Laying Down A Marker

I've agreed to attempt the Hathersage Hilly triathlon next year. I don't own a bike or any associated equipment. My only swimming clothing is a voluminous pair of shorts and until yesterday I didn't own any running footwear. So this is obviously going to be a complete farce.
Anyway yesterday I went to our local cheapo emporium TX Factory Max Shop or something and spent the princely sum of £10 on a pair of the finest running shoes. They might last a week. Anyway after visiting the shops the family packed up and headed off to the Isle of Man to spend some time with the in-laws. I decided to start my extensive training regime last night by undertaking an evening jog. I had a route in mind and using walkjogrun.net I discovered it was 5km, exactly the distance I was hoping for (actually it was 5km 30m and I don't know if it takes into account gradient etc but hey ho). Sadly the route was also a road course (not my preferred option) and really quite hilly (which is good from a training perspective but still...) Anyway I set off having told the wife that I was hoping for a time around 30 minutes but that I was probably less fit than I imagined and 40 minutes might be more realistic. I was most surprised to get round in 25 minutes dead. An average of 12km/h on a hilly course, reasonably happy with that. I imagine I'll get worse as time goes on...
Legs not feeling too sore this morning, which is surprising.
Ta-ta for now.

All different or all the same?

Trad, bouldering, sport. Three very different facets of the activity of climbing. And yet sometimes they fall so very close to one another. Like three adjacent sides of a cube, each distinct and separate and yet all meet at a point.
Earlier this week I went to Stronstrey to try a couple of possibly unclimbed lines with G-lah. Top-roping, working the moves like a sport route, but there only short so bouldering on a rope, but then on the sharp end it would definitely be bold trad. I'm not at the sharp end at this time, but with more work... Turning the trad into a sport boulder problem??
This morning was an early start, a very early start. To the Nook where a kindly soul had rebolted Lockless. Sadly climbing chums tend to be thin on the ground at half-seven Sunday morning so only Bammers had to suffer witness of my flailings. I conspired to work my way up Lockless on the shiny new bolts in a bizarre improvised self-belay system of dubious safety. The route is very short, very much a boulder problem, and it consists of a couple of slappy moves that I wanted to wire. So I got them sorted and then checked the top was steady away. Now what to do? I can climb the route, conditions are good, I feel pretty fresh considering the early hour. Hmmm... In the end this route is a boulder problem, so a solo is viable. I stick the mat at the bottom and solo up dragging a rope behind to lower off. A bit bo(u)lder than clipping the bolts, but also easier and quicker. A trade off that I'm comfortable with.
Then I bouldered out Theorea start, but it's pretty dirty and I can't be bothered messing around with the rope anymore so I trundle over to Dog Dinner Buttress for a brief dabble on the uber traverse before heading out past the arriving masses at the Cornice. Bammers has a bit of a mental on the way out and starts barking at some incoming sportsters, apologies if that was you.

Turning up the heat.

Crivens it's got warm! Since returning from the Isle of Man work has featured to a disappointingly large extent in my life however I have continued my somewhat unsuccessful sport climbing exploits with a smattering of bouldering. I've made a couple of trips to Kilnsey working a project but the weather has done me little favour. My window of free time is generally restricted to a few hours around midday, which is also the hottest part of the day.
This oppressive heat has been somewhat demotivating, to the extent that I'm considering bagging off trying the sport for a couple of months until conditions cool and instead trying to get some stamina, endurance, PE and power through other means...
Of course if I get an evening/early morning of freedom I'll sling the rope in the van and head for the bolted steepness.
Also visited Woodwell with G-lah. Had a dabble on Art Of Self Destruction and with a bit of G-guidance it started to feel like a goer instead of being deeply impossible. Nothing else of note happened on a bouldering tip but we went to the Wolf House for a cream tea post lacklustre performance (not that we deserved it) and they had sold out of scones!! Totally ruined my day I can tell you.
I'm now sat watching the tennis feeling somewhat sub-par, my wife (a teacher) has been kind enough to transmit some germs from one of her grubby little darlings as a little challenge for my old mans immune system. I imagine I won't make it through the night...