[andy popp]

M: Nowt
T: Bouldering on board. ABYSMAL!
W: Swim 25x25m
T: Nice circuit outside, nothing hard. Discover a lovely blank wall is far from blank, YYFY, another good Cheshire project.
R: Get shunted from rear when I have to break hard to avoid head-on with car full of armed robbers running red light with rozzers in hot pursuit.
S: Neck/back stiff (see Fri)
S: Fingerboard, add weights for first time - goes pretty good.

Re: work/life balance stuff discussed last week, for what its worth, I work full time and am also a single parent of two 100% of the time

For the last two months or so I've 'trained' minimum of three and often four or five times a week, with some loosely structured phases. This is serious as I've ever got (in my prime I just climbed fuck loads) but the last two weeks have been very frustrating, having gone drastically backwards on my board. Opinions would be valued. Am I just jaded with the board? Do I need a 'proper' rest? Basically planning to do almost nothing next week (probably outside Tues) as I fly to the states for work/climbing next Sun.

[nik at work]

8B, 8b, (E8)

Also new STG - 8A in Font this Easter:lol:

M - Greased off Terrace in the sun, iced Piss, fell off the last move of Shit three times, bum. Post shower stretching.
T - Post shower stretching. On the board of an evening
W - Post shower stretching. On the board of an evening
Th - Post shower stretching. On the board of an evening
F - Nowt
S - Curbar, tried Super Size Me made good progress just one move to sort, Ben's Wall shut down, Great White progress. Shit skin.

Also some Lego this week but no constructions of note (just general tractor/plane/fire engine type stuff), no Waybuloo. Was pretty pleased with the number of board sessions as I wanted to go for a pre-Font burn. A good week considering limited outside activities.

[robertostallioni]

You may be overdo-ing the showering, I'd ease back before Font.

[nik at work]

50% is golden showers so that's OK right?

Also forgot:
Su - General wife pleasing drudgery under the guise of the commercial nonsense that is Mothers Day (or a delightful day with the family if you prefer).

[Davo]

Monday: Rested

Tuesday: Went to Stanage with Steve and Rich. Tried Brad Pitt got shutdown. Tired Storm, got shutdown. Did Help The Aged as consolation. Brilliant little problem.

Wednesday: Went to Caley. Did Ben's Groove which was brilliant. Tried Secret Seventh which was also great but hard. Rich skinned his pinky on this!

Thursday: Fingerboarded (weighted 5kgs)

Friday: rested

Saturday: Went to Cave. felt good and then proceeded to drop the end of the high life twice! Did Parisella's original as some sort of consolation and then did all moves on Lou ferrino.

Sunday: Was going to train but weather was good and I had got Cave Fever! So back to cave and then proceeded to drop high life at the end twice again!! Doh! Tried to make myself feel better by doing Dust Kick High but just felt low and sordid from this instead!

Overall a good week. Grit was great and felt good at cave on Sat. Frustrating dropping High Life but only because there are so many things I want to do...

[Andy F]

Mon - rest
Tues - Beastmaker, good hard 1hr session
Wed - Beastmaker - easier 1/2 hr session
Thurs - Bouldering at Awesome. Felt tired after the beatmaker sessions, didn't climb well.
Sat - Malham. Usual warm up, put the clips in Straightened. Worked on the hard start, found a way of doing it but ended up bruising the pad on the tip of my middle finger. Still throbbing as I type now! Did a great link on the sharp end, went from the big undercut after the start to the belay. Show's the route fitness is coming on.

[Falling Down]

Flew to Kazakhstan last Sunday, worked 12-14 hour days Monday to Thursday.  Travelled back Friday, and had a mates 40th birthday yesterday.  Went for a run and dozed today.  I think I did some pressups a couple of days this week.

[webbo]

STG
get over bad back
LTG
god knows
Mon off work still walk for11/2 hours beastmaker session while missus is out encores and repeaters.drank wine
Tue back to work back still fucked.go on diet
Wed back still shit diet
Thu back a little better diet
Fri back feeling much better can run up and down stairs at work.see osteopath.drink wine
Sat think about going climbing as back feels ok.decide to go out bike instead and go out tomorrow.back goes again as i'm oiling the chain.go out anyway for 3 hours back ok while riding.look abit strange when i get off.right hip sticks out a foot to side of my shoulder.go to friends for dinner drink wine.get the most painful stomach cramps and shits later on.
Sun back feels okish not too kinked,walk for an hour feels even better.beastmaker max hangs with extra 4 kilos on 2 handed stuff.best session so far.not a great consolation given the weather.

