UKC

Hi Folks. Sorry for the late one! Was running late anyway, but now my laptop has decided to be uncooperative too.

I'll post up properly in the morning -feel free to get your weeks up before then if you've anything you need to get off your chests urgently! Otherwise normal service will resume tomorrow morning.

Soz!

In reply to Tom Green:

No problem Tom

As expected not much i don't have that much to report. The good news is that the wound is healing well and it is does not look that there is any risk for an infection or inflation. The bad news is that my Dr. told that i should limit to bend my elbow beyond ~90° for the next six week to avoid any strain on the wound which could lead to it upon up again. Hence, looks like another break from climbing in front of my and spring outdoor season is officially canceled

At least i should still be fine to do block lifts and lockoffs, as long as i don't bend my elbow too much.

In reply to Tom Green:

Fit club 894

OK. Back on track...

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_893-77037...

Derek Furze: Good varied week of training and climbing. Sounds like you are hitting form just in time for the good weather. I know what you mean about the idea of spending a whole session climbing without getting up anything being a bit of an anathema... but that's hard sport! I look forward to seeing how you adjust to the redpointing mindset!

Somerset Swede Basher: I'm beginning to think you just like the ride off the top of Master's Edge too much to actually finish it! Maybe you need your belayer to pay out a load of slack to sharpen your mind -like that footage of Johnny! Hope you've had a great week in the lakes.

Randy: Sorry you're in the wars. Be patient -there is still a lot of climbing season to go. And if you can still do fingerboard pick-ups then you aren't going backwards. You've more than enough 'big muscle' strength for your climbing projects, so this break will just mean the snow's melted by the time you're back in action!

mattrm: Nice work with the Llanbedr horseshoe. That's a great achievement -you must be chuffed with that. Hope the IT band hasn't been to grumbly this week. Coincidentally mine has been a bit grumpy too. For me it's usually linked to increasing elevation (rather than just flat mileage) and tends to be manageable by just backing off the uphill slightly then increasing more slowly.

Tyler: Top job with the tradding. It must feel good to be getting stuck back in to the E2s. Also well done getting the various ailments looked at -I hope something productive comes out of the appointments, but if they tell you you're beyond repair you can just go out in a blaze of glory this summer! "Better to burn out than to fade away!" (Joking -preserve those precious joints as long as poss!)

Ian Parnell: That's good news about the finger (relatively speaking!) And it obviously wasn't holding you back at Gogarth -Nice tour of Castell Helen there! What's the situation with the achilles? Have you a plan in place for rehabbing and for maintaining cardio fitness/leg conditioning while it mends? Presumably there is a tonne of info on this type of injury from sports like football or athletics?

Ross Barker: Wow, that's a great week! It's like you've taken your goal of ticking moonboard benchmarks to rock and practically ticked North Wales! Glad to see that you've got stuck straight in to addressing those weaknesses that you identified with the wrist pronation. Good strategic rest days too -a very disciplined week!

Alan Little: A good balanced week of training -impressive to see you keeping all of your plates spinning. Nice work with the box steps. As I've said in the past, I would never ever have the patience to do that, but I have a lot of admiration for those that do. It is a genuinely valuable exercise and I'm sure will pay you back nicely in Scotland.

Tom Green: No excuses for missing so many sessions. Be better.

Ally Smith: Welcome back! I'm sure you've had an amazing time in SA but I'm not going to ask about it because there's a limit to how much jealousy I can tolerate! Big kudos for the homecoming moonboard challenge -very strong stuff. Sorry to hear the plague has struck -hope it is short lived for the Smith household.

Tigh: Another solid week, and it's great to see some really specific training in the hills. If you keep this focus and consistency up you are going to be in a great place for your summer goals. The closer it gets to your alps trip the more I would stress my number one pre-trip tip... don't get injured! Until then, keep up the good work.

