Old dogs & old tricks

A me day today, bad necessary stuff followed by good neccessary stuff.

The day started with a consultation with the shoulder surgeon. I've still not really got my head round the whole private thing (referred by NHS) so had a plan to have a coffee & do some emails whilst waiting. Instead I was ushered in early to a consultant who was pleased to see me. However the system got the last laugh (for today) as my MRI scans have disappeared, the consultant was quite happy to order new ones - more chargeable work. We talked through options and it still seems like shaving off bone from my ACL joint is the way to go, but he was also super helpful re maximising pain management. No date, but he's promised me it will be flexible to fit in with my winter plans.

So next was climbing coaching - for me!!
One of the things I've been struck by this year has been that as I've built a client base and taken on projects, my own personal climbing has been very hit & miss - between injuries and work its been one step forward, one step back. So I've booked some sessions with a coach I admire, who'd also had the same surgery I'm facing, and we're working on a PDP. I'm quite psyched - whilst I know a lot of this stuff from my own clients it was a brain addling 3hrs dissecting my own climbing and seeing the habits (good & bad) I've drilled in over the years. Some simple biomechanical and complex phsychological changes will need to happen and then lots & lots & lots of perfect practice (in fact about 10,000 repetitions as every coach knows). Fortunately I do focused very well!

I knew I wanted to record this for blip - so on the way home I stopped off at a little cliff I've been meaning to look at for ages. It's not high, but it has traversing and bouldering potential AND its slate - a very unforgiving of bad technique rock - I had a trial run, took a blip and some photos to mark out some problems - then headed home - head full of plans.