[fried]

I've had a tweaky knee all week, fine going down stairs, tweaky going up. As a result trying to not fall from too high.

Mon - Rest
Tues - Indoors, hard session, can get to the high point of my project, almost every go, but the crux seems like a really high rock over on not much, it's getting greasier by the day too. Made good progress on another couple of 6B/C things, can't seem to finish anything off though. Weights, back stuff to finish.

Wed - Rest
Thur - Supposed to be BMing, but I'm not working and I fancy a visit to the wall, another hard session, but a bit demotivated ( weather keeps crapping out on my days off), so not that hard really. Finish a couple of 6A things.

Fri - rest
Sat - Finally get a good weather window which ruins my training plan, fuck it, I'm off outside. I'm really tired, I slept badly. I'm like a kid on Christmas eve and everytime I sleep I dream of soaked rock and supercells rising off the Loiret plains.

Go to Beauvais Nainville, the rock is bone dry, conditions good, the place empty, do some blues to warm up , then move on to looking at some red 6A problems, have a good few tries at a Boeuf-Carotte; a perfect indoor climbers problem, work up to the top out, but my pad is under the overhang. This is a lovely winter spot, I don't see a soul all day. Do an easier red, a couple more blues.  Not a great day of climbing, felt tired and climbed out, probably should've done an easy circuit, but I'm in grade-chasing mode.

Sun - 35 mins BM session, didn't finish the lat set, done in.

Bad news - Looks like I have Dupuytren's in both hands. I blame BM jugs.
Good news - I'll get my new pad (thanks for the review TT) in April and not have to wait for my Bday.

[kelvin]

Thanks fried - bad news about the hands tho :-(

STG - Sort breathing
MTG - Sort initiation of movement
LTG - Redpoint some stuff in Spain

Have an MRI for the left knee booked for the 13th of this month. Things feel a lot better today than a week ago however.

Mon - Saw the Doc about the left knee - he ordered an MRI, prescribed anti-flams. Iced, heat, stretched etc.
Tue - 3hr coaching session at Kendal wall with John Kettle. In the boulder room.
Wed - 3hrs coaching session on a rope.
Thu - Rest day.
Fri - Saw physio - Adductor is getting there. Drugs are good for you.
Sat - Redpoint Birmingham. The route setting was interesting. Won't bother again, which is a shame as the staff were friendly, the cake good and the coffee alright. The bouldering area was pretty funky.
Sun - Pinnacle. Routes, easy stuff trying to understand the Kettle sessions and their application to what I've been doing. Boulder room for the same reason.

So on the advice of a few on here, went and had a couple of sessions one to one with a coach. Illuminating. I hold my breath, lots. Then more. Today, on stuff I can lap, I realised I do this for 5 or 6 moves around the crux, also when I'm pondering moves and even when downclimbing in the boulder room. He focused attention on momentum, initiating movement and maximising efficiency. Lots of technique stuff that I had no idea about and doubt I'd have worked out in the near future. Lots of things that will add up to a decent gain.

I learnt that I hold my breath  and then hold it some more    and I need to sort this. I am a donut 

The stuff I have focused on already, like my footwork - is up to scratch. I'm pretty pleased with this, as it means if I put the same effort into learning how to move efficiently as I have foot on campusing, footwork, same side flagging etc, then I should make good progress this year.
It was interesting today, back at my local wall where I feel comfortable, to be able to see where I can apply all this. Money really well spent. John made the sessions feel as if I was discovering things myself, rather than being told how I climb, what I don't do etc and even tho I climbed like shit due to nerves - it actually helped, as it highlighted the things I can improve at.

Yeah, a great week.

[fried]

Interesting about the breathing; I can only do 20 push-ups, 'cos after that I can't breathe. I'm sure I'm the same while climbing.

[bigironhorse]

Tuesday and Thursday laps in abyss wall at rc hull

Friday - went to almscliff, highlights where c and a traverse and streakys traverse as my second 7b+

[chris j]

I learnt that I hold my breath  and then hold it some more    and I need to sort this. I am a donut 

That would explain the ticking clock on steep ground... Good to hear the coaching was illuminating!

[kelvin]

That would explain the ticking clock on steep ground...

Vertical too...

Generally around 8m and I'm starting to struggle - John joked maybe that's the limit of climbing whilst not breathing 

Strangely, I'm heard reminding mates to breath when they're on something hard and blatantly holding their breath. The problem for me was all the other stuff screaming away and keeping my brain busy. That there was a problem with my breathing just didn't register. All the other sports I've done involved taking a deep breath before 'the crux' - tacking in rugby, shooting in football and in tennis and badminton there's making a smash. So I guess that's just hungover into my climbing...