AJM: I feel your pain about silly 'scheduling' mistakes -I do it all the time! Well done with the upper body exercises though -it sounds like you are doing a good job of building them in to daily life -a great habit to establish. I hope you've managed to get out today.

biscuit: Shaking out on undercuts?! That sounds like the gym work has been doing a good job of converting you in to a beast -my biceps are sore just thinking about it! It sounds like you are getting the balance right between hard, structured training and climbing at the moment... are you happy with that too? A lot of volume in your week as usual -to paraphrase the wise people at Process Physiotherapy: "keep an eye on sleep and diet whilst the volume is high".

the sheep: Glad to hear you're on the mend. Looks like you are right back to your usual consistency -we could set our watches by your weekly sessions! Just be careful with the cardio during the lurgy hangover period... I haven't read up on it recently but I know the early data suggested exercising too hard to soon increased the odds ratio for long covid. Maybe something to bear in mind and think about easing back gently?

In reply to Randy:

Very frustrating Randy, but I'm sure with your motivation and self discipline you'll find something productive to do during the six weeks.

In reply to Tom Green:

STG: Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip in May
STG: Thalkirchen 5.9 "easy" crack
MTG. DAV Lofoten meet in July
MTG: Im Extremen Fels ticks in August
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter '25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M:  Rest day. 40 minutes stretching & mobility to ease out stiff & weary legs, including some decidedly no-pain-no-gain foam rolling

T:    Wall, Thalkirchen. 5c 6a 6b 6b 6b 6a 6b 6a+ 6b - an ok moderate mileage session to start rebuilding some base endurance.
    Bike there & back

W:  Public holiday, and the snow below about 1500 looked on webcams to be mostly gone again, so back to the (lower) hills. Geierstein - Fockenstein. Despite this being really quite a short & easy walk (20km, 1100m) I'm actually feeling rather battered. But I guess one is supposed to feel battered towards the end of an endurance training period, the trick is when & how much to taper.

T:    Rest day. Half an hour stretching.

F:    Crimp block pick-ups, pullups, shoulders
       Bike one hour

S:    Hillwalking, Bischof (not quite). The alpine foothills around here aren't that high but they do have some rather iffy steep & chossy terrain, and if one insists on venturing off piste the occasional mini-epic is to be expected. Set off up a hunters' path that was marked on the map but turned out to barely exist on the ground. It dead-ended in a stream bed/gully still a couple of hundred metres short of the summit. This turned out to be loose, greasy and generally unpleasant, and a little way up it I got to a step that I wasn't sure I'd be able to downclimb if things got worse higher up. Thinking that this would be an inconvenient & embarrassing spot to get rescued from, and not wanting to risk breaking an ankle and buggering up my Scotland trip, I bailed.
    And without even setting foot in Scotland I also picked up my first ticks of the year. Great. At least it's a reminder to pack my tweezers and permethrin my socks.
    Nearby is also the spot where, a few years ago, I had my one and only (so far) unplanned winter bivvy. Clearly an area to avoid in future.

S:    Wall, Thalkirchen kilterboard. So tired from all the tabbing that I can barely even call this a maintenance session, but I enjoyed getting some moves in.
       Bike there & back

A hundred hours of aerobic base work and fourteen thousand metres of uphill in March & April have caused me to lose not a single ounce. Slightly disappointing. Hiking just makes me hungry, it would seem.

Two weeks to Scotland
 

In reply to Tom Green:

I agree. I used to do quite a lot of them - not only during lockdown but also before. Lately since I've got into the habit of riding my bike everywhere around town, I've pretty much accepted that as sufficient for my midweek cardio needs. But, as you say, the box step-ups are far more specific, and I'm thinking of working more of them back into my schedule.

In reply to Tom Green:

Cheers Tom. Yes it feels like something is paying off somewhere. I'm feeling more robust overall and I've noticed a real difference a couple of times. Moves that I know I'd struggle with in the past are feeling much better. It feels like i need time to adjust to it on rock though.

M - Gym and core. Quick boulder session. felt good. Flashed some steep problems at a level that I would normally struggle with. Even the problems I couldn't do felt better, like the moves weren't impossible.

T - I can't remember what we did? Perhaps nothing? I think we went outside somewhere.....

W - Busy day. Managed a quick gym session and an hour of power at work. Noteable was that I got on the 55 degree board and managed 3 problems. I've only ever been able to do one of the set problems on this board before.

