[shark]

11.4-6 Average 159.7 down 0.2lbs

M.

T. AM Set of recruitment and speed pulls

PM Tor. Deserted when I arrived. Forecast was to stop raining but pissed down throughout session with variable conditions.

Felt pretty strong warming up on Bens. Linked the hard section - throw to holding pinch - only to muff the easy move out to the rib (don’t think I’ve done this link before). Also linked from start to setting up for the karate kick.

Got to see Pat again dropping the last move of Staminaband trying to match the pillar but heard his victory cry later when he did it.

W.

T. AM Set of recruitment pulls and a couple of speed pulls.

PM Malham with Duncan Campbell. Dave from Bristol already on Mescalito. Cloudy and cold. 1x Consenting. Bolt to bolted up Mescalito. Struggled with cold fingers. Rock felt glassy on bottom section. Couple of damp holds.

First redpoint found the bottom section hard and glassy but still got to rest with coldish fingers and strangely under fuelled got up into moves at the New Dawn bulge but went glycemic as well as badly pumped and jumped off. Don’t remember bonking on a route before. Stuffed my face. Walk up to top and back.

Second redpoint climbed better and got through onto the New Dawn ledge but still felt under-fuelled and wasn’t getting much back trying to rest. Got through a few moves above but lost tension going for the mono and came off.

Bigger walk up and around and got caught in a hailstorm. Third redpoint and got to the same point as the first redpoint but came off due to to a more regular pump with my fingers uncurling. Disappointing. Dave got it though.

F. Lunch Set of recruitment and speed pulls. Late PM / Eve. Tor. Busy - turned around and nearly went to X except a parking spot became available. Beautiful weather but not best conditions. Tired unsurprisingly. Pottered on Bens and still managed throw to kick a couple of times and start to setup for throw a couple of times.

S.

S.

Had planned to go to Malham on Tuesday but ended up staying local after Mondays downpour and local crag reports. Reasoning for going on Bens is to keep my hand in on it for when I double down on it and as a way of maintaining strength and power. Looking forward to having a focussed effort on it at some point. It’s local and nearly always dry so no rush.

Bit perplexed by Thursdays energy crisis. Hadn’t eaten less or differently and had my customary couple of jelly babies before starting up so don’t know what happened on first redpoint. Cant recall bonking on a route before so hopefully that was a one-off. At least I still managed to do three decent redpoints which was progress in terms of session endurance. Slightly annoyed with myself to see that the way Dave had rigged the belay by hanging two draws off the top bolt would have meant I’d have not dropped the clip the week before. Feel I have to clip the lower bolt still.

Going back to LPT on Monday and Tuesday with Paul then depending how that goes maybe again with AN Other on Friday.

[Duma]

Good luck next week on Statement shark!

M - nothing, rest
T - nothing, rest
W - TCA eve, rubbish. New hard set (blues) but only managed one, and not much progress on any others. Guess still knackered from last week.
T - nothing, rest
F - nothing, starting to feel recovered but no time to fit anything in.
S - TCA pm, much better this time. Got 5 blues, including 3 I'd failed on on weds. Also 4x4s on a crimpy black on the 35, right sort of angle and style for Tuppence training I think. Failed once in first three sets, and twice in last set, so reckon it's right sort of level for now, just need to improve enough to do it on something 2 grades harder...
S - jab, with 20min cycle either side. 14min fb session. Not much worse than last time I did it back in mid March.

70.5 kg

[Will Hunt]

T - evening session at the Big Depot. First time on the ropes at the wall in ages. The aim was just to do as many routes as possible, the thinking being that this might help with general session endurance/recovery etc. Notwithstanding belaying I climbed non stop from about half 6 to 10, on grades 6c to 7a+, finishing off with boring endless repetition of a 6b on the autobelay.

W - Pot Scar. Lovely crag with excellent rock. After work session drawing topo lines on and had time for a couple of routes, climbed in down jackets, before dark fell. An excellent VS and an OK E1.

F - Malham. The aim was to get the measure of New Dawn and to make it seem like a less intimidating proposition. Stick clipped up and affixed my chicken clip on the bolt above the run out, thus allowing an intermediate clip from the knee bar. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair! 2nd go up I climbed through the boulder to the Baboo rest and shook there a while. Started to move across the traverse but, as expected, I really don't have a sequence on this. It's quite tough to work, being a traverse. Figured out the top bit after the ledge. People are talking about a rest on the ledge which I hadn't anticipated being a possibility. It feels steep there as the wall above the ledge is overhanging. Third go up to get draws back. Still no decent sequence on the traverse. If I can get that sorted I should be able to have a semi respectable redpoint go.