[nai]

Goals - 8as, Brad Pit, E4s

M - only time for fingerboard, (semi) explosive pullups.

T - 3x10 mins Aero, gone backward fast on this despite a big block in Nov/Dec 
      weights - pressups, dips, lat to front raises, sh press, preacher curl, bicep curl
      Statement arrived 

w  - readpointed Statement

Th - final fb session of phase, again time short so put weights off til Fri

F -  2x10 mins Aero. 
      weights, as Tue plus Lock-off laps
      Eve - mtb ride in dark, first CV for 4 months & first time on a bike in 6. Fairly hardwork.

S - family mtb ride. Two consecutive days on a bike after six months. Ouch.

S - first power session, garage board been reset so having to make up new problems. Lots of sidepulls and undercuts for Raindogs training. Created four 2-move wonders, managed each individual move off large footholds but didn't link any of them together, will be significantly harder using the blobs or features. Really enjoyable session.
     Tried an AnCap session afterwards but powered out at 4 sets (guess that's the point, though a little premature maybe).

Strength phase seems to have gone ok, 4-rep weight went up by about 5% over 10 sessions and max hang on each grip increased by up to 20%, although 1/2 crimps did plateau after 5 sessions.

[nik at work]

STG trad projects
MTG 8c/age related flim-flam
LTG 9a
BHAG bruderliebe

M - BM +20kg session of 20s hangs. All went swimmingly. Normally for the ring finger mono's I drop the weight but decided WTF and tried with the weight still on, only managed 15s but quite pleased with that.
T - BM +40kg session 10s hangs. Again normally drop down to +20kg for the middle finger mono's but tried with +40 and managed the 10s hang, pleased with that. Rewarded myself by doing the ring finger hang unweighted. Then did 20s hang devil grip (index in bottom row mono and pinky on shallow crimp thing) and then 10s index mono hang, PB and not been anywhere near that for ages. Nice session.
W - Nothing
T - the wall, new round of the boulder league. Did all fifteen problems, 13 flashed, one tricky problem took 4-5 goes and one stupid dyno probably took half a dozen flings.
F - nothing
S - wanted to get out but weather was awful. Went to the wall and did routes for a couple of hours.
S - couldn't get out during the (much better weather) day due to a mother-in-law birthday lunch. Did want to do something this evening though but said big lunch has left me feeling sluggish and lazy all afternoon and I can't break the cycle of sloth. Stupid big lunches and weak will...

A good-ish weak. Training type stuff went well but real life intevened in the climbing side of things. Next week is probably going to be even worse as I am left in sole care of the kids for the weekend (what is she thinking?!) so outside is looking impossible. Hi-de-ho...

[shark]

Thanks fried

11.8-9
Target this week: 11.5-7

M.
T. Malham Up with Mina  and Sam. Not very promising weather and lot of runof but route was amazingly dry. Cold but bearable. Cons x 3 .Oak dry. 4 goes as usual. Got to tickle undercut from ground a couple of times and some decent links of top half. Kind of did route in 3 sections. Last go dug really deep and hit a higher octave in my power screaming.Did throw to middle of traverse back left then a rest then undercut to top. 
W.
T.
F. Up with Ben Moon, Nick Dubeast and Adam Harrison. Cold and breezy again occasionally drizzly but with sunny intervals at least to begin with. Undercut at 3rd and other hold s were wet on the Oak. FEE x 2 Cons x 1. Was hoping to go for bigger links on upper section but the wet holds meant I just went on start. The undercut by third bolt was wet. Experimented with putting tin foil on it which worked insofar as it kept it dry but there was bugger all friction pulling into it from low. Also refined a low move borrowing from Mina's sequence. Tickled undercut once from ground. Overall felt stale and ineffective despite the two day's rest.
S. PM. Fingerboard. No improvement on crimps. Again. But a good improvement on chisels for no obvious reason. Did two sets of french pull-ups. Not done these for ages and definitely weak on these. One deadlift at 135kg
S. PM. Wave. First time for ages. Pottered about and did a couple of level twos. 

Given the forecast and the current condition of the route and my own condition and weight makes sense to have a week or two off from it. Overall despite the fact that the conditions have been challenging Im pretty disappointed with my performance. stronger on some moves and sections but weaker on others. Would have expected to have linked from ground going into throw and done throw to top by now.

[Muenchener]

I learnt that I hold my breath  and then hold it some more    and I need to sort this.

