UKC

Fit Club 902

Hey up. Hope everyone has made the most of the last bits of good weather? Sounds like the FC meet up went well, despite 'mixed' cons!

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_901-77220...

Now we are bang in the middle of summer I guess we should all have a feel for how well we're going and be able to adjust targets up/down accordingly. So how about this week we share our assessment of our strengths and areas for improvement, and take the opportunity to restate STGs and MTGs...

Somerset Swede Basher: Good cave scenes! It sounds like you're stacking up a bunch of hard problems ready to harvest over the next few sessions. Are you still aiming to get a bunch of your ticklist trad done this summer? What do you need to make that happen... sunshine? partners? summer holidays to begin?!

Tyler: Congrats on what sounds like a great performance in Ceuse. Good grades, good style, good headgame... nice job! What's next (and don't say DIY!)

Derek Furze: Crikey -you seem to be in the wars at the moment. I know we draw inspiration from each other in FitClub, but maybe don't get that inspiration from Randy and AJM's recent misadventures! Glad that it didn't write you off for the week. That's a highly impressive number of new crag points. And Fan Fare is a fab route (unlike Icarus which I thought was very over rated!)

Alan Little: Some good climbing mileage there. Should stand you in good stead for Norway. Glad the fall with an armful of rope was positive rather than traumatic! You switching in to enduro mode for the next few weeks now?

Ross Barker: A good-news-bad-news sandwich with the fingers then?! I know what you mean about the finger rehab being a victim of forgetfulness or prevarication... I'm currently trying a new tactic to deal with this of setting a picture of yarding on the Yates Layaway mono as my phone screen, so every time I look at my phone it reminds me I need to do some finger rehab. It's working well so far!

Steve Claw: That's annoying that there seems to be more soft tissue damage than thought in that finger. Good work having a quiet week! I'd never heard of Little Nedwin -interesting that it was the original start to Ffoegs... is it more in keeping than the HVS crack?

Tom Green: Well done sticking to the rehab... keep this going in to more proactive strength work? Seem weak on small crimps at the moment. Probably a combo of carrying 3-4kg more than fighting weight and not being very consistent with fingerboarding due to new house chaos -both of which are in your control to sort.

the sheep: A pretty good week that. Great sneaky gig-crashing! Your Sunday run sounds delightfully brutal (I kinda love those type-2 fun runs where you arrive home bleeding and stinging) and a decent mileage too.

Randy: Work and work-travel are the arch-enemies of climbing! It sounds like you do a great job of keeping the training up through these disruptions though. Hope the stress is temporary and there is an end point you can work towards? Are you managing to maintain decent rest and diet through the work-stresses?

Tigh: Hope you're having a great trip and that weather and conditions play ball. Look forward to hearing your updates.

Ian Parnell: Oh man! I was reading your post thinking that you were smashing your week, then another bit of bad luck arrives! I hope you've started healing well this week and that you've managed to fit some little bits and bobs in around the boob strain (carcing?!) Looking at the positives, it's great to see you weaning the achilles back in to service -nice job not doing too much to soon on it.

AJM: Hope you've got through the worst of the work chaos now and can spare a bit more bandwidth on your own stuff. Did you risk a careful climb in the end or decide to play it safe? I'm guessing the ankle still has moments of being a pain (literally!) but hopefully you are able to do a little more with it now?

mattrm: What's the latest on the thigh strain? Hopefully it's just needed a bit of rest and TLC to resolve? Nice job reopening the trad account. Sounds like you had some challenging cons for it! Has it reawoken the trad psyche?

Ally Smith: Good mixed week. Is the yoga in response to any particular need? -I don't remember seeing it feature much in your weekly training? I guess yoga is a good antidote to cycling... cyclists always strike me as some of the least flexible folk around, although maybe that's just the local MAMILs that I see!

Grazzi Tom, stats sbieħ

Just back from a short family holiday in Malta (for a family wedding), otherwise I've been down sorting parents out. As a result zilch to report training and climbing wise. Good news is that the boob feels OK and if I get a chance in the next few days I'm going to try some climbing of some sort. Bad news is I'll be in Swindon with parents all week, so that climbing will be indoors.

STG: have something vaguely positive to report next week.

Apart from a small dip during holiday season i doubt it will get much better this year.

Trying my best but not always succeeding . 

Not much too report this week. Felt a little bit sick with a sore throat and decided to take the week off, which was probably a good decision.

