Two Straps Left

I was about to finish my climbing outing when a leg strap snapped loose on my harness. My belay partner, Will, noticed immediately. Told him that I would down climb but he alerted a staff member who came to the same conclusion -- that down climbing would be the best option. Still, the staffer starting prepping the auto belay...

When I got down, the same staffer asked if I had double backed my strap. I was pretty sure that I had since the other straps were double backed.

I immediately thought about the weight that I had gained. Felt like I had broken a chair but, really, nothing was broken and the strap wasn't frayed. I do like to wear my leg straps a bit loose so I'll have to tighten them up more from now on.

My heart didn't even start pumping fast. Knew that I had two straps left and that I had to get to the ground. I'm pretty sure that my hours on a yoga mat contributed to my calm descent.

I Don't See Any Camels

A smile hit my face and spread from ear to ear when I read Patti's e-mail saying that her trip had been canceled and that we could go climbing on the weekend.

Patti pulled a muscle doing the yoga portion of P90X. She would normally start out on a 5.8 to warm-up but started out in my neck of the woods on a 5.6. We played monkey see, monkey do for awhile. She climbed Truxton or Bust then I climbed it. I even attempted a 5.9 (Patti's neck of the woods) and made it half way up. When it was time to warm down, Patti asked me if I wanted to down climb the route. I did. When I came back down, Patti asked me if I wanted to climb the route again. I did. And I down climbed again. I went up. Down climbed. Patti looked at me with wide eyes.

Me: This might be the last straw...

Patti: I don't see any camels.

I went up again but this time I asked Patti to lower me because I was fatigued.

Down climbing was good though. I was much more aware of when my body wasn't squared off or when I wasn't properly balanced. It was a nice challenge to do laps on that route and I felt like I got in a great workout:

5.6, Truxton or Bust (Warm-Up)
5.8, Bright Idea
5.8, JW
5.9, One Liner (Attempted)
5.8, Face Plant
5.8, A Savage Salvage Project
5.6, Unnamed Yellow Route (Ascended 4x's & Down Climbed 3x's)

Here's a video with some tips on down climbing.

How to Down Climb a Rock Wall - Courtesy of Trails.com

Two Step Platforms Are Better Than One

Okay, so I saw this tweet from Bob Harper this morning. Do I really need a lot of incentive to do crazy things? Negative.

How is it that I got up before 8:00 a.m. and still managed to be late for a 10:30 a.m. Step class?

I guess that I do like to get up gently which is why I have a moonbeam clock which flashes light to wake you up.

I went back to Stacey's class which I really enjoy love. Only, I don't get to go often since her classes are at 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Stacey is calm and friendly and she has easy steps but you still get a good workout. In fact, she might want to consider naming her class Step For Dummies. Stacey did something today that I've never seen before. She used two step platforms. Platform one was Home and the one to the right was Away. We left just enough space between Home and Away to do jumping jacks. I absolutely loved the stomp move that she incorporated and I don't think that I was the only one. Stacey also had me chuckling with her curl and repeat command since it sounded like we were in a salon.

I also liked that Stacey invited questions and feedback. One class member told her of hip discomfort when she steps and Stacey asked her if she wanted to stretch. First class...

When I finished with Step class, I made a pit stop at home, grabbed a Clif Kid bar and headed to Upper Limits to climb a few routes. Remember what Trainer Bob said now.

I didn't have a belay partner so I used the auto-belays and, because I suddenly got a little freaked out by being up 30 feet up with no person on the ground to lower me, I climbed down every route. All that to say, I'm beat and my hand calluses are tender from back-to-back rock climbing stints.

The moral of this story: take what Trainer Bob has to say with a grain of salt.