Ain`t No Mountain High Enough

So my 30th birthday approaches shortly and I am frequently asked if I feel old or am I scared of getting older? Do I feel old? No, not at all. Am I scared of being thirty? Off course not. I am however scared of not achieving more, I feel like I haven`t quite achieved enough yet in my lifetime. You see my birthday follows closely to my anniversary. Generally my partner and I go away to celebrate to different and sometimes random locations. This year was no different as we both visited an area neither of us have been.

Where we stayed there were two nearby national parks. So on our first free day we decided to go on a hike. When we arrived I saw the very aptly named “the pyramid” through the trees. A mountain made of granite with its large tip bare of any trees. Once we gathered a limited understanding of some very crude maps we sighted the trail and began walking. From the beginning I wanted to climb to the top of it. I have had quite a bit of experience climbing indoors/outdoors and bouldering so I felt comfortable with the idea. The trail itself was 1.6km (1mile) long which is nothing to walk at all. But at the same time the trail also ascends to 1200m (3/4 mile). So in a word the trail gets steep and my partner is as good at climbing hills as I am at swimming. (Which would make sense to you if you read my previous posts and knew just how terrible I was at swimming). Now really this was a challenge for her. We had to stop a few times to allow her to get comfortable with the height and steepness of the trail we were walking. I thought that she was going to turn back at one stage early on, but after a few minutes she had become comfortable and we went up further.

Now this trail ascends through forest, brush and bush with giant granite boulders and formations protruding randomly from the earth. Then we came to a clear area which was the base of the climb to the top of “The Pyramid”. At this point my partner chose to stay at the base where she would take photos of the view at 960m (3149ft). She didn’t feel comfortable with the steep terrain combined with the bare granite that she felt wouldn’t grip. I took off up the mountain which quickly began to slow me down as it was getting steeper fast. I was guided by a track marked with spray paint every few metres.

As I ascended I went through a channel of granite and passed two fathers with their two young children. On the way up we passed a teenage couple and they told us there is a section that is a “bit slippery”. Granite has lots of grip when dry but when it is wet it`s dangerously slippery. I went through the channel and took some photos of lizards that lived up there. I came to a section with some running water and then I began to traverse the outside of some granite to try and follow the marked trail. The recommended trail began to slope off to one side where there was a shear drop. The ground was too slippery and my feet stumbled. I managed to steady myself and decided that there must be a better way. So I climbed over the granite boulder and through some trees. I came across a couple with the boyfriend trying to get around the outside like me. “I told him and his girlfriend about the safer route I took. They went that way and I passed them.

As continued on I found myself pausing as it was getting very steep and I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to get back down. I was scared and my heart was pounding. I told myself I was going to get down and I had no option but to continue. I had come this far I might as well see the top. I took control of my breathing and relaxed. The trail corkscrews up clockwise and I climbed some boulders and got to the top. I couldn`t see my partner so I had to crab walk down the face so I could see her. She took my photo and I began to make my way back. The air was getting cold and the clouds looked dark. I knew I had to get off of this rock. As I made my way down I had to crab crawl again just before the slippery section. It was at this point I had originally seen the two fathers with their kids. They had gone through the same trail I did to avoid the slippery section. One father got down like I did as we passed and crab crawled. I went back down and hung onto the channel to stop me getting to much speed. It began to rain when I reached the base. Two wives/mothers were sitting at the bottom waiting for their husbands. I said “you should call your family back it could get really dangerous”, luckily they had already done it.Really it was to dangerous to have young children on that trail. I caught up to my partner and we started to head back down. By now it was pouring. We tried to hide under an overhanging rock but we were already soaked so we thought we will just continue. We decided to walk a few other tracks, taking photos and enjoying the rain as we went. We were worried about the people on the mountain and wondered if they had gotten off safely. I had no climbing gear to help them if they did get stuck I would be little use. Turns out when we got back to the car after our hour ,3.5 km detour they had just managed to get down from the mountain. They has some scratches but were ok. I felt relived.

Now it turned out whilst I was on the mountain trail my partner had climbed up even higher. It was something I hadn’t realized with all the excitement until we were reflecting on the photos later. Alone and eager to try she inched up using the same method of step by step weaving through the limited rock formations she could find to help her feel comfortable with the steep terrain. It reminded me of a thought I had when I was sitting on the mountain top. Fitness is often like that day, it is a hard slog to get up there and it can be risky or painful but it is worth it. We got soaked that day but both my partner and I could`ve quit and turned back at any time. Neither of us made excuses we just took one step at a time. My partner really did a great job and she seemed really happy with herself. I am very proud of her because I know how big of a challenge it was. That makes me happy when someone persists and achieves and off course you can do that to. Just persist and try and it will be worth it.

