40 days

By checking the second-last blog spot I wrote, I can realize that something went wrong respect my thoughts. In fact, the title of it said "little injury" and it should have suggested what I supposed to have in my wrist. Seventy more days are passed from that post, and four full months are spent from the beginning of the issue. Nowadays I started to set aside the term "little", using maybe a more serious adjective. The clearness of the problem came out with a MRI, at the end of July: Lesion of ligament, lesion of the triangular cartilage and inflammation around the capsule. The suggestion has been clear like painful: a minimum of forty days of rest without any kind of climbing or training. During these days, it has been quite hard to keep the motivation high and to try to lose as less as possible from the physical and the mental shape. I opted to dedicate more time to some aspects I usually don't look after like body tension exercises, stretching and one arm fingerboard with the left hand. Fortunately, bouldering is not only composed by body tension and one arm hangs, but by infinite things and by a specific way to link all of them in a unique system. In this way, unfortunately to me, I could just keep good a very small package of skills. For this reason, I was doubtful that the few qualities I trained could be helpful once I re-started climbing, since the other parts of the system would have been weak.

Last Monday (two day after the ending of the resting period) I got the first pull-ups and the day after I went out to check how my wrist would have answered to some efforts. I was quite tense and pretty negative. Fortunately the first feelings were pretty good and the first day was completed. Results: no pain in the wrist (even in some crucial position of the hand), troubles in the capsule of the medium finger, absence of any kind of climbing coordination, worst skin ever and wearying in my right arm. Now; I guess that the last three things could be pretty normal after a month and a half without rock, but the second gave me some care while the first one let me to keep on hoping. On Wednesday the right arm was really painful, probably due to the day I had; while the wrist presented some acute pain to the higher part. The day after, this problem looked to be over and I opted to a fast evening session on the rock. I decided to go to a really known area, just to try to repeat some known problems until V8. The second day went better than the first; the wrist seemed to be pretty good, the finger capsule slightly better as well as the pain in my right arm. Yesterday was the third day of climbing and the feelings went even better: I could climb different styles of problems, put up new easy and cool lines and enjoy a great day with Marco in Champorcher.

Finally after forty days I can have some positive feelings, keeping the motivation and the love for climbing as high as always and dreaming about my future. The thoughts in this long period have been pretty various; I think it could be hard for everyone to stop what you love and many people can understand. Sometimes you realize how hard it is, other times you try to think not and to be positive, thinking about the best things you did in the last months. Now the situation is still really delicate. My next goal is to manage the next week climbing and texting again the trend of the pain. Subsequently I will maybe try to make a little program of recovery and come back as soon as possible, but giving the highest priority to the feeling of the body.

New problem in Champorcher. Photo Marco Pelle