9th day on and counting!

The weather has been poor, to say the least and Paxti is a massive beast so I thought I would try training lots and lots, and lots and lots; obviously not to the same intensity as Paxti. It seems to be going quite well and I am enjoying the hard work, my body seems to be realising that my mind is not going to relent and actually climbing quite well! I feel strong and I am hoping that fitness will improve just because my body is not getting much rest!

The past 9 days have involved a mixture of board climbing, fingerboarding, campussing, weights, core, general climbing and shock horror even a few times on the grit!! As long as you keep changing up what your doing the body seems to be able to cope. If the fingers feel tired then weights and core give them a rest etc.

My other inspiration at the moment is Malc, I watched his Pro Tips the other day (yes the one with the subtitles) and since then I have been trying to climb as open and basic as possible. My style is naturally quite flick and jump orientated, so big locks and no gay legs is hard but I am seeing a definite improvement.

I managed a sneaky hour at Almscliff on Saturday before the sun went down. I haven't been there for ages and wanted to see if I still had all the old problems on lock down. The circuit consisted of the Bulb (V10), the Keel (V8), Matts Roof (V9), Dolphin Belly Slap (V6) and Demon Wall Roof (V7). The last two were climbed in the dark and it felt nice to still be able to complete these boulders with some ease.

I also witnessed Tom Peckitt (the boy is a beast) make the 5th ascent of Cherry Falls, a very hard 8a+ put up by Clifford aeons ago. The Problem is very cool and basic for grit but it revolves around a very sharp crimp, I would like to put some time into it but not sure my skin will agree or my wallet (petrol what a bitch)!

Yesterday I awoke to blue skies and sun. Although I wanted to train I headed out for a session at Burbage North. I am quite content to just get out on the grit at the moment and tick through some things I should have done. Also the main focus is on training for Font in January and climbing on the grit will keep up my attempt at technique. With this in mind I headed out to try Blind Fig, unfortunately this would have involved some deep water soloing! Not to be discouraged I went over to try Striker. A hard V10 that has seen very few ascents (Moon, Pearson and Adams?). I suppose it would be described as a dyno but its a funky one. Pulling on with a block undercut and a crimp, you smear your feet high up the wall and go to a 5mm index finger shot hole. By crimping the shot hole you raise your body and then go again for a slopey break, as you catch this only your left hand stays in contact with the rock! After ripping a vertical split over an inch long in my finger, I taped it up and managed to send the problem!! Very pleased, a brilliant couple of moves and one off my to-do list.

I then headed inside for a board session, my skin hurt and so I concentrated on big lockie moves between good holds, staying open at all times of course. Weights and core today, with team training in Newcastle at the weekend, sure Earl with have some nasty things instore for us!