Twofer

Sorta. Did an hour run today. i had built up something like raw dread at the prospect of getting back into the run and bike; but it really didn't go badly. Hit all my time checkpoints (in spite of hitting a fresh red light at the major intersection both ways) and still broke an hour. Then i went in to the irongym for a back workout, but i only got in p'lups 'fore i had to call it a day. i honestly wasn't too inspired to do deads, 'cuz my hamstrings and low back are still sorta inexplicably torn down from last week. But i went higher on the p'lups. Clipped off two clean with 100, then did 3 more negatives. Then i put 115 on the chain just to see. Can't say i locked that one out, but i did scream like a wounded animal and got my teeth above the bar. Followed that with 3 more negatives. That's good times, that is. i wanted to climb today before i did back work, but i couldn't justify sneaking away for that long. But since i didn't hit it too hard today, maybe i can pull off a project or two before we take off y'allward. No ice cream/sugary crap today. No ETOH. i'm starting to feel better again.

Swim

Got in an ok swim today. 300wu/ 200 drill sets/ 1,000 straight/ 200 kick sets/ 150 cd. Definitely lost some fitness somewhere along the way. And i haven't felt very well the last few days. Maybe it's just sleep. It was freezing here today, so i wasn't inspired to run or ride. Got to do that soon.

Hangin' with tha progeny

Well, Annie and i got in for a sesh. She did really well for not having clumb in so long. i felt fairly decrepit for most of it. So much so, in fact, that at first i thought something must be wrong with me--must be sick or something. Odd, 'cuz i onsighted a couple of new v3s. But then i got on a hard 4 i'd done before, and couldn't do the first several moves that i usually race through to get to the hard bit. But then i started climbing with some other people and i revved up. That usually helps. i did end up re-sending that 4, and i worked all the moves out on another one that's had me stumped for a few days. But i felt especially fat and sluggish. i love climbing with Annie, and i think she could be really good one day, but she definitely ain't a workout partner yet. At one point, i was literally splayed out spread-eagle between a nearly unusable sloper in my right hand, and a toe-hook with my left foot on an overhanging v6, and she walks right up behind me and starts prattling about going downstairs. i fell on the next move and she was already walking off, and i just had to laugh and massage my forehead. Good times. Ended up being a pretty ok session (i tore my li'l nubbins down for a hard workout), and i'm perfectly willing to attribute the sluggishness to the nearly-global soreness from the irongym. But i gotta break the ice and get back out running again. i'm getting obese.

elderly today

Got in for a chest session today. Again, i kept it kinda thin on the number of workouts; but it really didn't go that badly for having not gotten in for it in three or so weeks. Oddly, the most demotivating bit of the workout was my hamstring, which i wasn't working at all. Did a reeeeeally long warmup which made things go more smoothly for my wee shoulders. i could tell my endurance was way down, but power-wise i felt fairly snappy. Just did incline dumbbells, weighted leg raises, and dips. i'm probably going to be sore tomorrow anyway. Gotta get back on the bike and run soon, and it's looking very much like it's going to snow tonight. Gotta find some motivation. Hands are feeling better, so i might try climbing tomorrow. i need to get Annie back in the gym anyway.

Hamstrung

Right. i don't think--in retrospect--that i tweaked my hamstring, so much as i nearly ruptured it. Steph and i had the day off yesterday (compliments of her very nice parents), and we got a family membership at the climbgym again; so we clumb. Not a good day of climbing (although it's nice to have the fam back on the memebership). i got on a toprope route, and threw this big, obligatory heel-hook, and nearly screamed like a li'l girl. Feels better today, at any rate. went swimming today for the first time in two or three weeks. It's amazing how many little accessory muscles one uses to swim, and fast those things get deconditioned and out of sync. i think i just don't realize how much it poisons me to dip and drink when i'm not training. we made ourselves a deal that we'd get the family membership at the gym as long as we don't drink during the week (we'll easily have the money that way). So we played rummikub and had tea last night, and i think it was the first really good night of sleep i've had in nearly a month. And what's funniest is that this surprises me--like i don't know that's what's going to happen. i'm seriously thinking about going back on that Green Faces thing, to cut the toxic crap out again. Seems silly that i have to be on some special diet to have any self-control, but that appears to be how i roll. (Plus it gives me an m.o. around which to tell friendly folks to nip off and eat their own damn fudge cake.) Plannin' on getting in to work chest this afternoon. Slowly but surely, i'm getting back into it. i'm quite thankful that i'm not as far out of shape this time as i was the last time i woke up.

Oh, and hey: there's a competition at the amarillo climbing gym on the 8th of January! Any takers?

El Dia del Detoxio

Sprinkled the can o' Skoal o'er m' lawn couple o' days ago. It's a start.

Worked back yesterday. i didn't exactly improve for having taken the time off. Not that a couple weeks off was uncalled for; but the particularly slothful, damaging way in which i took them was no so bueno. At any rate, i did clip off 3 pullups with 90 on the chain. Plus i started with a warmup set of 25, just to see how many i could still do in my plump, elderly state. Then i did 3 sets of 4 with 100, wherein i did the first 'un clean; then cheated up for negs. But on that 3rd set i didn't really get the first one clean. i was torn down.

It was deads where i really felt the wasting. i think i got up to a set with 235, but i tweaked my hamstring pulling too fast the set before. So i quit, 'cuz it was buggin' me bad on the last set. Funny thing is how sore my back is today anyway. Rest of the workout went fine enough, but i didn't show up for deads. And i gotta start triathlonning again...it's so dang easy to get outta shape. i'm not too worried 'bout it now, but i just know how easy it is to let a month go by, and there i'm totally deconditioned.

Ebb

Weeks like this are just carcinogenic. Wrote a 16 pager in 11 pt. over the weekend. i have ne'er waded through so much biochem jargon before. That sucked. And he made 'er due on the first day of finals, just 'cuz ...i'm going with "failure to synapse." Then we had two finals on monday for no discernible reason. (Ok, the staff decided to have a christmas party on tues. Instead of monday.) So i got to stay up till nearly 4 studying for those. Then till nearly 2 last night. i did climb yesterday. went to study and piddle on some easy stuff. Ended up miraculously sending a v5 project, and a "4" that'd spit me off a few thousand times. It was not a 4 the way i did it, but it went. Studying at the gym was such an amazingly brilliant idea, that i decided to do it again today. Today was decidedly grimmer. i took the harness in with me, 'cuz i was done brokedown. Got some toproping in on the autobelays. Bad climbing; but good times, notwithstanding. (i think you should get you an autobelay in that barn o' yours.) i tried this one thing a few times, nearly flashed it, but the tape on my fingers kept slipping on holds. so i dropped and de-taped. Then i managed to get my fingers stuck in a shallow two-finger pocket. Tried to dyno up to another hold, and i torqued the @#$& outta my ring finger. i believe it was because it was nearly healed. Anyway...still a fun climb.

Less than 19 hours and i can (hopefully) get back on the wagon. i feel like poisoned hammered crap. Lookin' way forward to some time off.

Thumb-hookin'

Facing the possibility of having to tape my hand into a sort of mittened hook, what with my four favorite fingers damaged on the left hand, i opted instead to tape the most recently damaged, and one other randomly-chosen finger. Warmed up on a quiver of 2s, then went and sent my li'l v5 proj (second try). Then i got a 3 i'd done before (although i tossed off of it several times today). Then i got a 2. Then i got a 1. Then i quit since the 1 felt kinda hard. i've got a test tomorrow, and i just didn't feel like demotivating myself with chest work. Still got three or so projects i owe some smackdown to. But they deserve a fresher, healeder opponent.

Eight mo' days 'til freedom...

million-mile stare

Yesterday i climbed, 'stead of going in for chest. This proved to be a bad move, methinks. i managed to hurt the only really useful finger remaining on my left hand. don't know what i did, but my pointer finger has a strange, sharp, but non-localized pain within. i'll now have to climb with my thumb. i worked all the moves out on two hard problems, but i couldn't link either of 'em--weird weakness in the crimper, and today my pinger hurts. Guess i didn't warm up well enough. Ah well: bought m'self a week off, and frankly i can't afford to go out into the sunlight for the next week and a half.

Got a quickish swim in today for lunch. 300wu/ 6 x 100 fartlek style/ 300cd. Gettin' easier. i finally calculated it out, and i've got about 30weeks till Buffalo Springs. The plan i'm (roughly) following is 20weeks long; so i've 10weeks 'till i really have to get serious. So i'm just looking at it as a chance to get into reasonable shape before i'm on it in earnest. Plus, i'll nearly be done with school by then. Man, that sounds tasty.

a plague on both my houses

Swam today. 250m w/u, 1200m straight, 250m c/d. Felt pretty good. Funny how mental swimming is. If i have to swim 1,000, then it gets hard after 7 or 800. If i know i have to swim 1,200, i clip off the first 1,000 real easily before i bother getting sluggish. Maybe if i tell myself i'm gonna do 5k, then stop at 2,000, i won't even realize i've done anything. Hmmm.

The Workout calls for a 45min run today also. my conscience calls for chest work. As long as one of them wins out, i'll feel good about it all. In the meantime Steph and Katja are presently down with strep, and the other two are vigorously striving to acquire it. i need to go serve some time at the library. So i sit with a cuppa Peet's as i contemplate my fate, geriatric sexual dysfunction, and lipids' relationship to inflammatory cytokine production. Could be worse: there could be more'n 2 weeks left of this crap.

Paying the Piper

The morning after Thanksgiving, the fam has this tradition of getting together at the oligarchs' casa and having a huge breakfast. we make waffles, and decorate them with sundry edible things to look like Santa. Thereafter, the kids decorate ye olde Tannenbaum. i decorated my waffle with about five eggs, sausage, and bacon. Thus laden with 4,000 calories in protein and not-particularly-complex carbs, i (once again) dodged the pagan rituals, and clumb. i only went to get a tiny pump on before hitting the library for research. Very low expectations. Plus there were scads of n00bs climbing every available patch of wall in tennis shoes. But then a group of some pretty motivated folks came along, and i hooked up with 'em and sent a hard v5. That was among the more encouraging things that've happened to me recently. i've spent the last year training and getting progressively weaker, and perpetually injured; then in the last two months i'm hitting stuff i wouldn't have thought of before--even with a couple of damaged fingers. i literally hadn't sent a v5--or probably even a real v4--in over a year. i don't get it, but i'll surely take it and be thankful for it.