You don`t have time for you?

Currently I am preparing to open my own practice for Exercise Physiology and allied health. Off course this has taken me a lot of time as I am undertaking a small business course while  working. I am hoping to have a bricks and mortar practice open soon but I also hope to do some online programming. If anyone out there is interested please contact me. Now this brings me to my next point which is health and fitness goals are similar to business goals.

I know a lot of you out there a skeptical but the one thing connecting both business and our health goals is time. Society as a whole is becoming more time poor each and every day. We are all struggling with  work long hours, having families and sometimes it seems hard just to keep our heads above the preverbal water.  Which leads me to my next point, by far the biggest excuse I hear from people is, “I just don`t have the time to exercise”. This is often followed up with,” I don’t have time to eat healthy I just grab whatever”. Sometimes in life this can be true. I am sure you all expected me to get on my high horse but life can get in the way of our goals. What I am truly worried about is do people really know what is taking up their time? 

             Even while being time poor there a many options for those trying to improve health. The first option is as simple as keeping a food dairy. Often when people ask me about food dairies I ask “do you check your bank account?” Almost always  yes is the answer. So off course then I ask why don’t you track your food? This may lead to various excuses many which fall into apathy and lack of knowledge. For me it is simple, if you track your bank account why don`t you track your food. Aren’t both these aspects equally important to you? For well and truly over a year now I have been keeping a food diary. With all the advances in technology it has become a lot easier than most people think. If you have enough time to  watch TV at  night then you have enough time to do this. 

And to those few who say I don’t even have a few minutes each day to keep a food dairy, I say start a time dairy. Built of the same premise as a food dairy a time dairy can help expose the everyday activities that is sucking up your time and stopping you from reaching your goals. TV is just one example of a time thief you may discover if you keep a time diary. I am interested to know what things come up for you. You may even find you have great time usage, or that certain things can be increased. Like in business “if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it”. Our time is precious if we can achieve our goals and dreams by using our time better shouldn’t we? Post in the comments below your biggest time thief.

It`s official

So if you have read this blog before you may know that I have been completing a Master’s degree in exercise physiology (rehabilitation). I decided I wanted to offer some more background on myself. My education started when I undertook an undergraduate degree in sport and exercise science. I then undertook a post graduate diploma in education and I am a qualified P.E teacher. I decided during that diploma that I wanted to work for myself and have other people work with me. I also wanted to use the knowledge and experience I gained from my undergrad and exercise/training background. Teaching is great and I enjoy it but it ultimately I want to flex my mental muscles. For me training and coaching people is what I enjoy. It requires me to really educate my clients otherwise I am doing them a real disservice.  Basically for me when I come home from teaching children I don`t read journal articles about child development. I read articles about exercise, health, disease, rehab and performance improvement because that is my passion.

So I spoke with my partner about enrolling for the Masters course and she supported me. The Masters required me to complete it via distance education whilst performing over 500 hours of volunteer work experience in different clinical fields. Due to the university being in another state I was required to organise all of my placements myself. All whilst trying to fit in work, training and living in general. I was required to log all of those hours and to date I completed nearly 700. I flew to the university twice interstate. One time I was very sick with Glandular fever. I had a swollen spleen and liver and to be honest was not in a healthy condition. 

 

This post isn`t so much about what I had to do, but who was there for me. It is important I feel to thank those around me. I am commonly said to have the emotional back account of 2 cents, but I need to express my gratitude. First my partner who always helped me and supported me. Never has someone been so thoroughly assessed and tested before. Even when it got hard and trust me it really did. Those that point out that university is easy either didn`t put in, are a genius or haven’t yet done it. She made dinner when I spent 14 hours writing assignments or studying, she was my test subject and often my rock. I rarely waiver in many of my pursuits but this made me question what I was doing. She pushed me frequently citing the phrase “Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering”, Theodore Roosevelt.  She is like the ocean lapping at the shore she never seems to hit hard like a tidal wave but consistency keeps going. I took my lead from her and just kept going. I would also like to thank my family and friends. Particularly my mother and step father who were also test subjects and would test me for hours on end. Also my inlaws who were also a big support during those days. I thank my friends who have put up with and continue to put up with my “I was reading” or “the other day”.  I would also like to thank those that jeered me and yes there are always detractors. At first you made me angry but ultimately how can I practice patients and humility without you. After all challenge is how we grow like it or not. I thankyou as well. I won`t forget my Nan and Pop always behind me.

Google scholar has a phase “stand on the shoulders of giants”. In my case I do, even though those giants don`t know it. These are the people that are my giants and though I could stand alone I could never stand as tall without them. Thank you.

My next step is the board acceptance application process and to open my own practice. I am looking forward to for the next step knowing the last few years were worth it.