Put up a really nice new line called “The Rule of Two” prob in the v8 range. It goes up there with one of the best problems i’ve done.

There is likely to be another easier line up the arete but the fall from there would be bad, hence the pad leaned into a tree over the edge….

Lesh also put up 2 FA’s (we think) in the v3 region

Huge scope for more bouldering out that way so am looking forward to getting back  out there.

In other news beast kong went out to froggat to send Tombstone today. Finger crossed taht he did it!

Had a fantastic time, after we get back from easter we will post something up a little more informative.

Highlights

Lesh

Aktifit 7a (Flash)

Tetto Baz 7a+

Dr Multifit 7b

Liam

Powerstrips V9 (flash)

Fairplay 7c+

Schlonziges wiener Schmankerl 8a

Today was a very special day for us.

Aleshia climbed her FIRST 7a+(v7) called Tetto Baz and I flashed my first 7c (v9) Powerstrips. This place is amazing! only 2 more days left on our trip then back home.

More news soon!

Since our last post we have done a trip to Christchurch, Put up a few new things at Froggat, helped Ness from Motiv but out a new guide for froggatt and plan our trip to Switzerland!

Christchurch was a relatively productive trip considering the amount of rain and heat we got.

I managed to do Che Guevara on my first day then proceeded to wander around and look far what i thought may be good for the trip.

I tried a number of lines but got hammered by the heat and rain but had a window of great temps where I got Fierce Crimpy done and then Ideal on my last day.

Lesh got her first CH 6 with Skin and Bone and pulled through the crux of tricky but being unable to top out after pulling over the lip . Was pretty cool seeing her pull through a section of climbing that took me a couple of years to get when I first came down to chch.

We both had a great trip with Lesh adding a few more 5′s and 4′s to her name (and flashing both 4′s)

 We got a heap of easier problems done though (50 in total), was a nice way to spend Christmas and New Year.

Froggat Comp was awesome, great work by everyone involved, I haven’t had to climb that much in a long time, was happy with my repeat of Chewing Nurofen but was unable to repeat Mr Meaner (punter) and Duck Fat so had to settle for 3rd place.The comp was taken out by a visiting Swiss dude! love it when that hapens.

Lesh didn’t compete, but did spend a little bit of time on her project “Chewing Neurofen” making good progress, its just coming down to trusting a horrible pocket!

We have also just been hanging around Wharepapa searching out any noew potential (of which there is a bit) and trying to get a decenct amount of rock time. have put up a couple of new probs out there now, most recently “Crybaby” 7b which is a cool sit start on sharp sharp holds just down from “ouch” on the pond boulder. After I sent it Lesh had had enough of trying “ouch” and had a few cracks on my new problem and got close. Its disappointing running out of time on projects you want to do before a trip but thats the way it goes, hopefully she’ll get it done when we get back! I also have spent a couple of short sessions on my Arete Proj, haven’t sent yet but worked out my crux move and now its really doable for short people as well. Hopefully, if its not done when I get back i’ll send it quickly. Not super hard, but tricky enough to stump you for a bit I think.

On a more exciting note, Lesh and I have 10 days in the Ticino valley on the 16th of March.  the ticklist is ready but having no idea what it is going to be like over there. Who knows how we will do! We have been training pretty hard though and will have rest week before we go so hopefully we will be in good form! We are just looking forward to getting overseas and trying some new stuff!

Will have many pictures for you after the trip, and I promise you won’t have to wait so long next time for an update!

So in my eating plan carbohydrates from breads/oats/rice are eaten in the AM and are cut out after lunch. This is so the carbohydrates than I have eaten are burned off during the day and that my body will use fats for energy (instead of carbs) and my unneeded body fat.

I am on this eating plan for about 3 more weeks, and tomorrow (7th February) I get my measurements done, so we will see then what the results show. The aim is to build muscle (gain weight) and to keep body fat around the same.

I have to eat way more vegetables, oils, meats and eggs than I have ever had before!