Today i did a bike/run brick. 1hr ride, then a 20min run. i rent them asunder with perhaps the longest transition ever recorded in a brick, but that's what you get when you change outta winter bike gear into winter running gear. That was character building, and i'm frankly glad i've got a li'l time 'til triathlon season.

The cost of all this training is that i really haven't been studying enough. i'm pretty much gonna be living at school for the next two weeks to try to pass the quarter. Mostly, i'd appreciate prayers that i can get inspired for my capstone proposal. i honestly have never had writer's block like this, and i can't afford it now.

Thanking

Climbed yesterday. Fun times, even if i wasn't climbing too well after tuesday's back work. Today i got in a frigid run. Did 40mins with intervals: 8 x 30secs hard on a one min rest. Good run. Snowed last night. Have a good thanksgiving all.

Moondane

Yesterday is the programmed off-day for the tri training. i wuz gun' do back at the irongym. But it was that special oppressive sort of day where the real short-term goal was to not drive my auto into a bridge pylon. It was sunny, but really cold and windy. i think i instinctively associate that kind of day with every bad thing that's ever happened to me. It sucked the life-force outta my nostrils. And i was kinda dizzy, and just generally felt like poo. So i didn't irongym me. i climbed. Turned out to be a poor choice, i think. Didn't feel especially weak; only my head didn't show up for the session. It's one of those sports where being off-balance and sluggish doesn't pay out very well. Ah well...live and learn. (Or at least, some people seem to.)

The truly poorly thought-out bit is that today i'm s'posed to do a hard bike and a hard swim--so once again i'm faced with the decision of which workout's gonna suffer/get 86'd. On the other hand, i've got this week to get my "capstone" proposal done. The capstone is our version of a thesis for school. The proposal is supposed to be 12ish pages long. The problem is that i don't have a wispy idea of what i want to spend the next year of my life researching. (If you've any epiphanies, i'm in the market for epiphanies). i'm kinda playing with the thought of fatty acids and inflammatory cytokine modulation, but you wanna talk about swimming in biochem Duckspeak...yeesh. Anyhow, the upshot of having no inspiration and being up to my eyeballs in work that i have no desire to do is that i might just get all three workouts in after all. :-)

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Well, there's the bike ride in. 70min ride with 7 x 20sec power intervals on a 2min timer. Twenty secs doesn't feel like any time even during the interval, but by the end of the last couple of 'em i was screaming like a little girl. Put the bike in the biggest gear i could get to, and turn as much wattage as possible for 20secs. Nice, toasty quad burn. i'm gunna try to get in a quick back workout, then some research.

...And there's the back work. That was definitely not a skeletal (or quick) workout. i 'spect i'll be feeling that for the next couple o' days. i think the climb workout yesterday didn't add anything to today's workout, but it would have been worse if i'd actually been able to climb hard. Worked back up to a couple of sets with 100 on pullups. On both sets i did the first one clean (although that was questionable on the second set), then cheated up for three more negatives. On straight leg deads i worked up to a set of 4 with 295. First time i've gotten to that weight in a while-e-o. Felt especially good 'bout it after the hard ride this afternoon. Also did cable rows, abs, wide grip pulldowns, and bent-over BB rows. Biceps were cooked after that last bit.

Took Annie swimming after i got home. Didn't get the workout in, but that was more fun. i'm really wanting to get her into a kids' tri sometime this spring or summer--see if she'll catch that virus. i think she's gonna be a killer runner, but i also think she could be a fantastic swimmer if she'll train for it a bit.

Didn't get the research worked on. Tomorrow's gunna be a long 'un. Might squeeze that swim in before i hit the books though...

Weekend

Let's just see here: Um, friday i did chest/triceps. This workout gets bumped a lot for other workouts, so it seems like every time i get in to do it, it's like starting over again. Kept it pretty skeletal (again).

Incline DB bench:
10 x 60s
3 x 8 x 70s

Dips:
3 x 10 x bw

Some shaping and sculpting of my manly thorax on the pec-deck.

Saturday (yesterday) i did a hard hour ride with power intervals in. Warmed up for 20mins, then did 6 x 20sec intervals as hard as i could go in the biggest gear i could push on a two min interval. Got my HR into the high 170s for 'em, which is pretty hard to do in 20secs. i hadn't done a bike interval in probably...yeah, probably before i got married. Felt pretty darn good, and 20secs is a tiny amount of time, even fairly out of shape. They're very, extremely hard to do in this town--very few spots where one can ride in a line for 2+mins without hitting a stop light, and absolutely no flat bits. So i fudged a bit on some of my rest periods, but i got it all in. Good workout.

Then last night i got in a 30min run. Pretty day for it; pretty night for it.

Today calls for a swim and an hour run. i traditionally have been doing back/abs on sundays, but these workouts do not gel well. The swim drains me for the lat workout, and i swim like a grandma if i do lats first. we'll see which wins out today. i've got this week off from school, so i should have time to get it all in. Guess i'll log back in when i've done something physical.

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All righty. Got the swim in. 300wu/ 1000straight/ 300cd. Ok swim. Chest was definitely a bit tight from the workout friday.

And there's the run. Felt a bit sluggish for the first 15mins, but then i got me runnin' legs under me, and it went well enough. Couldn't seem to get my HR much above 150, but i still carved a couple o' minutes off time. i guess that's the benefit of running in the dark when it's chilly.

Thursday

Went for a climb session yesterday with a friend from school. He got--i think--5 v1s, which was a huge PR for him. i got that v5 dyno project i'd been working on, and another 5 i'd done before. That was pretty much it. Got some other stuff i'd done before, but it was a very calm session. The gym was packed, so most of the time we spent slouching around waiting for wall space. Made for lots of rest time and a very low-density workout. Kinda nice for a change. i got a couple of 5s and my hands don't feel arthritic today. i can actually imagine climbing again within the week.

Today calls for an hour ride and some swimming. we'll see.

tuesday swim/ wednesday run

Got in for a swim yesterday at lunch. Had to cut it a couple hundred short (most of the cool down) 'cuz class went over again, but i got most of it in. 300wu, 200 drill sets, 5 x 100 moderately hard on a 10sec interval, 200 kick sets, and 100 cd. Had to study for a pharm test for this morning, so i didn't get the bike ride in. But something's better than nothing. i'm hoping to sleep tonight. i'm sickeningly sleepy.

Today i got in my first "speed" workout on the run. Book called for 6 x 30sec "fartleks" which--if you're unfamiliar with the term--are kind'a' informal bursts of speed within an easier workout. i, however, formalized 'em (for to try out the shiny new Timex Race Trainer, which worked like a dream) and put 'em on a 1' interval. Did a 10' warmup, then started the intervals, then ran home for a cooldown, for 38' overall. But because there is no semi-flat place to run within 10 mins of our casa, they were all uphill. Which added some spiciness in my opinion. That was fun. i haven't let the horses loose in a ...well, nigh on a decade. And i made a mockery of the time it usually takes me to run to the bridge (which is my first checkpoint). Gave me hope that even in my rotund, bloated, elderly condition, i might one day be fast again. i needs ta find me a track up round in this hood.

Anfaengerfehler

Yesterday was a good workout day. i didn't get my 30min run in on saturday, 'cuz i was so wiped out after that weird ride, so i did an hour yesterday 'stead of the 50mins. Thing is it was pretty cold, and i blew past all my checkpoints. Made a point to keep my HR at or above 150 just to see how it felt, and i shaved about 3mins off the run. Way nice to get a bit faster, but i think it was a harder run than it was supposed to be. Then i swam. 300w/u, 1,000 straight through, 300c/d. i've got a lot of work to do on the swim. It was way mo' tiring than it should'a' been. Funny how swimming goes: some days it seems effortless, and some days you wonder if it might be easier to go backwards. Then Steph and the kids came, and we all swam. That was more fun. i'm wanting to enter Annie in a kids' tri this year. She's kind'a amped about it.


Seeing as swimming and heavy lat workouts mix like orange and purple, i opted out of the iron workout. Hopefully, i'll find a slot for it today. i'm slated to do an interval workout on the bike, but this studying-one-day-a-week thang for school is not working out so well. i'm beginning to remember just why i got so fat and toxic last quarter. i've gone from "needing to clean up my act if i'm gonna get As" to "needing to clean up my act if i'm gonna scratch out Bs". That's demotivating.

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Today

And there's the lat workout in. Worked up to a couple sets with 100 on pullups. Actually felt pretty good after yesterday's tiredness. Lessee...
6 x 45
6 x 55
4 x 65
4 x 75 (last rep i didn't lock out)
3 x 90 (again, didn't fully lock the last one)
2 x 1ish x 100 (got out the milk crates and cheated up for a couple o' negatives after a clean first rep)

On straight leg deads, i had the interesting epiphany of accidentally picking a bent bar. If you've never tried to keep a seriously heavy bar from rolling itself out of your hands, then i highly recommend it. As a result, i didn't go quite as heavy as i wanted to, 'cuz i had to get to class and didn't have time to change out bars. i'm planning on going back this evening and finishing out the workout. Had to cut it short to get to school.

On the health front, i've pretty much cut out the candy from the diet. Weighed in at 193 this morning.


How's rural texas behaving these days?

Friday

Today was pretty cold. Swam earlier today. Good workout. Actually got to stick to the book workout: 300m w/u, 8 x 25 of drill sets, 4 x 100 of fartleks, 8 x 25 of kick sets, 300 c/d. The fartleks were hard. 25m of "build-up" to 50 hard to 25 of "build-down"; on a 10 sec. interval. i was mighty glad to have 'em done with. Amusingly, i think the kick sets were actually harder for me. i have a very weak kick, and i move like a snail. Ver' frustrating. Then, when i got a chance, i did an hour of "comfortable but not easy" on the bike. Gonna hafta wear some gloves with fingers next time, i'm afraid. But a nice day of workouts.

Yesterday i swam over lunch. Had very little time, 'cuz once again class obtruded into lunch; but i got in 1000 straight with a sad li'l c/d. Then we got out of class way early 'cuz a prof cancelled, so i (stupidly) went climbing. Not a good session, and i shouldn't have gone, but it was a workout. A bad day of climbing is better than a good day of ...pretty much anything else.

Got m' new Timex Race Trainer HR monitor in. Perty sexy li'l machine. And it's got interval (countdown) timers in. i'm looking forward to putting some mileage on that thing soon. Well, have a good weekend, lads.

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sat.

