Saturday
I went climbing. I went to Arch, a gym I've not been to since before lockdown. It was really good fun. I lasted a slightly ridiculous 2.5 hours. It was good. Consistent with all the other London gym, the route setting has got easier over the last couple of years. (Or I've got better. But I prefer the routes getting easier hypothesis.) I got a couple of v4/v5 graded climbs, which I'd have never managed before.

The gym is in East London near the Thames, so I decided to stroll down the Thames to get to Waterloo to come home, and I also got 15 miles's walk in.

Sunday
I did a hike. It was perfect weather for it - around 20 Celsius with slight cloud cover. I did 16 miles with many, many hills (probably around 3,000 feet ascent in total.) It was very nice.

Tuesday
I had an active recovery day, doing 8 miles' walk and spot of light lifting:
Front squat, 50 kgs, 1 set of 5
Deadlift, 100 kgs, 1 set of 5
Hangboarding

Wednesday
I went climbing. The gym was hot.

I started off really badly, falling off nearly everything. The session improved with time, and I sent a couple of new, harder routes towards the end. Maybe I should have warmed up a bit. It was a 100 minute session, ending when the gym threw me out.

Thursday
Lifting, doing:
Hangboarding
HBBS, 3 sets of 75 kgs
Bench, 3 sets of 55 kg.
It may be tiny weights, but the bar moved quickly and I didn't rest much between sets.

Friday
14 miles' walk.

Saturday
I was due to have a sedentary day yesterday. (I played in my first live Go tournament since lockdown.) There seemed to be a climbing gym next to the venue, so I fixed the sendetariness by giving it a visit. I lasted 2.5 hours in a fairly brutal session. I got quite a lot of hard routes, but could barely walk afterwards. It was good fun. I got some hard (by my own low standards) routes.

Sunday
I was broken after Saturday's efforts, so I was relatively sedentary. I beat a pro 9 Dan Go player with a 2 stone headstart, which is one of my better results. I got 8 miles' walk in.

Monday
I got a bit over-enthusiastic on my post-work walk, doing 11 miles.

Tuesday
I lifted weights, doing:
Bench, 3 sets of 5, 55 kgs. I then tried 60 kgs, which proved to be too ambitious. I am weak.
Deadlift, 2 sets of 6, 120 kgs
Hangboarding.

Wednesday
I climbed, lasting 2 hours. (I was very tempted to stay a bit longer, as I left half an hour before the gym shut. But I had some work to do, unfortunately.)

It was very fun. I got a couple of new routes, and repeated a lot of earlier sends.

I also got 8 miles' walking done.

General update
Weight: 144 pounds. I've done a mini-cut recently as it drifted up to 147 pounds, but now I can start eating normally again.

I had a cholesterol check recently. The numbers were:
3.25 mmol/l total (125.7 in mg/dl, pretty low)
1.42 mmol/l total (54.9 in mg/dl, maybe very slightly low but accaptabe)
2.3 Total/HDL ratio (decent, target is below 5).

BP 105/60.

Saturday
I went caving. We did Pwll Dwnr. It is a cave needing SRT - rope technique. There are 5 pitches, totalling 93 metres. It was hard work, taking 3 of us 4.5 hours. The cave is at the top of a large hill or small mountain, so getting there was work.

I got stuck at a rebelay for a bit. It took me 5 minutes to sortbout (I did a pistol squat off some nondescript wall, not a hold. This released enough tension that I could sort myself out.)

That was the only faff. Fitbit reckons my heart rate averaged 135 for all the 4.5 hours

Sunday
An easy caving trip, around 4 hours. We went to the Rainbow Falls in OFD1. There was nothing particularly difficult, although a few people refused to do one of the traverses. There was an easy alternative route for them with a bit of a climb.

Wednesday
I went climbing. It was a short session, 100 minutes or so.

I was in good form. I got three hard new routes, one was a project for a few weeks. My hip started to hurt at the end, which was why I cut it short. Hopefully it fixes itself soon, I assume it is muscular.

It feels better today already.

Friday
Diving, Plymouth.
The first dive was the wreck if the Maine. It was a lovely dive; 45 minutes at 30m. There was loads of life, like crayfish.

One in our group had a fast ascent from 24m. She vomitted a lot post dive. So we stuck her on o2 and sped back to get her to the pot. (She was fine; it was seasickness.)

So after dropping her off, we needed to stay relatively close to the harbour, due to it getting late. We did an OK wreck, with some life and a few congers.

Saturday
It was lumpy, so we dived the harbour fort for the first. It was great; loads of conger, lobster, blennies, nudibranch and other small things. 15m, 48 minutes.

