UKC

Fit Club 901

Evening all. Hope you've all had a good week and enjoyed the continued good weather?

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_900-77197...

Tyler: Nice work with the 7a flash, that's pretty good going. More importantly though, well done for smashing the walk up to Ceuse! -STG ticked! Hope the second week of your trip has been good.

Steve Claw: "the weather is good" is a fair point! Watched an entertaining video from Dave McLeod about cracking on with a finger injury  youtube.com/watch?v=P1yk4Zg0uJA& -although I'm not sure how applicable it is to us mortals with tweaks.

Ross Barker: Talking of fingers... how are yours getting on? Got a plan in place to work around them? Going to add any rehab to your normal icebaths etc? Nice work on Eliminator -I think it's going to take me a little longer! 

Derek Furze: That's a solid to-do list... plenty of class there. Well done on getting out despite mixed conditions last week. How's that arm/shoulder strain getting on?

Alan Little: Nice mix of training there. Good to see you taking the Scottish stoicism in to your rainy hill walks. Your autobelay pyramid looks like good aerocap for those long Lofoten routes. Any time on rock this week?

AJM: Sorry to hear the recovery is being annoyingly non-linear. Ankles can be so annoying -seemingly fine when not doing much with them, but then feeling totally weak if weighted out of line. Any pull-ups this week?

Somerset Swede Basher: Ooft! Yep, I can imagine 7c does feel tricky if it's actually 8b! Good effort for throwing yourself at it anyway! Any more progress at Tom's Cave this week?

Ian Parnell: The Swindon wall set-up sounds ace! You're going to get well strong on that angle. Just watch your elbows! Glad to read the observation about looking after yourself whilst look after the family -it would be easy to put yourself in to a hole and get sick with all the driving back and forth, caring commitments, and stress.

Tom Green: Well done for sticking to planned sessions. Get organised and plan to make climbing goals happen -they won't happen by accident.

mattrm: Good work listening to your body and taking the rest that it was hinting it needed. Also, taking it steady with the skating is probably a good plan with the ultra looming. Recce any legs of the route yet?

Tigh: Pico Veleta looks like a great day out. Really useful for testing systems too -as your feet have found out! I feel your pain re tight boots... maybe cooler temperatures will sort the problem, but don't suffer through it unless you have no other choice!

Ally Smith: Strong effort with Sunset Supersit. Who knew the Moon Board was so good at trainign enduro problems?! Did you get out on rock again this week?

Randy: Nice work with the lock-off work. It's never occurred to me to work more open lock-off positions -I'm normally wishing I can lock of at my waist! Sounds like you're pretty much recovered now?

the sheep: Good work with the long run. Are you doing much on the bike at the moment? A guess the Gower event doesn't require any cycling?

In reply to Tom Green:

Cheers Tom. Yes, but I think I need a reload few days. I realised that I've done a lot of limit bouldering in the last 2 weeks and I'm nackered!

Mon. 3rd visit to the cave in 5 days and actually managed to climb something this time! Managed Lecter (f7B) with a hideous match to avoid the move I can't do. Also did Hannibal Corner (f7B+) which was cool.

Tues. 10km trail run.

Wed. Rest 

Thurs. Back to the cave for another go at Hannibal. I didn't actually do any more moves but I can get to the move I can't do very consistently now. I only need to bump 4 inches left to the massive jug but I'm so spanned I can't get my heel up. I've got some more tricks up my sleeve to try so not giving up yet. Quick play on Red Dragon (why 7B+ and not 7C Ally? Doesn't look any easier than Hannibal which, given the votes, seems pretty well established at 7C) and sussed some of the moves out.

Fri and sat. Rest and family stuff.

Sun. 4km junior fell run in the morning. Back to the Tor for another play on The Prow in the afternoon. The timing wasn't ideal as it was roasting in the sun. Found the right holds on pitch 2 today, sort of got a sequence and did the pitch in two halves but I was too hot and too pumped to link them. On the plus side I'm starting to feel a little less scared up there now (it feels really exposed with some rusty bolts, old peg and Insitu wire plus a wandering line so it's hard to work without a bit of swinging around).

