MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

M: Telendos: Lambda. After a successful rest day - thumb & hamstring largely working again - sailed to Telendos to successfully apply the New Rules on 2 x 40 metre 6c, Progressive Rock Part 2 (6c) onsight and Gerwitscht (6c+) (not 6c+) flash after belaying my partner. Particularly pleased with the onsight: easy most of the way but the crux was right at the top, above the last bolt and I kept it together.

T: Telendos: back to our new favourite crag. I wanted to have a go on Eruption (7a), but by the time we had warmed up and my partner had ticked his project the sun was coming onto it and the holds at the start felt soapy & horrible. Bailed, scurried into the shade at Irox. Where, strictly against the New Rules, I indulged in a spot of gently overhanging grey tic-tac crimping on Hollenfieber (7a+). Second go redpoint. Definite Kaly holiday grade, but still nice to wind up the trip with a success & a reminder that there is style I *can* climb.

W: Travel home
T: Chilling. Would have quite liked to get some moderate movement/mileage in on wall routes, but couldn't whistle up a partner at short notice. Bouldering seemed too much like hard work. Did a small amount of forearm antagonist work, and some one-legged deadlifts to start rehabbing last week's strained hamstring.
F: More chilling.
S: Another small amount of forearm antagonist work & one-legged deadlifts
S: So, a few days rest then on to the most basic aspect of any climbing endurance programme: getting stronger so the moves are easier. Boulderwelt with my son, and I think for once I may have found a limit project at the right level - didn't do the moves in a couple of goes, but they don't feel completely inconceivable either.

Somewhat disappointed with my performance on Kalymnos, but I did at least start venturing onto the steeper pumpy terrain that I find so intimidating, and learned some lessons about what I need to improve on. I'll be back.

I can’t claim it’s a permanent state of affairs, don’t worry!

A not very restful rest week this week with a jet lagged toddler and a wedding in Derby so a lot of weekend driving.

I put out feelers on the next set of trips and got some pleasantly positive interest so hopefully turn that into more concrete plans soon. Need to sort out ideas for the winter training plan this week too ideally.

STG - 14st

MTG - Goblin Girl (6b) 6c at Navigation, then WFD

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

Weight - 14st 4lbs (1lb loss)

M - 13 routes at the Rec

T - Rest

W - HiiT session

T - S - Rest

S - HiiT session

Got a 6a and 6a+ at the wall, which was pretty nice.  The 'HiiT' is based off Dave Mac's video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-diYuavVqzE&t=4s . However it's not that, as I tried something similar and it hurt.  So I'm basically doing a bit of core, some push ups and some dead hangs, just to get back into the routine of training a bit.  I'm hoping to setup TRX and a nice finger board at the new house somewhere. 

My vague idea for a 666 goal is, 6a lead, 6b lead, 6c lead.  Should be doable.  If not that, the same thing but bouldering.

Thanks Dan. Yeah it was pretty good, lost my psych for the tor at the moment and enjoying being motivated for a bit of training. Not that I've done much climbing specific stuff this week though. 

Mon. Cratcliff, some easy stuff to warm up then didn't climb jerrys traverse but managed in 2 overlapping sections. 12km hilly and fast trail run in the eve by headtorch 

Tues. Rest

Wed. Back to Cratcliff, also didn't climb jerrys traverse! Good fun trying though. 12km slow and flat trail run with family. 

Thurs and Fri. Rest and the long drive from Sheffield to Somerset.

Sat. 42km fast on the road bike

Sun. 18km super steady on the mtb but on the road (Mrs Swede Basher wanted to ride the carbon stallion so I got relegated to the steel steed). Drive north for hours in the traffic. 

Cheers Dan. In lieu of anything else i'll take that goal. It's pretty bang on for what i'm aiming at atm. Thanks! I'm going to put them down as BUK V6's. If I go for Depot or other places I climb i'll get them done fairly quickly. At BUK however...…

Not a great week as I've been fighting off the lurgy. It never got to the point where I felt actually ill enough to moan but i dropped exercise as I can't afford to get ill on placement.

I got my ski lesson in and did OK. Need to keep going back and progress from there. Get to Scotland asap and get amongst the big hills rather than indoor 'snow'.

