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#50 Return to Ratho.
October 05, 2010, 07:00:33 pm
Return to Ratho.
5 October 2010, 1:01 pm



Ratho is perhaps the only indoor wall I can be bothered to write about. Ratho is the only wall where I don't begrudge having to go indoors rather than outdoors. Ratho is the only wall where I've actually gone there to train on a dry sunny day (only the once mind you!!). It is vast, the routes are very long, you get very pumped, the angles are good, and the walls are a nice plain colour rather than ghastly toddler primary colours. It is a place where I can just get on and lead routes without any rigid schedule, and know I am still training.

A year ago I went down for the first time. I struggled up F6as, had to rest on F6bs, and after each route/attempt I ended up doubled over gasping with exhaustion - not due to the altitude at the lower-offs, due to the exertion and lack of fitness. A few months later I was back up to leading F6cs okay, which felt like a fair standard of fitness. Several months after that I had an emergency training session and managed 3 F7as including the hardest indoor route I've lead. Which was nice. I did okay this summer, maybe it's all related.

Fast forward to a year after the first visit and I'm back in training - last year was just getting my climbing fitness back up....this year I'm going to get BIG AND STRONG....ish. Obviously the training is needed as after a fairly sluggish week I wasn't big and strong at the wall I was FAT AND WEAK. Not as bad as a year ago but definitely lacking in wall fitness. This is fine because to get big and strong one initially has to be less big and strong i.e. fat and weak to progress upwards. It certainly felt good to give my climbing muscles a workout, and I'm looking forward to trying hard and progressing in future sessions...



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It's really great at Inverpollaidh Rock Gym!
14 October 2010, 8:48 am



And the winner of the Best Designed Crag 2010 Award is....

Inverpollaidh Rock Gym
  • Great steep mid-grade gneiss wall climbing - check
  • Good holds and good gear and good routes - check
  • South west facing so plenty of sun and fresh breeze - check
  • Idyllic flat grassy base - check
  • Gorgeous location complete with sea-view - check
  • Enough of a walk to keep the drones away, but flat and non-tiring - check

I've been wanting to go to Inverpollaidh for years, god knows how many years. I think I saw it in a magazine article and I know I was inspired by it straight away. The epitome (well, one of them) of delightful Scottish cragging. Many years later, on a particularly fine October day, I finally got there and as usual my hunches and inspirations are spot on - it does exactly what it says - I got really quite giddy when we popped around the corner and saw just how nice the setting was. The routes aren't anything radical nor outstanding, but it's all good and a great mileage crag.

This particular gem was part of a very pleasant weekend away with Phil, Mumbi, and Inverpollaidh tour guide and local strong lass Tess Fryer (much needed as the walk-in is entirely blind - but I know the secrets now ;)). In fact the weekend started early with a long overdue visit from The World Famous Helen Rogers - famous for running more businesses than the city of London, and for an unhealthy penchant for crabwise traversing. I tried to cure her of this with a Friday morning session at Dumby, but disappointingly she got on with it quite well, there weren't any tears and she nimbly outwitted most of the more heinous highballs (although did get successfully fooled into The Blue Meanie). I dropped Lady R off at Glasgow Queen Street at 1:20, and got to the far side of Ullapool at exactly 5:20. Just enough time for a bit of beach bouldering at Ardmair...

Saturday was Inverpollaidh, Sunday Phil needed to check out some sandstone, and wisely chose the infinitely superior Ardmair over Reiff. This provided a good contrast and the usual seemingly unlimited supply of strong, steep and well-featured climbing. The classic Skeletons was dry for a change, so I did that. However the previous days started to take their toll (campussing Wed, 1km swim Thu, two bouldering sessions Fri, long trad day Sat...) and we decided to leave after a few routes to go bouldering. Thus finishing the weekend with a quick session at Rhue which is more like gritstone than gritstone is - brutal rounded pebbly nonsense that I moved 200 miles to avoid having to climb!! Still good fun tho. Fish and chips and back to Glasgow in 3:40 somehow. Long may the cragging weekends continue!

The view from Ardmair. Not bad for the Highlands in October...