[Duma]

Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Hahahahahaha!

[Andy F]

Will.
Suck up the run-out. It'll make for a much more satisfying trip. And young children won't point fingers and giggle at you in the street.

[shark]

As Andy Mitchell said to me when I extended the bolt: “you’ll never do it that way”. Think he’s right. Best just to motor through that section

[Andy F]

25 years later I can still vividly remember reaching down to clip the bolt above the ledge as I couldn't find a comfortable way to clip from below. Scary but very, very memorable. And that's the kind of experience that makes a classic.

[Will Hunt]

People who suggest not having a clip there (from a decent rest that would be hands off for some) can swivel for exactly the same reasons that people who hate the finding of new knee bars can.

Maybe it will be easier to skip on redpoint, maybe it won't make a difference 

I mean, presumably it once had fewer bolts, hence the drilled tufas. Why not strip it back to the way it was originally? (Rhetorical question asked in an attempt to highlight the flawed logic. No answer required)

[Bradders]

M - Kilnsey with Tim P. Awful weather. Wandered up Sticky Wicket to warm up...hands froze and opened up a dry split which started bleeding everywhere. Lowered off a bolt or two from the top. Tim put the draws in on Comedy. First go just working the moves and getting warm. Next time made it to the rest but didn't get much back and dropped the move to the RH pocket out of the rest. Chilled on the rope then went from the rest to the top. Ten minute rest then third go should have done it really but again just fumbled the same move out of the rest. Decided to bin it at that point as we were freezing.

T - AM bit of conditioning, hamstring exercises, rotator cuff, some core and Turkish get ups

W - AM fingerboard session. 4x 6s 10mm full crimp +10kg 1 min rests which was fine. 6x 10s 20mm half crimp 2 min rests but had to drop weight down to 25kg to complete, presumably some remaining fatigue from Monday. Finished with 4x 5rep 20mm edge half crimp pull ups.

W - PM board session working problems that highlight weaknesses for me, specifically big crossovers, open shoulder positions and undercuts. Decent sesh. Did my crossover problem for the first time (5th session). Followed with some front levers (assisted) and rotator cuff exercises.

T - rest

F - Kilnsey. Stunning afternoon yet crag deserted bar a couple of lads, lads, lads playing some dreadful music whilst they climbed. Didn't fancy asking them to turn it off, and thankfully they weren't doing it for long. Warmed up on The Directissima. Decided to rest on the rope for a minute on first go to avoid flash pump. Did it next go. Not really sure why it's supposedly a classic, can't say I found the movement very enjoyable. Anyway, first go up Comedy I think I still wasn't warm enough but made it to the rest, did the next 3 moves and clip, then dropped the big move to the horn (cigar?) hold. Should have done it second go; stupidly changed my foot sequence on the fly having got to the vertical bit and then slapped complete blankness, missing the next hand hold entirely. Did it 3rd go, felt like I had plenty in the tank. Very satisfying. First 7c. Glad to get it done quick.

S - 6x 6 second hangs half crimp on 10mm edges +17kg with 90 second rests. Then a great social session on my board with a mate. Did a couple of mediums, managed moves on harder/limit stuff and some reasonable links. Just good fun for a couple of hours. Fingers feeling it afterwards. Great to get to share my board with someone for the first time.

S - 6x 5 rep 6:10 repeaters on Lattice edge, first 3 in half crimp +10kg, rest in front 3 drag +5kg, 3 min rests. Then 8x a 12 move just above flash level problem on my board, with 3 min rests, half on left to right version and others on mirrored right to left. Dropped the last move of 3/4 of the latter as feels weirdly harder than other way but did all rest. Finished with 4 sets of weighted wide pull ups, 4 sets of prone Ts on the rings and some rotator cuff exercises.

Great week. Loving doing more and more on a rope, whilst thoroughly enjoying training.

[Wellsy]

Monday: Long board session and then weights. Getting a bit better on the bench now and doing 5 reps at 60kgs max. Am targeting being able to do a single rep at 100kgs this year at least, ideally several. Also squatted and I don't really like squats but whatever I'll do em. Weighted pull-ups continue as well, and I noticed that I can now do one-arm lock offs at the full up-position for a few seconds? So that's new!

Tuesday: knackered. Rested.

Wednesday: big works session and it was great, I was blasted at the end but still did some benching. Really enjoying that.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday: Was at the gfs so tragically no real chance of a workout other than a pull-up routine on the mini-landing over her attic stairs on Friday evening. Basically just took the opportunity to do as many as I could until my arms really, really hurt sans any actual equipment.

