UKC

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/ukc_fitclub_week_777-74392...

Hi All,

SidH – good rest week discipline and well done on the antistyle tick.

Derek Furze – is your pyramid approach to max hangs something you’ve seen somewhere or something you’ve come up with yourself, not seen anyone do this before.

Randy – that’s a lot of repeaters!

Liam P – very excited to see what is going to come out of this week.  Post us a pic of some fat icicles!

Ross Barker – How long have you got in font?  Have you been before?  I’ve been loads of times but only ever when its hot in the summer, I bet its mint this time of year.  Get googling rainproof problems BEFORE you’re sat in the rain with your network provider charging you extortionate amounts for the privilege of doing it there!

Alan Little – bouldering the day after skiing sounds hard, skiing could pair well day on with finger boarding though.

AJM – Well done for getting a rope session in while child wrangling.  Good work dealing with the polish on those cuttings 6bs.

Steve Claw – Glad the back is on the mend.  Grade it for someone who is 5’10’’, I think that’s average height? (for men anyway -  now there’s a whole new kettle of fish to discuss) and let the masses up/down grade from there.

SteveJC94 – what did the finger physio say?

Ally Smith – strong tights wearing scenes this week! I know you’re looking for 7C and upwards ticks really but its important to value the 7B and 7B+s too, especially when it’s a FA.

Biscuit – I need at least one, ideally two days to recover after a big session so you were doing well getting anything done after only one nights sleep.  Don’t be too hard on yourself!

The sheep – oh no, sorry to hear that.  Assuming you are well enough, are you set up with training facilities to use during isolation at home?

Tom Green – Aira Force swim?  You mad man! I noticed that the Etive Slabs aren’t on your list, have you been there or do they need to get added too?

Nice work SSB once again.  The pyramid approach was something I picked up from Ally (?) a couple of months back, but I think it is only used to (re)set levels.  As it happens, I've now used the experiment to set my current level higher.  A couple of weeks ago I was working at plus 17 kg, but Friday's session was at plus 20.3kg.  I should note that Shark recommends resetting the level every time!

Another rubbish week with lots of travel time working around the Midlands.  Thursdays are particularly rubbish as I finish the away part of the working week on the wrong side of Birmingham city centre, which is being dug up everywhere.  It's only 70 odd miles home, but has taken three hours every time...

Managed a short session of pull ups on Sunday - 10 sets of four on the minute - before travelling.  Then managed a 5.5km run on return, with 5 sets of max hangs at 20.3kg, 60 push ups and some stretching.  

A lighter week of work - only away two days - but the weather looks rubbish!  Hopefully get some better sessions in.

Cheers SSB. Rjukan was amazing! The Norwegians were saying it’s a really lean year so it was unusually quiet. Everything in our pay grade was nicely formed so had a great week and only shared one classic route at Vermork Bridge.

M

Arrived early hours of Monday so had a late start and ticked 3 routes at Ozzimosis, including the very wet and thin Ozzimosis (WI-4).

T

Trekked up to the Mael Basin only for my mate to realise he hadn’t packed his harness. Glad it wasn’t me! Went back and got it, then bashed about in the woods below Svadde before sacking it off for the day.

W

Back to Mael to climb the fantastic Isroser (WI-3). Felt pretty committing as it’s 3x 60m abseils in to the basin and the 270m route is the easiest way out. Was sustained WI3+ and took around 6 hours. Last section was a bit platey so got a couple of good headers and an absolute stinger to the shoulder. Massive collapse on Haugsfossen (WI-6) at the side of us added to the atmosphere. Big day.

T

Achey legs, late start. Climbed the right-hand WI5 variation of Vemorkbrufoss Øst (WI-4) to avoid a Polish team on the left. Went too far right on P2 and ended up flapping around on snow covered rock. Placed a string of bottomed-out screws and gunned it for the tree. Character building.

