[duncan]

Simon has swanned off to Chulilla, the bastard, so I’ll kick this one off.

M - Walked 10km.
T - Westway. 6 x 9 mins up and down on the autobelay for a total of 300m. Nothing harder than 6a and mostly easier building to a  mild pump at the end of each set. First day climbing routes indoors for months, needed a lie-down after.
W - Walked 10km. Aches and pains felt much better for doing some climbing.
T - Fingerboard: a mix of half crimp and three finger drag (on the 20mm edge). Short duration hangs  and no added weight but elbow and shoulder tolerating this. Aim is to build up to 3 finger drag on the 15mm edge as this resembles what I’ll be doing on the hard bit of Road Rage. Shoulder conditioning (press-ups, handstands, side-planks). Hip/knee conditioning (single, double, and frog squats).
F - Shoulder conditioning.
S - Fingerboard as Thursday, with a couple more reps.
S - Hip/knee conditioning. Shoulder conditioning.

Walked 7 km most days in addition to the above.

Week 3 of single parenting so nothing outdoors but keeping at it. Elbow nearly 100%, shoulder much the same.

Plan: more of the same. Main focus on finger strength with a day of easy route meters to help maintain some aerocapacity, general fitness, sanity, and movement skill. And stop the joints from seizing-up.

[Wellsy]

Monday - bouldering session indoors. 3 sets of 6 ring dips, 3 sets of 8 ring rows. 18kg dumbbell overhead press 3 sets of 5.

Tuesday - rested

Wednesday - spray board session, making problems with the boys for like 3.5 hours. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Thursday - short indoor session followed by ring dips and rows (3 sets of 6, 3 sets of .

Friday - rested

Saturday - went out to Curbar. Did Bad Lip 7A! Very proud of that, only like my 4th 7A ever, did it second go in the session too and without much trouble. Dead pleased. Went to Chatsworth to try Desperot 7A after; refined the beta for the bottom down to about 6A (people in the vids doing it way harder!) and then bailed on the top. Feels like more than two pads are needed!

Sunday - tried to go Stanage. Piss wet. Went to the Works and had a short indoor session, dips and rows etc.

Felt pretty good after doing Bad Lip. After being a bit up and down of late it felt like a real little boost. Looking forward to cracking on with more stuff this season!

[shark]

El bastardo reporting in

M. Beautiful sunrise. Tor with Nick. Good temp, fresh - mint. Dogged to AM Headwall. Top section felt straightforward. Tried from hole but lace came undone and caught underneath shoe when trying to do high toe move and shoe rolled off along with the rest of me. Second tie ground to top with same kind of performance as previous Thursday but managing a few more moves when going from middle of AM headwall falling as going for hidden sidepull at end of Crucifixion crux. Probably last tie in on it for the year. Put all my eggs in one basket on this one and it didn’t work out.

T

W AM Home FB warm up then Tor with goat. Misty and drizzly but cleared up by midday. Bens. 4 goes on the throw getting it each time first time and doing the next move to getting foot on the pinch. Fingers felt strong. On the second go only got the crimp with front 3 so amazed I still managed to not only hold it but pull through. Gainz! - don’t think I’d have been able to do that last winter. Then went from holding the pocket and the crimp through to the end (11 moves) which matched my PB for this section last winter. Long rest then managed start to the throw move but had to work hard to not sag out. So overall did the whole thing in two halves apart from the throw. Promising session.

W

T AM Realised I was flying to Alicante in the afternoon (got it my head it was on Friday) Fortunately plenty of time to pack and get to the airport. What a muppet.

F Drive to Chulilla. Place as stunning as ever but had forgotten everything about the approaches and where the sectors are. Derek was no better even though he’d been a few weeks before. Was aiming for Oasis but ended up near Super Zeb. Went on a 7a Periclonica but got shut down on the low crux. Eventually dogged it out and came down. Looked at the UKC logbook and saw that I’d flashed it 6 years before! Got through the crux at second redpoint attempt. Rest was fine but on unnerving coral. There was a 7a+ just to the left with a similarly bouldery start. Not a great idea to jump on it especially as was getting late but decided to go for it. Fell off on bouldery crux which wasn’t quite where I thought it would be and worked it. Tried again from ground but had to dog through the crux then continued to climb quickly up the steadier remaining 30m as it was starting to get dark. A confidence knocking start to say the least.

