A mixture of heat and rain has killed the psyche for hard bouldering and I have found my interest waning of late.
I've had no regular pattern of training or climbing outdoors and it really has been all a bit of an effort. I've not been to team training for a few weeks and just pottered indoors and out achieving nothing harder than 7B since getting back over a month ago, the highlight being Rigpa over at a sweltering Nescliffe.
Rather than battle through shit conditions I decided to be lazy and have enjoyed several games of golf with Mark at Allerton and Fiddler's Ferry, trying to regain some old skills and put to use the slight extra bulk gained through bouldering the last 5 years or so in hitting the ball an extra 30 yards per club!
As well as the golf, I've been out fishing a couple of times with the esteemed TC Mills over on the barren shores of New Brighton. I was promised epic catches of Ray but so far we have managed a few whiting and a plaice (and thankfully no blanks so far :))
I have to say I'm highly excited about the new premiership season kicking off and seeing how Liverpool get on with so many new underwhelming signings. The psyche is high too, to try and usurp Ian Thomas at number 1 in the UKB league after him beating me down into 2nd place for the last 2 seasons!
As well as the golf/fishing/football I went down to a proper back street weights gym in Garston with Hoppo and had a great time this morning trying to see how many machines we could max out. I managed to max out 4 then we had a good free weights session followed by some weighted pullups and boxing. I felt destroyed after and am keen to make it a regular feature 1-2 times a week to help with overall strength conditioning whilst the weather is turd and for £3 a session it's way cheaper than most activities.
On a more climbing related note...
I went to the cave for the first time in ages on Monday and had a half decent return getting to cutting loose on the slopers on In Life before slowly sliding off them and then nearly climbing Left Wall high at the end of our 5 hour session after never being close ever! I hate that shuffle so much but figured if I get it wired it opens up High Life and In Heaven for later in the year once In Life is put to bed!
I'm nowhere near strong enough to link Louis Armstrong after being so slack of late but am keen to get back on it later in the year once I've tested out a weights&strength training phase to feel stronger on the undercuts!