F

Highlight of the week for me. Sabotørfossen (WI-5). An amazing line with an interesting history. Led the 40m 80deg slab and followed P2 up the chandeliers. The last pillar collapsed whilst I was topping it. Luckily I had two good sticks which led to a comedy moment of air-peddling whilst I pulled over the gap. Led short pitch in to the cave belay below the vertical ice wall. Mate absolutely laced it with screws (don’t blame him!) so got pumped senseless on the steepness. The Hydro Plant path was closed for building work so we crawled under the huge water pipes a la saboteurs. Went back to the digs, got drunk on £3 tins of Pilsner and watched Heroes of Telemark. What a week.

I’ve got a camera full of photos so will just upload a few from my favourite climb!

Ah man, this makes me want to go ice climbing again!!!

Cheers SSB, not been too bad at all, just cold like symptoms for a couple of days. Thankfully had a second negative lateral flow test on Friday so went out for a gentle 5k run. Went pretty well but didn’t quite feel like I had full lung capacity on the uphill section. Saturday went for a 8k trail run whilst the eldest daughter was at swim training 

Legs felt heavy for the first km which wasn’t surprising as the previous day was the first run in a while. Then roughly 3-5k felt terrible legs almost jelly like! Weirdly though hit the 5k mark and everything felt fine again and enjoy the run back to the pool

Now sat for 3 hours by a pool in Peterborough as my eldest completes her swim coaching training with a practical session 

Down side to the week is the wife tested positive on Thursday and has spent the last 2 days in bed with flu like symptoms and a distinct shortness of breath 😞

Thanks SSB, yeah it is currently a lot of repeater work and i felt quite wasted at the end of this week. So looks like time for another deload week. I hope that i can switch the hangboard with some real rock soon and that the effort over the winter will pay off. Currently, weatherforecast for frankenjura looks quite bad for the next weeks, so it will probably be a couple of more week hangboarding, though i am planning on switching to max hangs next week.

Recap of last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  62,5 % of BW average with right hand, 59,6% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 12 kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 84% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Wed: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x10-12 pike push-ups,  2x10-12 fingertips push ups, 18 Lunges, 3-4 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Thurs: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  63,9 % of BW average with right hand, 59,6% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 12kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 84% of BW, 4 sets of 20-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Fri: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x10-12 pike push-ups,  2x12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, 3-4 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Sat: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  60,3 % of BW average with right hand, 54,5% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 12kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 84% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Sun: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x12 pike push-ups, 18 Lunges, 3-4 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Thanks SSB.

Quieter this week, but had an adventure itch to scratch, so did a crazy rope solo traverse I've been planning.

M - Rest

T - Indoor Training - Max hangs 6*10s +15kg with strict half crimp.  3*circuits of: 5* T's and Y's (front and back), 10* Leg raises, 10* Scalp pull ups +15kg, 10* Press up.  Then a single 10mins of auto belay endurance (up 7a down 5).

W - Rest

T - Adventure day.  We have been working on a couple of new routes in Portishead Quarry, and I realised that we now had all the ground to do a crazy girdle of the west side on mostly fixed gear, and I figured it would be an adventure to do it by myself (crazy AndyK big wall wannabe style). 

Essentially it takes in some of the hardest ground on the crag:

- 6a start, to 6b (sport), then crux of A Little Light Music (7b+)

- Reverse Zee Zee Top (E2 5b) and cross other trad to belay on Baby Bird (VS 4c)

- Cross wall of Bladder Ladder (7c) and continue with Token Gesture (E4 6a)

- Reverse crux of Join hands; direct action (E2 5b) and finish up almost all of  Highway One (E4 6a)

Took 8 hours to complete including stripping the gear, took 2 fairly significant falls, as the Silent Partner takes time to lock, leaving me closer to the floor than I am comfortable with.  To be honest it ticked the adventure itch, but I'm not sure "enjoyed" would be a good description as it felt pretty scary the whole way.

F+S Rest

Sun - Indoor Training - Max hangs 6*10s +15kg with strict half crimp.  3*circuits of: 5* T's and Y's (front and back), 10* Leg raises, 10* Scalp pull ups +15kg, 10* Press up.

