[shark]

11.4-5 Average 158.7 up 2.3lbs

M Rest day 3 of 5. Drove to Bristol. Cleaned rank bathroom in Bens student house. Drove on to Devon

T Rest day 4 of 5

W Rest day 5 of 5 drove back from Devon Eve short fingerboard warmup and play on board

T Morning. Tor. Nice and fresh and deserted! Felt good warming up. Go one on Bens just got to first kneebar then failed on kick move. Second go lost all power and couldn’t do third rollover move to pinch.

F Morning. Plum buttress for a change of scene with Paul. Fresh conditions. Did a grassy and graunchy 6c to warm up. Paul put the draws in the Spider. I dogged up it. Shock to the system. Scary. Didn’t like the knobbly hard-to-use jugs or the state of the bolts or the moves. Bailed on top headwall. Gone nesh. Not up for this shit any more. Back home did a couple of long duration hangs on the ergo edge.

S. PM systems board few hard pulls and one set of 60 aero cap moves

S AM CragX hoped for a breeze but still as a millpond. Bit greasy. Mainly worked on middle section of Moffatrocity PM Sat thru interminable Razzmatazz show. Died several times

Big weight gain but felt better for it. Should be able to lose that in next couple of weeks. In a trough so going to gradually build climbing back up and get weight back down.

Blood test result showed I had low folate levels so got some vitamin B12 tablets. Hopefully this will sort out fatigue issues been experiencing this year.

[Steve R]

M - wall, new problems upstairs then board
T- rest
W - testing recently procured DWS craft (inflatable kayak) on Beverley beck.  seems pretty good - relatively stable and stays quite dry inside.  Got a little interesting at one point in a Jutland sort of way when local yoofs took an interest and started throwing pebbles in my direction.  Wall, board pm - did a proj and worked others.
T- Stoupe PM.  Perfect cons thanks to great wind.  Close to doing proj but off towards end a couple of times.  Found some slightly different beta for the last bit - not much easier but more reliable I think.  Enjoyed working  it out.  Scheduled for another visit Wednesday.
F - Light run, rest.
S- Light evening session at wall helping set and test some new probs.
S- Danby crag, good conditions.  tr'd The Moose cleanly a number of times, wasn't falling off anything and solid enough but didn't quite feel right to lead today (wiggy pro).  Good climb, def keen to get back with the right bits and pieces.  Bonus drop in visit to Oak crag as driving back over Blakey Ridge.  Had a bit of an epic finding the crag as it's been a long time.  Did Mighty Oak in a few tries once I eventually found it - really great move on this and nice bit of personal history with it as I'd tried it and failed a while ago before Mike Gray did the fa, so felt good to come back to and be able to do the move. 

[Fiend]

F Morning. Plum buttress for a change of scene with Paul. Fresh conditions. Did a grassy and graunchy 6c to warm up

I was there in the evening, lovely weather with perfect blue sky and plenty of breeze. I'm guessing the 6c was the grassy ramble with two techy moves in 15m, into the brown-and-whillans roof crack?? A fun finish I thought but far too much scruffy bumbling before it. We did the 7a on the arete which was a lot better, steady bouldery F6c+ if you get the sequence right, and a great position - although not as great as The Spider of course - but it might be a more fun warm-up when you go back

[Wood FT]

Had a bit of an epic finding the crag as it's been a long time.  Did Mighty Oak in a few tries once I eventually found it - really great move on this and nice bit of personal history with it as I'd tried it and failed a while ago before Mike Gray did the fa, so felt good to come back to and be able to do the move.

Well done, on your own? I remember two things, it was high the approach was horrid.

[Steve R]

thanks, yeah on my own but it's fine height-wise to be fair - you're on jugs by the time it's getting into highball territory.  Right about the walk out though.

