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A Girl Who Climbs

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Being Injured Sucks

Currently I’m unable to climb or play roller derby due to a series of unfortunate events, some of which are my own fault. I know rest and recovery are important, but being injured really, really sucks!

 

The initial problem for me was sore feet from bad fitting skates and then cramming my sore feet into climbing shoes every week. This killed my toes and eventually made it nearly impossible to put any pressure through the climbing shoes to stand on holds, it just felt like I was standing in a very small fire. Since I couldn’t really climb, I carried on skating and tried toe-padding, plasters, and different lacing techniques to help ease the pain. Sadly, it still resulted in me loosing toenails.

I finally ordered new skates but since they would take about 3 weeks to arrive and my feet were still too sore for climbing, I carried on playing roller derby…

 

During this whole sore feet/loosing toe nails episode my partner (A Boy Who Climbs) hurt his lat/arm when bouldering. We thought it would be okay after a couple of weeks or rest but it was mending very slowly. The same week I took a hit to the face during roller derby practice. The hit made me dizzy and gave me headaches for a couple of days afterwards, so I had to take some time off skating too. When I did get back on skates last week I got hit on the head again at the very end of the game. I’m fine and haven’t suffered from any headaches or other head injury symptoms, but since it’s two head injuries in a short succession it means 3 weeks of no contact or gameplay as a safety precaution for concussion.

 

So that’s what has been happening over these last few months. Hopefully everything will be back to normal in a couple of weeks. Marcus’ injury is much better and we’re both really excited to climb again, plus my new skates have arrived and they feel very comfortable!

 

In the grand scheme of things, it’s much better to be safe and rest any aches and pains properly. It’s really sad not being able to enjoy the sports you love, but why risk not being able to enjoy them ever again for the sake of a few weeks recovery.

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No Handed Climbing | Johnny Dawes

I learnt more from watching this video than just how to climb without using hands. There are no rules, no restrictions on how you should train, what grade you should climb, or how you should climb it. If you have a clear desire to climb a problem or route, you’ll do it. You’ll send it eventually because it’s what you really want to do, with or without using hands.

If you’re feeling a little stuck or looking for some inspiration, watch and/or read about Johnny Dawes. I particularly like the little helicopter visual for foot placement.

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Climber Vests & TShirts | Etsy Shop

Since setting up the Etsy Shop with the climbing cards, a few people suggested putting the designs onto t-shirts. I asked a few climbers what they looked for in terms of tops, and most females wanted vests whilst most males just wanted darker colours, so I’ve done both. If you follow me on any of the social media stuff you’re more than likely fed up of seeing them. Sorry if I have flooded you with them, I just get excited!

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I’ll leave a link to the shop here, please head over and have a look and let me know what you think. I’m open to constructive criticism or ideas.

Thanks 🙂

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RE: Last post ‘New Stuff Soon’

As an avid climber, I find it frustrating that there are hardly any decent climbing related greeting cards in the world, so I’m here to try and fill that niche in the market.

Mostly they’re bad puns from climber friends who have very kindly let me pinch their words and force them into drawings. I hand draw each design before adding colour digitally, printing, trimming down, and mounting by hand. A lot of love goes into each one and I’m hoping they will brighten another climber’s day.

You can find all the current designs for sale here on Etsy

Any feedback or ideas are welcome, just pop it in the comments 😊

 

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POV Bouldering | Short Video

Something different today!

I took my little ISAW camera with me to BeBoulder the other week and did some filming. It resulted in this short video with some fun, POV climbing. The idea was to show what it’s actually like to climb as most of the time whenever you post a video of yourself or someone else climbing, it doesn’t look as far, hard, or impressive as it really is!

Let me know what you think in comments as I’m planning on doing some more 🙂

 

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New Year New Rules

To me the phrase ‘New Year, New Me’ always seems like it’s going too far, as if you’ve got to purge yourself and start from nothing because last year’s you is just so, well, last year. I think it should be more like ‘New Year, New Opportunities to Improve on my Current Self’, but I guess that just isn’t as catchy or maybe I’m reading too much into it.

 

Anyway, after hearing and reading that phrase endlessly for the last week it got me to thinking. I have probably missed plenty of opportunities to improve myself because I was too worried about the outcome. This applies to everything from choosing to ignore a phone call to not participating in climbing events, so I’m trying a new train of thought for 2017:

 

If it scares you, do it.