I'm going to rest my fingers for a few days I think. I've got to run around supervising D of E kids for the next couple of days anyway so probably clock up a few miles doing that while my fingers recover.

In reply to Tom Green:

It was excellent, climbed four days this week (one extra forced rest day due to rain). Looking at my logbook for the week I’ve not really improved but I’m pleased with how I climbed and pleased with how I coped with the walk up (or more correctly, it’s not that bad when it’s not the summer heat). Best of all I didn’t sit on a bolt once, took a couple of decent falls and committed to some runouts without much of a second thought.

I’m now on my way home a couple of days early due to an indifferent forecast (and the fact that I could change the ferry booking for only £20)

In reply to Tom Green:

Arm / shoulder improving.  In view of that, I doubled down last weekend by falling off some steps / ladder thing.  Managed to crash down on top of the steps, putting an slightly buckle in them and injuring the other arm, fingers, hip, knee and toes.  Left for my week 900 trip feeling somewhat sore!

Mon - project stuff at home.  Managed a repeater set at pluss 22.8 kg.

Tues - off to Wales.  Weather not brilliant and a cool northerly.  Decided Tramstation might be sheltered (new crag 1), but after six routes decided we were not that impressed.  Switched to Rhyd y Goel for new crag 2 and a couple of okay routes.

Wed - on a mate's recommendation went to Porth Saint (new crag 3) for a warm up.  Did four routes to E1.  Pleasant enough, but couldn't be more minor unless it was called Porth Saint Junior.  Worried that my mate may have a degenerative brain disease!  Also nipped to Rhoscolyn, but only for Icarus (HVS 5a) and Fan Fare (HVS 4c).  Good fun, but avoiding the issue on account of injuries.

Thurs - went to Clogwyn Cyrau (new crag 4) as we only had a short day.  Did four routes, but not impressed and got lost, irritated, hot, flustered and frustrated on the last one.

Sun - FC meet.  Great to see everyone, but it was wet.  Did a route Oen and Wrysgan for new crags 5 and 6.  Noted that Wave Buttress looked dry.

Reflection.  Nothing like the plan, largely from step one (fall off steps).  Helped towards goals, though not the ones that really matters.

In reply to Tom Green:

Sadly no. Not so much of the good weather over here - we've only caught the tail end of the apocalyptic storms that have been hitting the western Alps, but that was enough to make for another unsettled weekend with a couple of spells of heavy rain. Am on a DAV meet in in Chiemgau next weekend hopefully, weather permitting

STG. 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:  Bike one hour - into town & back to the shops to fill a couple of gaps in my trad rack for Norway

T:    DAV group meet, Thalkirchen. Getting re-accustomed to being on a rope instead of an autobelay, and getting some zone 2 mileage into the forearms. 5c 5c 6a 6b 6a+ 6b+ 6a+ 6b
    The session included iirc my first ever fall-while-clipping with an armful of rope out - foot slip. Good for the head.
    Bike there & back

W:    rest day

T:    Kilterboard. Another very lacklustre session. Hot & humid, with both skin and motivation giving out quickly.
    I've seen this when I've done previous board climbing phases. There comes a point where I not only plateau out, but actually regress. Then it's time to step away and do something else for a while.
    Some shoulder stuff in the weights room afterwards, and bike to & from

F:    rest day

S:    Rainy day wall visit, Weyarn. A little outing to an out of town wall I haven't been to for a while. Mileage session 6a+ 6a+ 6a 5b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6a+ 6a+

S:    Hillwalking in the rain, Hirschberg. It actually only rained hard in the early morning, then I spent the rest of the day hiking through dripping wet misty forests. Soggy but scenic. Still keeping to the foothills - this time of year I'd normally be looking to go up a bit higher in the Wetterstein or Karwendel, but all the local guide services are posting dire warnings about large amounts of unstable snow, so best avoided.
 