T - rest

F - Kilnsey - got on The Truth Drug (7b+). Putting the clips in felt desperate. 2nd go felt better. 3rd go I'm happy I can get from the floor to the rest and from the rest to the penultimate bolt. But can't figure out the beta at the top. 4th go - spent just on the top and can't figure it out. I've picked this as I did it 10 years ago when I was feeling on good form and I remember it being beta intensive then. Frustrating as I feel i'd be in with a good shout if I could figure the beta.

S - Gym and core and family stuff

S-  More family stuff - managed a 45 minute jog which was VERY hard work despite being around a flat park.

This is the last week of 3 x a week gym work (point noted re recovery etc Tom thanks). I do kind of feel like I want to carry on with this though as I am feeling the benefits. It is certainly impacting into my fatigue when climbing, but my goal is a route in December, not now, so I may have to suck this up.

Back to Kilnsey this week, i'll give one more session to truth drug and if I can't figure the beta I'll step away for some quick ticks rather than getting stuck.

Next week we have a few days off to go away and have a mini trip. Dinas Rock is current favourite, but there's numerous options. Can't wait. Fingers crossed for the weather.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks for the stats Tom. Yes, fingers progressing well – I’d say at 90%. The Achilles however is taking longer. Prof Biscuit has been really helpful and I’m doing rehab daily but tendons are slow to heal and Achilles tendinopathy has a reputation for being one of the slowest. I can’t see my run/climb thing happening anytime soon, so I’m beginning to hatch plans for a non-running monster day at Stanage.

STG (this month) – maintain a grip on daily life, sort out niggles.

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Give me strength – shoulders and core. 2. Monster Stanage day out. 3. Rheinstor Lower Traverse??

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Trip to Sanctuary Wall. 3. Redpoint a 7b+.

Mon – Nothing

Tues – 45 mins soloing at Stanage. 3 routes HS-VS.

Wed – Pull up pyramid up to 5 with 3 sets of 3 on way down total 28 pull ups

Thursday – Carcing 20mins. Foot on campus 60 secs on 60 secs off. 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 54, 414 secs total. Bit of a surprise as 60secs better than last week and only 7 secs off pb (with 65 secs protocol).

Fri – 30mins Carcing

Sat – Spent the morning at Moat Buttress trying Moat Afloat (7a). Bit of an odd experience for various reasons. Good news was the handholds felt bigger than when I was on Moat People (7b+) and Afloat in the Moat (6c+), the two component parts of this hybrid route. Also apart from the usual pain of 85kg hanging on Peak limestone crimps there was no flare up of my finger niggles – so that was a win. The bad news was I was climbing really tentatively, mainly because I couldn’t get my head around the feet – a seemingly random mosaic of shit smedges. The day degenerated when later in the morning quite a few other folk started arriving (we’d got out reasonably early so had been there an hour or so). I’ve always prided myself at not becoming a grumpy old git, but it was a struggle today. I was aware that the top part of my route was on the best warm up line, but I had a rope in place, planning to work it on top rope. I agreed for two lads to pull my rope down because I was trying to be nice, but I regretted that, when the first one lowered off and spent a few minutes trampling all over my rope until I asked nicely for him not to. They decided for their next route they’d do Moat People even though I was still working away on the first half of that as part of Moat Afloat. My partner was still at the belay chain of his route when another party stick clipped the first bolt of the route. Presumably to book it! It felt like a shit experience at an over-crowded climbing wall. I know it was the Peak, and its bank holiday and it was the driest bit of limestone, but… Anyway, I left before I went full on Meldrew.

Sunday – By way of contrast had a few hours at Chatsworth, which felt a bit like the crag that time forgot, in a good way. Just did 3 easy routes, I was tempted by Sentinel Crack (E3 5c) but luckily ran out of time! The face climbs here will probably need a good brush before any ascent because lichen is reclaiming the rock.

Reflection - I was tired for about 4 days after last Saturday’s big day out to Gogarth. As a result this week started off as a sort of de-load, although somehow I still managed 3 climbing sessions, even if all were relatively short. I was pleased with my improvement on the foot on campusing but got a bit of a shock at Moat Buttress. My year goal of 7b+ seems totally delusional at the moment.

In reply to Tom Green:

Good afternoon everyone. Looks like summer is here! Praise be to whomever made the necessary sacrifices for such a blessing.

Yes, it was a great week, had a wonderful time even if it ended on a slightly wonky note!

