Treading

Sprinted again today. Rained a bunch last night and today, so it was very muddy, but was also much cooler than heretofore. Kinda nice, really. Basically the same workout as a few days ago: 12 x 20 sec sprints with 10 secs rest between, although on the last few sets i skipped the rests. So a bit more'n 4 mins of sprinting. Seven mins warmup and a small cool down.

Not a great last few days on the diet front. Weighed in this morning at 195.0. Frowny face. But i'm still in the game.

Yesterday i clumb. Went to the gym with the Anne, and i tried to pull down a "12c" on toprope. I very much doubt the "c" part, although i can believe it's a 12. I've gotten it before on toprope, and've aaaaalmost scored it on lead; but the last clip is mighty sketchy. I was hoping to stroll in and walk it on TR after the season's training, and just didn't. Li'l discouraging-- but on the other hand, my hands felt arthritic yesterday. Also i had somewhere in the vicinity of no faith at all in my belayer, which didn't help. Think i woulda rather had Annie on the other end of the rope.

Anyhow, planning on sneaking back in tomorrow for another go.

And on the diet front, i think i need to totally cut nuts out. One of those easy "good-for-you" very high calorie snacks that i've a serious weakness for; and i think i could stay on track with this diet suffering if i could not have the mixed nuts available.

Sprint

Sprinted today. Ca. a 7 min warmup (although it was 1 beeellion degrees out and my HR shot up to about 170 on takeoff), then basically 12 intervals of 20 secs with 10 sec rests between for just over 4 mins of total sprinting. Not a bad go of it. I think i managed not to sleep too well the night. Li'l tired outta the chute.

Yesterday i did nothing whatever, being imprisoned, as it were, in my car for the day. I did, notwithstanding, weigh in at 193.0 lbs. first thing. That's encouraging. Makes me think i might actually dip below 190 for send time. That'd just be spiffy. And i will send 5.12.

My hands still feel thrashed. Whatever else i might be accomplishing with these workouts, they're breaking my widdle pingers down. Does seem like i didn't manage to get the prescribed amount of rest between the prior two, which should have some explanatory power. Hopefully Sunday'll show me some happy, wholesome hands.

4 x 4 fer real. Ish.

Actually came up with a real live linked boulder circuit today. Very hard. Probably a li'l too hard, cuz i never actually linked it. But i did it basically 4 times before i was fried.

Did a 20 min ARC sesh, then did some bouldering. Then up-climbed a v2ish thing, down-climbed a v1ish thing, up-climbed a 3+/4-ish deal, then down-climbed another v2- kind of thing. Just kept getting shut down on the 3rd problem, cuz there's a sloper i just couldn't stick without chalk.

But i felt like it's doable. And i was definitely not crisp and fresh. Still feeling beaten up from Sunday. So i think the circuit will work ok for future trainings. And i think it served its purpose for today.

On a separate note, i did a tabata workout yesterday-- same style i've been doing. Uninspired, but it went.

And what is it about me needing a decline bench for crunches on a timer that inexorably magnetizes the otherwise-dusty bench to elderly, slow people....?  "Hey that guy's eyeing the decline-- i suddenly feel like i need to stimulate my abdominal wall! YeeHaw!"

Linked Boulder Circuit. Ish.

So then, Sunday Aeon and i went with some friendlies to a real live boulder. I haven't bouldered outside in many, many, many moons. That is 1) way fun, and 2) a total head trip. I have issues with topping out 20 feet off the ground. Just kept imagining my femurs buckling. Having gotten over parts of that, it was a ton of fun. Went out with the idea of Aeon doing some climbing (which he did in limited quantities... Watching my 9yo stepping across a yawning abyss 20' up is nerve-wracking); but also to pull off a linked boulder circuit, for which i'd need something like a few v3s, maybe something v2ish, and something v4ish. There was a v3, which i managed, but then we got sidetracked working a couple of v5ish things, one of which i managed to campus.

There is now no flesh left on my volar mitts. But we did some very hard, fun climbing. Can't call what we did any sort of circuit, so i can't say i accomplished my training goal for the session; but i'm at least nominally better equipped for route-sending as a result.

