[duncan]

I'll kick off this week early as I'm confident no further training is going to happen today!

M -  Legs conditioning: frog squats, single leg squats, heel raises. Shoulder and elbow conditioning: handstands, press-ups, side planks, lock-offs and so on.
T -  Westway, with Bilbo. A good session including some falling practice and some inadvertent falling. Still pinging off 6cs.
W - Battered. R elbow a bit sore. Walked 10km, a bit much for the hip.
T - Legs conditioning. Shoulders conditioning.
F - Fingerboard warm-up. Westway, with autobelay. Routes to 6c. Battered
S - Tired, achy and under the weather. Left elbow painful, R hip painful. Legs conditioning.
S - As Saturday.

A reasonable training week. Feeling pretty battered after 11 wall sessions in the last month and should have taken it easy but needed the climbing to get me out of the house. Hopefully will be getting away from later this week.

Falls: 176

[Duma]

M - lunch, TCA, 90 min, Whites (mid to high 6's) upstairs. Not tried these before, 12 problems, flashed all but one, did the moves on that but couldn't quite put it together. Def easier than the downstairs part of this set. Also dropped the last move of a techy vert blue that I've tried a bit before. Felt really good, best for ages.
T - eve, TCA, 90 min, upstairs to try and finish off some harder things. Did the techy blue quickly, repeated a couple of whites to demonstrate beta, flashed a black I'd been avoiding due to a left heel (wasn't tweaky in the end), lots of goes but couldn't get the last white from yesterday, close but didn't hold the crux swing. Few failed attempts on other blues, no progress though. End of the session managed a steeper blue I've spent some time on previously, so chuffed with that.
W - stressed, slept terribly.
T -  eve, TCA, 2 hrs, wasn't full of beans when I arrived so thought I'd just do all the new oranges (low to mid 6's), warmed into it though, and did a bit more: all oranges (30 problems) 28 flash, 4 silly slips, 1 was hard and took a few attempts. Also 2 blacks I'd tried but not done, 1 of which was hard, and 1 blue. Repeated a couple of whites too.
F -
S -
S -

71.5kg

Good week at the wall, three sessions feeling snappy. Weekend of parenting though so need to get back on it.

[Aussiegav]

Monday -
Another public holiday. King’s Coronation
Raining…..
Two session day.
AM
Fingerboard session at home.
Body weight repeaters. 7:3ratio. 3hangs/set. 4 sets. 1min rest between sets.

PM
Double laps on circuit boards at the Depot
3 sets of double laps on the yellow 6a circuit 45sec rests between laps. 10min between rests
Skin was getting sore by 3rd set

Tuesday

Depot.  4x4s
Low oomph day. As expected. Lowered the intensity of the problems. Still got a good stress level. Skin was sore. Note to self. Don’t do 4x4s the day after endurance training or sore skin.



Wednesday
Rest. Much needed. Feeling overall tiredness


Thursday
Fingerboard session at home.
Body weight repeaters. 7:3ratio. 3hangs/set. 5 sets. 1min rest between sets. Felt good on these. Will add 2kg next week.




Friday
Rest day

Saturday
Mobility & very light sprint work
very gentle run throughs over 20m.
Sunny day, spent outside doing garden and pulling weeds out of the pavers driveway.

Sunday
Half day at Horseshoe.

Did new climb to me, as a warm up. Promises 6a+. Nice route. Needs more traffic
Harvey Wallbanger. 6b - did crack finish. Nice route.
Wall of Jericho. 6b+. Put in the draws for Phil. It was harder having to put the draws in. Took a rest relearning the moves through the bulge on to the slab.
Hardcore You know the Score. 6b. Polished squeezed in and shit. Foot slipped off a massive foothold and a few others. This route epitomises everything I previously hated about horseshoe.
Called it a day from there.

[shark]

~11.13


M.

T. Home warmup. Tor with James K. THFML straight off. Doing the crux statically is coming together. Got the crimp 3 times badly and unable to adjust and overshot it once. The next 2 moves went at the first attempt surprisingly but then failed to do cross thru in isolation then finished by doing first two starting moves at first attempt. Decent session and improvement on last one.

W

T

F. AM Home warm up. Tor with Mina. Drizzly, warm, humid. AM headwall had a wet streak but went up anyway. Two tie ins mainly working the top section of the headwall. Did ok considering conditions. Then had a dozen or so attempts at crux of Bens. Discovered a key piece of micro beta that feels like it might be the missing piece of the jigsaw to reliably doing the move statically with a lower percentage of failure. Look forward to trying it fresh

F.

S. Day gardening
Eve. Weighted deadhangs on Ergo Edge. FC,HC and Drag3x 3 pull-ups up then 10, 10 and 10 secs at BW, +12.5kg FC,HC&D 3x2 pull ups then 10,10 and 10 sec hang.+17.5kg 3x1 pull up FC 6 and 4secs HC 5 and 5secs Drag  8 and 10secs. Was a bit pissed off with my performance as I was well behind my last sessions score from 3 weeks before until I realised that session was on a larger campus edge and I was actually doing really well 🤦‍♂️

S. Drive down to Cambridge and back

Decent week. Couple more route sessions booked at Tor this coming week.