[shark]

I was there in the evening, lovely weather with perfect blue sky and plenty of breeze. I'm guessing the 6c was the grassy ramble with two techy moves in 15m, into the brown-and-whillans roof crack?? A fun finish I thought but far too much scruffy bumbling before it. We did the 7a on the arete which was a lot better, steady bouldery F6c+ if you get the sequence right, and a great position - although not as great as The Spider of course - but it might be a more fun warm-up when you go back

Yes that’s the one. Was good conditions. Yes - should go back on the Spider to get some gnarl back. Such a wuss these days

[Goat]

Goals -     remain uninjured,  feel strong on all grip types, improve general finger strength

Mon-    Rest
Tues-   Rest
Wed-    2:15 hours on the board -  Great session, made good progress on the 3 projects I tried.
Thurs-  2.15 hours on the board -  Awesome session, did 1 of the 5 projects for the first time and got close on another 2.
Fri-       2.15 hours casual bouldering on the grit.
Sat-   Rest day for fingers but not forearms. - Pull ups on the 30-degree board, practiced with 3 fingers and 4 fingers. In total took 30-40mins.
Sun-  Rest day, played tennis in the evening.

Noticed stiffness in my right ring-finger after waking up on both Saturday and Sunday. So I’ll be staying off my board projects until I’ve had two days without aching fingers in the morning.

[Will Hunt]

T - Legged it up to Rylstone after work. Did Pocket Battleship (the E3) right of Monument Crack then backed off Sword Dance (E1, rancid fall potential on a committing, greasy traverse off a ledge). Have wanted to do Pocket Battleship for ages. Seconded a couple of things then did Glass Slipper - a crap, easy slab to a big broken ledge. You do a Font 5+ (or was it harder?) techy smearing problem up this rib above an ankle breaker landing. Took a couple of minutes to work it out and ended up with quite a committing move near the top. Just as the sun set it dipped into the narrow gap between clouds and horizon and the whole slab lit up red. Not orange like that golden hour light but proper crimson red. All the little tiny crystals in the rock were sparkling. And I'm stood on these smears, fingers in little dimples, totally in tune with the rock. Pure magic.

Sat - Had to be back for 3 and was at something of a loose end. Inspired by a crap article on UKC about how developing new climbs was all about asserting your dominance and conquering shit I decided to go and dominate and conquer some rocks that I'd scoped out some 5 years ago. They're quite out there, being on the unfashionable side of Carncliff Top and fairly lowball. It was great. About 17 problems up to 6B+ climbed, which doesn't sound a lot but it's a bit of a different game on this sort of stuff. The 6B+s in particular felt pretty hard in the sun.

Feeling refreshed and recharged and ready for some sport dogging again.

[gollum]

M - Steady 5k on the treadmill at lunch time plus a bit of stretching and rolling my calves to help my Achilles.
Evening at the Depot. Set of repeaters for first time in ages and seems to go pretty well with me completing most things that I try.
Move on to a board session and start slowly on my first problem before getting it third go by the absolute skin of my teeth. Walked the same problem last week. Session continues in pretty much the same vein with things I found steady last week feeling desperate. Could be off day, could be humidity, could be repeaters but in any event is good to stick with so I improve over time. Finish session with trying a couple of the purples. First one really isn’t pretty to watch, second one has me shut down completely and have no idea at all as to what a workable sequence might be.

T - Pull day. Rack pulls for two, fail at 165k but feel like I’m trying and back engaged. Kettlebell rows, Aussie rows on the band, ultra slow and strict pull ups and a few isometrics to finish the session.
Treadmill interval session at lunchtime to get some speed in my legs.
Depot in the evening. Start with campus board to warm up and get the benchmarks without too much hassle.
Then on to a project session. Get first one after working it and a couple of heartbreakingly close attempts. Second one is lots of fun and looks new. Do it on resin feet and get real close to it on wooden feet. Third problem has a move in the middle that shuts me down but make good progress apart from that.
Feel like I’ve tried hard and had a good session at the end of the day and definitely more switched on than last night.

W - Push at gym. Working some volume so 10 reps bench up to 70k, followed by same on a decline and some incline dumbbell presses for some really slow reps. Then working shoulders with some presses, finishing the session with some lateral raises, front raises and reverse flys as giant sets.

T - Daytime session at the Depot with some coaching. Worked on some shoulder stability stuff including hangs, presses and fingerboard work. Moved onto some exercises keeping feet on the board while moving hands and then finished off with some of the purples. A great session that gave me lots to think about and work on. My thanks to Will.
Try a fingerboard session in the evening. Tried repeaters but think was way too tired from today’s bouldering session. Completed the session but lowered the intensity of the session and just took things a little easy.