Did an hour and a half on ye olde Bisickle. The HR monitor worketh like a peach. The H it was monitoring the R on performed substantially less satisfactorily. Odd ride. It's really cold out there (for which i was thankful i'd worn the fleece and fingers), but i was hammering up the long climb, and i couldn't get my heart rate even into the high 140s. i don't know if i was slightly hypothermic, or if i just had some bad shrooms, but i felt weird and couldn't keep my HR up. Plus it wasn't that hard of a ride, but it just drained me to the bones. The plan calls for a 30min run sometime today, but i'm not sure it's going to happen. Just felt like i bonked hard, so we'll see if things improve once the food and more coffee kick in. Haven't felt this squished after a stock workout in a while. Gotta get this cold weather thing dialed in.

Trudgin'

Cetchin' up here. Mundy i done went fer an hour run. Got suited out for a bike ride, but daylight "savings" rolled me like a mark, and sunset came earlier than i was prepared for. So i ran in the dark. Good run though; pretty night.
Toosdy i swam. Nearly got through a full prescribed workout--and would'a' if we didn't for the one hundredth time run about 15mins over class time into lunch. Still a good workout though.
Winsdy i clumb. Nothing spectacular, but a good workout notwithstanding. Did all the moves on a cool li'l v5, but i couldn't manage to link. It involves this huge sideways throw to a one-hand snag, and i just couldn't latch it after the start moves. Hope to maybe get it today. Also am planning to swim again today.
On a happier note, my Biotest protein came in yesterday, and apparently someone stole it off the porch in the 30mins between when it was delivered and when Steph got home. This confirms for me why i loathe people. Some sonnuvabitch probl'y thought it was christmas presents, stole it, found cartons of protein, and threw away 60$ worth. i can't seem to help hoping they have a huge brain aneurysm. i guess i don't really hope that. Or at least i wouldn't actually wish that on the asshole if i were faced with the choice. Oh well. almost the weekend.

}oD

went in for some casual climbling with some mates from school. Thought to take 'er easy after monday's evisceration. Warmed up on a couple of the v4s i'd done mon. (Confirmed my suspicion that one of 'em was definitely not a 4). Then i got a "v6" on about the fourth try. don't think it was really a 6, but that's what the tape said. Then i got that 3 i was too tired to get on monday, re-did another 4 i'd done, then i went into the cave and polished off that v5 that vexed me on mon. Sweet climb. Then i repeated another 4 from mon. Bizarre session, 'cuz i never felt like i was working that hard. So there's the answer to yer question: i'm guessing the weight loss/workouts are doing something happy for me. That, or the steak and eggs for breakfast. weighed in at around 195 after breakfast. Been eating like doo-doo the last week or two, but i can't help but wonder what i'd climb like if i could shave another 10lbs.

On that note, i started wistfully perusing the [Triathlete] Essential Week-By-Week Training Guide. got a serious plan in the crosshairs if i can keep the ol' marriage sewn together through it.

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Sat.

Ye olde Guide prescribed an hour-and-a-half ride at "moderate aerobic intensity." (Actually, it called for a swim, but it's 70-something degrees out there in Nov. so i flipped workouts.) Moderate aerobic intensity, it goes on to explain, would be around a 7 of 10 on the RPE scale, or "comfortable, but not easy". i did an hour-and-a-half, but it was neither easy nor comfortable. i hammered with a big grin the whole time. Coming back down the last hill to home i was riding into the wind and i checked my lane to move over. This guy on a Harley was on my wheel, and he pulls up beside me and says, "37 miles per hour". Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Gave me hope that even if i'm not presently particularly fit, i could perhaps get that way in the foreseeable future.

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Sun.

Did back and abs in the irongym. Real hard to find the motivation for that one. It was an ok workout, but i was tired. Same kind of ennui sets in every time i've tried to mix several sports at the same time: i start seeing the workout slope leveling off--my weights start to come down 'cuz i'm so tired from another workout, for example--and i get frustrated and let something (usually the iron workouts) fall to the wayside. But the reality is that i'm climbing as well as i am at least partially because of the iron workouts. Trick is to quit caring about the numbers and see it for what it is. The trend is upward even if a workout or two is flat or just plain bad. Today my back was already not-so-fresh, and a tendon's bugging me in my hand and i had trouble holding on to the bar. But it was a workout; and mayhaps i'll be a huger, stronger, (and most importantly) more intimidating climber this next session because of it.

And i've heard it from a reasonably reliable source that you(G)'re on the road again tomorrow. And how's the baby cooking, B? i'm be praying for you people.

Swim

Swam today. Didn't have a ton of time, so i threw together a fun 'un. 500 of wu, then did 3 x 200s on about a 10sec interval. But with a twist: did the 200s in 50s, with 50 hard sprint/50 easy/50 hard sprint/50 easy. That sucked like a workout is supposed to suck. Yesterday i did nothing. At all. Except i made a powerpoint preso on scabies. Which is like doing nothing, except less enjoyable.

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Later that evening...

Did a stripped down chest workout at the irongym. Supposed to climb today so i didn't want to be too sore.

Sine through a lightless tunnel

Ma and Pa and Meme visited for the weekend--ergo i got nearly nothing done workout-wise for the duration. Plus--for some reason--i slept horribly. i think i may have been somewhat sick. Did go climb on saturday, quite against the voice of wisdom and the body language of Steph. It was pretty much a complete waste of time though. No energy, and i felt guilty for being there to boot. So i went back home a bit early to get on with doing nothing at all for the remainder of the day. Didn't get any enduro workouts in, and didn't get the irongym workouts in.

Yesterday was different. i went climbing. Still a little tired, but a different kind of tired. It was that kind of tired where you just feel like your head's in a cloud, and you just have to shake it harder. So i ended up climbing seven v4s. Four of 'em i got in under an hour, all of 'em new to me. went back after class and got three more. That would be a pretty huge PR for me, since just a few weeks ago i got six v3s in a workout, which was also a PR. i feel like if i could get my left hand to heal, and i could crimp again, i'd be starting to climb hard stuff again. i also worked all the moves out on a v5, and i think it'll go if i can get in fresh. Anyhow, that was definitely the highlight of the weekend's workouts. Oh, and my new bike tires came in yesterday, so i'm amped to break 'em in.

Got in a swim today. 500 straight, then 5 x 100s on a 5sec interval. 100 of cd. 

Done R-U-N-N-O-F-T

Got an hour and a half run in yesterday. Didn't take the HR monitor with me, but i tried to keep it to what felt like high 140s/low 150s. However, it was a tit nipply out, and i still ran a reasonable time. Man i dig autumn.

Got a radiology test this afternoon, so i won't get m' lunchtime swim in. Hopefully i can pull it off after school tonight.

Speaking of posing in a banana hammock

Ran an hour yesterday. Good run.

Swam o'er lunch today. Good swim. Think i did 1400yds total. 300 wu. Then did 5 hard 100s on a 5sec interval. Those sucked, and i wanted very much to vomit. Rested a sec, and did 2 x 250 "fartleks" with about 20 secs between. These were 100 easy/50 sprint/100 easy. These, too, sucked, but were character-building. 100 of cd.

The Muse

Inspired by Tiny "I-think-I'll-just-slope-off-and-disencumber-the-earth-of-1,000lbs-for-a-spell" G, i put in a righteous back workout yesterday. Worked up to 3 sets of 2 with 90 on pullups. Worked up to a set of 4 with 295 on straight leg deads. Admittedly, i didn't lock my shoulders back on the very last rep, but that was a durn good, disc compressing workout at any rate. Did rows with both arms, narrow grip this time. The bilateral biceps tendonitis reared it's vile head, and i didn't want to do more damage, so i went both arms. Been a long time since i've done that. Different feel. i kinda liked 'em. Also did bent o'er BB rows with a warmup and 2 x 6 at 170, 3 sets of 10 with 100lb DBs, and 3 sets of wide-grip high rows and worked up to 6 at 210. Good workout after about a month of lay-off.

The plan is to go run here in a few minutes. It's a nice, cool day, and i'm hoping for a good one. Still holding at 191lbs as of this morning.

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Many minutes later:

Did get that hour run in. The west wind was brisk, brought a smile to my face, and fairly flattened the hills. m' walking round the house getting ready heart rate has again been haunting the low 50s, so i believe i'm getting in better shape even if i ain't a whit faster. At least it's getting fun again. And the weather's getting crisp and perfect.

Schnellkritzelei

Yesterday--for reasons as yet unclear to me--i went climbing again. i was sure i could finish a project. i was in the bouldering cave watching some guys working it (badly), and one of their girlfriends decided to stealth climb over my head, bail, and fall on my head from somewhere near the ceiling without apprising me of her plan beforehand. She didn't (by the grace of God) break my neck, but she addled me pretty good, and i had a crazy headache and a numb arm for a while. Ah well; at least she apologized. i finished the climb in smooth style, only my numb arm wouldn't clutch the finishing giganto-jug. i was mildly irritated as this represented a breed of mechanical error i thought i'd engineered out of the system. i'm totally willing to blame that chick. Anyhow, the climb'll definitely go--i think at stiff v4. But i didn't get it. i should not have clumb, but i got roped in by a friend who ended up bugging out on me.

Today i got in an hour-and-a-half ride. Very nice ride. Actually had to pull out the sleeves. Definitely getting a bit stronger on the bike. So i've graduated from "miserable" to "mildly embarrassing". But one does not go out clad in lycra seriously worried about how one comes off to the public. Been holding at 191lbs the last couple o' days. i do think i'm working out better with the re-intro of cereal and more carbs into the diet. Gonna try to get some chest/triceps in this evening. Vamos a ver.

Corpusitis

 i think maybe when you get biceps tendonitis from swimming, it's perhaps time to take a rest day. Got in a 12-1300yd swim with a 300ish yd cd over lunch. Yesterday i climbed. This did not go well. i'm done broke down. And i stayed up 'til 2 this morning studying. methinks i shall tuck it in earlyish tonight.

G, gimme a shout and let me know if you made it home safe, eh.

...Yada yada yada...

Did indeedy get a swim in, at the home pool. So i did a pretty snappy 1200meters for a continuous set, with 600m of wu/cd. Pretty good swim. There is hope that i might one day be fast again.

...moreover...

