The DaxMindMapper Reloaded

.. driving east along the M4 just past junction 15 this morning .. looked in rear view mirror and watch gobsmacked as a green volvo about 100m behind me turns side on to the traffic and shoots from the fast lane into the slow lane out of control. It arrives in the slow lane at right angles to the rest of the traffic and then fires back out towards the fast lane in reverse .. it gets to the middle lane and is back travelling along the M4 .. backwards at about 50-60 mph. It looks like he’s got it under control but no .. he shoots off again .. this time into the hard shoulder and there I lose track of him but I’d hazard the guess that he just piled into the grass embankment at about 20-30mph.

It looked like everyone around him managed to slow down and get out of the way but only thorugh luck.

Jeez .. what is it about this stretch of the M4? See previous blog “5 seconds earlier and things could have been so different ..” from a couple of weeks ago for an even worse accident than I witnessed.

No running this week .. right foot painfull so giving it a rest. Also discovered a useful fact that means I’ll be a better climber

Climbed down at the Link on Tuesday evening. Climbed a 5b and 5c route on the big overhang (think I rested on the the 5c). Climbed 2 * 5b slight overhang routes and the red 5b on the corner .. think I cheated though. Failed on a top rope of a big sloper 6c route .. maybe too tired, maybe too hard. One thing though, I also found out that you can climb on the traverse wall at the centre for free .. so I’m going to try and do that on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on the way home rather than running at lunchtime. It’s not perfect .. would much rather be doing bouldering but the traverse wall is free* .. also would rather do this at lunchtime but it’ll just have to do.

Used the traverse wall for an hour on Wednesday.

Climbed at the Warehouse on Thursday evening - led 2 or 3 6b routes, climbed competition wall 6a+ route (with rests .. but it was the last climb of the evening), climbed 6a+ through roof with rests (and one cheat I think), linked all moves apart from last one on a 6C+ route .. reckon I’ll get that one to go at some point Did some other 6a+ routes , oh and a couple of 5b for warming up on. Went really well .. there for over three hours.

Used the traverse wall for an 3/4 hour on Friday.

*BTW I’m worrying about cost becuase:

running 3 days a week in Newbury = £1.80 * 3 * 4 = £21.60 per month
climbing at the link on Tuesday = £6.80 * 4 = £27.20
climbing at the warehouse on Thursday = £6.80 * 4 = £27.20

Grand total of £76 per month! .. and that doesnt include the cost of driving to these places .. not a problem with Newbury (I work), the Link (I drive past on the way to/from work) but Gloucester costs approx £4 * 4 per month) .. with travel it’s £92 per month.

And the one bill that sticks in my throat is the £21.60 per month on running .. it’s just for use of their rubbish showers.

Well this week it’s a whole lot cooler, it’s cloudy most days and it’s started raining on and off .. that and the way the nights are drawing in has meant the end of the outdoor climbing season for me

Only the one run this week => 7 miles on Friday. My right foot has started to get some stabbing pains across the foot and through the first knuckle. So I thought I’d back off a bit. Mind you, it doesnt hurt while I’m running so maybe it’s down to my “normal” shoes?

Went to the The Link on Tuesday .. did some vertical top ropped routes (6a, 6b, 6c) and a few overhanging routes (couple of 6bs .. rested on them, cheated a lot too) .. finished off with some bouldering .. all in all a pretty so so session

Went to the Warehouse on Thursday .. first time in months and months (since Feb perhaps?) .. lead 5+, 6a+ (yellow in corner, almost fell off without clipping in becuase a foot hold span - rested), ?, 6a, 6b, 6b (cheated and rested), 6a+ overhang (two rests), 6c (failed to get up yellow 6c .. too tired). I broke all records for cheating and resting but hey .. it’s the first visit in ages and the routes are difficult for me but still an improvement over last season’s start.

BTW weighed in at 13st 1lb after Thursday’s climbing session (mind you it was bloody hot .. so lost a lot of water). Note to self, must make an effort to get in the 12 st range!

I think so!

There’s loads of clips out there .. the kraftwerk cover, the BBC News rave, ..

I guess anyone that uses the command line in a windows environment already knows this but I only found out about it yesterday: if you type in the start of directory name at the command prompt and hit the tab button it’ll cycle through all of the available directories that match the characters you’ve typed in.

Eg
c:
cd windows
cd p <tab> <tab> <tab>

as you hit the tab button then the p you typed in will be replaced with the various directory names under c:\windows that start with a p

I never knew this!

Saves a helluva lot of typing.

My weight is back down to 13st 2lbs .. no idea what that proves or means .. it seems to vary so much depending on water loss, whether I’ve just eaten, whether I’ve eaten more or less one day due to my exercise regime, etc etc. I guess it means nothing except that on one particular day, at one particular hour, I weighed 13st 2lbs.

I’m not going to keep my food diary going (it’s just a bit too time consuming and I’m not sure if I’m learning anything other than having a better appreciation of the food I eat).

Ran 7 miles on Monday.

