Fun Times Training, Weather And More

The last few weeks have been very interesting for me. I haven’t blogged much as I’ve mainly been training but here’s a big one, hope you enjoy it. 

I was given a pair the new Red Chilli Nachos to try out. They are epic, with the glove like feel, it makes your foot feel so much more secure and stable in the shoe. Definitely, one of the best bouldering shoes around.

So training has been interesting the last couple of weeks, as I'm on vacation in the USA. Where I am there , there isn't much climbing around so I started making the most of my spare time by going to the gym and getting stronger and working on my elbow injury. I train five days a week in the gym and try and get to the climbing gym to at least once a week. I did bring rock rings to train my finger strength as I knew I wasn't going to get climbing very often. My gym workout usually consists of one hour for weights and 30 minutes of core. My core workout consists of a series of different sit ups and planks by holding the floating plank I engage my core and my back. This is useful for when your climbing steep stuff. I also do about 100 push-ups a day to strengthen my shoulder to prevent injury.

The weather has been crazy of the last few days with lots of rain, lightning and thunderstorms. It has been even more motivating to stay inside and train. When it was just raining outside I would take the opportunity to go outside and run as this was the best time to go as the temperature dropped and it was more sustainable to go for a run then in the heat of 35°. We had some pretty crazy weather we even saw a water spout which was pretty impressive.

A few days ago I made it to a climbing wall called Vertical Ventures in Tampa. It's one of the best walls in the state. I went there for a few hours to train and to Boulder. This was the first time I climbed in an American gym. The route setting is good, lots of variety but I do have to say when I first got there I was very confused with all the different coloured tapes had to ask someone for some advice and direction. So climbing there. After warming up and stretching I went to climb all the easy problems which was no problem. So then I asked around for where the hardest problems in the wall were,  I was told everything with red tape is pretty hard so I set myself a mission to climb all the red boulders I did all except for one problem which was very shoulder intensive and as I still wanted to train that night I left it for another time. Training: this was a first time I was able to use rings to train which I need to get my self some as the are such a good core and upper body workout! but mainly I was just hanging on the hangboard to get my finger strength up to scratch. There is a comp coming up on the 10^th which I hope to be participating in but that’s all dependent on transport at the moment J.

 I am also very pleased to announce my new partnership with Nature’s Bakery, they make the best fig bars around. You haven’t lived if you haven’t had one of their fig bars they are delicious and also nutritious.