I only climbed once. WInter league at BUK. Reasonable volume of lower grades done and then some hard pulling and failing for a while. There's some I left and some that will go next time as I wasn't feeling on top form.

No biking due to tired legs from 6 hrs of skiing and not wanting to get cold/wet/tired.

Diet went out of the window with some HUGE sugar cravings. The first sign the lurgy is lurking for me. Choccy bars, cans of coke, original lucozade (which used to be an actual medicine you could only buy from the chemist so it's fine when you're poorly) most of the trick or treat stash and anything anyone left lying around all got snaffled. Back on it by the weekend though and seem to have got back to good habits.

My back is still improving - 4 hrs of driving today and no pain really - and I got leg physio done 2ce.

I've had a very convenient placement these past 4 weeks and have had time to climb and have a bit of a life. It's felt very good and i'd like more of it. I've got one week left and then into another. So i'm aiming to keep on with biking, skiing, climbing over the next few weeks. But it's going to depend on how intense it is as a placement. Fingers crossed.

Skiing has to take priority until end of Easter as well as fixing my achy bits. Climbing is going to be strength based down the wall without forgetting aero work. The 666 goal should help with that focus. 

This week:

Leg physio x 7

Back physio x7

Ski - 2 hr session during the week and possibly one at the weekend too. 

Climb - 2 boulder sessions. Both ungraded as they'll be two winter boulder leagues so not sure if I will get any V6's done.

Bike - commute if I can but not priority as i'm biking at the weekend. 

Morning Dan, thanks for the stats - I'm still feeling weak on my Front-3, so lots more FB training to come before I start deploying this grip in anger. A good 10day stretch of bouldering for me, diversifying away from the tried and tested venues and getting a good number of ticks from 7A-7C/+

Week 43

M – Achy lat from bouldering on Saturday. Light barbell circuits to get warm before & after a day at a cold home office!

T – Epic lantern trip to Stanage Plantation. Shitty dry glassy skin; overdone the methiamine! Tried the static stand start to Help the Young (f7A+) (7B+) but got nowhere (video beta shows I missed a crucial heel hook). Headed over to Brass Monkeys (f7C) and took 90min to get the tick, including one comedy go where I did all the hard stuff but couldn’t get stood up. Then did a sitter on Pebble arete, 7A. Good to have some variety, but a long way to drive for grit.

W – Training my weaknesses – Crimpd an-cap hangs; 7/3/5/3 @80%. Intensity was a slight guessitimate; 3x front-3 strict half-crimp @ BW-7.5kg, 3x deep front-2 @ BW+10.5kg, 3x front-3 drag @ BW. 2x10 Barbell curls @ 30kg, 6x DL triples @ 95kg & 3x10 wrist curls.

T – Rest. Stretch. Forearms feeling a bit beasted from previous 2 days

F – Return to Tom’s roof. Quite snug up there with lanterns despite 2C temps! A very good session!

The Womb into Tom's Original (f7A) flash (ish - OS The Womb, 6C and repeat Tom's original)

Power Allowance (f7B)

Figure of 24 (f7C) (7C+ on 8a.poo) flash-ish (flashed Figure of 8 (f7B+) and continued for 2 more laps, i.e. Figure of 8, Figure of 16 (f7C), Figure of 24 without stepping off)

Rack and Ruin (f7C)

S – Gardening club. Knee feeling wobbly - it went pop getting out of the car last Sunday and hasn't been right since  

S – Shopping club. Rushed 10min of barbell circuits, then school night drinking club (bad idea!)

Hi All. Thanks for the statting Dandan.

A recovery week, taking the lurgy down-time up to 2.5 weeks, but I still felt pretty crap and didn't want to relapse by doing too much too soon. (It's a bit of karma, perhaps... I'm rarely ill, and always look at people's lurgy posts on here and think "jeez, are they still ill?!" -so I probably deserve a bit of it!)

Last Week:

M: Rest

T: Plantation bouldering -absolutely rubbish! Not only did I feel weaker than your average kitten, but I relied on the forecast from Mon and didn't actually check what had happened overnight and everything was gipping. It was starting to dry in the early afternoon -just as I had to leave! Did a bit of pottering on easies and then got frustrated on damp slopers on The Lone Ranger (f6A+) (new STG!)

