Sports!

Dear Diary,

after I got back from Sweden, I was glad to start with the sporting again. That’s one of the things i missed during that trip (that, and music).

I decided to quit yoga for a while. Instead, I signed up for a gym around the corner. Two of my friends are going quite a bit. I am not really planning to join them because they have their own program and stuff figured out. I mainly just want to use the rowing machine every now and then and do a couple of basic bodyweight strength exercises to supplement my climbing.

Speaking of climbing, I have been going about twice a week. As you would expect, my progress has slowed down considerably. But I’ve been able to complete a bunch of 6a’s and also 6a+’s and there are some 6a+’s I am still working on. There’s also on 6b that I tried a couple of times. There is just one move in that one that I can’t do. I started working on another 6b last week. I did two sessions in it so far and have all the moves figured out. Which is great: I know I can do all the moves. The hardest move is the second to last. So the tricky thing will just be to link them all together.

They also just built a series of new routes in the 6a/b range on the highest, overhanging wall. I think that’s a sign that I need to start working on my endurance more and spend time on that wall!

As for squash: I have been playing but I haven’t felt very consistent in the last weeks. After the very intense coaching I had together with BS, I have been trying to adjust some of the finer points of my technique. And it works well when I play weaker players and can focus on the adjustments. If I play people on my level, however, it breaks down. I’ll need some time to make the new behavior automatic and until then, my performance will take a bit of a dip.

Throughout the next week, there’ll be qualification games for the end-of-the-season club championships. If I manage to finish in the top 16, I will be able to play in the final on Saturday. Which I wouldn’t want to do because my friend GP will be visiting from London and I’d rather hang out with him. We’ll see how that goes.

Anyways, I’ll pack my stuff now and head off to the squash courts. I had a busy day and am looking forward to chasing a small rubber ball for two hours…

Take a break from yoga?

Dear Diary,

in the last couple of weeks, I haven’t done too much yoga. The main reason is that I didn’t enjoy it too much anymore. I do still like the challenge of the movement but for some reason it hasn’t given me any “calmness” or “focus”. During the practice, I’ve been extremely distracted and am basically just daydreaming. I find it extremely hard to keep my focus inward and just zoom in on my breathing and the movements. Something that just happened automatically in the past.

This is a bit of shame. It’s not enough of a workout to do it just for the workout. And if I don’t get any focus or relaxation out of it, I feel like I might as well do something else. I might stop doing yoga for a while and spend the time on complimentary strength training to improve my climbing (and maybe my squash).

I have five lessons left for Ashtanga and I am sure I’ll use them in the next weeks. Just not sure whether I’ll buy more lessons after that. I might try it again after a pause…

Very social weekend

Dear Diary,

quick update on my last week. Both NB and BB were gone but I wasn’t lonely at all. On Friday after work we had our usual drinks and then got Iranian food and ate it at my place with a couple of people. We drank a lot of wine and had a nice and relaxed evening.

On Saturday we met with a group of 9 people. One of our friends is preparing for the Nijmeegse Vierdaagse: an annual event in Nijmegen in which you walk 40km each day (women do 30km/day). So’s trying to walk each weekend and is slowly building up to longer and longer walks. She wanted to do 20km that weekend and asked who wanted to come along.

A surprising number of people volunteered. She picked a 15.3km route but we met the other on the other half of the town. We walked 1.5 km to the start of the route and then another 4km to meet the others. From there, we did the last of the route as a group. The others were a bit surprised by the tempo she wanted to keep up and by the end of the route they were a bit exhausted. :D We met some other friends at the destination who then drove most people to the train station to get back. A smaller group of 4 people, including me, decided to walk to the station because we hadn’t done a full 20 km yet. So we walked the last 4.2 km to Winsum and took the train back to Groningen.

When the weather is better we might do the some walk again. The destination is a really nice café. So next time we’ll walk there (15.3 km), have a drink and then walk back. That’d be pretty nice, I think.

Anyways, when we were back in Groningen, we went past the supermarket and then to my place to watch a couple more episodes of House of Cards.

On Sunday morning, I went climbing with a couple of friends. I left the climbing gym at around 2 and went home to take a shower and pack me stuff. Then we left for Heidelberg at around 3:30.

First yoga class in six weeks

Dear Diary,

last night, I went to my first yoga class in six weeks. My wrist is still not fully recovered. I feel like it is getting a bit better, though. But on the other hand (hahaha! … sorry), I am not that sure because I kind of lost a meaningful reference point.

I talked to the instructor before and she said she’ll show me some alternatives that won’t require me putting much strain on my wrist. That was good. I need to get back into practicing on a regular basis. I’ll make sure to gradually increase the load and pressure I put on the wrist and see how it copes with that. If it’s still bullying me in early February, I’ll go and see the doc again.

It was good to be on the mat again. I could feel that I lost some of my strength and I couldn’t recall the complete sequence anymore but it felt good to go at it again.

Wrist is getting better

Dear Diary,

my wrist has been getting better in the last couple of days. It still hurts when I put weight on it but I’ve been using it quite a bit, pushing the pain-boundary further. It was painful while I used it but when the pain went away, it was actually better than before (or at least that’s what I think).