In reply to Tom Green:

Good morning everyone. Warming up a touch, isn't?

The left middle is quite good now, barely even notice it unless it's something mega ratty. Even then it's more just weak than painful, so basically back to normal 😂 the right middle is troublesome. I feel like it's worse than 2 weeks ago when I was in Parisellas, but better than it was earlier this week at the climbing wall. I've been intending to keep up with the progressive edge lifting but I often forget or pull the classic "I'll do it later".

You've got Eliminator pretty much in the bag! If you want another session with some extra pads let me know.

Last Week:

Avg weight 79.4kg

M - Rest.

T - Indoor bouldering. Poor session, very sweaty, busy, noisy and I was quite creaky to top it all off. Right middle felt absolutely crap.

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

T - Ippikins Rock. Playing around on a few moves, most of which I'd already done though some interesting new methods were found. Right middle still crap but a little better than Tuesday.

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - FC meet at Tanygrisiau Boulders. Was great to meet some new faces! A damp start lead me to sussing out the first move of Flick of the Wrist (f7C+) - I had low expectations given the conditions of both the weather and my finger, but I managed to do the first move. The pinch was a bit seepy so second move was of course off the cards, but keen to return. Wandered further up the crag to Cashmere (f7A+), where I spent a lot of time quite unsure about whether The Finger™️ would allow me up it. Eventually a nice sequence was sussed that didn't load it too hard for too long, though it was still pushing it a bit. Whizzed off to the Cromlech boulders for a mini circuit and the hilarious Brown's Mantel (f5), then pizza in Betws and home.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W to S - Away. Might be able to fit a climb or rehab in but no guarantees.

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Assess/rehab right middle finger.

Improve wrist mobility.

Improve lower body mobility.

Louisville Lip.

Rigpa.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thank you Tom,

The finger pulley does appear to be improving slowly, however the finger PIP joint is still an issue where I think I might have damaged the supporting ligaments, which are slow to heal.

Had another quieter week on the climbing side of things, hoping to let the body rest a bit.

T - Redpointed a new 7b that I had been saving, solo of Little Nedwin and TR on the classic (and very enjoyable with a rope above you) Gymslip (E4 6b) which for those who don't know pretty much a solo when done properly, so the E4 is a bit meaningless. Not exactly sure how it starts, looks like everyone swings in from the side, as taking the line direct on the starting move would be close to impossible for anyone shorter than me.

W - Followed a friend up Ladder of Desire, but I finished up the direct E4 6a finish.

In reply to Steve Claw:

Nice 'quiet' week Steve!  Glad the finger is improving 😃

In reply to Tom Green:

Morning team.

Week 25:

Another steady week. Need to get organised to make the climbing goals happen.

M: Strength & Core. Rehab.

T: Road Run. Short and fast (for me!) 5.8km, 52m vert, 4:45/km. Rehab.

W: Bouldering. Back on Eliminator -essentially no progress. Still tempted to try and find better beta, but know deep down I just need to try harder!

T: Climbing at World's End. Soloed half a dozen severes. Nice therapeutic evening. 

F: Rest (kinda! Alpine start for work). Rehab.

S: Road/trail run. 15.2km, 157m vert, 6:19/km. 

S: Rehab.

Week 26:

M: Strength & Core. Rehab.

T: Run. Rehab.

W: Strength & Core. Rehab.

T: Run. Rehab.

F: Rehab.

S: Climbing.

S: Climbing.

STG (end of August):

Average 2 conditioning sessions per week.

Average 2.5 fingerboard sessions per week.

3 big VS mileage days.

Tick Trevor.

3 off E2 list including Hurricane

Yates' Layaway.

Eliminator.

In reply to Tom Green:

Cheers Tom, normally I try to get a cycle in as a commute home from work so the wife can have the car and go to the gym after work. She was working from home a bit more last week due to kids birthdays/exams so i couldn't fit the cycle in. However if im in a good place running wise im usually fine to just jump on the bike. Hills are always tough no matter how bike fit i am  Main goal at the mo is to keep upping the long run distance.