W: Rest

T: Rest

F: Rest

S: Grinshill bouldering -good session. Mileage up to 6a then worked Eliminator (f6C) -made some solid progress but feel like I'm still a way off the last 2-3 moves.

S: 120min Z1

STG/Q4:

The Lone Ranger (f6A+)

Eliminator (f6C)

Jaz (D8)

UK 'Alpine' -Ben Nevis ridges enchainment or similar...

MTG/Q1:

Scottish 7

The Ginat (ED1 5)

Norway ski touring

LTG/Q2:

E2 on 3+ rock types

666 Goals:

666metres of Lancashire Arete

Satanic Verses (VI 5)

Thanks Dan!  There's a particular 6b at the wall that I'm working - I'll project it with an aim of leading it by Christmas.  I can make the moves so it's just convincing my head of same.

I'm also considering trying to get back in to running.  I keep getting part-way through couch to 5k and then having breaks and not going back.  Perhaps a couple of sessions a week of running mixed with walking to get back into the swing of it.

I've been thinking about my own week 666 goal.  Since January I've been counting my height climbing (indoors and outdoors) to see how long it takes me to climb the height of K2.  This week or next I should hit 50%, so I'll probably finish the full 8611m by next Autumn without much difficulty, barring any incidents.  I initially had a crazy idea that the last 43m of my K2 challenge would be Comes the Dervish in Vivian quarry.  So the top-out would be my summit.  It's a route with personal connections (my Dad's favourite route) but E3 5c always seemed a bit over-ambitious.  I don't know where my limits are outdoors at the moment but when I was leading bolted VS and trad HS 4b I could only ever manage 6a+ on toprope at the wall, and 5 on lead.  I'm now beyond that, so can expect to be leading VS outdoors fairly soon.  Is VS 4c to E3 5c within a year too much to aim for?

There's my 666 goal then, STC.  Comes The Dervish onsight.

Cheers Dan, Im hopeful It will come with upping the intensity on a regular basis. However its not my main goal as I can make bigger gains in my running. In fact the aim is to knock 5 minutes off my 5k pb over the next 6 months.Anyway past week went as follows;

Monday, 3k run first thing and 1km lunchtime swim

Tuesday 15 km ride to work and 1km lunchtime swim

Wednesday, 1km lunchtime swim and 16 km ride home

Thursday 1km lunchtime swim and stretch class

Friday, cycle commute both ways so 2 x 15km

Saturday, 8km trail run

Sunday, 10km trail run

haha, what I meant to write was 'attempting 7b slabs - indoors' not as good as it sounded at first :S

Yeah, plenty of winter stuff was climbed last weekend and the week just gone. Typically, milder temps and rain on the summits arrived just in time for the weekend! You're absolutely right, you just have to take what you can get. 

Last Week (Base Week 2/30):

M: Feeling a bit grotty, took a rest day. 

T: Max strength w/core routine warmup (2 circuits)

W: 60min Z1 stairmaster.

T: Ice/mixed climbing max strength w/core warmup (as seen here: https://www.uphillathlete.com/training-ice-mixed-climbing/). I'm going to be using this format going forward to get better winter-specific fitness. One of the exercises was 6 sets of 4 reps of 85% 1RM pull-ups, for which I used 12kg. So that would put my 1RM at approx 14-15kg. Is 1RM of 30kg realistic by year end?

F: 60min Z1 stairmaster 

S: Session at the indoor wall in the morning. Started with the finger strength testing session from the Crimpd app (which I'm really liking). Failure occurred at +35kg, which I was pleasantly surprised with but then I have nothing to compare it to so maybe it's still pants! Then did the 20 problems in 20 minutes aerobic capacity workout. 35min recovery pace run in the afternoon.

S: Rest. 

This Week:

2 ice/mixed max strength circuits w/core routine warmup

170min Z1

20min steep Z2

1 day climbing-specific training 

Goals: (will add more/refine as they become clearer)

STG (end 2019)

• 10x Scottish winter routes
• 1RM pull-up w/30kg...? 

