drmwc Member

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…

It's odd how personalised weight is. I'm also 5 foot 10, but I was really unhealthy at 180-ish pounds. I cut to 140-ish 4 years ago, and have hovered at that level ever since. (I'm currently 142; my highest in the period was 147 and my lowest was 139.) The annoying thing about the loss is feeling the cold a lot more; and…

Sunday 4 hour trip. There was one utterly terrifying down climb with no holds at all, above a 35 foot drop. I may plop in a hand line when I do it again, although it may be better with a different route. (I came up a different way; under a boulder rather than over, which was fine.) This led to the streaway, which was truly…

Sunday 4 hour trip. There was one utterly terrifying down climb with no holds at all, above a 35 foot drop. I may plop in a hand line when I do it again, although it may be better with a different route. (I came up a different way; under a boulder rather than over, which was fine.) This led to the streaway, which was truly…

Caving, a 5 hour trip. It was fun, we found some bits of OFD I'd not been to before. There was a lot of climbing. I slipped at one point and started to unexpectedly move down a steep slope. I spead-eagled and stopped the fall, to my relief.

The last move was actually really easy - it wasn't too far, and was to a jug. This was a really short boulder - it only had about 4 moves. I found 2 of them hard, though, as they were beyond reach and needed dynamic movement.

Climbing, 2.5 hours. It was an odd session. I ended up doing quite well, but everything was hard. Some climbs took me many, many goes. The highlight was a dyno. A vast horde of youngsters tried it many times; none of them got it. I (eventually) sent it. I went a different route to them. They all did a full jump with both…

I went climbing for 3 hours. It was good fun. It was a gym I hadn't been to for a while. I was in pretty good form, getting a few v4s (this gym grades relatively tough.) .

I went climbing yesterday. It was a 3 hour session where I went flat out, and could barely walk at the end. It was fun, I got a few v4s. Oddly, I sent a load of stuff right at the end whilst super pumped.

I came back from my diving trip yesterday. I got a puncture en route, which was a bit annoying given it's a 550 mile trip and I don't have a spare. The upside is that while waiting for the repair I got to do tourist stuff in Dumbarton; I went for a walk, went to the castle and went to a marine museum. I got around 11 miles…

I spent the week diving on the Isle of Mull in North West Scotland. It was lovely. One expects terrible weather at this time of year. In fact, we had sunshine every day, very little wind, very little snow, and very little rain. Air temperature was typically 6 Celsius; water temperature 8 Celsius. 12 dives (2 a day); max…

I am skeptical about the VO2 max my Fitbit estimates for me. It claims 56 ml/kg/min, which would make me kind of elite for a 50-ish year old. I'm definitely not, although I do like moving around. I've missed logging a bit: Monday SRT practice; it was busy at the pretend cave and I was training others so I didn't get much…

Wednesday Climbing, 2.5 hour session. I was terrible. I probably should have moved onto slab early on as I got pumped quickly, but I spent my time on silly overhangs. Saturday Caving GB cave in the Mendips. It was about a 4 hour trip; a very pleasant gentle bimble. We saw most of the cave. There is one bit that needs a…

Sunday I lifted, doing:* Bench: 3 sets of 5, 60 kgs. It looks like this is the heaviest I've done for a while. Lol I'm weak. At least I can still bench bodyweight (I am currently 64 kgs, 141 pounds). * Squat High bar: 3 set of 5, 80 kgs. * Hangboarding * Pull-ups: A shed load. Monday Climbing. It was fun. The gym had…

I live the Peak District. I live on London now, so I don't go there that often these days. I was at a loose end yesterday, so I got just over 26 miles in on the South Coast Path.

I did a walk today. We went from Hove to Seaford then back to Newhaven. It ended up being just over 26 miles in total. I don't often get marathon distances in, so job's a good'un.