Sunday: Big works session this morning, no weights but just running through stuff. Felt incredibly pumped as was kind of high intensity, always is when I go by myself. Was kind of hoping to get out and climb outdoors on the proj but not really an opportunity to do so, however am planning a trip out this week/next weekend if the weather is good!

[moose]

M - Kilnsey with Tim P. Awful weather. Wandered up Sticky Wicket to warm up...hands froze and opened up a dry split which started bleeding everywhere. Lowered off a bolt or two from the top.

Sticky Wicket is hard and never gets easier.  A few years ago, my Springtime "regain fitness after winter" project was the Sticky Wicket - Ashes link; the main difficulty was definitely doing Sticky Wicket without my arms exploding, to leave enough energy to get into the "eyes" of The Ashes. The crux section of the Ashes felt a doddle once that was negotiated.

Working Comedy with Tim P.... not good for one's sense of self-worth! I've seen Tim eat a pork pie for lunch (with black pudding under the crust, no less!) and then idly campus Comedy, clipping as he went, as a warm-down and to work out his frustration with conditions on All Out!

[Bradders]

M - Kilnsey with Tim P. Awful weather. Wandered up Sticky Wicket to warm up...hands froze and opened up a dry split which started bleeding everywhere. Lowered off a bolt or two from the top.

Working Comedy with Tim P.... not good for one's sense of self-worth! I've seen Tim eat a pork pie for lunch (with black pudding under the crust, no less!) and then idly campus Comedy, clipping as he went, as a warm-down and to work out his frustration with conditions on All Out!

Haha I prefer to think of it as inspiring!

Less inspired by Sticky Wicket. Bit of a crap wandering line. Maybe it was just because I couldn't feel my fingers and was bleeding everywhere though.

[moose]

Less inspired by Sticky Wicket. Bit of a crap wandering line. Maybe it was just because I couldn't feel my fingers and was bleeding everywhere though.

Climbing Sticky Wicket is a thoroughly unpleasant experience, but that's why it's a power-stamina classic - Raindogs for the 7b climber (to me, the definition of a power-stamina route is one that leaves you with arms aflame and vomiting your lungs).  Admittedly, it's less pure now, after Seb collapsed part of it and created a big new side-pull, while bolting the horribly misbegotten LBW. 

Have you tried Wysiwyg?  That's more of a boulderer's route - short and crimpy - and there are a variety of extensions if you want to increase the calibre.

[Coops_13]

M: Density pickups 20mm 40s LH 40lb *1, 45lb *3 RH 35lb *2, 40lb *2 HC. Legs. Leg press, calf raise, knee extension, hamstring curl. X15 *3sets. Squats up to 165lb *3sets. RDL, tried going heavier but finger complained so stopped. Heavy core *3sets (weighted cable ab crunch, woodcutter). Lower body stretching

T: DBC. Tried the single hand repeaters as suggested by PT, reality was this was a bit difficult and awkward with lower back suffering. 20mm, 5s on 5s off X5 *3sets (RH 65lb, LH 80lb). 1hr of bouldering 14 M-, 5 M. EMOM pull-ups X7 (8 sets 7, 2 sets 5)

W: 15 mins HIIT (Cardio, core, antag). Lower body stretching

T: DBC. TA Max Hangs - 20 mm, 7s hangsup to +30lb! Bouldering, did 8 M- boulders, 7 M, 1 M+ boulder! The M+ was maybe V5, psyched. Pull-ups EMOM X7 *10mins (managed 7 sets X7, 2 X6, 1 X5)

F: Density pickups 20mm 40s 40lb *4 HC.

S: Touristing in RMNP

S: Too wet to get out so DBC. TA Max Hangs - 20 mm, 7s hangsup to +30lb * 3sets. Big bouldering session doing 6 M-, 9 M, 3 M+ including a hard M+ that went 4th go (harder V5 I guess). Pull-ups EMOM X7 *10mins (managed 8 sets X7, 2 X5). Finished with 3sets each of pectoral fly, shoulder press, bicep curl

Still a lot of snow up high with 8 - 16 inches more coming tomorrow - alpine season soon!

[Bradders]

Less inspired by Sticky Wicket. Bit of a crap wandering line. Maybe it was just because I couldn't feel my fingers and was bleeding everywhere though.

