Rain, Rain, Go away!

Will we ever have a proper summer? It would appear not.  With the weather looking pretty poor it's time to bite the bullet and get back indoors. I've been putting it off for a few weeks now but, with a planned trip to Ceuse in August with Joe and Hannah, the time has come to start suffering some pain again! I think this gives me about 8 weeks to get fit. I really want to be feeling super fit for this trip so, as much as I don't want, I need to sit down and put a proper training plan together. I think the overriding theme will be lots of climbing and lots of falling.  Ceuse sports some well spaced bolts by all accounts so I want to be well prepared mentally for it; it's also long and the 'easy' routes aren't that easy!  I'm looking forward to it though! This should also put me in good shape for the grit this year.


Previously, around that time of year, I haven't done much climbing or training so as the grit starts to come in to season again I'm usually not at my peak (have I ever been?), both physically and mentally. It's going to be interesting to get out and see what I can achieve on grit.  


I've also received a copy of  Extreme Alpinism: Climb Light, Fast, and High by Mark Twight.  This is THE book to have on getting yourself in shape for alpine climbing. A cursory glance last night showed it has everything you need to be in the best physical and mental shape you need to be in to meet the demands of high level alpinism. It has whole section on physical training so I plan on incorporating some of it into my training regime as I think I could probably do with increasing my base level of fitness and endurance.


Although we've just had the summer solstice my mind is drifting towards the winter already. By putting together an effective training program each stage will build upon the last and it should be a very fruitful 6 months.

We're off to London this weekend to visit a friend, so have 4 hours to kill on the coach journey. A perfect opportunity to start putting together some training goals etc.

Enjoy your weekend folks!