Thanks for the stats Tom. Yeah, trad goals still on but struggling to make the magic stars of partner/weather/time align so I've done loads of bouldering over the last few weeks. I don't think I've got much stronger but I'm pretty sure I've lost all my endurance! A bit of a fingers deload week as planned this week.

Mon. 20kms running, 500m vert. About a minute per km slower than my normal running pace but good to not be hobbling at the end.

Tues. 12kms running, 400m vert. Pleased to not be too tired from yesterday.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. Finally managed the move I couldn't do on Hannibal, very close to linking. I do it in 14move and made links of 6 moves in to the end and also the first 11moves. I know I can do this now.

Fri. Rest

Sat. Mostly spent swearing at MWIS and walking around Gable in the rain with Tom. All good banter though and good to put 1000m vert. through the legs with a pack on. Token ascent of Pinnacle Ridge (summer) (D) once we'd found it in the cloud.

Sun. 3.5km junior fell run. Life admin to sort so never made it out for a boulder which might turn out to have been a massive error as I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Good evening everyone, hope you've had a good week.

Little climbing from me, but a really nice long weekend away with Mrs B. Pretty decent on the rehab lark as well, considering I had limited kit. Might be DWSing next weekend but the forecast is ropey - won't risk the journey if it's going to be swelly, having learned my lesson from last year!

Last Week:

Avg weight 79.7kg

M - Rest.

T - Wrist pronation stretches. Pronated bicep curls, 6x5. 19mm edge pulls with the resistance band, right middle feeling not too bad considering it was pushed hard on Sunday.

W - Rest.

T - Probably some 9km walking around Brighton. 19mm edge pulls with the resistance band in the evening, again not too bad, better than Tuesday?

F - Early session on the Hove Park Boulder, with 4km ish cycle on either end. Hopped off on uphills, cursing that I hadn't rented the electric one! Session was good, the boulder is well featured so you can get loads of value out of it with an eye for eliminates. Finger felt pretty decent once warmed up. Another 6km or so walking.

S - More ambling, probably 6km ish again. Brief sea swim - felt tiresome and slow but it is hard to gauge distance. 19mm edge pulls with resistance band again, though slightly rushed.

S - Rest. Much less walking, a lot more lazing!

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Assess/rehab right middle finger.

Improve wrist mobility.

Improve lower body mobility.

Louisville Lip.

Rigpa.

Thanks Tom. Thoughts on goals to follow. Meanwhile: 

Actually went climbing! Yay

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:  Sunshine after a rainy spell = another day of crushing hayfever. Managed half an hour stretching before bed.

T:    Wall, Thalkirchen. This turned into not much of a training session: firstly an old friend showed up who I haven't seen for a while, so spent some time catching up, secondly the place was an absolute sweatbath, thirdly we finished early and adjourned to the bar (such a hardship!) to plan logistics for the weekend's DAV meet.
    5c 6a 6a 6a+ 6a+ 6a+ 6c+
    Bike 45 minutes

W:  Box step-ups while watching re-runs of TdF Unchained on Netflix ... in which I learned that Tom Pidcock's legendary Galibier descent in '22 was the first time he'd ever ridden down it. Blow me.

T:    Bouldering, Einstein. Having decided to give the boards a rest for a while, I instead paid a visit to a local bouldering wall that I haven't been to since before the pandemic (aka since Element opened and is closer, bigger and in a nicer area). Fairly short & light lunchtime session, but I enjoyed it and found the setting a change from my more regular haunts. 
    Bike one hour

F:    Kampenwand hut approach, 900m vert. Climbing gear + food for proper cooking at the hut (no dehydrated asceticism here) equals a BIG rucksack. Probably the main training benefit of the weekend.

S:    DAV meet, Kampenwand. Kampenwand traverse - my first contact with rock since September. Typical moderate alpine ridge: half a dozen pitches at UIAA IV-ish, a few sections of exposed unroped scrambling, couple of abs. We were behind a couple of slower teams, so generally a leisurely pace and a very pleasant day out.

S:    DAV meet, Kampenwand. Forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we nipped out in the morning for a quick three pitches near the hut - Staffelstein Westgrat. A minor local classic with some very nice climbing, VS-ish but with rather spaced gear and some very shiny footholds, so good for getting the head back into working order. Lunch at the hut and down in the lift all without getting wet. Result.
 

Hi folks.

Halfway through the summer/year, so taking stock on where I'm at versus where I want to be.

