Just catching up

Catching up from last time: I was dumb again too soon. My calf didn't hurt at all for a couple days, total time was about a week. Tried running a mile. Felt good during the run, but the next day not so much.

I bought a few ace bandages to wrap my calf when I have been going hiking.

Did one hike with family, and one with Blayla.



With running not being an option I have started biking again.

First couple of rides were ~9-10 miles, but on Saturday I turned 31, and biked 30.89 miles... I really tried to get to end at my apartment at 31 miles, but I misjudged and got off the bike to check the final distance. I walked around my parking lot to get the last tenth of a mile.

Took ~2.5 hours to finish, taking the rail trail from the apartment to Hopewell Junction and back.

I was talking to myself when I got the half way point thinking how good I felt, even with the ride there not going super great.

The ride back was really tough. I was able to keep moving, but wow, that was hard. Any time that I had to go up and incline, or slow for people/cars, I really had to dig deep to get going.




Did frolf on Sunday with Bland and Alex. I ended up winning but also threw my worst game at Schenectady.

Made this though!

I'll keep filling it out as I get more results, I asked Bland and Alex to send me their scores also.

Don't be dumb

Tweaked my achilles running on the rail trail a few days ago.

I didn't think it was that bad and ran again the next day. I wasn't able to run all the way back because it started hurting too much.

The next day my calf was on fire :/



Making a small injury worse feels so bad.

I've been going for short walks to try and warm it up each day, but other than that I have been elevating and trying to stay off my feet as much as possible.

It's been ~5 days since I made it worse, and it is almost gone completely. Still going to wait a few days to make sure that it is fully healed before trying it out again. There is no need to re-aggravate it just before summer hits.



On the bright side my 3 mile pace is(was) under 9min/mile now :)

I'll get it back

Aaaaand...

It snowed yesterday... :/

Welp

The gym is closed

I guess I need to find another outlet...



Thank goodness it's getting warmer outside and running is an option

PR for the season: 4.5 miles - ~40 minutes

Always Improving

New week, new climbs

Submitted scores for this week:
New v4 (15) - green pinchy
New v4 (15) - pink crimpy
New v5 (20) - yellow traverse
Old v5 (15) - black triangle slopers
Old v5 (15) - blue traverse

Total points: 80 points (hot damn)

That's one fine week of climbing.

The green v4 was being a boogie-man for me for the first few days of climbing this week, but all you have to do to defeat the crux is just grab the shit out of the top and pull. It's right near the top of the wall so it was fairly terrifying to pull on.

At one point, I was pulling on the top and was able to get my feet up. At this point I pushed through my legs using my hands as a point to rotate about. My hands ended up slipping and I shot off the wall landing ~5 feet away from the wall on my back. Thankfully it didn't hurt at all and I learned exactly how to finish the problem. Ended up crushing it on my next attempt.

This wasn't the first time that I fell from the top onto my back. I believe due to these type of falls, my fear of falling has been dwindling pretty quickly. I'm getting better about just going for it when I'm getting near the top. That voice in the back of my head that was telling me to be careful and get down is starting to lessen and lessen as I get over the fear.

That voice gets dangerous at the top, standing and finishing the climb is generally the safer option, with climbing down instead of jumping from ~10ft up.




Only offered unsolicited advice once (I think). Asked if someone wanted advice once also.

Slow improvement is still improvement.




COVID-19 is throwing the world into a frenzy currently. It is currently unclear whether or not the climbing gym is going to stay open. There was a decree from the governor today that all gyms will close their doors from today until further notice.

I also learned today that my surgery that was scheduled for Thursday (today is Monday) was also cancelled due to the outbreak.




I went to the hospital today to get blood work run for the surgery. My anxiety was running super high, but I was getting OK with the idea that I was going to be put under again. It's still scary but it was getting super real.

Later in the day I get the phone call that the hospital I was at was going to cancel and push off everything for 6 weeks, but I can switch hospitals and get back in 2 weeks.  I chose the two weeks with the switch.

Now I have to live with the anxiety for another two weeks...




I'm having a super hard time being OK with everything that is going on in my world right now. I know the steps that I need to take, but it doesn't make moving my feet any easier. The best I can do right now is try to stay distracted.

It's not working



Don't stop

There is Bad with the Good

Good climbing day. I hit 3 v5s and 2 v4 for my scorecard.

Ended up needing two tries to get the blue v5 from last post. Felt strong going through it, but needed to figure out the feet for the beginning to nail it.

Week 2 score - 2 v4, 3 v5 - (65 points). Improvement



Finally hit a green v4 that had been my boogie man for the past month. I was always able to get to the last hold, but the last hand and foot never felt good enough to trust at the top of the wall.

I have been working to try and gain the courage/confidence/whatever you want to call it to just send at the top of the wall. It is just not easy to do without thinking about it right now. The delay between getting to the top hold and willing myself to reach the top of the wall is shrinking significantly.



Still felt strong, although my neck was doing this kind of awful clicking thing. Stretching and massage has been able to get rid of it before, so I am expecting it will go away again soon.



I keep offering advice before it's asked for.

I have noticed myself doing it only after the fact.

I have noticed that it has annoyed more than one person.



There are a few things about me and my personality that I want to change, this is very much so towards the top of that list.



Improvements don't only have to be physical. Balance is everything


Can't stop. Won't stop.

Climbing

I'm doing a rock climbing league with some work people. I've been climbing for longer than all of them, but they are so much better than me anyways. Feels pretty bad, but it is definitely motivation to try harder and push myself to do harder climbs.

Going into the league I expected myself to be a v3 handicapped climber, but the week before league was starting I sent multiple v4's. This put me in kind of an awkward position, since it was possible that I would have only v4 and up on my first week of climbs, putting me above a v3 handicap.

Well first week happened and I sent 4 v4 and 1 v5 giving my team 60 (10 per v4, 15 per v5, +5 points for a climb put up that week) points.

Feels pretty good

I was able to project another 2 v5s since then, so this week I should have at minimum 3 v5s

This was also the first time that I actually projected a climb. I broke it down into different sections and attempted each move until I was able to get them comfortably. Once I was able to get them all I began stitching them together until I got the full climb in one shot.

Boy, was that rewarding to send (blue v5 super balancey with a few power moves, mantle into the wall, lean down onto crimp, push up into mantle to final hold)

I'm pretty amped that I've been able to push and advance pretty quickly after getting over some hump. It was not long ago that I remember v3s being mostly impossible, and v4s were just a dream.

It's a 6 week league so there is still a lot of time to improve and get more points.

Week 1 - 4 v4 (+5), 1 v5 - 60points

Videos? (maybe)