Sunday i did a strange, half-fast hodge-podge of an irongym workout. Wanted to get a workout in, but i was still torn down from the comp. Started out doing back. That looked to be the road to tendonitis, so i switched to chest. Did 20 sluggish pullups, then did a set of 5 differential pullups on each arm (where i used a strap and lowered one arm to start at about shoulder height). That was no fun, so i did incline DB press. Did maybe three sets, and i felt like poo. Didn't feel weak, just supremely unmotivated--low pain tolerance or something. Finished out with 3 sets of 8 on dips, and some flys. Then i went home and concentrated on getting a better night o' sleep than the previous night.

Yesterday (mon.) i did an hour run. Actually got an ok time on it. That is to say, i'm getting back to where i was before The Poisoning, and i can imagine getting much faster. It didn't hurt to do the run. i wanted to ride, but the bike was flat. That's the price you pay to ride in this place: i had at least ten goatheads all the way through my tires. 'Fact, i just dropped a c-note on a couple 'o new tires yesterday. Finally starting to get back into shape i think. Prognosis is kinda' bleak for a workout tonight, but i might squish a swim in tonight. we'll see. Hope things are going well in Allen. Sounds like a really good time.

Wednesday onward

In fact, i did get a workout in on wed. Got in a 1.5hr bike ride. It cost me on my pharm test, i expect; but i don't care. It was a pretty good ride. Thursday, i didn't get a workout in. Zero time. Yesterday (Fri.) against the very voice of Wisdom, i did my first bike/run brick in several years. Did an hour bike and a half-hour run. As always, i got this weird asthma-like thing when i transitioned to the run. It's like my heart and lungs don't much appreciate going from working hard at a 45deg angle, and then being asked to work hard at a 90. But it sure is a good workout. Today was the Yank-n-Yard at the climbgym. i guess i climbed ok. Fun times at any rate. i missed some problems i should have gotten, but i flashed some problems that strong guys fell off'n. And i got a t-shirt. But if i'm gonna climb v10, i need to keep up the power gains and weight loss.

Ooo, and i'm reading a book i want you to read. i'll send it to you. Peace.

One Week Wedge

Today is the one month mark for the green faces thang. i've felt pretty good all in all. i've eaten more greens and fruits than (possibly) i've eaten collectively o'er the antecedent bit of my life. Good times. i've definitely felt better, and i think i've been healing faster. i'm gonna try to stick with basically the same thing henceforth, 'cept maybe i'm going to add in a few more breeds of food. Like the occasional beer. Mostly, i'm going to try to stay off the cheese, corn, white bread (tortillas, etc.) and hfcs. i think the main takeaway is to keep up the 6-7 days/week workouts, and mo' green veggies. On the other hand, Stone's Vertical Epic 10/10/10 is out tomorrow, and i think that is pretty important for my health.

i did do that chest workout on Fri. It was a good 'un. In deference to my beleaguered shoulders, i did no form of straight bench. Instead, i did inclined DBs, and dips. Before that, i did pushups, dips, and some walkouts on the rings. Them thangs're torture. Highly recommended.  Also did some triceps pressouts. Saturday, i did something exercisy, but i don't remember what. Sunday i did an hour bike ride. Went well enough. me diggy the cooler weather. Yesterday (mon.) i climbed for what i plan to be the last time before the comp (assuming i stay and do the comp...ain't decided yet). Went in mostly to tick that v5, but they'd already pulled it for the comp. Half the gym was closed for construction, so i did some easier bouldering (which was not necessarily in line with "light, curative, forearm-perfusing climbing). Then i got with a friend and did a bunch of toproping. Did a bunch of 5.10s and an 11 or two. Anyhow, i don't think i did more damage to the pingers, so i've now got 4 or 5 days of finger tendon healin'.

Today i sped to the pool for the lunch break (in spite of the prof running 20mins into the hour) and got in a quick 1,000 with no wu/cd. Felt pretty durn good. i'm hoping tomorrow to get in a longish endurance workout of some form--hopefully with a bike involved. i'd reeeeeeally like to edge my weight below 190 before sat. i was at 192 yesterday. If that means going bulimic 'til saturday, well, small price. Otherwise, i'm planning on laying off the strength workouts for the week. i want the strength tank to be as full as possible.

i do hope all's going well out there on the backroads and backwaters of Tejas. i'm praying for yas.

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Wednesday edit:

Just for the record, i had a mini Reese's PB cup last night. Then some friends and i went to a pub whereat i partook of a couple o' beers and nachos. Then i went home and had a glass of Scotch. i slept like crap, but woke up to have a waffle with berries on. The waffles i'm considering doing again. The rest wasn't worth the bad karma. The Scotch especially wasn't worth the trouble. Amazing how filling a little cheese can be. i've gotten used to eating until i'm bored of it, and still not being terribly full, but i eat a saucer-full o' cheddar, and i felt bloated. Can't imagine finding a slot to get a workout in today, but i'm gonna try anyhow. Weighed in at 190-191 this morning. Sub-190 is possible by Sat.

Logging in

Ummm...stopped at last tues i think. Lessee: i've kinda' been alternating climbing days with other stuff. Nothing particularly eventful, but i want to put down what i've done. Climbed (poorly) wed. Didn't even try on that v5, 'cuz i was broken; but i did log some climb time and was there. Thurs (yesterday) i swam again. Got another 1,000yds straight with some kind of wu/cd. Makes for a nice lunch break. Today i met a friend and clumb again. Actually got on the lead line for some routes. Liiiiiii'l bit rusty. Sent an 8, a 9, then hung three times on a 10. Silly, but my head (and to be fair, my wi'l peengers) weren't too into it. Then got on an overhanging 10, and onsighted it in 30secs. Then we went upstairs and i tagged the gigantic double-dyno crux on that v5, and finished the problem. But i (again) didn't have the juice to link it after the first three moves. Kinda' frustrating, 'cuz i know i could do it if i were fresh and crisp, but i doubt i'll get to that state before it gets pulled down. The Prime8 is this next saturday, and i'm wanting to be healed for that. i'm hoping not to have to tape my mitts for it. i want to crimp so bad! So i'm planning on maybe climbing once for a remind-my-tendons-that-they-have-a-purpose session, and spending the rest of the week avoiding--and perhaps divesting myself of--obesity. Gonna try to do chest today, here in a sec, and i'm actually gonna try to get in a bike/run brick tomorrow. Haven't done one of them there in a coon's age.

Three weeks of meat and greens

i'll just post up what i've done this week to mark it. Sat. i went climbing for a pretty bad session. Mighty broke down, but it was a session. Spent almost the whole time working a v5. Pretty cool problem with this huge backward throw. Didn't have the juice for it saturday, but i think it'll go if i can get in fresh enough before they take it down for the comp. Sunday i did a 1'20" run. That wiped me out bad. Felt good for the run (although i think i was pretty slow...haven't figured out the distance exactly) but i was dead the next day. Gotta do that more often. Yesterday (mon.) i did the full back workout. Felt really good through that. Starting to get strong again. Worked up to basically four negative reps with 100lbs on pullups. Actually felt good, and pushed it hard through the whole thing. Today i got a swim in for lunch. Did at least 1,000yds straight plus a li'l warm up and cool down for about 1400 total. (Lost count several times, so i round down).

On the diet front, i was sorely tempted to have a beer studying at a friend's a few days ago; but i managed to refrain. Had a cuppa peppermint tea instead. Yesterday studying pharm, i wanted a dip so bad it hurt. But i couldn't get any, so i refrained (and am very glad. God had my back there.) i seem to be stuck at about 193lbs. But i definitely look and feel better. i expect that i'm building up glycogen in muscles that haven't been called on to contract in many, many moons. And i do think i'm losing some blubber. But one more week and i'm having a beer. Stone's 10/10/10 comes out in 5 days. i'm looking forward to that.

Oh hey, read my last post too when you get a minute. i still want some criticism on the workout.

Two weeks of green faces

Did the other half of sunday's workout yesterday (Wed.). Definitely felt stronger on these than when combining 'em all into one; but it remains to be seen if this will negatively affect my climbin'. i said i'd post this up for your perusal/retooling. It's been a little hodge-podge--partially 'cuz i'm just getting back into the lifting scene, and partially 'cuz i'm trying to hammer out just what i need to concentrate on to climb like a monster. So i'll put up my workout for the whole week (which should be a fairly good overview of a normal week). Play with it, suggest, throw out the deadwood, and add what's missing; only take yer time. i want a solid workout, but i've cobbled this mess together 'cuz it's pretty climbing-specific. That's the main theme here.

Let me think....

All right.
Chest/Delts workout
  (i usually do this one on Thurs.)

DB Bench:
10 x 50
8 x 60s
2 (or 3) x 6 x 75
(editor's note: i did this yesterday, and it killed my shoulder)

Incline DB press:
Just started these so i'm just pushing around weights that don't hurt my shoulders.
2 (or 3) x 8ish x 50-60
(ed.: Interestingly, these didn't hurt my shoulder at all. It was pretty cool to push something to failure because of muscle fatigue instead of knife-like pain. i think i worked up to a couple o' sets with 65s)

Dips:
Whatever i can manage.
(ed.: Couldn't manage. Think i got a set of five before i wanted to cry.)

Delts:
Again, this is new, so it's kinda' still shoulder rehab.
Been doing shoulder flexion with DBs and lateral flexion.
(Didn't do these yesterday, except for some very light sets to get blood into my shoulder.)

Shoulder extensors:
Just added this back in yesterday. Start up high on a cable press about shoulder width, and press the bar down, elbows straight. i like this exercise.

Back/Abs:

i usually do this on sundays.

Pullups:
20+/- bw
8 x +25
7 x +35
2 x 6 x +45

Straight Leg Deads:
wu: 20 with the bar
14 x 95
10 x 145
8 x 195
8 x 215
(i haven't worked back up to the weightier sets, but here's what i normally work up to. Also, this is where i stopped on Sun.)
6 x 235
6 x 255
4 x 275
4 x 295
(and occasionally)
3ish x 305

Hanging Leg Raises:
30 x legs
3 x 10 x +leg weights
(i need to add some more stuff for abs. Need more obliques.)

One arm Cable Rows:
10 x 90
8 x 105
6 x 120
6 x 135
4 x 150
(These i do on a cable machine, and i'm pretty sure the weights are a bit lighter than what's printed on 'em, but i've done these on a bench with DBs and i can get reasonably close to this, so it's not too far off. Anyhow, i like the machine 'cuz it's harder to cheat, and i can't stabilize my shoulder girdle with the other arm, so more force is vectored through the paraspinals. i am thinking about either exchanging these, or else just adding in a wider grip routine to work some more muscles. Or just replacing it altogether for rows on the rings.)