MTG (~end of Winter, maybe a little later)

• 2x Scottish VII O/S
• 3x WI6 O/S
• 1x M8 O/S

LTG (~end of 2019)

• New route in the Cordillera Blanca
• Bugaboos trip
• Caucasus trip

666

• 1938 Route
• Versant Satanique

Hi Dandan,

Better week indeed, 

Tuesday: new set of problems at the wall, climbed 10 problems up to v4.

Friday: pretty much the same as Tuesday.

Sunday: 2 sets of 20 press ups, 10 leg raises , 10 eccentric wrist curls, 10 leg raises. Then 10 minute Dave Macleod workout.

I've been listening to lots of Jam Crack podcasts of late, they are fantastic!

Hey DD, 1 sport, 9 lead is my shorthand for outdoor and indoor. Intended to climb outdoors, did 1 route and nicked off to the climbing wall, (cos it was freezing), then 9 indoor leads in the relative warmth.

•Mo: 8.1m General walking.

•Tu: 6.9m General walking. 11 problems, h/board, (4*4*10:10/1m 30s).

•We: 8.4m Commuting walking.

•Th: 8.2m General walking. 12 problems, h/board, (4*4*10:10/60s).

•Fr: 7.8m General walking.

•Sa: 9.3m General walking. 6 trad routes.

•Su: 7.9m General walking.

Couple of training sessions and some blustery weekend trad. Not ripping up trees, but ticking things over and looking forward to some sun on my back, hopefully, though reading reports from El Chorro, that may not be likely. C'est la vie.

Hey all, seem to have injured myself and thought I'd tap into the hive mind as I've failed to self diagnose using the usually trusty Make or Break. (!)

For a little while I've been feeling a strange sort of tension down from the front of the shoulder, across the front of my arm pit and into my chest when hanging with shoulders engaged on a board (I always engage my shoulders when fingerboarding but know that interestingly this feeling didn't occur when letting them go and hanging completely straight/loose). This didn't really bother me until 10 days ago (ironically having a session of TRX followed by just a few 'easy' hangs to protect a finger-niggle) when I suddenly felt it turn into a definite ache on the left side. When subsequently bouldering, the pain was notably worse on anything involving compression,  especially when my left hand was a long way out to the side. The next couple of sessions were OK after warming up but then last Thursday I pushed it a bit too far at the end of a bouldering session and felt a more sharp pain when trying to catch a hold dynamically high/left: since then it's not been fit to weight at all. 

The pain is in the same place as the original tension was felt, focussed sort of on the spot where my chest meets the front of my underarm and shoulder. Around where the dot for 'clavicular portion' is in this image,  although I've never heard of climbers getting this condition:

https://www.epainassist.com/sports-injuries/shoulder-injuries/pectoralis-ma...

It now hurts when I weight it in any shoulder position,  but is definitely worse with arms straight or > 135 degrees. With bent arms it's not as bad. At the moment that location also hurts a little under firm pressure,  or if I rotate my arm forward/backward in a stretch without any weight.

Anyone have any similar experience or insight? 

Si

Mon: Body still working on US time. Painful.

Tues: Wall. Everything feeling tough. Whinged a lot, managed some V3/4.

Wedns: Rest.

Thurs: Wall. Local comp. Surprised to finish second, won some beer tokens. Which were useful.

Fri - Sun: In rainy Cornwall with family.

Just had a good session at Stronghold so hoping to be a bit more on it this week!

Haha..thanks Dan. I should have qualified that it was not a complete 7b slab - just an attempt, indoors. Fun though. 

Current weekly goals:
- to run 4 times a week - 3/4 complete
- have a minimum of 4 climbing sessions per week - 4/4 complete 
- stretching my back and shoulders - Had a super tight back and needed to stretch out a lot.
- daily work on front lever programme - nope, not sure I have this right, need to work more on my core but unsure what to do

Mon: 3 mile run, bouldering session. Flashed a V5/6 slab. Need to work on my power endurance. Not managed a V5/V6 on overhangs yet. Front lever work.

Tues: rest

Weds: 3 mile run

Thurs: Roped climbing. Flashed 6c+ on toprope. Worked all the moved on a 7b+, got it in around 3 parts - definitely do-able as a project on lead, think it's probably around a couple of grades lower in reality.

Fri: Boulder session - V5 slabby second go. Tried a hard V8 overhang. Worked a slightly reachy V5/V6 - one move off.

