Tuesday
Lifting:
Squat, high bar, 4 sets of 7, 70 kgs
Bench, 3 sets of 5, 50 kgs
I tried hangboarding, but it felt like my fingers would fall off, so I guess I'd not recovered from Monday's climbing.

Wednesday
I meant to go climbing, but I cooked a chicken spinach curry that took longer than I anticipated, so wouldn't have had time for a decent session. I went for a walk instead, doing 11 miles.

Thursday
Climbing, I went to CroyWall for the first time in a while. It was not a bad session; I got a shedload of v3s and 1 v4. It was not outstanding, though; I'll try to go back soon as there's some stuff I want to retry, 2 hour session.

I went caving for the weekend.
Saturday
SRT training. This was advertised as advanced, to have rescue practice. But a bunch of beginners turned up. So I a mainly practiced on my own. I went up and down loads, and got decent rebelay practice in amongst other things.

It didn't go quite as well for done of the newbies. Two got stuck at the rebelay, one needing a ladder to rescue him. A lass's harness didn't really fit, so she only went up one thing.

I had fun, though, and improved my skills, so it was good

Sunday
Caving. I had two beginners I was leading, so I did Notts 2. I didn't want to rig SRT; and I wasn't confident in my ability to sort out issues with the newbies SRT. That left limited choices.

It was lovely; a truly stunning cave. I got a little cold after getting drenched in a climb down a forceful waterfall into waist deep water. But I managed to move quickly from then, so stayed warm enough to continue.

4 hour trip.

Here is me relaxing in a squeeze machine post training:

Tuesday
Climbing. 2 hours. I was a bit disappointed in the session. I guess it wasn't bad; I got two new v4s and vast horde of v3s. It was all really hard, I didn't flash anything; one the v4s took about 20 goes. This one was about 10 moves, which is long by my bouldering standards.

Thursday
Climbing.
2.75 hours
Again, my flashing skills were poor. However. I did get 3 new 6B routes. One took me about 20 goes; I fell off the top a lot. (The top wasn't hard, but it was also very long. So I was always pumped when I got there.) Good fun. M

My slab climbing seems to be pretty strong at the moment. Another new route only had about 3 holds, but in my previous 7 sessions I couldn't work out how to start it. (I was trying to dyno ti a poor thumb catch; by shifting my feet against the volume I could do the move slowly.)

Saturday
I went to Vaux East, my first time there in a while. It was a bonkers good session. I got 3 v4s and a shed load of v3s.

It was a long session, just under 3 hours. I was doing a v3 overhang at the end on the highest wall, with the crux at the top. I fell embarrassingly three times, and then decided to do easier stuff.

I did a hike. It was really nice. Fitbit reckons it was just over 12 miles with a little over 2,000 feet ascent.

The biggest hill takes about 20 minutes to go up. I'm not particularly fast downhill, but up hill I tend to be alright. Someone actually overtook me up this hill, which is fairly unusual. (He was a fell runner, though.)

Here is a folly:

Climbing

I went climbing. I started badly, with me falling off a super-easy v0 ladder at the start. (It was greasy, honestly!) Things quickly improved from there. I got a huge load graded v3/v4; and two graded at v4/v5. It was my first time at this gym in a long while; I'm not sure I got any of the v4/v5s before. The ones I got were probably mis-graded.

This gym (Arch Building 1 in Bermondsey) tends to set a load of modern, comp-style dyno boulders. I only tried the easier dynos (mostly in the v2/v3 range) and amazingly, I got loads.

It was good fun; 3 hour session. I got around 14 miles' walk in as well.

Thursday
My worst day climbing for a long time. I only had one shoe in my bag, so I drove home.
I decided to lift instead, doing:
Bench. 3 sets of 5, 55 kgs
Deadlift. 3 sets of 5, 120 kgs. (This is just under 2*bodyweight).
Hangboarding, my fingers were strong.

Friday
I only got 4 hours sleep, as we had a 8 hour drive to Cornwall. We arrived at 2.30 p m, in time for a quick shore dive. I took a newer diver in, who breathed a lot, so it was 28 minutes; 12 metres. Loads of mating spider crabs

Saturday
We were blown out from diving. Instead, we did a hike from the caravan park to Lizard Point, mainland Britain's most southerly point. It was nice, the weather was good (except for the pesky Easterlies).
17 miles, with plenty of up and down.