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Aimless although amiable amblings around Aberdeen.
20 October 2010, 6:30 pm



Bit late with this, I've been lazy / busy (delete the latter as applicable). Last weekend I had another weekend in Aberdeen to escape the Wet(-ish) West. The Aberdeen coast is a sometimes good and often useful climbing venue, sheltered from the regular soakings that afflict most of the mountain areas in Scotland by, errr, most of the mountain areas in Scotland. It was criminally missed out of Gary's Scottish Rock books, his "reasoning" that it's often birdy or greasy being particularly insubstantial given that the rightly much-lauded Highlands And Islands are pissing with rain 33% of the time, submerged under snow 33% of the time, and heaving with midge death squadrons 33% of the time. Not even the slightest mention of Aberdeen or the Costa Del Moray Coast as useful alternatives, instead the space being taken up with gimmick photos of Mull non-move-wonders and verbose page-filling descriptions of exact protection for mountain E7s....hmmm....

ANYWAY. I went there. It was fairly dry. It was also fairly cool, a brisk south-westerly meaning it was either cold in the sun or cold in the shade. Not really a problem for me but it made it tricky choosing the right venues overall. In the end I did a bit of bouldery trad at Long Slough (short but quite fun and interesting rock), a bit of bouldery sport at Cambus O'May (not as bad as I feared, quite inspiring for Aberdeen sport climbing), a bit more bouldery trad at Clashrodney (nice enough although not much choice left there for me) and a bit of bouldery bouldering at Boltsheugh (fun but very limited easy circuit).

As much as actually getting out on the rock, the highlights of the weekend were hanging out with some of the friendly posse around Aberdeen, both deliberately and inadvertantly, and sampling the hospitality of The Neuk and Newmachars, and also making a new best friend in the tiny rotund form of Sir Voleington Volealot Of Volesbury:

They're not very good pictures as the wee bugger was all of a frisk and fond of frolicking around in dark clefts. He was exceptionally cute tho and no slouch on the routes either, here he is on the first ascent of Vole Corner VS 4c ***

Ho hum.



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#53 Going okay at Glen Ogle.
October 23, 2010, 01:00:30 am
Going okay at Glen Ogle.
22 October 2010, 6:49 pm



I dashed out for an evening this week. Everyone in Scotland was getting all giggly and dribbly that "winter" had arrived (removal of brain cells being one of the best weight-saving tactics for Scottish winter climbers). They're not wrong. JB called the grit and conditions were pretty ace for bouldering - crisp cold and dry. I even kept my t-shirt on, well, sort of t-shirt. The main thrust of the video below is to show off the new threads rather than show off the actual problems. I'm sure you'll agree it's a winning combination...hmmm...

Glen Ogle is like most schist bouldering and indeed some general Scottish bouldering, a bit crap really...but kinda okay too. Glen Ogle doesn't have too many of the usual detriments, access is fairly easy, walking around the boulders is tolerable, the lines are okay as are the landings, and it's not too lowball. The rock is a bit flakey and there's a lot more boulders than good boulder problems but it wasn't bad for a wee easy circuit. Just nice to play around on rock on a fresh evening. The most aesthetic problem is also the most gruesome - Pyramid Lip, a campus traverse into a haemorrhage / hemorrhoid-inducing mantle onto a slab - a brief play on this confirmed it wasn't as randomly overgraded as the other problems and will require some serious effort a later date. Worth going back for I think. Overall it was a good opening to the winter season :).



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#54 Changing seasons, changing styles.
October 25, 2010, 01:00:17 am
Changing seasons, changing styles.
24 October 2010, 7:08 pm



The previous weekend in Aberdeen definitely heralded the arrival of autumn, and possibly winter too as the bleaker seasons tend to blur together up here in the windswept wastelands. Leave were swirling off the trees, the sun's lazy low angle made the warmth of it's light exceed the warmth of it's glow, the air felt cool in the lungs and the rock cold under the skin. I was still syked for trad as it is objectively and factually the best, most fun and most rewarding form of climbing, but I got an increasing urge to sample the friction and power of bouldering (and sport, to a lesser degree).

So although I'm keen to maximise the trad potential this winter, I'm just as keen to mix it up with bouldering as the conditions dictate. In the end I've explored a fair amount of good trad this year, and the few outstanding (in terms of unvisited status AND quality) venues won't be suitable in winter, so when it really is too grim for trad I'll turn my exploring urge to bouldering. I've very rarely travelled far to boulder, apart from Font it's just been one weekend with Ogs in Wales, and a couple of the Official Lads Bouldering meets. But you have to travel far to get the best out of Scotland and bouldering is no exception. Thus trips to Mull, Inverness, Torridon and Reiff are being planned, as well as Northumberland too. This should hopefully mean more time on the rock and more fun :). Mix and match and go with the flow.