Strengths: hard to identify at the moment -I feel like I'm off the pace in most areas. At least this makes weaknesses easier to identify! Only obvious positive is I'm developing a good habit for strength and conditioning and (as always when I force myself to do core work) seeing less sore back episodes.

Weaknesses: I'm currently not very cardio/leg fit, although the hip seems to be improving so can wean myself on to more uphill mileage. My fingers are weak and I'm a bit heavier than usual which is a bad combo. I'm assuming my endurance on rock is poor, as I've barely tied on to a rope in the last two months.

Plan: Slowly return to hill running. Get the fingerboard set up (I think this is better for me than pick ups right now). Get back to 72kg. Prioritise trad over everything else (and hope summer comes back).

Week 25:

An ok week. Swapped days around, but completed planned sessions.

M: Bouldering at Harmers. A disappointing session on Yates Layaway, in which my fingers felt significantly weaker than previously. Possibly just a bit tentative due to recent tweak of my finger in the mono, but suspect its also a combo of carrying a few extra kilos weight and not keeping on top of the fingerboarding.

T: Road/trail run. 10.5km, 134m vert, 5:22/km. Rehab.

W: Finger rehab.

T: Strength and core. Finger rehab.

F: Road/trail run. 10.3km, 134m vert, 5:43/km. Finger rehab.

S: Attempted climbing on a deteriorating forecast in the lakes. Good to be out in the hills even though little climbing was done. Chalk this one up as a leg day! 

S: Finger strength sesh.

Week 27:

M: Bouldering. Strength & Core.

T: Run. Rehab.

W: Strength & Core. Rehab.

T: Bouldering.

F: Run. Rehab.

S: Climbing.

S: Climbing.

STG (end of August):

Get back to averaging 72kg (I.e. lose 4kg)

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.

Thank you Tom,

Yes, its a solo, but much better than the HVS crack that is now completely dead with polish due to over use.

Another quiet week, but I have been using the finger a little bit more.

M - Swung leads on The Imploding Galaxy (E5 6a), led the middle pitch, which was an interesting, slightly spaced out feel with some burley moves up to the belay.  Followed up the top pitch that was easier than I was expecting it to be.

T - Repeated some of the new sport lines that we did recently.

Fri-Sun - Took the family camping and walking in The Brecon Beacons, good times had by all.

Also, forgot to mention that this week marks the end of my three months…

Who’s carrying the FitClub Olympic torch for quarter three?

Thanks for stat'in. 

I stretch regularly in front of the TV on an evening and occasionally follow a YT yoga video if I want something different.

Week 26

M – Nothing but evening stretches.

T – Boulder. Non bon con with the high humidity. Repeated a 7B as part of warm-up, which felt hard and should have been an indicator of conditions. Worked a couple of 8A/+ things but was only managing a few moves at a time owing to the smeg.

W – Hilly 40km ride; 1hr 33min. Pretty exhausting to be honest as I cocked up hydration/fuelling with just 1 gel and 500ml water.

T – Nowt.

F – Checked out Crag B, but put off by the head-height nettles on the approach, so continued to Grinshill. A couple of easy things to warm-up, then flashed Eliminator (f6C) but should have checked out the top, as it was a bit sketchy with sandy holds. I then spent 2hrs getting increasingly frustrated by I Was The Third Brother of Five (V7) and Terminator (f7A). On the former it seems I was mistaken in trying to get a hold left of the groove and should have smashed on direct. On the latter, I probably needed a rope and a big brush to bring it into nick.

S – Slow 20km on the FiL’s hybrid, which is way too small for me, making it harder work than the 57W Strava was reporting!

S – Feeling grotty and light headed; no exercise.

Hoping to make some more progress on projects this week, but that'll be dependent on clearing the lurgy.

Thats very kind but I did set a pretty low bar and the evidence of this week suggests that maybe I overstated how I did!

There has been (and remains) a fair bit of DIY and no firm plans so I guess I’ll be climbing around here for a while. This train of thought is also influenced by the weather abroad at the moment. 
This week I’ve felt pretty jaded and, painting aside, only managed two short sessions on routes I tried a couple of years ago but never got back to finishing. On Friday I got on White Hopes which I’ve spent a fair bit of time on and did ok on the top half but struggled with the bottom which I remember being trivial. Sunday I went on Biscuit Face which I’ve only had a brief session on before and was convinced it was soft but again I struggled and opted to stay on TR such was my laziness.
This week I aim to do better, finish my painting and maybe go on my bike or for a walk. 