Thanks again SSB. Good news from the Physio - the partial pulley rupture is healing nicely and there's no longer a tear present. The ultrasound did show a bit of inflammation still present so I'm under strict instructions to continue rehabbing on the hangboard and steer clear of wooden training boards for another month, but I am allowed to climb a bit harder now though (still limited to a 3 finger drag).

All in all a fairly productive week:

Monday

Core exercises and lower body strength & conditioning - squats (5 x 4 sets), hamstring curls (10 x 4 sets), calf raises (10 x 4 sets), russian twists (20 x 4 sets), twisting crunches (20 x 4 sets), tricep dips (10 x 4 sets), side plank (4 x 30 seconds), inverted rows on rings (5 x 4 sets)

Tuesday

Rest

Wednesday

Zwift zone 2 intervals 

Thursday

Zwift zone 3 intervals

Friday

Rest

Saturday

Boulder pyramid (V3-V7) 

Sunday

Rest

Plan for this week is some more easy climbing and a focus on cardio. I'm off to Scotland for a week on Saturday so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for more snow and cold conditions! 

Thanks SSB.

Goals:

- Maintain my physio rehab on finger/shoulder every week and aim to stay uninjured

- Subject to above, maintain a consistent pattern of 2 fingerboard sessions per week until at least the end of March (starting with 3/6/9 protocol but I plan to move to one arm max hangs at some point)

- Go climbing once a week, have fun, try hard and maintain movement skills

- 3 Font 7s in Font at Easter, assuming we go

- 2 Font 7Bs across the year

These goals feel fairly modest but let's see how it goes... I will plan to review them post Font.

M: rest

T: lunchtime - retested my 12 second max hang on the 23mm edge to set the load for the next month of 3/6/9 training. I settled on clothed BW + 25kg (so approx 106kg). I could possibly have added 2-3 extra kg but it's a faff due to the weight increments I own and I think I'll find 3/6/9 challenging enough with 25kg anyway. After the testing, I did two 3/6/9 sets. My rough intent is to finish this 4 week stretch and assuming no injury issues, to then switch to some one arm training. However this will depend on my shoulder.

W: rest

T: Lunchtime - 4 sets of 3/6/9 with bodyweight +25kg on the 23mm edge. Did all these sets ok, felt pretty good. Ran out of time for the fifth set due to a work meeting. Evening - shoulder/bicep rehab.

F: rest

S: morning session at the Hangar combined with son No.1 going to rock club mini. Good session, I did two V6s on the 20/30 degree walls and two whites, one of which was the one I couldn't do last week. Shoulder/bicep rehab.

S: planned trip with son No. 1 rained off again. Shoulder/bicep rehab.

Si

Cheers SSB

Yeah, feeling pretty lucky to get out on a rope at all really! I think since my daughter was born I climbed with a rope on once in 2020, and 5 times I think in 2021, so hopefully well on course to surpass that! I was surprised how polished some things were, I guess I shouldn’t be but I’ve not really done much easy at the cuttings for years and my memory is maybe rose tinted!

Monday - indoor wall. First time in a few weeks and my skin took a bit of a beating on the resin! I was deliberately trying to climb fairly open/relaxed grip wherever possible which seemed to result in a lot of wear on my pinkies, presumably because they aren’t as solidly/stably in contact as my fingers open out so move about a bit more? But anyway, quite a good session, did a bunch of easy things on a variety of angles to get moving (I should probably do more of this, trying to make sure I’ve done everything of a given colour in the centre), then did a few harder things and tried a few others.

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - wall with miniAJM. Again, a bunch of easy variety, a few slightly harder things too. Still trying to avoid crimping with the right wherever possible.

Thursday - rest

Friday - lap of the park at lunch, but otherwise ran out of time, a busy day at work and then the in-laws down in the evening.

Saturday - couple of miles of gentle child’s pace walking and generic child wrangling, a nice day to be out. Then 5-3-5-3-5 aerobic session on the board.

