I recently found out that one of my colleagues (if that is the right term) won a gold medal in the triathlon sometime last year, this amazed me as thats one hell of an achievement. On Friday Alma, another colleague graduated, we all went for a drink and I got talking to Kieran about his achievement thinking we'd have the same kind of obsessional thinking about training etc. I was surprised to find out that as soon as he won that medal, he quit, he hasn't been on his road bike since nor has he been swimming, he later informed that he didn't think he would ever get to that level again, everything was right on the day and everything went his way, therefore that was enough for him. This got me thinking, with climbing there is SO MUCH MORE that needs to be right; the temperature the precipitation, being strong enough, being uninjured enough etc. What are the chances of bettering your best (or hardest) climbing day? Since last year I've had a broken leg, two finger injuries a nasty tendon ganglion and a few other niggles I'm certainly nowhere near where I was. Maybe he was right with quitting while he was ahead, however I spend so much time training for climbing, thinking about climbing and talking about climbing I doubt I'd every find anything to fill that void.
I've had a few sessions since the new year but not many, a couple down the works and a couple up the board. I must admit I'm pretty disappointed by the works at the moment, the problems are poor and the new circuits aren't up to the usual standards, the training board has lost its appeal to most people and needs a revamp as well, I'm also slightly apprehensive about their new carpet covering for the mats, my leg hurts enough falling from the top of the wall!
I had a great session the other night at the board (it was my second session on), everybody was down and its great to see so many people (namely Dobbin and Uncle) crushing problems left right and center. My arms felt lacking which they obviously will be after such a prolonged period of non climbing but my fingers felt extremely strong, I won't list the problems I succeeded on or failed on, however I was happy with both and I proved to myself that my fingers were currently strong.
Today I trained again after a days rest, warming up, my fingers ached a lot. I was feeling pretty negative about the whole affair and was about to pack it in until Rich Heap turned up. A lot of tape and a lengthy warm up and things stopped aching. Nat returned from the works very quickly as the place was crawling with people, she tried her long term project of chalk and blow (a modest but worthy target) failing on the move from the large pocket to the crimpy jug. She's not far off mind you and is progressing reasonably well.
Other stuff: You might notice the blog has gone green, this is slightly tongue in cheek and is mainly due to Nat's boss fobbing off the role of office "environmental champion", since that day she's been trying very hard to impose her new green morals on me and the way we live which isn't a bad thing I suppose. You might also have noticed the chicken counter on the right hand side, if you saw the shows you know what this is about, if you didn't and give a cr*p then take a look, if not just ignore it!
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