Next session is wednesday, and that'll hafta be at the gym-- so i should be able to keep it real and disciplined.

Today i did a sprint workout. Felt pretty good. Did 6 intervals of 20 secs with 10 secs of rest between, then decided to keep on, rested 10 secs, and did two 50 sec intervals with 10 secs between. Those hurt.

But i weighed in at 197 this morning-- i have somehow fallen off the wagon-- and that's unacceptable. I want to send 5.12 next month.

Enough power! On to PE

Finished out the last limit boulder session today. Was supposed to do this one on saturday (which technically it now is), but that couldn't happen; so i did on one day of rest. Frankly, not worth it-- not a good session, and i was noteably drained. Anyhow, that puts me back on schedule with the book.

Warmed up with a 20 min ARC go. Felt really tired there.

Otherwise did a crappy warmup, and basically skipped the boulder ladder.

Friend and i did take some burns on a few limit problems, but i can hardly say i managed to generate max effort. Very tired, and still a bit too worn down from campusing. Definitely got some sore nubbins out of it, but just didn't climb like i wanted.

I am looking forward to the linked boulder circuits and the just plain hard climbing of the power endurance phase.

Campus #3

Weighed in at 195 today with clothes on.

Had a very good, and interesting campus workout today. The trick all along with campusing has been getting a decent warmup up in before engaging the ol' board. There's no campus board at the gym, and i still don't have a proper wall up at home, so i've been stuck warming up, then generally finding a 2 or 3 hour gap 'til i get to campus.

Today i did a really very fine warmup on the hangboard. Worked out great. And while i'd still very much love to get the Moon wall up and going, that's one fewer thing to worry about for now.

Did an up-down-up on the oversized rungs for a warmup, basic ladder style.

The rest was on the XL rungs (2x4s).

Did a set of matching ladder with each hand leading.

Did a couple of sets of basic ladders to r6-- which is my highest rung on those, on Moon spacing-- with each hand leading.

Then i did several max ladders.

B2-R4-L5-match
B2-L4-R5-match: No problems

B2-R5-L6-match
B2-L5-R6-match: Did 2 sets of these each hand leading. No problems.

B2-R4-L6-match
B2-L4-R6-match: Failed (again) going to r6 with both hands on the first set. Then i thought about it, analyzed it, considered readjusting body position, turned the music up, and sent to the match with both hands leading for 2 more sets. Very important (and totally unnatural) to keep the trailing hand engaged, and that hip turned in toward the wall, so that you're pressing with triceps until the dead point. Once i talked my arms and butt into doing it, these felt relatively easy. And that's a nice feeling.

B1-R4-L6 then
B1-L4-R6:  Touched the r6 with both hands, but didn't get over the top of the rung with either hand. That's a big move. Gunna take more analyzin'; but i reckon that'll be for next seeason. At any rate, i tried two sets with each hand leading. Managed to tear a pretty flapper on my index finger on the last rep. Good workout.

That's the last campus sesh this time 'round. One more limit boulder session on saturday, then to power-endurance (and, hopefully, some sending).

Sprint

Did a short warmup, then some sprinting today. 6 intervals at 20 secs each with 10 sec's rest between. Getting easier.

Limit Boulder 3

Good times bouldering tonight. Got some friends in on it, and that's way mo' motivating. We actually came up with some problems that might qualify as limit stuff.

Did 15 mins of ARCing, then a bunch of warmup bouldering. Then gave 5 or 6 or 7ish burns to about 3 problems. Very good effort in there.

Also of note, we did some climbin' yesterday, and then la hija y yo did a tabata. Same basic deal: pullups, SLRs, dips, and crunches. Now i'm terribly tired. Peace.

Campus #2 (and some climbing)

Counting thursday's "warmup" bouldering comp as a limit boulder session. Did get third place overall. Can't feel too bad about that.

Finally campused. (I will assume that's the correct past tense of campus). Campus sesh numma two almost a week out. Actually went really well.