Bent o'er BB Rows:
(i use a supine grip on these, 'bout shoulder width.)
10 x 135
2 x 6 x 175
(i like these things too. Kinda' just re-introducing 'em back in, so i was a li'l weak on 'em.)

DB Shrugs:
(Again, just started these, but i like 'em.)
14 x 90s
10ish x 100s
8 or so x 105s

Wide grip High Rows:
(These i do leaned way back, pinkies hanging off the bar on a wide bar.)
10 x 180
2 x 8 x 195
(These torture the lats and low traps, and remind me of climbing out of a cave. Very nice feeling.)

That's it for the iron work. In the meantime (wow, that just brought back a Helmet song) i'm trying to ramp up the triathlon and the climbing. The climbing i'm trying to intensify with a view to allowing my widdle pinger tendons to knit up properly. Ergo, i've been doing a tonne of endurance and toproping. It seems to be doing brilliant things for me: went from falling off of v2s a couple of weeks ago to getting within spitting distance of 5.12--still on splinted fingers that i can't crimp on. If i can edge down below 190lbs and heal a bit in the next two weeks, i might just have a good day of climbing at that comp.

With respect to the triathlon, i'm still trying to get a feel for the school schedule, but i'm trying to find the energy to cram a workout into every pore and orifice in the planner. Last sun. i did about an hour ride. Yesterday at lunch i got in a 1000yd swim. (Turns out there's a nice city pool a couple o' blocks from the school). Today i got in a 1.5hr ride with some stiff climbs to boot. i've been running fairly regularly, but i don't think i got one in this week. Anyhow, if i can miraculously maintain through the winter, i might just get a race or two in next season.

Startin' the week propa'

Weighed in at about 196 today. That's after breakfast. i expect i'm doing some crazy glycogenoneogenesis...'specially after yesterday. And i'm ok with that. If i've gotta' have weight, then that's the weight i need. Still have plenty of lard to lose to get me below 190.

Yesterday i dragged out m' cycling gear and i actually did an hour on the ol' QR. That is what i was made for! i'm afraid i have not fulfilled my purpose in life. There is just no pain i get off on quite like that. In fact, i'm not sure there is any other pain quite like that. Nothing torches yer quads and hams at the same time quite like clipless pedals up a stiff hill. Yeah, it occurred to me during the ride that i could not remember the last time i'd activated any of my quadriceps in a coordinated, forceful effort. It was a perfect day, and the wind was outta the north, so it was a very encouraging first ride. It amazes me every time i go out how hard it is for me to get my butt on the saddle and out the door compared with how much i love life when i'm out there. Anyhow, hopefully i can pick up a regular habit of it and get in shape for it before it's too cold to be barely getting in shape.

Then i went in and lifted. Started out well enough, but halfway through deads i got into a conversation with a feller about politics, and that consumed all my time. i'm hoping to get back in today for the rest of it. Otherwise, i might figure out how to replace everything i've been doing with my rings. Except for the deadlifts. i think it'd be possible to mimic deads on rings, but it'd be frightful hard. So today: more back work (and hopefully a stealthy spell of climbing.)

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Personal Note:

Did get that climbin' sesh in. Couldn't boulder worth a crud, so i got on toprope and (supposedly) flashed a .10 and a couple of .11s. i don't think any of 'em were rated correctly, but i'll take what i can get for my puny ego.

i think i'll have...ummm..the eggs, please. And some vegetables.

So i climbed yesterday (which i mentioned), but i went to the irongym and worked chest instead of running. i'm starting to get a li'l broken down. Did flat and incline DB bench, and my right shoulder had that ice-pick-in feeling again. Not that it was a bad workout, only i just can't do much with it. i warmed up long and carefully, but it still hurt. Tried doing dips after that to see if i could shift the vector onto some more amenable bit of the capsule, and i clipped off maybe five before i wanted to cry. Anyhow, i got two workouts in yesterday. Planning on going climbing again today with a friend--hopefully to do a bunch of toproping--and maybe i'll get that run in. The weather's 'bout as perfect for running as it gets.

Oo, and Yank-n-Yard is coming up Oct. 16 if you wanna shin up here and compete. Ought'a be just in time for me to have a beer afterward. And hopefully i can be down in the 180s weight-wise, and be healed and strong. That'd be mighty fine.

Holding pattern

Weighed again today. i'm holding at 192lbs. But i'm ok with that, cuz i still think my spare tire is deflating a bit. Plus i've had to back off on the two-a-days since i'm back in school ('cuz the pointy haireds above keep jacking with the schedule). But i've still managed to workout in some form or another pretty much every day, which is a very important change from the earlier days. Lessee...i think i posted on tues. Ended up doing a 45min run that evening. Yesterday, i actually did get up and swim. Got beat in a 50 by a guy in swim trunks doing butterfly, but he was a strong swimmer. Got in 1200m-- wu/cd: 600; bi'ness sets: 300/100/200 on no particular interval. i'm slow (it's my second swim in maybe 5 or 6 months), but i did notice i felt way better with more distance than the last time i swam. i wanted to climb yesterday, but they shuffled our schedule, so i had two hours of lunch. However, i took the rings with me and threw 'em over an I-beam in the school. That was a good time. Amazing how much those things destabilize a brutha'. If i can get strong on those things, methinks i shall be strong indeed. Then i got sucked into throwing a football with some guys (if you can picture me throwing the ol' pigskin) and i managed to jam a finger. Soon i'll be climbing with my left hand in a cast. Ah well: if i do, i'm gonna glue some Stealth rubber to it.

i'm gunna try to sneak out for an hour-ish today and get a li'l climbin' in. Then i'm going to try to get a run in after class. It's funny: every time i run now, Annie wants to go for a training run afterward. So we'll go to the park for some laps and sprints. That li'l chick is so fast it's scary. we'll be running along and she'll decide she wants to go, and she can fully out-accelerate me. Can't beat me over any distance of course (yet), but it's like there's no limit to how high she can take deltaV in about 1sec. Maybe i'll have the next Johanna Ernst. Vamos a ver.

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Later that day:

Got that climb session in. Not too shabby, but i'm definitely outta shape. Got six v3s. wanted seven, but my right hand was playing out at the top of the last one. i'm not sure i've ever actually done that many v3s in a session--and it was in about 1.25 hrs. Very nice workout, really. Good for the endurance bones. i have nearly none.

One week in

Well. i couldn't drag me out of bed this morning in time to swim, but i plan on either a swim or run after class this evening. i did, however, weigh this morning before i got dressed, and i'm down to about 192 on the br scales. So i've lost at least 10lbs in the last week, even if my scales are not terribly accurate. Now, granted, that's almost certainly mostly water weight, but it's water weight i've needed to lose. And if i have to lose 12 more lbs of water to get down to 180, then i'll still be climbing v7. Gravity, in my estimation, doesn't care what the mass is made of. But i can also pinch a lot less blubber, and that's encouraging. The rings came in yesterday, but i haven't had time to set 'em up yet. i'm kinda' amped 'bout that. A video came with it made by these Romanian guys--one of which was a world champ rings guy in '03ish--and it convinced me that i will soon be doing handstand pushups on the rings. Even though i can't do one up against a wall. i'll get a record for being the fattest guy to ever do an iron cross. Nice rings though. Gotta say the whisky in the pantry and the beer in the fridge call to me, and the homemade ice cream and chocolate give me pangs of lust occasionally, but i am digging feeling as good as i do, and i'm digging seeing some results on the weight loss front. i am gonna have to figure out how to make big parts of my meals ahead of time though. Shouldn't be hard; i just haven't had to do it yet. But i was late to class this morning, so i'm gonna hafta work that out.

Last day of freedom

Start back to schoo' tomorrow. i've made a li'l headway in this last week. After that last post on sat. i went climbing, and things went much better than they did two days prior. i at least pulled down some v3s, and i sent several 5.10s on the autobelays. So there's a light at the end of the tunnel i've dug straight down into the ground. i've been making a point to exercise in at least some form every day, and on a few days i've squished in two workouts. Don't know if i'll be able to keep that up so easily with this next quarter coming, but i'm gonna try. Today (sun) i got in to the irongym for back/abs again. i felt better than i did a few days ago when i tried it, but i have lost a lot of strength. Wasn't pretty; but it was progress under the circumstances.

And my integrity with the diet has been tested the last couple of days too. Last night we went to a party for a friend, and they made burritos and nachos. That was painful to avoid the cheese and beans. But i found the bowl of shredded lettuce for garnishing, took 2/3 of it for a salad, and dumped tomatoes and taco meat on it. Today we went to the bro-in-law's and had steak and some good greens. But then they made homemade ice cream with some kind of pralines and amaretto in. That hurt a little bit too. i have been craving carbs like a dope fiend craves crack. So i've had a couple of bananas, couple of apples, a peach, and a grapefruit today. If i set back the fat burning 'cuz i ate too much fruit, then them's the breaks: i'm trying to whittle out a lifestyle here--not just lose a bunch of weight in a month. Plus, i think that's been a problem with my workouts. The glycogen stores have been a hair low. And i have no interest in losing weight Adkins style: don't wanna go pseudo-DKA, and i don't just want to pee off a bunch of water. i'm going to try to get up and swim tomorrow if i can force my butt outta bed. Ooo, and the gym rings supposedly shipped, so we'll see if i can design a cool-guy workout with those bad boys. There's an interesting workout brewing in my imagination.

Abendsbrot

...and dinner:

Had some steak, asparagus, cabbage, red and yeller bells, and jalapeno. Obviously i'm not too sticky 'bout the strictly green veggies. i'm trying to design a lifestyle here. Cut me some slack.

Did manage to go run for nearly 40mins. Holy moly i'm outta shape. i felt good at first, but the last ten minutes, i felt like i usually do after a 3hr run. i have a feeling i just pretty much bonked from low glycogen stores. i ate a banana before i went, but that wasn't enough. So i got home, slammed a highball of water, then quaffed 22grams of carbs in Accelerade. i don't think that's cheating. In fact, i don't think i can do long runs without taking some carbs with me henceforth. That sucked. At any rate, i followed that up with a big green salad with sliced turkey, a pear, salt, pepper, rosemary, balsamic, and flax oil on. In case you're tempted to follow a hard workout up with that combo in the future, it felt like i was hit in the epigastrium with a warhammer.

