[Duma]

M - ummd and ahhd between climbing and a run. Knew I should run really but decided on a lunchtime session at flashpoint Swindon, then having driven across town, found out it's shut on a Monday and Tuesday. Obviously a sign to run but psyched so went to TCA. Eve TCA, 60 min. Mostly blacks (high 6's/low 7's). Did 6, including 2 flashes, and progress on 2 more. Also managed  one of the whites that eluded me yesterday. Felt strong.
T - R shoulder achey, bit of a warning twinge from L elbow on golfers side too... so went climbing. Eve TCA, 90 min, mostly on blacks upstairs. Did 3 and good progress on 2 more, also did another white that I didn't manage last Sunday. Only 1 white left now, and half the blacks. Shoulder felt okay, but bit worried about L elbow. Couple of days off due I think.
W - Shoulder marginally better, elbow no change. Eve, run, 5k, flat, pavement, 23 min.
T - achey calves/achilles, haven't got this from the hilly off road loop I've been doing over the summer. Not sure if it's the change of surface or the change 9f pace. Elbow and shoulder a little better.
F - calves still sore.
S - calves still sore. Optimistic drive to cheddar but unsurprisingly soaked from the rain overnight and didn't look like drying out. Walk round the reservoir and then TCA. 90 min, tried a few of new blues, did one, close to another, played on a couple more. Bit of progress on a black too. Then moonboard was free - repeated one of the tougher 6C's first go, and then pleasingly quick ascents of 2 more benchmark 7A's.
S - calves finally a bit better. TCA, 90 min. Warming up then drawn in to moonboard again with mate. 30 benchmark 6A+, one attempt per problem. 3 failures, knackering. Did some bench presses upstairs afterwards as token shoulder rehab, though I suspect not climbing on the moonboard 2 days in a row would be more helpful. Some golfers rehab too.

72 kg

[Fultonius]

Ups and downs for me again this week.

Monday: Just work. Not great sleep, apparently I'm even sensitive to caffeine in green tea (drank too much too late in the PM Sunday, poor sleep.
Tuesday: Am session. Better sleep but still suffering from a bit of fuzzy head and poor focus. Noticed my toes are showing signs of "Covid Toe" again.... maybe the cold I had was a mild dose of the 'rona? Fingerboard warm up, a few mid 6 problems, (still feeling the lats / serratus anterior from Sunday....) Then just worked round projecting a few easier whites. Nearly flashed on "7A" that's not 7A if you're tall...  6C max, or I'm climbing very well. Got it 3rd go as 2nd had a silly slip.
The spent some time on a 7A+ which, on the right day could have gone in much fewer attempts but it took a bit to get coordinated and do it right. Fun time on that.
Weds: nowt
Thursday: Fingerboard warm up, the circuits: 5+ lap. 6b, then jumped on a soft 7b that I had a good o/s go on last time. Got to move 44/47. Really fought through the last few moves and needed a long rest after.
7a.
7a+ black on 45 that I've modified in 2 sections to remove some nasty cruxes.
2 mins rest then 2nd lap, failed at 34/41.
But longer rest then another lap on the 7b, dropped off at 34/47.

Break.

Did some foot on campussing but didn't have the psyche to go too deep. Planned to leave but bumped into some mates and did a few boulders with them....making my session even more unstructured!  But... Repeated the 7A vert white and went round trying to flash a load of 6cs, got most of them 1st or 2nd go.

Friday: Nowt, but felt really good! Sharp and focussed all day at work. SAD lamp arrived.
Saturday: AM 45 mins yoga, then had a shit day, low mood and struggling to focus. Things got better with a few beers, pizza with mates and Queens of The Stone Age at the Hydro - mega gig!
Sunday: Autobelay / routes session at propstore. 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7a, 7a+, 6c, 6c, 6c. All pretty chill. Think I'm in ok shape for Tenerife, just hope my ups and downs in mood and motivation stabilise. Even when my head is gubbed I still seem to climb ok and have physical energy, so that's a positive.

[duncan]

Thanks Duma, are you sure you think you should be running over climbing?!