Climbing Sticky Wicket is a thoroughly unpleasant experience, but that's why it's a power-stamina classic - Raindogs for the 7b climber (to me, the definition of a power-stamina route is one that leaves you with arms aflame and vomiting your lungs).  Admittedly, it's less pure now, after Seb collapsed part of it and created a big new side-pull, while bolting the horribly misbegotten LBW. 

Have you tried Wysiwyg?  That's more of a boulderer's route - short and crimpy - and there are a variety of extensions if you want to increase the calibre.

Sounds wonderful.

Yes did WYSIWYG last year during my first brief foray. Quite keen for Complete Control.

[gollum]

W/C 3/5/21

M - Rest
T - Campus, compression holds, repeaters, Manchester Depot varied, chest, cardio, yoga and stretching, abs
W - Deadlifts and pulls, Depot for fun, cardio, yoga and stretching, large hold repeaters
T - Campus, repeaters, Manchester roof, chest and compression, abs/core, yoga and stretching, cardio
F - Abs, pulls, Depot, cardio, yoga and stretching, density hangs
S - Depot, stretching, ancillary muscles, yoga, abs
S - Cardio, abs, legs, stretching and yoga, pinches


Starting to feel a bit off it in last few weeks so plan is to get head back in it this week.

M - Rest and chilling

T - Drive over to the Depot in Manchester to look at the changes and am impressed. Big roof looks very cool. Campus to start and do okay, do find it slightly harder here due to narrower reps nags but that’s not a bad thing. Then do some compression hangs on the big round things and finish with a set of repeaters, again mixing the order to put things I find easier to succeed at later into the sets, which seems to be working well.
Have a session on big roof, get a few of the 7a-7bs, and work the extended starts but they feel way beyond my stamina, or at the very least I need to climb the second halves more economically. Go on to do a good few reds, purples and yellows, but power fade happens after a couple of hours and I retreat back over the Pennines.
Gym on way home, weights for chest. Bench for doubles up to a comfortable 95, declines for triples again to a less comfortable 95. Incline dumbbells for 5x5, increasing weight on each set. No TRX or rings at this gym, so use dumbbells to simulate same positions to do Ts, Ys and Is as a triset. Seems to work okay and feels much more like the chest is being isolated rather than benefiting the core as well.  Finish with some floor compression holds and a five minute plank, which definitely bring the core back into the equation.
Treadmill 5k for cardio today and feels okay.
Stretching calves and sciatic nerve as warm up for hamstring based yoga and then upper body stretches.
For core and abs; levers, weighted hollow bodies and hypertension’s plus roll outs.
Definitely enjoyed it all today.

W - Gym in morning. Start with deadlifts and feel very good at top weight of 150. On to supported OAP going down to -5 on LH and BW with RH. Velocity pulls followed by one arm lock offs.
Abs of 3x3 planks, floor routine and rollouts with a barbell.
Go to Depot for social. Scapular strengthening as part of warm up. Get into the session which is a tester of how I will get on with the yellows.  Happy tov get three done and good progress on a few more, less happy to fall of one four times with fingers on finishing hold of one, lesson is: try harder.
Treadmill 5k for cardio, with calf stretching for my Achilles. Pleased to be able to do two days in a row without hobbling about. Yoga for hips and stretching for splits.
Large hold repeaters for 3x5 minutes of 7/3.

T - Need to be home by lunchtime so set off to Manchester early and surprised that it’s fairly busy even at 7:00. Do a set of campus exercises, trying to focus on technique stuff in the campusing thread and being finger orientated for last few sets, with ladders and jumps. Repeaters and go well apart from M2 which seem to be just slipping out rather than feeling weak.
On to playing on big roof. Do some of the easier routes and start trying to work some of the harder ones. All that spinning about in a roof has gotta be good for the core.
Gym on way home. Start in the bench working for 3x8 reps at 70k. Move on to rings. Prone Ts, Ys and Is each for 3x5. Next is Supine TWIs as a triset for 3x5.
Abs and core is 5 minute plank plus sets of front levers, weighted hollow bodies and hyperextensions with rollouts when I get home.
Yoga for shoulders and whilst hangman is still a challenge it is becoming less of one and does feel like it’s opening my shoulders up a bit. Stretching for pancake and I can tell when o start that I haven’t done this for a full week but once warmed up all is good. I think I am on the edge of getting my head to touch the floor, as got to laying my head on flat fingertips and felt I could have touched the floor if I’d pushed it, however, at my age best not to push it and better to wait until I get there without pushing it.
30 minutes on the bike for cardio.