My meals for a typical day are like this:

Breakfast: Porridge made with wholegrain oats, a few egg whites, a scoop of whey protein powder and sprinkle of blueberries, flaxseed oil.

M.Tea: Protein Shake made with cottage cheese, whey protein powder, flaxseed oil, frozen mixed berries. Also a coffee.

Lunch: Huge leafy salad or stir fry with lots of chicken, any sauces, flaxseed oil, and some brown rice.

Af.Tea: Leafy salad or stir fry vegetables with canned flavored tuna or chicken.

2nd Af. Tea: Protein pancake or shake with cottage cheese.

Dinner: Any meat (usually chicken or a good steak) with lots of vegetables and a yummy sauce. This is better planned and less boring than my other meals.

Before bed: Protein shake with cottage cheese and flaxseed oil and some walnuts.

7th Feb 2012 

IF you wanna know how it went today…

Apparently I have put on 1 kg of muscle…not as much as I hoped, but muscle takes time. I have also lost some body fat, so I’m down to 10% b.f now (from 14%) it all went from my stomach. SO! That is interesting…. who would have thought I would lose fat on a strict low carb diet HAHAHA. Well I gotta say it does have its perks- I get to eat any fatty meats and have everything deep fried wooooh! (Minus the batter of course–carbs).

I do wonder though….It could be dodgy. My weight does fluctuate up to about 4kg up or down at different times of the day (there is research that this is normal) so maybe my lunch was a little big and I am actually lighter, and so have LOST muscle… who knows! Guess we will see what my next measurements are next time on the 28th Feb….

“A weight fluctuation of three to five pounds over the course of a day is completely normal and doesn’t suggest that you’ve gained weight. It could be the amount of fluids you’ve consumed or (how to put this?) the status of your digestive processes” http://news.softpedia.com/news/Weight-Fluctuations-Throughout-the-Day-Are-Normal-107336.shtml. )

2 shots of coffee

1 banana

1 tbsp peanut butter

ice cubes

30g scoop chocolate whey protein powder

1 cup soy milk (I use vitasoy original light)

Whizz all ingrediants together in a blender and pour into a tall glass

Shake 2: Kind of tastes a little like a Pina Colada…

1 cup of water (or soy milk)

ice cubes

30g scoop of vanilla whey protein powder

1/3 cusp pineapple chunks

2 tsp. coconut extract

Whizz all ingrediants together in a blender and pour into a tall glass

Shake 3: This is a recipe for a shake that my PT gave me. Its yummy, thick and creamy.

1/2 cup water (add more if you want it less thick)

3 tbsp cottage cheese lite

1/4 cup mixed frozen berries

1 tbsp flaxseed oil

30g whey protein powder (I like the chocolate flavor for this)

Whizz all ingrediants together in a blender and pour into a tall glass. 

Currently we have been focusing a lot on finger board, namely because i want to send Col’s Traverse aka “paper tiger” and that seems to be what it is coming down to.  I assure you when I send it you guys wll know about it and I’ll hopefully have some footage of it to put up. We have ventured out a few times over the last few weeks and I have spent about 2 days on the problem so far. I have every move wired it now just is coming down to a confidence thing, that and a little fear of success.  Hopefully after a few more weeks of training I can send it in the new year!

Have been becoming increasingly frustrated at the Froggat guide, I recently did a problem called “Seeing the light” supposedly 7b, it is nails, confirmed by James FM who believes it to be “The Mission” 7c.  Apparently a few strong Hamilton locals have done it and so I am staying with the idea that it is called seeing the light. Its a fantastic problem the best 3 moves I’ve done for a while, I thoroughly enjoyed the problem.

I also tried wht i thought was “The Mission” but it must be an eliminate as what I climbed (below) was lots of fun to climb but probably about a 6

Aleshia has been making good progress and is coming frustratingly close to sending “stretched out” 7b, she is climbing quite well but suffering from the lack of variety and exposure to different rock and problems but hopefully in the coming weeks we can go somewhere a bit different!

On another far more exciting note,with a little help from MOTIV, I have found a new area that fingers crossed will allow for some summer bouldering.  First reccie looks promising and when we head back out in January it should yield a few harder lines.

