[duncan]

Hello clubbers,

M - Siurana El Pati El corridón de la muerte (7a+, 7a+/b or 7b depending on your guidebook/app.). I went direct at the second crux which some suggest merits the harder grade but felt more satisfying. To start with the glossy crimps felt desperate in the sun but it came together nicely. Had two plays and did the main section between ledges with one hang. It’s “desperate, polished and rubbish” (paraphrasing a well-known Scot) but I really liked the movement. Probably the route I should have been trying at the beginning of the trip.

T - Rest day. Walked up to Montsant. I will never get tired of this.

W - Back to El Pati and El corridón de la muerte. In the shade and after a rest day the crimps felt huge and the grade came back down to 7a+! Warmed-up bolt-to-bolting it. A poor idea as I was already anxious from a couple of non-climbing issues, the clip after the first crux is a bit scary and I made a right breakfast of it, the over-gripping resulting in a tweaked elbow. Took a break to see if it settled, it didn't and that was that. Final team get-together in Goma 2 that evening: what a lovely bunch of people.

T - Flight home. €387 bill for the car lock and door panel repair. Hope the excess insurance covers it.

F - Shoulder conditioning: sideplanks, handstands

S - Legs conditioning. Some very easy fingerboard pick-ups for right elbow rehab. and slightly harder fingerboard pick-ups to keep my left hand ticking over. 

S - Shoulder conditioning: sideplanks, handstands, ‘face-pulls’


A very good trip. Climbed roughly as much in three weeks as I did a fortnight in 2018 or one week in 2014 but I’m older and have to pace myself. No tweaks until the final day which supports this strategy. I consider myself extremely lucky to have the circumstances and health to allow this. Solo missions have pros and cons but I've got to know and climbed with some lovely people on this one.

Before the trip I mainly wanted to climb with no recurrence of chest pains and generally enjoy myself and achieved both. Other aims were to redpoint La Muerte del Sponsor and to onsight a 7a. Very happy to have onsighted ¡Ay mamita!; La Muerte was about half a grade too hard for me currently. El corridón could have been a good consolation had I been more canny with my time. One to return for? In any case, it’s all good training for Uphill Quarry!

I have a mental list of three things to do differently before the next trip.

Next week: get to know family again, rest, rehab. elbow, chest pain clinic follow-up.

[Wellsy]

STGs: try to regularly expose myself to experience outside my comfort zone and try to push myself to try things I'm not confident about

MTG: get on rock regularly. Try to get to the Lakes soon and do Toe-Rag, try to get out to Stanton ITWs and get on Bumlog Millionaire again. Get out to Anston and get The Last Stand done.

Long term goals: easy high things, medium height hard things. Do Little Gem and Nazgul LH

Monday: rested after intense Sunday

Tuesday: Fingerboarded up to 40kgs for 10 seconds and 45kgs for 5 seconds. Got on the works board, 4x 6C, 6C+, 7A. Focused on small holds and tension. Then did a dozen circuit problems.

Wednesday: mates board for a social, felt a bit beasted. Went to works, 12 reds, 12 irn brus. Pulling session, weighted pullups, one armed shrugs, low rows, lat worm

Thursday: rested

Friday: long indoor session. Was pretty dire as at the end of 5 weeks of intense training. Was there for 3-ish hours and did a load of irn brus (wasps down) and tried Murples. Made some progress.

Saturday: Rested

Sunday: WL in the morning, snatched 50kgs (PB!). Afternoon hour and a half at the Hanger. Skin wrecked and body tired but flashed a red, did easy White, tried other White and made progress. Reduced to blues by the end! Deliberately tried some stuff with moves at the top I felt a bit nervous of, did some, didn't do others. Wanted to fingerboard but skin just gone. Ring rows and dips, lat work. Some assisted one armed lock offs and two armed lock offs

End of week: Achieved putting myself in situations where I felt nervous. Completed training block; deload week 100% needed. Know that if I don't feel tired and my skin is good ill feel v strong

[Fiend]

Next week STG: Back on self-care at least with the stretching - yes, and resting more. 1 board session - yes, was a bit weak and heavy as fuck but did it, 1 routes session with trying hard - sorta, well below par but falls were good.. See what else happens - meh. Maybe a bit more cleaning - a little bit but also had to stick to a little.
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 - n/a. Keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners - did a bit of catching up but some people out of radio contact again. Falling practise if I do routes indoors or out - yes. Look after injuries - seemed to do okay, including resting, gym x 1 - no, elbow rehab x 1 - no, shoulder rehab x 2 - not really, except TGUs and stretching, stretching x 3 - yes.

