UKC

Greetings Fit Club! Huge thanks to Tyler who is stepping into the stats seat next week while the “crazy young things of FC are out partying (or parenting)”… Also very impressed with Fit Club’s ability to balance excess and hard work at this time of year – keep it up!

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

Some random psyche for the week on the theme of Margalef with the trailer for Iker Pou’s new route: https://www.grimper.com/news-iker-pou-libere-projet-extreme-margalef?fbclid.... That mono close up makes me feel a bit sick…

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_week_613-69760...

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:

The sheep – It is a whole new world JBen thought he knew how to put a wetsuit on properly, but apparently not! Good mix of swimming and parenting. Is your eldest daughter likely to be joining you in the outdoor swimming adventures next year?

Guy – Cool, where’s the trail half? How was it back on routes? Love the idea of calisthenics at the beginning of the day. Do you stretch at the end of the day as well?

Somerset swede basher – good effort on a well-balanced week working just about everything! Have you kept your fingers out of the injury zone?

AJM – Implied reprimand accepted. Coronation Street will be dry one day… what else are you targeting outside over the winter?

Tyler – How was the knuckling down? Did you feel any gains from the rest week?

Ardo – Hoping you now have MRI result and it is positive… Did the massage help? If so a great thing to build into self-care for 2019.

Emma1987 – Welcome! How did Spain go?

AlanLittle – Might it be your skin rather than the Beastmaker? Hope you’ve had more wall time this week. The weather is coldish here in the Tyrol too! Are you sleeping better?

Ianstevens –Sometimes in the US I manage a short ski tour, wall session and yoga but I can only aspire to the breadth of your Monday!!! Did you manage to get through the power sessions in this week? Guessing outside didn’t happen? 

Mattrm – Good luck with the move! Does new house bring a new membership of DIY club?

Dandan – Great job! La Corva sounds like a smashing route, described as “Pure climbing fun” by Mr Smith no less. I’ve just spoilered myself by reading your logbook, but tell us Dan, what did you do this week?

Biscuit – I hear you – I am sure the end of term collapse is just about to hit after heightened survival mode for so long. How was Scotland? Is it your first of the season?

Alexm198 – Continued strong training ethic – well done. Mick Fowler is speaking at the Alpine Club 22 January 2019 – could you go to that and ask him about the route? http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/ac2/events/lectures-2/icalrepeat.detail/2019/...

Cyan – What did you think of Free Solo? How’s the lead psyche at the moment? 

Rebecca Ting – no excess but no hard work…

Ally Smith – Hopefully not your usual bike suntan...

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 - 44/666; 666 ‘good’ handstands 25/666 ; 66 routes at 7a and above including 6 routes at 7c+ and above - 4/66 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; Tales of Yankee Power (E5 6a)

Mattrm - Lead 6a, Lead 6b, Lead 6c

Biscuit - 6xV6 slabs, 6xV6 vert 6xV6 slopers at BUK

Lornajkelly - Comes the Dervish onsight

Ardo - Satanismo En El Alpinismo & Invocando de Onan

Morning! Jet lag is still waking me up early. What's your excuse for pre 6am forum posting?

As predicted, very little exercise and certainly no structure this week. 

1x 1arm recruitment hang board session. 

1x bouldering at the new Macclesfield wall. Nice 45 degree woodie. Some good setting too.

1x random gym session to burn off mince pie induced induced energy. 

Maybe a little aero cap today before seeing the in laws 

Thanks Rebecca!

Well, after Coronation Street there's obviously Crow. I've never done that.

Aside from that, for the winter there's a few bits and bobs:

- Riding to Babylon and the 7b at Lulworth right of Mark? More difficult to get to than other obvious possibilities but less single-focus at other areas.

