[french erick]

I commute on the bike 6 miles a day every day, all year. Do try to stretch most mornings, so won't mention that.

STG:Now on barrows energy system. Try to understand a cap/an cap...
MTG: tick 3 particular routes on upper cave crag at Dunkeld, 1 at Ardmair and start project boulder in Torridon.
LTG: that's E4/ VIII,8? Cool I'll onsight it then.
VLTG: Romantic Warrior, needles, CA

Monday rest day, pretty tired
Tuesday 1:45 session bouldering and an cap (not quite right on intensity but working on that).
Wednesday workload at work meant no training whatsoever.
Thursday work taking its toll. Tried a session but for some change did some hard problems and then crack routine, only an hour. I had forgotten how those off width roof cracks felt...tiring.
Friday work
Saturday taking a newbie onto a ridge walk (15km 1500+m) nice to be out on the hills.
Sunday family time

A disappointing week, my head was not in training. I let work get to me which is unusual and stupid.

[shark]

Thanks French erick

11.5-6

M.
T.
W,
T.
F.
S. AM Foundry with Tom. First session after 8 days off. Predictably rubbish falling off L2's previously flashed. Went back later for another 30mins before it closed. Pulled harder, felt better.
S. Nice day. Dragged myself out to Raven Tor. Took advantage of Barrows being there to get the numbers on Ben's. Worked the first half till my tips were too sore. Seems do-able. Went for a pint and a sandwich in the sun at the Red Lion. Bliss

Got membership to the New Schoolroom but too intimidated to climb there yet. Have a session with Dave Mason on Thursday so be good to get his views on how I should train/climb over the summer to get stronger for the Oak in the Autumn   

[csl]

June Goals
Use Spanish fitness - E5 Trad and 7b+/c sport.
Train hard to keep + build on fitness.
At least 3 days outside - 1/3

Mon - Fingerboard Benchmarking, am i weak?

Beastmaker 2000

Hold 10 (smallest edge) - 14 seconds two handed
Hold 10 - Front 3 - 4 seconds
Hold 10 Back 3 - Barely 1 second

Hold 7 (Deep 2 finger pocket) - Middle 2 - 8 seconds
Hold 7 - Back 2 - 0 seconds
Hold 7 - Front 2 - 5 seconds

1 handed - couldn't hold anything on the 2000 other than the juggy middle slot ( Hold 9).

Some ARC afterwards.

Tue - Biscuit
Boulders up to V5.
Circuits
Most of 7a+ a couple of times, bit cruxy.
Onsighted 6c+ circuit, nice and sustained.
 
Wed - Rest

Thu - Westway
Routes with some laps. Aimed to get boxed on a hard route and then try to keep going on jugs for a couple of laps.
6a+
6b+
6b+
Laps, 7b - 6b+ 6b+
Laps, 7a - 6c - 6c
7a - fail
7a - fail

Fri - Biscuit
Boulders up to V5, mostly on slightly overhanging crimpy stuff.
Fingerboard - Repeaters.
1000 Hold 6. 7 on 3 rest x 6.
2000 Hold 5. 7 on 3 rest x 6.
1000 Hold 10. 7 on 3 rest x 6.
2000 Hold 5, Front 3. 7 on 3 rest x 6.

Then a load of v. easy problems.

Sat - Rest

Sun - Biscuit.
Lots of yellow V2-4 and Red V3-5 circuit, mostly onsight. Varied angles + styles.
Then 6c+ circuit x 9 with 2 mins rest, nearly falling on last 2 reps.

[EdGowSmith]

7A:    23/50
7A+:  11/40
7B:    4/30
7B+:  3/20
7C or harder:    2/10

Stretches: 4/4

Mon: Nothing.
Tues:  Anstey's with Mark. Got my first 7C+!
Wed: Session at the Bunker with Rory. Trained everything and left me feeling exhausted.
Thurs: Nothing.
Fri: Session at the Bunker. Just systems boarding with Mark.
Sat: Nothing.
Sun: Portland. 20 degrees so too hot for anything hard, two 7As and two 7A+s. Nice session.

So little climbing this week. Can't wait 'til exams are over and I can get out more often and start properly working some local projects! 

[kelvin]

.
Tues:  Anstey's with Mark. Got my first 7C+!

Nice work!

