Mt. Araps trip

Woo!

Just got back from Mt. Arapiles, and was there for about a week just learning the basics of trad climbing. It's been a really interesting week in just seeing whether or not I'd pursue trad climbing, and was definitely worth the time away.

It's also confirmed that trad climbing is certainly something that I'll be chasing - I haven't really come across anything more satisfying then a couple of cute trad placements, and it's wonderful to think that you've finished a route and not left anything on the rock face (unless you start losing gear)...

I'm pretty sure that the trad climbing will also really help push the mental limit with my sports climbing as well, seeing as there's a bit mental game to it. I'm feeling like I'll be able to get some of the grading of my sports climbing better over this coming year.

To sum up, I didn't really do anything in the last week that was harder then a grade 10 climb; the only exception were a couple of grade 15 single-pitch routes that we were attempting to see if we could do on trad lead, which we did! Most of the time was learning to set bomber placements and just get confidence in our skills of setting pro and the anchors at the top.

We also went and did a bunch of the boulder problems down there, but I ended up complaining about the conditions associated with the quartzite rock; it gets super slippery real quick, which is annoying to say the least.

A quick list of the climbs we ended up doing; by no means complete as I don't have the guidebook on me:

• A whole bunch of climbs around bushranger bluff, which were mostly introductory routes to trad. Amongst them that were slightly notable were ... the one I led (which I keep forgetting the name of), something like ... nope I can't remember -_-. But it was right next to Revolver Crack (on the right of it) and was grade 15. Also did Ghost of Melville (15).
• Our first multipitch ever! Was Arachnus (8), 4 pitches, 120m. So beautiful.
• And our second multipitch was Siren (10) which we did just two days ago :) Really proud.

Anyway; that sums up the week down at araps! Since I didn't really do much intense climbing over the last week or so, I'm getting back into training from today onwards :) I've got a few things in mind to get myself stronger for the coming year, and am coming back with renewed focus! Beware world!

Keep training and stay strong! I think I'll go for a big bike ride now ;)

Climbing Training Update: To wednesday!

Didn't have time to get out last weekend but I finally got the cleats all settled with the bike shoes on friday and I have to say I'm pretty impressed! Haha, It's a completely different style of riding but it's still good. Had some falls onto my left hip which were pretty dodgy but whatever; I've managed to get a whole bunch of cardio in. Memory's slightly rusty so some of these numbers might be a bit off, but here's the training log:

Saturday:

• 10km ride in the morning to test the new pedals, which worked pretty nicely. Managed to hit 70kmph on a downwards stretch! Awesome!!
• Another 20km ride in the afternoon to the gym.
• Got about an hour of bouldering done. Mainly working to see if the moves on some of the new boulder problems were possible, and they are! I think I'm finally beginning to crack into the grade 4 properly.

Sunday:

• Can't remember. More bike riding though; I think I did another 20km bike ride, and got some bouldering in at St. L. Same sort of thing - working on the same problems.

Monday:

• Cycled to uni; was pretty horrifyingly tired by the time I got there considering I'd been doing bike for the last couple of days - and that was the uni ride, so all up 40km. I got home and thought I'd do buggerall for the rest of the afternoon, but...
• Ended up going back to climbing at 2pm with gerald, just to have a look at some of the new walls that had cropped up at St. L. + some light bouldering. I got some of the moves on the 4D though which I thought was pretty sick; so there's some good stuff that I'm beginning to work my way into.

I've taken the last couple of days off to have a good rest, but I'm back to it tomorrow morning - probably a boulder and climb before I make my way to uni for the day.

Feeling great! And pretty excited for the end of the year for upcoming Nowra and Blueys trips, and possibly climbing in HK as well. 

Anyway - keep training :D More training logs soon.

Damn it..

Well i have to admit that I might have been a little more enthusiastic then I would've liked to have been with my initial return to training. I was so super happy to be out running again that 2km into the run my body felt like the ditch was a good place to place my left ankle, and as a result, well.. there's a photo to go alongside.

Nonetheless this didn't stop me from finishing the 5km run (limping to the finish line) but I suspect that it'll cost me a few days of training - which is a bit of a shame because I was really looking to head back to the climbing gym tomorrow. (I think I will anyway. Just lots of RICER tonight!)

It also didn't stop me from getting on and doing some chest/core work which won't really affect any potential climbing tomorrow. Depending on how bad the ankle is, I might just chuck in a hangboard session or take the day off (but I really, really don't want to).

Thinking of getting new bike pedals and clips to go along with it soon (to improve the pulling strength when I ride the bike, which will ultimately help out with climbing).

Lemming.