I did some yoga yesterday and today and it wasn’t too much of a problem with the wrist. The problem was more that I haven’t really done much yoga in the last two months. I forgot the exact order of the poses again and generally felt kind of heavy and not particularly gracious. I also gained about 5kg in the last 5 weeks or so. Not enough sport and way too much food – who’d have thought?

Anyways, I’ll get back to a more regular and less stressful lifestyle next week and will make sure to gain my strength back and hope that my wrist returns to normal shortly.

Annoying injuries

Dear Diary,

last week Monday, I had a little bike accident with my friend BB. We were cycling home from our department’s Christmas dinner and I thought we were turning left but BB thought otherwise. I turned and crashed into him. Luckily, he didn’t fall but came to a full stop. I wasn’t so lucky and did a nice somersault. According to BB, I did “an awesome ninja roll” but that didn’t save me from hitting the asphalt pretty hard. My elbow was bleeding pretty badly but the most pain came from my left knee.

Now, almost two weeks later, my knee has still not fully recovered. It’s much better, though. The main problem is my left wrist, though. I didn’t feel it that much right after the accident because everything else hurt a lot more. But I still can’t really put any weight on it. I can stabilize the wrist itself without a problem but the mobility is restricted and I can’t load it if the wrist isn’t strange. Regular push-ups, for example, are completely impossible but no problem if I do them on my fists.

This also means I haven’t been able to do any yoga for a while which is annoying. I think I’ll go and see a doctor tomorrow although I am not sure what they can tell me exactly. It might be sprained but then they’ll probably just tell me to rest it. We’ll see.

Lots of squash this week

Dear Diary,

after I got back from Bremen on Monday, I went to my weekly squash training at 9. I was playing like shit but I was good to be doing something and getting tired.

I arranged to meet with a friend to play on Wednesday night as well. I went to yoga at around 5:30 and then met with SB at 9:00 to play squash. I played for almost two hours, the last 20 minutes of which I played against one of the trainers which was ridiculously exhausting. He let me run like crazy and I ended up being too tired to retrieve the last couple of balls in our last game. It was a lot of fun, though.

Then, yesterday (Friday), I went to a tournament here in Groningen. My muscles were still pretty sore but it was okay after I warmed up a bit. It was the first time I signed up on the C level. I ended up finishing 4th but that was mainly because there weren’t that many very strong players. I was a bit slow that day because I’ve had an exhausting week and my muscles were still sore but overall, I was very happy with my performance. It was good to see that the guys on that level are not all out of my league. I could beat about half the guys I saw playing that night and even the ones I lost to seemed beatable.

Overall, the difference was mainly that everyone on that level can play “nice” squash. Everyone’s hitting nice lengths and you get a lot more tactical rallies. On the lower levels, you’ll still have some guys that are pretty uncontrolled and compensate for it with brute force and being quick. Very different to play against.

I am curious how much squash I’ll be able to play in the next couple of months and how my progression will go. I am still far away from being able to win a C-level event but it’s definitely fun to play against people that are all at least difficult to play against.

Tomorrow we’ll have a competition match in Steenwijk. I’m curious how that’ll go. :)

My shoulder is holding up well

Dear Diary,

this morning, I went to the physiotherapist. He was happy with how my shoulder is doing and so am I. I can still feel it a little bit every now and then but it’s much better. He gave me one of those elastic bands and showed me some exercises I should do to strengthen “the little muscles that stabilize the shoulder”.

He said I should take it easy and watch out for pain. I told him I went to Belgium for some climbing but downplayed how much I used my shoulder. Since I am doing fine, I’ll now go and see how playing squash feels like. :P

I’ll be careful and don’t play anything that’s above my head. But I want to move.

My shoulder is much better

Dear Diary,

yesterday, I was a bit depressed and pretty concerned about my shoulder. My range of motion was very limited and there was a dull pain in my shoulder even when I was just sitting and not moving it. The pain wasn’t very extreme even when I moved it in painful ways but I could definitely feel that something was wrong.

I took some ibuprofen and had a good night’s rest. When I woke up this morning, my shoulder was much better. My range of motion is still a bit restricted but there’s almost no pain anymore. I am curious how this will develop further. If the pain is even less tomorrow, I’ll go to the physiotherapist again and ask whether I can use the shoulder over the weekend or not. Because otherwise I’ll just have to sit around all weekend like an idiot.

My shoulder hurts :/

Dear Diary,

last night, I went climbing with BB. We started the 40×40 circuit. Eventually, I started a 5c in a slight overhang and about three moves from the top, I made a strange move and messed up my shoulder. The move was a bit like this:

I pulled up with my right arm, keeping my torso close to the wall. I heard a concerning “crunching” sound in my shoulder and felt a jolt going through the shoulder that extended into my neck and down the arm towards the triceps area. Now I can’t lift my arm up anymore. :(

It wasn’t too bad last night when the shoulder was still nicely warmed up and I even continued climbing a little bit afterwards. (I am an idiot.) It got a bit worse during the night and this morning, my range of motion was a lot more limited. The pain isn’t very sharp but it definitely doesn’t feel comfortable.

I didn’t go to my yoga class this morning and won’t be playing squash tonight. I went past a physiotherapist on my way to work and have an appointment there later this afternoon. I hope this isn’t too serious.