Arno Ilgner's Espresso Lessons has some useful stuff on breathing. Iirc though he rather takes it for granted that you are in fact breathing. Generally well worth the half a dozen fuck alls it cost me on kindle.

[Muenchener]

Malham Up with Mina 

Mina rates a and Ben doesn't? What is the world coming to?

[Muenchener]

STG: Be able to breathe, cough, move etc without ribs hurting
MTG (2015): 7b redpoint
            Beastmaker 5A routine
            Muscle-Up
            Sautanz
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl West Face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M: Rest / painful ribs
T: Rest / painful ribs
W: Rest / slightly less painful ribs
T: Rest / able to breath and walk without pain; sneezing and rolling over in bed still challenging
F: Rest / managed a sneeze without feeling like I'd been stabbed yyfy
S: Snowboard tour, Brauneck. Rented a splitboard to try out. Glad to be out and moving, but anybody naive enough to think touring on skins will be something like smoothly gliding along on cross country skis, only uphill, will be sadly disappointed. Or perhaps just needs a bit of practice.
S: wall, Thalkirchen. Attempt at a limit bouldering session, rather (erm) limited in what I could do by rib pain - circa vertical, small holds, small moves. You don't appreciate how important the intercostals are in body tension until it hurts to tense them. Glad to be able to get *something* done though.

[shark]

Malham Up with Mina 

Mina rates a and Ben doesn't? What is the world coming to?

M.
T. Foggy and grim leaving Sheffield. Went up with Ben Moon    Missed turn off for M62...

Ben's had his already. One smiley for a new wad tick is respectful - two would be creepy

[blamo]

STG: Figure out a plan to be route fit while maintaing some power, figure out a LTG
MTG: Really short 8b/b+ sport climb

Monday: AM core work, PM 6 mile run and stretching

Tuesday: AM Campus Session (why do I suck so bad at the campus board?), PM Max. Hangs, some weights and stretching

Wednesday: AM Max. Hangs, PM Repeater Hangs, some weights and stretching

Thursday: AM Woody session and weights, PM woody session, pinch grip work, and stretching

Friday: AM core work added in some posterior chain stuff, PM 6 mile run and stretching

Saturday: Posterior chain and stretching, Bouldering session

Sunday: Posterior chain and stretching, did some sport climbing

Fairly standard week.  I am definitely having a hard time figuring out climbing fitness.  Either I can do a million moderate moves and can't do a hard move or I can do a hard move and am constantly pumped. My gym sets lots of 7a to 7b and is lacking in the 7c to 8a range.  I am really psyched on the posterior chain work I added in from one of the threads.

[the_dom]

Decent training week, and managed to get out twice. Family and friend commitments derailed the weekend though..

Mon: Trail run and leg rehab

Tues: Morning hangboard (+3kgs) and evening bouldering at a small local boulder. Two new projects to go at, which is nice.

Wed: Weights in the morning - deadlifts 3 x 5 x 140kgs; benchpress. 75 min hike in the forest in the afternoon. 

Thurs: Morning hangboard (+3kgs), too tired to do anything in the evening.

Fri: Took the day off and went bouldering. Really fun day. Ticked a 7B that I've done before and a 7B+ that I haven't. Minor YYFY.

Sat: Morning one-arm hangboard session + 3kgs.

Sun: Rest.

[JackAus]

STG: Another V7.
MTG: V8
LTG: V11

M: St Leonards. Usual stuff up to about V5. Alot of dynos, abit of campussing.
T: St Leonards. Usual stuff up to about V5. Dynos, alot of campussing.
W: St Leonards. Climbing warm up for the gym really. Dynos, abit of campussing. Usual stuff up to about V5. Dynos, abit of campussing and then gym after. 500m sprint on row; 5x10 each of front press, leg press, pull down, leg raises; 500m row sprint; 5x10 each of ab roll on knees and elbow tendon stuff; 500m row sprint; core 3x30 vertical scissor kicks, horizontal scissors, bicycles. Finish with a few back pull ups.
Everytime I say "gym", this is my usual routine.
T: Gym.
F: Rest?
S: Jurassic Park. Adventurous bouldering... All fairly high and insecure with it being known to have hold breakages. Bunch of problems up to about V4/5. Keen to get back when its cooler.
S:  St Leonards. Usual stuff up to about V5. Dynos, abit of campussing and then gym after.


Quite pleased, I've lost 4 kilos over the past 2 weeks...