S Felt not with it. Messed up walking to Oasis/Chorros area approaching from the other end at the reservoir but found dismissed the correct bridge as looking unofficial and reached the Super Zeb bridge we’d crossed the previous day. Backtracked to correct bridge and installed ourselves at Chorros right hand with its long giant tufa routes. Started up Pompas Fina 7a which was pretty straight forward and went without trauma. Derek had a good go at  El magnate del tomate 7a+ but bailed at what turned out to be the crux. I went up but was quite shocked how hard the crux was but managed to flash it and the rest of the route though ran short of quickdraws towards the top which required some jiggery pokery. Decent rest then went on Magic Line 7a. This required all kinds of offwidth techniques. Unfortunately came off midway when my foot unexpectedly slipped which was a bummer.

S AM Walk / siesta / admin

Interesting week! My memory has never been great but this has to be a new low point along with general fuckwittedness.

Good temps and forecast looks to be more of the same. Keen for more tufa action at Chorros area as it’s pretty special. Hope I climb better to make the most of it. 🤞

[Duma]

Nice one on bad lip Wellsy! And commiserations on C&A shark, enjoy the rest of yr holiday.

M - sleeping off nights, then TCA in eve. Trying a couple of blues, no ticks but progress on both.
T -
W - work, 8 hrs. TCA in eve, trying whites and blues, got a few done, tried hard. Good session.
T - work, 12 hrs. Quick run in eve, 5k, flat, pavement, easy pace, 25:30
F - work, 12 hrs.
S - Cheddar, Burmese wall. Crappy short 6a and excellent long 6b (back in black) to warm up, then decent OS go on Mercurian Sump Dweller (7b+) but not really close. Went fine next go, really good sequence.
S - TCA, whites (high 6's) did quite a few including one I'd failed on before, fairly pleased considering it was after a roast and a pint.

71.5kg

[spidermonkey09]

Jesus Christ Shark, what on earth did you do to your brain on Wednesday?!

[Fiend]

Forgetting that you're flying to Chulilla is an excellent new sharkism!!

[moose]

Jesus Christ Shark, what on earth did you do to your brain on Wednesday?!

Shark's Power Club entries are actually coded messages to his acolytes, detailing his hedonistic lifestyle.  To you, Wednesday might seem to have been spent climbing, but I've cracked the cypher and know "Tor" = rave, "Ben's" = disco biscuits, and "fell on bouldery crux" = fell into k-hole, so his memory lapses are a bit more explainable.

[Aussiegav]

Monday

Rest

Tuesday
Went to the School after work. 
Boulder triples & conditioning.

✓ 10s hangs
35mm x2
30mm x2
25mm x2
20mm x2
4×5 feet on double Campus pulls

Moonboard Warm Up Circuit
◦ Laptop 6a. 2019 Moonboard
◦ Laptop 6a. 2019 Moonboard
◦ True 6a+. 6a+. 2019 Moonboard
◦ The Warm Up Problem. 6a+. 2019 Moonboard
◦ Big Sale. 6a+. 2019 Moonboard ❌
◦ The Limit 6a+. 2019 Moonboard
◦ Échauffement. 6a+. ❌

4min rest
Boulder Triples 6 sets of 3 problems
5min rest between sets.
20s between problems (30s to do the problem)
the Warm Up Problem/ LapTop / The Limit

Conditioning
Power pull ups 4min rests
5×5

Bench Press
8x 47kg
5×5 57kg

Wednesday: 45min Peloton ride

Thursday :
Didn’t feel like doing a Lactate Curve Test session. So opted for max hangs in 10mm edge instead.


Friday:
Rest day

Saturday:

12:30 for an afternoon at Horseshoe Quarry. Not been there in a long time but it’s open and the kids can entertain themselves.
The weather was lovely and sunny, it was quite warm in the sun
Got on Sunday Sport. 6b. Didn’t know it was 6b, it was in the sun and looked around 6a. It was a corner crack & the climbing was very 3D. A full body workout.
Pale Rider. 6a.
School’s Out. 6a+/6b. Great route, nice moves lots of different positions. I enjoyed onsighting this.
Rotund Rooley. 6b/6b+.
I was climbing really well and then came a reachy off balanced bolt and clip. I got the draw on but was unable to get the rope clipped, I grabbed the draw!!!!!! REGRETTED IT STRAIGHT AWAY 😖😖😖 then went straight to the top.

