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Monday
Flat Run
Got a coffee and then visited the Sport Recycler. From the house, there’s some good options to get some flat miles, including around my old stomping grounds near Yarmouth and points North. I’ve been trying to up the weekly mileage a bit, as I feel that’s a weakness of mine: I can climb up and down forever, but I’m slow on the terrain that should be the easiest. I had one of those moments where I realized there’s no real immediate need to keep training hills – I’m trained. Let’s get a little faster on the flats, with a bit more endurance.
Tuesday
Run to/from the gym
Bouldering 1hr+
Good session, actually. My mantra today was “do everything with minimal effort”, which works well if you can modulate the amount of power you produce per movement. For bouldering, you can get a lot done by using as little effort as possible until the main cruxy part.
Extended warmup, as I’ve been working on a hard V6 that features a strange heel hook as one of its last moves. I’ve been having a hard time getting the heel to stick, but now I’ve figured it out. Almost got it today on the first try, but biffed it. A few more goes, and was able to get it down happily, but really strained my hamstring, as I have to support my entire weight doing essentially a one-legged hamstring curl. Ugh. Thought about the run home and if that was happening.
Spin Bike, 1hr
Pretty relaxed – almost was box breathing
The run home was cut short, but only by a mile or two. The pain in my hamstring is right on the muscle belly – not at an insertion point, and I think it’s just a simple strain. My hammies are quite large, so hopefully they’ll bounce back.
Wednesday
Cycling, 36 bike path, Coal Creek bike path
Worked in Broomfield, so rode my bike to/from. Problem was that the largest storm of the year was about to drop sometime today and most likely on me. Getting to work was easy enough – there was still sun and blue sky! Getting home was a different story. Steady rain turned to sleet, then snow by the time I got home. Good fun.
Thursday
Rest.
Hung low as it dumped outside.
Friday
Bouldering 2hrs
Fun just getting out of the house. Got a few problems I hadn’t before.
Spin Bike, 2hrs
Saturday
Rest.
Big things tomorrow?
Sunday
Plans to go to Salida for Shav/Tab the next day were cancelled in the morning. The weather in Salida was much more snowier than I was expecting when peeping at the Jeep webcam. That meant riding anywhere close to the trailhead would be impossible, and ultimately the chances of getting a summit a little lower. I’ve done Shavano and Tabeguache many, many times. I do like to make each trip interesting and creative, and just doing them again had little appeal, so my plan was to also summit West Jones and Jones Peak, then descend via its east ridge, which doesn’t have too much better on it. Something like this,
That’s a much bigger trip with a loftier goal, and the safety margin just wasn’t there. I’ll have to save that idea for another time, and maybe instead ascend up to Jones, and descend via Shavano, for a much better trip in a couple of weeks or so. I felt pressure to get another 14er summit in before Winter closes, and that’s just not the right type of motivation to make good decisions under.
Bouldering, 2hrs
So, instead I went bouldering for a few hours, then saw Dune 2. There’s a very sharp, vertical problem I’ve been working on, and wanted to top it before it gets reset, so seemed like a good time as any. I’ve been working on it for a while and getting close. A few tries later, and was able to get it. I tried to do it a second time for posterity, but the holds are so thin, it really does a number on my finger tips, and it’s just too painful for me to continue. Here’s a close biff:
I know I make it look very easy, but this is after many sessions of learning every move (almost) as perfect as I could get it. I (re)learned a lot from this problem – maybe the most important being that for difficult to hold on to holds, it’s best to be right under them. For the sharpest of holds, I could almost curl my fingers from a full crimp onto the very tips of my fingers to get the best purchase. VERY painful, but pretty secure.
