[Duma]

M - eve, TCA, 120 min. Found a few things I'd missed and went back to some others. 2 whites (1 flash, 1 repeat (with a lot more effort than the first time round)), 3 blacks (2 quickly, 1 from last week with a lot more goes), 2 blues (1 quickly (although my match to finish was well dodge)) 1 just working goes). Shoulder ok, left ring finger tweaky (ongoing from a couple of weeks ago), right wrist sore (started last week, doesn't like pressing in extension).
T - eve, TCA, 90 min. Nothing new, micro progress on a couple of things. Poor session. Shoulder fine, finger sore, wrist sore.
W -
T - eve, run, 5k, hilly, trail, 34 min. Slow, wet, and muddy, but nice to get out for first time in 2 months.
F - aft, TCA, 90 min. 4 whites (1 repeat, 1 flash, 1 quickly, 1 with a bit of work) 3 blacks (1 flash, 1 did all the moves quick but dropped top, 1 only managed the first half). There was a couple of new blues too but didn't try them as both looked like they might aggravate the finger. Finger and wrist both still sore but both possibly slightly better.
S -
S - aft, TCA, 120 min. Finished the black from Friday and repeated a few things, worked on few things. Fun session but no real progress and finger definitely limiting me. Wrist improved a bit though.

72 kg.

[duncan]

Thanks Duma. Hope the wrist settles, I've had short-term help from a wrist widget and long-term help doing reverse curls (Power Clubs, ad nauseam). 

M - Short fingerboard session (20 and 15mm rungs; crimp, half-crimp and 3 finger drag; 3-4 seconds x 2 each).

T - Short fingerboard session. Shoulder, elbow, wrist conditioning: handstands, side planks, reverse curls, pull-ups. Hip flexibility: frog stretches, standing pancake stretches, sumo squats.
Covid vaccine as I'm old and infirm, Moderna type, almost no after-effects this time.

W - Short fingerboard session.

T - RavensWall with the Brid. Beast. Very short fingerboard session to warm-up. Bouldering to ~V3/4, a bit too much falling-off as often happens when I climb with someone else.

RavensWall is a decent bouldering wall in a series of railway arches. It has a circuit board and Moon Board (40 degree, 2017?) as well as the usual vertical-ish panels. If it had opened 15 years ago we’d think it amazing, now it is unremarkable. Other mature clientele were in attendance - Ravenscourt Park is upmarket suburbia - so I didn't feel as much like a grandparent as at some London walls. 

F - Hip still a bit sore after over-enthusiasm yesterday. Short fingerboard session (20,15, and 13mm edges). Sanded and painted woodwork around the house.

S - Hip flexibility. More house painting. EustonWall but was feeling over-tired and tweaky so called it a day fairly quickly.

S - Shoulders etc. conditioning. Hip flexibility.


Great to climb with Sean again after almost exactly 4 years. I hope we can get outside sometime soon, although logistics will be a bit more demanding than the tube to Ravenscourt Park.

Enjoying fingerboarding a little and often. Psychologically it feels good to do something climbing-related regularly. Physiologically it feels I can achieve a greater time under load over a week. Far too soon to say if it helps climbing at all. Obviously need to watch it for tweaks and will still take a day or two of complete rest regularly.

Hip has seized-up a bit. Back to the stretches which I had been neglecting.

Hope to get out with shark this week.

[nik at work]

Thanks Duma

Mon - Raven Tor after school hit. Belay/clipstick duty only. Sam did Rooster Booster as his first 7c+

Tues - The Works, just general wombling around I think trying a mix of stuff, circuit problems up to Murple and the circuit board.

Weds - The Works, more of the same.

Thurs - Nothing

Fri-Sun - away for weekend, nothing.

Kalymnos just a week away now…

[Aussiegav]

72.3kg

Monday -

Fingerboard session at home
18mm edges
2 hangs BW + 7.5kg
3 hangs total weight 90.5kg.
BW + 15kg


12mm edges
total weight. 80.5kg.
Five hangs body weight plus 5kg. 


Tuesday
Rest


Wednesday
Awesome Walls auto belay
6a+, 6a+, 6b+.
6c+ 6 Redpoint attempts. Around 10min rests between attempts.

Thursday
Rest 

Friday
Operation


Saturday
Hospital came home at lunch time. Quite a bit of discomfort and pain as to be expected.

