Feeling Better:

I think I am well on my road to recovery. Yesterday I did 45 minutes of cardio on the incline followed by about 1 and a half hours climbing. Another few days and I should be good as new.

I got my Mountain Hardware jacket from REI last night. Oh this thing is sweet. This morning it was 1 degree when I was waiting on the train platform for the train and I had on this jacket and a sweatshirt. My torso was tosty, my legs on the other hand......felt like icicles due to only have Khakis on. The GPS mount for my Mountain Bike i'm sad to say did not fit, even though REI and Garmin both had it listed that it would. Do'h :(

Zero.5 Day:

Today I woke up, still feeling like crap. But I decided...what the hell...I'll go running. About half a mile in to the run, I realized that I had made a mistake. I should have stayed in bed and got an extra 45 minutes of sleep. Lesson learned.

The day was spent at work taking Dayquil to help my sniffles and general yuckness. This evening Kristen and I were going to go climb. She had wanted to, I still felt a bit crappy but I went to see if I could get a few climbs in and to belay her if she needed it. Apparently there was some class going on and they don't want other people near the wall while there is a class going on. Why....ya got me....

When I got home I took the pups for a walk. They had fun in the snow. Scout did very good. she didn't hop on one foot the whole 3/4 a mile we were out! With all the snow coming down I skipped my run and opted for a good number of push-ups and sit-ups.

Bottom line, I'm hoping to fell above 95% tomorrow.

The Zero Day:

The last zero day I took was Christmas day. Today I woke up after snowboard all day yesterday and then partying with my wife's co-workers when I got back. Basically...I was up from 4AM till 1AM. Needless to say...I was tired and all on only 2 cups of coffee. (Combine with a good amount of Bailey's) But this morning I woke up with a slight fever and a very very sore, scrachy, dry throat. I think it's my body's way of telling me, take a break. It's later in the day and i'm still not feel 100%. Off to nap.

Owwwwwwwwwwwwww

I had my second meeting with my trainer last night. Needless to say...she kicked my butt. It's not that the sets and weights she had me do where hard. She worked mussels that never really get used. But I learned how to do a number of new workouts most lifting and ab work. Needless to say I slept like a rock though, Only Scout was persistent enough to wake me up at about 4 to be let out so she could poop and I got up at 5 and went running. I took it very very very easy this morning. Ran 1.57 miles in about 16 minutes. Yuck on the time, but i'm happy I managed to go run, Party on!


28 more to go................

Farking nuts and farking cold.

It was 7 degrees when I got up this morning, what did I do? I went running, I only did about 1.5 miles but it was a bitting 12 minutes of hard running. I have no clue what the wind chill factor was, but I would put it close to 0. Even colder when I would get to the open areas of no houses, just frozen wetlands the county calls a "Forest Preserves". We have a few of those around us, they are a good thing, don't get me wrong they prevent companies like Cambridge homes building shitty houses there.

So what to do tonight.... I would like to try and fit in an hour or so of climbing at Mt. Libertyville, but I have my second meeting with my trainer. Which, I am really looking forward to. I am hoping on learning a new exercises that I can incorporate in to my routine.

Climbing goal reached: Tuesday I climbed the right side of the front face of Mt. Libertyville to the roof, naturals only!

Next goal: Get the last 10 feet to the top.

New goals and gear.

Goals:
This morning I decided to go for 2.25 miles without breaking to walk for 60 breaths. With a time of 20:14 I did it. At the 18 minute mark I was about to walk until I saw the stop sign meaning I had finished the loop around the lake/pond thing. I picked up the pace in attempts to finish under 20:00, so I just made it. But tomorrow I am going to try for a little further. using google earth I have different routes picked out till I can get up to 3 miles. 3 miles in 25 minutes is my goal. Which I think will put me around a good shot to go for a 5K race in the spring.


Gear:
The last few weeks I have been hunting for a new jacket, something warm, windproof, and not bulky at all, i.e. something I could perhaps go ice climbing in. After checking around at a few different websites I managed to find this little puppy from Mountain Hardware. Should be coming in the mail in the next few days, we'll see how it fits. Along with it I ordered a handle bar mount for my Garmin GPS, which will be fun as soon as my Bike gets out of the shop.

Weekend Report:

Saturday morning started off with a 1.5 mile mile run at a fairly easy pace just to wake up. The afternoon and evening was spent climbing at Vertical Endeavors and out for dinner and drinks with Kristen, Reese and Dave. Climbing for 5 hours was something different. I can comfortable climb an indoor 5.9 now, which makes me happy. They opened up a few new routes on "The Thumb" (5.10a and 5.10c, which were a blast to climb even though I only got about half way) to Top roping that had only previously been Lead Only. (Still can't Lead, but i'm working steadily up to it!) those were some fun routes i'm hoping they remain this way for the next time i'm down at VE. With 2 or so more months of winter, chances are good i'll be back down that way before spring kicks in.

We also made a quick trip to REI, just to pick up the basics, more chalk, latest issue of Rock & Ice, I tried on new rock shoes, but because of my Hobbit feet, it's hard to fit in to most shoes. I also now fit it to some Parna cloths, however, as the girls were so kind to point out...a shirt that $50.00 on sale.....not worth it :). Also made as stop by a local sports shop to pick up Burton Snowboarding mittens.