- some Swanage trad, nothing specific in mind except maybe lead Ocean Boulevard (I've seconded it before). I'd basically like to hit the spring with some mileage already under my belt rather than it being a zero each time. This year, I managed a few E2-ish things from a low base, but if I'm going to have a serious crack at E5 I think I need to be getting out on trad more, and across more of the year (I don't think it can be an April to October campaign)

- we're in the peak for a few days at Christmas - will try to get out there - would love to do NTBTA and Crescent Arete if the opportunity arises, never done those. Otherwise, a few bits and bobs locally for bouldering but nothing big .Be nice to get to Dartmoor again and try some things.

Report later, as were supposed to be at the wall today...

What the hell did I do last week?!

Mon:  No idea.

Tues: Wall. Boulder, Christmas party.

Wednesday: Rest?

Thurs: Wall. Short boulder, few drinks. 

Fri: Rest. Impromptu Christmas party on the boat.

Sat: Rest.

Sun: Rest. Feeling a bit twitchy, might go for a run on the coast path tomorrow morning.

STG (2018): Not sure. Keep plodding on. 
MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project 
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

Last week: Unable to do weekday evening wall sessions  due to caring for a sick child. 
This week: sick myself, mostly. Certainly logging plenty of time in bed, but not for the right reason.

M: Sick. Just about managed to drag myself to school parents evening.
T: Sick.
W: Wall, Thalkirchen, routes. Unsurprisingly not a very inspired performance.
T:  
F: Beastmaker max hangs.
S:  
S: Sick again, cancelled planned pre-Xmas wall session. This is pissing me off.

Smooth skin certainly could be a factor on the beastmaker; right now would be happy just to be healthy enough to be able to find out.

Hope there was enough snow for your Tyrol tour - where did you go? And how was the new wall in Innsbruck? Haven't seen it yet: the world championship final I went to in September was in the Olympic Arena.

Thanks for another week Rebecca!

Trail race is in Sussex near Beachy Head (endurancelife series). It doesn't look too extreme in terms of elevation gain which is good as it is so hard for me to get much elevation in during training runs in London. Just having this in the diary should push me to get a longer run in each week. I think one of my 2019 goals is going to be to run the TMB over 5/6 days (http://www.autourdumontblanc.com/en/index.cfm/tmb-tour-montblanc.html)

I'm bad at being disciplined to stretch but generally do a little cursory leg/hip stretching after climbing and a few minutes sitting cross legged in the morning (which does actually feel like it helps open the hips a little). I'd really like to be able to fit yoga in to my schedule but I don't really have time at the moment. I should probably find a studio nearby so I can do the odd session here and there. 

Monday: Morning routine, 4x8 mins on (up and down) 8 mins off on the autobelays. Got embarassingly pumped on very easy routes. I've definitely lost quite a lot of fitness, which isn't terribly surprising but still quite disappointing. I'll have to work on this in the new year so that I have some sort of conditioning when Portland season comes around.

Tuesday: Morning routine, 30 minute Z5+ run, bouldering including 3 BIFF routes. The new comp wall set is sparse, jumpy and hard!

Wednesday: Morning routine

Thursday: Up a bit late for Jens bday celebrations on Wednesday night, had to skip morning routine to get to work. Routes in the evening.

Friday: 1 set of pullups (lazy)

Saturday: 9 miles run (Z1-2)

Sunday: 5 miles ish (Z3)

Obviously this week coming is going to be a little tricky but I should still be able to get my 3 runs and 3 climbs in, (morning routine probably not since I won't be at home). Planning on doing a parkrun 5km on xmas day. There is the possibility of climbing outside pending weather conditions on the 29th/30th, but our van is currently unwell so we would need to seek alternative travel arrangements. 

Well, training week:

2 good wall sessions. A decent mix of slabby, mantelly stuff and pulling hard. Managed my aero to finish on Tuesday but not today - sore skin and a slightly dodgy feeling shoulder.

