Climbing frenzy.

Lately it seems that my weeks are going by even faster than usual. And they're focused around Tues, Thurs, Fri and Sunday. Spelled out, climbing climbing weekend and climbing. The climbing has been going very well too. I'm not sure I mentioned it but I've taken my first 5c clean. And the other week when we went to Sthlm I climbed a 6a. Not clean but still awesome.

We also went to a climbing competition. Legends Only. Saw some really awesome climbers, the top of the male elite. Managed to get the autographs of all of them too. I was fan-girling so hard. Shook hands with some of them too. Never thought I'd get to see and meet them so close up. The high point was ofc to meet Adam Ondra and Sean McColl. *sigh* Awesome climbers.

Now if I could only get to meet Kim Jain, I'd be set for years. She's my all time favorite female climber. Who knows, maybe she'll be at the female climbing competition next spring. Also held here in Sthlm. That would be awesome.

Climbing Pain.

What can I say. I'm in pain. Again. And I have been more or less since we went climbing yesterday evening. I did a bad move or two, we are building a rout on the top rope wall. And now my left arm is trying to kill me for it. Had a really difficult time trying to fall asleep last night, and stay that way. Major bummer.

On the bright side I know now that I am not capable yet to perform that specific move yet. Also Since I've started climbing I've had less pain in my body over all. I just need to think a bit more and remember that my body is sensitive to some movements and strain. It's way too easy to forget in the heat of the moment.

The route is almost done now tho. And I think it's going to be great. It has just enough difficulties in it so that I can climb it but it's takes a little effort. Should be a nice help in my struggle to get up to climbing the 5c routes. When I'm not stupid enough to hurt my self, I'm getting stronger. So it's just a matter of time. :)

Goodness.

Been good today. Mailed my application to the education I've been wanting for a while now. Let's hope 3:rd time is the charm. Although ofc I have my doubts. As always. If I don't get it approved this time I think I might just give up and go register at the evil unemployment office. I will have to do it sooner or later anyway. Always hope for later. :P

And yesterday was climbing day, finally. Been over two weeks since I last climbed. I could feel it. But on a good note I didn't feel out of energy as I have been the last few times I went climbing. Maybe I really needed a rest. I took it easy anyway since I've been sick recently. And today when I woke up I did have a tiny bit of exercise pain. Sweet. :)

Wooot !?!

Wonderful wonderful news. I have been thinking of getting the green climbing card. The card that proves that I can belay other people safely and therefor am allowed to do it in the climbing hall. So I've checked out the company that gives courses for this. And found out that it cost almost 800:- sek.

Ouch. So I thought this won't happen for quite a while. But then we heard that the staff of the hall are allowed to test you (basically) and give you a card if you pass. Now this got me nervous. A test, with someone I don't know. About something they probably know better. Yikes. So I got a bit unsure.

Didn't really feel like pursuing it at that moment. But then yesterday. I saw that there were two guys in the hall getting tested for the card. And I guess I felt a bit optimistic or something. (Although very scared.) And decided to wait around and ask if it was possible to test me too. Damn the horror.

And in the end, he had time. And I have my card. Wohoo !!!! I'm so happy. I have to say, that although my brain froze up a bit. It went very well. It is still a bit scary to talk to people i don't know. But he was very nice, like pretty much all of the climbers I've met so far. The future looks bright.

Sourdough test nr:3.

Success ! The bread I made yesterday turned out awesome. I'm really happy. So happy that I had to go over to our neighbors and give them a sample. I didn't follow the recipe this time. Since it hasn't worked out too well for me. Funnily though, I realized after the baking that I've read the recipe a bit wrong. Shit happens.

I did it my way this time anyway, and it is awesome. Next step is to make this a full size batch. I still haven't made it as big as the original recipe says. Which is why it's thinner than normal bread. But next batch will be thicker. Also I'm planning on adding nuts into it. Maybe some seeds too because it's just so tasty. 

And on another note. I did some nice climbing yesterday too. While the dough was growing and waiting we were away at the climbing hall. I tried the 5c with grey grips again. I've done it once before. But every time after that I've failed. I realized after a while the the failing was because of a mental blockage.

I think I've fixed that now though. So next time, I might be able to climb it clean. Without having to hang and rest on the rope. Because the first part of it is going really well now. I've got that down. Even made a really nice move on it yesterday. I hope the next climb will be just as pretty, or even better. :P

Random picture day, legs.