This week has had two more good sessions but an empty bit in the middle; very fatigued after an underfueled work day, then couldn't easily fit a session in between other plans. Ah well, due a deload, perhaps this is it! 

Last Week:

Avg weight 80.3kg

M - Wrist pronation stretches. Pronated bicep curls, 6x5.

T - Moonboard. Tentative cranking, culminating in two new benchmarks I hadn't done before. One of these actually spat me off on the match a month or two back. Tried a couple others but didn't stay for too long. No complaints from left middle, right ring only barely on a particularly ratty hold (which I then left alone!).

W - Wrist pronation stretches. Pronated bicep curls, 6x5 ish. 10 mins groin and hamstring mobility.

T - Tired. Rest.

F - Wrist pronation stretches. Pronated bicep curls, 6x5.

S - A few km's walking while supporting my wife on a mud run. Might join in on the next one, looked really fun!

S - Rest? I think?

M - Little day out in North Wales. Dragged my wife up to Fontainefawr but the landings and approach proved a bit gnarly, so we went to the infinitely more accessible Drws y Coed Pop Block. Managed the feisty It's All Pop (f7B), plus a couple others before we needed to leave. Neat little boulder. If I didn't have to drive past most of the rest of Snowdonia I'd probably be more keen to return

Next Week:

T - Maybe a quick training session?

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Improve wrist mobility.

Improve lower body mobility.

Louisville Lip.

Rigpa.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks for the stats Tom

The last week was a deload week at least until Sunday when I did a big hike. It was tough going at the end I have to say. I wasn't expecting the last peak to turn into a scramble and I think I took a wrong turn so ended up in a pretty sketchy situation were it felt like it was more climbing than scrambling. Lesson learned. Plan and research your routes

M - Rest

T - 5km easy run

W - 7km easy run

T - Tempo Ks total 7.5 km 6km was tempo

F - Strength 

Sa - Rest 

Su - 16km 1750m elevation taking in Tryfan, Glyder Fawr, Y Garn and Pen yr Ole with a small loop back to base of Tryfan. It was a cracking day and I melted. B3 boots are not built for hot weather. Tryfan was an absolute joy though. What a route it is. 

Hope everyone enjoyed the bank hol

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks for the stats Tom!

Weight - 14st 5lbs

STG - 10km fell loop in 1h 45m

MTG - 30 mile ultra (July 24)

LTG? keep on trucking?  stay fit? ummm

BHAG - F7A boulder somewhere / kickflip

M - T - Rest

W - 1h circuits at Llangorse + 1h at skatepark

T - 5k run

F - Rest

S - 8k hillwalk (400m asc)

S - 5k hillwalk

Weekly kms - 5k

Diet status - Ok

Probably should have done more running really.  But it's been an ok week all in.  Back at the circuits board and I'm doing double laps of the easier of the two V0-1 circuits.  Nice session at the skatepark as well.  I didn't wreck myself too badly.  Doofed my head a bit so glad I wear a lid.  Other than that I'd forgotten how hard work even simple ramp tricks are.  It hammers your core.

Over the weekend the fell running club took the kids out to a bunkhouse in the middle of Mynydd Du.  Had a lovely walk with a massive pack on full of camping kit and we slept out at this lovely bunkhouse.  Then we trundled home on the Sunday.  Lovely weekend and it rather wore my son out. 

Next week the aim is to do a 15k run, then a 10k run and see how that goes.  Not really a long run week, just a decent bit of distance.  I'll make sure I do another long run or two before the month ends.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks Tom. I wish that was the case. Although the fall is 'safe', going that far always seems to have an impact. The first time I smacked my toes and still can't wear my left solution and this time I got my leg wrapped round the rope which gave me some pretty epic bruises and damaged the back off my helmet when I flipped upside down. Next time...

This week I feel like I went to the only wet bit of the country this weekend but did manage to have some big days.

Mon. 5km run, flat and fast.

Tues. Tops off limestones bouldering! Felt very spring like. Went to Tidewell Dale which I've only been to once before and that was 10(!) years ago. Did Cripple's Crab (f7A+) which is really long so made for a good warm up with none of the moves being too hard. Also did the crimpy E.T. Bone Home (f7A) which I remember trying last time I was there.