Related to that, the other good option in winter is of course winter sun sport climbing. As always my urge is exploration, particular atypical options away from the homogenous Euro-limestone.  I'm still gathering ideas for that, but in the meantime, Sir Choadington Choadalot of Choadsbury is out in Arco with his family, and I've got some time to take a long weekend out there. Thus another change in style, back to some last minute emergency training. Recent Ratho visits confirm I'm not fit....but getting fitter. It's nice to have something to work towards, and that thing itself will be a good top-up for now too.



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#55 aaaAAAaaAAaArco0o0o0o0o
November 04, 2010, 12:00:12 am
aaaAAAaaAAaArco0o0o0o0o
2 November 2010, 9:06 pm



I'm back from a long autumn sun bolt-clipping weekend in the Italian sport climbing mecca of Arco. There were many cool things over this mini-trip... Exploring a whole new area, the gorgeous scenery around the top of Lake Garda, 3 days of warm sunshine, hooning around in my tiny Fiat Scroto hire car (dropping it down into 2nd at 70kph to overtake being quite ineffectual fun, as well as trying to slide on mountain hairpin bends), eating ace pizza and other Italian delicacies, hanging out with my old mates and their wee monkey boy (e.g. after knocking over ice cream dish in a face-pulling contest: L: "Daddy are we BOTH idiots??"... D: "Yes....yes we are.") in a tiny little cabin, endless choadly banter and a fair bit of chilling out.

Note that something is missing from that list...the climbing?? Yes, the climbing. There was some. Not as much as I would have liked, and I was rubbish at it. I did a few routes, tackled a few challenges, and most of what I did was pretty good. Most of what I failed on was pretty good too, and there was more of that than I would have liked. D wasn't on form either, and so aptly put it "punters in crime" ! There were some general issues - the consensus was the grades were stiff, some areas were fairly polished and ludicrously overchalked, with their clientele having a particular bad habit of chalking every shite undulation on the rock EXCEPT the best holds, and climbing in the warm sun didn't help. Despite this I felt I was climbing technically fine, and with a fair amount of conviction (albeit the usual fear of falling even on sport routes). But I just seemed to get very pumped and rather tired pretty quickly, and I'm not really sure why.

Even before I left I was rubbish at Ratho and at other training. It seems odd that after a reasonable summer climbing I'm *less* climbing fit than before. The only possible suggestion was that I might just need a wee break. Maybe this is right although with my fucked up body it's really hard to tell what's best for my fitness. However....I'm doing that for now and will see what happens.



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#56 County account...
November 07, 2010, 06:00:12 pm
County account...
7 November 2010, 1:14 pm



...has been opened. For bouldering at least - I've done a few routes there before. One of my favourite self-indulgent stunts is waiting for people to ask me, an outsider, if I've ever climbed in Northumberland. "A little bit....only Back Bowden, Berryhill, Bowden, Callerhues, Corby's, Crag Lough, Curtis Crag, Drakestone, East Woodburn, Goat's Crag, Great Wanney, Jack Rock, Kyloe In, Kyloe Out, Peel Crag, Raven's Crag, Ravensheugh, Rothley, Sandy Crag, Selby's Cove, Simonside and South Yardhope" I answer with a poker face but without modesty. I still want to add Howlerhirst and Linshields to my list.

I've also done a few boulder problems there before, mostly at Kyloe In (when recovering from golfer's elbow) and Hepburn Out (when recovering - or thinking I was recovering - from DVTs). Both really rather good. Of course there is so much more than that, indeed a whole guidebook full of hugely innaccurate grades and "not to scale" maps etc etc, and to optimise winter climbing I've realised I need to explore the County a lot more. I've started with a visit to Dove Holes (the bouldering venue, not the Dove Dale caves nor the village near Buxton), despite a deluge overnight it was sunny and idyllic and indeed a bit warm for bouldering as shown in the video below, but pretty good fun. Alas I ran out of daylight / courage for the better and higher problems but I'll be back for sure.

In a generally very fine afternoon, one disappointment was my renewed punterness. This time I didn't need stamina of course, but did notice that I seemed to get tired and out of breath even on boulder problems. Partly due to the penis-grinding mantle top-outs, and probably partly due to not breathing well enough, but it is still rather odd. Particularly since I went to the gym on Thu night and had my best recumbent cycling / rowing fitness session so far. So why do I get so tired on 1 minute of strenuous bouldering?? Maybe this is the same issue as getting so tired in Arco?? Anyone got any thoughts??



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#57 Re:  fiendblog
November 07, 2010, 07:53:05 pm
If your CV is fine, then I suggest you are getting out of breath when bouldering, purely through not breathing? I do it quite often specifically on strenous core dependant stuff.