Sunday
It was a bit blowy initially, but the wind eventually shifted to Southerlies and the waves fell. I initially acted as shore cover (getting in and out was still a little hairy). Then I jumped on a boat, and we dived the Helford river.

It was nice: visibility was about 3 metres; water temperature about 11 Centigrade. We had a 53 minute dive at 11 metres.

Monday
We didn't get any diving in, as the lad I cadged a lift from had a flight the next day. I did finally pick up my magnetometer, so I can do a spot of exploratory wreck diving from now.

Tuesday
Climbing, 2.25 hours.
Decent session, I got two new 6bs and session flashed loads I had struggled with before.

I don't know if I mentioned it ITT, but I handed my notice in recently. My current job has too much admin, and whilst the core work is fun, around 2/3 of the job is admin.

My new job looks broadly admin free.

Thursday
Climbing, a slightly ridiculous 3.25 session. This started well; I got two v4s quite early. I made good progress on a v5, getting to the final hold but falling at the top. I then got pumped, and probably should have left an hour earlier. I was a bit broken by the end.

I think I may have sprained a muscle in my right glute. It hurts if I sit down for around 90 minutes or longer; so there is an obvious solution of behaving like a slightly demented squirrel on speed (although work meetings and long car journeys interfere with that.)

Friday
Climbing. 90 minutes. After my mammoth effort on Thursday, I expected to climb poorly. I did (I got a few v3s but no v4s,.)

Saturday
Hike, 22 miles. It was nice. I went after lunch, and forgot to stop (other than peeing twice.,)

I went to Bushy Park. Oddly, there were no deer. Here is Wren's Diana:


Sunday
Climbing. 2.5 hours. I was poor. Again, I got some v3s but no v4s.

Monday
I went to SRT training in Reigate. It was good; I got quite a few ascents and descents in; there were nice feature like a few rebelays; and one ascent to descent changeover.

The changeover was the hardest; it was pretty straightforward to switch onto the short cowstail and the descender; however getting the pressure off the cowstail so I could unattach it took a while. I initially tried a one-arm pull-up, which I'm nowhere near strong enough for. I eventually figured it out, allowing for my weakness:

• I attached the ascender again (hand jammer not chest jammer).
• I stood up in the footloop and moved the descender up so it would eventually take the strain.
• I hard locked the descender.
• I then stood up again which let me remove the cowstails.
• I laid back, which moved the pressure onto the descender, so I could unattach the ascender and get on my way.

Monday
Climbing, 2.25 hours.
I went back to VauxWest, where I had the poor session on Saturday. This session was decent, I was climbing way better. I've not checked the grades on Griptonite yet, but I got 4 in the v3-v5 bucket.

Thursday
Climbing, 2.25 hours.
Mixed, I was good on slab but lacked power on overhang.

Saturday
Caving.
I did a really fun trip, 7.5 hours total. We did the Croesor-Rhosydd Slate Mine through trip in North Wales. It had quite a lot of SRT, and a zip line. One of the abseils led to a canoe to get over a lake.

Here is me on a pitch.

Sunday
We walked around a slate mine. This was pretty chilled, and a lot less exercise than Saturday. It was interesting looking at the industrial detritus. I ended up on around 8 miles walk in total, so it was not a strenuous day at all. (We had a 6 hour drive to get home, which constrained how long we could spend in the mine.)

It was a nice change of pace to normal caving, but I do seem to prefer the odd bit of terror and discomfort to this.


Tuesday
I went climbing after work. I was actually in the office. I chose to use a gym about three miles walk from the office; so I ended up on 11 miles walk total for the day. The session was 3.5 hours; I left when the gym threw me out. I could barely walk at this point, so I was close to calling it a day myself.

It was a very good session. A young person kept on telling me I had the wrong route on a particular climb (I was doing an unlikely looking dyno to a thumb catch; he felt it was better statically.) I got my beta to work; the static route looked long and hard to me. I got quite a few v4s; and close but no cigar on a v5.