Sat: 4.5 mile run leading to back and arm pain from tight muscles. Was odd how much a short run took out of me.

Sun: Lead climbing session. Did the 6c+ from Thurs again on top-tope and found it much easier, tried working the 7b+ on top-tope and couldn't manage the first bit. Led a few climbs and did some well-needed fall practice.

I don't think it's impossible.  However I've personally not had much joy with trad goals.  I find it just piles on too much pressure going to the crag feeling you have to do route X.

Also looking at your logbook (assuming it's accurate) then you don't seem to have much experience of harder grades on rock.  If you were a solid VS onsighter, I'd say it's probably doable.  But just going by your current logbook, I do feel that you're not really going to have the grades in hand to climb CtD.  I've not personally climbed  CtD, but I understand that the bottom is fairly bold with out much gear till you're quite committed.  After that hopefully the crack is good enough that you can lace it up with small gear.

If you do want to target that one route, then I'd strongly recommend you obviously overdose on slabs.  Looking at where you climb normally, I'd guess that spending the winter on balancey grit slabs should be doable?

Also spending as much time as is humanly possible in North Wales on Slate is an absolute must.  You need to build up that grade pyramid.  Find someone who is leading E3/4 and get them to take you up a bunch of E1/2/3 routes.  If you can second Last Tango in Paris (E2 5b) which is I guess on the same slab, that should give you an idea.  But any slate slab would do the job.  Leading some bolted routes might help as well, you can get used to leading that style but without the hassle of the gear.

I'm sure that finger strength would also be handy.  I've done some techy slab stuff while otherwise hideously unfit, so while I don't recommend it you probably need to focus more on technique and slate slab specific stuff than being super strong.  Calf raises might be an idea as well.  So running would be a good idea.

I hope that doesn't come across as being too negative, I'm just trying to give some constructive and realistic advice.  Hopefully one of the trad gods, Rebecca? Ally? AJM? can give you some better advice!

I feel honoured to be amongst such company!

Again, i havent done it - I've not done a whole host of slate climbing.

I'd agree with strong calves, and lots of slab training. I'd say hard sandstone (in the wide sense - quarried grit, culm, north Pembroke...) might have more crossover than natural grit because my assumption would be edges rather than smears would be most relevant. Maybe some cracks-up-slabs to get used to jamming toes in that sort of thing crack. 

And lots of mileage, preferably including some falling off. Being able to climb smoothly and confidently on ground you find tricky or difficult will get you a long way since it means you need to be less strong/good/whatever since you need less in reserve. 

Yeah, the problem this year is that I've struggled to get outside.  I only really get the opportunity to climb outdoors sporadically, with my boyfriend, and he's awesome but is a complete beginner so I can't attempt to lead anything that he can't follow.  I've tried to make contact with friends who climb harder because when I first started leading I went from Diff to HS in about a month and a half, because I had a friend who I was able to climb hard with.  But nobody I've tried to make plans with has engaged.  Looking back to previous years, before I got ill, I was capable of much more.  

Slate is my thing - it's the most amazing climbing I've ever done.  I can climb easily 2 grades harder on slate than I can on other types of rock, especially grit (which I hate).  If I'm ever going to climb that hard, it'll be on slate.

I'd say that my log book currently is not a measure of what I feel I'm currently capable of, mostly because I can't get the opportunities to climb hard currently, and I know it's holding me back.  I feel like a (potentially wildly overambitious) long-term goal will encourage me to get out and do more, and make the opportunities.  It's similar to the mindset that made me just enter a triathlon on a whim a few years ago, because knowing I'd already paid for it sent me out the door to train.  I've now done five.  If it doesn't happen, which is likely, I can say that I tried.  

The start of the Dervish really isn't something you want to be pushing your luck on. Has a circa English 5b move before you get to any decent gear, on footholds that are horribly polished  these days, at a height at which you'd stand a good chance of breaking an ankle.

I've backed off it a couple of times, and I did a fair amount of slate E1/2 bitd. Some say it's possible to get a reasonable microwire in, but I used to be good at fiddly little microwires and I never found anything I was prepared to trust.

please please be very careful about pushing the grade on trad. On sport the worst that usually happens is you get a bruised ego (I'll draw a veil over some of the Smith Rock high first bolts/runouts). On trad if you push too hard you can end up dead. Take it carefully, build that pyramid.

