[duncan]

Greetings to those sticking at it in the dog days of Summer.

M - Shoulder/wrist conditioning: handstands, reverse curls, side planks.

T - Westway - 300m of easy on the autobelays.

W - Glyndebourne - Tristan und Isolde. Standing at the back in the gods for four hours (have you seen the price of seats?). Utterly glorious music and a fabulous production, I was in tears at several points.

T - Down to Weston. Shoulder conditioning. 

F - Could only manage to get away for a couple of hours in the afternoon and the tide was in which limited me to Uphill Quarry. Purple Sue was happy to take the time off from house repairs. Connies were not primo: you could have fried an egg on the rock. Started with Age of Extinction (6a+, 4, 6a+) doing the three pitches in one. Pleasant enough but not one of the better routes here. Repeated Santa’s Bulge (6c/+) twice, the first time with a ridiculous sequence on small crimps, the second time with a bit of a span for what I imagine is the usual method. Either way felt quite punchy for 6c and I had to try somewhat hard, not entirely due to the conditions.

S - Back to London. Started fingerboard session but tweaked right elbow warming up. Britten’s War Requiem at The Proms, a piece I admire rather than love but was on a three-line whip to attend.   

S - Shoulder conditioning. Hip flexibility: prone frog stretches, sumo squats, standing pancake stretches. Fingerboard pick-ups: left hand only to 43.5kg on the 18mm edge, a PB I think.


Family duties meant climbing:driving ratio was way off this week. Stupidly tweaked right elbow again attempting to train when not adequately rested, muscularly or generally. Looking for positives, I am slowly getting markedly stronger at pick-ups and also seem to be more comfortable using small holds than I have for a long time. Come autumn I hope this transfers to some harder climbing. 

Off to Italy for a family holiday on Tuesday. No climbing for the next couple of weeks or so but there might be some Via Ferrata-ing.

[Duma]

Enjoy your hols Duncan.

M - parenting. Drive to Cornwall.
T - parenting. Few miles walking. Coasteering. Must count as some kind of cross training
W - parenting. Few miles walking, bit of swimming.
T - parenting. Few miles walking
F - parenting. Swam across the river and back.
S - parenting. Drive back to Bristol
S - am parenting. pm Sand Point, back to Arrakis face. Did the left arete, Litany Against Fear 7A+ to start with, took a bit of effort but was also warming up. Middle move is lovely with a bit of a pogo. Then on to Arrakis Direct 7C. Felt a bit unlikely with the nasty pockets and steepness, but persevered and got the crux eventually, didn't quite stick it for long enough to get feet back on though. Skin and an incoming tide eventually stopped play, but happy with doing it in halves, especially given the style.

71.5 kg.

[andy popp]

Utterly glorious music and a fabulous production, I was in tears at several points.

How wonderful. Sounds like an incredible experience.

[csl]

August Goals: Get set up for 6 weeks off work
- 1x day out climbing
- consistent training, try and maintain/improve fitness a bit

This week:
- survive the heat ✅
- endurance training ✅
- a semblance of structure ✅

Monday: stretching

Wednesday:
- a few onsights up to 6c or so
- 3x working goes on an 8a - a couple of good links
- a few more onsights/repeats on 7b, 6c+, 6c
- 2 on 1 off aerocap
- 15 mins plodding to cool down

Friday:
- 1 arm hangs on 20mm edge
- 45 mins trying a boulder, some good links
- 2 on 1 off aerocap

This week:
- A bit more volume
- Some more training at home

[Aussiegav]

Thanks Duncan

Monday -

Fingerboard session at home
18mm edges
3 hangs BW + 7.5kg
3 hangs total weight 91.1kg.
BW + 13.75kg
BW 77kg

Tuesday
Rest day

Wednesday
Strength training at Virgin Gym

Thursday
Fingerboard session at home
18mm edges
3 hangs BW + 7.5kg
3 hangs total weight 91.1kg.
BW + 13.75kg
BW 77kg

12mm edges
total weight. 81.4kg.
Three hangs body weight plus 2.5kg
Three hangs body weight plus 4kg.