[JackAus]

STG: V7
MTG: DWS
LTG: V11

M:
T: Cheesedale. Did a V3. Fell off the top out, twice, of a pumpy as shit V5. Close on a V7, worked a V8.
W:
T: Lot 33. Worked an extremely soft V8. Felt like hard V6 to me. Only 2 moves off it. Got back on a variation project from ages ago. Hard V6, broke a key foothold. Couldn't stick crux afterwards...
F:
S: Lot 33. Got so fucking close on a V7. Finally stuck the crux. Did it from 2 moves in to the top. Haven't stuck it from the start yet. Had to leave to get to work... Watched CWP cruise numerous V10s and V11s to warm up. Fucker.
S:

Knee is fine now. Good to be back climbing so regularly again. Have this Wed off so hopefully V7 will be done then.....

[a dense loner]

Shark don't be ridiculous. If you feel intimidated go in with Tom, I take it it's T_B, that way Paul B won't hurt you 

[T_B]

86.2Kg.

M -Lunch.  First visit to the New Schoolroom! 50 degree board - tried Basic Jez to crux, Woodology did to last hard move off left dowel pinch. Did 1-4-7 both arms (once on left, three times on right)
T - P.M. School - better than yesterday. Did Basic Jez and fell off move 6 of Woodology. Felt decent on the 30 degree board.
W - Lunch. AeroCap sess.
T -
F - First camping weekend away with family. Went well but knackering and totally mud-fest on Sunday morning
S -
S - Drove back from Yorkshire. P.M. School. Mainly 30 degree board. Worked through loads of classics up to 7a+ and did a 7c+ but maybe 7b+ for the tall? Felt like a dead weight on 50 degree, but just about managed Basic Jez. Terrible skin still.

Enjoyed climbing at the nu schoolroom. Weird feeling re-doing problems I haven't been on in 8 years. I'm probably a bit stronger on the 30 degree board (stronger fingers?) but the 50 degree feels well steep.

[T_B]

Shark don't be ridiculous. If you feel intimidated go in with Tom, I take it it's T_B, that way Paul B won't hurt you 

And/or go when it's quiet? Just two other ppl there on Monday lunch time and one other (Dave of this parish) last night. Loads of steady stuff on the 30 degree board.

[abarro81]

30 degree board is apparently less steep than it used to be so grades are all wrong...

[cheque]

STG- normal middle fingers

2014 goals- 20 15 E-points, 10 sport 7s, 10 boulder 7s

M- Rest.

T- Swimming for an hour.

W- pullups and pushups

T- Baslow. Soloed 28 routes up to HVS.

F- Rest

S- Rest.

S- Curbar crack practice. Did little Innominate and Avalanche Wall (the latter I'd done before and the former me and my mate basically had to headpoint  - looking at this as good off-hands/ fists practice rather than shameful defeat though) Elder Crack and Peapod both turned out to be wet. At 4 it pissed it down so we went to a bizarrely bone dry and deserted (but kinda sandy) Lawrencefield- expected it to rain again but it didn't and stayed 'til 10PM! More of a cracks/ quarried grit learning day than a satisfying ticking exercise.

[the_dom]

Can't remember my goals, but I assume they're not important and revolve around climbing more, which I've been trying to do.

Mon: Indoor session - not bad. Feeling improvement almost every session, which is satisfying. Finished up with some repeaters on the Beastmaker.

Tues: Quite a long post-work surf. Felt guilty at ducking out at 3:30 until around my 10th really good, uncrowded wave. Got out when my arms refused to paddle anymore.

Wed: Indoor session and repeaters. Feeling a touch tired.

Thurs: 7.5km run

Fri: Rest, drive up to Rocklands.

Sat: First day in Rocklands since hurting my knee last year (which precipitated my 8 month break from climbing) and went to the rarely visited Frenchside. Warmed up on some quality easy stuff up to 6C+ and then got stuck into Sans Gloire, a steep, crimpy, sharp highball(-ish) 7B+. Managed to re-work out the beta (tried it for about 20 mins 2 years ago) and get it done. Really happy with that. Finished off the day with an ascent of Kronstadt (7A). A really good day.

Sun: A little warm, so headed up to Fields of Joy to climb in the shade. Warmed up on Dirty Lies (a beefy roof on good holds) and did it first go from the start. The worked Running Out of Turbo, a 7B+ alternate ending, and managed to fall off the very last move on my first go from the start. Have done them both before so didn't bother to finish off ROoT. Did some easier things up to 6C and finished the day off with a re-send of Gegen Den Wind (7A+). Another really good day, but my skin is stuffed and has giant holes in it.

Great weekend.

[shark]

30 degree board is apparently less steep than it used to be so grades are all wrong...

Top tip for getting along with people - break bad news like that a little less bluntly

[shark]

Shark don't be ridiculous. If you feel intimidated go in with Tom, I take it it's T_B, that way Paul B won't hurt you 

And/or go when it's quiet? Just two other ppl there on Monday lunch time and one other (Dave of this parish) last night. Loads of steady stuff on the 30 degree board.

