[shark]

11.8-11.11

M. Drove back from Devon. Eve. Fingerboard
T.  AM Pullup and weights session
W. PM eatswood with Tommy. Filthy weather but holds dry. OK session but no progress on Reverse
T.  PM Plantation left with Tommy and Dolly. Forgot sandwiches. Nice day but some damp rock. Warmed up then ripped a flapper.  Could hardly pull on anything we tried. Had a shit time and left in a bad mood.
F.  Eve. Fingerboard. Did a 9 sec crimped hang on the #5 hold with +5kg.
S. AM 20min run with Poppy. Eve. 10mins stretching
S. PM eatswood with Tommy and Dolly. Cold and grim. Some marginal progress on the Reverse. Last move is going to be a heartbreaker though.

Excited to a package from Crusher Holds with some new wooden crimps and undercuts to add to my systems board as well as fingerboard with a good variety of edges. Going to do a minimum of 30mins exercise every day in Jan even if its just stretching.

Lost a couple of pounds. Will start introducing some PE type work. 

[rich d]

Been on the sharks thin all week. Well since New Years days, done minimum of 30 mins every day. 2 dead hanging sessions, 1 max (more like min) hang session. A couple of core and push up sessions too. The wife is also doing some sort of plank challenge for jan, so I've jumped on that. Went to the peak today, but ended up just going for a walk with the kids and wife, secret garden was gopping, although had a quick chat with a bloke who was managing to squeeze in a quick mother cap session before the rain came. I've also not drank a drop of alcohol since Xmas eve, and am going to try and keep off it all January, not for a dryathon but because it scares me to death that I'm worried about lasting a month, which suggests it would be a good thing to have a break.

Goals 7a on grit consistently this year, get a decent senior position in nots depot summer bouldering league. Get to 80kg (currently 90 to 93 depending on which way the wind is blowing)

[fried]

Monday - Back to Paris
Tuesday - Some family around not to hectic.
Wednesday - Day 1 Sharkathon - Too much pent up energy from spending Christmas sitting on sofas at the folks. No walls open today, so cleaned the flat from top to bottom, cleaned the floors, the windows and reorganised a cupboard 4h non-stop work.

Thursday - Day 2 Sharkathon - 3 New walls opened in the Paris area in December and I'm off to try the first one Hardbloc - http://www.hardbloc.fr
Fine, I was the only one there for 2 hours, so did as much as I could. Good prep for Font, the grades are all over the place!

Friday - Day 3 Sharkathon - Indoor at normal wall, shoulder is playing up, so I do loots of easy stuff and some core stuff.
Saturday - Day 4 Sharkathon - 30min power walk to Gare du nord to buy some green chillis. 4km.

Sunday - Day 5 - Too damp to climb by the look of things, so I decide to do the walking circuit 25 bosses. I've done sections before but it's basically a tour of the trois pignons forest, mostly through rocks - http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/107202/fr/foret-de-fontainebleau-circuit-des-25-bosses.
This was fantastic and I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you thought the trois pignons was flat! 5h 10mins of walking. Very tired.

[csl]

Jan Goals
Climb 3x a week 4/3
25 Problems on Comp Wall @ Biscuit
2x sessions on rope
1x outside
Lose a kilo

Winter
V8 indoors/generally get stronger bouldering.
Book a trip sport climbing in March/April.

Mon- Biscuit Factory - Circuit Board - Long warm up then tried 7b circuit. Did in two halves + 3x to move 15, is a bit too cruxy. Then did 7a circuit and had a few goes on 7c circuit. Did Red 6c Circuit. Core and Pressups.
Tue- 3rd day on, shouldn't have gone. Some problems up to V4.
Wed-
Thu-
Fri- Biscuit Friday Comp. Did 16 out of 30 problems. Flashed all but one which i got second go. By then skin and stamina meant I couldn't do more. Probably another 6 I should have done. Last comp set I managed 12/25 in the month they were up so these must be easier I guess. No idea of grades.
Sat- Biscuit - Knackered. Pottered around on very easy stuff.
Sun-

Weight 75.6kg - heavy after Christmas!