Monday, 1k swim

Tuesday 1.5k swim

Wednesday, 1k swim and 5k evening run

Thursday, 1.5k swim followed by stretch class. 6.5k evening run

Friday, day off. Took the wife and kids to see Taylor Swift at Wembley. You could only buy a max of 4 tickets in one transaction so they all went into the stadium, i parked on the roof level of the car park and listened from the car. It sounded bloody good from there and the family said it was amazing 

Saturday, didnt get in from Taylor until 02.30 so had a chilled out day, mended the mower and mowed the lawn. Living the dream..

Sunday, long run day. Had planned a 25k route exploring some new trails. Turned  out to be bit of an epic as the new sections of trails were pretty non existent and whilst it wasn't too bad jungle bashing through open meadows and bogs, when the trails got more restricted it was shoulder high nettles and thistles.

Eventually after getting thoroughly stung and scratched I had had enough and bailed from the "path" and headed round some hay fields, through some paddocks to somebody's stables and out down their drive to a road so I could find my way back to a decent open section of the route. With the extra diversions the route ended up at 27k which Strava informed me was my longest run so happy days. Certainly one of those days that shows you can do hard things!

In reply to the sheep:

My niece and sister in law were there too. Just going to mention here that when I was my niece's age I went with my aunt to see Dylan at Earl's Court, which puts me way above my niece in the musical taste & cred stakes. And I don't intend to let her forget it.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Very cool 

In reply to Steve Claw:

I've only ever done/seen Gymslip done direct at the start. 

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thats what I thought, but the only usable hold there is at full stretch on tip toes for me.   I recon I could do it (was a few beers in at that point) but can't see how anyone shorter could make the very first move.

In reply to Steve Claw:

Paz managed it at 5'10" so not hugely heightist?

In reply to Tom Green:

Not completely, elbow is still a little bit sensitive and probably still inflamed. During normal day activities i don't have any discomfort but if i put a little bit pressure on it it still hurts a little bit.

I also have a lot of stress at work at the moment and i am traveling a lot (luckily no long haul travel). Hence, i will probably still wait a couple of weeks before i start climbing again and continuing with my off the wall training, which luckily does not take of time and can also be done in Hotel gyms.

Apart from that not much too report. Still waiting for some decent weather in the alps, but it does not look like it will stable enough this week again to do anything unless you are feeling lucky.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks Tom, yeah I'll make every effort to look after the feet. 

Was on the beach in Spain for most of last week so didn't go mad with the training! 

Mon - Pico Veleta for second time 12km

Tues - rest

Wed - 11km run along beach. Way too hot! 

Thurs - rest 

Fri - travel home 

Sat 12km easy hike 

Su - 15km easy pace run

Next sun when i check in with you all I will be on gran Paradiso weather etc permitting. 

Have a good week all. 

In reply to Tom Green: Danke für die Statistiken. Diesmal keine ausgefallene Sprache, Tom? 

Mon – 20 min run

Tues – Nothing. I’d hoped for another visit to The Beast but day got away with doctors and carers for parents etc.

Wed – 22 min run easy

Thursday – An hour after work at The Anston Stones. Back at The Frodo area which has bigger holds than some areas. Repeated Rohan (f6B), then lots of tries on Gimli (f6B+). A heel hook traverse to a big move. Managed it in 2 sections but eventually the pain in my heel was too much and I called it a day.

Fri – Nothing.

Sat – Grabbed an unforeseen opportunity for a climb at The Churnet when picking up my daughter from Alton Towers. Repeated Twisted Traverse (f6A+) and worked out the moves on Multi Storey Parkin (f6B+) which was tougher than it looked. Wandered over to the Push Block and after some promising tries on some of the problems there I stupidly didn’t move the mats when checking out a finish. Breaking a hold I took a real side slapper into the dirt. Not sure if it was the recoil from breaking the hold or the impact but the  result was a strained/torn pec.   

