Monthly Capers: February 2025

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Saturday 2/1/25: Mt. Lady Washington with DrewBob

Weather looked particularly terrible — windy! — so we decided an easy run to Mt. Lady Washington was best — perhaps a few laps. Wind was the deciding factor and we pulled the plug after one summit, which almost didn’t happen as Drew got blown off the peak!

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A post shared by Drew Crittenden (@drewbob22)

Sunday 2/2/25 Gym: Treadmill, Bouldering

Treadmill @ 15% for ~55 minutes @ 2.9 mph at Z2, then a little faster to top things off.

My goal for the entire Winter was to get a Z2 workout to happen at a 15% incline @ 3mph and I’m literally .1mph away from that goal, which means I’ll have to set a new goal. I was under the impression that results from Z2 happen very slowly. I only started out on the treadmill for the first time in my life in the middle of December at a incline of 14% going 2.7mph, so these improvements have come fast I feel.

All this is at the service of breaking my roundtrip PR on Green Mountain I set 7 years ago, so any improvements I get, I’ll take.

Obviously, I can’t do the whole run up Green in Z2 but will be at Z3/Z4. If the 2300’+ trail up Green Mountain was at 15%, 3mph would get you there in an hour:

It’s not — it’s more like 23% (and 1.9 miles) — and I need to get up it in less than 38 minutes, so a whole lot more work left to be done!

Later, bouldered for about an hour and a half. Worked on a good V8 (slightly soft). I’m flailing on grabbing onto a small edge from an awkward stance. I keep hitting a bulgy hold with my right elbow which is somewhat throwing me off balance. I have faith that I’ll eventually get it.

Monday 2/3/25 Gym: Treadmill, 1 Hour

Hour on the treadmill at 15%, 2.9mph. Very happy with the progression from mid December. The top HR is from then at 14%, 2.7mph, the bottom is from this day (15%, 2.9mph):

I think that hints at better economy at similar Z2 HRs (my Z2/Z3 is around 125bpm). It’s on my TODO to retest my Z2 via a heartrate drift test, as there’s far less drift now than in December and then we can see if my Z2/Z3 has gotten higher. Seems perhaps by a few beats.

These all seem very small wins — and they are — but the results bellies the elevation gain changes. I don’t quite know if the treadmill is smart enough to figure out the distance I go is the base (this would be correct) or the hypotenuse (this would be wrong), but let’s say it’s the base:

At 2.7mph, 14% that’s 1,995′ gained in height. At 2.9 mph, 15%, that’s now 2,296′ gained in height — 301′ difference! 3.0mph (I can’t get the treadmill any steeper!) is an additional 79′ gain over 2.9.

Tuesday 2/4/25: Bouldering ~hour

Took a day off for the legs and just bouldered. Didn’t feel too fresh on the blocs, either! Worked on a V8 that has a stopper move and didn’t make any progress from the day before. Did get to try out some to me shoes, the Skwarma. Fit well in my usual size. Feel good on the steep stuff, as the hook in well. Taking a little while in getting used to. Pretty sensitive, REALLY soft. I’m usually in a stiff shoe, like the Miura VS or Otaki, so in that regard, this is a big change. Probably a better bouldering shoe than either of those, but for outside routes, probably stick with either of the formers.

Wednesday 2/5/25: Spin

Looks like I have a bit of a deload. Easy spin — legs feeling it.

Thursday, 1/5 Treadmill Run

I forgot to hit record, but it was another 2.9mph run at 15%

Friday, 2/7/25 Easy Spin

Had work that night bartending, so made a quick stop for a short spin to not go out of my mind standing in one place for 8 hours.

Saturday, 2/8/25 Photo Shoot in Eldorado State Park

Joined the Yonder crew for some photos in Eldorado State Park. Around 6 miles slow with frequent stops. I got home from work around 12am, so the 4:30am wakeup call — and the 12 miles to ride there was the hardest part of the day!