I may have overdone it; I am a bit destroyed today. (Fitbit reckons it was 3.600 calories out, which is on the high side for a work day. Fitbit lies; but the direction of its MI can be useful).

Friday
Climbing. 2 hours. This was very good, I got loads of stuff. My scary balance-y slab stuff was good; my dynos and thuggy overhangs were also good.

It was odd. I slept badly and had to drag myself to the gym. I was glad I did.

Some minor trivia was that the gym played Nirvana, who I saw live supporting Tad in 1989.

Some other is that I may not quit; work have made a counter offer which sounds fun.

Saturday
Lifting.
Hangboarding, which was good. I got 6 second repeaters on my smallest ledge.
OHP, 3 sets of 5, 35 kgs.
DL, 75 kgs. 3 sets of 10.

I also got about 15 miles' walk done

Sunday
Whilst not exercise, I played in a Go tournament. I prefer caving, diving and climbing these days, so I am very out of practice. Nevertheless, I won with 4 wins out of 4. An interesting feature was that I played lightning, which meant I went for long walks between rounds. I was on 20,000 steps by the start of the final round.

I went climbing afterwards. I am old and unfit, so I only lasted 2 hours. It was good. I got lots of v4.

What's your rating? I got up to 13-14kyu, but I don't stick with it long enough to make any meaningful progress. I haven't played in a year.

I'm European 5 Dan (there are regional variations, that is probably 6 Dan US). I probably reached 6 Dan strength at my peak, but my rating lagged a bit.

Today, I lifted weights. It was a bit of a struggle:

Jump rope to warm up.
OHP 3 sets of 4, 35 kgs
Finger curls 3 sets of 10, 60 kgs
Front squat 3 sets of 5, 50 kgs

I then did a hike; 25 km.

Wednesday
Climbing, 3.5 hours (!). Not a bad session; not outstanding but pretty solid. I didn't get any v5s but got a few v4s.

I was still pumped when I woke up this morning.

Saturday
Scuba diving.
We did the Caratan (30 metres.) My drsuit flooded, do it was a bit nippy. 35 minute dive (I was on quite a duff mix; I had 5 mins of deco even with short a dive.)

Then we did the Kyarra, a South Coast classic. This is around 26m; we did 45 mins (no devo, as I was on 32% nitrox.) Lovely dive


Sunday
We didn't have any diving; so we did a spot of outdoor bouldering. Great fun, would recommend. I got a few v2s, and made a bit of progress on a v4.

Tuesday
Climbing, 2 hours. I was terrible. I barely got any v3s, and v4s were way beyond my ability.

Stats update:
Weight: 142 pounds
Waist: 27 inches
BP: 110/70.

Plus ca change...

Caving pics are awesome. But terrifying.

The truly terrifying one was when I started to slip in Maypole inlet. That easily could have gone awry.

I went scuba diving this weekend.

The first dive was the HMS M2; a submarine with a plane hanger and launching mechanism. She sank with all hands in the 1930s.

Our shot line is a bit ropey, and not heavy enough. So it got pulled off the wreck. We spent the first 15 minute desparately swimming against the currentt, praying to see the wreck. Amazingly, we found it and spent 15 minutes going from the stern to bow. There were many conger. Visibility was OK despite a plankton bloom, at maybe 5 metres.

I was on nitrox 32%, but my buddy was on air. The bottom is 34 metres, so right at the MOD for my mix.

I picked up a couple of minutes's deco; my buddy had 16 minutes. So it turned into quite a long dive; at 53 minutes.

My drysuit had a total flood. It turned out to be due to a hole, so that was my only dive of the trip.
I went climbing on Monday.
I guess it was a good session. I got two v4s, and many v3s. Most things were a struggle. The first v4 only took about 5 goes; the second took about 20. 3.5 hour session.

Yesterday was broadly a rest day. I've started a random idea of doing low intensity hangboarding twice a day, so I did that.

Today was climbing. It was brilliant, I got loads of new routes .The session was just 1 hour 50 minutes; the gym threw me out at the end due to it closing.