Sunday – Nothing

Reflection - Feels like I can’t catch a break (pun intended!) at the moment. On Thursday I’d been quite pleased that even though I’m not doing as much climbing as I’d like and I’m knackered I was still managing to keep levels in the same vague ballpark. Not sure how many days it will take to heal my boob but we’re off on a family holiday from Wednesday so perhaps timing is fortuitous. 

In reply to Tigh:

That sounds exciting!  Have (another) good trip!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Half-day through the post I was thinking that the bouldering is going well, but then ...  Actually, it does look like you are doing well, despite the crash landing!  Keeping it together really well despite the pressures.

In reply to Tom Green:

Yeah, that's very much been my experience of late. It's absolutely fine and both feet feel about even and then you do something different and suddenly a chasm of difference opens up.

No - we were away at my folks at the weekend and I was away in Edinburgh for work Monday to Wednesday, so it was quite a disrupted week.

It was a fairly active week in terms of the ankle, a bunch of travel, a team building day with my team, and a day out with a bunch of time on my feet at the weekend. Did some ankle rehab too. I also found that I can do motorway style driving but that using the clutch to go up and down gears in stop start traffic is quite aggravating.

Went back to the physio yesterday. Generally seem to be making progress, the ankle is stronger than it was and I've got some harder exercises to do. At the moment there's a weak point on the front of my foot (say 10-11 o'clock looking down from above on my left foot) and a lot of soreness and tightness at the back by the heel, about 7 o'clock. The former seems to be the significant injury and the latter is apparently mostly residual swelling and tightness rather than something structural.

I was thinking I might be able to do a really easy climb Thursday this week, but I'm debating being sensible instead. Being away with work late week and then away at the weekend means a bit more disruption coming but after that it's the last bit of travelling for several weeks.

In reply to AJM:

Good to hear that there is some decent progress with the injury.  I had a very mild foot injury and my major worry was getting my foot into rock shoes!  Once in, everything felt stable - in fact walking in soft trainers was worse.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks for the stats Tom.

Weight - 14st
STG - 30 mile ultra (July 24)

MTG - ???

LTG? keep on trucking?  stay fit? ummm

BHAG - F7A boulder somewhere / kickflip

M - kids fell running club

T - Rest

W - Rest

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - Bike ride

S - Trad at Clogwyn yr Oen

Weekly kms - nowt

Diet status - Ok

Lots of running around playing games at kids fell running club seems to have injured me.  Think it's some kind of strain in my upper thigh.  Other than that I had a great weekend.  Started off with the school fete on Friday afternoon, which I honestly love.  I do the BBQ and it's great fun.  Then a bike ride with the lad on SAturday.  Definitely felt something was wrong with my legs then.  Day trip up to North Wales for the FC 900 meet.  Lovely to meet Derek, Ross and Andrew.  Derek and I had a nice bimble up Slick.  Started off in the rain which wasn't amazing for confidence.  First pitch or two was a bit wobbly.  Shows how long it's been since I climbed outside.  Quickly got back into the groove of things and really enjoyed the last couple of pitches.  Then went and chilled a bit with the boulderers before heading home.  North Wales in a day is actually quite doable, but I'm tempted to try and book a club hut somewhere next time and just drive up late on Saturday evening.  Next week will be resting my legs and seeing what this strain is and hoping that it goes away soon.

In reply to Tom Green:

Hoping to get out again this weekend from the in-laws, so probably Shropshire choss again! Thanks for the WhatsApp directions to find other sectors in Grinshill woods.

Week 25

M – Nothing but evening stretches.

T – Boulder. Worked and completed a soft-touch, 8A+ on 2nd RP. Time to move on to some new moves now that I’ve feasted on the low hanging fruit.

W – 20min Youtube yoga

T – Boulder. New moves! Ticked a 7B and 7B+.

F – Can’t remember.

S – Shed dismantling and clearing ground for replacement.

S – Flat n fast(ish) 23km ride. 46min. Increased avg speed to >29kph, so getting back to speeds I was doing pre-Mk2.