A year of recovery for me so far. January through to March I was still feeling the aftereffects of covid + <other mystery bronchial infection>. Shortness of breath pretty much ruled out any kind of hard aerobic activity and put a big question mark over fitness for my planned trip to Scotland. So also no skiing. What I did manage to do was mostly bouldering on the kilterboard, where I hopefully will have made some long term gains in board style yarding.

By Easter I finally had my lungs pretty much working normally again, which was a huge relief given the horror stories one hears about long covid & such. My crash training programme for Scotland seems to have worked, although squelching about the alpine foothills in soggy late spring snow did involve a fair bit of type 2 fun.

Enjoyed my Scottish backpacking trip very much and definitely want to go back next year - although, as I mentioned at the time, perhaps with a slightly less hair shirt purist approach. Didn't achieve my full mileage/munro ambitions, but I think that was as much about underestimating the terrain & weather, as actual lack of fitness. Knees are a concern though: I'm really suffering on big descents and I think it's more a question of age and arthritis than muscular fitness. I plan to try a serious programme of stabilisation and strengthening exercises though, and see if that helps.

Norway in two weeks. Obviously the BHAG is one or both of the two big Pilaren, Presten West & Stetin Syd. But given my lack of current time on rock Presten in particular feels like a big ask - the first week on shorter routes will have to go very well for it to be a realistic prospect. We shall see.

After Norway I have a couple of alpine trips pencilled in for August, weather permitting, with a mate who wants to tick a couple of Pause classics: the Spigolo del Velo (would be a repeat for me but that's fine) and the Fußstein Nordkante. It sounds like the becoming-nastier-every-year bergschrund to get onto the rock is the crux on the Fußstein - which would make it a Proper Alpinism tick!

Then shift focus in the Autumn to trying to get sport climbing fit again. After Norway I'm unlikely to have much left over by way of discretionary funds remaining for an away trip, so it's going to be more a matter of getting some entries removed from the rather too long list of unfinished local projects.

Strengths: strength, hopefully, from all the kilterboarding. I did a few weighted hangs on the BM2K small edge during my bouldering session on Thursday, and matched my pb without feeling like I was trying particularly hard, so that's promising. And, at the entirely opposite end of the scale, hill fitness yomping uphill with a big rucksack (although downhill not so much, see above).

Weaknesses: time on rock, movement fluency and head game. Obviously having barely climbed since I fell ill last October my actual climbing will have suffered. The trad & alpine trips I have coming up in the summer should at least get the head reasonably sorted, meanwhile in the background I've already started working on rebuilding some sport climbing fitness on routes at the wall. At the moment it seems like my session work capacity has taken the biggest hit: I'm doing ok on the first few routes up to not far off my pre-illness level, but then blowing up completely after only quite short sessions. I assume this just a matter of regaining that kind of fitness over time.
 

Hi Tom, hope you don't mind me joining in for a while as I try and recover my fitness.

I've been around before - that culminated in a 112k ultra and hopefully this time I can back to some sort of climbing fitness again.

Current status : Recovering from MECFS/Long Covid. Long story short, covid three times put the final nail in the coffin of a lymphatic system that was struggling after rolling my van on an 8 month climbing trip in 2016. The last bout wiped the floor with me, I ended up off work, using a walking stick when I could walk and my brain fell apart. There were days when I struggled to speak. Ended up with guts so bad I had to avoid gluten, chillies, coffee and beer.

Anyway - found the route cause of my problems and for the last 18 months, I've steadily been improving things with the help of an osteopath who specialises in MECFS. I've had odd sessions in the boulder gym, pottering about on V1/2 problems but most anything else has been too much. Took a massive turn for the better in February, which meant I can work properly again and I'm just back from a chilled three weeks in the Alps.

So - state of play is positive, the goals are Salbit Sud Grat next summer and to lose 3st in the next 9 months. My dysfunctional and stagnant  lymphatic system was hoarding fat, using it to isolate toxins it could no longer get rid of and I've blown up like the proverbial balloon.

My lungs have struggled, I now have severe asthma but I'm hoping I can get on top of that with nasal breathing. I've also broken my nose eight times, so nasal breathing is tough... but if the Berkeley Marathon winner can nose breath, then it's the way forward for me.

Last 3 weeks in Alps

2 x 4hr walks with 500m of ascent.

1 x 1½hr walk with 300m of ascent.