I recommend yoga :)

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#58 Re:  fiendblog
November 07, 2010, 08:02:31 pm
My CV is fucked but not any more fucked than it was several months ago.

It might well be the breathing thing, I will have to monitor that...

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#59 Romping about at the Restil Boulders.
November 11, 2010, 12:00:05 pm
Romping about at the Restil Boulders.
11 November 2010, 10:02 am



I quite like the Restil Boulders. Although there are very few of them, the lines are good, the rock is a good schist, more compact and square-cut rather than contorted and flakey, the walk-in although revoltingly tussocky is suitably short and the surrounding views are pretty dramatic.

They're also good in winter as those same surrounding views transform into heavily snowcapped peaks, the sometimes boggy ground freezes into manageability, and the boulders stay fairly clean and sunny....if you're there when the sun is still on them. I wasn't so I had to make do with shade - and correspondingly good friction :) - but it was still a good, if brief session. If only there was a bit more there...



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#60 Tools Of The Trade
November 22, 2010, 12:00:15 am
Tools Of The Trade
21 November 2010, 6:53 pm





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#61 Terrific Torridon, Righteous Reiff.
November 24, 2010, 12:00:09 am
Terrific Torridon, Righteous Reiff.
23 November 2010, 10:08 pm



Had a fun long weekend on my own exploring bouldering in the mighty North West. Was due to meet a guy to do some routes with but he had to pull out so I just kept bouldering. Staying in a nice hostel (well, pretty crude hostel but attached to a rather swish hotel which I was allowed to lurk in....sitting in front of a roaring fire, supping in a cask strength 20yr old Jura under the stern gaze of several stag heads, pretty nice ;)), driving many miles around, enjoying great weather, beautiful scenery and the probably the best bouldering in Scotland.

Not much more to say. It's cool. I'll be back.



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#62 On The Merits Of Being Shit.
November 25, 2010, 06:00:03 pm
On The Merits Of Being Shit.
25 November 2010, 4:56 pm



At the moment, I am shit.

My fitness shit - I feel physically sluggish in general, I am a tigger without a bounce. I've slacked off on the CV training and with my leg issues I can't afford to do that.

My climbing fitness is shit - I get pumped and tired so much quicker than normal. Not just on routes, even on boulder problems, I get out of breath.

My weight is shit - I'm the heaviest I've ever been, more than a stone heavier than 3 years ago. And not all of that is pure beefy muscle :(

My strength is shit - Probably due to the weight issue, but I really can't seem to haul my lardy arse in an upwards direction. I dread to think how few pullups I can do.

My skin is shit - but that's normal heh.

My attitude is shit - I still think I can climb as well as I have during the better points of this year....deluded, I go into each session kidding myself I'm better than I currently am. I'm not adjusting to my new physical needs, I'm not dedicated enough to training in various ways.

My technique....isn't any more shit than usual - I do feel I'm moving okay on rock and in touch with what balance and footwork I usually have.

My finger strength....isn't as shit as the rest - I do feel that I can hang on smallish holds, just can't pull very far on them.

My inspiration....isn't shit - I do feel happy that I've got so inspired by bouldering over winter, AND I'm getting syked and getting ideas for next spring too. Definitely "true to self".

OH DEAR.

As Duncan Disorderly is fond of saying, "You can't have fun when you're weak". I could never really identify with that. But now, for the first time ever, I might even be weaker than Dunc. That is a dirty, sordid feeling with an unwholesome air of inherent wrongness.

Basically I have to wake up and put some fucking effort in. The good thing about being weak is you can get strong, the merits of being shit are that you can improve, progress, and learn. What I need to learn is to get into good habits of overall physical activity and training - not just climbing, but general training that will crucially benefit my health and undoubtably benefit my climbing too. IF I can learn to that, that will be very good. If I can't, I will just have to keep trying and battling with my bad habits.

I think my climbing desires are in touch with the season.

I think my climbing needs are also in touch with the season.

I now need to address those needs so I can meet those desires.