Sunday 2/9/25: Rest

Felt like a head cold, so kept on the down low

Monday 2/10/25, Treadmill 1hr

Z2 bb

Tuesday 2/11, Bouldering, 2hrs, Treadmill 1hr

New blocs up so time to do some sampling. Great problems in this set, lots of old school stuff, which I prefer, although I had difficulty with a V2, yet flashed the V7, so who knows. Anyways, lots of tricky movement, interesting balancing, a variety of technique — how could you not like it? V6 was a crimp fest with interesting feet — took a few tries, but once fell in place once I figured it out. V5 gave me the most problems, I literally went through every permutations of each move before I could figure out how to use some of the holds in a useful way. Finally topped it after saying, “one more try” for the millionth time.

Went a little too hot on the TM, going up to 3mph @ 15% for the last 20 minutes. Nudged into Z3 when I wanted to stay in Z2. Not the end of the world, of course, but I guess I’ll have to be a little more patient to run at this intensity in Z2.

Talked to the Director of my gym (also count as my friend!) to talk about the broken StairMaster (if you’re wondering how interesting MY life is). Still broken, but hopefully fixed soon. Apparently, the downstairs treadmill can get steeper than 15% — had no idea — so I may check it out in the future. Love to get on that thing at 20% if possible.

Wednesday 2/12/25 StairMaster, 1hour

I meant to get out, but I flubbed around for too long inside and kinda missed my window. It’s cold and I’m a softy these days. Instead, I made it to the gym, where the front desk delighted in telling me that the Stair Master, after weeks – months! – was finally repaired successfully, so I decided to bury myself on it. Level 7 was a good setting way back when for a Z2 workout, although I’m probably fitter now.

Today, I cranked that puppy up to 10, and then after 50 minutes — and in Spinal Tap fashion — cranked it to 11. I could only hold that for 5 minutes, and popped it back down to 10. So it looks like (almost) 11 is a potential anaerobic threshold setting. Good to know for my Green Mountain PR attempt.

Thursday, 2/13, StairMaster, 1hour

Super imaginative here. Level 7 for reals this time, if not to get a heartrate measure:

Average of 112 bpm is well below my aerobic threshold, so there is improvement, if you compare from mid-November:

Not even taking the HR Drift into consideration (yikes), the average of 127bpm was 15bpm higher in Nov. Doing the same amount of work with only 88% the bpm in 3 months of training is something to cheer about.

Friday, 2/1425 Green Mountain with DrewBob

We did a casual summit in pretty alright conditions. Snow on the ground, not too sloppy/not too packed down. We pondered doing a second lap, but both of us forget our headlamps.

Saturday, 2/15/25: Rest

I had a (admittedly physically strenuous) work day and weather wasn’t the greatest.

Sunday, 2/16/25: Z2 Treadmill 1hr, Bouldering 1hr

15% @ 2.9mph, felt pretty easy. I couldn’t find my heart rate monitor, but I’m pretty sure. I hate losing that stupid thing…

Bouldering was so-so, nothing really accomplished, except topping a V5 I couldn’t two days ago on the first go today, so that’s nice. Also they re-graded the V5 I had a hard time on to a V6, which gave me a chuckle. I’d rather they have kept it at V5, but whatever.

Monday 2/17/25: Rest

I had plans, but I also felt a little off. Given everyone I live with is sick, I thought I’d wait and see if I developed anything. Not a bad idea, anyways.

Tuesday 2/18/25 Treadmill 3.0mph @ 15%

This was to be a fitness test of sorts, with the goal of staying at Z2 for the hour. Going off my meticulous training records, this should have been very easy to do — a logical progress after months and months of ramping up fitness — but I was 10-15 bpm above what I should have been. I suspected a cold coming.

Wednesday 2/19/25: Rest (cold)

Thursday 2/20/25: Rest (cold)

Friday 2/21/25: Rest (cold)

Saturday 2/22/25 Spin Bike, 1 hour

Just testing I’m still alive. Felt pretty fresh unsurprisingly, although the lungs are still recovering from the cold.

Sunday 2/23/25: Mt Yale

Felt good enough, so joined up on an easy trip to Yale via the East Ridge with a bunch of 14er.com members. This was my ~11th time up Mt. Yale. I’ve done it now from five different routes(?) with the East ridge the one I’ve done about half the time. I remember one of the last times was on an ill-fated Nolan’s 14 run where I was succumbing to an asthma attack, desperately trying to summit in the middle of the night. One step, 10 seconds of wheezing; another step, another 10 seconds of wheezing. Brutal.