Season 14

 I'll post up 'cuz, one, it's nice to have some way posts, but also my last few posts have been darkly tinged, and today's was a pretty good workout. Still looking for a light in this tenebrous tunnel to be sure, but there's a spark of hope. I suppose you could say i'm well into Season 14 here. Did my 15th hangboard sesh today (and since i failed to publish this yesterday, it was yesterday), and first on the Power timer. I had not done this workout since January 15, 2020. First Power workout that season was on Jan. 1, so i'm comparing with that one. Weighed in at 207 clothed today, so i'm fully 10lbs. heavier than i was last year. Excepting hangboarding, i haven't been climbing at all since--what?--April or so of last year, so i have had very low expectations about hitting Power season. To balance out carrying 10 extra pounds of lard, i dropped my weights by approximately 10lbs. as a starting guess. The encouraging part is that i hewed really very closely to that workout from January 2020, paucity of climbing notwithstanding. In fact, on a couple of grip/sets i did better. Overall, i'm definitely weaker; but it seems to be entirely accounted for by the extra gravity i've assumed, and the difference is pretty linear and small.

I also did get some new running shoes a few weeks ago, and have been running some. I've gotten a couple of rides in, but the trail is still a muddy, icy sloghole, and is significantly hypofun. I'll also note that my warmups for the HB sessions are getting a li'l feistier, and i may soon be composed of something besides flaccid blubber in my thorax. And the weather is starting to look up. :)

I'll juxtapose current workout with that from 1/1/20, and put the earlier numbers in parentheses. 

Also, for the record, the timer is wonky in progression. 

Sets are 5rep x 7sec/ 3rep x 5sec/ 1rep x 5sec/ 2rep x 3sec. 3min rest between Sets 4&1 and between Sets 1&2. 2min rest between Sets 2&3 and Sets 3&4.

2/6/21 HB #15 S:14 "Power #1" (vs. 1/1/20 HB #6 S:12 "Power #1")

WUJ: -15 (-15)

Large Open:

1: +20 Ok.                                        (+30 Got em.)

2: +50 Yup.                                      (+60 Yeah.)        

3: +90 Got 'em.                                (+100 Yeah.)

4: +100 Umm..last 1/2 sec ish.         (+110 Hard for sure, but not terrible.)

Small Crimp:

1: -60 Got em.                                   (-50 Yeah not bad.)

2: -30 Last 2 sec last rep.                    (-20 Ok. Got those.)

3: -20 eeee. Got maybe 2-3 sec          (-10 K. Hard. Got it.)

    of that.

4: -20 Ugh. Got my feet off the         (BW Nope. Got my feet off the ground.)

    ground mebbe a sec each.

F 2,3,4:

1: +15 Hard. Got 'em.                        (+25 That was a bit hard. No fail.)

2: +45 Yeah got 'em.                          (+55 Got those.)

3: +80 Yeah.                                       (+90 Yeah. Hard.)

4: +100 Pretty darn close!                  (+110 Nope. Too heavy.)

SemiClosed Crimp:

1: -35 Not too bad.                             (-25 No problem.)

2: -5 Last 1 sec.                                  (+5 Dropped last 1/2 sec.)

3: +15 Didn't lock in well. Got           (+25 Hard. Got it.)

    3-4 sec. Bleh.

4: +20 Got a sec or 2 of each.             (+30 Last 1/2 sec last rep. Bout right!)

F 3,4,5:

1: -30 Got 'em.                                    (-20 Yep.)

2: -5 Last 1 sec.                                   (+10 Got those. Hard.)

3: +15 Got it!                                       (+30 Woo. Got 3 solid secs.)

4: +20 Got those!                                 (+30 Ha! Got those. Woo man.)

Slopa':

1: +30 Last 2 secs. Hot.                       (+45 Last 2 sec last rep.)

2: +60 Got 'em.                                    (+75 Last sec or two.)

3: +90 Got it :)                                     (+100 Got 4 secs.)

4: +100 Got it...Barelybarely.              (+100 [No comment])

So basically i was tracking within 10 lbs of the prior workout almost down the line. A few wider spreads on a couple of the more endurancy, warmup sets (the first two sets in my estimation), but some convergence on the power sets (generally the last two sets of the grip). Theoretically, then, if i can just find a way to pare 10-15 lbs. i'll not have lost any strength at all--which i find nearly miraculous. Now to find a way to stop eating so much...

reckoning

 It's a new year today, and I need to start this off on a decent footing. I can roughly chronicle what the last year has been like, health-wise, for an accounting. Weighed in at 203 this morning. That puts me 7-8 lbs up on my average weights between April and June, and about five lbs heavier than on January 1, 2020 (from my hangboard workout that day). So i'm definitely fatter than a year ago, but no so far off the mark that it's utterly hopeless. 

Did a lot of riding this year until very recently, and got a few PRs. Strava more than doubled their subscription price, so i can't access my stats from the last year until i'm ready to be raped for a phone app. From a more useful app, it looks like i got in roughly 600mi this last year on the mt bike. 

Climbing has just spiraled into the sun this year due to covid. There's nothing climbable in this rotting hell of town, and they closed the gym down. Climbing is not a family priority (meaning, basically, that it isn't an animal that has to be fed) so it gets no money apportioned to it. As yet, then, I haven't been able to build a boulder. Have been hangboarding for the last few weeks, and it's shown me how far out of shape i've gotten over the last 6 months. Have gotten 6 workouts in so far: 5 on the "Enduro 2" timer and one on the "Intermediate". Maybe i'll get it back. 

Haven't been running. Haven't worked out on weights since the world shut down--so again, prolly six or eight months or so. I've basically been living on cortisol and high-sugar, high-lard crap for the last two months; have been drinking way too much; and in a nutshell have been trying to find some way out of the overwhelming mediocrity and meaninglessness i've chained myself to. 

I'm very much wanting some resolution, some resolve. I can't help being meaningless and i can't help that my life makes no sound and i can't help that i have no friends or community; but i think i can help that i'm fat and depressed about it. Maybe i can help that i'm a poor example as a dad. Maybe i can write more and reflect more and play video games less and eat less. Maybe i can cut out the trash carbs and cheese that the fam subsists on, even if it means i make my own food for every meal. 

Maybe i can go for a walk even if it's too cold or far away for a ride.