M - Fingerboard lifts, both hands, crimps and drags, 10mm edge, up to 38kg. Much better than Sunday. Wrist rehab./wrist extensors: reverse curls, front and side lifts. Legs conditioning and flexibility: frog squats, side-kicks, high step-ups, single leg squats.
T - Westway fall practice with Patrick. Haven't done this for ages and was quite nervous to start with. About 25 falls and by the end I wasn’t in the least bit bothered. Do more of this. 
W - Legs, as above. Walked 10km.
T - Upset stomach, felt bleurgh. Some low intensity shoulder conditioning and wrist rehab.
F - Upset stomach, felt light. A few fingerboard hangs for the first time in several months. Managed to 4 finger crimp a 10mm edge for a few seconds and a 3 finger crimp briefly. A personal best. Contemporary choral music concert at BBC Maida Vale studios that evening. Not quite Queens of the Stone Age but lovely nonetheless.
S - Westway autobelay: 325m of easy up and down in 80 minutes. El Cap. in 4 hours pace! Shoulder conditioning as warm-up.
S - Battered all over, wrist not much worse than everywhere else. Shoulders conditioning; wrist rebab.

Unplanned fingers deload week and inadvertent weight loss resulted in an unexpected finger strength personal best. Ideally I would have been climbing but weather, partner and health didn’t align.

Wrist is about 65%, slowly improving, trying hard on lead and bouldering still feels risky. I can work around it to a degree by front-three crimping everything. Crimping is a weakness and a couple of project cruxes involve small three finger edges so this is a silver lining. Consistently doing fingerboard lifts (16 sessions in the last 6 weeks) seems to have transferred well to fingerboard hangs. Hope it is also true for rock.

Plan: touch rock health, weather and partners permitting; continue with easy volume climbing and fingerboard.

[Aussiegav]

Some gains this week on the 12mm edges. Been a steady week.



Monday -
5 sets of 3 body weight repeaters. 1 minute rests.
6 sets of 7 sec hangs on 12mm edges with 10kg assist. 3 finger open 4sets of 3 body weight repeaters. 1 minute rests.

Made gains on the small edges. Started with 20kg assistance now down to 10kg. Net weight gone from 68kg to now 77kg on 12mm edges.

Tuesday
5x3 jumping pull ups
Campus latches. 3 each side
20min projecting. Two purples. Managed the 2nd one.

Wednesday
Rest


Thursday

5 sets of 3 body weight repeaters. 1 minute rests.
6 sets of 7 sec hangs on 12mm edges with 10kg assist. 3 finger open 4sets of 3 body weight repeaters. 1 minute rests.



Friday

5x3 jumping pull ups
Campus latches. 3 each side
 Boulder Mileage. 20 problems 2min rests.
Red circuit at the Depot. Perfect intensity. Felt done at the end.

Saturday
Rest


Sunday
30min Tabata on the peloton.

[Duma]

Thanks Duma, are you sure you think you should be running over climbing?!

Don't worry I'm not running "over" climbing, just "between" climbing. Running Mon or Tues would have spread the climbing load better.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - back slightly better. Bar work.
Tue - triceps, push press, Pendlay rows.
Wed - AM as usual; PM farmer's static holds.
Thu - AM as usual; PM 4x AM session, high pulls.
Fri - boxing bag.
Sat - bentover rows. Short on time.
Sun - AM 2x; PM (track riding) weights.

[SA Chris]

M - no usual run, Kyle ill, and i was recovering from HM, so wouldn't have done much anyway. I think I did a bit of kettlebells.
T - no usual run, Kyle ill. Don't remember doing much, some tri work I think.
W - lunch easy run. 5.75km.
T - some finger pickups.
F - 11.5 km - fuelled by anger.
S - wall session. Typical when it's torrential rain out, all the holds feel slightly damp. Managed a few new things but not much.
S - morning surf. Looked small on cam so grabbed longboard and headed to beach. As soon as I looked I got the "you're going to need a smaller boat" feeling, but paddled out anyway, taking a large set on the head. Eventually got out back. managed to grab half a dozen or so great rides before deciding to finish on a high and get out. Which was fortunate as as soon as i got out my shoulder blade muscles really cramped up and were really sore for a while afters. 

[Fiend]

Next week STG: Exactly the same as last week.... Keep up with general indoor mileage - yes, plenty. Try harder to reintroduce stretching and rehab - mostly. Look after niggles / tweaks - just about. Post on general climbing groups to encourage more climbing if possible AND social connection - no. Outdoor goals depend on weather but ideally a bit of grit trad, or bouldering if too cold - mglehgh. Try to kick the manflu and look after myself (rest and food) in between activity - yes, seems to have worked.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes - n/a. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope, or above a pad - no, keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners - reasonably so, falling practise if I do routes indoors or out - yes but not long enough, elbow rehab x 2 - yes, shoulder rehab x 2 - yes, stretching x 3 - yes.
MTG / LTG - stay active / climbing active enough to slow the physical decline.