F - Up with the park, so start with abs of 3x3, floor and rollouts.
Gym in the morning and pulls. Start with weighted pull-ups for two reps per set. Start at bodyweight and add 5k per set, failing at 55k. Move onto the peg board to work on both single arm locks, but also negatives. Do better than last time I tried this, which is pleasing. Next jumps between first and third bar, but still not enough bottle to go for the fourth one. Next is off set pull ups, two arm locks and close grip pull ups. Finish with some scapular work.
Depot to meet up with a mate who hasn’t climbed for a bit. Turn up with no real plan.  Do quite a lot of show and tell for JK and also manage to tock the one remaining wood I had to do, plus 5 more yellows and made good progress on a few more.
Back on the indoor bike for cardio and a nice steady ride.
Yoga is for back flexibility and stretching is for splits, both of which feel tough.
Finish the days efforts with 6x30 seconds density hangs for my tendons and recovery. Feels like the right level of difficulty.

S - An easy session at the Depot with different friends. Potter around working on more yellows a bit, repeating purples, woods, reds and pinks for fun. End up with lots of not very hard volume but nice and chilling.
Gym on the way home. Shoulders to start with dumbbell presses for 5x5 working up to 30s, barbell presses and half and halves. Onto cable exercises for front, medial and rear delts.  Move on to tricep presses and bicep curls. Finish weights with wrist rolls and curls.
Yoga for hands, feet and twists plus 100 rhythmic rollouts help massively.

S - 40 minutes on the bike when I get up, followed by 16 hard rollouts before the roller broke.
Go to gym to train legs. Start with deadlifts and finish at 157.5 which feels solid, goal is to add 2.5 per week until I can’t add any more, but this will be heaviest lift of the year. Move on to squats with a bar, pistol and shrimp squats using the boxes and some leg presses. Finish session with a range of calf raises.
Stretching for pancake and yoga for fingers.
Pinches, which continue to get a bit better and I am edging towards being able to actually hang the blocks using free hanging pinches which eliminates the use of any chest compression.

A very good week for restoring the desire. Definitely very motivated to keep doing stuff. Not got a great interest in getting outside at the moment, although to be honest I also prefer the treadmill and stationary bike as well, so maybe I just don’t like being outside for any reason. Climbing is definitely about the social and the trying to stay in reasonable shape at the moment, and none of my friends seem bothered about going outside either. Sure I will get the taste for it again and do have goals outside, but not in any great rush to change things at the moment.

[JohnM]

M - Rest

T - Back on the 8c, Schwarzer Schwan. I got through the lower crux traverse twice this time even after losing the heel and cutting lose on the first try. Only on the second try did I manage to get matched up in the two undercuts in the final boulder, before the throw up with the left hand to the sloper and then the jump to the arete as it joins the top of the crag. However, I still don't get into that position with enough power left to place the feet well and make the throw. Swapped goes with the strong couple from the previous sessions and discussed the boulder grade for each section. Between 7B and 7C has apparently been proposed for both. It is certainly not 7C, but maybe 7B+ is right for both. I don't think the top boulder is necessarily harder just more insecure, particularly with the feet. However, everything always feels harder on a rope and it would probably be 7A on the ground!

W - Nothing much. Got my final tick-borne encephalitis jab which always wrecks my arm.

T - Short trail run (5.16km 184m).

F - Schwarzer Schwan (8c) - Session 5. Decided to chance it despite all the rain in the forecast, as the temperature was 5 degrees cooler and it seemed pretty breezy. However, at the crag it was still and humid as hell and my arm was sore and swollen at the injection site. I could barely do the moves on the warm up and couldn't even do the throw from the sloper to the top in isolation at all. On my second redpoint try I somehow managed to get into the top undercuts again but my feet were rolling off the "footholds" and I couldn't make any movement upwards. Decided to try the awesome looking 8a up the right arete as a possible consolation. The moves in the arete were insecure but really cool and I thought I had the beating of it. Unfortunately, I could not hang the slopers at all on the sloper heel hook traverse as the arete levels out and joins the 8c. One for another time in less damp/humid conditions.

S - Trail running 19.39km with 1184m elevation gain.

S - Back to Monkey Island in Zillertal. I decided to try the classic 8a+ up the face of the main boulder. I assumed because I had flashed the neighbouring 8a that this would not cause me too much trouble. I was wrong! The climbing is hard, the footholds are eye wateringly bad and given that all the holds are facing sideways I couldn't simply over power the moves to compensate. There is also a horrific gripper clip halfway through a traverse after the lower crux with really bad feet. I had a couple of decent goes getting through the lower boulder but couldn't take a hand off at the gripper clip and gave up every time. I was done for the day after that as I was completely fatigued after a long stressful week working late into the night nearly every night and not sleeping properly. Went to check out a new crag a friend has bolted a couple of lines on afterwards. They look insanely good, 30-40 degrees overhanging, hidden deep in a narrow valley overlooking a beautiful steep river with waterfalls and deep pools. Still a lot of work to be done cleaning and taking down loose blocks so we will get to work on that sometime in July. 