[webbo]

 Mon. Board, struggled. Turbo 1 hr
Tue. Dumbbell workout. Turbo 1 hr.
Wed. Board better session repeated a few things.
Thu. Nothing.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat. Board did 2 projects and repeated the mirror of one of them. Turbo 1hr.
Sun. Bike 3hrs10 mins felt hard cold, windy

[lagerstarfish]

14.12 - 15.1

Mon to Thurs - nothing as usual

Friday - child care, family and work co-operated to allow me 2 hours at Curbar. easy stuff on the trackside block followed by a spanking in gorillas' toilet. went from barely able to do a single move to doing Early Doors in 2 sections - felt like I had no chance of linking them. got too scared to finish Gorilla Warfare. failed on Strawberries to warm down

Saturday - supervised the smalls playing in mud at Burbage. looked at wet rock

Sunday - quick session at Mother Cap in the cold wind. I won the race to get warmed up (via hot aches) before the rain started. lots of easy traversing and eliminates followed by a dozen failed attempts on Conan. no falls, but was was too scared to go past the 2nd rail - I know that reversing from here is loads harder than actually finishing the problem, but I just couldn't make myself go any higher. impressed myself with my ability to downclimb whilst wearing a down jacket that made it difficult to see my feet.

[rich d]

Hey lagers, I didn't realise it was you, when I said hello today. Not sure why I didn't twig. Hello anyway,  even if it is a bit late, nice to kind of meet you, good commitment on finding dry rock and managing to warm up, we got rained off eating a lunch.
Rich

[lagerstarfish]

were you the man who asked me if that problem was Conan?

*edit* just read your entry. it was you. nice to meet you

lots of people stopped to chat, most had no understanding of how important it was to me to be touching dry, cold rock - I felt like I was being put in the same category as people who try to take close up photos of storm surge waves

[kelvin]

Two weeks worth here.

16hrs of indoor bouldering split between the Beacon in Caernarfon and Pinnacle in Northampton. Got some V3s, almost my first indoor V4 and worked stuff up to V6 without embarrassing myself. Actually pretty chuffed with how it's going at the moment as the gains seem to be pretty big each week.

Soloing on Holyhead Mountain on Boxing day - bagged a VS onsight, a couple of HS routes and some Vdiffs etc. Top morning it was and almost bagged an E1. Footholds were wet below the crux, so downclimbed, got a tshirt, left it by the crux to dry my feet on but it blew away. Sacked it off! Next time.

Did some walking in a wet and wild Wales and piled on a load of weight. 2kg. Hmmmm.

Oh yeh, a finger session too.

It's all good.

[cheque]

STG- 7A in a session, 7A+ sieged on grit this season
2014 goals- 10 7th grade boulder problems, 20 7th grade sport routes, 20 E-points

M- Eating like crazy in Blackpool. Walked around in hurricane conditions quite a bit too so not that bad. Can I log indoor crazy golf as training? 

T- Eating like crazy in Blackpool. Iced fingers in evening.

W- Old school strength sesh- 3 sets of 10 pull-ups, 30 pushups and 10 bicep curls on each arm with new weight of 14.5kg. Felt seriously hard. Iced fingers in evening.

T- Sore. Nevertheless did 4-minute side planks on each side and reverse wrist curls w/ 5kg. Iced fingers in evening.

F- Really sore. Rest. Iced fingers in evening.

S- Squelchy walk round soaked Roaches. Had hoped to do some easy soloing but absolutely nothing was dry. Scoped out loads to do when it is though- first visit to 5 clouds as well. Quite a good psyche restorer considering I didn't even climb! Iced fingers in evening.

S- Went for a bit of a walk in the rain. Will doubtless ice fingers this evening.

Fingers probably better now than at any point in the last 18 months. Still not right though but will probably start climbing again this week- posted on the physio thread which will hopefully give me an idea of which of the two states I swing between ("it'll sort itself out- just get climbing" vs "Rest for as long as it takes to get better" ) is the right one. Hopefully it's the former!

Weighed in lighter than expected on Friday and eating sensibly as well as doing as much non-finger-using volume as possible to try and keep things going.