Hectic week trying to manage handover of jobs at work, sure I’ve not learned enough but you can never work out which bits of info will be the important ones until they are needed! Half a day left then a bit of a break before all hell breaks loose in the new year.

hoping to be active this week, use the free time to do a bit of training still, and hoping for good weather in the Peak before new year.

Thanks for stating Rebecca. Yep, fingers still good. 

Mon. Wall session at AW Sheffield. A few lead routes but only up to 7a then all the 6s on the auto belays. Essentially, got pumped, stayed pumped, kept climbing.

Tues. Rest

Wed. Finger board repeaters. First time I've ever managed a full set of 7hangs on middle 2. (who cares if it's on the big 50mm edge eh) 

Thurs. Weighted pull ups test session. I'm 67kgs. Did 8 sets of 2 pull ups starting at +5kg and increasing to find my max. Failed at +16kgs. Follwed this with dynamic core: leg raises, jack knives and V ups.

Fri. Rest

Sat. Got pretty pumped just using the small holds on the kids play wall at the garden centre play area while the kids played! 23km on the road bike. Unfortunately got double flats and only carry one spare tube so had to call the team car! 

Sun. 45km of muddy lanes on the mtb. 

Crow is great. Great in a cheddar kind of way but still good. I think we ran out of time for the top pitch and without headtorches abbed back to the ground. (it was a while ago now I'm struggling to remember) it takes longer than it looks like it should! 

Yeah, somehow I never got to do the big high rock stuff - in hindsight when I was keen people only wanted to go sport climbing and vica versa. I did a few bits of roadside trad, and Ahimsa and some of the other stuff up on that wall, but many things left to do...

Cheers Rebecca, the eldest doesn’t fancy trying outdoor swimming just yet. Will give it time. Been a low volume week exercise wise as have been all over the place, week went as follows;

Monday, rest day 

Tuesday, 2km swim at lunchtime 

Wednesday, 5km run followed by 1km swim

Thursday, 1.5km swim which took me over my year distance goal of 200km

Friday, 0.5km swim and  last minute Christmas shopping 

Weekend, drove to North Yorkshire and back with the kids to celebrate early Christmas with my mum

Alan posted this on the Ondra thread, but I thought it was worth sharing more widely here, some tactical tips and stuff that I found pretty useful.

The whole “moving or resting” thing is definitely one for me - I definitely spend a lot of time doing neither (immobility at non rests) when onsighting. Ties in with the “2 seconds per hold” thing that I’m sure I read somewhere was Gresham DWS rule.

youtube.com/watch?v=pyq-_9bwj-M&

Cool, those endurance life races are ace. I remember doing a load back in the day when they were newfangled and I wasn’t scared of cardio exercise... fond memories of almost falling down a Cornish mineshaft on one...and having to finish the Portland one along bloody Chesil Beach... ???????????

Er... being in Austria and one hour ahead? Being a keen loser?

MRI results show slight forward slip between the L4 and L5 and L5 and S1 vertebra: consultant says surgery not required, which is a relief. Rest advised, so asked him for a physio referral letter for insurance company and physio advice on what constitutes rest.

Massage was good and interesting to feel the difference after muscle knots have been released. Very tight hamstrings apparently, which doesn't help back. Going back in January for more and also discuss acupuncture. Will definitely be adding to 2019 regime.

Another mixed week of training and Xmas partying. Diet ok, aside from excess Xmas food and drink. Xmas and New Year to be enjoyed, review of 2018 and 2019 planning over the next few weeks and hopefully some dry grit to climb.

Mo: General walking, 7.3 miles. Rest day.

Tu: General walking, 6.2 miles. 6 lead.

We: Commuting walk, 8.2 miles. Xmas do 2, it's pie night.

Th: Commuting walk, 9.2 miles. Rest day.

Fr: Commuting walk, 9.9 miles. Rest day.

Sa: General walking, 6.5 miles. 6 probs; 4 laps LB * 2; IDH, (5*4*10:10/90).

Su: General walking, 5.6 miles. Family Xmas do, the final fling.