[T_B]

85.2Kg

M - School lunch. 15-move AnCap circuit x 8 with 3 x rest. Bit easy, still needs tweaked.
T -
W - School lunch. Bouldering 50 and 30 degree. Felt good. P.M. Repeaters. 2 x 6 x 7 front 3 and back 3. Put on 2.5Kg for second of each set of hangs. Didn't do 12mm edge as feeling tired.
T - School p.m. Bouldering 50 and 30 degree. Better again. Then AnCap circuit. Changed one hold to make it harder. Did 10 x 15 moves (40 secs with 1 min 45 secs rest). Failed on about 1/4. Got the nod from Will Smith who reckoned it looked about right intensity wise. I've always found it incredibly hard getting the intensity and rest duration right on AnCap circuits, but I think this one will work as I can easily make the finish a bit harder.
F -
S - A.M. Repeaters. 2 x 6 x 7 on front 3, back 3, 12mm edge. No weight as was sneaking this in amongst childcare and adding weight might have blown my cover with the bin lids 50 press ups.
S - Woke up a realised the weather window was first thing. Deliberated over venue and chose Gardoms for proximity to home (had a 3 hour slot) and it maybe being out of the wind, but dry. Bang on! Totally mint. Had warmed up inside, so got straight on Soft on the G as wanting to try Full Power. Took about a million goes on the former and quickly became obvious that my clamp was lacking for the latter. Sacked it off and went to look at Kidneystone, which I hadn't done before. Flashed this (7B?!) and then had a quick look at the 7C to the right but it looked somewhat butt dragging and not a great line. Then went over to Mark's roof and did this as hadn't done it before. Then darted over to Curbar for 30 mins on Walk on by. V windy and sun on it but pretty good conditions. Could do first move easily but skin shredding quickly and couldn't stand up on left toe on next move (maybe due to this being my dodgy ankle, or not being able to pull hard enough on the mono, or both). Sacked it off.

Good week. Feeling stronger and nearly back under 85Kg. Another good session on the grit. Should really climb at the Works next week as doing the CWIF on Saturday

[JohnM]

STG: Stay injury free, Humildes Pa Casa (Oliana), Gorillas en la Niebla (Oliana), pad out precarious pyramid!
MTG: Indian Summer, Kilnsey or Bat Route, Malham.
LTG: Big wall/hard multipitch, 8A/+ boulder problem (bloc style < 10 moves), UK 8b+/c, live in Spain.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Warm up 7a + 7c 1st pitch Humildes Pa Casa, bolt to bolt on Humildes Pa Casa.  Takes me a while to get into the style but I get to the top lower to the base of the tufa and top rope the tufa to the top without stopping.  I am confident it might go 1st RP.  1st RP I grab the 1st draw on the tufa after failing to clip having not worked out any of the clipping positions!  I work out the moves and clipping positions on the harder lower 3rd of the tufa but by the now the tufa is shredding my skin and has put a hole in my thumb.
Wednesday: Rest.
Thursday: Warm up on 7a.  Bolt to bolt on Gorillas en la Niebla as the start of Humildes is so busy.  This thing has a bouldery lower quarter (about 8a+) and then it is about 8a/+ to the top which is epic and goes right to the top of the crag (about 55 metres).  There is a tricky move turning from the steepness onto the headwall and then it is all over but there is another 15 metres of techy 6b slab/wall climbing on beautiful water warn rock.  I declare that if you get through the tough start you can't fall off and demonstrate this by linking from just above the crux to the top.  I get really pumped but manage to hang on.  Unfortunately the bolt at the crux looks like it is going to sheer off so I don't commit to this today as we don't have enough slings to back it up to the next bolt.
Friday: Warm up on 7a and 7c.  Bolt to bolt on lower 3rd of Gorillas to warm up and back up the dodgy bolt.  1st RP I get through the hard lower quarter and quest up the overhang feeling fatigued but shifting the pump on the way.  I get to the final hard move and I am feeling so fresh I decide to miss a few hand/foot movements and build my feet really high.  I try to move my right hand and all of a sudden I am off balance and peeling off backwards.  So much for never falling here!  Next RP I feel wrecked and can't get through the crux. 
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday:  Rest.  Start to develop some kind of lurgy.  I ache all over and feel really cold (it's the hottest day of the year so far!).  Go for a walk to look at Col De Nargo crag but as soon as I make it to the base I have to lie down and sleep.  I hope this doesn't develop into anything as I still have a week left in Spain and I want to climb a couple more things! 

[shark]

Sunday:  Rest.  Start to develop some kind of lurgy.  I ache all over and feel really cold (it's the hottest day of the year so far!).  Go for a walk to look at Col De Nargo crag but as soon as I make it to the base I have to lie down and sleep.  I hope this doesn't develop into anything as I still have a week left in Spain and I want to climb a couple more things!