Sunday - wall. I wasn’t expecting much - meeting a friend and her child, plus sore skin - but despite a slow start I had fun on a few of the easier comp wall problems, tried and failed on a few hard slabs, and had a bunch of goes on a potential project on the comp wall. Later on in the day, I tried messing about on the rings - seems basically impossible to keep the straps away from me when doing dips etc. according to the internet I maybe need the mounts (on the top of my board) a big further apart. Plus be stronger, I guess! I also tried some foot assisted dips, to see if it would let me get bigger reps and range of motion. It sort of did, but I’m not sure it was revolutionary. Later on did pushups, variety of grips, about 60-70 (I lost track!), and a short stretch.

Yo SSB, cheers for the stats once again!

Never been to Font before so this will be my first time! Very excited. Didn't know there were any permadry problems, I thought it all topped out and thus can't be protected by capping roofs or anything. Recommendations welcome!

A moderate week from me. Two decent gym sessions in and discovered a weakness I already sussed but never confirmed: finger strength! Sort of makes sense when you consider that my hardest boulders all tend to be big moves and big holds - the exception being Wherever I Lay My Hat (f7B+), though the crux for me was not the same crux for everyone else!

Last Week:

M - Gym. Mostly burly stuff with decent holds. Still feeling slightly weak but I think I'm ramping back up into it. Buncha press-ups.

T - Contrast baths.

W - Rest.

T - Depot B'ham. Good session. Had a go on the wave board and made some good hardish problems. Finger felt slightly better?

Found out they have a good fingerboard selection, so decided to assess myself on the Lattice 20mm. Managed +27.5kg for 7s. Might've been able to eek out a bit more but was getting fatigued. That puts me at 136% BW, not very strong for the grade. Time for gains?

Tried hanging the micros too but even the 10mms piss off my PIP joints. Loads of dips too.

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Gym.

T - Rest.

W or T - Gym.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Get outside!

Goals:

Rehab finger tweak.

A Mon With A Spade.

Rigpa.

Brass Monkeys.

Sounds like a great little Adventure (deliberate capital "A")

Zee Zee Top (E2 5b) - CHOSS! You'll only see one logged ascent on the logbooks here - guilty as charged...

However, to my main question - have you or do you know of anyone to repeat Bladder Ladder (7c) ? Even back in ~2002 it felt way harder than the advertised grade of 7b and I assume lots of holds have come off since?

Thanks for stat'ing again. Very happy with the 7B+, especially as the local talent failed to repeat it shortly afterwards :-D

After a 7-days off, work kicked off again this week, so no chance of getting out. happy to have fitted in various short sessions around work and Squiggle.

Week 6

M – Rest

T – Warm-ups of most starred 6B+/C’s (found a couple of sandbags that I failed to flash!)

An-cap triples; 7A+/chalk/7A+/15s/7A+/180s repeat = HARD!  5/3/5/3/5 light aero-cap warm-down split with 4x12 40kg bench-press. Pooped.

W – Stretches & shoulder ROM exercises.

T – Lattice block lifts. 6x6 48kg L&R.

F – Linked boulders an-cap. Up a 7A/+ down a 6B+ on the board. All reps completed “OK” – got more pumped than powered out. Think I probably need to wire a 6C downclimb to make this a more powerful session?

S – 29km flat but windy ride before the rain came.

S – Board 10. 7A+ x5 flash or 2nd go. 7C/+ x5. Completed 2 successfully.

Shittiness at work largely destroys my weekday training motivation. Weekend was better though.

STG: ??
MTG: 1H 2022: onsight 6c+
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    
T:    I normally go to the wall on Tuesday, but today I felt in need of an extra rest day after last weekend's skiing. Turns out activities involving physical effort, intense mental focus on technique and overcoming fear are quite fatiguing, whoda thought?
W:    
T:    Max hangs, working on my strict crimp form.
F:    An hour step-ups & jogging
S:    Wall, Weyarn. Autobelay mileage - a fairly unfocused basic maintenance session is better than no session at all.
S:    Skiing, Kitzbühel. The big glitzy commercial resorts aren't normally my thing, but my son wanted to go down the Hahnenkamm (I didn't! and it took him considerably more than two minutes) and I wanted to check out the "normal" black runs before my ski school's advanced weekend, which is beng held here in March. This turns out to have been probably a mistake: the black runs here are properly black, unlike some of the light greys I've done elsewhere, and now I feel more scared than prepared. Oops.

