Cairn

 I feel a little desperate to write. I never imagined that the world could be so lonely, and I never imagined that after having had so much practice with life that I would have such an inexorable predilection for putting myself at every chance into what usually ends up being the worst possible--or most disadvantageous--situation among the choices as I've understood them.   It's darkly amusing and still hope-crushing to look back on my path and discover that practically every step I've taken has somehow accidentally been the wrong one; that practically every step has led to more stress, more resentment, more indebtedness; and has generally led me to being less of a husband, less of a dad, less of a friend.

Of course, that doesn't mean that no good has come from any of it, nor that there's no way to imagine that God will finally bring a goodness out of it all greater than the darkness. In other words, it's not impossible to imagine that there could finally be a point to it all. It's only that it is disheartening to consistently see that every time I have been faced with a decision for what amounts to a life-changing opportunity, I choose--even after patiently weighing it out and praying about it and trying to discuss it with friends, etc.--to go in a direction that shackles us further, weakens our family further, takes me away from home more often and for longer, and costs us more money. The overwhelming net feeling from this is that I know beyond the possibility of doubt that I have no agency in my own trajectory: I control nothing--if for no better reason than that I was never given (or I grossly miscalculated, if you like) the actual likeliest outcomes of my decisions. But the darkly elegant, darkly amusing piece of it is that when I plot all the points that have led me to be in whatever situation I find myself in, each of those points is or is directly related to a choice I have made--such that looking back on them myself, I cannot but think that I've been on a subconscious mission to sabotage myself. Amusing that even those opportunities that come down the pipe as "no brainers"--the sort where "I'd have to be an idiot not to jump on this" ends up being just another step into perdition, into relentless, consuming mediocrity. 

Enduro HB #3 S:13

Got in the third workout on the Enduro 2 timer yesterday, and did three iterations of the timer. Weighed in at 199 clothed, so was a li'l heavier than for the previous workouts, but it went ok. Did feel kinda tired still. This got brutal at the end, but felt like a legit endurance workout. I like this timer better than the first Enduro timer i made. I'd done two iterations last time, so those weights were pretty dialed and went as expected. The third round i had to guess on, but for the most part got 'em all. And, as above, it felt brutal at the end, so i can't say i sandbagged to finish. One round is 686 seconds TUT so 11.43 mins. Three iterations, then, is 34.3 mins TUT; so that's about 42% duty cycle including the 3 min rests between iterations. If i'm honest with how ARCing usually goes, that's probably not unrealistic. You get to this point of fatigue even on a wall when you're just hanging out on rest positions trying not to fall off jugs. Not to mention, with feet most of the movements are probably actually lighter than how i've weighted me here. It'd be really interesting to get a tensiometer and see how much force i really apply to a typical hold on easy/moderate terrain. I'd bet it's way less that 50% BW.

WUJ: -15 x 3

Large Open:
1: -30
2: 30: Felt hard hard
3: -40: Fail for the last half, but i could still pick my feet up. Not far off.

F 3,4:
1: -75
2: -75: Tired here. Hard.
3: -85: Really not bad.

SemiClosed:
1: -50
2: -60: Woo! Hard. Feeling tired.
3: -70: 'Bout right.

F 2,3,4:
1: -40
2: -60: yeah
3: -70: K. Right.

Wide Pinch:
1: -75: Felt hard today.
2: -90: Woo. Barely...
3: -100: Hard. Got em

Slopa':
1: -60: Yeah.
2: -80: Whoa...real hard.
3: -85: Hard hard, but got 'em.

Narrow Pinch:
1: -90
2: -100: 'bout right.
3: -100: Got 'em.

Season 13

OK: So it's looking like I got in 4 Campus workouts last season, the last being on 2.2.20. Got sidetracked on that, but did continue climbing, and pulled down some good problems in the gym until covid shut us down. Of note, I incurred a pretty high-grade tear in a hamstring before that--sometime in the week prior to 1.28.

