Three more days

Thurs. i climbed, and felt just about as horrible as i expected to feel after Tues'. workout. i finally threw in the towel and left after about 15 mins. of humiliation. Then i went back yesterday (sat.) for some reason. Odd, cuz i didn't feel any better really... just wanted to move. And it was bad at first. Did figure out a 3 i hadn't been able to do before, and that was a little encouraging. But then i ran into a guy i'd climbed with a few times before. Nice guy, but he's real quiet spoken so i've never actually heard his name; i just pretend like i know it, and keep hoping someone will "Hey ____, how's it going?" one of these days, 'cuz i'm way past the point of awkwardness at not knowing it by now.

Anyhow, i finally gave up and walked over and asked him what he was working, and it was a v4. Looked crazy hard for a 4. At first i'm like, well good luck man, i'll just watch you try, cuz i'm cooked. But then i started working the crux, and watching his beta, and i thought maybe it would go. Before i left i unlocked the crux move and stuck it several times in a row, and dropped off before the topout. That was kinda fun.

Didn't link it from the start 'cuz i was fully outta gas, but now i know it'll go. The crux has you heel hooked on the starting jug, then you traverse right with your left hand to a shallow, but positive first-knuckle clutch under an overhang. Then you toe hook the jug so that you're layed out maybe 15 deg. offa' horizontal and work your left foot to the top of the right toehook. Then you cut the toehook loose and shove with your left foot at the same time, pull in to the wall, and gun nearly full-wingspan for a sidepull crimp. Stick that and you pike in to a foothold. i'm kinda amped-- haven't snagged a 4 in a while, and i'm confident this a proper 4. And it was fun to outgun some skinnies, including one of the climbing team chicks, and to do it tired. Doesn't matter, i know, but it makes me believe i could climb 6 or 7 or 8 if i could lose 20 lbs. And i have to keep that in front of me all the time, 'cuz it's so dang hard to cut back on the food habit and the beer if i don't.

NSAIDs please...

You'll be elated to know i finally went back in to the irongym yesterday evening for the first time in 6 or 7 months. i couldn't decide what i should work, so i worked everything. i'm having a tad of trouble lifting any of the heavier parts of my body this morning. Actually don't feel as crappy as i expected to. When i left the gym last night, however, i'd released so many toxins i had a little bit of a hard time driving in a straight line. m' back is still as strong as ever i guess, but i have no chest. Felt a li'l weird using your arched back/ leg drive technique to bench 135 lbs. a few times, but i was getting desparate toward the end.

Also went climbing earlier yesterday. Ticked that project first try today. And then went upstairs and sent another v3, also first try, that'd been kicking my butt for the previous week. That felt good. It was confidence building to know i could send two v3s in a row; but then i got shut down on a 2 for some reason, so i went back to class. Anyhow, good workout day all around, and it felt good to push some weight again-- even if it wasn't very much. i did weigh 200 flat at the gym, so my next stop is to get a pool membership. Gotta jettison some ballast.

Thur'sD'y

About that flippant assertion that i'd be avoidin' the crimps... Well a frind did shew up, and i shewd him thee problem: thee very one, indeede, whitch i compleetedeth upon the antecedent Tew'sDay. Rhite, and he cud not send-- whitch is goode, indeede, as theretofore, when last we'd clumb togaether, sum munths in thee past, he'd prooven all-ways sum meashure stronger than i. Anyways, we went to the cave, where we'd been sorta workin' a "v3" on tues. It's bloody hard for a 3... whoever rated the new stuff after that comp either kinda sees everything under a v5 as "basically all the same," or else is an irreligious, callous-souled sandbagger. i went to the gym specifically to do this problem, but it requires a shoulder-high heelhook 6 ft. off the ground in order to reach and establish on a tiny crimp, off of which one dynos to the finish. If you miss dead-center of that crimp it's sorta like trying to just grab 'hold of the wall with no hold on it whatever: you don't even slow down on the way to the mats. Anyhow, by the time we worked it out, i was too tired to link it together. It'll go on tues. But i didn't do so well at dodging the small crimps. we'd hooked up with another couple of guys i'd climbed with before, and were all taking turns burning on it. That's fun. i can say i work about a thousand times better and more efficiently when i'm climbing with some other folks. i had a genetics exam at 2:00, and at 1:45 i looked up at the clock and had trouble bringing myself to care. i was planning on climbing for maybe 30 mins., then going in early so i'd have a good hour to study for the thing. Ended up studying for about 10 mins. But it was so nice talking to other humans, i didn't much care. When adults address me i generally just stare at 'em for a while, and i have to dig deep to remember how to speak out loud.

i'll call it a good workout even if i did egregious tendon damage. And i got an 88 on the test, which isn't as bad as i deserved. And then, when i got home, Steph had got me a set of Pfeil wood carving chisels for a gift, the beautiful girl. Made for a pretty happy b'day all around.