Sunday
Slept quite a bit.

[mr chaz]

Power Club:

78 kg

M.
T. Evening shed session, normal warmup then limit bouldering for 1 hr.
W.
T. Felt a bit tired and sickness coming so sacked off training for rest.
F. Woke up ok, snuck in a lunchtime session at Redpoint Worcester whilst travelling for work, wasn't quite right and felt a bit uninspired by the setting.
S.
S.

[Fultonius]

Friday
Operation


Saturday
Hospital came home at lunch time. Quite a bit of discomfort and pain as to be expected.

Sunday
Slept quite a bit.

Well, good to hear it all went ok?

79kg
STG: 7b+ onsight in Spain.
MTG: Finally tick Endurance at Dumby.
LTG: 7c onsight, some more E6s, improve bouldering ability.


Tuesday: Very underpowered session, failed on most of my usual warm ups. Switched to some light arcing then sacked it off and went home. Think I wasn't recovered from the weekend's massive Ratho session, and possibly a bit under the weather on Sunday/Monday.

Thursday: Ratho - very good session. 6b, 6c, 7b (o/s), 7b+ (o/s to last clip), 6c, 7b, 7b (o/s), 6c+.  Closest I've ever been to a 7b+ onsight - bodes well for Spain.

Sat: Quick morning session before prepping for a big gathering at ours. TCA, progressive FB warmup to max hangs. Try boulders, 6B+to6C+.  Still quite weak and underpowered, fingers not great on open flat crimps. Seems I have just enough bouldering capacity to do the harder moves on routes, and must just be pretty fit just now as routes are feeling good despite not having much power.

Reflections: Having not really touched a fingerboard, or a board since the spring, and mainly just doing sporadic outdoor sport, I am remarkably fit for longer routes and possibly have my best ever ability to just keep trucking out medium hard moves and getting it back at rests.  Bodes quite well for the Spain trip, and then I need to focus on some AnCap for my spring project plus general bouldering power and finger strength, and core endurance (seems to be a weak point on my project)

[Duma]

First, echo your sentiments for Gav, hope recovery is going well! Second, sounds about right, scraping through the cruxes but fit for moderately hard moves for a while, where are you on holiday? (And hope it goes well!) I'll be in Spain for most of November (albeit bouldering the first week), give me a shout if you're in siurana mid November!

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - weights, bentover rows, Lattice edge various hangs.
Tue - AM as usual; PM board climbing after four months off, four problems. The injury is still there, but maybe manageable?
Wed - AM as usual; PM DL volume as per recent sessions. Weights.
Thu - AM as usual; PM shoulder static holds, miracle.
Fri - AM as usual; PM weights, Lattice mixed hangs.
Sat - boxing bag, core.
Sun - AM as usual, track riding.

[nik at work]

As others have said hope the surgery went well Gav.

Sounds like your well prepped for Spain targets Fultonius 

Duma a month in Spain, nice.

Nibs what is the injury?

[Nibile]

Nibs what is the injury?

Hey! It's something I did to my right index finger distal joint capsula. I can't crimp and have to be very cautious because it's also laterally unstable. It flared up on a move in which I landed on a hold with a strong right to left motion.
Cheers for asking!

P.s. speedy recovery Gav!!!

[Duncan Disorderly]

Missed a week in Kalymnos.... Club

Get well soon Gav.

Week 774
M: Work/Rest
T: Pezonda - New crag, great but a massive group of Itallians and Americans had basically blocked the entire crag! Warmed up then Energizer Bunny tried the only free F7a, an extension of a F6a+... Runout dirty nonsense! They bailed so I did the F6a+ and had a brief fettle before sacking it off. Finally one of the F7a+/b's freed up... EB made an absolute meal out of it! So much so that I decided to clean it rather than lead - stupid choice... Would have flashed it but couldn't unclip the final draw so climbed up to the jug after the crux and ended up uncerimoniously dropping on to this draw - if I'd been leading it should have been a given! Doh! NOTE TO SELF: ALWAYS LEAD - PUSSY!!!
W: Telendos - Went to Miltiades for EB to do a classic F7a I'd already done, did a bunch of onsighting up to F6c.
T: Afternoon - More onsighting up to F6c
F: Poets - Dropped the last moves of a F7a and F7a+ Doh!!
S: Swam to Telendos - wanted to do this for years - great!
S: Zeus - Tried a class F7b (Rocklandis) but try as I might I coudn't get my left foot to stick on what appeared to be a good spike - move felt easy but the foot would pop 90% of the time... Had a look at my left boot only to find it'd completely bagged out and had less edge than a jam donut! Cursed not bringing another pair and sacked it off! Arse!