 

I don’t mean any crazy life threatening situations or doing something that could cause the outcome to hurt others. What I mean is to push yourself and try saying yes. Any little thing that pops up in everyday life that I would usually avoid or run away from, I’m going to try to embrace and enjoy it.

 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and great start to 2017!

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New Adventures

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there is so much beauty and nature readily available on your doorstep.  I’ve been away exploring the countryside, which is why it has been quiet on the blog and social media side of things lately.

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I headed off to the Lake District with A Boy Who Climbs for a few days, and stayed in a lovely guest house in Bowness. We ate like champions whilst admiring the lake and forest views. It was nice just being somewhere different and much more green than our home town, plus having the option to walk everywhere was great too. However, getting carried away and accidentally completing a 10 mile walk, and then realising we had to do the same back was not ideal, but the beer certainly helped.

So now I’m back home, feeling refreshed and ready to get back to the walls. I’ve been having a rough time with bouldering lately. Between having my elbow flare up and hitting a plateau it has not felt great. So whilst we were away I was trying to figure out what to do to fix the funk. I’m debating on trying some roped climbing, as I think it will be good to learn something new in the same field. The height it definitely what’s putting me off though! As soon as I get my mind around being up that high on a piece of rope, it will all be okay…

So watch this space, rope climbing may be happening soon!

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How To Tape Your Finger For Climbing

You’ve probably seen climbers in the gym with their fingers battered and covered in tape. Taping your fingers can help you to still climb even when they’re a bit achy, or prevent a tweak from becoming an injury. Taping holds the tendon against the bone, and stops the already sore pulley from being over stressed. Learning how to tape is a useful skill, so I figured it would be good to write a post on it. I’ve only taped my finger a few times when I had a small pulley injury, which you can read about here. I used the technique shown below, which is variation of the figure of 8 method. I found this the easiest and most supportive taping method, as it’s fairly easy to do yourself.

 

 

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A Boy Who Climbs kindly demonstrating the taping method.

 

 

1. Relax the finger that needs taping and make a fist to tuck the other digits out of the way.
Starting at the bottom pad of finger/proximal phalanx, wrap the tape around 3 times towards yourself, keeping the finger relaxed.
2. After 3 turns, cross the tape diagonally along the side of the knuckle ensuring knuckle is not covered.
3. Wrap the tape 3 times around the middle pad of finger/middle phalanx, and diagonally along the other side of the knuckle, ending back where the tape started.

 

 

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I really like the Psychi finger tape as it’s really hard-wearing and sticky, which stops it from peeling off.

 

 

Hopefully that makes sense, and the pictures are helpful! Ultimately if your tendons or pulleys are hurting you probably shouldn’t climb, as sad as that seems, but I hope this helps you prevent an injury.
Please feel free to leave any thoughts or tips in the comments on taping fingers 🙂

 

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Peanut Butter Bites | Recipe

Here’s another crag snack recipe and what’s even better about this one is, it doesn’t require an oven. These little bites of energy are quick and easy to make, but also customisable depending on your diet and taste preferences. You can make them as healthy or unhealthy as you like! Swap out chocolate chips for cacao nibs, use maple syrup instead of honey, add in mini marshmallows or include dried fruit.

I converted the ingredients from cups to grams, and then used my judgment to get the mixture how I wanted it! You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients
Oats – 140g
Ground flaxseed – 20g
Chia seeds – 15g
Milk chocolate chips -40g
Honey – 2 tbsp
Smooth peanut butter – 120g / 1/3 of the jar
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Super quick and easy to make

 

1. In one large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together
2. Add in the honey and peanut butter
4. Stir and mix together until the oats are completely covered. I found it easy to press down with the spatula, this spreads the peanut butter
5. Cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge
6. Once chilled, spoon out small amounts and press/roll into small balls with you hands
7. Roll each ball in some more oats and you’re done!
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I love my Happy Jackson snack boxes!

 

If you prefer you can make a ‘tray no-bake’ instead of the balls. Follow the same method up to and including step 4, then squash a thick layer of the mixture down into a cling film lined tray, and sprinkle the top with some more oats before chilling. Once chilled slice into squares and you’re good to go.

 

I’d love you hear how they turn out if you make them 🙂

 

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