[Coops_13]

M: 2.3mile walk. Bulgarian Split squats. Bench press 190lb X3 *2sets. 205lb 1RM. Bar dips X10 *3sets. Shoulder press, bicep curl, diagonal raise, lateral raise. 30 mins peloton

T: 2.2mile walk. Board session. 10 mins peloton

W: 2.2mile walk. Front lever pulls *3sets. 45 mins peloton

T: 1.5mile walk. Finger testing session. Up to +105lb 7s, c. 20mm edge - new PB. Board session. Weighted pull-ups +95lb X2 *3sets. 10 mins peloton

F: 2mile walk. 15 mins peloton

S: Guanella Pass. First session on Dark Horse V10. Took aa while to figure out the lower crux but managed to get it reliable by end of session. Got through to upper crux maybe 4 times, best go falling just at final crux with heel pop - confident on my chances for next session!

S: 1.9mile walk. Weights. Squats 155lb X3 *3sets. Bench 185lb X3 *3sets. Sumo deadlift 225lb X3 *3sets. Front lever pulls. Shoulder press, bicep curls. 25 mins peloton.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - Bar work. Fast ball.
Tue -  board climbing, links; static. Back work.
Wed - French ball and boxing bag. Tricky.
Thu - good mornings, bentover rows, high pulls, shrugs.
Fri - French ball, boxing bag.
Sat - clean and press 5x5 50 kg, grinded through. High pulls. Bentover rows.
Sun - TBDL from blocks. Farmer's.

[Will Hunt]

Tu - Yorkshire Traverse sesh. Did the reverse starting up Piranesi's sit then started on a high variation which will be slightly harder. Fell off the last move to the jug at the very top of Piranesi.

[monkoffunk]

M - rest post somewhat unfortunate bouldering on Avon grease.

Not much for rest of week. Elbow the same, weird back pain still there. Some yoga, some physio.

Sa - Physio session with Huffy. Decided worth getting a proper assessment. Saw me incredibly quickly and really unexpected results. Turned out 20-25% weaker in right (injured) arm than left across basically all muscle groups. Chain of muscles down right side of spine all hypertonic, he could elicit loads of tenderness in areas I had no symptoms normally, but were totally fine on left.

Loads of work to do to sort it out! Mostly focusing on the weak muscles rather than the tendon, and various stretches for the back muscle.

[Fultonius]

2 week catchup:

Week one - tapering, can't remember much of what I did (and apparently didn't take notes), but I did go to Dumby on Thursday and had a go on my 8a Proj, Endurance. Got through the crux for the first time on a rp, but fluffed the foot sequence and came off the upper crux after joining Sufferance. Damn! Good progress though.

Sat: Travel to Barra, get boat to Pabbay, set up camp.
Sunday: Poop Deck as it was showery and windy. E2 to warm up, then tried The Craik, an E3 that evidently has a notoriously tricky low crux to get started. Faffed around for ages trying to protect the start, jibbering about on very greasy holds. Finally got a good offset nut and pulled into the crux but I'd burned too much and just pumped out immediately. Rest and dispatched it - the crux wasn't that hard, but I just got myself flamed before going for it. Upper 4/5ths of the route was a lovely E1/E2 crack. Simon did The Raven, which is a ludicrously steep E5 in very poor conditions (greasy / damp) and I have no idea how he managed to get it clean...
Back to camp and knowing the next day rain was due the beers and whisky came out. It got messy. Think that's officially the last of my "big 40th" celebrations*
Mon: Hangover / Rain / Walk / duct taping my torn down sleeping bag that I ripped in a drunken frenzy!
Tuesday: Pink Walls. First time in to this crag and WOW that's steep! Actually...might make more of a trip log in a bit and just keep to the numbers / training info in here. Tried to warm up on Where Seagulls Dare but it was not a great choice, given: mild 2nd day hangover, very pumpy and sustained for E3 and a bit greasy. Took a fall when I just overgripped (over squeezed??? the jams). Didn't care enough to pull the ropes, so just did it with 1 rest. Good route, bad climber. Pabbay 2, Fultonius:0  We then did In Profundum Lacu, an E5 to the right. More on that in trip report but it went well, but I only seconded the big pitch. Clean and not too pumped, finally climbing a bit better.

Weds: 1 x E3 at the bay area, rain.

Thursday: Feeling good after a semi rest day. Back to Pink Walls, went on Ancient Mariners, an E5 that is now E4 in the book, but most logs on UKC seem to agree E5 so no idea what the rational was for downgrading? Anyway, I knew it would be hard but it looked like the start was downclimbable so I could get some warm-up and retreat. Launched into the crux, initially throwing a heel up but not figuring out I should work my hands up in that position (eyes too much on the prize of the big jug out of reach)...anyway, took another big fall. Pabbay:3, Fultonius: 1. Got a good rest and had round 2 from the ground, got through crux, got really pumped on sloping, greasy holds trying to get good pro but mande it through to a better rest. Made it through the next tricky crux at 30m but was just waaay, too pumped to do the traverse, took a =n early belay rather than try to finish the 45m monster pitch. Kind of gutted I didn't just have 5% more in the tank as the climbing wasn't that bad after a rest, but that's life. Belayed Si on The Bonxie, E6 but got him to strip it so that I could "save the flash" (aka didn't want to fuck myself on 2nd). Finished on another nice E3 which went well - many of the rest of the team felt it was top-end / bottom end E4 so I'd finally got some flow going.