[lagerstarfish]

The wife is also doing some sort of plank challenge for jan, so I've jumped on that.

not sure she'll appreciate being referred to as "that"

is this a hip-hop thing?

[rich d]

 

were you the man who asked me if that problem was Conan?

*edit* just read your entry. it was you. nice to meet you

lots of people stopped to chat, most had no understanding of how important it was to me to be touching dry, cold rock - I felt like I was being put in the same category as people who try to take close up photos of storm surge waves

that was me. You must look slightly different in real life to the vids. Should have asked me for a spot on Conan.

[Muenchener]

STG (January): obtain or build doorway mounting rig for beastmaker.
            ARC on overhanging wall 15 minutes. Currently: 11:30
            Turkish Get-Up w/20kg kettlebell.
MTG (Spring 2014) 7a redpoint. Two hundred practice falls by Easter - currently: 15
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M-T:   UK Family visit. Eating, drinking.

F: Climbing Station, Loughborough. Hard to focus on bouldering with a barely-motivated child in tow, although he does fairly well on the pink circuit except a couple of things that are ridiculously reachy for a ten year old. I managed 11:30 ARC on the 10-degree overhanging circuit wall though, already pre-fatigued from a couple of tries on the steep circuit wall. Could undoubtedly have done better if I'd started fresh, so the "15 minutes overhanging ARC" goal looks realistic in the shortish  term.

S: Fly home from .uk

S: Wall, Thalkirchen. An hour of (fairly desultory) bouldering; 16 mins mostly-overhanging-with-some-vertical ARC

Left knee pretty sore. It's always worse in chilly, damp weather, plus I have neglected my physio exercises over the face-stuffing season. Need to get back on that particular wagon.

[cheque]

I managed 11:30 ARC on the 10-degree overhanging circuit wall though, already pre-fatigued from a couple of tries on the steep circuit wall. Could undoubtedly done better if I'd started fresh, so the "15 minutes overhanging ARC" goal looks realistic in the shortish  term.

You'll probably do it next session. I found it very easy to add 5 minutes each session when I was doing it.

[lagerstarfish]

You must look slightly different in real life to the vids.

everyone looks 10lb heavier on film (yeah, right)

also, not made a vid for 2 years. I am now more bloated, have more spider naevi, worse skin and more white hairs

[duncan]

STG - Don’t get injured. Build fitness base.
MTG - 7b RP this spring; MTG - Longish, Hardish and Freeish objectives in Yosemite June 2014, E5 OS this summer.
LTG - LH&F BHAGs in Switzerland summer 2015.

M - Rest day. Hill run c.12km. Stretches etc.
T - Arico - OS 7a and various easier.
W - Arico - OS 7a, 6c etc. attempted a 7b but couldn't touch a couple of the moves. Felt a long way off being able to RP it.
T - Rest day. Stretches etc.
F - Los Naranjos - OS two 7as, 6c+, 6c and others.
S - Flew home to wind and rain.
S - Westway routes - 8x3 6a-6b ie about as far as Dolt Tower.

A very good week. On-sighted four 7as which were quite varied in style, this is about as many as I’ve managed cumulatively in the last ten years. After an inauspicious start, tweaking elbow on day 2 and spending the rest of the first week resting or active resting, the trip turned out pretty well. The weather was ideal (18-21C and sunny) the whole time. In two and a bit weeks I did nearly 70 routes. Perhaps I should have spent more time trying something a bit harder but the elbow put me off doing this. It’s easy to default to ‘safe mode’ which, for me, is onsighting. Clearly this is something that needs working on in the longer term if I’m going to improve at all.

[IS2]

Mon: Bouldering indoors 6b-7a, Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Tues: Gym HIIT cycle 30 mins, Core circuit x3, Light bench press pyramid upto 40kg, Leg circuit. Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Wed: Home core circuit x3, Burpees and squats, Pull ups.. 8 frenchies x3, Fingerboard 90% loading. Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Thurs:  Gym HIIT cycle 30 mins, Core circuit x3, Light bench press pyramid upto 40kg, Leg circuit. Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Fri:  Home core circuit x3, Burpees and squats, Pull ups.. 8 frenchies x3, Fingerboard 90% loading. Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Sat: Gym HIIT cycle 30 mins, Core circuit x3, Light bench press pyramid upto 40kg, Leg circuit. Shoulders and forearm antagonists.
Sun: Bouldering indoors 6b-7a, Shoulders and forearm antagonists.