Crimp my ride

Today was a good learning day. i climbed on sat. (which was dismal, and not much worth discussing) after which i was inspired to do hanging leg raises. i did five sets of 10 thinking that'd minimize the pain/healing time. It's a good thing i did, cuz today (tues.) it still hurts to cough hard. Anyhow, inspired by Glenn's bench workout, i went in with the attitude that i was gonna see some kind of progress or stay at the gym 'til i did. Seemed to work. In lieu of stretching, and my usual warmup routine, i sat at the base of a v3 that'd thrown me an embarrassing number of times, stared at it for 10 seconds or so, strapped on the ol' shoes and sent that bastard first try. i learned, though, that 200 lb. guys don't handle 3 or 4 long hard crimp sessions a week so well, and that 1 to 2 days of rest between 'em just ain't enough to heal. Also, it was driven home to me how much better i climb when i have someone to climb with. Closed crimps are just hard on the tendons, and that takes those silly things way longer to heal than muscles (although at this point i think they're healiing faster than my abs). Thurs. i'm gonna try to keep it to slopers and open-grips: no crimps. And presently i'm gonna try to work some portion of the flaccid entire anterior side of my cadaver.

Hey how's that job looking, cuz i need a workout partner?

'Tardation Thursday (the sequal)

Last night my dog found her voice, and howled for long about an hour after i booted her into the cold night. That was at around 12:30. Ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep. Then i'm pretty sure i forgot to take my seizure meds before school this morning. Then i went climbing. i truly thought for a while there that i'd acquired some form of retardation. Imagine trying to climb something with a migraine and with Crisco'd Seran-wrap on your feet. Started out trying a burn on a tricky li'l 3, and that didn't go so well. Then i thought i'd maybe get some blood moving and do a proper warm-up on a v1 i'd already done (and flashed). i fell off of it four times before i gave up. then i went upstairs hoping that there'd be no one up there in front of which to humiliate myself further, and i fell off of pretty much everything i laid hand to. Finally this guy came up whom i'd run into before on occassion, and was working a v4. So i joked with hime that i'd so far been shut down on absolutely everything in the gym, and would he mind if i fell off'a his problem as well. At any rate, things started looking up from there. i didn't send, but i came mighty close, and got the high point, so i felt a li'l less cowed thereafter. He said he'd been having problems as well and that he'd been shut down on a "v3-" downstairs, so i asked him where it was. Then i went and did it. It's a sit start inside a low cave. Start with one foot on a hold and hands on a polished slopey ledge at around eye-level. Then you throw up and backwards to the outside of the overhang-- full body length, all-points dyno-- to a rail. Stick that, and the second move's a full wing span lateral throw to a three-finger hueco. Then you match in it and finish on the ceiling. Just before i tried it, i watched this strong guy get spanked on it. He's all i can't believe this is 3-. There were no witnesses when i sent of course (which is probably why i sent), but at least i left knowing i'd outclumb some muscley dudes. Didn't feel like quite such a degenerate after that. But i gotta get me some sleep one of these days. That sucked.

Trisomal Tues.

Went in yesterday for to get some blood flowing. Bleh. Not sleeping for the antecedent week and about a pound of exotic cheese with the compulsory bottle of red the evening before did nothing at all for my climbing ability. i went in to send a couple of routes i'd been too tired to send during the comp, and found myself falling off of stuff i'd sent already. we're talkin' Parkinson's guy with a hangover. Anyhow, i did pull it together a bit toward the end, and accidentally sent a route i really didn't think i had the guns to do. Turns out there's a kind of numb, weightless zen to be found in getting so angry and so fed-up with oneself that the thought of breaking is no longer a factor. 'Course, shortly thereafter i botched a 0+, and i left in shame.

4.4.8 CompDay

Had me comp last night. Bonny good times, that. Turns out six off days with only one light workout in the middle has a pert' nigh miraculous effect on the ol' healing process. Climbed for three hours, and sent probably 19 climbs with maybe one to five minutes of rest 'tween tries. It was set up in an interesting way. None of the climbs were rated yet, but in the past they've assigned point values-- say between 100 to maybe 3000-- such that after you've climbed a few routes you have a pretty good idea how hard it's gonna be just by point value. This time they assigned either 5, 10, or 15 points, so a 5 pointer would be roughly between v0 and v2ish, 10 points comprised mostly hard v2 to probably low-end v5, and 15 pointers weren't worth hanging on. So the 10 pointers encompassed quite a huge range. Also all the problems were numbered, and you had a scoresheet with like 53 slots on it. On each slot you had either 1,2,3, or 4 tries to get the route. So before you got on the problem, you had to write the number of the problem in the slot, and you only had that many tries to send; otherwise you just lose that slot, and couldn't score points in it. But i know i sent 4 or 5 v3s and a v4 or two. By the last hour i (and every other mortal in the gym) was schlepping up every 5 pointer i could come by. we're talking wrist-hooking buckets, and dynoing for everything. Got to the point that if it took me more than 20 seconds to hit the finish hold, i couldn't do it no matter how easy it was. Very much fun.

Also there were some kids climbing. None of 'em were much good, but just the way the clumb made me realize that if i could just lose 120 lbs. or so, i'd be a way better climber. i think i'm gonna go in to the plain gym today.

You guys need to get here soon, and without paralysis (from, say, drunken motorcycle wrecks) 'cuz i'm jonesing to get off the ground.

Tues. April the Foolth

Did an ok workout on plastic yesterday. Felt like i was spent way too soon though. As a result, i turned it mostly into an endurance day. Clicked off a couple of hard 3s and then couldn't shake the pump off, so i moved to 2s, 1s, and 0s, and did as many as i could find as fast as i could find 'em trying to get as little rest as possible. Ended up doing a bunch of routes, and left with a very nice, warm, glowing burn and very little tendon damage. That comp i thought was last fri. is this fri. so i'm taking today and tomorrow off to try to get back to 100%. It's a good time-- they always put up a ton of new routes for these things, and you get a whole bunch of focussed folks to work 'em with.