First we climbed. Annie led her first climb outside: a 5.6. It was way easy for her, but i think she needed a confidence boost. Then she managed to work the moves out on an 11b on TR. :)

I led the same 11, and climbed it again on TR, and that worked out to be a really nice warmup for campusing. Still haven't been able to order the "large" and "medium" rungs; but i'm having fun on my "extra large" and "XXL" rungs. Spacing for these is standard Moon spacing: 22cm.

Did an up-n-down ladder on the XXL rungs.

Then a matching ladder, leading with each hand, on the XL.

Then basic ladders, again leading with each.

Those were pretty easy, so i decided to try some max ladders. First i skipped from rung (r) 2-4L then r5 R. Then same leading R. Pretty easy.

Then i tried r2-5L to r6R. Same leading R. Failed getting to the match on r6 both hands first two tries, but then i got it both hands leading for a couple of reps. Really hafta think about pulling down with the trailing hand simultaneously.

Then i tried r2-4L to r6R, and that was way harder. Tried a coupla sets with each hand leading, but i couldn't stick the second rung. Gave it what fer though. I think i'll get that. Not sure yet why it's so much harder-- same overall distance in the same number of moves. But it's harder.

Campus Fail

Weighed in at 193.6# today. That's encouraging.

Yesterday i did a sprint workout. Think it ended up being 9 intervals, 20 secs each with 10 secs of rest between. About 18 mins in all including warm up/cool down. Really like those things. Even though i was sick, and felt like death.

Today i did a bouldering comp. Annie won the kids' comp, and Aeon got third. I was gunna use it to "warm up" for campusing, but i ended up climbing my bootie off, and couldn't hang from a campus rung now if i needed to. Did get third overall, and climbed about....i dunno... 24 problems. Hands are trashed.

good stuff.

Blip

Odd one today. First i weighed in this morning at 194.8#.  That's the first time in many, many moons i've cracked 195.

I'm trying out a new diet plan which i've come to call "not eating so friggin' much", and it's working like crazy!

Slated to do campus #2 tomorrow, but i wanted to get a workout in. Went in thinking i'd do a tabata with maybe just a pinch of climbing-- Kinda just to keep the mitts warm, you know. Got to the wall, and some friendlies were working a project, and i got egged into trying it. Flashed it pretty easily (but to be fair, it wasn't a hard problem), and it felt--- good.

So i threw down 10 mins of ARCing without chalk, which is kinda paradigmatic for me, as i generally chalk up about every single move. Then i sent the problem i was using the first 3 moves of yesterday for a "limit problem". I expect it was not a limit problem after all.

Funny how a problem can be super hard one day, then something clicks and it's just right there in front of you.

Anyhow, then i went and did the tabata: Pullups (19 & 13), SLRs (18 &14), Dips (20 & 15), and Decline crunches (21 & 17ish). This was a definite improvement...gettin a li'l easier. And i totally dig finishing a workout in 4 mins. Highly recommend.

So i've scrapped the idea of campusing tomorrow--i'll do it thursday. It'll work out better anyway. There's a bouldering comp thurs, and that'll make a very nice warmup. And i can get the kids in on it. :)

Limit Boulder #1

Limit bouldering is about putting together a two or three move problem with a dynamic finish that is actually harder than you can do. Ideally, it'd take a few working sessions to do.

Ya do a 20 min ARCing for a warmup; then a warmup boulder ladder: 3-4 problems each level from v0 up until you get to your flash level. Then "hard bouldering" for a few burns on problems above yer flash level. Then you do the limit stuff.

Interestingly, the "beginner" limit bouldering program calls for no limit bouldering.

i came up with a few anyhow, and it went ok i s'pose. Funny thing is there's really not much difference between trying to send a way hard problem and "limit bouldering". In other words, the first 3-4 moves on a v7ish problem might work out to be a limit problem to me. So the "hard bouldering" and "limit bouldering" work out to be about the same deal at my infantile level of climbing.

Ah well: i 'spect the several campusing sessions are gunna be the money this go round. Next sesh of those comes two days hence.