Good week back training after annual month off.  Shoulders and elbows good. Aerobic gym stuff feels hard but some slight improvement over the week. Kaly trip booked for April. On target for Sharkathon.

[nik at work]

M - post Christmas BM session, felt heavy
T - bike ride with the boy
W - cookin' and eatin'
T - couple of hours outside, abbed a steep project line very badly in hurricane conditions then did the "7b+" training traverse six times with only rest being walking back to the start. Evening BM session, still felt heavy and left elbow niggle is affecting one-armer action.
F - session at the indoor wall with 'er indoors. Flashed all the routes bar one (second go) then flashed all the problems in the boulder comp bar one (third go, outrageous!)
S - bike ride with 'er indoors
S - new route E5-ish in the morning, afternoon BM session, managed to pretty much equal previous best performance, but still feel "heavy" doing it.

The big noticeable thing this week is that while strength can be maintained, and increased with a fingerboard technique goes south. I felt very clumsy in the footwork area when actually climbing this week, especially on the training traverse. All in all not a bad start to the year.

[Luke Owens]

Going to work on building up an aerobic base for the next 8 weeks, adding in more aerocap sessions from next week.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Beastmaker:-

Theraband Stretches - 10mins
50 Pressups

Deadhangs:
6 x 10sec (20 degree slopers)
4sec, 4sec, 4sec, 5sec, 5sec, 6sec (35 degree slopers)

Small Hold Progression:
8mm slot one hand and 30mm slot other hand

RH 8mm - 4sec, 5sec, 5sec
LH 8mm - 5sec, 5sec, 5sec

Cut Loose's on 30mm Edge x 5 (Feet on chair behind fingerboard)

Pinch training thumb weights:
RH - 10kg 5x5reps
LH - 10kg 5x5reps

Sideplank both sides
3 x 1 minute dish

Thursday: Boardroom Indoor Routes:-
5+, 6a, 5+, 5+, 6b+, 6a+, 6a, 6a, 6b, 6c
Then failed on: 6c+ x 3 & 6b+

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Drove to Ogwen Valley, wasn't raining but everything at Milestone was wet. Went to Braichmelyn repeated The Ramp 6A and The Arete 5C. Got on the 7A sit start to the 6C/+ I did last time kept dropping the last move, checked footage of me doing the stand start last time when I got in and realised I was forgetting to use a hold this time, no wonder it felt nails. Annoyed at myself for forgetting this, would of been an easy 7A tick.

Went to Parisella's Cave on the way back. Started work on the Left Wall Traverse. Did it from the kneebar which gets 6C. Finally enjoyed climbing in there!

Sunday:

50 Pressups

Deadhangs:
6 x 10sec (20 degree slopers)
4sec, 5sec, 4sec, 6sec, 8sec, 5sec (35 degree slopers)

30 mins Aerocap

[Duma]

STG - get up to speed without reinjuring anything
MTG - keep niggles in check, run regularly, get out more. If I do any hard stuff that'll be nice too.
LTG - 8A, 68kg

M -
T -
W - walking the dog in horrific weather on the mendips, felt like it should count, but maybe that was the hangover
T - bimble at the wall with daughter, so not much done
F -
S - 
S - TCA before nights work, just getting back into it really, feeling bit rusty, but did some vaugly tricky things
 
69kg.

[JackAus]

STG: Finger recovery then V7 and DWS project.
LTG: V11.