[RobK]

M – 14 x 1 minute on/off on the board jugs. Very pumped by the last rep. Followed by a 20 minute run to test my calf in the pouring rain.

T – Lunch, 10 x 1 minute on/off. Could definitely feel yesterday in my arms and got more pumped than I thought I would. PM, density hangs as last week. Feeling tired after the lunchtime session. I also hate these, they just feel awful. Board laddering to finish 10 x 20 secs on/40 secs off with the aim of doing some endurance work on smaller holds rather than open handed jugs. Good but probably ended up feeling more towards the powered out end of the spectrum rather than pumped.

W – Density hangs again, still hate them. Finished with 8 x 1.15 on/off, pumpy by the end.

T – Rest.

F – Took the afternoon off work and went to LPT. 10 degrees and wind onto the crag so pretty cold. Much faffing on Mussel Beach but think I finalised all my beta. Feeling pretty pumped when not linking many moves together, either really unfit or I hit the endurance training too hard early in the week.

S – Rest.

S – Back to LPT, five degrees warmer than Friday but wind still on the crag so conditions were good. Busy but a very nice vibe. One dog go to get the draws in, still not feeling great and couldn’t get through the bottom boulder. Watched Lena on it though and got some sneaky beta which made it feel much easier. Had three redpoints, falling marginally higher each time coming round the roof. I can’t tell if I’m miles off on this or not, definitely worth sinking a couple more sessions in to see.

Really enjoying the LPT sessions and feels so good to be back on routes getting pumped and falling off. Hoping to get back midweek as tides are good for evenings – maybe see you down there Shark. Think I got a bit carried away with the endurance stuff early in the week and ended up carrying a bit of pump in my arms as a result. Also, I really hate density hangs. I had the same sensation last time I tried them of feeling wrecked for ages afterwards so think I will be consigning these to the scrapheap.

[spidermonkey09]

M - horrific weather day so forced back to Malham. Decided to try Vogue in an effort to get a reasonably speedy tick in. This is basically a direct on New Dawn that goes through the bulges where ND traverses left. Some cool moves on spaced pockety tufas leave you at a good undercut flake. Above the rock becomes vertical and there is a near total absence of holds! I sorted some sort of sequence here but it felt nails and I was sure I was missing something. Had a go at the end of the day and got to the undercut but was too cold and knackered to make an impression. At this point the rain was blowing onto the crag so we called it a day.

T - rest.

W - rest.

T - Kilnsey after work. Absolutely baltic conditions. Did Open Road to get going and then decided to go up Taking the Mick, which is a juggy 7a+ next to Comedy. Unfortunately at the third clip the blocky jug I was hanging all my weight off levered out of the crag. Fortunately I managed to flick it over my head while falling and belayer was standing under the bulge, so no harm done. It was a big breezeblock sized lump so just as well it didn't hit anyone or the rope. I was mildly shaken up but fortunately completely fine so decided to get back on the horse before I cooled down and got spooked. managed to get to the chain but perhaps unsurprisingly overgripped everything and was pretty gripped the whole way up! Decided to get some fitness training in on Sticky Wicket and look at the link into the Ashes (this seems topical for this weeks thread!). Failed to RP Sticky Wicket having found it nails back in 2017 and had absolutely no beans left on the top section of the Ashes. Keen to get back on it as it seems a good fitness builder. A good session that exposed the depths of my stamina deficit, I really need to get fitter on steeper rock!

F - Giggleswick after work. Girlfriend redpointed her first 6b+. Inbetween her go's I had planned to dog up Divine Brown but this was occupied by 3 people so went on Jorjas Connection instead, which is basically a juggy, steep traverse into the top section of Illywacker. Did this first go after putting the draws in, so suspect it is easier than Illywacker. Good little route though; much more effective on shorter routes currently!

S - Malham in the monsoon. Back on Vogue which was miraculously dry. Cold conditions but not mint. Had a decent RP where I got a few moves further into my nails crux sequence. On the final go up I had a proper search around and sorted something better which feels more plausible. Can't see how this route is easier than Baboo tbh but its possible it will feel fine next time with a better sequence, although I'm unconvinced! Bailed when the rising temps caused the crag to instantly condense and turn the footholds a deep, slippery black.