Lots of short off road cycle rides of around 5k whilst walking the dog, plus lots of short walks. Lots of fondue also! Up at 2000m a few times with okay breathing, I'm optimistic I'll be okay.

Got home on Thursday and then on Sunday did a 30k cycle on my MTB, constant pedalling.

I also do around an hour everyday of lymphatic system work that includes seated spine twists and bouncing on the spot.

Current weight 99.7kg Goal 81kg

High HR BPM 169 (58yrs old)

Cheers Tom and hi to them that's still on here.

I've gone a bit AWOL.

Life has got busy with a couple of things going on. With the boat taking up climbing days the only thing to report in the last 2 weeks was a trip to Kilnsey where nothing exciting happened. I've kept ticking over with a couple of gym sessions. 

The boat went back into the water today so that's all sorted and normal service has resumed.

I'll be back posting properly next week.

Glad to see you back on here. I‘ve been following your tribulations on facebook, silently because I didn’t feel I had anything insightful or constructive to say - but hopefully at least lurking in a concerned & sympathetic manner

For blacking? We did ours last year, it's nice to have a good look at the underneath.

I appreciate the concerned and sympathetic manner you were lurking in 😃

Nice to see you here.

*Ignore my Facebook posts for the next few days, they're likely to get a bit politically angry/blunt

But late on the update but Gran Paradiso went well. We summited Sunday. Conditions started out well but the weather closed in and it was super cold at the top, zero visibility. It was really busy and really slow getting to the top and around the traverse so we were just stood for a long time freezing our nipples off. But it was awesome. I loved it. 

Day 1 of Mont Blanc today. Weather is very changeable and unstable here at moment. We've been advised we should get a window tomorrow but it's gonna be extremely cold and the wind is borderline (if it goes over 50km they may turn us back) so decision will be made on the mountain. I will try to focus on what I can control and enjoy whatever happens. 

Have a good week all. 

Brilliant!  Enjoy!

Great to see you back.  Like Alan I've been following things on Facebook.  Glad to hear that you're on the mend. 

Hope you have a good time.  At least you've got one summit in the bag.  My alpine experience is limited, but it's definitely a bit of a waiting game from time to time.  Lots of hanging around hoping for a good forecast. 

Hey Matt - it's been a while, good to see you still on here.

Yeah life's been pretty dire but happily, I kept positive and the search for knowledge resulted in a fix. Happy days!

I will struggle this weekend coming to get much out, but happy to take on another stint if people are okay with that?  

Also delighted if someone else wants to volunteer

Not posted up for this week yet, which indicates state of play....

I would be happy to do the stint that Tom's just done next year. The next 3 months won't work for me as we are away for much of the summer holidays.

I don't mind doing a week/month/couple of months. My various recurring injuries have left me a bit disconnected with training and fit clubbing, perhaps having to spend the time on the stats for a bit would give me a kick up the ass.

That would be useful.  I can pick it up more easily at the end of your stint (especially if you can cover July and August).  SSB has suggested he can do April to June 2025 and I think I can bridge the gap until then from September.

Good idea using it to push your rehab!

I could do through to end August (your first one being 1 September). Or a week or two later if that's easier, let me know 

Perfect - that would work well for me.  Gives me time to psyche up and get something respectable over the line before starting!

Thanks for comments Tom and sorry for late response.

I've had a very quiet week as I spent most of it down at my daughter's installing a kitchen.  Got away Saturday lunchtime and returned home for a party, then back down Sunday for a training day / meet the team thing in London and a bit more kitchen installation.  Now complete, but no climbing or training since the pretty poor showing on Clogwyn Cyrau...

Out tomorrow and Friday, so hopefully something to report on Sunday.  Also, diary is now a lot quieter, so hope to be able to resume some training today!

Revisiting the goals has been sobering, but there is plenty of the year to go.  Training wise, I've been reasonably pleased with the regularity and the gentle progress, particularly building pull-ups back up to 100 and the repeater work that I have introduced with the block lifts.  However, I put my campus board up two or three months ago, but have yet to start work with it!

Climbing has been mixed, but a shoddy start to the year with weather and several weeks of poor health has just set everything back.  I had put bouldering on my schedule for Spring, but that was when I was really poorly, so actually did none.  Now I'm healthy, I just want to get on trad really, which is progressing, but is behind where I wanted to target.  To some extent, this is partly because I have prioritised helping my daughters and parents throughout June and have been down most weeks with that work.  I don't think I intend to change any targets, just accept that everything is shuffled back by a few months for some fairly good reasons.  A good July and August will see some of the results that I want to achieve and the path will be fun regardless!

