[shark]

11.6-9 average 161.2

M

T Home warm up. Tor. Pissing down, humid , greasy. Cross thru at second attempt. Several goes to do throw but then couldn’t get toe hook. Tried to link pocket and crimp to end but fell off cross thru. Failed to do THFML twice in a row. Went on Tin Of. Holds even glassier than on Bens so extra pleased to do it clean in the conditions. Then had another go on top rope but fell off on the headwall as couldn’t drag a hold.

W

T AM Home. Warm up. Felt strong.  3xSupinated and 3xpronated one arm locks. Held BW on left pronated counting to ten (yes!) and +7.5kg on right counting to 5. 3x3 French pull ups in L sit position counting to 3 at each lock then 1 x3 normal counting to 5. Tried a 130kg deadlift but couldn’t budge it. Couple of weighted deadhangs to finish. Good session.
Off to Flamborough Head in campervan with Sonia

F

S. Back from Flamborough Head

S. AM Disastrous weigh in.  Home warmup. Tor. Decent connies. Resolve to just treat it as a training session  dissolved. Ok on the cross thru and gleaned a useful micro beta movement refinement. Had 5 unsuccessful goes at the throw as kept catching the crimp in the wrong place. Tried to doubles on THFML as an initial stab at PE/AnCap trading but only managed it once.

Off to the Pass this week to get hot and scared

[James Malloch]

Beat me to it - can you delete my other PC thread?


M. Think we had a nice walk around the monsal trail.

T. Cafe day in Sheffield and Cheedale Cornice in the evening. Fingerboard warm up and managed an onsight of Up the River without a Paddel 7a. Nice route. Went for an onsight of clarion call and after much fucking around and going up/down I got to the good rest. Had a nice chat with a guy on the adjacent route here. Declined beta for the top and then proceeded to go off route into the 7b+ to the right. Got thrown by clipping the bolt out right. Came off and then realised the right sequence which was easy. Should have done it but oh well. No time for a redpoint.

W. Tor in the morning. Did wild in me start 6C first go after realising there’s was a crimp up and left. Kristians Problem 7B was hard. Bens is still hard. THFML was fine. Tor is still as hard as ever. I think I’m destined to never make it to the knee bar on Bens, despite being as strong as I’ve been - that move baffles me! Drive down south.

T. Big rock MK in the evening. Nice session with some friends. Can now Hang the BK2000 middle slot for 2-3 seconds on each arm. Getting stronger 

F. Drove to Portland

S. Went to the cuttings. Fucking boiling. Bailed to the beach and returned at 3pm found shade. Worked moved on Sign of the Vulcan 7b+. First RP I dropped the crux - got sidepull wrong. Second I fucked up the sequence after the crux and sweated off the slopey holds I was on. Went easily next go.  Had a bolt to bolt on Hall of Mirrors 7c - a friend recommended it years ago and I’ve wanted to try it for ages. Knew it was awful conditions but gave the crux a good go. Think it would have been okay if it was 10 degrees colder. Swim after climbing. Chatted to some
Fishermen.

S. Bought a spinning rod. Nice day out bouldering at the Cuttings. Managed:
-Relativity 7A
-Lightning Strike 7A+ (flash)
-Faraday’s Cage 7A+
-Lost Decade 7A (flash)

Best day out bouldering for me in a while and hardest flash I’ve done (thanks to the London team for working out the beta!).

Fished after climbing and had 2 Mackerel and 3 Pollack. All
Met the minimum size requirements and made a lovely dinner/breakfast!

I’m loving portland - think we will stay here for the week rather than carrying on to Tintagel.

Thanks to (I think) Duma for mentioning the Campsite here. Nice to be able to walk everywhere. If anyone comes with a dog, don’t book it in online. They don’t care about them when paying in person so it saves £5/night.

If anyone has any sport/Boulder 7a-c recommendations which will be okay when in the shade they would be much appreciated.

[Duma]

Get up early and go to coastguard. Nothing but the groove area is fantastic and non tidal. Loads of good stuff in those grades. When it gets too hot after midday you can swim. Evening session would be good too.

[Fiend]

Good  James!

[duncan]

M: see last week
T: battered, wrist sore, did nothing.
W - S: walked ~10km every day, otherwise nothing.

Rest week. Wrist tweak: TFCC area, prominent ulnar head, pain on twisty movements but compression (push-ups) not too bad so not completely clear-cut. Hopefully recovers sufficiently for a trip to Wales on Thursday as the weather is looking amazing.

