Today I went to into see my mate who lectures at the university. He is a sports sciencist who helps out with the bouldering team. Every now and again I go in to get tested as a guinea pig, presumably to compare the results of the team against a punter. He makes a good cup of coffee and we talk about mountain biking, Fontainebleau, training and Peak boulders. He tests things to do with finger strength, lock off strength, jump ability and one armism. I find out that I weigh 66kg, am 5.5% body fat, 177cm tall (5ft 8in) and can do a one arm pull up with 2kg strapped on. I am both surprised and happy about this. I also discover that I have particularly punterish power endurance in my fingers, which is less of a surprise. There is a fatal flaw in my training that was highlighted today, hopefully some changes may rectify it.

I have no idea what half of the results actually mean, and I don't particularly care. What has got me excited is that I now know what I have been doing wrong for ages. If I get my training sorted over summer, there might be chance (and that's good enough for me) that I will be strong enough to climb the problems I want to do next autumn/winter. It's funny how a reassuring chat with a mate and a little glimmer of hope is enough to relight a spark for training psyche.

Font is nearly a week away and I feel desperately under prepared.  I am not bothered really, if I do anything 'hard' then it'll be a bonus. If I'm not feeling the love then I'll just cheer on Watson and Porter all week and eat pastries.