This is why we stretch...

In a rush to get to the supermarket yesterday evening I skipped my post-bouldering stretches, assuming they were unnecessary given that I didn't feel as though I'd gone at things particularly hard.

This morning, however, I realised I'd been somewhat naive: the problem I'd been working, which required a big press from the shoulders, had caused my back muscles to tighten to the point where even simple tasks like opening a door caused them to twinge. Coupled with an unpleasant graze-and-bruise combo on one of my elbows — moving quickly through something, I caught myself hard on an overhang — the mere task of putting my arm through my coat sleeve has become fraught with potential for pain and suffering.

You'd think, after all that, that I would have learnt my lesson. Not a bit of it. What did I do this evening but head down to the river for another round of bouldering. And what did I send? Both the should press problem and the roof one where I smacked up my arm...