Augers well. Thought the novelty would mean it will be rammed to start with. I popped in to pick up my key Sat lunchtime and just Rob Smith and Vikki Hurley there.

Dense - Yes I am ridiculous, but you know that. Apart from the history, the talent of other users etc the sheer number of holds is mind boggling.  Took me ages to have any proper sessions on the Foundy 40degree board. My weakness is to establish a project problem and then do a multi-session seige. Probably should experiment with lowering the difficulty a bit and doing more volume   

[Doylo]

Just seige Hard Banisters

[fried]

Crap week.

Mon-Wed - Work, still ill. Get home and my foot hurts. My first ever cas of athletes foot, I have a blister been my two small toes and can't even walk on it.
Thurs - Painful day of walking around on my heel.
Fri -Can't even face putting on climbing shoes.
Sat - Guests. Mix a lot of different alcohols. Lots of overnight rain.
Sun - Isatis, feeling tired not sure if it'd virus/alcohol or heat related, probably all three. Temperatures has soared to 30° and the high humidity has ensured that nothing in the shade is dry, but everything in the sun is too hot. Repeat some blues. Go home in a bad mood. Massive thunderstorms and hail overnight...

Stay safe in the forest people, more to come today.

[T_B]

30 degree board is apparently less steep than it used to be so grades are all wrong...

If it's out, it's only out by a little bit I reckon. I thought it was on Tuesday but then last night did 10 or so problems on it and now I'm not so sure. What people might struggle with is that the grades were always all over the place and if you're that ars*d about it, you could easily sort the grades out. There are 7a+s on there I've never been able to do (Airlie's problem, for example) and last night I did Fluffy or whatever it's called, which is clearly not 7c+, but then I remember nearly doing it years ago when I'd only ever managed 3 7cs up there. So maybe it was always soft/totally lank dependent. Sonic the Sidepull (with new alternative hold) still feels as hard as it did to me 

[Dolly]

Bit of a rubbish week really - mainly recovering from being ill

M ill
T ill
W ill
T A little better so did a light kettlebell session
F A bigger kettlebell session
S An hour in the shed. Hard and skin was rubbish
S Kettlebells again. I do like a good kettlebell sess.

[i_a_coops]

Fingerboard Benchmarking, am i weak?

Beastmaker 2000

Hold 10 (smallest edge) - 14 seconds two handed
Hold 10 - Front 3 - 4 seconds
Hold 10 Back 3 - Barely 1 second

Hold 7 (Deep 2 finger pocket) - Middle 2 - 8 seconds
Hold 7 - Back 2 - 0 seconds
Hold 7 - Front 2 - 5 seconds

1 handed - couldn't hold anything on the 2000 other than the juggy middle slot ( Hold 9).

I don't think anyone else wants to try and judge finger strength based on BM feats either!

Firstly as you know I think whether or not you find fingery routes harder or easier than juggy ones of the same grade is a much better indicator than fingerboard feats. The fact that you can hang the small crimps for much less time on 3 finger drag than 4 fingers (presumably crimped/half crimped?), combined with the fact that you got spanked by the first joint pockets on Chullila, actually makes it sound to me like your biggest finger weakness might be dragging small holds and first joint pockets? Being able to drag edges often means you get a lot less pumped on 'fingery' routes than if you crimp everything.

For what it's worth, compared to me (pocket lover, weak on crimps) you are slightly better at deadhanging crimps and miles weaker on all the pocket grips. e.g. I can hang the smallest BM crimp for much longer open than I can half or full crimped.

[kelvin]

Work is still overly busy but this week I kicked back.

Mon - Torbryan Quarry. Don't normally go on anything this steep but everywhere else would have been wet apart from Ansteys. Had a couple of goes at Mayday but that crux pocket felt it would never happen. Then got on Boogie on Down. Didn't really get anywhere but had a decent fall when I almost got to the 4th bolt. Felt like I learnt a lot tho, not sure why but I guess I've never worked routes before. I've never tried 6c before either outside. Abject failure or a successful day? I'm gonna say the later. Definitely one to go back for later this year. My sorta place.

Tue - Haytor. First visit. Had some right issues with my eyesight. Couldn't make any holds out at all. It was like looking at painted glass, totally bizarre. Had tried to warm-up on some E1 slab but bailed on that, then got battered on some VS offwidth (not unusual) before seconding the E1. Fell about 7/8 times... made the right decision to back off then. Need to go and get the eyes tested for colour I think.

Wed - New lodger came round for a look the spare room and dinner.

Thu - Worked late.