[Fiend]

On time this time...

Goals:
Moan more about sweaty skin, lack of reach, polished holds, duff sequences, fcuked legs etc etc.
Find someone who is willing to join me on a picnic on the funny left-over dead-end motorway bits that offshoot off the M8.
Develop an edible chalk product that dries your skin from the inside.

This week:
Mon - ski Meribel, awesome, legs fine, finger still tender.
Tue - ski Meribel & Les Menuires, awesome, legs fine, finger still tender.
Wed - ski Meribel & Courchevel, awesome, legs fine, finger still tender.
Thu - ski Meribel & Courchevel & Val Thorens, awesome, legs fine, finger still tender.
Fri - ski Meribel & Courchevel & Val Thorens, awesome, legs fine, finger still tender.
Sat - n/a / gentle undercling training helping a young lady with a dislocated shoulder lug a large bag around Geneva airport.
Sun - 1 hour walking/scrambling/boulder-hopping / 4 hours steady - mildly challenging bouldering, skin good, finger got sore at the end, shoulder okay but felt a bit loose, had fun and flashed a couple of things.

Comments:
Fantastic week skiing, skiied as good as I ever have, legs were no problem at all, I'm very chuffed with that. Made a last minute dash to join the lads when I got back, and had a fun day out bouldering, and felt pretty good climbing. My finger was still tender when I was away, despite generally not crimping ski poles, that along with it's response to arnica leads me to believe there might be as much bruising as tweaking involved. Will continue to take care. Shoulder generally okay because I didn't sleep funny on it, but felt a bit loose rather than sore bouldering. I will do theraband exercises for that.

[tommytwotone]

Great week for me to kick off posting on this thread...anyhoo.

LTG - Font 7b by end of year, Great North Run in sub 2 hours in Sept.

M - Nowt, first day back at work after week in Font so v demotivated / knackered

T - 5km run on lunchbreak, first one in ages. Felt hard but satisfied afterwards.

Tues Eve / Weds Morn - Undid all good work by going out for "a couple of pints" with workmates after a stressful working day for the team and rolled in after midnight 10 pints worse for wear, social smoking not clever either.

W - Not feeling too clever after Tues night over-exuberance. Pint at lunch, fish and chips for tea.

T - 40 mins squash at lunch, technically awful after 18 months off but can still cover the court. Couple of pints with York MC in evening.

F - Got in after work feeling lazy and shattered, went out anyway and spanked out 7km run. Zero booze consumed and an early night.

S - 2 hour Cliff session. Left with fingers and muscles ragged, great day. Out on date in evening, numerous cocktails and Dutch courage consumed.

S - Guisecliff session - brilliant venue, got some excellent problems done and found 7b (Trust) that I reckon will go.

[Charles]

Short term goal: Climb 7a every day on Font trip (End of March)
Mid term goals: Redpoint F8a > Get fit for Mallorca > Powerband (All by September)
Long term goals: Onsight F7c > Climb font 8a (All by September 2011)

Monday - Depot. Knackered after Sunday's session. Did a couple of >7a problems but felt completely shattered after 90 mins.
Tuesday - Walked to work (40 mins)
Wednesday - Walked to work (40 mins)
Thursday - Depot again. Much better this time. 3 hours of bouldering, many >7a problems, some flashed.
Friday - Got bare lairy.
Saturday - Got bare lairy.
Sunday - Recovered (walked from Sheffield train station to Crookes if that counts).

I was in Bradford working this week and found that having to get a train to the wall was a major factor in not going climbing when feeling tired and motivation was a touch lower than normal. Family do's all weekend also promoted excessive drinking.

Did weigh myself for the first time in ages - 155 lbs. Pretty near fighting weight!

[Plattsy]

Goal - Font 7A.

M: Rest.
T: Boulder at Foundry. Usual warm up. Worked undone level 2 problems. Ticked two. 160 sit ups. 40 pressups. Stretches.
W: 6 mile plod. Beer.
T: Bouldered at Curbar. Worked Strawberries. Did the first move for the time after realising I had my right foot too high. Worked Trackside. Ticked the eliminate just left of Trackside in a few goes.
F: Rest.
S: Grindleford Gallop - 3:24:36. Excellent result for me. Power goatee pulled out all the stops. Who knew it would work for running as well as climbing? 
S: Rest. Ate alot of food

No more serious running for a few weeks so time to knuckle down with the climbing and try to reduce food/beer a bit.