Sunday was spent snowboarding, I missed last season due to mostly the midwests' knack for crappy unsure winters, but I have a feeling i'll be able to get a few more days in this year from the looks of it and who knows...maybe a trip out west!

Mile high running:

I have a had a lot going on the last few days and haven't really had time to blog. So I'll just toss everything in to this one post. Just a note: this post will go every which way, i.e. very ADD like.

This new work out schedule I developed it proving to work well. I did have a break in it because of my recent trip to Denver, which I didn't go climbing or snowboarding (sad I know). I did get to check out the REI there. Wow.... what a store, however I had no such luck finding a jacket for Kristen or new mittens for me. I have been on the hunt for new ones ever since my puppy ate them. Those we the best mittens ever. I got them for 20$ at some sidewalk sale back in 97 while snowboarding in Utah. I miss them :( Turns out I also need new pants and jacket because they are way to baggy on me. Which makes me officially the smallest size I have been since Freshman year of high school.

Running: My running is showing improvement. I'm able to run longer distances in shorter amount of time, but I still feel I have a long way to go. I have also taken an interest into trail running, which is something additionally to work for. While in Denver I did some running. (inside because I didn't pack my Under Armor) I was able to run about two miles no real problems. I did notice some difference due to elevation. Next time I think i'd like to head higher in to the mountains and try some running, Snowboarding first though.

Climbing: I have been focusing on climbing naturals at the gym, while still not the same as outdoor it's closer to outdoor climbing then those fancy yellow green and red holds :)
I have also been pushing myself to climb hard and hard routes getting the motivation from my climbing partners. 2 more months........till outdoor around these parts :)

What the...........

So I was at the climbing gym today which is located in a bigger gym/sports complex. Over winter break they decided to add a Dunkin' Donuts. Who the heck puts a Dunkin' Donuts at sports complex... why not just add a pizza place and a fried chicken place.
That's my rant for the week.

I decided to get my mountain bike out of moth balls today. it's not a bad bike, but the poor thing was neglected for a few years and needed some work. I took it down to the local bike shop and it's getting an tune up. So now I just need to track down a pair of biking shoes (I use Shimano clips) I'm sure I have no chance of tracking down my old pair.

Now for a relaxing afternoon and evening of movies, dinner and wine.

The Next Frontier: The Gym

So I joined Fitness 19 last night so that I can go workout with Kristen. I also got two free private training session. Which I am looking forward too. The gym was for sure a different work out then running outdoors and going climbing. I started on an incline elliptical doing a 30 minute program with the resistance set to 11 and the incline set to 8. I love the arbitrary numbers they assign....just makes me think of...it goes up to 11!

Maybe i'll ask my trainer what they mean. After the 3 miles of virtual uphill semi-running I did weights. worked on forearms and hands. Kristen showed me a number of exercise that one can do with a medicine ball and she only hit me in the face once with it! And to top it all off...I did one pull up...one freaking pull up!

This morning I decided not to go for distance, but I ended up going farther then I had planned. I tried to go for time, not distance.

Clean!

Saturday Kristen and I picked up our Christmas present to ourselves. a brand spanking new Dyson DC17 Animal. This thing rocks! I spend Saturday night vacuuming the house. I swear by the time I was done I swear the carpets looked brighter! If you have pets and carpeting...this is seriously what you need. Though I gotta say....I think the "wand" looks more like a light saber.

Sunday morning was spending running. I finally made it back to my pre-holiday mile time of about 8 minutes. With also the start of the new year I have also planed to modify my workout routine because I have decided to join the local fitness center.

Monday - AM: Run PM: Gym
Tuesday - AM: Run PM: Climbing
Wednesday- AM: Run PM: Gym
Thursday - AM: Run PM: Climbing
Friday -AM: Run PM: Running or Drinking.....
Saturday - AM: Run/Climb
Saturday - AM: Interval Run / Climb?

Only a slightly modified version of what I had before.

Also, just a note to the jack ass in the BMW that almost ran me over this morning... STOP signs are there for a reason as are speed limits. You are not the only one who is up at 5:00 AM. And if you can't see the big guy running in the blue reflective top under the street light, try more coffee or more sleep. Ass hat.....

With that said. Happy Day All!

2007 : Getting back in to the swing of things.

Where Oh where did 2006 go? New Year, new goals, new things, new people etc etc.....
I spent the last few days hanging around the house, shopping, running and climbing. With a few days of work thrown in the mix. So now it's basically getting back in to the swing, the next holiday is in May. 5 Months seams like a hell of a long time to wait for the next day off. Guess that's why they made personal days and vacation days. :)

Last night Scout and I went on a walk. She is still having leg problems and the vet said that all she can do at this point is have us keep her from not running or jumping or playing fetch. You try that with a 1 year old Lab. Not bloody likey! But we can take her on short walks. So Scouter and I walked around back behind the community college and veered off train a bit and came to a creek. I tossed a few stones in there to make a foot path for me where scout just jumped in. At this point it was getting dark and I decided to head home.

Running was good this morning. I improved my time by about 30 seconds, but didn't help that when I started my run, my OCD kicked in and I though I forgot to close the garage door which made me run back a bit to make sure I did. (Stupid OCD...one day....I swear i'll beet you)