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#63 Little bit of krushing at Loch Katrine.
November 28, 2010, 12:00:13 am
Little bit of krushing at Loch Katrine.
26 November 2010, 3:24 pm



Taking advantage of the OMG-snow-end-of-the-world-winter-apocalypse-/-awesome-bouldering-conditions weather, I've had a wee visit to the Loch Katrine boulders. This is rather long overdue - not least because they are GOOD. Good lines, great scenery, superb rock. Nothing like the usual flakey bollox, but a delightfully rough and butchly clean-cut schist. The walk-in is potentially a bit tedious but I drove down the private road and waved my "On Warfarin due to bilateral DVTs" medical card and politely asked to park there to save my poor wee legs, which worked and was the first part of a very fine session. The second part was seeing the inspiring lines and scenery. Third part, chalking my hands and touching the rock and oh my god the friction. Possibly the best conditions I've ever bouldered in, I felt I could just mollusc my way up things. Not much different to my usual climbing style then ;).

The fourth and conclusive part was climbing pretty well, flashing a few good problems and effectively flashing another (note to self: read guidebook properly and aim for the true and easier line not some harder version). The only disappointment was not managing the classic butch sloper problem "Fight Club". Curiously I was wondering if I was doing so well earlier on solely because of the conditions, but FC is totally conditions dependent and still felt nails. So as usual the grades are nonsense. But the climbing is good and probably the best bouldering session I've had since spring 2009.



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#64 Really balmy at the Rankin Boulder.
December 08, 2010, 12:00:13 am
Really balmy at the Rankin Boulder.
7 December 2010, 8:55 pm



I visited the Rankin boulder in early Autumn, it was too warm. I visited recently in the middle of the apparent deep freeze (deciding that 1'c and sun in Galloway might be preferable to -10'c and sun in Glen Nevis), and it was too warm.

O RLY?

YA RLY.

The Sun:

Was warm and strong and shining straight onto the rock out of a clear blue sky. Truly it was gorgeous, a perfect winter sun. However while everywhere else emphasised the winter, this location emphasised the sun. The rock basked in it all day making for an exceptionally pleasant situation but unexceptional friction. Until the sun set, which heralded a valuable drop in temperature which was chased by a less valuable drop in light levels. Alas the latter caught up with the former before I could tackle the more inspiring problem there, a curious bulging prow which starts as for the easy central groove and rapidly gains good holds and steady if slappy ground on the rib. I found despite appearances that rapid gain is also an abruptly difficult gain so I'll have to go back for it sometime.

The Rock:

Is both good and bad. The rock is good, a sizable and shapely stone with a clean aspect, generally good landings and decent lines. The rock is bad, a belligerently abrasive granite with a texture that shreds more than it grips. Thus a combination that promises a bit more than it delivers - captivating from a distance, coarser and cruder closer up. Again, conditions-dependent, for pleasure as much as power.

The Climber:

Was okay! I struggled with the warmth and the rock. Then I didn't. Then it got dark. And I got a flapper in my thumb. And my shoes full of snow from the walk-in. But I did okay, I only flashed a couple of the easiest problems (both completely randomly overgraded). The others I could have done in colder conditions. The harder one inspired me more than I initally thought. One bonus was my tweaky finger (tweaked years ago and randomly recurring because I haven't been pushing it and I haven't been crimping hard, WTFingF??) felt fine, much better than it did down the wall on previous nights. I am also continuing the strong theme of colour coordinated bouldering garb. Whether this actually works, I don't know.



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#65 Re:  fiendblog
December 08, 2010, 12:29:45 pm
The random overgrades of the easy probs are entirely my fault. They felt pretty powerful to me.

There are a lot of other boulders around that area that need developed too if you can be arsed with the ridiculous walk in (only then to have someone retroclaim the lines).

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#66 Re:  fiendblog
December 10, 2010, 01:21:42 pm
Which random overgrades?? I forget as almost all Scottish bouldering grades are wrong ;)

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#67 Snow down / slow down.
December 11, 2010, 06:00:07 pm
Snow down / slow down.
11 December 2010, 12:00 pm



It's a fairly odd time at the moment. I am shit but still syked. It snowed a lot. Then everything was covered in snow and ice apart from the things that weren't and were too warm. Now it's all melted and everything is damp including Ratho which has streams pouring out of the old comp wall. I've been taking things steady down the wall through necessity, same with the bouldering too - certainly not pushing hard and crimping like a demon. So my 2003-tweaked finger has come back and retweaked HOW THE CHOADING HELL. I'm getting syked for training and going to the gym too. This has had the noticable benefit of me feeling at least as unfit and tired on routes if not more so. It's not making any sense.

One thing that is making sense is that I've got a mini trip booked to Costa Blanca between Xmas and New Year. Look, I've got email confirmation from Easyjet. So that's real. My climbing out there could be surreal, unreal, or just plain fictious. God only knows. It's what I'm training for anyway. A shining beacon of merely possible failure, gleaming through the dank fog of certain failure.