Further reflection.  It has been an odd day, but I am quite excited to be starting back work with GP practices under the new umbrella of the Royal College of General Practitioners!  Aiming to keep it strictly limited to one day a week until October, when I might push it up to two...

I forgot to mention the injuries!  Good to remark that none of these were training related, but one (left bicep) was caused by a sudden loading while undertaking a foot swap on the delightful polish at Penmaen Head.  Given that a mate recently tore his bicep when his foot slipped, I feel quite fortunate that it is just a bit sore in certain positions.  I do wonder if training has provided some resilience here?

My peripheral targets (Wainwrights and running park runs) have really suffered with the period of illness and DIY.  I hope I can restart these through July so that the targets don't fall off a cliff.

Strengths?  I actually feel quite strong - solid at least, just haven't had much chance to test it properly!  Weaknesses are perhaps hard to identify, but essentially point to getting on more things that I want to do.  This is currently constrained by weather, parents and children, but the latter two are sorted for the time being and I can help at my leisure from now on.  On my trip to Wales we had Craig Ddu on the list (never been), but every day if was dripping...

STG and MTG;  do some local running each week.  Schedule a Lakes walking day or two and keep hitting trad each week alongside mileage on bolts.  Get on plenty of E2s this month, with the aim of returning to E3 in August and September.  Not sure how bothered I am by a 'project' sport route, but show willing when the occasion arises - perhaps force the occasion by going to the target destinations once the bird bans lift.  Keep visiting new crags.  Go back to Egerton and explore some other Lancashire delights.  More in the Moelwynion.

Further MTG - prepare psychologically for another stint at stats.

Thanks Tom. I suppose of I'm picking up the baton I need to post in order to avoid having to reprimand myself for absence!

Last week was another busy one, away in Bristol a few days then again for a busy weekend of non climbing stuff. I kept up a reasonable amount of ankle rehab but not a lot else.

Undecided to play it safe with climbing in the end. Whilst I've got some of the easy Avon classics on my SWC completion radar, it's not so urgent to risk the faff of finding that my ankle doesn't like it 10m up!

Yeah, the ankle is still on the mend.

- I can wear trainers again with it fine now which is a sign the bruising has gone away, and I think the support bandage has moved from a help to a hindrance (in that it discourages flex of the foot and therefore encourages tightness of the calf/Achilles).

- I feel like the stretching and calf/Achilles stuff has loosened up the back of the ankle a bit, which is good. The stability work and strengthening of the actual main injury site seems to be going well.

- I can do small amounts of jumping up and down without issue.

- I think the sideways stability is improving although I'm not certain I would want to cross a boulder beach quite yet

All sounds like it is moving in the right direction 

Thanks AJM. Appreciate that. Here is the baton…

Cheers Tom. It was most definitely type 2 fun. The gift that keeps on giving as your legs tingle for the rest of the day!

A late and brief post as Work seems to have been stupidly busy this last week. However did manage to get to the usual swims in as well as a few short runs during the week 

The Sunday Long run was a good one with only limited jungle bashing. Distance was a little over 30 KM I am now also experimenting with eating solid food, as well as taking gels and liquids with me. Happily mini pork pies seem to be a winner so now it’s time to experiment with other food types 😊

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 - Rest

T - Rest

W - Rest

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - Rest

S - Rest

Weekly kms - nowt

Diet status - Ok

Seems like it's all fine.  Might have been a slightly panicked over reaction from me. But I don't think the rest was a bad thing.  I probably would have only done one or two more long runs.  I doubt that'll make a massive difference to things.  So I just rested the whole week and pretty much did nothing.  So not really much to talk about this week then really.

Next week is the ultra.  So that's 30 miles of fun on Saturday.  Haven't done any of the sensible things like trying out gels and stuff.  So I'm just going to go with snickers and scotch eggs (which are awkward to carry).  I'm fairly confident it'll be ok.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up enough at the start to stay with everyone till the first climb and then tag along with someone who has a GPS watch for the couple of turns that I'm not 100% about.  But I hope to recce them this week now that my legs seem ok.  We have a drop bag so I'll use that to put dry shoes in just in case.

Keen to get back to doing some climbing and skateboarding after the big run is done.

Keen to climb again Matt.  Just let me know and I will make space 

Good luck with Ultra Matt, you've had a solid training stint which should set you up well. Hope the hard work pays off.