Just started this season on 4.5.20: 2 months after the last Campus workout, so pretty much right on time. Went with the Intermediate timer, and it was depressing. Haven't worked that one in quite a long time. Think I last did that one in Sept 2019. I have traditionally used that as a kind of proxy for Enduro climbing, or to transition from actual Enduro to Strength. And as I haven't done any Endurance in an embarrassingly long time, that is quite naturally my weak link. I've recently felt pretty strong, but just can't pull many moves strung together. That's archetypal bouldering shape, I'd guess.

So to highlight the grip configs I've been neglecting and also to work on Endurance, I put together a new timer. Basically modified the Intermediate timer's grip progression into something completely different. Normally the timer is two sets on each grip with 7 reps on the first set, and 6 on the second. Then it's 3 minutes between sets. With the same 7 sec hang/ 3 sec rest duty cycle, I welded the two sets together with a longer 10 sec "shakeout" between. So it's basically 13 reps per set (excepting the WUJ which stayed at 7 reps--although I might increase that for more TUT). Then I reduced the rest interval between sets to 1 min, which is just enough time to change weights, clip back in, and look intently at a chalk bag. Then (so far) I've doubled that timer. So after a 3 min rest, it starts over. With 2 of these supersets, that makes for about 23 minutes TUT (so each superset is a li'l over 11 mins TUT). Also, i'm recording these just as for the Intermediate timer, but each set indicates the 13 reps of that grip, and moves to the next grip same set. The 2nd set of a grip indicates the second iteration or superset of the timer.

Yesterday i did the second workout on that timer, both with two of these supersets. The first workout (4.11.20) was basically dialing weights, but it went well. Did the second session yesterday (4.15.20) and the weights were pretty much spot on. I'll record that below. I'd like to tweak the timer to work up to 3 or 4 supersets. That, I think, would put me in really good endurance fitness. Importantly, the point of this is not to go to failure, but to achieve a nice, monstrous pump.

WUJ:
1: -15
2: -15

Large Open:
1: -75: This was a screw-up. Was supposed to be BW, but i had the pin set for the next workout and just clipped in on auto pilot.
2: -30: Very hard at the end. 'Bout right.

F 3,4:
1: -75: Not bad.
2: -75: These got hard at the end, but not bad.

SemiClosed:
1: -50: 'Bout right.
2: -60: Perfect. Real hard at the end.

F 2,3,4:
1: -40: Got real hard, but no fail.
2: -60: Right weight. No fail.

Wide Pinch:
1: -75: Yeah. No fail.
2: -90: Much better. Hard and no fail.

Slopa':
1: -60: Again, much better dialed this time. Spicy.
2: -80: Yeah. Right on.

Narrow Pinch:
1: -90: No fail. Good first set!
2: -100: No fail. That one was even a li'l easy.

This was a really good workout, and felt like it mocked up the duty cycle of ARCing pretty closely, which I've had a really hard time doing on a hangboard. Wanna do 3 iterations for the next workout and see how that goes.

On to Campusing S:12

Once again, I've been remiss in posting. Poor access to a 'puter I guess. Respecting Hangboarding, I posted up #5 which was on the "Heavy" timer. After that, i switched to the "Power" timer and did another 4 workouts on that, for a total of 9 HB sessions. Do believe i saw some gains on that, although it has been bitterly cold in the barn for some of them, and I ended up quitting at least one of the sessions early 'cuz i couldn't feel my hands and my phone froze and died. At any rate, i have been pretty much on schedule with all the workouts and finished Campus #2 on 1.23.20--so two days ago. I've gained some weight since the end of mt biking season, and have been between 4-6lbs heavier for this season's workouts than i was in October. In spite of that, Campus 2 was pretty awesome, and i feel like i've kinda picked up where i left off; just heavier. In lieu of the Limit Bouldering, i did a session of just harder routes at the gym, and i think that was a good workout as well. I've been back in the irongym too, for at least back work, and that i think has helped for the most part. Haven't been writing these down for some reason, but I've back up to pulling a few reps with 425 on Deads, and last night got 3 reps with BW +100lbs on pullups. Have also been doing Frenchies, and i sorta like those. Last night i got to 425 on Deads and i think i might have ruptured a hamstring, so those are out for a while. I'm hoping i can still campus. Finger skin is still intact, and by the grace of God i didn't hurt anything in my back or arms. We'll see if i can heal from this in time to get on a bike. :)