Merry Xmas Fitclub.

Thanks for stat-ing again Rebecca, always appreciated.

You can do it! Especially if you are an early riser... I always do Yoga and/or Hangboard stuff pre-breakfast. Short session at lunch, and then one after work - voila!

I got through 2/3 of them... so not quite. However, some great successes, as outlined below. Travel plans, and a bit of a plan B prevented things. I had actually planned to get out on Saturday, but had some (climbing) partner issues so didn't make it climbing - but did get in the good run I was pining for instead. To that end, I've got the addition of a few running goals for next year. Hopefully, with a cunning bit of periodisation (I have an elaborate spreadsheet), make it all happen... Anyway:

Goals:

STG (end 2018): !1) finish at least one of two long-term projects (weather depending) - Beltane (7b+) or Deliverance (f7B+);  2) complete planned strength and power sessions for the next 6 weeks (missed one session out of 18); 3) 600 hours of training this year

Some scope for Beltane next Monday (cutting it fine on the 2018 thing) if the weather plays. 

MTG (April 2019): 1) Climb >10 7s (sport) - off to NZ in April so ideally before then but always scope to add some there if I can find a partner (>24 in terms of equivalent grades). 2) FKT on the Routeburn Track (33km ish, ~1250 m elevation) - currently stands at 4:57 AFAIK.

LTG (end of summer 2019): Depends on winter progress - either a 7c or an 8a. Don't be shit in the Snowdon Skyline race (Sept 2019).

Last Week:

Monday: 1) Yoga; 2) Athletics Club Xmas Prom Dash - 3.7km in 14:24.

Tuesday: 1) Yoga; 2) Wall: managed all of my limit problems, plus another one (grades uncertain). Top stuff. 

Wednesday: 1) Bike (outside!) 47.5km, 624m elevation. Last day of work for the year.

Thursday: 1) Yoga; 2) Max hang test - up to 85.9kg on the AA slot (mad gains!); Run: Plynlimon, 8.2km, 358m elevation, got hailed on; 4) Core: TRX Jacknives, Hanging L sits, Weighted sit up (<25kg) and side planks.

Friday: 1) Yoga; 2) Turbo - race that went a bit shit as my powermeter dropped the connection with the computer.

Saturday: 1) Yoga; 2) Run: Watkin Path, Lliwedd, PyP, Crib Goch, Snowdon and back. Great day out: 22.8km, 1805m in 3:44.

Sunday (Chris Rea Day): 1) Yoga; 2) Onsight boulder attempts in Big Rock (MK). Allowed <5 attempts per problem, managed

Next week:

No structure, just do what I fancy when I fancy. 5 km on boxing day (complete at time of writing but don't want to spoilt the FC narrative!) but little else lined up. Back to Wales on Sunday.

Addendum: Remember that nutrition is for every day of the year, even Christmas.

Hi Rebecca,

Well done looking after Fit Club.

Slap my wrists , I've missed two weeks! However I've hardly done anything anyway. A terrible cold and Christmas has meant last week I did nothing bar walk the dog a few times and the week before that I went to the wall once before getting the cold.

Im not too concerned though, viewing it as a rest before starting a new training cycle in the new year.

Rebecca you asked me about winter goals in last weeks post, well my main aim in winter is getting fit and strong again. But I would like to put in a 666 goal of climbing a 6c+/7a boulder problem outside...thanks for the push!

Hi All. Thanks for festive statting Rebecca.

Q4 of the year has continued in a similar vein of minimal climbing, minimal training and minimal psych! Partly due to work and life commitments increasing, but I think also due to a bit of a backlash to Q1-3 being fairly heavy on both climbing and training -I worked out that by October I'd given myself 52 days holiday for climbing (not including fairly frequent single afternoons/days fitted between jobs) and also trained 342 hours (not a lot by many peoples' standards -but it was my first real go at structured training). So maybe, I shouldn't have been surprised to lose my training mojo and burnt out a bit!