M: DWS. Very good session. Found a micro crimp on the face that I can use as an intermediate.Mate looked at it when he was hanging on a rope taking photos and he didn't even clean it because he thought out would be to shit to use...
T: work. Busy as shit.
W: Afternoon dws. 3 attempts, each worse than the last. First go managed to slap just 6 inches short of topping out... Didn't feel strong at all. Jumped on 40-50m traverse that is around 7a. Fucked up the flash when I was in a great no hands rest and the bomber looking foothold managed to snap and send me face first into the water... Did it 2nd go with a couple of rests in caves.
T: Afternoon bouldering. Working a couple of recently put  lines nearby. Had a bad fall, heel toe cam locked and hands popped, fell off roof, smashed back onto a big fallen block and missed the pads. Had a couple more attempts before ankle swelled too much.
F: Work most of the day. Managed to get our for some easy sunset soloing. About 10 routes, hardest couple being about HVS.
S: Morning Dws with a mate. Another couple of attempts. Again a couple more slaps for  top. Generally pretty quiet when I climb but during the crux, I'm yelling my face off... Definitely some of the hardest climbing I've ever done. Another lap oh the traverse. Already getting quicker... Need some serious endurance for an awesome plan.... Work late.
S: Felt rubbish. Worked until early arvo. No climbing but got on the stationary bike for an hour before my knees started to hurt... Then just did a light core session for 30min.

Finger is now feeling it's best in over 2 months... Still nowhere near healed but definitely on the mend! Able to pull on some fairly small holds again without it hurting too much.
And I'm so fucking close to the dws project... I can get to the last move nearly every attempt, even without warming up... Just amatter of time I suppose. Already at over 60 attempts, all ground up.

[Luke Owens]

And I'm so fucking close to the dws project... I can get to the last move nearly every attempt, even without warming up... Just amatter of time I suppose. Already at over 60 attempts, all ground up.

Good week of training! Psyched for you being so close on the project, it'll go soon for sure!

Jealous of you DWSing while we're sat in the wind and rain!

[Ti_pin_man]

STG - 7a indoors

M - Climbed hard indoors including failing on a very very very long 6b
T - Core101 and cycle 30 miles
W - sweet FA
T - Core101 and cycle 30 miles
F - Climbed hard and completed very very very long 6b, leaving me pumped as hell
S - Chillax as my daughter would say
S - Core101

Not a bad week.  feel quite positive as I never thought I'd complete the long 6b or a dyno route nearby but managed both.  Next session I want to repeat the long 6b and have a look at the shorter 6c.  Caves... I hate em. 

[T_B]

86.4Kg 

M - Works. Circuit board. Brown 8a in two halves.
T -
W - Home fingerboard. Light session, including 2 x sets of repeaters on 15mm edge.
T -
F - Foundry lunch. First CWP fingerboard session on BM #14. Still needed lots of assistance. Going to stick with it though...
S - Works. Circuit board. Bit de-motivated. Brown in 2 halves again - no progress. Messed around on some circuit problems at the end.
S - Morning walk over Curbar carrying 15Kg child in backpack. First time walking on uneven ground since broke heel. Felt absolutely brilliant with foot/leg feeling solid. Afternoon - Works. Birthday 3-hour session on circuit problems. Did 7 x blues, struggled on anything vertical though. First full session of 'proper' indoor bouldering in 4 months - great! Totally beasted at the end of it.

Still heavy. Felt hard this week getting stuck into some PE and dying at 14 moves. Gonna shock the system this wk with some indoor routes, whilst sticking with the CWP fingerboarding.

[andy popp]

M - packing, drive fours through foul weather to Lleyn. Drink lots!
T - New Year's eve. Distinctly worse for wear and its grey and wet. Gradually bits of blue appear and grow. Set out for first visit to Porth Ysgo. Down the approach valley its howling but on the beach it suddenly drops, nice warm sunshine, totally deserted. I immediately love the place. Do a handful of easy problems, Ysgo Flange and then, after far too much effort, Higginson's Scar. I don't care; a wonderful way to end the year.
W - nowt
T - drive home, vast amounts of soul-destroying laundry etc
F - actually work
S - de-Christmas the house
S - saw up Christmas tree (feels like work to me) followed by circuits on the board. I actually manage as much as I was doing before Christmas (good) ... but it feels like incredibly hard work.

Obviously time for the debauchery to stop.