If anyone has any sport/Boulder 7a-c recommendations which will be okay when in the shade they would be much appreciated.

Cheyne Cliff (Road Rage and lots of others in those grades) goes into the shade around 2pm. Conditions can be very good as the morning sea grease will have been burnt off. Some people say it can condense later in the afternoon but I've not experienced this myself.

Wallsend south and Coastguard north stay in the shade longest on the west side, on the other hand they're close to the sea and can be a bit greasy in the morning... 

Cuttings are the winter crag! The routes do go into the shade in the late afternoon.

Edit: just read duma's post. Plus one to that. The west side in the evening as the sun goes down is lovely.

[shark]

I think I’m destined to never make it to the knee bar on Bens, despite being as strong as I’ve been - that move baffles me!

Most people use a high right toe scum to get the pocket and swing around into the kneebar but I find a low toe hook for your right foot on a small positive sticking out white flake and left foot in the small pocket then pull your hips up so weight is on left foot and cross right foot onto the large edge makes it all static getting the kneebar in. Also worth experimenting with how you hold the pinch too. Front 3 seems to work well on the incut on the right side of it though I just use it as a fat pinch with thumb in a tunnel on the underside now. Be easier to show you in person.

Good  James!

Bait taken 😉

[Duma]

M - 2 min plank with variations and press ups. Pm UCR, 1 hr, circuits. 6b, 7a, 7b, all first go. Attempted to link them all together, got a few moves into the 7b. Then two attempts at just the 7a into 7b, both times got about halfway through the 7b.
T - damp Pembroke (non climbing trip) aft walk round the lily ponds. 2 min plank (no variations or press ups as could barely fit in the van)
W - beach, lots of snorkeling and playing in the waves. Walk to and from.
T - beach, see above.
F - 12 hr shift. Eve run, 7k, mostly off road, hilly ish, 37 min. Still taking it v easy but didn't walk much at all this time.
S - 12 hr shift
S - 12 hr shift. 2 min plank with variations and press ups.

71 kg
2022 plank total 211 min

[SA Chris]

M - bit tired from hillwalk day before - 7.5km run
T - some weights
W - run - Westhill. never really run round there, lots of roads on OS map are actually private, very frustrating, so failed in objective of getting up Brimmond Hill. 9.5km
T - some weight training
F - 4km run with Kyle, weather mixed, plus a wrong turn in Portlethen Moss involving some nettles, brambles and gorse resulted in near mutiny
S - wall session. mostly on belay duty, but grabbed a bit of bouldering.
S - run with kids on new (to them) bikes. 7.2km. Roasting. DWS in evening at Murrayheugh. Great fun. established routes looked high and hard, but tons of other lower easier things to do that are not written up. Psyched to go back on a sunnier morning with a better tide.

[mr chaz]

Power Club:

M.
T. Evening session on the board. Warmed up into 3 x max hangs, felt good. Then limit bouldering on the board, but was struggling a bit with power and snap. Finished off by setting a mini circuit with a view to building some power endurance in the future, this has worked really well for me in the past doing 2 - 3 laps on a 40 degree board. Might need to tweak my hold layout so I've got a couple of better holds at the start/end of the lap.
W.
T. Picked up 50odd paving slabs from the in laws and transferred to garden - this fucking counts!
F.
S. Pantymwyn bouldering - warmed up then got on Firestarter, took me 30 mins to remember beta and do all the moves again and then sent after a couple of goes. Felt way harder than last time I did it, but the hard pulls are both off the left arm so that was pleasing. Moved over to try and repeat Pantys Down, worked it all again and did in 2 halves, but decided to move on whilst I still had some skin and arms. Under the Bridge - not tried this before. Initially felt way too stretched for my short arms, but then changed method to high right toe and toe hook and was quickly up to going for the crux(?) deadpoint out right. Had 5-6 quality goes and my right hand up to the hold a couple of times, before my left faded and gave up. Finished off on Spearfish, but ran out of juice to do in a oner.
S.

Hard going at Pantymwyn, especially when I did these problems so easily before, but lot's of positives. Definitely feel I've got the strength/ability to do Under the Bridge and I would like to have another look at Be Ruthless as well. Showed up my weaknesses very clearly though, fingers and core felt alright but my arm/lock off strength is really poor at the moment. Gonna change up my training sessions for a little while to see If I can make progress on this.

[spidermonkey09]

If anyone has any sport/Boulder 7a-c recommendations which will be okay when in the shade they would be much appreciated.

Literally anywhere but the cuttings would see you right!