Then Annie wanted to go to the park and train for running. So we went and ran a bunch. i had her do some form intervals. That li'l chick is gonna be crazy fast if she keeps that up. She beat some ten y/o boys at her homeschool group in a race, and now she's obsessed with making sure they stay beat. That's my girl. }-)

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Saturday Tack-on

The bathroom scales this morning tol' me i'm down 5lbs. That's in four days. Now, i don't know how accurate my br scales are, but i'm taking it. And to be fair, i can pinch a bit less lard on the spare-tire, and i'm hungry an hour after i eat. And i feel a lot less bloated. That's a cool thing. i think i've gotten so used to being swollen that i haven't noticed it. Now if i could figure out how to completely heal my flipper-offer-finger tendon so i could crimp again.

yet another omelette

Here's breakfast: Got a two egg saffron omelette stuffed with red and green bell, jalapeno, broccoli, spinach, sprouts, garlic and capacolla. Sauteed all that (excepting the sprouts) with cracked black, fennel, cardamom, turmeric, li'l caraway, and salt. Half an avocado on the side. Not too shabby, really, even without cheese.

Gonna try to go for a run today. No other muscles in my body work well enough to exercise. Vamos a ver.

Three days in

i'm super curious to know how i'm gon' feel here in another week or two. This diet thang has got me mighty motivated, and today i did another two workouts. Did chest, etc., at the irongym, then went to the climbgym for a "workout". The diet's interesting 'cos i'm stuffing myself on greens and meat, and i'm still always hungry. Energy-wise i haven't felt much different than before, except that i don't feel full all the time, and i've been sleeping way better. i've no doubt that the sleep is a function of laying off the bottle and the toxic crap. For one thing, i don't have a reason to stay up so late, seeing's i can't have a beer anyhow. i think the not feeling full bit is--well i definitely notice i don't just cram stuff down my maw all the time, and i think i've just never noticed how calorie-dense cheese is. As far as the not cramming extra stuff down goes, i definitely have no temptation to munch while i'm cooking or when i just get bored since everything i'm allowed to eat is either (initially) raw beast flesh, or else some breed of boring vegetable. Snacking requires cooking (or chewing on raw bell peppers), so i'm generally just fine going hungry. It's amazing how having no "sit-and-chill" calories available kills the desire to sit and chill. i can't really eat anything out of a bag, bottle, handy plastic container, etc. And it's been eye-opening how used i am to doing so. i start working on a meal, and i go through the fridge and i'm like Nope, can't have that, or that, or that...or those. And i've just stopped bothering opening the pantry. Nothin' in there i can eat. i'm so used to coming home ravenous from a workout or school or so, and opening a bag/container of whatever's easiest, and packing shit in 'til my duodenum is getting it whole. Gotta say there is no temptation whatsoever to come in and hit the Ziploc of raw ground turkey or mixed baby greens. i have been eating a lot of fruit. i make a point to do so only around workouts, and i hope i'm not shooting myself in the foot; but i can't do a three hour workout without some carbs.

Went in, as i mentioned, to the irongym. It'd been probably nearly three weeks since i'd done chest. i did dumbell bench instead of barbell. Been a good long while since i've done those. Those things really take more muscles to push. i like 'em. Worked up to 70s after a nice long warmup, and did a couple of sets of 6. It highlighted the fact that i have no triceps. Pretty much floundered around for the rest of my workout, as i'd no functioning triceps left. Ooo, and i saw an article in Muscle and Fitness on doing the perfect bench press. Interestingly, the article was on powerlifting form, and it was by some record lifting dude.

Then i went to the climbgym. Couldn't pull down v3s that i'd done before and didn't actually think i could fall off of. 'Fact i fell off of some v2s. So i finally called it a day, went and got my harness outta the car, hooked up to the auto-belays, and did all the 8s and 9s i could find--maybe 10 or 12 routes. That was torture...good workout. But dude: i fell off of a 5.9. Couldn't do it. Looking at the thing, i knew i could do it with pneumonia and cataracts; but no! i got shut down. i definitely have a way to go to get back into top shape, but i'm reeeeal  motivated.

a very deep hole

Finals are over. i'm confident i passed everything. It took a few years off of my life to get 'er done, though. So some mates and i went for a camping trip o'er the weekend. we went to Las Conchas. It was the first time i've been there that i did no climbing. Only drinking. And i had a couple o' cigars. That was, without a doubt, the most boring, exhausting camping trip i've yet been on. But it was only hair o' the dog for the prior two month's indiscretions. i'm expecting the DTs going cold-turkey off'n the sauce and dip.

Today i've tentatively started a squidgy version of the Green Faces diet. In reality i want to treat it like an exclusion diet for ruling out food allergies. i want to see how i feel after cutting out the soy, legumes, grains and dairy. And ETOH. This is all going to be tricky. i went to Sam's yesterday and bought a bunch of meat. That was repulsive. i had this cart full of sundry beast parts...gack! i actually got a li'l nauseous. i went to the veg section finally, and it was like HappyLand. But dude: sausage, several packs of steak, turkey burger, hamburger, fish, cold cuts--so many dead things just to feed li'l me. And with no cheese or bread. But so far it's going ok. Had an omelette with spinach, sausage, and bell pepper this morning. Big salad with jalapeno, more green peppers, broccoli, avocado and turkey meatballs, with oil and vinegar. And a pear while i climbed. pretty tasty.

Speaking of climbing, it's a little bit hard for me to believe i have deconditioned that far in a month or so. i did a nice warmup, cranked out 20 solid pullups, stretched, and actually fell off of a couple of v2s. It was like i was trying to climb with my high-school hands. my brain knew how to do the climbs, and scoffed a li'l in disdain; but my wuss-bag fingers opened up on some big crap. Totally ridiculous.

Anyhow, it lit a fire under my butt. i was kinda' non-committal about this diet this morning ('specially since i still have half a bottle of scotch and a few beers in the fridge), but now it's on. i'm gonna try to go run tonight a bit. And i want to get in to the irongym. It's been--what?--5, 6 weeks since i've worked my back now. That might'a' had something to do with my showing on the plastic today. i will lose 20lbs.

Ooo, and lookey there: here come the UPS dude with m' Optimus Primes freshly resoled with Vibram XS grip 5mm on. Nothin' like shelling out a bunch of loan money on toys to motivate a brotha'.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday Tack-on

Managed to go to ye olde irongym yester's evening. i have lost some serious recruitment. i can say it went better than i expected. Pretty much did half of my normal set progression on everything. Partly i just didn't have it, and partly i wanted to be healed enough to get the workout in again this weekend. i'm hoping to go in for chest/shoulders this afternoon sometime.

Shuffling toward the light

In less than two weeks this quarter will be over.

May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more;

may a cloud settle over it;

may blackness overwhelm its light.

Until then there is little hope of remaining healthy. School is its own species of cancer. 

Having said that, i did get a li'l chest workout in. Did the bench on the power rack as you suggested. That was a fine idear. Actually pushed my weights up a li'l with the extra confidence. Other than that, i have concentrated on packing on as much bloat and poison as i can squeeze in.

After this quarter, methinks i'm gonna try a tweaked version of that Green Faces diet. i'm gunna try to mix a li'l of that paleo thing in with the more stripped down GF thang. Mostly i'm interested in cutting the dairy, wheat, and ETOH/Skoal outta my diet. i like the idea of doing the exclusion diet for a bit. i really wonder how it'd feel to cut that stuff out... i mean i really wonder if i have some adverse reactions to food that i'm just not aware of. SO: meat, eggs, green, and beets for me shortly.

Fibrectomy

i'll once again record my meager workings-out for the previous week. i've grown fatter, and must squat this extra girth each time i stand from sitting. It's an even more potent workout when i'm sitting on the ground. i expect that i'll soon have diabetes II, and will thereafter die (with huge quads) as the most amazingly large bag of fertilizer. May a large, stalwart plant feed long on my rich tissues, and may it more than scour the earth of my carbon footprint.

i competed in a bouldering comp on fri. Fun. i climbed like a mammoth, but there were some cool routes that made me think that were i but 20 lbs. lighter, i'd have had a lot of fun sending. Picked up a raging case of biceps tendonitis, and re-tweaked my flipper-offer finger; so really, i blamed my bad climbing on all that. But i am just fat. i've gotta start running again.

Did a chest workout on sat. Not a bad workout, but definitely not inspired. Very tired and sluggish. Didn't do my back workout yet. Haven't slept well in a month or so, and it's starting to get to me. But i did order more Z-12. That'll hopefully come in today. me want sleep tonight.

the world is a wampyre

Thought i'd jot down the contents of the week just so's not to forget 'em, even though i'm pretty much to the next week's workouts. Super hectic couple o' weeks at school, so i didn't get last weekend's workouts in 'til mon, at which point i tried to cram two days of workout into one. Plus i was very tired. So it didn't go over so well, but it was a workout. i think i climbed for the second time in about two, maybe three weeks yesterday. Actually went off pretty well, all things considered. As much as i loathe not workout out more often, and as fat as i'm getting slouching around staring at a computer screen for ten hours a day, it is giving my tendons time to heal, and it feels way mo' betta' to crimp now. If i can whittle the lard and poisons out of my diet, and get back on some kind of exercise program again soon, i might actually come back into it climbing strong. Other than that, i've pretty much been drinking too heavily and  not sleeping and dipping, and am generally just tying to survive this dumb semester.

i talked to C'lyn today. They found a lump in her breast that she's going to have to have opsied. That's got me real down. Please pray for her. Please.

Minority Report

Nigh on had th' gym to m'self this afternoon. Mighty fine atmosphere, that.

Meme and mama are here for the week. we'll see how that works out. i've got midterms all this week, so we'll see if Steph still retains her sanity by next weekend. On the bright side, i made it though a weekend with daddy for the first time in a while without having a dip. i'm determined to make it through the week without one. Never done a week of tests without one, i think. Also, i didn't get to climb, so it will have been nearly a week since last i clumb (at least) even if i sneak in on wednesday or so. That's a good thing for my beleaguered flipper-offer finger.

Did back and abs today. Hadn't gotten that workout in for about three weeks now, so i had low expectations. i know i've slathered on some blubber in the meantime. At any rate, i clipped off 24 clean pullups for a warmup. Only worked up to a double with 80 before i was fragged, but it could'a' been worse. Very much to my surprise, i worked up to a triple with 305 on straight leg deads. The rest of the workout was a li'l stale, but those are the meat and potatoes of my workout, so i'm happy.

