Hello there blog. Long time no see. But it’s time for another adventure, so why not? This time - and for the first for this blog - in the continent of Africa!!
This trip has been a long time coming it seems. So long, that now that it’s actually happening, I can’t really believe it. Did I even prepare for this at all?
The thought of the trip has been planted in our heads already long ago, but it took a more concrete form a year ago in the summer. My lovely partner in crime, Pia, and I were on our way to Magic Wood and during those long hours in the van we revisited the past but also planned the future a lot. We made many good decisions on that trip: one was obviously the Rocklands trip, another one was to start training with Pia’s former coach Kuutti and a third was to start thaiboxing (pretty random, I agree). Pia and I both had had our injuries, latest ones being the pulleys - me 1, Pia 2 within just 8 months. Training on our own had always led to some overuse injuries...that’s just the way it goes when no one tells you it’s ok..or rather, it’s MANDATORY, to rest at times. It was time to get some outside help ;)
It didn’t take long to convince my lovely husband Chris about the Rocklands trip and we also heard that our new Swedish friend Viktoria (whom we met on that same great Magic Wood trip) was going to be there too. So we joined forces: booked flights and accommodation around the Christmas of 2017.
And the training. That we started already pretty much immediately when coming back from Magic Wood. We met Kuutti and Aki, told them our worries and goals. First and main goal was to stay injury free for the next two years! The other goals would come later. We started off easy. Well, easy on the fingers: we did our hangboard finger rehabs, we trained thaiboxing twice a week, we climbed easy sport, easy bouldering, went to the gym and were complete wrecks most of the Autumn :D It was hardcore and maybe - in hindsight - a bit too much on top of work and other life (what other life!?).
I also kept having some nutritional issues, which led to sleepless nights and poor recovery. During Christmas we did a trip with Chris to Albarracin and climbing went pretty well even if I noticed that I still hadn’t recovered despite taking a week off before the trip. Luckily I got some professional help with the whole nutritional stuff and during the spring my climbing and general condition got better...but recovery was still low. The probable culprit? Iron reserves - they were (and still are) low. Unfortunately it can take close to half a year to get the levels up again. Now there’s nothing more to do than just popping some pills and waiting patiently ;)
The last bit of the spring I have trained like never before. I have been cycling EVERYWHERE, around 150km per week. I feel like my range of climbing has gotten better: I’m more dynamic, more static when necessary, more skilled in many ways, even if my fingers or forearms wouldn’t be the strongest they’ve ever been. I eat better (and vegan, which is a constant joy in my life) and I sleep well. I’m in many ways feeling so.much.better.
One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m not as hungry anymore when it comes to climbing. Whereas before it felt important to climb hard and some specific grade, I now want to climb a lot. And a lot of good stuff. And something that is hard for me specifically (be it lower grade but not my style). And learn more, and enjoy climbing. Yeah, most of all, I want climbing to feel good! I’m sure Rocklands can provide for all of these needs ;)
So, yesterday 9th of June, we started our trip. At 5.20 our Ninja Team met at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, where we dumped the huge crashpads and backpacks, hopped on a plane for a few hours to Amsterdam (just to switch planes really) and again, off we went, towards Cape Town! 11 hours, multiple bad movies and many excellent (!!) vegan meals later we arrived, fetched our humongous Toyota Avanza and drove us to our Cape Town Airbnb. And here we are, just woken up to a new day and some new adventures.
This trip has been a long time coming it seems. So long, that now that it’s actually happening, I can’t really believe it. Did I even prepare for this at all?
The thought of the trip has been planted in our heads already long ago, but it took a more concrete form a year ago in the summer. My lovely partner in crime, Pia, and I were on our way to Magic Wood and during those long hours in the van we revisited the past but also planned the future a lot. We made many good decisions on that trip: one was obviously the Rocklands trip, another one was to start training with Pia’s former coach Kuutti and a third was to start thaiboxing (pretty random, I agree). Pia and I both had had our injuries, latest ones being the pulleys - me 1, Pia 2 within just 8 months. Training on our own had always led to some overuse injuries...that’s just the way it goes when no one tells you it’s ok..or rather, it’s MANDATORY, to rest at times. It was time to get some outside help ;)
It didn’t take long to convince my lovely husband Chris about the Rocklands trip and we also heard that our new Swedish friend Viktoria (whom we met on that same great Magic Wood trip) was going to be there too. So we joined forces: booked flights and accommodation around the Christmas of 2017.
And the training. That we started already pretty much immediately when coming back from Magic Wood. We met Kuutti and Aki, told them our worries and goals. First and main goal was to stay injury free for the next two years! The other goals would come later. We started off easy. Well, easy on the fingers: we did our hangboard finger rehabs, we trained thaiboxing twice a week, we climbed easy sport, easy bouldering, went to the gym and were complete wrecks most of the Autumn :D It was hardcore and maybe - in hindsight - a bit too much on top of work and other life (what other life!?).
I also kept having some nutritional issues, which led to sleepless nights and poor recovery. During Christmas we did a trip with Chris to Albarracin and climbing went pretty well even if I noticed that I still hadn’t recovered despite taking a week off before the trip. Luckily I got some professional help with the whole nutritional stuff and during the spring my climbing and general condition got better...but recovery was still low. The probable culprit? Iron reserves - they were (and still are) low. Unfortunately it can take close to half a year to get the levels up again. Now there’s nothing more to do than just popping some pills and waiting patiently ;)
The last bit of the spring I have trained like never before. I have been cycling EVERYWHERE, around 150km per week. I feel like my range of climbing has gotten better: I’m more dynamic, more static when necessary, more skilled in many ways, even if my fingers or forearms wouldn’t be the strongest they’ve ever been. I eat better (and vegan, which is a constant joy in my life) and I sleep well. I’m in many ways feeling so.much.better.
One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m not as hungry anymore when it comes to climbing. Whereas before it felt important to climb hard and some specific grade, I now want to climb a lot. And a lot of good stuff. And something that is hard for me specifically (be it lower grade but not my style). And learn more, and enjoy climbing. Yeah, most of all, I want climbing to feel good! I’m sure Rocklands can provide for all of these needs ;)
So, yesterday 9th of June, we started our trip. At 5.20 our Ninja Team met at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, where we dumped the huge crashpads and backpacks, hopped on a plane for a few hours to Amsterdam (just to switch planes really) and again, off we went, towards Cape Town! 11 hours, multiple bad movies and many excellent (!!) vegan meals later we arrived, fetched our humongous Toyota Avanza and drove us to our Cape Town Airbnb. And here we are, just woken up to a new day and some new adventures.
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| Cape Town! |
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