[lagerstarfish]

Goal - Font 7c
Weight 14st 7lb (Sunday morning before puking/shitting)
Body fat 31%

M - Owler Tor and Mother Cap. Did Conan a lot due to warm, yet grippy rock in sunshine.
T - cough/cold gets worse; fingers hurt
W - like Tuesday, but worse
Th - coughing fit in morning led to injured back and ribs. Tried to boulder at plantation. Climbed like a bag of poo so went for volume. Chatted with Smiley Rock Athlete and did his Green Trav variation.
F - back and fingers hurt
S - bouldered the fuck out of Eastern Grit; balance slightly off, but did loads. Plenty of 7a problems to make me feel like I can still climb. Trouble breathing after each exertion. Ate 3 Cream Eggs.
Sun - Pampered wife until I started with norovirus style puking and shitting.

[BB]

STG -  Get back to full fitness after knee op
LTG - Chuff another f7a and overcome head issues, boulder 7A.

M - Gentle traversing and some light bouldering, knee stretches and theraband work
T - Knee stretches and theraband work
W - hydro pool physio, knee stretches and theraband work
T - Gentle traversing and some light bouldering, knee stretches and theraband work
F - knee stretches and theraband work
S - Plenty of walking round the shops, knee stretches and theraband work
S - rest

Knee is well and truly on the mend. I've got a full range of motion, but it's still a little painful and isn't nearly as strong as the other one.

[mark s]

Monday-wall,was sore from day before so climbed and reversed the blue circuit as fast as poss.out of the wall in 20 min.
Tue-nowt
Wed-tried some weights and hurt shoulder nnfn
Thu-nowt
Fri-nowt
Sat-nowt,shoulder still hurtin
Sun-a few probs at roaches

[Richie Crouch]

Goals for 2010: In Hell (le cave); Berezina, Aerodynamite & Big Boss (font)

M: Rest
T: Plantation; got more shut down than Daveon Brad Pitt, going to have to persevere with RH first into ramp as I can't get the left hand leading method.
W: Caley; Good fun day, sketched up Bens Groove and Juju club, thought I had Secret 7th on lockdown then greased off LH rocking for top boss and had torn off my LH pinkie fingertip, lots of blood.
T: Rest
F: Started to feel shit
S: Full blown cold and re-open the fingertip spiking it on something in stock room.
S: Resting at work with a cold and finger still looking grim

Was going to try and train this weekend but even today I still have a cold and body is aching a bit which means it would probably do more harm than good this close to my trip on Friday. Just want to go to font in 1 piece now even if I don't get on rock beforehand 

[iain]

STG: Font in 2 weeks, tick 1 7B+
MTG/LTG: Freaky Ralph and onsight 7b

Mon: Tried fingerboarding, felt physically ok but could not get to stage where I felt I could begin session proper, gave up. 40 min run.
Tues: Studied and lost sense of humour, drank wine
Wed: Fingerboard. Great session getting new PB's on most hangs. 40 min run.
Thurs: Went to wall to boulder, despite feeling ok on wed elbows weren't happy at all and gave up after not doing much
Fri: Studied, still hadn't found sense of humour, more wine
Sat: Bouldered at the Cuttings. Felt good and did loads
Sun: Routes on Portland with HO. Tired, leading head in tatters and could barely do any warm-ups. Gave up after only 3 routes.

Very up and down week. Beginning to wonder if I've peaked too early for the Font trip. However, having to work hard for a professional exam has meant serious amounts of work and stress. Aim this coming week is quality day on/off.

@BB, really good to see the knee's improving

[shark]

Thanks for starting the thread Andy.

Weight 11.5-6 (last week 11.4-5)

Goal the Oak, 10,000 8a nu points

M Bought new pair of whites to be able to front point start moves on the Oak. Not fessed up to Sonia yet. (Boot spend this year £170+)
T  Early AM Yoga (7.30-8.30am) Late eve (10pm-11pm Cabin/board)
W Eve Ron book signing at Outside and canapes
T Eve: Short session on Wave
F Eve: Short session on Wave. Scoped out BYCS routes at Foundry with the boys much to Diane Merrick’s disgust.
S All day at BYCS climbing comp. The boys did well. Didnt judge this time as I had reports to write
S Quick breakfast in bed and chivvied kids to present cards and presents to Mum before 8am then off to Malham. Nice day/sunny intervals. Bit of improvement on Oak on last week. 4 goes till skin wore out. Had a rope up Baboo which have tried in the past. Sunday roast on return. Burnt the midnight oil finishing reports.