I absolutely agree - I'm far too chickensh*t to push it to a dangerous level on trad gear - I've never properly fallen on trad gear because I won't commit to a move that I don't think I can do.  If I don't think I'm ready I'm not going to try it.  I know enough about CtD for that!  

Thanks for the feedback all - perhaps something more sensible for a 666 goal, like first E1 on slate, and keeping something like the Dervish for another day.

Good advice from hms on the trad front.

I pushed the boat out many times when young and stupid; mostly got away with it, but have the scar tissue to remind me of the times it didn't go as planned.

Having a broad pyramid of experience when trad climbing is a very wise approach; having a buffer of physical strength and endurance to draw upon when the $hit hits the fan is a very good idea too.

CtD is probably f6b-ish to top rope? However, weigh yourself down with a trad rack, double ropes and a desire to be totally static and in control the whole way and you can easily add a letter grade (f6c). Add in a buffer/reserve and you'd want to be pretty consistent on sport 6c+'s before getting on it.

A BD Pecker #1 is much better gear than a micro for the start, but you'd be stopping mid crux to place it. You could tame the start a little by taking a pad along? After that, it's safe as houses - take lots of wires #4-8.

Oh, and one last thing - make sure you wear a a helmet. Lots of choss in the slate quarries, even around the classics like CtD

I think some of that depends on how your mind works with goal setting. If you are the kind of person who gets a lot from actually achieving a goal, you want something challenging but closer to your current level than if you can get enough out of the journey and trying as hard as you can to progress towards a goal that the ultimate tick itself becomes almost a secondary driver.

Ally - the grades in reserve calculation doesn't feel too bad for something steep, but (and in some respects I don't really know, because I've not climbed a hard trad slab in years) I wonder whether it might overstate in cases where there's more standing on the feet going on - a few kilos of rack won't really tax leg muscles in the same way it does arm muscles, so that part of the equation may be less relevant than if we were talking about Zeppelin or whatever? I dunno. 

I think if you can do pullups on your axes with 30kg added weight, you should maybe be looking at single arm exercises - the ones in this video from Steve are really good - 

https://youtu.be/tVRfL4YCDsQ?list=PL0WEBWUGpvI0ZaJC-zeXZO4cevH8Cn2N8

Thanks me, I had a good week, it was technically a low/rest week on the plan but I kept myself pretty busy! I sort of got my highest Portland onsight on Friday (damn those link-ups), plus I finally ticked my indoor project, so i'm panicking about peaking early with a month to go before Margalef!

M: Rest

T: Gym; Pull ups 4x10 with +10kg, Lock-offs 4x6 5 second 90 deg holds (3 each arm), Dumbbell shoulder press 4x6 at 18kg, squat 4x6 at 60kg, bench 4x6 at 60/65/70/65kg.
Happy to finally push into the 70kg bracket on the bench, I'd like to get this to 80kg but it's not an important goal.
Indoor boulder; short projecting session, got a tricky roof climb with some beta assistance, made progress on a couple of other bits and bobs.

W: Fingerboard AA edge 10 sec hang x8 at 80% max (88kg or +23kg)

T: Indoor Routes; 4 laps of 7a with 1 min rest. 3 sets on 3 different problems. This was supposed to be half a session but i did the whole thing)

F: Portland; Unbelievable weather on the island, tops off in November! 6c and 7a+ onsight to start, then onsighted my first Portland 7b+ Disintegration (7b+) but I can't claim it as I have climbed the top half as part of a different route, damn. All the hard climbing is on the lower half so i'm still happy with the performance even if I can't strictly call it an onsight. Tried Zum Zeaux (7b+) after but the top is super hard and on completely manufactured holds, it's very odd. I didn't manage to figure out the sequence so I'll have to come back for it as i'd like to get the tick. Mrs Dandan also seconded clean her first 7b! She's catching up...

S: DIY club, all day working on my new front garden fence.