[Nutty]

Monday - Hip adductor and abdominal physio exercises

Tuesday - 8.1km run @4:37/km pace. Furthest run since my injury.

Wednesday - Wall session. Easy routes.

Thursday - Physio exercises

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Another bash at the local park run. Went sub-20 minute for the 5km which I was pleased about (19:31 so 3:55/km pace). Pacing was a bit off as I went out a bit quick for the first couple of km and paid for it later on, but I'm still feeling out what I'm capable of at the moment.

Sunday - Board session on the home board and physio exercises. Still taking taking it steady with the board sessions. Did 9 warm-up problems and a few goes at an endurance problem, ending up getting further than I was expecting on my best go which was a nice surprise.

Another good week where I could feel things are improving. My left achilles (and left ankle in general) feels a bit tight after the runs so I've added some exercises for that into my physio sessions and will keep an eye on it - don't want to injure my achilles again just as I'm recovering from the groin injury. Won't increase the running distance this week.

[User deactivated.]

M - Tremeirchion. 5th session on Enter the Dragon after a month away from it. Felt strong on the holds whilst warming up but split my index tip on the first try from the bottom, and then it doesn't really work with tape. Spent a few hours wasting my time on it, becoming more and more annoyed, but did repeat 22 chambers sit a couple of times to soothe the ego. This is the third time that I've split early in the session and after much deliberation, have concluded that 83kg climber + 5mm sharp crimp + summer + 4 hour round trip is not a winning combination for success and happiness in climbing. Although I've been training specifically for this boulder since April, I'm binning it off for a while.

No idea why in retrospect, but I got straight on the board for an hour when I arrived home having not eaten for 10 hours. Ok session but felt wasted after.

T - Inevitable soreness from the day before, but caught up on training and did 2 sets of 2 pullups +60kg, 2 sets of 8 bar muscle ups, 4 sets of 6 dips +45kg, 3 sets of core circuit: 30s superman plank, 30s floor L-sit, 30s side plank +30kg. 1 hour mobility work

W - Max hangs. Felt very fatigued and fingers stiff after a lot of full crimping on Monday so stopped after pyramiding up to +25kg. 1 hour weighted mobility work.

T - After racking my brains trying to think of another project to get stuck into with the following attributes: closer, not sharp, can be climbed year round, I kept landing on Kenzoku. I've been inspired by this one for ages but couldn't do any of the moves when I'd briefly tried it after doing the problem next door. Surprisingly, this time I did half of the moves, so I'm now mega psyched to try and unlock the rest.

F - 1 hour weighted mobility work focused mainly on middle splits.

S - very little. 20 mins static stretching

S - An hour at Stoupe Brow before surfing. Briefly looked at Dark Angel but could barely pull off the ground in full sun. Did Asbo Pops, Keyhole Surgery, Precision, and fell off the last move on Chuckie Egg before running out of time.

Ring I's, Y's and T's when home in the evening followed by core circuit and half an hour mobility work.

[andy popp]

Cycle/swim routine every day this week. I think I feel a little fitter and stronger.

For Chris: spoke to one of the regulars the other day: she swims year round without a wetsuit, though she admitted winter swims are much shorter. Don't expect I'll be doing the same.

[User deactivated.]

T. Picked up 50odd paving slabs from the in laws and transferred to garden - this fucking counts!

A mate of mine is a landscape gardener and the only training he's ever done is digging holes and carrying slabs around all day. He came over to mine last week and rinsed all my pinchy board problems then 1 armed the Lattice edge after 2 hours on the board. He's over 80kg too. Sickening.

[mr chaz]

T. Picked up 50odd paving slabs from the in laws and transferred to garden - this fucking counts!

A mate of mine is a landscape gardener and the only training he's ever done is digging holes and carrying slabs around all day. He came over to mine last week and rinsed all my pinchy board problems then 1 armed the Lattice edge after 2 hours on the board. He's over 80kg too. Sickening.

This has given me a fresh outlook on the impending patio laying!

[SA Chris]

she swims year round without a wetsuit, though she admitted winter swims are much shorter. Don't expect I'll be doing the same.

Just because other people can do it, doesn't make it enjoyable! I've got a mate up here who surfs year round without a hood, doesn't mean I am going to  

[andy popp]

Like I said, I probably won't be joining her.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - TBDL good mornings, 1' static holds. One armers.
Tue - clean, 10 singles at 95%, 5 doubles at 90%.
Wed - high pulls, overhead carry.
Thu - board climbing, set a new problem. Torrid.
Fri - wheel, thruster, high pulls x10.
Sat - EMOM boxing bag. Exhausted.
Sun - weights.