Then it cleared up so we got out of the harbour and dived the James Egan Lane. The JEL is one of my favourite wrecks, and she was lovely. She had loads of lobster and conger, and the swim-throyghs were nice as well.

Sunday
Final day of diving. We did the wreck of the Rosehill, 30m; 45 minute dive. It was the first time I had done this. It was nice. There were loads of conger in the boilers; stacks of fish; and a few lobster. The rest of the wreck is quite broken up. We went in a search for the gun, but went to the wrong end. (I think the gun is at the stern, and we went to the pointy end. But I may have that the wrong way around.)

There were three of us on the dive (one rebreather dive; and me and another on twinsets.) We were the first in; a surface faff caused another rebreather diver to initially solo dive. He found us; some complicated hand gestures led to our rebreather diver joining him; so we ended the dive with just two of us. I had 4 minutes of deco, but my buddy had more. So we were at 6m for about 10 minutes.

The second dive was the Scylla. 20m; 50 minutes. It was lovely. We swam I side the wreck for a bit, and then enjoyed the wildlife on the top decks; which are really reefy these days. My drysuit flooded on this dive, but it was good for the other 5 of the trip

Monday
I went climbing in a 2 hour session. I started well, but faded towards the end.

I seem to have missed a few days' logging.

Friday
I went for a climb on Friday. It was fun, I was on form. 2 hour session.

I got a call from A&E at a hospital late that evening, where my brother had been admitted. So I drove to the hospital to pick him up, getting there at 1 a.m. I intended to go caving for the weekend, but replanned and spent it around my brother's instead.

Saturday
We did a very nice 12 mile hike yesterday.

Sunday
A 15 mile hike.

I went climbing yesterday. I was in average to slightly over average form, getting three new routes and getting higher on a few projects.

It was a 90 minute session (I arrived at the gym a bit later than normal.) The gym was sauna-like. It has no AC, and it was 28 Centigrade and humid. Being English, I am unused to this!

Yesterday, I went for a dive. It was nice.

We did the TR Thompson out of Brighton, a 34m wreck which is pretty broken up. My buddy went down the shot line way quicker than me, so I lost sight of him. When I got to the bottom, I initially thought the viz was terrible. It turned out that I was just confused by a shoal of bib on the wreck, and viz was around 3m, so pretty nice
It was a 40 minute dive with 4 minutes of deco.

The second dive was a drift at 15m in worse vis. There was quite a lot of wildlife. It was fun. It was also a 40 minute drive.

Today, I went for a climb. It was nice. I was in reasonable form. I lasted 2.25 hours, and was still getting hard stuff at the end.

I went climbing.

It was fun. I concentrated on overhangs for a change (normally I end up doing a lot of slab.) It was good, I actually landed some dynos for a change. 105 minutes.

Weight: 142 pounds

I organised a diving trip this weekend. The forecast was a bit sporting, so I wasn't sure what would happen, but it turned out nice again.

The first spot of good fortune was not getting COVID. The lass I climbed with the previous Sunday came down with it on Monday.

The Saturday morning plan was the Binnendyke wreck, about 27m deep. We dived it in two waves so everyone on board got a dive. There was loads of life. I got in a bit of a fight with a lobster; the lobster won so I didn't win a dinner. Viz was abou 4m, so pretty nice. There was a about a four or five foot swell coming back. My boat driving was OK by my standards, I finessed the throttle quite well for a smooth ride.

Second dive was the Landing craft, a shallow wreck. It was pretty lumpy at this point, but the wreck is nice and sheltered. Again, there was lots of life including a plaice. Viz was worse, maybe 1 to 2m.

On Sunday, the weather was worse again (gusting Force 6) . So we just dived the outside of the harbour wall where it was ultra-shelrered. I've not dived there before, and nor had any of the others onboard. I like exploration! It was a quick dive for me as my buddy's drysuit flooded.

Today, I climbed. It was cool. I got two long term projects, including a thuggy overhanging dyno. Yeah buddy! 2 hour session.

I lifted doing:
3 sets of 5, OHP, 40 kgs
Front squat, 2 sets of 5, 60kgs
Deadlift, 1 set of 5, 100kgs
Hangboarding

I missed logging a weight session and a long walk. Oh well.

Sunday
I went climbing.

It was really good fun; a 2 hour session. I was back in Norwich to visit family and it was my first time back at this gym since lockdown. I have at least moved up a grade in that period. I got pretty much all the v3s I tried. I didn't get any v4s, but got close on a couple. The grading at this gym is notoriously tough.

Tuesday
I lifted, doing:
Hangboarding. My fingers are pretty strongk at the moment.
Weighted pull up I got +25 kgs, a PR.
Bench 3 sets of 5, 50 kgs
Deadlift 2 sets of 7, 100 kgs

I only got 12k steps in, making it (I think), the most sedentary day of the year so far.