Friday: Last day, swapped partners as Si wanted to do Prophecy of Drowning which I'd done before, so went off to Banded wall's with Lewis and did a mega E3, Endolphin rush.

Reflections....

Going into this trip I was on a high - I'd done a 2nd go rp of a 25m stamina 7b at Tunnel Wall, flashed 7a+ at Brin, done and E4 o/s at upper cave and nearly did my 8a project at Dumby. I'm close to, or in the best sport fitness of my life (despite being about 4kg heavier than when I last climbed 8a). I've onsighted/flashed 15+ E5s (or equiv) over the years and always wanted to have a good go on an E6 at some point. (I've done 3 after working them). This could be the time I thought - soft island grades, bonus points for exposure and remoteness (which don't usually affect me) and a strong partner.

So what went wrong?

I think it was a combination of factors:

1. Lack of progressive trad build-up to regain composure, confidence and flow.
2. Maybe too much focus on power endurance recently? Able to generate lots of power but not able to modulate it well. Bit annoying as I spent a good chunk of the last year working on low-end base enduro... (this is probably the least influential component)
3. Lack of mileage through my climbing life on more rounded and friction-based rock. I'm an "edges" guy, and often get flummoxed when I need to quickly work out where to smear and how best to use the full gamut of possibilities the rock provides.
4. Head issues. I've been fortunate to not suffer too much from this. It wasn't so much about gear and falling, it was more about getting the good headspace to climb well. I climbed myself into stupid positions a few times, maybe having too much faith that I was fit enough that I didn't need to worry about pacing and resting on E3s but this just knocked my confidence.
5. Partner issues? It's great to climb with better folks, but sometimes it's challenging as there's less a touch of pressure to not waste time on easier routes. This is mostly internal pressure as I'm sure if I'd just said "I'm doing a few E1s" it would have been fine.


*and now I'm off the booze for a month - going to try to drop 3-4kg as I'm definitely in the higher-end of my weight spectrum. Was 82kg when I got home....  (I was 73kg at one point when living in Cham, but 76-78kg seems to be a good combo of muscle and bodyfat for my frame, just need to watch the metabolism, might need to start a thread on that...

[SA Chris]

Happy Birthday, good news is after 40 it only gets harder to keep weight down. Actually i was the lightest I have been since the early 2000s when I ran London marathon for my 50th, but it was not sustainable, and I was weak as piss for climbing.   

[Duncan Disorderly]

2 Weeks - damn work is getting in the way these days!

695:
M: Harpur Hill - Bloody freezing, did one F5+ then bailed. Ended up at Burbage, warmed up then tried Rollerwall and Electrical Storm - Didn't do either but had fun trying hard...
T: Yoga
W: Sheaf Bloc - Big links on the traverse, whole front face link, just dropped one of the easy aretes - good benchmarking session, definitely stronger than this time last year.
T: Fingerboard session - Repeaters, weighhted hangs and density hangs.
F: AeroCap @ AW 3 x 4 routes @ F6a+/F6b
S:Run round Longshaw
S:Mileage @ Horsethief Quarry with the GF - Nice little easy access crag with a limited number of half decent routes (and possibly the shittest F7a in the Peak!)... F5+, F6a+, F6b, F6a+, F6b.

696:
M: Bouldering @ AW - Meant to do routes with Jus but was too crowded - did loads including some V7/8 savage crimpfests...
T: Yoga
W: AW with GF - Routes up to F6b+ then tried F7a+ on TR, only bloody did it... GF hurt her wrist so bailed early.
T: AW again this time with Jus - Long warmup, Moonboard up to 6A. Routes up to F6b+ then got on F7a+ on sharp end and rinsed it, tried to repeat with no rest and got about 1/3 of the way up (unsurprisingly) - completely boxed!
F: Rest
S: Drove t'Lakes - Didn't read guidebook () so headed to Chapel Head Scar with designs on trying Wargames - Bloody bird banned! Arse! Went bouldering in Eskdale on super sharp granite, close but no cigar on Strong Arete... Did some stuff up to 6C and a glorious 6B wall...
S: SUP along Connistone with some mates, never been on one before was pretty cool. Kentmere - Badger rock, did a load of eliminates on the face and a bit of a pumpy traverse thing then spent a good while failing on a 7A arete... Good times!

Been getting out and trying hard but not getting much done - feeling good on small crimps and vert stamina stuff tho so it bodes well for Verdon in a couple of weeks...

[Fultonius]

Happy Birthday, good news is after 40 it only gets harder to keep weight down. Actually i was the lightest I have been since the early 2000s when I ran London marathon for my 50th, but it was not sustainable, and I was weak as piss for climbing.

Cheers! And...great news.