Campus Time (1st sesh)

[Addendum: managed to publish this today (sunday), but the campusing happened Friday. I did do a sprint workout today. About a 7 min warmup run--HR in the mid-140s-- then 7 sprint intervals of 20 secs at around HR 180, with 10 sec's rest between. Getting better at 'em. Also i weighed in at 196 this morning: lightest i've been in a long while. Diet's happening so far.]

Meaty. Campus day 1 was definitely hard, And, honestly, way too hodge-podge. Gunna hafta take the workout journal with me and keep it real and tight next time.

And that's not to say it wasn't a hardcore workout. Did the "warmup boulder ladder" basically correctly. Did 2 or so v0, 2 +/- v1s, 2 or 3 v2s, maybe a v3ish thing or two.

Then did the "serious bouldering". That's where things sorta unravelled. S'posed to give no more than 3 burns to 3 or so hard problems. Only i got sucked into giving a coupla problems what fer, and really probably spent 10 or 12 burns on a couple. Ergo, my hands already felt like figgy pudding when i finally got around to the campusing.

And honestly, i can't say the campusing didn't go well for my first go at it. I'm supposed to have "large," "medium," and "small" rungs on the board. I didn't know what that meant when i made my board, but according to Metolius, that'd come down to 1 1/4", 1", and 3/4" respectively. I do have some 3/4" rungs on the wall, but they are currently a cool-looking decoration. This workout calls for workouts on the large and medium rungs. I don't have anything that size. The next size up i have, i made out of routed 2x4s, so they come out to be 1 1/2"-- extra-large, i s'pose. And i felt good about being able to hang from those.

Did about 4 sets (two leading with each hand) of matching ladders for about four rungs, then 4 sets of basic ladders. Very hard, even without the medium rungs. I do plan to order some though.

I had some fear that this was on the same sort of schedule as the hangboarding: i.e. same workout every 3 days. But it ain't. It's campusing, then 2 full rest days, then limit bouldering, then one rest day, and repeat. Limit bouldering tomorrow, and i truly look forward to that.

HB #7 (Final)

Actually did a hangboard workout at the appropriate interval for once. Interesting workout and interesting day. This was the last HB workout for the season, so i wanted to get it right and go to the next phase psyched and strong. As such, i went in yesterday and worked a couple of limit boulder problems 'til my hands were mushy. Today i very intentionally didn't touch the climbin' wall; but to get the humours flowin', i did a tabata workout--same as last time. That went ok (excepting the doofus that decided to use my decline crunch bench as i was about to go to that, so that i had to do a third set of straight leg raises instead). Then i did some not-terribly-heavy DB rows and DB OH press. Then to work. Home again. Weighed in pre-workout at 199. And the HB sesh:

Set 1:  Warm-up jug:  -10:  Easy. Bit distracted.

Set 2:  F 2,3,4 2-pad pocket:  -15#: Kinda easy. This was a 5# increase. Nice vibe.

Set 3:  Medium Edge (semi-closed):  -20#:  Kept this the same. felt a lot easier though. Li'l hard at the end. Not bad.

Set 4:  Medium pinch:  -20#:  Fairly easy. Again, a 5# increase. That's happy juice.

Set 5:  F 3,4 2-pad pocket:  -40#:  This was very hard. No fail. Nearly...

Set 6:  Large open-hand edge:  -10#:  Very hard. Failed last rep. Taped prox to the F2 DIP for this un, and it helped.

Set 7:  Wide pinch:  -45#:  Untaped F2 for this. Very hard. Felt great at first, then failed on the last 3 reps.

Set 8:  Sloper:  -5#:  Very hard. Failed in the last half-second of the last rep.

Set 9:  F 3,4,5 2-pad pocket:  Hard. Dug deep, and no fail. Another 5# increase.  :)


It would be hard to think how i could be more pleased with how this season has gone so far. In three weeks (give or take) i've added 10-15 lbs to nearly every grip on the roster, excepting i think wide pinch-- and i've gotten noticeably stronger on that one. And i've felt the gains crossing over into the boulder sessions. Looking forward to sending some hard lines in October.

Next comes power phase and the campusing. Li'l nervous 'bout that...