[abarro81]

I find a low toe hook for your right foot on a small positive sticking out white flake and left foot in the small pocket

It's been a while, but this fit with my memory - low toe hook worked better than the "normal" high right one

[Fultonius]

I've not been posting much the last few weeks as I've barely been training. I know a lot of folks just use this as their activity log, but I've not got round to it.

I thought I'd give a bit of an update on where I'm at, and some reflections on training in general....

So, earlier this year in conjunction with deciding to quit my job and try freelance, I also wanted to find a few sport projects to get inspired by.

So far I've been on The Silk Purse, a hard 7c+ at Upper Cave, Dunkeld. Great route and probably will suit me quite well. Good initial progress but just not been back since the initial session. Keen to do so.

Leopold 8a, but maybe 8a+ according to many. Found this hard and haven't been back. Resolved to do so in the spring if I can improve my steep burly pulling power.

Axiom 8a Tunnell Wall. I got Third Eye relatively quickly with a highly satisfyingly cruisy repoint. At 7c this was promising. Tried Axiom on next session. It's a long old route with loads of intricate and hard climbing. Figured out most of the moves but was very worked at the end of the session. Apparently figured out the crux, but not an earlier section. Will be back.
also at TW got on Railway Children, which is also 7c but top end? surprised myself by getting through both technical cruxes on 1st rp, but then just pumped out above. same on 2nd and third. 2nd go got even higher and was only a few cm short of the rest. Hard to bear! Will be back. TW seems to really suit me, being long and fingery, slightly overhanging and slightly technical but with good friction. Love it!

House of Pain 7c+ Dumbuck. steep, short, hard. figured out 80% but the last 20 will need stronger fingers and colder weather.

Endurance, 8a, Dumby. I've done Sufferance before, and this is an alternative first 3rd with a bit more sting. Added a bolt before the crux which has really improved the flow and safety, with (imo) no reduction in commitment or feel. really surprised myself earlier this week by getting into proper RPs. I went down with the sole intention of figuring out a crux sequence, but this happened quickly so I just jumped on the sharp end. got matched on the crux vertical rail where you join sufferance but just dry-fired off! Still dropable above there, but also very feasibly could have finished it off. this was unexpected and really nice.

reflections...

I've not had any sport projects in 6 years, since starting my last job. I hadn't quite realised how disabling it had been. I mean, I knew it was making me depressed at times and not a lot of fun to be around but at least I had climbing, or so I thought...

my big realisations for the year are, that, for me (and maybe others) getting as much "real" climbing as possible is worth way more than 15kg of finger strength... and, don't "neglect" aerobic endurance just because you had good endurance in the past.... it does go, it takes a while to train, and it makes long routes massively easier.

also thinking back to the my earlier climbing and previous highpoints, most of them were actually PE routes with medium rests, rather than stamina plods. I suspect I've potentially never been "fit" in the true sense the word, just very good at sprinting and recovering. it might be dull to train, but base aero is unlikely to cause injury, is easy to recover from and has worked wonders for my fitness this year (after a late start).

I'll be off for a while, currently at Heathrow en route to Canada for a month in the bugaboos. then it's back for some autumn sport showdowns. hope I don't lose too much form!

oh, also, still 77.5kg. could maybe lose a few kg of bf without worry, but I'm going to be more focused on fuelling well and recovery than slavish kg watching and being grumpy. I'm going well now at this weight, so there you go.

[Aussiegav]

Not sure if this week is; Centre Parc Club or Being Too Keen Club

Monday -
Rest day
Spending the next 5 days at Centre Parc at Sherwood Forest riding bikes & going down rapids & waterslides.

Packed a sling, screw gates, portable hang board and liquid chalk.
Started a Crimpd+ subscription to start next Monday.


Tuesday
Tapped into workouts on Crimpd+. Very impressed with variety of options.
Did Mobility & stretching
Followed by Body weight repeaters on hang board suspended by lovely tree in a forest.

Wednesday -
Mobility & stretching

Thursday -

Did Mobility, stretching & core
Followed by Body weight repeaters using same tree as Tuesday.

Friday -
Went to Awesome Walls in the evening after we got home.

Warmed up on the speed wall autos.
5a+,6a+ then 3 sets of feet on campus pulls.
The part of the session was 5 sets of Back to back laps on a 6b+.

Did the first set. Second set, fell mid way on 2nd lap. Powered out and pumped ++++. Increased to 15min rests after this.
Third set, same as previous.
Fourth set opted to do 6b+,6a+ route combo.
Managed to do the set but got a painful muscular feeling in my right forearm. Stopped here. 6b+ is too hard for this session.