Are you likely to be in Germany second half of August Alan? Long way away, but we are hoping to be in the Frankenjura, be good to catch up again if you are

Would be great. Hoping to pop over to the UK some time in summer to see family for the first time since the pandemic, but not for long.

What an incredible week!

I did wander if you would reply.  I cleaned the trad routes a few days before, so most of the loose was removed.  They all have access to a lower-off now, so hopefully they will see some ascents.

No-one had done it that I am aware of.

We also cleaned Bladder Ladder the other day and put a route to the left of it up the arete.  At the time I played on TR to get a grade confirmation and I think its thin 7c just before the first bolt, and a vital hold has definitely broken.  The traverse route took Bladder Ladder at 2nd and 3rd Bolts where we think its now soft 7b. The full RP is now on my to do list.

The issue with lots of the hard sport there is that no-one has confirmed them for over 20 years, so effectively the routes no longer exist due to the exfoliating nature of the rock.  If I get the time I would like to investigate them all some more.

Mon-Tues - still not well.

Wed - All at bodyweight... 3x10 shrugs, 6 sets of repeaters, 5x5 pull ups, 3x10 press ups.  Felt really weak.

Thurs. 9km run. Steady pace but starting to feel stronger.

Fri. I've not failed to climb Submergence for a while so went for a session on that.  Given that its been more than 10 sessions since I last landed the lank method (even in isolation) I clearly aren't going to do it that way so I didn't spend any more time on that.  I was hoping some beta Ally sent me might work for the heel method but I still couldn't get that to work at all.  I've never really put much time into the sloper match, mostly because it looks dirt and whenever I mention it everyone groans and makes a horrible face but I decided to embrace that terrible hold today.  Some progress was made, I found that I can actually match the sloper (yay!) and if i get my right hand on the left bit then I can do the throw successfully (did it several times making it about a million times more likely than the lank way and infinitely more likely that the heel way).  Unfortunately, the only way I can imagine getting my right hand to the left bit is to bump my left onto some absolute filth in order to make space (which I didn't do but was coming close by the end).  So I guess that leaves me with either getting strong enough to throw from the matched sloper without the bump move or get strong enough to bump more convincingly.  Either way... more max hangs I think!

Sat. 6km run, back to normal pace.

Sun.  Social wall boulder session at the depot.  Did a load of reds and purples.

Hi Clubbers. Thanks for keeping us all on the righteous path, SSB.

Yep, was one of my more mad life-choices... first time for a while that I've had hotaches in my toes.

I haven't climbed on the Etive Slabs, and would obviously like to, but they're kind-of on a second-tier list (for no good reason)! I guess the problem with Scotland is there's just soooo much quantity and quality to go at -it's almost a bit overwhelming. So my list of 'why the hell haven't I climbed here yet' crags is actually a very abridged version of what it could be -especially in terms of Scottish (summer) venues.

Week 6:

Dropped a couple of planned sessions, but still a reasonable week.

M: Walk. Would never have previously chalked up a walk as a training activity, but that's where I am at the moment! A pretty awesome potter around Ingleby Incline -recceing routes and working out pacing distances with my current dodgy leg (turns out it's exactly the same as previous -68 doubles per 100m on the flat). Just loving being out and about.

T: Max Hangs. Pull-ups. Prehab -shoulders.

W: Leg rehab. Prehab -elbow and shoulders.

T: Core. Prehab -shoulders.

F: Climbing at Wainstones. Shunt session -highlight was Central Route (HVS 5b) -felt really hard (took three goes to get it clean) -not sure if this was because it was bitterly cold and i couldn't feel my fingers, or because my footwork is very rusty, or both. Walk out was a bit sorer than walk in after twisty, slabby moves.