Bummer. At least it wasn't at the start of the trip.

[galpinos]

STG
•   Don’t let life get in the way too much
•   Stick to the plan
•   Back up to previous highpoint, 7A in short order - Not quite there but feels like it happening, 7B with effort

M – BM Session: Really good session on the half crimps, best I’ve felt in a while.
T – Just over 5 miles @ 7:30 to 7:45 a mile. Didn’t feel great.
W – BM Session: Another really good session on the half crimps, getting back into it.
T – 4.2 miles @ 6:55 a mile, should bring this down if I don’t get lost. Missed wall session due to wife’s work.
F – Nothing. Missed sprint session due to wife’s work.
S – Too wet to climb so went for a run instead. 10 miles running the end of the HPM in the opposite direction, cheering on teams as they stumbled past.
S – Family day

Goals for Next week:
Do what I can before the long weekend skiing!

[kelvin]

Arno Ilgner's Espresso Lessons has some useful stuff on breathing. Iirc though he rather takes it for granted that you are in fact breathing. Generally well worth the half a dozen fuck alls it cost me on kindle.

Thanks for the recommendation chap. I might have a nose later. I often mess up breathing at yoga too... maybe I have a deathwish.

[tomtom]

Sounds like an up and down week for most folk here... apart from Shark who's been in great company this week!

M:
T:
W: I FINALLY put up the Beastmaker in my Hull residence. It was last mounted a couple of years ago - and I pulled it from the rotten choss plaster above a doorframe...
Th: (Work - and all of the above)

Fr: Osteo in the morning.I am cured - well told to carry on exercising as normal but be careful.. come back in a month \o/   So, looking at a sketchy forecast I headed out to Brownstones for a potter. First time I've been there for 5 or possibly longer years... Its an interesting crag/quarry... all the easy stuff is horrible. I mean they are good problems, but polished to the texture of a bathroom tile. Pulling up on flatties that gently sloped requires faith - especially for a 4 or 5 grade problem!

But, the harder stuff (above 6B) is better - less traffic, smaller more defined holds. Had a good session on Pigswill - working out a nice way of doing it - and nearly shat myself topping it out with wet rock, mud and readily breakable heather to grasp!. Did the sitter (is it any harder than the stand at 7A?) too.. then played on Hanks wall. Got a bit stuck, looked for some video beta and by then was too tired...

Sa:

Su: Back to Brownstones for some unfinished business on Hanks.. it remained unfinished (see below)



Had a frustrating play on Dezertion too - only figured out that there was not a 'nice' way to do the problem when I was too tired - its just a off balance lunge...


Overall its great to be back on rock twice in a week... enjoyed getting stuck into some new problems and when my split tip grows back I'll return and nail those problems...

[andy_e]

(is it any harder than the stand at 7A?)

No...

Don't let Hank's get to you, I've been trying it for 10+ years to no avail!

[tomtom]

(is it any harder than the stand at 7A?)

No...

Don't let Hank's get to you, I've been trying it for 10+ years to no avail!

:D Hanks is in the bag... on that crappy arse saggy attempt in the vid I tickled the hold.. I was also ground upping it - so having to find some of those hidden crimps took a while!!

Its interesting, thats given 7A+ but I've done similar style wall climbs in Cheshire that are 6B+/6C....

[iain]

Forgive me power club for I have sinned, it has been over a year since my last confession and whilst I have climbed I have not 'Trained' and it felt Wrong.

STG: Chulilla at Easter, 4 weeks of training and a week taper left.
MTG: Hasse Brandler in late summer/autumn and resume my Shark-lite Infinite Gravity project addiction.

M: Rest from a 5 hour routes session from the previous day
T: Redpoint in Birmingham to meet a friend, similar opinion as Kelvin on the routes which is a shame, the bouldering is a great use of the space though and well set. Aimed for AnCap style workout and got appropriately powered out.
W: Yoga
T: Foundry, PE routes, started well but then cleverly went up a contorted corner and aggravated my sore back  (not helped by moving/building furniture earlier in the day to help a friend)
F: Back sore, rest
S: Almost made it to the end of the day without doing anything then salvaged it by doing my 1st fingerboard workout since 2013. Warm up then 10 sets of 4x7sec hangs on 2mins for strength end of Ancap. Suitably powered out on reps 7-10.
S: Weights workout with heavy 3yo nephew (dense, not fat), single rep 106 step carry, nephew kettle bells plus over 1 mile of interval carry/jogging in pissing rain. Evening yoga, stretching.

Saturday's surprise FB felt strange and ridiculously satisfying at the same time, I might have missed it.