Been a busy pressured few weeks workwise still got plenty to do but light is visible at the end of the tunnel (hopefully its not an oncoming train). Been lax on diet front and indulging in regular treats. Psyche only average.

[Jeff25]

M Bought new pair of whites to be able to front point start moves on the Oak. Not fessed up to Sonia yet. (Boot spend this year >£170)

impressive boot spend Si given that its only March. - is that 2 pairs or are you getting a bargain somewhere?

2010 Goals: 7B, 8a+ (spanish), single digit body fat.

Mon - Fri: Two relatively shortish beastmaker sessions (about an hour).
Sat: Massive 3am argument with wife regarding going climbing. lost. did pull ups and beastmaker session with baby attached.
Sun: 1 mile swim but had to drown an old biddy who wandered into my lane so ended up not a good time.

[duncan]

STG: El Cap. / E3 in June.
MTG: E5 by June 2011

M: Tried lock-offs on fingerboard rather than pull-up bar.  Immediate elbow tweak.  Boo hoo. 
T: Rest. Elbow sore. 
W: Elbow sore. Shoulder stabilising exercises: Sideplanks etc.
T: Shoulder stabilising exercises: push-ups still hurt.
F: Shoulder stabilising exercises. front and side-planks
S: 5 mins. continuous x F5. Elbow sore. Shoulder stabilising exercises.
S: Elbow OK. Shoulder stabilising exercises.

Shoulder is getting stronger and seemingly no longer 'the weakest link'.  Time is moving on and 5 mins. gentle puntering is not going to get me up El Cap... 

[Monolith]

Monday - Uni
Tuesday - Had great session on fingerboard doing power pulls/one arm assists etc.
Wednesday - Uni
Thurs - Uni
Fri - Took day off life to chill.
Sat - Read portion of book and went to party. Met ace girl, went to hers;achieved non-sexual goal.
Sun - Chilled with her and indoctrinated her with climbing videos. She's now fully psyched. Goal two achieved.

Super proud of drinking very very minimal units of alcohol this week. Feeling very fresh in preparation for resuming two training sessions this week and a day on project. Happy.

[chris_j_s]

Weight: 61kg

Aims for 2010: rp 7b+ sport, o/s 6c+ sport, 7A boulder.
Stupid challenge to keep me motivated over the winter: Climb every problem in the room next to the tower at Ingleton Wall.

M: Guests from the weekend still needed entertaining for most of monday but snatched an hour and a half to do some easy onsighting up to 6b+ at Gigg South. Beautiful warm sunny afternoon.
T: Bouldering at Inlgeton. Another problem goes down, literally just a handful left to do but a reset is imminent and the pressure is on to get the rest done now!!
W: Repeat of last weeks attempted PE session on Rock Rings. Was interesting to see quite a significant gain on last week.
T: Routes at Kendal. Finally - one of the long steep 7a's which has been spitting me off is done. A lot of pent up frustration is released - good session!!
F: Rest in preparation for two days at Malham with a few mates...
S: Malham, slightly frustrating day - want to get on some 7a's or 7a+'s but get a little bit stuck belaying on a 6c and 6b+ for long periods of time. Do both of those routes easily early on. Was hoping to get on Yosemite Wall as the clips were in but time ticked on it turned utterly baltic suddenly. Can't feel my hands so we go home. 
S: Malham day two. Warm up on Brilliant Brilliant (a more inappropriate route name I have yet to come across!) then put the clips up on Rose Coronary. Amazed that it felt so, so easy compared to when I did it last August. Had two good goes on Something Stupid. Managed to do all the moves on both goes so I could definitely see it going in another session or two which would be a first 7b. Super psyched. Got recruited to get the clips out of yesterdays 6c (Scene of the Crime) after it got a soaking in a brief downpour.

Really good week overall which has got me nicely fired up (and praying for good weather this spring!).

[shark]

impressive boot spend Si given that its only March. - is that 2 pairs or are you getting a bargain somewhere?

The other pair was the eyewateringly expensive Solutions.