Wow that was a pretty poor performance - some good fun onsighting and getting my head back in the game after the lob but generally a poor 2nd week.

Week 775
M: Rest and hang with GF - 1/2 mile swim.
T: Noufarou - F6b - F7a onsighting - Good day.
W: Kayak to Telendos - Pretty choppy!
T: Arginonta Skyline - Warmed up and tried to onsight a F7b - So close! Chose the right sequence but just dry fired off a mono at the end of the hard climbing - Went pretty easily next go. Nice route to end the trip on.
F: Head home 
S: Sleep
S: AW - Routes up to F7a... Tired

Great trip... Not what I'd expected as EB was out of the loop the first week so was climbing in a 3 and after the death lob I was definitely a little tentative - loads more onsighting than I was expecting (only RP'd one route and G'upped another in 3 weeks!) but had a great time so it's all good!

[Fultonius]

Sounds like your well prepped for Spain targets Fultonius 

 

First, echo your sentiments for Gav, hope recovery is going well! Second, sounds about right, scraping through the cruxes but fit for moderately hard moves for a while, where are you on holiday? (And hope it goes well!) I'll be in Spain for most of November (albeit bouldering the first week), give me a shout if you're in siurana mid November!

I'm in Madrid at a conference on the 13th/14th, then heading down to near Malaga for a week. Could maybe have gone out earlier if I'd known but alas, this time it won't be. Kind tempted to do something similar at some point. Need to convince a mate who i considering trying to get 2-3 months off every winter to buy a place in Spain and then I can just crash there and work remotely/climb!

[Fiend]

Next week STG: Ease back into activity gently - I think so?? Bloody frustrating. Use golfer's elbow gently - Trying to do so, some days better than others..
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes - n/a. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope (fuck above a pad) - no of course not. Keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners - getting fed up with how uncommuncative some people are in groups. Falling practise if I do routes indoors or out - n/a. Look after injuries - mleghghh, (gym x 1) - no, elbow rehab x 2 - n/a, too injured for wrist curls, shoulder rehab x 2 - no, stretching x 3 - yes, x 3.


M - Rest. 45 minutes walk. Elbow eased off a bit after bad aggravation on Sun.

T - Back To Square Zero Day #2. Mini indoor bouldering @ Depot Sheffield. 3 Blues, 3 Blacks, 4 Pinks, 11 Reds, 3 Purples (all flash except 2 Reds). Elbow sore but not as sore as Sunday - still aggravated it on a few problems but less burly ones. Still a bit out-of-breath warming up. Stretching session.

W - Rest. Elbow didn't ease off a bit after less aggravation on Tue. Shoulders / neck stiff and achey. Stretching session (at wall, in between belaying and watching other people climb).

T - Rest. 45 mins walk. 3-5 mins cold water punishment.

F - Active rest. 20 mins walk. A few easy moves.

S - Active rest @ Troy Quarry. 2 x E1 5c. Elbow sore because of some locky moves. Yes, even <Font 6A is problematic.

S - Back To Square Zero Day #3. Mini indoor bouldering @ Onyx. 10 warm-ups, 6 x "V4" (4 flash, 2 x 2nd go changing beta for elbow), 6 x "V5" (flash). Attempted 4 x "V6" that I stopped due to elbow risk. Tried being mindful and climbing in slow motion, carefully incrementally loading right arm on any movements. According to friends (who are usually my climbing peers and are now, distressingly, way beyond me), "You make Moose look like Ondra". Very restrictive and unable to try hard at all, but seemed to help - elbow sore but not as sore as Tuesday and definitely less sore than previous Sunday. Also felt less out-of-breath and dizzy warming up, which could be progress. Stretching session.


Sort of doing the right things and sort of managing to fool myself after 3 shit years, 3 increasingly shit months, and 3 even more shit weeks for my climbing, that it's all fine because I'm sort of doing the right things for the current shituation.


Next week STG: Ease back into activity gently. Use golfer's elbow gently.
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.