The last few AWOL weeks have had very little real training -just a couple of trail runs each week to keep legs turning and mind sane! So with not much to report I thought I'd use this week's fit club to review my year...

2018 Goals:

Scottish VII (X) -did a few VI pitches (and seconded some tech 7).

Winter ED1 x 5 (X) -blamed on poor winter conditions in Cham, but maybe also due to a lack of imagination. Climbed a nice, long WI5 that is given ED1 in the old guide, but can't really count it!

Ski 5+ Black Runs (/) -ended up with more like 25! Still need to improve off-piste though to help my winter mountaineering. No doubt contributed to one of my favourite mountain days of 2018: SkiMo ascent/descent of Gran Paradiso.

'Welsh El Cap Nose' Day (X) -will probably roll this on to the 2019 list.

M8 Redpoint (X) -how can this be so hard?!

E-points on multiple rocktypes (/) -with 2018 training being geared toward mountaineering, rock climbing was deprioritised, but I feel like performance didn't crash too much. Maybe?!

6B in Lofoten (X) -climbed some ace 6A+ problems, but didn't quite manage to grab this goal.

Sandstone Trail in <10h (/) -chuffed with this. First ultra distance. Unsupported, carrying all own food and water and felt pretty fit, although my knees/legs didn't enjoy the distance.

New routes in Kyrgyzstan (/) -obvious highlight of my climbing year. Little story about it here: https://www.montane.co.uk/blog/2018/11/borkoldoy-robbies-revenge-a-macc-fun...  forgive the cheesy writing, I don't think I'll be getting a Boardman-Tasker prize anytime soon!

Schmidt Route on Matterhorn (X) -ran out of time, money, psych for Zermatt-based adventures. Roll over to 2019 goals!

So 4/10 goals hit for 2018! Some goals 'just missed', some not attempted, some highlighting areas to work on for the future.

2019 Goals:

Will continue in a similar theme to last year, but with a bit more of a skew toward rock as this summer's trip is going to be long alpine rock routes.

Q1: Scottish Tech 7, Cham classic mixed routes, SkiMo summit.

Q2: 6C in Font, Lancs Aretes, Bowland run-climb marathon, Welsh 3000s

Q3: Cuillan Ridge Traverse, Lancs Aretes, Some of: Westgrat Salbit, Cassin on Badile, Grand Montets Ridge, Cordier Pillar, Innominata, etc.

Q4: Jaz, Schmidt Route, Lancs Aretes.

2019 Trips:

Jan -Scotland

Feb & March -Chamonix mixed 

April -Font

June -Skye

July -Harris/Lewis

Sept -Alpine Rock

Nov -poss Alps?

2019 Training Plan:

Jan-Feb: TFTNA Transition

Mar-May: TFTNA Max Strength

June-August: TFTNA Musc Endurance

Sept: Rest

Oct-Nov: TFTNA Transition

Dec: TFTNA Max Strength

Well funny you should ask, after my successful 7c onsight on Sunday, I managed to tick my other goal of 8a in a day on Monday! Not only that but I got it second go which is even more amazing!

The route was Transilvania (8a) which is definitely a soft touch at the grade but it was also a total joy to climb, i'd have put the effort in even if someone told me it was 7c as it was just a great route to climb.

Tuesday we went Olive harvesting to help out or friend Mac, we managed to pick about 140kg between 6 of us, unfortunately for me, what I thought would be a nice, unique active rest day activity, turned out to be quite hard work and it ruined me for the following day!

We went back to Finestre for Mrs D to have another couple of goes on her 7c project and I could barely get up it! I also tweaked something in my palm, probably from pulling too hard on middle 2 before being fully warm, it seems ok but was a warning shot to be careful at least.