M - Rest. 30 mins walk. Should have stretched. Didn't.

T -  Indoor board climbing @ Depot 30. Usual warm-ups, then tried to complete the few remaining problems from 2022 I had repeated. Managed 2 (1 + mirror), tried 2 more (1 + mirror, too crimpy and ratty). Failed to repeat a mid-hard problem I'd done a month or so ago. Made up a nice new mid-hard project for next time. Felt fairly weak and even heavier than usual (!!), most areas of my arms were feeling creaky right from the start (after a full rest day...), although TE etc didn't feel too bad. A few other people were saying it was too warm, but TBH my skin was fine and it didn't feel that bad, it was cool enough for me to keep a vest on fine, unlike the poncy fucking rodent-faced slick-backed-hair twat preening around the gym area doing all his dips and ab flexing bollox and bicep-kissing dumbbell lifts shirtless and barefoot the whole time, you give people who genuinely need to wear less clothes because they're actually sweating off holds a bad name, you tedious scrap of circumcision waste. 10 TGUs to warm-up, full stretching session after.

W - Indoor routes @ AW. F6a+, F6b, F6b+, F6c x 3, F6c+, attempted F6c+ (F7a sandbag). 3 normal practise falls, 3 long practise falls - pleased with the latter and felt like progress. Pumped to warm up, stayed pumped. Did okay on the long vert wall, but less good on the overhanging sandbag routes. Arms tired and fingers creaky. Chatted to lots of people.

T - Rest. All of both arms achey and creaky from fingers to shoulders. Full stretching session.

F - Active rest. 2 hours gentle heather removal, scraping and brushing. TE etc okay. Bloody cold.

S - Called the lime. 4 problems 6B-6C in a few/several goes each. Hard and grim as lime usually is. Full stretching session, helped relax me.

S - Indoor bouldering @ RockOver Bolton. 6 x V1½-3½, 8 x V2½ - 4½ (flash) , 4 V4½ - 6½ (3 flash, 1 x 3rd go, attempted 5 more I couldn't do in 3 goes, close on 2). Grades adjusted downwards to reflect their annoying new soft-touch policy. Felt tired warming up, but once I got into felt fine, focused on trying some semi-harder things, could have tagged on some more mid-level volume but decided to avoid fatigue. Left knee a bit creaky for no other reason than "you're a fat old cripple and aren't allowed functional joints". Other niggles okay. EDIT: Actually, sprained big toe has half-reappeared, as has a sore left heel, both for no reason 


Okay week. Bit fatigued maybe. I think I got the balance right with more rest days and some shorter sessions.


Next week STG: 1 indoor routes session maintaining good practise falls. A bit more conditioning / mobility / rehab stuff. Maybe try harder if less fatigued.
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. Look after injuries, gym x 1, elbow rehab x 1, shoulder rehab x 2, stretching x 3.

[Wellsy]

You've got a real way with words :D

[Fultonius]

Been slacking on the logs of late.

Last 2 weeks:

One snatched outdoor session before some showers, hard time on nails slovene grades (especially when it's pure vert and crimpy).

2 indoor sessions at Dez Nova Gorica - funny little wall, totally rammed with people climbing under, over and all around each other.

This week:

Monday: think I did some A2 strengthening hangs
Tues: not much
Weds: Finally made it to Misja Pec! Not as polished (in fact, generally not that polished at all on the routes we did). Worked through the Slovene grades, 6a, 6a+, 7a (took quite a bit of figuring out the crux, but second go it was pretty steady until the crux, which still took focus and hard pulling), then a 6c onsight which was the living end as I was quite fatigued and it was pumpy, polished and quite intimidating. Watched Jernej Kruder and some other Slovene wads working 9a+s which was pretty cool to see.
Thurs: MTB round a local trail, 1100m ascent and then one long, narrow and precipitous single track all the way back to Tolmin. Must have been around 35 minutes of continuous descending.
Fri:Not much.
Sat: Rained, renovation (scraping bitumen off the flor after removing old lino)
Sunday: Renovation AM, Nadiza PM - 5 ties ins. 5c warm up (quite pumped!), 6a (had to spend a few mins working out the crux), 6c+ (Dif's Anatomy) which I struggled to figure out the crux, fell off when a hold snapped, then dogged to the top with quite a few rests, needing a good scrub of some dusty slopey crimps. Went 2nd go, but still had to pull hard. Savage grades!   B managed the 6a after working it. She was chuffed, the crux was as hard as the 6c+ she did in Costa Blanca! The she had a TR go on the 6c+ and managed most of the moves, finding 2 "jugs" that I missed. I had another TR burn (despite a wee shoulder niggle.......) to find the jugs, which turned out, for me, to be awkward 2nd pad nastiness. Small hands for the win!

