My next (and only my second) caving trip is on the calendar. June 11th is go time! The first day we will be doing rock climbing, something I’ve never done before inside or out. We will camp outside that night, and I think drive to Blowing Cave/Cushman cave the next morning. I haven’t decided whether I’ll take my hokey little kids tent (it is definitely functional), or if I’ll take my hammock. I don’t have a rain fly for the hammock or a way to insulate the underneath side; plus there is the whole going to the bathroom, checking my blood, and adjusting it in the middle of night. It would be much easier in a tent, but somehow less adventurous.

This is a pretty intense cave, and it looks like the guides are going to split us into 2 groups so that those of us that want to go beyond the waterfall room can do it. The waterfall room took us two hours to reach on our first trip in November, and the guides said we made good time. I’m hoping we go four hours in before turning around to come out. So I’m going to need to work on my muscular endurance and my mobility. I need to make sure my shoulders, wrists, and back are all strong enough to handle the work load; this cave involves A LOT of crawling – close to 80% of the journey.

The goal for today:

– Rotator Cuff Rehab (obviously)

– Neck Mobility

– Flat Footed Squat

– Hanging hamstring stretch under tension

– Integral Strength warm-up

– Stairs – 10 floors x 2

Did I accomplish it?

– Neck Mobility

– Integral Strength warm-up

– Rotator Cuff Rehab – see below

– Legs Passing – 25

– Side Plank Dips – 5

– Elbow Rehab 3lb x30 reps

On the Rotator Cuff Rehab I did the stretches with shoulders forward, serrates flexed, 40 seconds. This was more painful than the other way, much more so for the LR vs the ALR. I would say for the Lateral Rotation I was at a 4-5 on the pain scale. I did lying ALR exercise, 3lb 1×25 reps, and standing ALR 1×15 reps. Did 1 set of side LR x25 reps. I’m thinking next week (maybe this week) I’m going to push the pain level until I can achieve 100% of the non-injured side. I also want to increase my ROM for the non-injured side, injury prevention and all that.