Climbed at the link on Tuesday (loads of medium overhanging routes 5c, 5c, 6a, 6a, 6a+, 6b, 6b+)

Ran approx 4.5 miles on Wednesday.

Climbed two short routes down at Symonds Yat on Thursday evening .. the evenings are really drawing in fast (which is annoying becuase the weather is perfect at the moment).

Ran 7 miles on Friday (I can’t believe I did that .. I was all for not bothering, then decided it would be a short run .. and then I just kept going)

BTW I’ve named the 7 mile run the Long One! There’s a sign on the canal that I run to that states its 3 miles to Newbury but I’ve just checked on Google Maps and its over 3.5 miles! Thats a round trip of over 7 miles.

Wow! That’s approx 20 miles in 5 days .. not bad.

Driving west along the M4 this evening, in the fast lane behind two other cars, when a hundred metres or so up ahead I saw a puff of grey smoke within the east flowing traffic that quickly turned into a cloud obscuring most of the other side of the motorway.

Noticed that the cloud was now spreading onto my side of the motorway too and then .. it all got bad.

First I spotted, out of the corner of my eye a silver car travelling on the other side of the motorway, upside down and flying through the air at a height of approx 4-5m, it rolled and arced from the fast lane across towards the hard shoulder.

The cars in front of me had almost simultaneously slammed on their brakes and I did the same .. all the cars slowed down very, very quickly but fortunately in total control as we came up to but didn’t actually enter the cloud blocking our fast lane.

At this point, all I could think of was being aware that cars behind might be closing at 70-90mph, however a quick glance back and it all looked fine .. there was a gap of approx thirty metres back to a stationary car behind me.

I beeped the cars in front, I didn’t know what was stopping them but there seemed to be a lot of parked cars around with their drivers just looking around .. the cars in front slowly pulled over and I could see why they weren’t in a hurry to move on .. a single section of amarco (from the central reservation) was lying across our lane as well as glass, metal and gravel across all three lanes plus the hardshoulder.

We picked our way through this and moved off down a now completely empty motorway .. all of us, I guess, pondering on what had just happened, how peoples lives had changed in an instant and how things could have been so very different if we’d been 5 seconds further up the motorway.

.. started off with a run on Monday. 7 hill climbs and then had to call it a day .. my left knee was feeling unstable on the downhill section so didn’t want to chance it.

Tuesday I climbed at the Link in Swindon.

Top roped: 5b, 5b, 6a, 6b, 6b, 6c
Led (overhanging slightly): 5a?, 6b (rests), 5b?, 5b + downclimb(rest)
Led (vertical): 5b

Wednesday I ran 8 hill climbs (a PB and boy did I feel knackered afterwoods .. don’t reckon I’ll be beating that for a while!)
Actually I think I’d over done it .. felt sick and out of it all afternoon and into the evening. Getting the balance right for eating and exercise appears to be more difficult than it looks. Had to eat a sandwich and have the crumble during the evening or simply wouldn’t have been able to sleep. Also didnt want to ruin Thursday’s climbing with a total lack of any kind of energy reserves.

Thursday and back to Symonds Yat for two climbs: Fatman HVS 5a (led) and Matchstick Man HVS 5b (followed).

Friday I ran 5 hill climbs .. a week PB .. I’m just about to go and buy a Diet coke to celebrate.

Went climbing on Sunday at Symonds .. managed to get 5 routes done including leading Vertigo.

Weight back down to 13st 2 lbs (mind you during one 24 hour period it swung from 12st 13lbs to 12st 5lbs!)

Food Diary

Monday
Muesli.
approx 6 coffees
apple, banana.
Liver, gravy, bacon, cauliflower, broccli.
Mouthfull of crumble.
pint of blackcurrent flavoured water.

Tuesday
Muesli
approx 7 coffees
two coronation chicken + salad baps
two oranges.
two bananas.
two small dark chocolates.
pint of diet coke.
bowl of sardines, beetroot salad, onion, coupole of pickled onions and a slice of bread (it was late after the climbing).
apple/blackberry crumble + custard (couldn’t resist Sharon’s home made crumble for another day)
approx pint of water.

Wednesday
Muesli
approx 7 coffees
apple
orange
two cans of diet coke.
runner beans, corn on the cob, new potatoes and mince/veg.
apple/blackberry crumble + custard
Ham and pickle sandwich

Thursday
Muesli
three slices of toast, butter and jam.
approx 4 coffees
approx two litres of water
big bowel of chicken soup
apple/blackberry crumble + custard
salad, pickled onions, ham, coleslaw, small amount of cheese and apple
orange
peach

Friday
Muesli
approx 7 coffees
banana
orange
approx 1 litre of water
1 diet coke
J2O drink
Chinese Meal (Big)

.. was rubbish.

Camping with friends for three days over the bank holiday, lots happening at work (11 hr days) and regular climbing partners all off on holiday meant they I did zero running and zero climbing

Also weight was up to 13st 6 lbs .. three weeks of meeting up with friends for my 40th meant that any kind of balanced diet was out of the window with loads of drinking and eating.

Will have to get back on the straight and narrow this week - regardless of work load.