Fri - Boulder room. Mr. Fry seems to have toughened the grades again, maybe he hadn't heard that Rockfax have specified V2 is Eng 4b or something  Was happy to come out with a V2 flash! The V3s in general feel nails but there's some funky problems that I will need to work, so it matters not. Tried to stick to fingery stuff.

Sat - Worked. Squats, pressups, curls etc - pushed hard.

Sun - Pissed off at going in to work again and at 1pm, I threw my kit across the room and left. Boulder room, worked some stuff till my fingers hurt a lot, rested and then carried on for a bit. Dislocated a little finger in the evening. Oops.

Not a bad week I think. I was braver than I've been in a while and took unexpected falls on trad, sport and even in the boulder room. Fingers feel knackered today. Popped the little finger out again this morning and the left middle finger is really tweaky. Struggling to make a fist, not sure what that means?

Torbryan in reflection has been rather inspiring. I was crap but I actually enjoyed myself. Met Chris J off here as well, him and his mate were working some traversey link-ups. The holds were pretty varied, so didn't feel tweaky... I just need to get better at climbing.

[webbo]

Mon. Turbo session before work 5mins on 1 min off x7. After work bike 1 hour including 20 secs on 40 secs off x 5 3 sets.
Tue. Board mirror session but all screw footholds pretty tiring.
Wed. Nothing.
Thu. Board worked a few projects completed 4 but failed on 2.
Fri. Bike 1 hour including 1 min on 1 min off x 8.
Sat. Board did projects from thurs and repeat thursdays problems going ok.
Sun. Bike 69.33 miles 3hrs 48 mins 18.21 mph fastest yet on this circuit, suprising as it felt really windy.

[Muenchener]

STG (Summer): Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer)
MTG (Autumn): 7a redpoint.
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M:   
T: bike to work 30km
W: Alpine approach training: 3 x 40 stories stairs with 8kg rucksack.
T: Flintsbach: summer evening cragging instead of the wall, hurrah. Slabby quarried limestone; not quite up to Staden Moor standard, but pretty decent and in any case better than plastic obvsly.
F: bike to work 30km
S,S: Maltatal sport climbing. Once again fleeing adverse climbing weather in Germany. This time the forecast for the Frankenjura was 35 degrees, so we thought heading to a high alpine valley was a good option. Ha. Ha. It might have been. Whereas in Maltatal the main sport climbing area - and the only one for which we had a topo - is low down and faces south west. The climbing - the bits that weren't in the sun either pre or post siesta, was ok but nowt special. Ditto the scenery.

[Nutty]

Right, I' going to get involved in this and share the training psyche.

STG: Get weight down to below 70kg, climb outdoors more
MTG: Get weight to ~68kg, need to set a medium term climbing goal
LTG: Need to set a long term climbing goal

This week: 70.9kg

Mon: Fingerboarding
Tues: Rest
Wed: Bouldering at Westway
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Bouldering at Westway
Sat: Rest
Sun: Bouldering and AeroCap circuits at Westway

[csl]

Fingerboard Benchmarking, am i weak?

I don't think anyone else wants to try and judge finger strength based on BM feats either!

The fact that you can hang the small crimps for much less time on 3 finger drag than 4 fingers (presumably crimped/half crimped?), combined with the fact that you got spanked by the first joint pockets on Chullila, actually makes it sound to me like your biggest finger weakness might be dragging small holds and first joint pockets?

Yeah, fair enough! I guess i've just always claimed to have weak fingers, and i'm trying to work out whether I do, and whether i need to work on them... I've basically decided to try and gain finger strength for a while anyway now. So its academic really.

All the hangs were as open/dragged as possible. I don't really crimp, not sure i've ever put my thumb over my fingers in my life!

[i_a_coops]

you can get four fingers on the small edges without half crimping? My pinkies are too short for that!

[abarro81]

There's half-crimped and there's half-crimped... I naturally hang the BM edges with pinky and index quite open, other 2 fingers are kinds half crimped, same on a campus rung, many would call that half-crimped, but then there's full on chizel half crimping where you force the index to half crimp and it's very active, like CWP advises in his fingerboard vid. If you're talking about the former, then I would suggest that you are a freak Ian if you can hang f3 drag longer than on 4 (i.e. your preferred grip on those edges is pure f3), and that csl is quite normal in hanging much longer on 4 than on 3...

[csl]

Yeah it's basically what Alex has said, I guess i just wouldn't call it actively half crimping. But i assume thats what you meant?

[i_a_coops]

I would suggest that you are a freak Ian if you can hang f3 drag longer than on 4 (i.e. your preferred grip on those edges is pure f3)

That's what 3 years of pulley injuries will do to you!