S: Max Hangs. Pull-ups. Prehab -shoulders.

S: Core. Prehab -elbows and shoulders.

Week 7:

5 x Prehab -check in with Biscuit about rehab progress.

2 x Core 

3 x Max Hangs & Pull-ups

2 x Conditioning

2 x short runs (or 1 run + 1 walk).

STG -end March:

Run my usual running loop.

Max Hangs: 90kg total.

Pull-ups: 95kg total.

Some Scottish winter routes -no longer fussy what... just anything white on tools!

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 (7a) The Jim Grin (7a))

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, Almscliff, Caley, Slipstones (Going to solidify this to 3+ days at each -a bit more measurable!)

At least two days from big mountain list: 0/2.

Late summer/autumn alpine trip.

Nice! Sounds like a great trip.

You should have made him climb in a whillans made from a sling!

Sounds delightfully sketchy!

Haha! Excellent!

Sounds brilliant and terrifying in equal measure! I find shunting scary enough -lead solo traversing sounds heinous!

Zee Zee Top had a fairly horrid top out and prickly belay, so very happy to hear it has a lower-off now.

No objection from me if the whole thing got retro'd.

Thanks SSB.

A good first week back after de load. It took me a few days to get back into things and i've lost an option for upper body weights so i'll try and sort that next week. I'm feeling really psyched for Spain on the 19th, but need to remain calm and not get injured.

M - Deadlift - 5 x 5 with 120kgs

T - 10 laps of 7a circuit at BUK with 2 mins rest between laps. Didn't fail, but very taxing. It's not 7a though.

W - Boulder a BUK - some really hard V5's and 6's kicked my butt. Possibly still a bit tired from yesterday. Got a V7 consolation.

10 min continuous climbing on 6a+ circuit.

T - Squats 5 x5 @ 70kgs 

F - Pyramids on the 25m wall at Kendal 6a, 6b+, 6c, 7a+, 7b (failed), 7a, 6b+, 6b+. Quite tired...

S - 45 min jog and a good stretch

S - BUK - boulder. Flashed up to V6 and got two V7's. I felt much stronger than on Wednesday.

10 mins continuous climbing on 6a+.

More of the same this week. Bouldering is maintenance, the increase will be focussed on fitness work.

that session at Kendal Biscuit - good effort!

That sounds totally bonkers! 

Well done though!

Thanks

"Bonkers" is actually what I was going for. With a young family, I can't just get away for an adventure at some of the bigger destinations, so I work with whats closer to home.

Really interesting challenge to take on, though it sounds somewhat mad!  It doesn’t sound like you’ll be rushing to repeat the experience!

After a few years of no physical activity (bar one fantastic afternoon on Milestone Buttress) due to other commitments (full time carer), this being my 50th year I decided to try and regain some fitness. 

Since Christmas I've been cross-country/trail walking as much as I can - usually at least twice a week in all weathers - and can now do 8 miles in under 2 hours in boots which I'm very happy with.

I'm tempted to get involved in this Fitclub thread but having read through some of the amazing feats and adventures, perhaps I should up my game a bit first.

Fitclub has a massive range from those that try to get out walking a couple of times a week right through to 8c FA cranking strong folk.  Upping your game is what its all about, but only relative to whatever your game is now, not relative to each other.  Feel free to get stuck in!

Edit: We have a range of ages too, from 20s up to 60s.

Sensitively put I thought SSB!  Got to be considerate of us older folk!

Agreed. 

Its a great way to motivate yourself, no matter your level, get involved!

Thanks fellas, I appreciate the support. I've done around 120km since I began so it's still early days. I can't regularly be away for any great length of time so my training sessions are limited to 2hrs max and often just 1hr. I have to play it by ear. So, to get more from my stints I now often carry a pack.

Today I upped my pack weight to 20lb and managed 6.5km in 56 mins (6.9kph average). Legs are feeling it a bit this evening but that's the whole point. It's definitely getting easier as the arse shrinks.

Cheers.