Wed. 6km run. Flat and fast again.

Thurs. Last eve fingerboard. 6 sets of repeaters and 3x10 press ups.

Fri. Drive to the lakes after work.

Sat. Morning walk up Holme Fell (250m ish ascent I think). Spent a small fortune on kids walking boots in the afternoon as we realised this morning that both had bigger feet now. Short sharp run early eve up Long Crag Buttress (Grade-1) 2.5km with 280m ascent.

Sun. Another steep run in the morning up Mouldry Bank And Rascal How (Grade-2) 3km with 280m ascent while waiting for the weather to clear. Then epic 8hr walk with the kids, 14km with 930m ascent, Coniston Old Man, Brim Fell, Swirl Howe, Great Carr and back via Levers Water. This was actually quite hard work with the big family bag so everyone else could go without a bag. No idea how much it weighed but 5L of water plus 4 people's waterproofs, lunch, warm jackets, emergency stuff etc felt heavier than my climbing pack.

BHMon. It rained when I'd planned to go climbing early doors so that got binned. Nice walk up Black Crag (250m ish ascent) and finally some views. Rained again when I was planning to visit the south lakes limestone bouldering so we did battle with the M6 instead and headed home.

In reply to Tom Green:

Hi all.

Week 18:

Still off the training wagon -partly good excuses, partly poor discipline/motivation.

M: Rest.

T: Rest.

W: Strength sesh -moving house so lifting heavy furniture.

T: Climbing. A bit of a desultory session on Bill and Ben (7b+) -really dirty, awful moves, uninspiring line -probably won't put much time in to this one!

F: Road/trail run. 10.1km, 38m vert, 5:39/km.

S: Strength sesh -moving house so lifting one million heavy boxes. 

S: Climbing. A really enjoyable day of chilled trad with Tyler. Highlights were the super interesting Flake Wall (HVS 5a) and watching Tyler do the jamming crack of Groan (E2 5b) with minimal jamming! 

Week 19:

M: Rest.

T: Rest.

W: Strength.

T: Run.

F: Climbing.

S: Climbing.

S: Run.

STG (end of May):

Average 35km/wk running -need to pull my socks up on this one.

2 off E2 list.

1 x VS Challenge Day.

2 x Sport Onsighting Marathon.

A Spade (TICK)

Slobberlob (TICK)

MTG (end of July):

Average 45km/wk running.

1 x Mountain Ultra (Welsh 3000s; Tea Round; Corris Round).

3 off E2 list.

Maybe sneak in an E3.

2 x VS Challenge Day.

2 x Sport Onsighting Marathon.

Yates' Layaway.

Eliminator.

In reply to Tom Green:

I don’t think there is anything productive that can be done I just want to know if I’m going to make things worse.

M: Rest

T: 7.5km trail run @9.7kph

W: Consultant about my feet, nothing surprising, I’ve very arthritic toes, knackered fat pads on the heels and knackered ankle but foot “not falling off” so not a lot of point taking X rays. I quite appreciated his candour and in a few years I’ll probably go back to get my toes fused and in the mean time I’m free to carry on if I can cope with the pain. Afterwards I went to the Cromlech and did Roadside Arete (V5) which I’ve not been able to touch before so was pretty chuffed. Not sure I’m any stronger just a few beta tweaks and tried harder. 
T & F: Sacked off run or bike in favour of gardening.

S: Very sociable at Craig y Forwyn, lots of familiar faces, I warmed up on Sunset Strip (HVS 5a) which deserves the E1 it gets in the definitive guide. Seconded Groan and then had a quick TR on Imminent Departees which was interesting

S: Moelwynion with Tom, great day, love the rock there. Managed my first properly onsight E2 of the year. I think only my second since before covid. I think I’ll make Tom a Moelwyn convert before he makes me a Dug Out one!

In reply to Tom Green:

Thank you Tom,

Another week with not much going on as the finger pulley is still very fragile.  The odd lack of concentration and accidental loading makes for a disconcerting feeling in the pulley.

M - Some fairly relaxed trad.   Dragon (E3 5c) Which I led the monster P1 through the MXS part of the wall, seconding P2 was ok with careful use of the hand to avoid loading the finger.  Then seconded Captain Swing (E3 5c) which was ok as the holds are big and rounded.