Sunday

Moat Buttress for a quick couple of hours, had to be back home by 1pm. I had a go on Afloat in the Moat 6c+. I could do all the moves but it was a little damp. Really enjoyable route. I tried  the route with the line of hangers to the right but had no idea where to go and the rock looked really friable.  But it was good to go to a new crag. I definitely need to do more roped climbing.

At 4pm, I did auto belays at awesome walls while one of the kids was at a party. Did 6a+, 6a+, 6b, had 3 attempts on a 6c. But kept coming off.

Have a deload week the week after next. Then going to start doing a dedicated session every Tuesday evening after work at the wall. Either Awesome Walls or Foundry.

Any recommendations on which has the best routes? Up to 7a range. Mostly on auto belays as I don’t have a regular partner

[205Chris]

Sunday - tried to go Stanage. Piss wet. Went to the Works and had a short indoor session, dips and rows etc.

Top tip - if Stanage is in clag like it was this morning, it's well worth dropping down to Curbar / Froggatt (or even the Cratcliffe area if you can be bothered) as they often fair better.

[User deactivated.]

T - day off work so drove an hour and half down to Bradley edge only for it to be soaked. Drove to stanage after, but also moist. Tried Cave Dale and finally found dry rock. Did Sheep Shifter in about half an hour. Nice and basic. Stiff for 7B! Tried some eliminates after but nothing really worked.

T - 5x moderate board problems, max hangs (half crimp, full crimp drag), handstand presses, ring dips

F - limit board session, front levers

S - Drove down to Bradley again only to arrive in heavy fog and soaking roads. Abysmal conditions but the rock was dry enough to climb. Spent most of the session working the moves on Trill Seeker. It's a pretty wild sequence on this one! Haven't quite sussed the start moves yet but did it from halfway to the end (which would have got me a 7C tick for birdsong if I'd looked at the topo and started 1 move further back). Finished with Winchcraft 7A+ on the north face of the block. Tricky top out!

[mrjonathanr]

Jesus Christ Shark, what on earth did you do to your brain on Wednesday?!

Never mind that, I want to hear more about what he did with the goat

W AM Home FB warm up then Tor with goat.

[cheque]

Goat’s Shark’s son’s UKB username.

Good effort Wellsy.

My memory has never been great but this has to be a new low point along with general fuckwittedness.

It’s certainly not a great advert for climbing at the same roadside venue all the time!  When I want to Black Rocks week in week out I felt quite disoriented navigating other crags and climbing other types of rock, even at other grit crags.

[JohnM]

Indoor route training pyramid. Started this last year but then the wall closed. Off to a decent start so far.

       8a+
    8a  8a
7c+ 7c+ 7c+

M - Trail run 6.59km 319m. Hamstring exercises and stretches. Elbow stretches, wrist curls and rotator cuff isolation weights.

T - Indoor bouldering up to 7A or so and then routes. Warmed up on a 7b and then tried an 8a+. I find indoors routes so hard. The intensity of the moves and clipping just feel way beyond what most outdoor routes deliver. I think if I do 8a+ indoors I can definitely climb 8c outdoors again. First go dogged up to the top. Second go I climbed a 7a to half height, rested and then linked the top half (apart from the last move as they seem to put finishing holds that are guaranteed to spit you off on the competition routes unless you have 2 grades in the bank). Third go I tried to link the bottom half but I had lost my edge and it didn't go well. Finished by onsighting a 7c+ which is good for me, especially indoors!

W - Trail run 9.47km 387m. Belay bunny at the wall. Think I climbed one 4a to set up a top rope.

T - Schleierwasserfall. Took the day off as the weather was amazing. Warmed up and did the 8a I tried last time first try. It was pretty warm in the sun so I got really pumped as I couldn't be as passive on the holds as I was last time. On the way down I tried the crux move on the 8b finish to the route, a long move from a marginal but painful finger lock to a pocket hidden over the bulge. First try on the 8b I got through the crux but then messed up the finish which I had never tried before despite my belayer shouting up the beta. I spent some time and found some beta that made the end almost 100% guaranteed even when pumped. In fading light I somehow managed to get though the lower crux shared with the 8a and the 8b crux and finish the route. It has been quite some years since I managed an 8b and another grade 8 in a day so I am really pleased despite both routes sharing 80% of the climbing!

F - Trail run 12.92km 413m.

S - Was meant to go and check out the 8c project again but after spending the morning faffing about getting the winter wheels on the car we ran out of time. Went indoors and watched some of the Austrian team make some of the competition coloured boulders look so easy. Tried to follow but mainly go shutdown. Finished by shakily doing a 7c+ route second try to complete the base of my indoor route training pyramid.

