Friday glee thinks that's certainly a lot of suffering

[rydra_wong]

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had fun; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big. Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee: The Sufferfest: Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright's epic and painful quest to climb all of California's 14,000ft peaks -- cycling between them.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

My climbing on Saturday was good. Lior is a fun partner. There was a new route that goes up a slight overhang, and I could not make the transitional move up onto the overhang. Boo-hiss!

But then on Tuesday, I climbed with London (who is leaving at the end of the month), and I not only made that transition, I was able to finish all but the last move on the same route.

I felt strong, and it was cool. YAY!

[rydra_wong]

Yay feeling strong! Yay crushing overhangs! Yay fun new partners!

[wpadmirer]

Yeah, it's great. I went from the auto-belay to one climbing partner. Now losing that partner and have two new ones. It's amazing.

[juliet]

I went climbing again! Hurrah. Also I now have the Arch's little app thingy so I know which problems I climbed. (20 of them, in just over 40 minutes -- all from the V0 and V0-1 circuits, but I think next time I will drop the V0 circuit and start trying some of the V1-2 circuit). I fell off a couple of times, too, which is pleasing because it suggests I am trying to do things I am unsure I can make rather than just stopping.

[rydra_wong]

Yay for getting to climb again, and increasing confidence! My phone is not smart enough for the app, so I have a tiny notebook in a pocket in my chalkbag, when I'm trying to keep track of which problems in a circuit I've done.

[wpadmirer]

Very cool. I love new challenges on the top rope, but there's a lot of swinging and swearing that goes on as I work the routes. (grin)

[astridv]

I went toproping tonight with a couple of friends. Got to climb only ten routes because we were three grownups and a kid, so lots of time on belay. But I felt I had way more strength than last week... it was like jumping up the walls. I'm wondering whether I just had a good day or if the magnesium supplements I've been taking for the past two weeks have something to do with it.

[rydra_wong]

Yay strength! The magnesium possibility is intriguing.

[wpadmirer]

I take magnesium because it helps calm anxiety. Don't know if that has anything to do with it for you. Maybe it's increasing your focus?

[rydra_wong]

Magnesium's involved in a tonne of things, including improving sleep -- and energy production.

Apparently strenuous exercise increases magnesium needs, and magnesium deficiency can worsen exercise performance:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17172008
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11983816
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24465574

So yeah, could absolutely be the magnesium, IMHO.

[wpadmirer]

Huh! I did not know that. Learn something new every day. Thanks! So taking magnesium is doing multiple good things for me!