Sunday - Awesome climbing. Climbing Training's paying off!!

So the climbing training in the last month and a half has really been going well, and I think that today I definitely saw the results of a good last bit of climbing. Had a session at St. Peters today and managed to junk through a couple of warm up walls before getting convinced by Dom to hop on a few of the higher grade walls. Initially I didn't really expect much but I'd seen some of the holds over some of the past attempts that Dom had, and they really hadn't looked too awkward.

TRAINING WORKS. I'm fully excited about the results! I fell of a couple of the moves on my first 24 but managed to hop back on afterwards and pretty much finished the whole thing (I'll confess that I haven't yet because I peeled off midway, but only because another climber was on top of my holds on the right and I admit I didn't have the strength to stay on that "rest" hold). But having said that I'm super excited and I'm sure that the next time I step in that gym I'll bag that climb.

Also tried the moves on a couple of 26's and was actually quite pleasantly surprised that I could get through a lot of the moves; of course there are still the grade 26 moves which are out of reach, but not by much! The focus on chest/core work over the last month has really been key in a lot of the improvement and I certainly felt it throughout the day.

That was about it; I'm just happy that I'm beginning to crack into the realm of 5.12. I'm sure that over the next six months or so I'll be able to consolidate that and hopefully bring my lead climbing up as well.

Other training today:

• 4km run, just a light run to get the legs moving a bit.
• Balance board to rehab the ankle injury. (I tried squats on the balance board - that looks like a really good exercise for control. I think I'll work it into my regular progressions).
• Core work. Always more core work.
• Some stretching.

Feeling great. Stay Strong. :) and GET EXCITED!

Phegan's Bay and an interesting last few days..

Hey guys,

A pretty interesting last couple of days - got some training done. Mainly was a lot of fingerboard stuff, just working on been able to use the 35 deg. slopers and the pockets. Practiced a lot of clipping the other day but just really recovering from the sprained ankle - which is coming along pretty nicely. I got a few runs (actually ran my fastest km ever) which was awesome, and did some stuff on the erg as well.

On Sunday I got out to Phegans Bay with Dom and Justin; but it really wasn't great. We had some rope issues (refer to the picture for details) with some miscommunication, which took up a whole bunch of time, and the climbing just wasn't great; the routes were pretty short and I think that generally just took a lot out of the day. Personally I'm pretty sure it was the fact that I couldn't lead and we had no idea where we were/which climbs we were going up on, but it really took away from the day. That was also probably combined with the fact that the entire area was pretty quiet; it didn't look like it had a whole bunch of traffic going through it (LOTS of spiders....), and a lot of the holds were glued on.

All in all - not the greatest trip. Considering I only did roughly half an hour of climbing, my fingertips got absolutely trashed.

Today - got 40km out on the bike with the ride to uni and back, and completely forgot about the trashed fingertips, so I went back to the gym... only to remember that it was too painful to boulder anything difficult about twenty minutes in. But I got some core work in (still working on those tuck front levers), which is good. That'll be sore tomorrow.

Probably taking the day off tomorrow, I got a wine and cheese night which should be fun (and perhaps messy). I'll get some training done on wednesday (probably negatives and chest, with some fingerboard) depending on how the hands feel.

Lemming, out.

An awesome view from the top of the crag, which made us think the day of climbing was going to be awesome...

Rope woes... Don't miscommunicate!!!

Trashed fingertips.. Hopefully healing 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.