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Two Times One
26 March 2010, 3:29 pm

I feel like I'm well and truly back into the flow of training.  I've hit three Beastmaker sessions in a row this week and it seems to have woken my body up.  The difference between the first and third session was staggering. During my first session things felt ludicrously hard, my joints ached and my skin wailed. I failed miserably on sets of front 2 and back 2 repeaters on the small pockets, things I could piss before.  There was worry in my mind there is no doubt about it, have I lost it I thought? But I stuck with it and the next day there was a marked improvement.  By yesterday, my third day in a row, I was back up to completing full sets of front 2 and back 2 encores and repeaters on the small pockets.

It felt good to be back.

I've also added some other basic excercises which I haven't used before: delving into the world of the one arm encore.  Now this isn't a place I've frequented before, but now I feel it's time.  I've discovered pretty quickly that it is a brutal world, where there is absolutely no hiding.  Unfortunately the only way of using assistance on the Beastmaker at the wall is through a pinky on the crimps,  not ideal.  I'm easing myself in gently by doing sets on the big rungs and so far I've had to stick a pinky on when I get to the 90 deg lock on the way back down, I'm going to be a happy man when I start getting through a full set.  

I've also gone back to doing sets of basic pull ups on the same rungs.  I haven't really done pull ups for a while, feeling that campusing and encores was enough of a work out but a quick test before I went to font shocked me into it.  Before I went away I did a few basic strength tests to see where I had got to, during this I found that I was actually not particularly strong at pull ups.  One armers were fine, I managed 4 on the big rung on the Beastmaker on my right and 3 on my left, but with two arms I could only do 10.  I was pretty shocked that there was only a relatively small difference between the two.  The power was undoubtedly there, but the power stamina was lacking.  So I'm now hitting 4 sets of 10 at the end of every Beastmaker session.

I'm also well and truly back into the swing of work, I'm up to 17 shifts this month, but it's a run of flip flopping between days and nights, which is brutal on the body clock.  It kicked off last night with my first overnight shift since I got back.    No amount of caffeine can prepare you for that feeling.  Currently the city feels a little bit like this to me...

from David Hubert on Vimeo.

Over 3000 stills were used in that vid, no video whatsoever, serious patience needed to produce something like that so hats off to them.  Suffice to say after just 3 hours sleep this morning my level of patience is probably at the other end of the spectrum to theirs.

Source: increasing the calibre

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Photo Francais
29 March 2010, 11:28 am

Here are a few pics that the Daddy took whilst we were in font.  The first couple are of me on Noir Desire 7c.  This was a problem I really wanted to do when I was out there and after about 3 or 4 goes from the start I dropped the finishing finger jug.  It was late in the day and pretty miserable weather, thinking there would be plenty of time for me to come back later in the trip and dispatch it I left it.  That is a mistake I will never make again; if it's on, get it done don't leave it for another day that might never come.



Source: increasing the calibre

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Seconds To Impact
30 March 2010, 8:11 pm

I'm into a pretty nasty run of overnight shifts and I'm absolutely shattered.  I've got three 5 day weeks of them in a row; great for my bank balance after my month off but keeping the psyche up for training is going to be tough.  I hit the campus board yesterday, the power was still there, but a long way from where it was before I left.  It'll return I'm sure.  The pain in my foot has almost fully disappeared and I'm really looking forward to getting back out on some projects.  I can't wait to try and get up on rock again once I get off this nocturnal lifestyle.    

Here are a couple of pics taken by a tall German vegetarian called Sven of me on Conviction, just seconds away from disaster.



Source: increasing the calibre

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Dark Hours
2 April 2010, 12:18 am

I'm fucking knackered, a recipe of substantial numbers of overnights sprinkled with the odd day has hit me hard.  Tonight I was supposed to be out relaxing and enjoying a few beers, but I got called in again at the last minute to cover someone who was sick.  

Cue another day of being up for 24hours.  

This lifestyle plays havoc with your body clock.  Age creeps up slowly on most people, but old father time seems to have snorted a hell of a lot of speed before deciding to come after me.  I'm 27 years old and already have a substantial spread of the 'grey' in my barnet.  

Pumping myself up on caffeine is the only way I've managed to keep the training up.  It's been Beastmaker all the way as everything else is just too much for my mind and body to deal with.  Despite the fatigue I'm getting back up to where I was before I went away, front two and back two repeaters and encores have been going down on the small pockets.  I've even added back two pull ups on the medium  pockets into the mix.  I've never hit them before, but they feel like they will do me some good.

It feels good to be making progress despite my nocturnal existence, it would be too easy to let things slip.  Too easy to let the depression of the darkness take over......



Source: increasing the calibre

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Hitting The Bottom
7 April 2010, 7:52 am

Easter is over and it's end marks the start of my new training regime.  As everybody knows Easter is a time for over eating and I've been doing plenty of it.  Fortunately cake and chocolate seems to have helped me get through my horrendous run of overnights.  I've done my first weeks worth, but I've still got two more weeks to go.  I'm exhausted, so much so that yesterday I sacked off a training session after half an hour as everything just felt too much.

However a quick text from a friend yesterday and the psyche is well and truly back, looks like I'm heading to Magic Woods this summer.  That text came just at the right time as my motivation had reached a new low.  Now I've got something to train for and I'm ready to start hitting it hard again.  I've got some serious unfinished business out in the forest and can't wait to get back on that beautiful rock.

Here's a vid of one of the forests many classics

from Flo Murnig on Vimeo.

Source: increasing the calibre