One thing I forgot to log - I drove my Mum to the beach over the weekend as she wanted to see the sunset. I naturally decided to go for a swim. As it was aa spur of the moment decision, I went in my boxers.

Normally, I last about 40 seconds, turn blue, and insist to onlookers that it's lovely once you're in. This time, it was genuinely a nice temperature, so I got a decent swim in.

Saturday
I had a list minute scuba dive. We booked on Friday, as some last minute spaces came up. It was 8.30 ropes off, from Portland, Dorset. So I left mine at 4.30 a.m.; standard faffing meant I got home at 9.30 p.m. I am getting old; I found this hard work.

The dives were lovely. We did a 30m wreck first dive. I've wanted to do it for years; I've done the seabed near it 3 times. (All of these were on our club rib. So the issue was with our shot line incompetence.) It is a massive wreck; we had a 48 minute dive on her

The second dive meant my dinner was fresh scallops. Nice! (I bought a load of frozen peas to keep them cool in my car on the trip home.)

Sunday
A 14 mile walk, followed by some lifting:
Hangboarding 10 second repeaters on my littlest ledge
Bench 3 sets of 7, 50 kgs
Deadlift 2 sets of 6, 110 kgs.

Weight: 64.5 kgs (142 pounds).

Monday
Climbing, 100 minutes. I wasn't in particularly good form. Oddly enough, I got most of the dynos I tried but would fall off further on.

Tuesday
Lifting.
Hangboarding Little ledge repeaters
Front squat 50 kgs, 3 sets of 6.
Bench 40 kgs, 4 sets of 10. I'm seeing if higher volume than I normally do is useful or not.

Wednesday
I went to scuba club, so all I managed was 13 miles walking. It was my day in the office, and I don't like lifts, so I got around 2,000 feet ascent throughout the day.

BP: 100 over 60. Weight: I've ballooned up to 145; maybe I need to cut.

Saturday
I went caving in the Yorkshire Dales. It was fun.

The cave we did was half way up a mountain, so a 90 minute walk to get to. We aimed to go down Marilyn and into the main pot of Gaping Gill. We got lost, and ended up in Disappointment Pot instead. We went through a very tiny hole in both directions, where 3 out 4 of us got stuck for a bit. We came back out Marilyn.

Including the hike, it was around an 11 hour trip. Fitbit reckoned the endeavour was exercise, saying calories out for the day was 5k.

Sunday
Only 2 of us were up for caving. We did a short, simple trip around Notts 2. It is a lovely cave, very pretty. The entrance is a 50m scaffold climb, which was only recently dug.

It was a 3 hour trip. Then I had a 6.5 hour drive to get home.

Monday I didn't really exercise much on Monday, as I drove to Norwich after work. I did get 12k steps in, at least.

Tuesday was my Dad's memorial. I managed more steps (24K) and got a quick kettlebell workout with a 24 kgs wieght (100 swings; 15 goblet squats.)

Wednesday I went climbing . It was a 2 hour session, good fun. I wasn't in very good form. The gym was bonkers humid, and I struggled with grip. I did get one v4.

And I've got the Rona. It seems mild so far.

I was due to go to Norway on Sunday, for some scuba diving, so the timing could be better.

Rona has not been too bad for me. I sneezed twice on Friday; I felt more sleepy than normal. I dealt with the sleepiness by getting 10 to 11 hours of uninterrupted snooze each night. I did a 13 mile walk yesterday.

Others at Dad's memorial have not been so lucky. One cannot move, and does not qualify for anti-virals. Another is very ill indeed. Something like 17 out if 40 guests got infected.

I tested negative on Friday. Hooray!

On Saturday. I celebrated by going for a climb. I wasn't brilliant, but I wasn't terrible either. It was a slightly bonker 2.45 hours session. I was broken afterwards.

On Sunday , I went for a walk. I got lost, so it was 24 miles (8 hours; I didn't stop.) It was lovely, Bushy Park was very picturesque.



Today, I went climbing. Again, I was in average form. It was fun, 90 minute session.

Of the 40 guests at Dad's memorial, 17 got COVID. The average was 70, so it was a vulnerable population. One if the people who got it had a minor stroke.

I lifted yesterday. I had to cut the session short as I met up with a friend, I had time for:
Hangboarding, My fingers are strong.
Pull-ups, 3 sets of 10. These were hard, I am weak.
Push-ups, 4 sets of 25. These were hard.
Bench, 3 sets of 3, 50 kgs. This was hard.

I'll blame the Rona for weakness, it was my first session with a barbell in a while.

Weight: 141 pounds.