S - Intended to go to Trollers for some fitness mileage but the raging torrent in the gill made access impossible. Did a few routes at the Old Mans Crag instead which was pleasant.

Decent, relaxed week. Still feeling strong on individual moves but am woefully unfit and desperately need to get some miles in my forearms. Saturday's monsoon and the likely dampening of Kilnsey is unlikely to help me in this regard so might have to return to the walls and get some foot on campusing or circuits in!

[yetix]

M:
rehab work on FB, 3x7/53 front 3 half crimp hangs on 18mm edge.
Chanced Parisellas as everywhere else looked like it would be terrible. Arrived and warmed up on Rocka, managed to do it first go from the wobbly block start, then repeated it for a video, psyched as always used to find rocka nails. Tried Hatch moves next which took about an hour to reget sussed, then managed to climb to matched on the flake in the roof from Hatch start, but felt tweaky (but oddly fresh) so dropped off and can come back to this one another time. One go at Hatch life, got to the throw but felt fatigued.

T: rest
W:
rehab work on FB, 3x7/53 front 3 half crimp hangs on 18mm edge.
Bowderstone. I had been saying I wanted to try the impropa opera sit move for some time but always put it off. Seemed a decent opportunity to try it on Wednesday. I had low expectations on this one, but thought the worst case is I'd get a decent training session in and know I couldn't do the move. Suprised myself doing the move within an hour and maybe 4 more times through the session, but didn't managed to link into Impropa as I was using bad beta for the 3rd move (missed an obvious heel doh!) moved onto Final Curtain, had 2 goes and managed to get to the RH sloper of picnic direct, but didn't feel I could move into the last hold. Another for next time. 1 go on hot air sit, managed to fight my way through it with cut looses on everything, but still got it done. Psyched, still can't believe I did that first move on the sits. Need to get back ASAP!
T: rest
F:
rehab work on FB, 6x7/53 front 3 half crimp hangs on 18mm edge.
Carrock with girlfriend, an hour or so on Algorythm. Class problem, but kept falling off on the foot move once already into the stand. 3 quick goes on Monkey Trunk, nearly flashed, then did the stand next go, then regressed quickly. Fun day away from training venues I've mostly been hitting recently. Feel like both would have gone quickly if I had felt fresh. Lost alot more skin than I would have liked to
S: rest
S:
rehab work on FB, 3x7/53 front 3 half crimp hangs on 18mm edge.
Skin forced a session at the cave again. Decided to get on Hatch Life as didn't want to try Hatch Atrocity twice in one week. Had 7 attempts and managed to get through to the swing every go, managed to get my foot across 3 times, but ejected from the right hand being too swetty twice and my foot slipped once. Think this will go with good skin soon.
Quick session at Pill Box afterwards, did Pill Box Original and The Greek in a few goes each, nice climbing up there I thought. Might start slowly chipping away at the ups there when I head to the cave and eventually start working on the links, seems a good companion to the sessions at the cave for me, especially when I have more time so can get a few hours rest between sessions.

[Duma]

rehab work on FB, 3x7/53 front 3 half crimp hangs on 18mm edge.

Is this just 3 7s hangs with 53s rest at bw? Seems high intensity/low volume for rehab work? What injury are you recovering from?

Sounds like a good week anyway, 4 days out and progress everywhere!

[duncan]

Good to read about folk getting out (or enjoying the indoors a la gollum). Good luck on Statement Simon (my 6 days comment referred to the first ascent). Energy crises happen occasionally to me (I had something similar yesterday). These things will have a rational reason but I can rarely put a finger on exactly why. Good work on Comedy Bradders. I have a friend who has been trying this and it looks great. You can clearly climb much harder than this given the right route and a bit of application.

M - Bouldering - Stronghold, with the lad. He’s not been climbing much in the last 18 months but really enjoyed the place so hoping this might rekindle enthusiasm. I managed a V5 which was gratifying. Box steps for 30 mins.
T - Shoulders: YsTs, supported handstands, side planks. Walked 10km.
W - Box-steps for 45 mins. Bouldering - Stronghold. Volume session: 73 problems to V2 up and down in 90 mins. Satisfyingly tired after this.
T - Appropriately tired and sore: felt like I’d climbed a big route in the Dolomites the previous day. 10km walk.
F - Bouldering - Stronghold, with Hazel R. A low volume, try a bit harder session. Managed another V5 (a good one for me: slanting grove with cracks that could only have been more trad. had it had a nest of RP2 placements at the start). Great to see Hazel for the first time in a long time.
S - Bouldering - Stronghold, with the lad. He managed a slew of V2s and a V2/3, by virtue wearing climbing shoes for a change. I did some active rest. 
S - Felt bleurgh. Probably due to spending time in shared enclosed spaces and public transport this week for the first time since December; other viruses are still available! Needed to sit down half way through the afternoon walk. Gentle shoulder work (IsYsTs and planks) to keep things ticking over.