F - Rest day. Just a bit of stretching and light core work.

S - Rest day due to life stuff going on. Little bit of stretching of Achilles as feels stiff again.

S - Nice relaxing run in the morning. Legs feel heavy but no pain so that is actually progress.
Fun session at the Depot with friends. Playing with the purples that I’ve got left to do. Get one, make progress on two and think the final one is nails and will take some work. A good session.

Fairly easy week as lots of other stuff going on.

[tomtom]

A good week - despite working around conditions and forecasts...

M: Church crag on my way over to 'ull. Persuaded Dolly to meet me there and ended up having a 3.5 hour chilled out session there. Things got off ot a good start by getting the SS for Used for Glue (7A+) which felt weird/awkward before but fine with the right body position today. Put a craply framed vid of it up on my youtube page thingy.. Then managed to get Pockets which gets 7A+ but felt 7A to me the way I did it (LH in pocket) which is how it seems to go from the sitter.. But the big problem to me that I've been working there was the Shield (7B) that on Carl's videos is always done with a jump/dyno from the shield hold and a crimp to a set back jug... this felt like a really frustrating/percentage move to me, so I've been steadily working using a slopey crimp near the jug and then coming through with the left. Makes the problem climb very differently and is powerful and body position dependant. Chuffed with this.



A good haul of new problems for the day - and great to get the shield done differently...

We: Toddler was ill, so planned Anston trip on way back to home turned into quick hour at the Depot...

Thu: Dealing with grumpy slightly ill toddler - the day started with a morning trip to the doctor and ended up with a midnight trip to the out of hours docs to get him looked at again.. Not much sleep for any of us...

Fri: Knackered -but looked decent out - so not having much time scooted out to Rubicon. Figured it would be worth having a look at stuff I couldnt do earlier in the year... so ended up spending an hour or so on Kudos. FFS I've been trying this problem for probably ten years and not really got anywhere - but on Friday decided to put some effort into the heel toe on the spike method. I've always been reluctant to do this - and more so in the last year after twisting my right knee quite badly at Anston. So I gently worked up to doing it - bit higher - bit higher etc.. then had a proper go and it felt piss (relatively!) and matched feet on flake etc.. Then it fely harder etc.. anyway progress. Tried to pull on the Press. Useless :D

Sa: Shattered... after another bad night

Su: 3rd birthday party 2-4. Hoped to get out early before sun got on Kudos wall but felt like shit after another bad night... Got a second wind after the party and managed to bath the toddler by 7 and scuttled out of the door with disapproving looks to head to Rubicon again. Good 90 min session - got to Kudos high points 3 or 4 times - then knee started hurting a bit so backed off (OK today - so probably needs a few sessions to get used to it). Then managed to pull on the press a few times - and finally twigged I need to get my hips in for the throw (slapped around the crimp a few times etc..).

Good week all in all - apart from my general mental state!

[nai]

Good stuff, Tom

M - nowt

T - Warm up at home then headed out bouldering, reluctantly landed at the Tor.  Bit frustrating not being able to use left leg so Bashers and RnH were no goes, dabble on Kristian's which I enjoyed but suspect that last move to the crimps is going to be a bugger.  Core back home

W - maybe some core

Th - met Fiend at Stoney. First trad day for over a year, lots of faffing and backing off and all that stuff but a fun day out.  Quite keen on trad right now.

F - Few all-out hangs, bit of board, shoulders, tried HI core but realised I have to do that on a different day to shoulders. LI core

S - intended not to do anything but the garage tempted, 10 x laps of 7a circuit then short core session.

S nowt

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - knee rehab, BM PE small rung 10/10 x6 x6. Shoulder bands.
Tue - rest.
Wed - knee rehab, dumbbell complex (press, lateral raises, biceps, triceps), static dynamic pull ups all x4. Abs. High pulls, bentover row. Shoulder bands finisher (50x2 at max speed). Torrid.
Thu - knee rehab, BM front, mid, back2 10" x10. Front2 small rung half crimp 5" x10. Weights.
Fri - rest.
Sat - rest.
Sun - knee rehab, EMOM pull ups 5x10, 2 dumbbell complexes.