Last day (sort of) best day on Thursday, we went to a new sector called MVP which was apparently less pockety than most crags in Margalef, just the thing for my iffy hand. Turned out it was a cracking crag with long routes in the 7's and a couple of 8's and there genuinely was some crimps to be found!
The hand seemed fine and after getting a 7b second go to get things started, I onsighted 2 7b+ in a row, La Gavineta (7b+) and Watussi (7b+), a great finish to the holiday!

Friday we managed to avoid Catalan roadblocks, Gatwick drones and a flat car battery to get home within an hour of when we had planned.

Good trip overall, a great chunk of mid-7 onsights and quick redpoints, plus two targets ticked, 7c onsight and 8a in a day.
I had intended to make this trip a projecting trip but my planned project (Camino a la Perdición (8a+) just wasn't filling me with psyche, and the other harder route I got on, El Fustigador (8a+) was in the shade so I couldn't get too excited about spending a lot of time there!

Final Scores:

1x 8a, second go
1x 7c, onsight
4x 7b+, 2 onsight, 2 second go
5x 7b, 4 onsight, 1 second go
2x 7a+, both onsight
6x 7a, 3 onsight, 3 repeats.

Looks pretty flipping good to me!

Thanks Rebecca, it has felt pretty tough so it's been nice to have a bit of time off this week!

Last Week (Base Week 9/30):

M: 60min Z1 stairmaster

T: Ice/mixed climbing max strength w/20min aerobic warmup and core maintenance session. Including 6x4 20kg pull-ups.

W: 90min Z1 stairmaster. Boring af.

T: Ice/mixed climbing max strength w/12min aerobic warmup and core maintenance session. With the pull-ups, I did: 2x4 16kg, then 1x4 24kg and then another 3x4 16kg.

F: 75min Z1 stairmaster.

S: Rest.

S: Morning session at the wall. Did a gentle dynamic warm up of sit ups, TGUs, dips and deadhangs. Then got stuck into the main event: 5xBW pull-ups, 4x5kg pull-ups, 3x12.5kg pull-ups, 2x20kg pull-ups, 1x25kg pull-ups, 1x30kg pull-ups, and 1x32.5kg pull-ups. F*cking psyched! Celebrated with some fun bouldering up to V5.

Last week's goals:

[x] 225min Z1

[x] 2 ice mixed max strength circuits w/core routine warmup

[x] 1 day climbing-specific training

Goals:

This week

• 100min Z1
• 1 ice mixed max strength circuits w/core routine warmup (lower intensity)
• 1 day climbing-specific training

STG (End 2018)

• [3/10] 10x Scottish winter routes
• [1RM: 32.5kg] 1RM pull-up w/30kg...?

MTG (April 2019)

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

LTG (End 2019)

• Something big and hard on the Howser Towers
• Caucasus trip - Bezengi Silver Stars or Fowler/Saunders Ushba West Face Direct.

Cheers for the stats. Fine work over the festive season.

quick summary - no skiing (Boo!) due to conditions being too iffy to risk all the driving/time/fuel/money to get up there and back. It would have been my first time skiing, not the first of the season. I need to learn quick for the alps.

Had a lovely break over the hols with 3(?) climbing sessions and a lovely run through the howgills to the west of the M6. Never set foot in them before. Lots to explore there. 

Climbing was a mix of volume sessions and finishing off winter leagues. 

Getting very busy again once the new year hits with uni stuff. Will probably settle down to being happy with what I can manage without getting stressed about trying to squeeze stuff in. 

Diet and legs have been going well apart from the obvious Xmas excess which hasn’t been too bad tbh. 

Oh and great shout about talking to big Mick at the AC! I’ll try and get there!

Great trip Dan and a great goal of 8a in a day. Very impressive.

Yeah I did the Jurassic Coast one at Durdle Door a few years ago, with the finish "sprint" all the way around the curved pebble beach back to the jetty. Such a killer at the end of a race with 8000ft of vertical!

Sounds good - lots of fun stuff at that grade in the Peak