Decent week. Great to see the lad enjoying climbing, hope this continues. Still run out of puff very quickly but exercise capacity seems to be increasing.

Plan: try to get outside this week.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Reassesment of goals:

Another F7b
F7c this season
Find and get on F8a as long term project

M: Awesone fell run in biblical rainstom in the Peak - Forgotten how much I enjoy running in the Peak the rain when there's nobody around - Didn't see another soul!
M/T: Woke at 2am in agony! Felt like someone was blowtorching my big toe... Spent next 4-5 hour writhing in agony... Finally decide to hack at toenail to aleviate pressure - not pretty but at least enabled an hours kip before quack opened!
T: Quack - Turns out toe is infected, probably down to crap nails and shit getting in while running - NNFN!!! Given heavy antibiotics that make me feel sick.... Arse!
W: 
T: 
F: Toe feeling a bit better, still looks like it belongs to Frankenstien's monster - Managed to get an old Anasazi that's 1.5 sizes too big on foot so mosey on down to Horseshit. Climb a few 5's looking a bit special with me one big baggy pink clown boot!
S: AeroCap @ AW - 4x4's on autobelays... 16 routes (+ 2 warmups and a few blocs) up to F6b+. Frankenstien's toe still not right but getting better.
S: Nip up to Moss Rake with GF never been before but thought it sounded nice - Didn't check RAD and noticed a sign @ crag after a couple of warmups saying don't climb til 21st June because of nesting birds - Opps! Pack up quickly and quietly with tail between legs... Not a good idea in hindsight (notwithstanding the ban) as slabs don't agree with Frankentoe!!

Shit week - stupid toe! Was suposed to be going to Portland on Friday too... Still managed to get out and train a little but felt shit from antibiotics all week! Fingers crossed next week will be better.

[teestub]

Box steps for 30 mins.
Walked 10km.
W - Box-steps for 45 mins.
T - Appropriately tired and sore: felt like I’d climbed a big route in the Dolomites the previous day. 10km walk..

Are the mountains calling Duncan?

[yetix]

@Duma

It was meant to be higher volume (6-12 hangs) and x2 sessions a week but I was finding that was fatiguing me too much to actually perform outside so I reduced the volume, normally I do x6 hangs 3 times a week so I'd hit the same number of hangs prescribed if I did 3 sessions a week, but this week reduced the volume due to more sessions and also that I was getting on rocka links which is essentially front 3 repeaters anyhow.

The recommendation came from Huffy, I have a bunch of issues that I'm sorting really:
-Slight nerve entrapment in left arm from slightly raised upper rib which I'm stretching the pec minor and upper rib with some stretches he prescribed. This he thinks is the route cause of the other issues, but will take time to resolve.
-Left middle finger engages A4 before A2 due to a bad injury years ago and never sorting this (I did a block of mono density hangs with a mono pickuip device before this block which was helping with that) this issue means I majorly seem to load my back 3 when climbing and can often not really get the weight into my index finger so it stays in chizel or if the pinky isn't on 3f drag so the front 3 HC work is to help that I think.
Huffy thinks I injured the FDS and volar plate on this in the past (I got it stuck in a pocket in albarracin in 2017)
- ring finger pip joint inflamation, because of what's noted above I hang on my joints alot so there's some serious swelling on this pip joint, the 3f HC work has been helping with this finger alot lately. This finger has some lumbrical issues and grade 1 duputrens too (had a cool stretch for this which really helped)
- left wrist weakness and that classic clicking can't recall what it's called but it relates to extensor issues I believe. I'm working on with reverse hammer curls and a wrist roller.

Basically anything which isn't climbing on rock for me atm is trying to do rehab stuff as close to as how huffy has recommended as I can without affecting performance. General training hard just seems to make the issues worse and injure me so I've just tried to focus on doing a little rehab constantly as part of my morning warmups before leaving to climb and then getting on rock really. It's mostly been leading to improvements as my left side is gradually catching up, some weeks things get a little worse, like today my middle finger feels more swollen in the pip joint than usual but it seems to be trending in the right direction