S - Outdoor climbing was called off due to overnight rain and clag. Went indoors with my strong Polish friend to do some boulders on the spray wall that he made up. This normally involves slopers and compression which is my worst nightmare and the last session we had I literally did zero of the moves he set. This session was better and I did one of his warm up boulders and some of the moves on the others! Finished with some weights in the gym (pulley flys, dumbbell flys, shoulder pulls on the pulley and lat stretches with a broom handle).   

[Will Hunt]

Tu - an evening on 36C's board. Nearly flashed one of Footwork's projects. Messed about some more. Good fun all round.

Su - Crookrise. Messed about on various things and climbed very little. Not got the bend for the Fly/it needs mint connies. Not psyched on Black Bull. Free Whelan was grubby. Did Fagin which is a super problem. A few pulls on Sole Fusion making very little progress - might feel better in connies. Played on Jason's Roof and did most of the moves though crucially couldn't get one of the heels on the left edge to stick so didn't do that move.

[mr chaz]

Goals: Recover from bicep injury, outdoor climbing this spring

Everyday: Theraband exercises and some pushup exercises (on the days i remembered  )

W. Fingerboard in the shed. Messed around doing some feet on stuff, getting alarmingly pumped after 30s or so. Need to modify setup slightly and put some footholds in the right place (easily done when I've got 5 mins between DIY jobs and work).

S. Evening shed fingerboard session. Mostly deadhangs on 2 arms. Recruitment is kicking in, can hold onto the 10mm and 8mm a lot easier now, still pathetic on 6mm. Starting to feel a little more confident to do pullups, slow and controlled. Maxing out on 3 - 3.5.

I'm a way off my best (that was a few years ago), and a way off where I was in June, but I'm feeling positive, optimistic, and I want to try hard. Allez

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - Lattice edge back3 +28 + 8 kg x10. Bar work. Phew.
Tue - rest.
Wed - weights. Loaded carries 12'.
Thu - 15' EMOM weights.
Fri - rest.
Sat - boxing bag + jog. Weights.
Sun - DL 21 x92.5 @1" deficit.
Too. Much. Work.

[cheque]

I'm a way off my best (that was a few years ago), and a way off where I was in June, but I'm feeling positive, optimistic, and I want to try hard. Allez

   Allez Mr C!

[James Malloch]

Basically nothing for me this week. Some calf pain stopped me running and a busy week/friends visiting meant I was a bit knackered to get on the board.

Did a few Acro yoga sessions which were fun and some long walks with the dog but that’s about it.

Got a bit shit at doing finger rehab so hopefully this week I’ll be better at it!

[Duncan Disorderly]

Effort Wellsy... Glad you made it to Chulilla Shark, sounds like it was by the skin of yer teeth!

M: Rest + Stretching - Neds book has got me psyched, man I'm so inflexible when it comes to hip openers it hurts (literally!)... Trying to get into a little and often routine!
T: Redpoint session @ AW - Ticked tricky F7a+ (turns out 4th clip is actually pretty hard!) and worked a new F7b... Hard! Assisted hip openers while warming down.
W: Rest + Stretching - Leg raises and stretches on chest of drawers and hip openers.
T: 3 x 4 Aereocap (was supposed to be 4x4 but ran out of time) - 9 x F6b and a few F6's to warmup. Tired!
F: Limit bouldering and Fingerboarding @ AW - 10 x easy problems, 10 x tricky yet flashable problems, 5 x hard but doable in no more than 3-5 goes... Lattice 20mm edge: BW, BW + 2kg, BW + 5kg, BW + 7kg (fail), BW + 5kg... Felt weak and form was going so did 2 sets of repeaters (HC BM2000 30mm) then did some moon board problems... WTF!  5's felt piss, 6A's felt like the living end (did 2 - just!) and I couldn't even do any of the 6A+'s... Utterly spent!
S: Burbage to meet mates with the kids - Did some stuff up to 6B but heart wasn't in it... Nice to be out and kids had fun tho.
S: Works Sesh - Full 30 problem Yellow circuit (minus a few that felt tweaky) with a mate... Completely trashed afterwards. Went and had a couple of pints and a feed... Looking forward to a rest day or two!

