Tough - Cold Tough

arctic-mummy
Sun 3 Apr 2011 22:33
Sunday 3rd April

Well I thought yesterday was hard, and physically it was, but that is what I
spent a year and a half training for! I am still stiff and sore today, but
at my age I would expect nothing else; I suffered for at least 3 days after
every session with Tommy in the gym!

Last night and this morning was mentally very tough. It was our coldest
night yet (-24 Deg in the tent!) I was the wrong side of uncomfortably cold
all night, especially my feet. Consequently I did not sleep that well, which
meant for a tough day, after a very physical one yesterday. It takes a
minimum of 2 hours from wake up to do breakfast, get dressed and pack up the
tent. When we set of I was very cold, and there was an extremely cold
westerly wind. The actually walking was pretty straight forward and quite
flat, but it took me until lunch time to feel even slightly warm. I spent
most the morning walking in my down gloves, which are like duvets, great for
providing warmth, but not greatly practical for skiing in. But needs must! I
wore a thick face mask which covered most of my face, and goggles, which
froze up by the minute. By noon, I had gone through both pairs of goggles,
and luckily by this stage I was warm enough to wear my sunglasses.

We have now been in our tent a few hours, with at least one burner on, all
our kit is hung up in the roof of thr tent to dry, and I am just warming
through. I struggled today. It was SO cold, and I was physically very tired.
I know there will be other days like this; I hope I have learnt from today
and cope better, even just slightly!

This rugged pc (supplied by Pure Technology) is amazing. It comes into the
tent, with ice on the outside, from a hard day in a very cold pulk, gets
itself ready, then just performs (better than me!). Amazing!

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