Monday night hell... but in that good way.

My Monday evenings...

Got home from work and had a snack of Peanut Butter granola bars with chocolate Gu and a banana. Then headed for what Brian has dubbed our Dojo, which is a park near his house.

He created this workout and goes as follows:
Warm up run 5-7 minutes, medium pace.
50 Mountain climbers
5 minuets of stretching.

Repeat the following routine 3 times.
(Each set about 10 minutes, with 2 minute rest between sets. )
10 pushups.
20 Russian Twists (25lbs)
25 Hindu Squats
10 Burpies
60 Medicine ball toss (10lbs)
6 Turkish Get-ups (we do it with a 35lbs punching bag)
5 Jump and heaves - Jump to a pullup
10 under-overs - Jump over a bar and then go under it.
20 Swings (alternating arms) with 25 lbs.

Cool down run 5-7 minutes.

Go home, recovery shower (Hot water, cold water - repeat)

Sleep

Recovery...

I'm still recovering from the ivy and it's aftermath from over a month ago, However, it's getting better. Right after the Ivy had dried up, my hands got "something" I ended up at acute care where they gave me steroids. The steroids weren't fun, made me eat a lot and put on water weight, almost over night. As the next few days progressed my hands started to show signs of improvement, however when my elbows broke out in something else, I went to the dermatologist. He wasn't exactly sure what it was or where it came from, but gave me some mega topical cream to shotgun it, My hands and elbows have cleared up and the scares are healing.

I haven't been training as much as I had hoped to these last few weeks. But I'm breaking in to a new routine. Get up at 4:45 and go super set/ lift for 30 minute and 10-15 minutes on the stair master. I got my hang board mounted and using it, when I want to get in a quick 10-15 minute work out, anymore and I think i'd fuck up my hands on that thing. With all that said... 8 more weeks!

Stuff...

So the ivy is fading, however I developed hives on the tops of my hands. WTF? Seriously. Will this ever end? I'm on meds, which are seriously screwing with me. Retaining water and make me HUNGRY! Stupid steroids. But I think they are helping. Though it's put a strain on my training/climbing. Last Thursday I woke up with, that afternoon I was in an acute care center. the doctor had no really clue, gave me a list of things it could be... some where just amusing.

Saturday, they next to nill, so I went and climbing in the morning and then joined Robin and some of her friends for some more climbing. Followed by beer.

Sunday, I got a workout by helping Kacey pack up a U-haul and drive it back up to Chicago. Sometime good'ole work is different way to train. you use muscal that you never even knew you had.

Anywho... I'm hoping that this shit clears up soon, I have to get back to some serious lifting and climbing.

last couple weeks.

The previous weekend I had gone on a bike/run. My plan was 12 miles on bike, followed by 5K run around Old School and then bike back home. On my way to Old School I tried to find a way while avoiding the busy roads. Short story here, I ended up in the Des Plains river after miss judging the depth of a creek I was trying to cross. Didn't fall by any means, just a weeee bit deeper then I thought. About up to the middle of my wheels, shoes wet and ya... almost went over the handle bars. Well... somewhere on this short cut finding quest, I rub up against something and my right shin/calf and right thigh broke out in poison something rather the other. I took a week off of doing anything. Walked the dogs a couple times, but nothing drastic. Saturday I hit up the climbing gym. Oh boy was I sore. Went on a 2 hour semi-hard bike ride some of it thought a thunderstorm.

This week, back to lifting, running and doing laps at the climbing gym.

On a side note, I finally was able to pick up my ice axe, crampons, softshell pants etc etc...

Climbed the Wobbly Dihedral

I got my redpoint on the Wobbly Dihedral. The climb went smooth, though after the friction part I took a second to shake some blood back in my feet.

I ended up placing 7 pieces on the line and running out the last 15 section of "slab". This is for sure going on my repeat list and for those that haven't climbed it a Devil's Lake must do! (Running out the top section)

I did a few other lines, Curving Crack, which I plan to redo to climb it cleaner, and a fun line (I thought it was fun anyway) a 40 foot tall, 8-9 feet deep chimney, called PHTOOY! It was a fun and really ugly line. You had to climb to the back of it to place a piece, then back to the front of the chimney to move up. Repeat that a couple times. I ended up having to runout the last 15 feet or so because I didn't have an easy way of getting back to the back of the crack. Also ended up in an awkward position throwing a heal hook around the outside of the chimney, above my head for balance. That was different.

This years goals...

The last few months I have been hella busy with home, work and climbing, my apologizes to all for not posting. Here's a recap: I took a couple trips down south to the Red River Gorge and Southern Illinois to do some climbing. Had fun, got in a few good leads including my redpoint of "Puppet Master" a 9+ that defeated me the year before. The climb starts with a few hard and very committing moves. You are 15 feet off the ground before you can get in your first good piece. Needless to say this could mean broken ankles if you are not careful. (I opted to have a crash pad just in case)

There have been a number of trips to Devil's lake as well. Weather has been decent for them, but sometimes we had snow (in april) though it didn't last very long. I took a shot at the "Wobbly Dihedral" a 9 (some would argue 9+) at Devil's Lake. For those of you that have never climbed at Devil's Lake, the grades are way off from most of the rest of the country, most argue "Very f-ing sandbagged". (So a 5.9 here would be a 5.10a/b/c/d other places, yes grades are all subjective, but just saying) This started one of two of my years goals. Climbing at my limit on gear (trad), this means falls. I trust my gear and I am not worried. On the Wobbly Dihedral I took to falls before passing the "friction only" section of the climb. Once past that, the crack got wet and very slick due to the green stuff that was growing in it. (You can see in the top part of the picture to the left) After trying to climbing past this a couple more times, I bailed off the climb. I'll be back and that rock ain't going anywhere.

The second of my goals is to break in to Alpine climbing. This means heavy training. Two weeks ago I started, I added squats, usually about 50 - 75 a session and double the amount of "step ups" as well. Heavy cardio is on the menu as well. Living in the flat low lands will make training for Alpine very challenging. I have using a modified version of what Mark Twight talks about in "Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light Fast & High". (For those of you that don't know Mark Twight, he is the founder of Gym Jones. ) As well as input from some climbing veterans that I climb with.
Fun nights at the climbing gym have been replaced with laps with a summit pack loaded with about 15 lbs of "gear" and now boots instead of climbing shoes. As it was recently put to me:

"The goal in climbing is to avoid failure; the goal in training is to pursue failure."

Climb on.

Stuffs up and coming

Still getting over being sick and somehow hurting my ankle. Last weekend I headed to Adventure rock with Brian, Diane and Matt. Good time climbing, I FINALLY stuck a boulder problem I have been working on... wait... did I just get excited about an indoor boulder problem? WTF?

Anywho...

March will be busy. Traveling for work and Kristen Spring break. Next weekend i'm heading to the Red River George to climb and have some of that yummy Miguels pizza. The following week i'll be down in Albion and Climbing at Drapers Bluff with some folks.
Two great (Midwestern) climbing crags in 2 weeks! So lucky :)

My Effing ankle needs to fully heal! BAH!