A not too rare view of how my legs can look lately. Don't mind the scars, they're old. And yes, it's climbing on the agenda today. But I'm gonna have to climb a bit more careful this time, and not so many routes as last time. I might have put a bit too much pressure on my arms back then. My right elbow has been a bit upset since. Shit happens. I need to remember to work more with my legs anyhow.

First fall and Championships !

This is going to be a long one. Ehum. So yeah, yesterday. I did my first real big fall. It was scary. And at the same time not so much. I think I might have been mostly surprised and chocked. I've been avoiding falls very hard since I started climbing. Because (and this I didn't figure out until about two weeks ago) I have a large fear of falling backwards. *Doh.* Well I knew about the fear, just not that it was affecting my climbing. Stupid huh ?

So we started some light fall fall practice just a few days later. And good thing we did. I think that's what made this fall so much easier. Because I sort of knew beforehand how it would feel to fall. And yeah, figuring out why I've been avoiding it so much was a good thing too. On another note I did some awesome climbing. 8 routes and 2 tries on two other ones. My body can feel the workout pretty much everywhere now. And I couldn't be happier.

And last but not least. This Thursday it's time for the IFSC Boulder World Championships again. Happy happy happy. It's too bad they're only every other year. (Even numbered years also.) Would be awesome if it was every year. But at least it's 2014 now so... wohoo. Competition. As always I'm gonna keep my hopes up for Rustam and Akiyo, but I think it will be awesome watching all of the competitors.

Some day I would like to go see an IFSC competition in real life. But for now I'm gonna stay happy and hope that they put up the You Tube clips as fast as possible. And/or maybe, I'll try to catch the live streaming. Depends a little on what's happening this week in my life and what not. Either way, I'm happy that I've found something more to be happy about and interested in. You have to care about something to live.

www.ifsc-climbing.org

Random picture day.

From one of the climbing outings this summer.

Back again.

Wow, haven't thought about blogging for almost a month now. Been too busy having fun with Sugar and enjoying summer. Everything seems to be going well though. I've been doing some good improvements on the climbing. Yesterday I climbed a 5c. Not clean, but still counts. I think with a little effort, I can do it clean. Possibly next time.

I've also got a membership to the climbing hall now. So now I can go there and climb every damn day if I wanted to. Wohoo ! Very awesome. But I will probably stick to the days Sugar goes there. It's more fun with company. Although the more time I spend there, the more ppl I talk to. So can't really say it feels lonely there in any way. :P

Well well, can't stay here chatting about everything and nothing. I've got some shit to deal with. I have to admit tho. Right now, it would feel very nice to just cozy down in the couch and watch a movie. It's cold outside and I still need to get some more relaxation in. With the exercise pain and my body not being overly perky right now.

In honesty, I will probably only do half of what I need to do. But it will still be more than dong nothing at all.

It's on.

I thought today was going to be a day of climbing and exercising, but I was wrong. Sugar quit work early and we went to the hall. Very nice and much appreciated even tho it was hellishly warm. I did 3 routes and some bouldering. Even got a free lesson in how to belay a person. And got to try it out. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A nice surprise. I really have to go get that green climbing card soon. It would be very handy. Went home with a nice feeling of progress in my system. Some things are getting easier and easier. Happy happy joy joy.

Shit's going well.

This climbing shit is going well. Yesterday we went at it again, and I managed to climb a 5a. We thought I did a 5b too, but then they changed it to 4c. Either way, I did 4 routes and tried a harder one, 5c. It's very fun, but damn. My arms can't really keep up with my enthusiasm. But it's awesome. I'm very happy that I finally managed to get my ass of the ground and up on the wall.

And so far I haven't had any issues with my "normal" pain. Barely had any exercise pain either. I'm happy that the first one is staying away, not so much the exercise one. But it's ok. Either way it looks like my thoughts about the swimming was right. It was probably the cold water that gave me so much pain afterwards. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner. This exercise is much more my style.

Roped.

So yesterday was my second time climbing top rope. Wohoo !!! I only did one route, because I was already a bit tired from trying to do some bouldering. Not too successful, they haven't been too nice with the supposedly "easy" ones. Good thing we've made new ones. 

Anyway it went sort of well. There are two boulder problems that I can do now, and two rope routes. Probably a good start. Can't do much before my arms are tired anyway. And I need to keep up the weight lifting at home. My arms need more strength. But other than that, I'm happy and quite pleased.

And here's a random picture from one of my walks. Just for fun.