[Yossarian]

3 weeks:

M - Wall. Focused on steep / oomph type problems on the comp wall. Shoulder still problematic.
T
W
T - Beastmaker. Mix of repeaters and max hangs.
F
S - Wall. Another session trying to focus on steep / burly problems.
S - First yoga session for ages. Must try to pick this up again.

M - Figured out new shoulder rehab routine. Wall in the evening. More ooomph-type problems, and then split tip. Annoying.
T - More shoulder rehab. Started weights session pm, shoulder grinding towards the end so cut short.
W - Wall. Mix of stuff, followed by checking out the reset circuit board. Taped split tip hampered progress, but did most of the 6c and 7a circuits.
T - More shoulder rehab.
F - Swanage trad. Had planned solo shunting session to Split Rock Quarry, but decided instead on last minute random hookup at Subluminal. Led a couple of quality VSs. Tried Transcript Direct HVS but it was seeping / very wet, and abandoned that plan fairly quickly. Returned home in remarkably positive frame of mind, rather than in a black mood / planning to chuck my gear in a skip etc. I find Swanage generally intimidating / stressful / peculiarly difficult. I think the best approach is to try to stick to lower grades and tick a lot of stuff, rather than making sporadic trips and trying harder things which then go wrong. That or find a stronger partner and second some E2-E4s.
S - Wall. Reasonably productive session considering general fatigue from previous day.
S

M - Wall. More steep / oomph type problems, this time trying to do 3x / 4x with minute rests.
T - Harrisons. Aiming for some shunting, but got to the rock to discover harness was still at home. Did a bit of soloing then bouldering. Had a look at Second Chance / No Chance 6C+. Made some progress but the holds were pretty dirty, and there was a load of green slime around the footholds. Then Killing Joke 6C - beautifully clean, but couldn’t even pull on. I’ve tried this various times and I think it’s time to forget about it for the time being. Then started to rain...
W
T - Back to Harrisons. Some mileage to make up for Tues. Did a bunch of the Unclimbed Wall area things a few times - Far Left, Elementary, Desperate Dan, etc.
F - Drove to Peak. Daughter’s wall squad annual grit trip.
S - Stanage. Climbing with another dad who’s not done much trad. Warmed up on Cave Arete - lovely stuff. Persuaded the dad he should try leading something, so sent him up Bee and Awl. Seemed to be fine. I then moved onto The Asp. First go I got fairly comfortable on the LH pocket, stuck a couple of cams in, and then fucked things up slightly by losing concentration and then trying to downclimb in a rush. Took some deep breaths and had another go. Much better effort. Got up to the mid height nut placement - slightly surprised. Then found myself at the top break - even more surprised. Stuck a small cam in above, hung there for longer than I thought possible, then finished it off. Very pleased. Then caught up with the kids in the Plantation. Stupidly thought I could make the day even better by climbing NTBTA, but commitment and skin were both hampered by that point and, despite trying some other things, the only one I topped out on was Broken.
S - Burbage. Sent other dad up Sentinel Chimney and Lieback, so an HS lead for him and he was very chuffed. I then climbed The Sentinel. I backed off this in 2003. It was super fun this time - exactly what the doctor ordered. First E2, having skipped to E3 in an earlier life. Then had a go at Ring My Bell. However, when I got up to the roof I discovered the arete above needed a good brush and, seeing as we were running late by this point, decided to skirt around it.

In the three years since starting climbing again (after 15 years off, give or take) I’ve had a crumpled bit of A4 on the fridge with my previous high point printed on it. E3 / 7b+. Very pleased to have ticked one of those, especially with a route as good as The Asp. Out of my previous small assortment of E3s, only Gillian stands out as being of comparable quality. Pretty syked for some more over the coming months, and then figure out plan for sport when I’ve finally solved my problem shoulder.

[Fiend]

Good effort doing both of those in the heat Yoss!!!

[Stu Littlefair]

Blood test result showed I had low folate levels so got some vitamin B12 tablets. Hopefully this will sort out fatigue issues been experiencing this year.

Not sure what tablets you've got Shark but B12 and folate are not the same thing, and increasing B12 when your folate is low might make you feel quite crappy - been going through this with Jules the last few years. Hopefully you've got a nice B-complex with folate and B12 in...