S: Malham day two.

Where you the Chris that Matt tried to kill knocking a block off Appetite at the end of the day ?

[Duncan Disorderly]

Goals: F7c, More 7B's, F8a before 2014 and recover from this bloody knee injury...

M: Physio excercises - Knee is surprisingly better, can fully straighten it and weight it for the first time in weeks.
T: Campus and fingerboard @ The works.. 4 sets of typewriters, 13531 x 6 leading with alternate hand. 14141 x 4 leading with alternate hand, 1434343...Failure x 4 leading alternate hand. Repeaters on beastmaker slopes, encores 1/2 crimp + 4 fingers, encores OH with 3 fingers, repeaters on pockets mid 2, repeaters on pockets front 2. Assisted 1 arm hangs on 2nd smallest campus rung x 6 alternate arms - 20kg. 
W: Rest - Trashed! Physio excercises.
T: Feeling shit, eat and drink beer instead of training - feel even shitter. Physio excercises.
F: Nowt - Leg is feeling so much better that I decide to go with boys to St Bees against my better judgement. Physio excercises.
S: Boulder at St Bees - Superb! Worried that I'll trash my knee but it actually held up fine. Climbed like a bag of spuds but climbed!! Managed a few V4 problems and had no trouble with the walk ins etc... Result! Got horribly drunk!
S: Boulder at St Bees with a raging hangover! Climbed a few V2's and 3's, knee felt sore and whole body felt off kilter but seeing as I was still on crutches less than a week before I can't complain (well I did but that's beside the point;-). Get back in good time to cook tea for the missus...

A really good week... Still weak as piss on the campus board and generally feeling a bit below par but the injury is healing nicely. Think I'll lay off bouldering too much before Font at Easter as the knee's still not right and continue with the fingerboard and campus training as I can measure progress and know that I'm not going to aggrovate the injury. Amazing to climb again and hang out with an ace crew in a top place with superb weather... Don't get much better IMO!

:D

[JamesD]

Monday
Did a load of wobble board squats with various medicine balls.
Glute and ab bridges, did some light wide grip pull downs, then did several sets of one armed wide grip pull downs, replacing the bar with a single hand bar/handle.
Then went and did some bench pressing, session dragged on a bit longer than intended but managed to teach my missus how to bench properly
Finished up with some flexibility stretching, focussed especially on my poor hip range of movement and finished.

Tuesday

Swim, Sauna, Steam room

Felt good afterwards, always nice to relax after a good swim.

Wednesday

Where do I start, what an awesome session!
I felt strong like beast today, went in, warmed up, and proceeded to Flash every single V1 there (minus 2 of them because I went off to try a V2), including my first ever V1 on an overhang.
I then almost did my first V2!....well I got half way through it, but Hell yeah!
My fingers felt strong, I felt strong, I felt good!
After several attempts at the V2 and one more V1 I tired to keep going but I was so knackered I couldn't even bang out a sit-start haha!
Just wanted to share my buzz, last night I felt in the zone, and it was awesome  progression is awesome.

Thursday

Ached like crazy, was going to hit the gym, but wimped out and went home instead

Friday

Swim, Sauna, steam room....good times, body still aching from Wednesday, fingers still have no conceivable strength yet, in fact my hands wrist feel just about useless right now!

Saturday

Had dinner drinks with other half, her sister, and her boyfriend, got pretty drunk, went to bed earlyish like 11pm, but didn't end up getting to sleep until just gone 4:30am 

Sunday

Woke up in agony, alcohol must have masked the muscular pain last night because I felt like i'd been beaten up, it was such a fun night though
However I was not amused by the fact that I had to be in work for 10am, on a Sunday
I cycled 5 miles to work, felt like shit, had a few coffee's, went to the wall, kicked out only around 3 V1's, a load of V0's to help ease my brain/body into it.
After looking around I realised there was actually only one V1 that I didn't do last time, took one look at it, attempted the sit-start, failed miserably, sprawled myself out across crash the mat in frustration, looking to the ceiling for answers, it had none, so I proceeded to help the girlfriend out with a couple of bits she was struggling with. Also I finally cracked this really tricky V0 with a really nifty heel hook, which I was quite proud of, because everyone else I saw was really struggling up the first half, myself included, we were all perplexed by this bizarre first half of the sequence, and it turned out that all it took was one well placed heel hook to make the whole thing really easy....awesome