As i was doing deads, i noticed the only other guy in the gym doing rack lockouts on squats. He followed that up with bench squats. So i asked him if he competes. i mentioned that i'd yet to see a brotha' doing such at our gym. He said with some disdain that it's because it's a bodybuilding gym. But he doesn't compete. i was just amped to see someone in it for the power. And i thought you'd think it's nice to know there's more of you nutcases out there in the world.

Also got in chest, etc, on fri. Not a super motivational workout, but i'm still working on my form on bench. And you'll be pleased that i've pretty much stopped doing more than 5 reps per. And my shoulders, at least, are getting a li'l bit stronger. i so think it'd be mighty fine to have a spotter. Mighty fine.

Loooooong day

So i obviously corrected the logging-on problem. Guess i'll put up with the Oriental salesmen.

Did get that chest workout in last thurs. Actually a good workout. Did some bench, which didn't hurt 'cuz i utilized my new-found supa'form. Did some shoulders. Then i did some dips. Maybe 3 x 10 at bw. i was very sore thereafter.


Went to Las Conchas on sat. Ended up being cloudy and 'bout 65 degrees. Perfecto. Did some ver' nice climbing. Finally redpointed that .10d-.11a on the front wall. Funny thing was i got halfway up and there was this old guy on a route next to me. On the ground we'd been conjecturing about the grade 'cuz the route had been put up since the guidebook was writ'. So i clumb up even with him, got to a rest and asked him what he thought about it. He didn't seem to notice i was hanging from a heel hook and was gritting my teeth, and he just kept on opining. Made me chuckle, and kinda' distracted me, so i sent.

Unfortunately, i also climbed at the gym yesterday (mon) instead of doing back at the irongym. This was a bad session---although i did get a v4 i'd been trying for a few days. And a big load of v3s. Still just didn't feel healed. No endurance.

Next few days are gonna be long. Got a pharmacy test on thurs that's making me have nightmares. i will feel very happy when that one's over with. Be safe in houston, man.

windsday

Went to the climbgym with a friend yesterday. Definitely not fully healed...in fact, i think i did some sort of grievous injury to my already-damaged middle finger. This chafes, because i need that finger. It is, in fact, my least avoidable finger, in addition to just generally being my favorite, and strongest finger. In spite of all this, it was a fine workout. i could tell i was broken down, 'cuz i'd run outta gas way too fast on a route, but i still got a nice enduro workout in. Bunch o' v2s and v3s; then i got on the auto-belays and did some good distance on a stiff 5.11, got a couple of .10s, couple of .9s, then did maybe 8 or 10 laps on a couple of 5.8s. Left with some nice toasty, sauteed forearms.

Today i'm hoping to get in to the irongym for some chest and shoulders. i think it's helping my posture.

annieand daddy

Annie wrote my title. Drawing a straight blank. Did work out this last week a few times. Got a bad climbing session in on mon, and a better one in on wed (i think). Yesterday (fri) i went to the irongym for some chest/shoulder action. Turned out to be a good workout...at least by my humble standards. Paid some serious attention to m' form on bench, and i didn't hurt, so i'm happy and motivated. For future reference:

Random Shoulder Motions:

1,000,000 x some weights

Bench Press:

30 x bar
10 x 135
5 x 155
2 x 5 x 175

Funny feeling to arch my back and drive with the legs with 135lbs, but it was a nice warmup and it didn't hurt. Didn't push super hard--partially cuz i didn't want to damage m' shoulder, and partially cuz i didn't have a spotter--but it felt mighty good to do some bench again without pain.

Shoulder Flexion:

3 x 5-6 x weights

Lat. Shoulder Flexion:

same, but different weights

Pec Deck:

something x 14
more x 8ish

All in all, a good workout. Mostly i didn't injure me. And i can't quite lift my arms above my head today. Think i'm gunna go climbing and/or running in a few minutes. i'm working a cool li'l v4.

Later that evening...

Well. i went running. i gather it was somewhere in the vicinity of 100deg. This was not a good idea. Did a run that usually takes me a hair under 1 hr, and it took closer to 1.25 hrs and my HR was consistently 20bpm higher than usual. i finally stopped running after an hour and some change cuz i was so exhausted and i couldn't run slow enough to get my HR below 165.

Then i went climbing. That went much better. Got a handful of v4s, and just generally climbed better than i had in a while. Overall some good workouts ('cept for that silly heat exhaustion bit).

ketchup

Uuummm...where did i leave off? Um: we went to Las Conchas on fri with some friends from school. Fun times. i clumb suboptimal fa' shizzle, after two fairly hard days of climbing in the gym prior; but it was mighty nice to be outside. And it was a perfect day weather-wise.

Swam on saturday. Can't complain as it'd been nearly a month since last i moved in an intentionally-aerobic fashion. Could have been way worse.

Lifted yesterday (mon). Now i hurt; but i did get 4 with 395 on straight leg deads, so i'm getting back into right form. Didn't do weighted pullups after the warmup set of 20. Kinda' felt sluggish after the climbing, and someone else stole my machine, and i didn't care. Rest of the workout was pretty decent. Planning on getting some new running shoes today or tomorrow. i gotta lose some weight. i'm experimenting with cutting cheese out of my diet for a week at a time. Very confusing: i don't think i yet appreciate how much cheese i eat. And i'm gonna go mostly veg again for a while. i'm tired of feeling fat and sluggish.

Loans came through today, and i went and purchased some new Sauconies. went for a 45 min. run to test 'em out. It's been longer than i thought since last i ran. i'm feeling the pain. But the shoes were a nice ride, anyhow.

Attitude Check

Well, you should be proud of me: i did a real live chest workout today. That's right--i forced my man-boobs to push some weight.


Yesterday i did a skeletal version of my normal workout. It'd been a week and a half since my last workout, and i wanna move it back to sun, so i thought i'd take it easy. i'm gonna say the workout reflected my portliness, some staleness, bad pre-workout nutrition and just a generally bad vibe in the gymnasio. Only got up to eighty or so on weighted pullups. Figured i'd do less damage to my back by maxing on regulars than doing heavy straight leg deads, so i tried for a new max. Not only did i fail, but i couldn't even get 405 up, which i did a double with last time. i had an excuse though: i had a few liters of air in my stomach, and i couldn't belch to save my life. Tighten the Inzer down, and i felt like i had a baseball in my thorax lifting 385 twice. It seriously felt like i was giving myself tamponade. Also, there were probably 10 people in the gym, and all of 'em were standing in the same corner as me talking. And i didn't have any chalk. But i think if i could'a' belched, i would'a' had 405 easy. i still think i've got 425 in my wee back if i can summon the right rage. Rest of the workout was fine, but losing on deads got me down.

Today a friend from school talked me into going with him to Planet Fitness for a bench workout. we worked up from 135 by 10lbs in sets of 2 to a max; then worked back down at the same speed, but doing as many reps as we could. i actually got 200 up, which surprised me. my shoulder did start bugging me on the way back down, but i still got a good workout in, and i don't think i damaged it. That's a good sign: maybe i can start pushing again. Also did a few sets of triceps pressouts. That's another muscle i haven't worked in a few years. i've every expectation that shan't be able to move for the next few days, but i'm glad to have it done. i think we're gonna try to make a habit of it.

i also bouldered a bit today to test the waters. Short workout, but it felt good. i think my destroyed middle finger might be on the road to recovery. i got a "v4ish" that went at solid 3, then several new 2s. Nothing hard, but i can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Report from Heaven

Well if the JWs are right, and heaven's here on earth, i'm guessing it'll look like a few places in CO. That was a good time. i'm probably 5lbs heavier than when we started, and i'm needing to go through a bodily detox in a big way; but that was some spiritual detox. Hanging with Shawn'n'Kirsi (and playing in the mountains a li'l bit) was a breath of fresh air to a drowning guy. we went the first weekend to Green Mt. lake and i got a decent back workout in by up-hauling a sail for a couple hours. Tried m' hand at wakeboarding, and that sucked. i really wanted to get up on that silly board, but i couldn't. This last saturday, Shawn and i went to Eldo, and he made me lead all three pitches on Wind Ridge. i think it goes at 5.7 or so, but it was still killer. It'd been probably 8 years or so since i'd last done a trad climb, and i was a li'l nervous 'bout my anchor-building skills. i'd sit there at some spots 'til my calves were quivering trying to get a piece in. Then i'd finally just say screw it, throw in a rattly bit of metal to calm my nerves, and run it out another 30ft. There's something about being 300 ft off the deck that makes even a 5.7 feel epic. i need to do that more often. And i think Shawn wouldn't mind so much either. Let's plan us a trip, eh.




Anyhow, then we sloped off to Illegal Pete's for 3,000 calories of wholesome goodness.

The people of Wal-Mart

Crazy world.

Food as big as your head

Well. we're chillin' fer the moment in Steamboat. Not too bad. i think i could make a living here. Hung out at S&K's for a few days. That's good times. Got schooled in windsurfing at Green Mt. Li'l too much wind for a n00b. Then i tried wakeboarding. i think i have never swallowed that much water at one time ever. Very hydrating. Hypothermic in a drysuit is a bad way to be. i can't think how someone stuck with that in the first place long enough to think it was fun. Anyhow, then we broke out the water skis. That i finally got up on for 2-3 seconds at a time. i could see how that would be fun if i weren't blue. Very nice to see S&K. i miss those guys. Also got to get a couple o' routes at Clear Creek with Shawn. we're gonna go back to hang with them this next weekend also. i miss Colorado.

Weekend of it

A couple o' friends and i went to Las Conchas for some climbing on saturday. Mostly, i got a nice sunburn; but we put up some nice routes. Bestest of all, we did some climbin' in that li'l valley with the stream, which is shaded. Got a 10b route in there. Guess that was the highlight. Didn't get to have a go on my 10d-11a--it was fully in the sun, and was way too hot.

Yesterday i got into the irongym for an almost full-bore workout. Got 3 at 290 on straight leg deads. Felt a spring coiling in my low back after that third rep, so i quit. Hopefully next week i'll break 300 again. Got 2 pullups with 90 strapped on, but i struggled with the second rep, so i didn't go to 100. Starting to feel better again though.

Today's Tack-on:

Got in to the climbgym today for a nice enduro session. Taped my middle finger 'til it was practically splinted, then did a long traverse warmup. Couple o' weeks ago the gym put in an auto-belay, so i jumped on that and did laps on a couple of 5.8s. Gave a few goes at an 11-, but i was too fried from the weekend. Nice, warm workout at any rate. i'm gonna do that more often--no hard crimping.