I’ve had 3 tweaks or creaks this year. Thinking either; the body’s getting old and not able to cope with loads at high frequency. OR the same old story, I’m too keen & doing too much too soon. Doing loads of double lap & 4x4s on routes over the last few weeks has most likely caused overuse strain.



Saturday -
Rest day
Stretched & massage to my arm.

Sunday.
Afternoon climbing at Harpur Hill with Phil & Gareth, took the youngest out with me as well.
We did easy routes on Long Wall, arm felt ok. The youngest did the grade 4 & 5, flashed on a top rope. The rock quality wasn’t the best so he didn’t lead them

I went to Onsight  Long Walk, 6b. Fell on the crux, didn’t commit. Also didn’t warm up the fingers enough. Did the crux 3 times then rested 10mins. RP’d it next go.
Went to College Buttress, flashed Profitless 6b.   Rope got stuck as I lowered off the route. Luckily I was the ledge at the bottom of the wall and could walk off.  Managed to free the rope with the clip stick from the top of the crag.
Drive home in a beautiful sun soaked evening across the Peak.
Rewarded myself & life with two bottles of cider. 

[Fultonius]

James, just remembered you asked a while back about tunnel wall. It's great! Despite being only 1.5 hours away I'd overlooked the fact it's such a reliable summer crag.

You should come up some time in September!

Oh, also forgot to say - first freelance work pretty much fully signed up. Only 20hrs a month retainer, but will snowball. The aim is to keep the days to less than 3/4 per week, depending on season and psyche.

[Duncan Disorderly]

MIA Club...

Been away a lot the last couple of weeks and can't really remember what I did so just gotta summarise...

PC 654: M-S: Autobelays and bouldering indoors - Can't recall getting out but have been hammering the 4x4's so probably at least 2 sessions of them...

PC 655:

M: Routes @ AW - Short session.
T: Sheaf bloc - Crap
W: Pack van
T: Plumb in van fridge and surfboard storage system (pulleys and bungees), drill through the brake light cable meaning the van threw a wobbler! Quick trip to the garage, some re-drilling and then drive to The Gower!
F: Rhosilli - Great spot! Routes up to F6c
S: Rhosilli - More Rhosilli up to F6b, got rained off!
S: Surfing @ Rhosilli then GF decided she did wanna go climbing but the tide was in so nipped up to Tide Wall for a quick RP of Black Friday: described as technical and desperate! Brushed holds and went first RP - tricky but standard F7a...Ran into Steve Mac on hols with his family, the second time this year - think he's following me 

Gower is great!

PC 656:

M: Drive to Cornwall
T: Pednvounder beach bouldering and soloing! Ace!
W: Surfing @ Sennen - Pednvounder beach bouldering and soloing.
T: Surfing @ Sennen - Got a few good waves... Still shit tho - must work on my pop!
F: Trad @ Carn Barra - Only had a couple of hrs and dropped into the wrong buttress so just did some HVS's... Amazing rock and location.
S: Pednvounder beach swimming, bouldering and soloing...
S: Sea Kayaking around Lands End with daughter and mates - Epic trip from Porth Gwoer to Sennen! Had a family of seals swim with us for a couple of hours... Snorkelling, swimming and some pretty big waves going round the headland, the last mile into a headwind was nails! Amazing day out, Em (10) was a superstar as she was terrified but didn't complain and just trusted the process!

Think that's me up to date... Awesome trip. Great to get my surfing mojo back, been a while! Feel like I'm going pretty well, not strong but reasonably fit so gonna capitalise on that as it's 6 weeks to Kaly so that's the focus now - probably try and surf again over the next few weeks (swell willing) as it feels like good active rest and works the antagonists etc. Ace!

[SA Chris]

Loved surfing Gower. Used to time my meetings for the day to have last one in Swansea, then hit Lllangenith after work for some brutal paddle outs. A lot of late evening drives back to Bristol fuelled by over-caffeinated sugary drink company.

N Sea has been pretty flat for a few weeks, you may need to look elsewhere!

[Duncan Disorderly]

N Sea has been pretty flat for a few weeks, you may need to look elsewhere!

Indeed, keeping options open for the next few weeks as looks pretty pants! Got really lucky on Monday @ Gwynver, while the whole of Cornwall was flat it was blowing offshore there with some lovely slow 1-2 ft waves, they were a struggle to catch (even on me 7'6" softboard) but those that I did were sweeeeet!!