Hope everyone has a great christmas and make sure you “like” MOTIV Stuff on Facebook to get the promo code for the Christmas Specials!!!!

I’m currently thinking about how i can keep this site updated without having to directly replicate what I write down on my daily basis so here is a brief overview of what I have and am doing now

Climbing

I recently reset my Moonboard and have a number of problems ranging from 60% through to 150% of my max.

I am doing sets of about 3-4 attempts on each problem

I also have added 2 circuits onto our 20 degree wall in an effort to build a little more movement into my climbing and some power endurance. this seems to be working nicely.

Recently I have been campusing and focusing less on finger strength due to a small niggle in my left ring finger which has lead to a small issue in my middle finger.

These are coming right ow with the issue no longer affecting my climbing however I have found a distinct lack of strength in the now healed ring finger. So I have begun another round of finger strength training on my beast maker and new home made finger system.

This will consist of 2 – 3 finger session a week 1 of them being dead hangs and 1 arm pullups on small holds that are far above what I can currently hold and only achieved by taking weight off through a pulley system

The other session will consist of repeaters and encores over about 8 different grips

Gym

My quest to get back to my former levels of strength of last summer at my now 11 kg lighter frame is going well.  Most recently I am back to 40 kg dumbells @ 8 reps in each arm flat and decline benche, only 2.5 kg off where i was a year ago

My back workouts are going well and exceeding everything i was doing this time last year including 47.5 1 arm rows @ 10 reps

I am also attempting to up my running to hit my 3 runs a week with my bench mark of 5 x 3min intervals @ 12k an hour and then finishing of 5 k. Currently I am at a 3 interval mark and only able to run out 4k haha

I am currently re-evaluating how i will train for the next 6 weeks with Aleshia so watch this space and hopefully I’ll have thought of a way to update this diary better too

Train Hard Everyone

Now doesn’t that sound fancy!

Motiv has also seen fit to bring Stoo into the mix too. Exciting!

In less exciting news it looks like its raining everywhere so maybe just a weekend of training and or resting up as its only 5 months until the good conditions in NZ & Oz return!

The next day we drove another 1 ½ hours to Turakirae Head for some bouldering!

We parked up and walked for 45 min to get to the boulders! Possibly a little further than the guide implies….. On the way I drank a bit too much water and the search for a boulder without gorse was a little difficult, so that was unfortunate.

Liam found the guide to be difficult and navigating the climbs consisted of walking through a jungle of uncooperative flax, grass and boulders. It made you think everything was a bit of a walk away when really it was 20m away from you! Definitely needs a scale or something!

I threw my boulder mat around quite a bit during this time. But we found the boulders we wanted and Liam and Matt did Tyrant 7c? (maybe easier) while I paparazzied around.

Vanessa sunbathed on the boulder mats and gave us beta…

She is climbing cripple at the moment after having shoulder re-construction. It was sad not having another girl to climb with… fingers crossed she’ll be back on the rock soon. After I scoffed all the food we brought I tried Kash and Karry (7a) and Rotund (6c+) I did Kish Kash.

I was a bit disappointed with my performance on the rock, I seem to be lacking in power endurance (though the problems are longer than the ones I’m used to at Froggat).

Liam did so well (maybe because I was being a good cheerleader) making good progress on Allison Wonderland 8a and has got his sequence down, just needs enough power to link and will do it next time fo sure.

Matty made good progress on Fatal Discharge 8a and hopefully will get it done in the next few weeks, IF the rain stops.

The next day I was sick L with some kind of stomach bug? and had to watch everyone down pizza for lunch while I ate Sorbet – by the way the Mediterranean Food Warehouse (42 Constable St Wellington) make great pizza and sorbet.

All in all, our thoughts about the trip are that the rock was quite slick and close together, but generally good; Worth another trip down; Loved the walking bit (lol); An ideal long-weekend destination for us. Matt and Vanessa’s is also an ideal bed and breakfast place to stay :p

Lesh