S: Indoor routes; 8 on 5 off at 6b or lower. I also had a shot at my project route and it went down pretty comfortably. I saw possibly the only other person locally who has tried it which gave me a bit of a beta tweak, although I think it went so nicely that I would have ticked it with my old beta anyhow. Great to see this progress on a route that I was consistently falling halfway on only a few months ago, power endurance is clearly high!

STG (Last week)
Keep training at a level to allow knuckle to improve - TICK
4 hamstring stretch sessions - 2/4
A couple of 1 arm pull up attempts - TICK

STG (Next week)
Keep training at a level to allow knuckle to improve - 
4 hamstring stretch sessions - 
More 1 arm pull up attempts -

MTG: (up to Margalef in December)
* Onsight 7c in Margalef
* 8a in a day in Margalef
* 7c in a day on Portland - TICK
* Squat 100kg and Deadlift 130kg - Sq-80kg DL-120kg

LTG: (This Year)
* 150 ticks in logbook - 171/150
* tick 3 x 8a - 0/3 * tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 7/10
* Squat and deadlift 2x bodyweight
* Go to Kilnsey - Missed the boat
* Get to December without any new injuries - meh
* reasonably static muscle up -
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last - skipped due to it being in Scotland

BHAG:
* Onsight 8a+/Redpoint 8b+ in a day by March 2022 (40th Birthday)

666 Goals:
Horny Lil' Devil/Mark of the Beast/Camino a la Perdicion
+66kg weighted pullup - +60kg
666 one-arm pullups 16/666
666 'good' handstands; 18/666
66 routes at 7a and above including 6 routes at 7c+ and above. 4/66 0/6

Often what works for me with goals is "aim for the moon.  If you miss you'll still end up among the stars".

If I set a goal I'm really excited by it'll make me train harder because I've got something quite lofty to work towards.  Then if I don't make it I've still come a long way.

This might not have be Zum Zeaux - I've got a memory of a friend having the same experience but then realising the boltline splits and he'd ended up on the wrong branch. Might be talking rubbish, I'll try checking his logbook later.  

The top of ZumZeaux is a blank groove where I basically didn't find any holds whatever, I'd have bitten your hand off for a sign of a manufactured thing to hold onto?!

Haven't got to +30kg yet but fair point. The link in your post doesn't work, I just get an ad for some mobile investment platform! Are you a bot now, Andrew?

Well i'm not the first person to do it wrong in that case, as there is 2 mentions of manufactured holds in the logbooks. I was reasonably certain of the line, it matched the picture in the guide and we had done the route right next door so I didn't doubt I was on the right line at the time, but that top section is certainly not what I would describe as technical... More investigation required perhaps.

Hmm. Try this..

youtube.com/watch?v=B17gEKNZHYg&

If I were I might be able to do those one armed hangs...

By "the route next door" which one do you mean?

(to it's right is Realm, quite close at the top (ie I nearly climbed into it and went back to check which was older to get a view on which was the original line so might have more right to weave to and fro) then by my recollection there's another line on the headwall, and then Ariane V another route left. I'm not at home so can't check for certain - I was with Ed though, who is a walking guidebook in these matters!)

According to the logbook on here, and my (old edition) guidebook, from left to right it goes:

Ariane which is it's own line. (which we did)
Disintegration (which I also did) which has no bolts of it's own, it is the first half of Zum and the second half of Ariane.
Then it's Zum.
After that there's Magnetic pull which is a hard direct start of Zum, then Realm. 

I didn't look around at the top as the line seemed quite straightforward, maybe i'll do realm next time I'm there then I can see if there are any extra lower-offs that i'd not seen before...

Yeah, I checked the logbooks this morning and was surprised not to see the extra line in there. A bit of a puzzler.

I have the old Rockfax and the CC guide so might see if either offers a detailed description later - it's clear there's an extra line there, because we've definitely done different things and there are 2 fairly unambiguous lines either side to act as boundaries. Its either that, or my definition of holdless is your definition of manufactured and powerful, after all

Honestly you could not possibly have missed these holds, it's like modelling clay slathered over everything. There is even a significant crimp with a thumb catch moulded onto a blank face where there are no natural holds at all, you'd remember it if you saw it!

Hah! Maybe that's why it hasn't been widely recorded, because no-one wants to claim their "artwork".

