1. Climb another 25 outdoor routes before the end of the year. That way I’ll have climbed more routes this year than all of the other years I’ve been climbing put together!
2. Top Rope Kissing Moon (E3 5c) @ Wyndcliff Quarry.
3. Climb more HVS routes and lead an E1. I need to detail this more .. it’s too vague a goal at the moment.
Weather still rubbish .. very unpredictable.
- I think I went for a run on Monday.
- Short bouldering session at the Link on Tuesday (cut short becuase I was throwing up .. bug which affected Abbey last week got round to having a go at me).
- Bouldering and leading on Thursday .. managed to dog up a soft touch, vertical 7a route leading! Whole session was pretty full on .. arrived at about 6:30pm, bouldering for 30 minutes or so, leading for 2 hrs (including a dnf on the big overhang wall on a red 6a+? route) and then 1 hour full on bouldering till 10pm.
- Low intensity run (approx 30 minutes) on Friday to finish off the week.
Weather does seem to be getting better.
Well the weather was rubbish so I’m concentrating on fitness training again (rather than trad leading) .. so in one week I:
- cycled 40 miles (fitted my handlebar raiser kit, bar ends and helmet mirror .. all in an effort to try and reduce strain on my neck)
- ran twice (long runs .. approx 45-50 minutes each)
- bouldering once, indoors at the Link, for a full on 2 hours. Not brilliant endurance but not bad considering it’s the middle of the summer and therefore the low point in my training regime. Also concentrating on footwork .. trying to put as much weight through foot holds as possible.
- indoor leading once, at Warwick Uni, for approx 2.5 hours. Got a fair few routes in, including a dodgey 6a+ (good for fear management), a seriously overhanging 6a arete (good for shoulder power) and a slabby 6C+ route (good for technique, didn’t finish but still good exercise just didnt want to damage fingers).
Two week family hols in South Devon meant climbing was curtailed some what for July. However did manage to get over to Sheeps Tor for a days worth 
Have to admit to being slightly disappointed with the quality of the rock at this Tor though .. I had been expecting finger shreading levels of grip from the granite but it was not to be. Perhaps it’s the large number of instruction based parties that seem to swarm up there on top ropes? The bouldering round the back of the Tor was much higher quality .. with grit++ levels of grip for lovely sloping holds and foot smears.
The weather had defineltly taken a turn for the worse in July .. although we got a couple of trips to Symonds during the later part of the month there where more times when the outdoor climbing in the evenings had to be cancelled. It’s got to the point where I’m now bouldering at the Link centre in Swindon again (nice to meet the guys though).
Couple of things to note;
1. My neck is really, really painfull. Even with the holiday meaning a couple of weeks off from climbing didn’t really help. It got to point where I’ve had to even raise the handlebars on my MTB to try and reduce the pain in my neck when cycling. I’ve also tried to reduce the amount of belaying as it’s v. probably the cause of this bloody annoying pain .. indoor belaying is the worst becuase there’s so much more of it. I’ve been to my GP and he’s referred me to a phsyio. We’ll see.
2. Ona more positive note .. after almost top roping a 5c route on Sheeps Tor I reckon I’ve discovered a weakness in my climbing that I can actually work on. I reckon I need to concentrate on tranfering more weight onto my feet when climbing .. also need to hang on less with my fingers. It’s a technique thing that I can work on it should improve my over all climbing (apart from perhaps overhanging stuff).
As for other forms of training; not done any cycling this month .. or running 
I blame it on the holiday, my sore neck and some rubbish weather.
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