I went climbing in a 3 hour session. I was terrible, I barely got anything. The rare highlights were:* A terrifying slab v4. The crux was the last move; the trick was to just jump and pray, which worked fine once I worked up the courage. * A dyno overhaning v3, with the dyno on the second move. Not many people seemed to…

Climbing. A decent session, 2.75 hours. I got two v4s. I spent a long time on a v5, where's I got to the final move. Unfortunately, that was the crux. (You have poor feet, and your hands on a poor crimp facing the wrong direction. You somehow need to reach the arrete from here. Once you've done that, it's easy. But I never…

I went scuba diving this weekend. Saturday We were in a group of three. I was slightly away from the others at the start. I couldn't see them as I descended (visibility was about 20 centimetres). So I swam around for a bit, still didn't find them, and slowly came up. 12 minute dive. They were at the top of the shot, so we…

Wednesday Climbing. 2.5 hours I started really well, but faded. That said I did get a 6b+ slab at the end. It was petrifying, and took about 10 attempts. (I never got close before.) Friday Lifting Front squat, 65 kgs, 3x5. Bench, 55 kgs. 3x6 Deadlift, 100kgs, 2x5. Hangboarding, which was good. My fingers are stronk at the…

Climbing, 2.5 hours. Decent session, I got about 4 new routes. I flashed a couple of them. I got closer in a couple of projects. I decided to go for a short walk immediately afterwards, as a warmdown. I got lost so it turned into a 7 mile effort.

Wednesday I went to a ceilidh for Burn's night. It was fun. The dancing was minor anarchy. I ended up on 35,000 steps for the day. It was good fun, would do again. Friday Climbing. A slight ridiculous flat out 3 hour session. I could barely walk afterwards. It was good fun, I would do again.

I went climbing on Monday. It was terrible; I lacked power. The hardest thing I got ,ay have only been 6a, although a couple of 6bs may have snuck in on slab. I did a walk yesterday, which is standard and I normally don't log. But I got bored and cold, so it included a 3k run, mainly up a hill.

I got two climbs at my normal climbing graded higher than I've managed before. (This gym has 5 buckets of grades, easy; intermediate; hard; very hard; and crank.) These climbs were very hard (which is 6c to 7a font grading, or v5 to v6 in the v scale.) There's no way I'm a v6 climber, so my best estimate is they were v5,…

I went caving at the weekend. On Saturday, we did Craig Y Ffynnon. There were 9 of us, including 3 beginners, so we didn't far into the cave. It's odd, I'm definitely not super-fit for caving; but the trip struck me quite a gentle bimble. (It was only for about 4 hours. There was quite a lot of narrow crawling, though, and…

Wednesday Climbing, Not a bad session, not a great session. I got some really silly balance-y slabby stuff, which is always a bit terrifying. I also got a climb that needed decent flexibility (you needed high feet on the same holds as your hands at a few points.) Thursday Lifting, doing:* Jump-rope warm up. * Bench, 3 sets…

I had a week's scuba diving on a liveaboard in Egypt. It was lovely. The highlights were: 1) The Salem Express, a wreck. We penetrated deep into the engine room. There was no natural light, and it was a bit of a maze. So there was some risk. I was on a twin-set which mitigates a lot of the risk. 2) The Thistlegorm, one of…

Climbing, 2 hours. This was pretty decent. I got three new routes and quite a few repeats. One of the new ones was a terrifying slab; a balance stretch type thing with tiny, negative holds a long way apart. I got quite pumped at the end, as I spent quite a lot of time playing on dyno-y, thuggy, overhangs.

Thanks both. @mtaratoot - most of my diving is cold water, although the UK can get as high as 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) in August or September. The coldest I've done this year was 4 Celsius (39 Fahrenheit). I did over an hour's dive in that, and my drysuit leaked a bit, so it was not the nicest. I've got dry gloves…

On another note, Dave MacLeod, an elite Scottish climber, believes that the keto diet was useful for his depression. He did a TLDR video on it, which is very detailed. (Disclaimer: I don't use keto myself, as I like some carbs.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9dtfNZahKw