Now nursing what feels like a "twanged nerve" in my shoulder. Was really quite sore driving home, and even cooking/doing dishes were sore, but when resting it seems to calm down so I doubt it's much.

A2 seems back to fully working order.

[Duma]

Duncan, good trip, always impressed with a solo mission.
Fiend, loool, and also sounds like a good week! Getting the stretching and rehab sessions in seems to be working well for you.
Wellsy, always impressed with your attitude and psyche to work weaknesses. Enjoy your week off!
Fultonius, jeez I'm glad I don't have to deal with the ego crush of Slovene grades! Hope the shoulder turns out to be minor.

M - eve, TCA, 90 min. Psyche still low and not much to go at now, and didn't feel like I had the mental try hard to get much from the moonboard or woody. Repeated a black and worked some moves on a few blues, but not a very productive session.
T - eve, TCA, 90 min. Much better attitude, helped by seeing mates who've been away for a while. Still not hugely inspired physically though. Repeated a few things and desultory goes at some moves on projects.
W -
T - eve, TCA, 120 min. Better psyche and physical. Mostly repeating blacks, whites and blues, but bit of progress on a blue project too.
F -
S - Uphill, chanced it on dodgy forecast. Cold and threatened rain but held off until after lunch. Forgettable 6b and 6a+ to warm up, decent attempted OS on Living Dead 7b, missed a decent crimp by the final clip and came off the last move before jugs. Ok next go but still had to try hard with fingers numbing out. Then "flash" go on Anastasis 7b+ (though I've done Proper Job,  the 7a it starts up, before). Good beta and ticks from Ant, though had to improvise some foot sequences to make up for my relative lack of height. Redlining when I slapped and caught the finishing jug with the last of my beans, very satisfying. Rain then stopped play, but a good day had already been had.
S - aft, TCA, 120 min. Everything in the place up to and including oranges. 170 ish problems 3 to 6Cish. 7 falls. Feet hurt a lot by the end.

71.5 kg.

[monkoffunk]

M - Gym am. Weighted pulls ups. Most at 15, 3 reps at 25kg. Dumbbell bench, etc.
T - Yoga.
W - Gym. Deadlifts up to 120kg, etc. I read somewhere 1.5-2xBW was a reasonable target for climbers.
T - Yoga
F - Portland after work. Pastoral finally. Super glue for the tips and a bit of punt at the top, but finally a 7 at New Cuttings. My anti style crag but I’ve spent an awful lot of time there. Next time something a bit steeper!
S - Yoga
S - Yoga

[Aussiegav]

Rehab club
Great reading peoples posts about trips and positive takeaways. I’m Desperate to get away somewhere for some climbing. Easy, hard, I don’t care.

Monday -
Officially returned to work. Shirking from home on the keyboard.
Had physio appointment at the hospital. Focusing on mobilising the joint, it’s so tight from years if not being able to move to those areas.
Continued with rehabbing throughout the day.
Doing incline pushups every day this week. Very hard.

Edge pick ups on 20mm lattice edge
6lifts each hand.
10kg half crimp and full crimp. Right hand
20kg half crimp and full crimp. Left hand



Tuesday
Usual rehab during the day. Pleased with progress.
Virgin gym in the evening
5min of hand cycling to warm up the elbow and full range of movement
Bench press managed a 5kg increase. Elbow seas less shaky
Hammer curls. Focused squeezing on both end of the movement.
Single dumbbell shoulder press using gravity to help with stretching and strengthening at the extreme end of flexion.
Pistol squats.

Wednesday
Elbow rehab throughout the day.
Edge pick ups.
40min peloton ride. Elbow feels fine for the duration.

Thursday
Rehab throughout the day

Friday
Virgin in the evening. Managed to do knee push ups. 2sets of 5. These were very hard.
Did the same as Tuesday. Felt better.

Saturday
Elbow rehab sessions.

Finger edge pick ups. Pain free. Managed 20kg half crimp and full crimp. 6 in half crimp. 6 in full crimp.