Did a lot! Wasn't all great and feel I lacked sufficient rest... Max hangs were woeful, last time I did these at 14kg and really wasn't climbing much at all... Gonna have to try after a full day of rest next time as just felt piss weak...Been focussing on a good warm up and down routine and stretching (which waned towards the back end of the week but I'm on it again now)... This week I'm gonna try and up the intensity but also rest more.

[Fultonius]

 More of a holiday / sick log for me this week...

Mon: various routes up to 6c on the block of porc. The went up and tried Magic Festival on the advice of some strong guy called Tom who was in the hostel. Fun route, but didn't get far on the first go. Dogged my way to the top. maybe one day I'll be good enough to onsight 7c!

Tues: rest day. Drove around trying to find a working / compatible charge point for our rental Zoe.

Weds: went to Margalef's only tufa crag, did a load of routes up to 6c. Not climbing that well. Started to feel a bit tired, considered going back to the hotel for a coffee. Went back up for some goes on Magic Festival again. Felt mega weak on the start section, had to rest. Did the rest in sections, refining some sequences. Had a proper repoint go, got through to the knee bar, didn't get much back (I'm not barrows) and promptly fell off a few clips further up. It felt a long way off, but I've noticed endurance routes can feel like that for me and then suddenly you are cruising them. Not this time...

The tiredness got worse...

Weds: full blown lurgy. Thick head, fatigued, malaise and a tickly cough. Not such good options for PCRs in Spain, so basically stayed out everyone's road and hoped for the best.

Thurs: rank/ill, belayed OH.

Frid: moving day - off to Montserrat via a lunch stop in Castelldefels to visit on of OHs old flat mates. I left them to it and sat in a park while the Zoe charged.

Sat: feeling a bit better. Slowly walked to Can Jorba and belayed, did one route.

SUN: Wee bit better. Went to Barcelona and did some touristing. OH not super psyched on the run out and thin climbing after the fun steep pockets of Margalef...

77kg, and pretty stable so I reckon I can hold at that while fuelling better. Interested to see how it pans out in next training block.

[Bradders]

M - rest

Tu - fingerboard, 3x 10s half crimp 26mm edge keeping 5 seconds in reserve, +35kg, 3 min rests. Then 5x middle 2 and 5x front 2 20mm edge half crimp pick ups, 1 min rests. Then a board session, tried 5 projects, consistent now falling off the 4th move of one, where previously I was falling off the 3rd. Did some moves on others. Felt a bit low power from fingerboard really but still a decent session.

W - rest

Th - warmed up at home. Randomly decided to do my hangs on the Lattice edge for a change. Been a few months since I last trained on this edge. Once warm managed 2x 10s half crimp +39kg, with plenty in reserve. Good considering last tested 8s max was +42kg. Then Almscliff, warmed up on the Virgin boulder including doing The Gypsy, then linked the Virgin Traverse into Gypsy too. Tried Keelhaul next but still no joy on the big move to the lip. Had brought along a pair of box fresh stiff boots to try and they definitely felt better, but the heel/toe still slipped out every time. Whilst there randomly spotted the problem to the right, which turned out to be really quite good at 6B/Cish. Then flashed the link of C&A Traverse / downclimbing Keel Crack into that problem which was great, pumped at the end. Terrible video below. Finished having a few throws at The Bulb crux move and actually felt close to doing it. 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWJc_MvjJW7/?utm_medium=copy_link

F to Su - in Edinburgh for a stag do. Only slightly annoyed to be missing what looked like good connies. First time I've been out in a very long time. Quite weird to be simultaneously in rooms full of drunk people yet also having to wear a mask / being told off if you didn't wear one to go to the bar etc. Good fun though. Had hoped to drop into Kyloe for a session on the way home but my mate I was travelling with had to get home earlier than hoped.

[SA Chris]

Should have nipped into Alien Bloc, great facility and easy walk from city centre.

[Wellsy]

Thanks guys, much appreciated hope this triggers a run of good form!

[User deactivated.]

Bradders, +35kg for 10s on 26mm with 5s in reserve and +39kg for 10s on lattice edge with plenty in reserve does not compute in my head!

Surely you had more than 5s in reserve when using less weight on a larger edge considering your lattice score!?

Regardless, it's working so who cares! I need to be more strict with keeping some in reserve, I tend to go to failure or very close on every hang, even when full crimped

[Bradders]

When I say "plenty" in reserve, I mean probably 2s or so. Enough in the tank to have solidly completed the hang basically. It was only a part of the warm up so not a proper test.

But yeah, there is a possibility that I'm undercooking the larger edge hangs based on that. Will see how next session goes!