The Storm

I've been quiet lately....

My first week of Teaching in my new school is just over and i'm enjoying it there!

But i'm taking a beating adjusting to the hard winter training and working routine again and adapting to being generally fatigued every day as a result... We're upping the weekly mileage to around the 60 miles mark and cranking up the climbing training intensity too... must be paying off, went out yesterday to Dinbren to tie in and try clipping some bolts for the first time in over a month... after a warm up i managed to get past my previous highpoint on my new 8a project before fluffing the sequence and comming off at the top crux mono (the one with the sharp tooth!). I realised something important though... I've always had a good head for remembering sequences, what hand and footholds to use and in which order, but this requires more than just the black and white pattern. The holds themselves are not enough for me to stay on, they have to be used and squeezed in the right way, tensing and contorting my core in just the right way and at the right time to allow me to pass. I gave it one other good redpoint effort before the 3 right-hand monos on the route took their toll on my skin and i called it a day. But i learnt something up there that i can use on every route in future...

Today (Sunday) Caroline had a 10km race in Manchester so we made our way there for half eight. Then the Coach springs a race number with my name on it on me without warning and i end up running my first 10km road race on the spur of the moment! I feel shite having not raced since June but jog around in 40mins (with my 5km times around 17mins i should be able to knock out a 35min 10km!!) Ah well, it was a nice morning and i got some training out of it - most importantly i didn't kill myself trying to race it and risk my fitness for the comming months hard training.