M - Ill. Indoor bouldering @ Blochaus. 12 x V2-3 (flash), 8 x V4 (5 flash, 1 2nd go, 2 3rd go), 5 x V5 (2 flash, 3 3rd go, also tried another). Felt dizzy and faint after most problems for the first hour, but a bit better later on. R tennis elbow a bit sore, shoulder a bit creaky, knee fine apart from one semi-heel hook move that gave a warning twinge as soon as I changed the loading angle (not too bad and useful to know). Notably there was 1 V4 and 4 V5s specifically set with left heel hooks - possibly something to do with one of the routesetters having badly sprained his right ankle whilst out trad-climbing with me a month or so ago  . Weak but no weaker than usual. Stretching session.

T -  Ill. Gym. 1 hour misc weights, 40 mins stretching. Felt very weak on weights, but slightly less weak than last time. Did some decent kneehab, which is definitely needed as my L knee has half the strength of R in hamstring curls. Stretching felt decent.

W - Ill-ish. Indoor routes @ Awesome Walls. F6a+, F6b, F6b+, F6c+, F6c+, attempted 2 x F7a. Okay practise falls but should have taken a few longer ones. Generally a bit creaky especially tennis elbow, but didn't get too wiped out. Elbow rehab. Shoulder rehab.

T - Less ill. Active rest - walking about and dicking around on an ab rope. Wanted to do stretching at least, but was too tired / lazy.

F - Less ill. Active rest - pulling on a few slopers. Weak and creaky but not any worse than usual. Tennis elbow a bit sore. Shoulder quite crunchy but not too sore. Wanted to do stretching at least, but was too tired / lazy.

S - Less ill. Indoor bouldering @ Summit Up. 10 x V2-3 (flash), 8 x V3-4 (7 flash, 1 2nd go, attempted 2 more), 8 x V4-5 (4 flash, 4 in 2-3 goes, attempted 3 more). Body felt okay and ready for climbing, but felt weak and heavy (as usual?). Injuries didn't feel too bad. Elbow rehab. Shoulder rehab.

S - Not very ill. Indoor bouldering @ RockOver Shartson. 5 x V1-3 (flash), 8 x V2-4 (6 flash, 2 2nd go), 4 x V3-5 (flash), 7 x V4-6 (4 flash, 2 2nd go, 1 3rd go). Lots of cuddles / rump scratches with LingLing the Hong Kong street dog. Felt less weak that the day before. Elbow and shoulder still creaky. Random knee pain despite it feeling pretty functional and doing nothing to aggravate it. Stretching session.


Back on track week. I had a tactical focus on having regular short sessions, with as much rest as possible around them, eating plenty, and early nights, to keep active and conditioned but let the man-flu piss off, which it mostly has apart from blocked sinuses and the inability to pop my ears which also means it's much harder to hear bass than usual  . Back on track with indoor mileage - fairly weak but felt better as the volume added up. Back on track with supportive exercises which is pretty important. I hope to stick with that more as the current niggles are mostly manageable and I need to keep them so.


Next week STG: Keep climbing volume level consistent and sensible. Take care of niggles. Try to motivate myself for more stretching / rehab. Post on general climbing groups to encourage more climbing if possible AND social connection. Outdoor goals depend on weather but ideally a bit of grit trad, or bouldering if too cold.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope, or above a pad, keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners, falling practise if I do routes indoors or out, gym x 1, elbow rehab x 2, shoulder rehab x 2, stretching x 3.

[SA Chris]

tickles

[shark]

Late entry 


M. Third cold in a row
Sorted out mortgage fixes. BMC politicsr. Shopping. Butt plumbing debt chasing

T. Foundry. Campusing. Autobelay in Furnace as Paul wouldn’t climb with me with a cold. Did Yellow 6c on right after. A few attempts. Seemed harder than the 7a I did last week. Eve Peak Bolt Fund meeting at Fat Cat
Dentist

W. Eve Ergo FC, HC and Drag deadhang 10, 10 and 10 secs BW 3x3 pull-ups supinated one arm locks on half pad edge  foot-on and a bar foot-off Attempted front levers  +12.5kg FC HC snd Drag 10, 10 and 10’secs 3x2 pull-ups FC, HC and Drag +17.5kg 3x1 10, 8 and 10 secs +25kg FC 7 and 6 secs HC 2 secs

T.

F. Beautiful morning. PM Tor. Worked non kick method for kick move till core tired and tips sore which probably after a dozen attempts. Definitely worth another session on this now I’ve got a foot sequence as it would make it low% if I can nail it and feet are set up well for cross thru Eve Foundry Furnace autobelay. Flashed an over graded 7a and failed on a couple of harder ones. Teamed up with Ryan E and had two tie ins on the pumpy orange 6c+ which I’d tried before. Got on to the headwall this time.

S. Lots of leaf clearing

S. More gardening