No one but a Chinese spambot

i think this was my first full irongym workout in about a month. i took it a bit easy. Not a bad workout though. Got a double on p'lups with 90lbs, but i didn't feel like a got totally locked out at the top, so i left off. Went back to straight leg deads, but stopped after 255 x 6. Didn't see any reason to throw a spring after three weeks away. Definitely felt a li'l toxic--'specially on the weighted leg raises. That sucked. Anyhow, next week should be a happier place. Hopefully this stopped the downward spiral. i'm to a point where i have to take some time off of climbing (else my left hand is gonna ossify and crack off), and conveniently i'm nowhere near a plateau on iron since i haven't lifted in a month. That means i have something to keep me from getting bored till my tendons knit.

Funny how you can sometimes intuit that you're somehow getting more and more toxic; then you can go for a single workout and the foghat is removed and you know just how poisonous you've become. i guess i'm thankful for those eye-openers. Better now than at 50.

Osteoarthritic

i climbed on tues. This was not a good idea. i was bored of school, and needed to get some blood flowin', but the fingers didn't want to work. i'm gonna try really, really hard to lay off this next week from climbing. i'm gonna go (hopefully today) to the irongym for a hard session. Annie's off after tomorrow, so i should be able to run and swim more in the mornings.

Steph just went through a week of a gallbladder cleansing diet. Positive Murphy's, positive Rovsing's, and no insurance for surgery; so she tried a diet. She lost four lbs. and feels a million times better today. She had to get on the wagon, give up coffee and cheese, and live on shredded beets and parsley, but she very obviously feels way better. That's happy. Now i'm thinking about trying it. i surely do need to detoxify. Eleven hr. school days followed by four hours of writing busy-work assignments is not so beneficent on m' health.

Anyhow, here's to losing some weight and rebuilding the PIPs stronger than they were before. Peace.

Forgive me, father, for i am insomnolent...

...It has been 12 years since my last sleep.

Thursday, i went to the climbgym and failed to send two projects: one a v5, and one a (very stiff) v4. Friday i went back and sent 'em both. This makes me very happy. i feel like less of a loser than i did on thurs. i must'a' put in 20 or 30 burns on that goofy 5. Could not stick the final crimp on link. Finally got a fresh perspective (after a month or so of not touching it) and some fresh beta, and it went pretty easy.

Today i played in a kickball tournament. Who knows? Maybe i have a little better tan than i had before. i hope to get back into the irongym tomorrow. i hope to have a beer and sleep tonight.

Status post midterms

Swam on sat. Failed to work out on iron. Gunna try to get a thin workout in, but i'm kinda' ok with doing some hardcore healing this week.

Of water rights and beer rights

Went climbing with a friend today. we did some leading in the gym. It's odd: i'm good for about 6 moves, then i'm cashed. Zero endurance. Ended up doing 5 or 6 routes, but i had to hang on an 11, then again on a 10-. Then i took off the harness and sent three v4s in a row--two of 'em i hadn't done before. methinks i'll see the next level in climbing fall when i spend some quality time doing routes, and get my endurance up a bit.

Anyhow, about that beer...When's it gonna happen, gents?

Overdoin' it.

Did a 2hr. run today. Ran to the top of U-mound in the foothills. Thought my heart was gonna explode. Might'a' been a hair excessive. Think i might have compressed a few discs. Ah well...that's out of the way now. i can say i'm back up to a 2hr long run. "What doesn't kill you," and all that. S'poseta' climb tomorrow. See how that goes. At any rate, midterms are over. i may have flunked outta school, but they're over with. Happydance completed.

How vivid is your false memory of that conversation?

Speaking of autoimmune destruction, i seem to have an allergic, hypersensitivity reaction to sleeping less than 6hrs/night for weeks at a time. Midterms are over after today, an' i'm gunna do one o' those Mary Poppins-like jumping heel-clicks. my body is gelatinizing, and i'm jonesing to get back on the wagon. Gotta stop dipping, for starters. And i'm thinking about sleeping again soon. This is what happens when one chooses to learn 5 weeks of material in 3 evenings.

Clumb monday and yesterday. Actually, of monday i can hardly say i clumb; rather, that i went to the climbgym and cussed a lot. Yesterday, though, was a better day. i was actually healed and strong enough to properly re-injure the tendons. i can hardly ask for more than that.

Speculatively, i'm gonna go really light at the irongym this week. i am broken down, and i want to heal properly. And i would like to be able to touch my toes again before i hit it hard again.

Immersion therapy

Yesterday i got to go to Los Conchas with a couple o' friends. (That's the place we camped). That was a good time. Tried that 10d/11a beside the easy 6, but i melted down--maybe 5 feet from the chains. Took a 10 foot fall, but swung into this scooped out bit in the rock and whacked it with my knee. That opened me up pretty good. Nasty lookin' scar that'll leave. Anyhow, i got back on and finished it; but it was a li'l bit frustrating that i didn't get the send. i just wasted too much energy figuring out the bottom sequence. Got me a flash pump, and couldn't shake it out. There was chalk caked on literally every possible bump and nubbin below the second bolt, and by the time i tried out ten different sequences, i was fried. i did get back on a few minutes later, and got it in a go on toprope, but i should have had it on lead. Blah...i'm whining about being in one of the prettiest places in the state, and getting to climb on a perfect day. Still though, i've got a grudge against that route.

Today i got us a year-long family membership at the pool. Did kinda' the same swim--5 x 100s on a 2:00 interval--but this time i added in an extra 500m of straight swimming for 1,600 total. i wasn't sure i could pull off 500 without drowning, but i kept making turns and feeling good 'til i was done (even if i may have been a li'l pokey). That's encouraging. Gives me high hopes i could swim 1K soon.

Tomorrow i'm hoping to take a break from the straight-legs, and do a ME on regular deads. i'm gonna be a tad mo' conservative and see if i can break 405 proper. Turned out 450 was a li'l too big a jump.

You guys need to come up here this summer for another man-weekend. Conchas rocks. we started on that 5.6 and just worked our way down the rock. Ended up doing six or eight routes between 5.6 and 5.9. Lots of chilled-out, easy climbing with nice views. That was a breath of oxygen.

Sunday add-on:

Got me a PR on regular deads yesterday. Got a double with 405, then (finally) got a single with 410. And i got it listening to soul music. i'm developing a new superstition. Missed 425, but i think it'd go. Got 'er to my knees, but i couldn't lock it out. i needed some ammonia and someone screaming obscenities at me. Also worked up to 3 with 90 on weighted pull-ups: a clean single and 2 negatives. Reasonable workout. Low back is sore today. m' decrepit fingers are also starting to thaw a li'l bit.Might be some hard climbing again in the foreseeable future.

thank you for you to make me learn more,thank you∩０∩

captain's log, stardate, um, 3:

went for a reasonably hard hour-long run on fri. Then i went for a swim. Same basic swim as last time, but i actually did my 100m intervals on a 30sec interval (as opposed to just whenever i quit wheezing). Yesterday (sat.) i went for another swim--again, same swim; only this time i left on the 30 which punished me for swimming slow. So i was averaging probably a 20sec interval 'tween sets. If that don't get my buoyant butt a li'l mo' streamlined, then i don't know what will. i have only gossamer hope for squeezing an irongym session outta today; but hope is hope. Looking to be a busy coupl'a weeks at school. Maybe that'll buy me time to mend the IPs and lumbricals.

Actually broke out the Gnats yesterday, thinking about where to put them. Those things are schmall. i think i'm gonna put a couple of 'em on the wall proper for when i'm feeling particularly manly. i'm gonna set up a dyno to 'em. Moving off of 'em without feet is not an option, but i think i could stick a dyno for a second...like if my other hand is on a jug. Vamos a ver.

Tack-on what since nobody looked at the last post:

Sneaked into the irongym for a quickie today. Only striking thing 'bout it was that i took chalk in with me. Got the set of 4 at 295 on the box (str. leg deads); then put a couple o' fivers on and got 3 at 305 on the box for a PR.

So Blue talks now

Yup. Even Blue has been prostituted to the I.Q.-free masses. i guess the simple-minded, semi-retarded two-year-olds of America couldn't pick up on the communicative subtleties of a dog that didn't overtly tell 'em what to think. Turns out he's (she's?) even more irritating singing in Elmo-ese. Just can't shake the feeling that we're ripe for an apocalypse--or at least some sort of really widespread cataclysm.

Um, where was i? Ah, yeah. Finished monday's workout on wednesday, i think. Did some fairly heavy one-arm rows, chest flys, bent-o'er bb rows...that's pretty much it. Absolutely trashed. Then yesterday i went to the climbgym with a friend from school. Not a worthwhile session. Got a couple o' v3s, but i fell off of another 3 maybe six times before i gave up. It was bad. we were there for a long time, but mostly so he could climb. It's cool to see someone get infected with the disease, and get into a route 'til they've got it worked.

i feel arthritic today. Gonna try to swim or run if i can dredge up the motivation. Gotta stay outta the gym for a while. i'm thinking i should take up piano: mebbe my decrepit bones could handle that kind of stress.

Avoiding homework

As Providence would arrange it, i ran into two folks today at school with whom i got into talks about cycling. Each conversation, in turn, bent toward triathlon. It inspired me. i added all this in my constantly-swirling toilet of a brain with your suggestion that long-distance steady-state cardio is no way to cut fat, and i ended up in the pool this evening for intervals. That rocked! i haven't swum in some years now, so the bar was set nice and low. But it felt pretty rad to be back in the water. i was, of course, totally outta shape for it, but the recent lat work and running have actually kept me fitter than i would have expected. Did a 300m warm-up, 5 x 100m sets (very slowly, i'd imagine), and 350m cool-down. Not too bad a start, in my opinion.

Anecdotally, for the first time since early high-school i was totally unable to do a single pullup. Tried one when i got home: didn't work. Definitely put some muscles through the rigors that haven't been imposed upon in a while-e-o. Now to see if G's theory 'bout the weight loss is on track.

Back to it

Got about 75% of a workout in yesterday at the irongym. Little stale on the weighted p'lups. Did get four reps with 295 on straight-leg deads, but i had to set the weight down and dry my hands off after rep 3. Gotta take chalk in next time. Hope to sneak in today, and finish the workout.

Not gonna climb this week. Fingers are starting to feel arthritic, and i'm tired of peeling off routes i know i should own 'cause i'm not healed. Gonna try to replace it with running/swimming till i can make a fist wihout tears. Be just mighty fine if i could get back to it feeling healed and a bit lighter.