The Training Diaries: Week 1(.5)
- Sean Clancy
- Jan 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9
1st - 12th January 2025
The Plan
The first couple of weeks of the year were always likely to be a bit messy and less structured than usual. I had an on-call duty to work on the first Saturday and a pre-planned trip to Scotland for some winter climbing from the 9th to the 12th which would men any formal training would be minimal. I do however have the UTMB Arc of Attrition 25 event coming up on the 25th so I am vaguely mindful of that, without strictly training for it.
The Headlines
2 runs (7km speed session and a 10km easy run)
1 indoor bouldering session (volume based)
3 days (22 hours) in the mountains (1 day hiking in the Lakes and 2 days climbing in the Cairngorms)
1 hip mobility and core workout
The Highlights
It was good to start the year with a solid speed session. As I've mentioned, faster running tends to trigger my Achilles so I have to be relatively moderate with it. This session was 6x2mins at a moderately hard pace.
I can't help but feel a bit miffed by the fact that my interval pace is roughly my marathon pace from a few years ago, but I have to remember I am not that runner at the moment, and the only worthwhile comparison is with yesterday!
On the 2nd I dropped into the Big Depot which has conveniently opened almost next door to work, for a quick first boulder session of the year. My focus for the first few weeks of January is just endurance building so I did a bit of a volume pyramid. Working up one side before working back down the other with no more than 2 attempts on any given problem and minimal rest.
It will be plainly obvious I am definitely not a boulderer! But this is one of the easiest areas for me to improve on this year. As I progress from endurance building to strength and power phases I'll be looking to specifically improve my ability to do individual hard moves, which I can then translate to harder route climbing.
And since I'll write a complete separate post about my trip to the Cairngorms at the weekend, the other highlight of the week was a day out on Monday in the Lakes. I had planned on using my TOIL day after working on Saturday to go and do the classic Striding/ Swirral Edge loop on Helvelyn however I couldn't get the car over Kirkstone Pass in the snow. Not fancying a 40+ mile round trip to avoid the pass I parked up in Wythburn and hiked up Helvelyn from the West instead. This proved to be an absolute battle, with almost 3 hours spent post-holing my way into waist deep powder, with about 2m visibility. I was however rewarded for my efforts on the way down with a beautiful sunny break in the clouds and a fantastic moody view. Sometimes the struggle of a day in the mountains just makes the joy that much more joyous!
Reflections
Referring back at my goals for the year, this feels like a good start. Although I have only done a minimal amount of running, I've already spent 3 days in the mountains this year which simultaneously ticks the boxes of adding to the climbing pot and keeping my head screwed on straight. I'm looking forward in the coming weeks to getting into a rhythm with training and building that feeling of improvement and taking steps towards those big end goals.
Next Week
I've got a clear week in the diary coming up so the plan will be to prioritize getting my run sessions in (a speed session, a mid week easy run and an 18km long run), followed by a couple of indoor climbing sessions. My structured climbing training plan will kick in from Monday so I'll go into a bit more detail about that in next weeks post.
Until next time.
S
Comments