Sunday
Elbow rehab throughout the day. Virgin Gym. Strength training in the morning.
Same session as Friday.
Plus able to do 2 sets of 4 shrugs hanging from a bar. No chance of doing a single arm hang yet.

40min peloton ride

[mr chaz]

Missed a couple of non eventful weeks, little bit of training interspersed with doses of illness.

M.
T. Evening board session - usual fodder. Max hang warmup, then bouldering on the woodie. Been cruising at roughly the same sort of low volume hi intensity for a while, want to change this up a bit so focussed more on volume.
W.
T. 
F.
S.
S. Day pass, but everywhere fuckin sodden. Went to Bham Depot, got off to a slow start but was climbing pretty well by the end of my session. Generally attempting to flash purples with limited success and focus on moving well. Message to Depot Bham users BRUSH YOUR F*CKIN HOLDS 

[shark]

Nice one Duncan. Spring is in the air and High Tor awaits!

M

T. Foundry routes with Edward. Included 3 attempts at a 6c+! 🙃 (7a+/b?) on the steep part of the main wall.

W. Eve Seb’s talk at Outside went down a treat and we raised an amazing £2300 for the Peak Bolt Fund!

T. Foundry Hoped to do lead but Edward had to cry off. Wave for first time in ages So good. Experience marred by Barrows climbing on it with a kneepad. Did the fluoro yellow right of centre on steep bit. Worked pink next to it.

F Foundry . Autobelay then Wave. Bit tired trying the pink again. Ended up reworking a better foot sequence but too tired to send

S. Systems board. Did really well on benchmarks. Pinch/Gaston’s, worked thru throw variations and did hardest one and also almost did mirror crusher crimp problems back to back except for final pull to incut edge. Few goes at old Oak PE circuit but faded on throw. Tried a 20/10 but mistakenly timed 3 secs per move rather than 2 and didnt get very far.

S

Nice to be reminded how good the Wave is so won’t dread being forced indoors by the weather. Gradually starting to build up a bit of volume and hopefully endurance

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - bentover rows, shoulder static holds.
Tue - board climbing. After 13 months trying the project, I finally sacked it: I got close but it never happened and it killed my board mojo. So with my heart full of doubts I tentatively stepped on, and all it took was three moves, to remind me how cool my board is. Set and climbed a new problem: bliss, I am strong, I could do the project now, etc. 6x AM session.
Wed - DL 5x10 110 kg.
Thu - Lattice campusing. Pull ups, weights.
Fri - TRX.
Sat - jog, stairs, loaded carries outside.
Sun - track riding, exhausted. Light weights.

[Duma]

Sun - track riding, exhausted. Light weights.

You still doing those track days on the mini moto bikes Lore?

[Wellsy]

Nibs I note you're not doing cleans so much recently, any particular reason?

[Nibile]

You still doing those track days on the mini moto bikes Lore?

Hey Duma!
Yes and no... I mean that they're not what I'd define the traditional minimoto... they are 2/3 of a normal bike, 10" rims, roughly 1m wheelbase.
In the end I bought one, couldn't find one to rent as I'd done a few times.
This baby here, Bucci BR10:
20231112_183351 by Nibile, on Flickr

20231112_183406 by Nibile, on Flickr

20231112_183431 by Nibile, on Flickr

She's 190 cc, 4 strokes, 4 gears, fully adjustable suspensions, double front disc, radial calipers. You drive them as you would on a full size bike, shifting your body in the turns, only with a lot - a lot! - more delicacy, they basically react at the minimum body impulse, mine weighs only 60 kg.
Fun as hell. Some of the best squandered money ever.
Bonus: she fits in the car!
If you like motorcycles, try one!

[Nibile]

Nibs I note you're not doing cleans so much recently, any particular reason?

Hey Wellsy!
You're right, not doing cleans - almost - anymore, and the reason is that I picked up an injury in my left lat/ribs muscles, very deep, months ago, and I'm struggling to get rid of it.
I've noticed that it flares with explosive movements (even boxing, for instance), while on controlled pulls (DL) I can keep an eye on it.
I want to get back to cleans though, but at the moment I am a bit uncertain...
General focus - weights wise - has shifted more on (trying to build) muscle mass, a thing that is both very important and very difficult as we age. In fact, despite the training and the good (I think) diet, I'm struggling. All taking in mind that I don't do any traditional mass-aimed training and that I focus only on "clean bulking"...

[Duma]

That is so cool!