S - Some very easy top ropes with the little girl.  Caught myself pulling too hard on the finger whilst soloing up a severe to rig the rope.

Better weather week incoming, so hoping to explore more of the mid level local trad.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks Tom.

I'm pretty sure I did generic exercises on Monday and Tuesday.

On Thursday I took MiniAJM to the wall. This can be good in forcing me to take proper rests, it can go to far into the getting-nothing-done category. This time it was fairly good, I got a few new things done, including some stuff I had tried before and not done, and I made some progress at the end on a slightly more significant project.

At the weekend I took the kids to see my folks, my dad has bust his Achilles so he's a bit immobile at the minute. Saturday I went to  Fairlop Boulders, where I met Duncan. A good social chatter, miniAJM did loads, I did a bunch of stuff as well - it was good.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks Tom for thoughtful encouragement as usual!

I've had a deload week really, though it wasn't planned as such!

Mon - a good session of repeaters with 12 sets at plus 22.8kg on the 20mm pick up block.  Quite tough on LH, but fairly comfortable on RH (a new PB).  60 pull ups, 20 of which were with plus 4.5 kg.  Lots of core exercises and stretching for an all round decent sesh.  Intended to go to 100 with pull ups, but interrupted by visitors.

Tues - peculiar, slight pain near elbow, so decided to rest it.  Went to park with grandson and decided to try a pull up to see how it felt.  Pain vanished!  Exam question for the physios - pain was slightly above joint on inside (above and inside bony lump).  Niggled all day, but disappeared on one pull up.

Wed - work

Thurs - World's End.  It is a lovely place - peaceful and with a tinkling stream.  Five routes, but nothing harder than HVS as still getting trad going.  Quite inspired by the look of a couple of things there.  Failed to lead Finer Feelings, which left me a bit (quite a lot really) demoralised.  However, a day of reflection made me realise that quite a lot of trips out have been blighted by poor conditions and they have been a bit sporadic.  Just need a bit of mileage really to settle into it properly.  I'm always a slow starter each year.  Work finishes properly this week, so plenty of year to go.

Fri - Should have been out, but predicted rain stopped play.  In the end, it wasn't such a bad day, but decision had been made.

Sat - Mon was all time spent on life admin, projects and partying.  No training, running or anything.  Proper deload!  Back to it today

Out Thursday and Friday this week.  Was hoping to get three days in the hills next week (Wed- Fri), but forecast isn't good!  Hearing Randy's injury issues, I guess I should count my blessings!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

You're not selling projecting on Peak limestone to me somehow!  Some of the sport climbing etiquette leaves something to be desired...

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Were you? Were you really? 🤔

I’ve been eyeing up crack gloves on sale at Outside, even if I pull the trigger on a purchase I doubt I’ll ever fancy a Sentinel Crack. 

In reply to Tyler: I’ve done it before and it’s brilliant. Genuinely keen for another battering if you want to break those crack gloves in 😜

In reply to Tom Green:

Down to post-holiday earth with a resounding thump

Week 18

M – Sore back and sore throat – wife tested +ve for covid.

T – COMPEX forearm twitching. Just about holding off covid, but toddler rocking a 38degC temperature.

W – 5sets 11x 20mm pull-ups, spaced over toddler’s 45min nap. Back starting to feel a little better, but miles off being able to take falls from the board.

T – Wham – full blown lurgy; chills, headache, nauseated, the whole caboodle. Youngest ill too, with >39degC fever.

F – Ditto

S – Ditto

S – Ditto

In reply to Ally Smith: sending you healing vibes, hope you feel better soon Ally

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Cheers - it's my first day back working today, but still not up for much activity, let alone any focused training.

In reply to AJM:

Good to hear M is keen at the moment!

Feeling strong for some warm Yorkshire grit?

In reply to Si dH:

I was meaning to drop you a line to understand what sort of things you were thinking about getting on, given as you say it's quite hot. Drop me a line with any thoughts?

Strong is maybe overstating it, but I am hopefully feeling uninjured, touch wood! It's just nice to be able to climb with a vague sense of normality again after so much time injured.