[tomtom]

Good effort doing both of those in the heat Yoss!!!

Yes - great sounding day Yossarian!

[shark]

Blood test result showed I had low folate levels so got some vitamin B12 tablets. Hopefully this will sort out fatigue issues been experiencing this year.

Not sure what tablets you've got Shark but B12 and folate are not the same thing, and increasing B12 when your folate is low might make you feel quite crappy - been going through this with Jules the last few years. Hopefully you've got a nice B-complex with folate and B12 in...

I went to Boots and they seemed a bit confused so rang and put them onto to the GP receptionist who read out the test results and then was  recommended straight B12 tablets.

It did seem bizarre that I was deficient in B12 as I drink quite a bit of milk and eat lots of red meat and eggs.

What would you recommend?

[tomtom]

Beetroot juice gel

[petejh]

There could be any number of reasons your bloods came back deficient in B12. If you want to go down the B-vitamin and methylation rabbit hole, you could check out Chris Masterjohn, Rhonda Patrick or a number of other biochemist's / nutritionist's / alternative practitioner guru's podcasts and websites. Or just take the tablets, see how you feel, and get your bloods done again in a couple of months. Also, eating lots of spinach and broccoli will help provide adequate levels of folate.

[shark]

Checked with pharmacist at the GP’s and Boots got it wrong and should have recommended folic acid. My B12 level is fine.

Thanks Stu - have a wad point

[shark]

Thanks Pete - GP’s pharmacist recommended spinach and broccoli too

[tommytwotone]

Goal - polish off that last new (to me) outdoor 7a to make 3 for the year

Terrible week - work, kids and life admin totally prevented doing anything worthwhile. Only plus points were:

Diet - ate (for me) healthily Thurs and Fr lunch - a "superfood salad" the missus made that was surprisingly nice and filling
Mental - despite the worst stress / anxiety I've had in a long while managed to do 8 sessions of meditation after downloading Headspace app
Exercise - did a punishing HIIT session on Thurs lunch that left my core still sore on Sunday afternoon!

[andy_e]

GP’s pharmacist recommended spinach and broccoli too

Be like Malc

[spidermonkey09]

Two weeks worth due to the inconvenience of a holiday inbetween!

M - rest.
T - rest.
W - Malham. Gopping and like a greenhouse. Still nearly made it through the boulder so can't be too upset. Headwall was pretty wet. Dogged up and did some laps on the top crimpy section where I fell off on Sunday. Found a new way to hold the crimp which means I can get 4 fingers rather than just 3 on it.
T - drive down to Essex.
F - Flight to Turin; managed to climb that afternoon. Holiday for next 6 days; will feed back on best crags etc on the other thread. Met Nico Favresse by chance who suggested the best crag of the trip after we accidentally wandered into his back garden.

F - session at wall in Suffolk with brother. Just about avoided being burned off but only just; hes depressingly good after a sustained period climbing on plastic.
S - family party. Great time in the sun; just about avoided getting totally pissed.
S - drove back to Yorkshire; afternoon at Malham. Intended to just mess around on it and reacquaint myself with the holds. On the 'warm up go' I rinsed the boulder and basically forgot to try; should have held the tooth really. Great to be straight back there after a week away. Things got steadily worse from there on but nothing that can't be explained away by the wrong shoes, worsening conditions and increasing tiredness. Back on Thursday; training tonight.

[Coops_13]

T: Tufas Bouldering. Finger rehab on BM1K bottom edges, 10 sec hangs. -45lb X3, -35lb X3. Felt like good intensity, glad I could hang on these edges. Deadlift up to 225lb. Cable machine chest, lats, bis, shoulders X2. Stretching. Front lever pulls

F: At Home. 100 press-ups, 100 crunches

S: DBC. Finger rehab, 20mm edge 10 sec hangs. -45lb X3, -35lb X3, -30lb X3. Climbing up to M-. Muscle-up +25lb, +35lb, +45lb (PB). Deadlift. 135lb X5, 185lb X3, 205lb X3. Need to work on form I think. Squat. 115lb X5, 135lb X3, 155lb X3, 165lb X3. Front lever pulls. Stretching. Muscle-up burn-out

Finger slowly improving...