Looking at the comments on rockfax.com, there are a few, and at least one of the older ones (so before this new creation came into existence, probably) sounds like they did a technical top section. I haven't checked, but I wonder if the ukc comments about manufacture are more recent and the older comments say technical.

As ever, I'm slightly late to the party and probably slightly meta to the whole conversation...here are some ramblings based on my experience...

I do see what you mean about slate, style and grades. I've not yet done any slate (literally every time I go to Llanberis it rains all weekend) but pretty sure it will suit me as a combination of tiny edges and a bold mindset so have it in the back of my mind as an option. Slabs also kind if you're carrying more weight than usual (I keep meaning to work on it..) and having smaller strong fingers and toes often an advantage on fiddlier stuff (everyone warned me Sacre Coeur (E2 5c) was calf pump death, but with tiny edging and keeping moving it was absolutely fine). Loads of technical footwork practice and working on weight transfer and core won't do any harm either. Having just edited the new slate guidebook, yes definitely to wearing a helmet, having grades in hand and having a great belayer. 

In terms of reality of E3 5c by 666, it is possible depending on what kind of trad lead mind you have, your personal attitude to risk and how much time you have (inside and out) to work on your climbing. I'm pretty sure British tech 4c-5c would have been possible for me in that timeframe, but life/weather/injury/desire to ski keeps getting in the way so it took longer. Why not make a robust pyramid of SMART goals (starting with VS) with CtD at the top so at least you can manage your expectations and feel that there are intermediate goals for measuring progress? That way if it rains for the next year/injury/just life stuff that interferes with your climbing, at least there will be tickpoints along the way. Also, don't be trapped by the arbitrary 666 goal we've chosen, there will be a 700 and 777 I'm sure  

The other option if you want fast gains on a single route and are prepared to let go of some trad ethics is to work it on TR. Depends on whether "that route" is the goal or whether the style is important to you. With your personal connection to the route, I'm sure you have a view.

Definitely not a trad god (thanks Matt!), but it is my preferred discipline and I'm happy to meet up and do some E1-3 to get the mileage up if helpful. I'm based somewhere between Oxford, Cheltenham and the Peak.

ANGELIC MUSIC FADES.  THE TRAD GODDESSES AND GODS EXIT STAGE LEFT....

MATT: - Hark, the trad Goddesses and Gods have dispensed their wisdom!  Listen to the advice carefully and digest their words!

I feel your pain about struggling to find people to climb harder with.  I'm not exactly amazing myself at the moment, but if you do want to come over to South Wales, I can get you setup on a TR on some nice hard sandstone slabs which will be good training.  I can also follow behind VS, just about, so I'd help with that if I can.

Started a new job this week, so i'm on a much needed reduced training volume going forwards. I'm now training on the following schedule:

day 1: fingerboard + strength exercises

day 2: boulder + circuits 

day 3: rest

day 4: repeat

Still not exactly low volume, but much lower than training/climbing twice a day 6 days a week...

Finger strength progress is still going well. In c. 1 month i've gone from a 10 second max hang at bodyweight to a 10s max hang + 17.5kg on the same edge. At 80kg bodyweight this translates to a 22% strength increase so far. 

Other highlights over the last week include:

Deadlift: 225kg x 3

Dips: +50kg x 7

That's really kind, thank you. I will certainly take you up on that next time you're in the peaks!

Rivelin from 10 today ????

Just a walk but quite a cool one. Forgot to mention I did something weird to my neck (you know the kind where you maybe sleep a bit funny then literally look at something and trap a nerve?) which plagued me a bit for the that week. Exacerbated by sitting hunched at desk and commuting 3 hours each day in the car. 

So massage and 2x yoga, 1xpilates this week in attempt to loosen up.

Gradually getting better so I played netball on Thursday. Very unfit but 30 minutes of hyperventilating was good for me. May have head butted the ball at one point. On the way back I got a puncture rear left then mangled front left trying to get off the road onto lumpy narrow side. Arrived home cold on a recovery truck a few hours later. Thank goodness for all the climbing clothes I’d not bothered to clear out of the boot!

Weekend bouldering at Froggatt and plantation on which struggling on Captain Hook (f7B) was a highlight/lowlight. Climbing Unit on way home on Sunday. Neck status... hard to reverse park.