Other than that I want to make some more exciting plans abroad (thinking of Malta and Morocco at the end of Jan), keep bouldering and pull my finger out and push myself as much as errr that finger allows, get out tradding too, keep exploring, keep fit, get some vestige of stamina back. Not much to ask when it's all inspiring despite the lack of sense ;).



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#68 Re:  fiendblog
December 12, 2010, 10:47:37 pm
I could see things weren't right at Arco. Seems like you have been struggling since. I'm genuinely concerned. Can you go and have a check-up or medical or something  :please:

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#69 Re:  fiendblog
December 14, 2010, 10:08:58 am
Hey mr Shark, thanks for the concern. I have been a bit below par for a while - but not THAT much below par. Enough to whine about but not enough to be a serious concern, I think.

Partly I'm still struggling since I haven't been doing much fitness / wall training until recently (I've mostly been out bouldering a lot). I think with my body how it is, I need to keep up with pretty regular training as I degenerate into unfitness more easily these days.

This includes my weight - I'm now 12-12.5 stone compared to 10.5-11 stone in 2006/7. That's due to various factors including some weight gain around the clot area, being less able to do CV exercise to burn it off, being less able to have big days out in the hills, and the heinous temptations of the Glasgow diet.

Thus I have more lardy arse to haul up routes (and Duncan Disorderly trying to give me a complex about it doesn't help that much!!....anyway has he even done F7c yet?!) and need to do a lot more work to keep that weight off and the fitness ON.

The good news being that I have started training much more recently, including wall bouldering, wall routing, and regular gym sessions (typically 25 mins recument cycling / 20 mins rowing / 30 mins weights-strength training). I'm accepting that I am a bit shit and just keeping at it. I'm also trying to watch what I eat more...

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#70 Re:  fiendblog
December 14, 2010, 11:36:07 am
With you getting pumped so alarmingly quickly - given the amount of climbing you do - I wondered whether there is a connection with the blood circulation problem that gave rise to DVT.

Your body might be trying to tell you something or it might be lying but prudent to check it out - no? 

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#71 Re:  fiendblog
December 14, 2010, 01:16:27 pm
my heart bleeds for u fiend

u overtraining at the gym/fitness side of things?

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#72 Re:  fiendblog
December 14, 2010, 01:22:32 pm
my heart bleeds for u fiend

u overtraining at the gym/fitness side of things?

He suffered from bilateral Deep Vein Thrombosis last year (clots in legs, hospitalisation, anti-coagulants etc.).  See threads here and here (there is a third one I think but can't find it at present).

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#73 Re:  fiendblog
December 14, 2010, 11:48:09 pm
Dense my arse bleeds for you. Bring more lube next time.

Shark, the blood circulation problem is a sealed vein in my chest - sealed since birth - I doubt that is causing any more problems. It never really affected my upper body anyway. I personally think my body is trying to tell me "I'm a bit b0rked and susceptible to unfitness now so you can't be complacement and slob around and expect to get away with it". HOWEVER I do appreciate what you're saying and I'm keeping a close errr eye on things and if I feel significantly odder I will get it checked out.

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#74 Gym'll Fix It.
December 21, 2010, 12:00:16 am
Gym'll Fix It.
20 December 2010, 1:58 pm



Sorry. Very sorry. I can't be trusted with a blog. Nor the internet. Nor a keyboard.

Anyway. Training, again. I have got some syke back for it. Which might be why my body has politely requested a rest day.

Thu - Gym

Fri - Ratho routes

Sat - (rest)

Sun - Ratho bouldering

Mon - Gym

Tue - Ratho routes

Wed - Gym

Thu - (rest)

Fri - Gym

Sat - Fat Buddha bouldering

Sun - Transition routes

Not bad. The gym is featuring heavily, it is reasonably convenient, I can do it on my own, I can do fitness training I can't do outside, it balances out the climbing, it doesn't aggravate my finger, and unusually I am actually vaguely motivated for it - this last factor being a radical break from tradition. I tend to do 25 mins recumbent cycling, either 20 mins rowing or 10 mins rowing and 2x7 mins arm cycling, and 30 mins mixed weights. This seems to be a relatively un-tedious combo, at least when backed up with an adequate supply of DnB mp3 mixes. What effect it is having on my weight, health, and climbing fitness, I don't really know, but I feel good doing it - so it probably is good. I'm going to keep going this week, mix in some outdoor bouldering, and probably be forced to have 3 rest days over Xmas, BLEH.



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