Friday
Rest

Saturday
Rest day

Sunday
Majorca Crunch Buttress with Stone.
He was looking super solid on Harder-robe at Moat. Send not to too faraway 
9am start with cool mint conditions.
Four Men Tour 6c Onsight
Rhyme and Reason 6c. Redpoint second tie in
Worked Reserve Judgement 7a. Redpoint first try. First 7a done in single session.

Great day. Thanks Stone.

[stone]

Great day. Thanks Stone.

Thanks Gav for a great day too!

[Duma]

Nice one Gav

[mr chaz]

Power Club:
78.6 kg

M. Burpees
T. Evening board session
W. Burpees
T. Wanted to train after work - forces aligned to make that an impossibility... Nowt
F. Brother's wedding
S. The inevitable hangover
S. Nowt

[SA Chris]

M - No kids athletics - too lazy to run and old leggies feeling a bit tired from 20 km hillwalk the day before.
T - run in evening while son at cinema - 16km along beach, up Don and round Seaton.
W - day off for wife's birthday. 10 km walk at Forvie Sands nature reserve, down to the beautiful Hackley Bay for run about on beach, and even braved a paddle.  Feed at Brewdog HQ in Ellon.
T - not a load
F - as above
S - attacked mess in house.
S - gardening. Knackering. Evening Johnsheugh session. On east facing tidal bit. First time down in ages, but did right hand version first try, took a while on the left hand version until I realised beta was whack, then it went down pretty fast. A few goes and managed the sloper eliminate too, which was unexpected. Guess all in mid to upper 6es, but second two are very morpho. Lovely evening.. 

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - TBDL singles, then 5x3 120 kg.
Tue - easy thruster.
Wed - weights.
Thu - light weights.
Fri - light weights, boxing bag.
Sat - light weights.
Sun - regular weights.

Really hard week. 30° inside by night, poor sleep, bad food, little training.

[Fiend]

Next week STG: Keep body active and see what happens - yes, definitely.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes - mostly did okay. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope (fuck above a pad) - slightly semi-challenging which was nice. Keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners - UGH. I am trying at my end. I would really like friends to stay in contact, people who said they wanted to climb to stay in contact, and some people I like climbing with do something other than offwidths.. Falling practise if I do routes indoors or out - n/a. Look after injuries - seemed to go pretty decent, (gym x 1) - x 4!!!, elbow rehab x 2 - yes, shoulder rehab x 2 - yes, stretching x 3 - x 1.


M - France. 33'C. 1 hour dicking around in swimming hole. Fun. Gym - misc lifts and conditioning. Shoulder and elbow rehab.

T - France. 26'C. Banned from going bouldering for one afternoon in a 4 day trip as "It is too far to drive, no-one would do that" and "You are obsessed and can you not have a holiday without escalade??" . 2 hours light kayaking / paddleboarding. Mostly chasing dragonflies. Pleasant. Gym - misc lifts and conditioning. Stretching.

W - France. 20'C. 1 very brief dousing in a waterfall. Would have done more but storms came in. Gym - misc lifts and conditioning. Shoulder and elbow rehab.

T - UK. 20'C and raining. Indoor bouldering @ Rockover Shartson. 7 x V1-3, 7 x V2-4, 9 x V3-5 (all flash bar 1), 5 x V4-6 (flash, plus attempted 2 more), 2 x LingLing cuddles. Generally very tired but once I was moving my body did fine (felt recruited from previous exercise).

F - Rest. Short and sharp nausea bout late morning. Recovered okay, aimed to climb in evening, but traffic was boiled gash. 2 mins dip in lake.

S - 40+ mins walk. E1, 3 x E2. Felt pretty steady and decent on crux moves.

S - 40+ mins walk, E1, 2 x E3. Felt pretty competent and decent on crux moves - hints of slowly re-becoming a proper climber. Also attempted E3 6a but blocked handhold with gear, made it a 6b move, and failed.


A better week which combined a physical boost of some good conditioning exercise, with a mental boost of trying very slightly more challenging routes and feeling okay on. Still well below par and still quite aghast that I'm only getting hints of climbing normality in "the dog days of Summer"  , but it's better to see some slowing of the decline. Plus, very enjoyable climbing.


Next week STG: Keep trying harder on trad if suitable.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope (fuck 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 2, shoulder rehab x 2, stretching x 3.