.png)
Obviously…don’t stop climbing. But seriously, sometimes you just need time off or life gets in the way and slows you down. The biggest thing to take away from this is even though everything is against you climbing, you don’t stop. I heard a great phrase lately…’do it badly’. In other words, it's better to do it badly than not do it at all. It's so much harder to get it back.
Things that have gotten in the way. Age. Work. Illness.
Age. Yep, if you are lucky enough to get old, it's gonna happen to all of us. You will need more rest days. Unfortunately you will also need more training days. What are your weaknesses now? They won't be what they used to be. Hitting ‘that’ age as a woman, within a month I lost my glute strength. I hadn’t changed what I was doing but suddenly I struggled to push up on one leg. Pistol squat strength disappeared seemingly overnight. This year has been a study in “what have I lost today?” What is hurting today for no reason? …and what can I do about it? There is a lot of research nowadays into aging for both men and women. The major takeaway is to keep your strength and mobility. I work on my mobility every day even if it's done ‘badly’. Do something. Make it a habit. Strength while I'm at home is different from when I'm away. At home (thanks Em and Sally) I do a weekly strength workout. Climb at a minimum twice a week, hangboard at least once a week. Preferably twice. And I run 4 times a week following a program for my heart health.
Work. How people can climb after work always amazes me… but then, when I was 20-30 years younger I probably could have too. Now, it's either before work, or on days off. I fit in my strength, climbing and running around my ever changing work schedule. Every week is different… but I also love my job so I'm lucky.
Illness. Ah, the bane of my existence. Having an autoimmune disease makes my life interesting. I'm always super paranoid of what I eat and if people are sick around me. We have been unlucky this year to have had covid twice, and the flu twice. Training this year was going well until we both got covid in august. At first I thought I had been dosed and my immune system had crashed as I just stayed sick..but no.. covid. 2 months later, totally unfit (or rather 2 months of doing it badly…very badly) and then a month of crazy work (which is normal before we go away) we departed for our trip extremely unfit. However, unfit but not totally useless. The running has definitely helped in the last few years. I'm not out of breath on a climb and my weight hasn’t fluctuated like it used to. Even when I’m ‘out of shape’, the weight training has definitely helped keep me relatively strong. My biggest weakness is contact strength. But… it also comes back pretty quickly once I start climbing more. Circling back to Age…. Now it's just a matter of staying uninjured…
So, don’t stop. Do it badly if you can’t do it well. Focus on mobility and strength. Chuck in a bit of cardio. Obviously eat well too….. .
