Hills are your friend

Distance: 3 miles
Pace: 10:14 mi/min
Elevation Gain/Loss: 245

Slow pace run with A for the first 2 miles. She was having a hard time running today but pushed through.

To that I added running down and up a 0.25 miles hill twice. I figured its time for me to embrace the hills since they are not going away.

Before the run I did 26 burpees.

Holy Saturday

Another day, another run. A and I went for 30 min this morning. Followed up by stretching. A's knee is getting better. I am still a crapy runner, but hopefully, doing it frequently will lead to some improvements.

Spring Break

Went running on the beach with A. She recently injured her knee running so we took it easy: a little over 20 minutes on the beach, followed by 10 minutes of elliptical machine indoors.

A then supervised my stretching, which was great and a lot more intense then what I usually do. It did, however, remind me a bit of violin lessons as a kid: someone hitting you with a stiff finger while saying you should be relaxing...

Five for fighting

Went with a small crew to a very crowded BKB: G, Ryan, Jess, new import Axelle, and me. Fought our way through the crowds to warmup V0-V3, then worked a bunch of 4s and 5s (2xV4, 2xV5, 2xV4). V4s felt pretty good, and the V5s are getting to the realm of reasonable projects - the ratings are still pretty much all over the place, though. Ryan is coming along well and showing no ill effects of a layoff from climbing, and Axelle was climbing well (sport climbing prowess generalizes well).

Good evening out, need to make it back more regularly. Need to finally go get some new shoes, as I'm pretty sure I had my big toe directly on plastic the last few routes.

30 minutes run... not.

T - 5min
G: so what's the target?
A: I don't know, we'll see.
G: That doesn't work, if we go without a target, you'll stop after 15 minutes.
A: I don't know!
G: You say you've been training, pick a goal: 30 minutes?
...

T - 1min
G: So? 30 min?
A: maybe. OK, I guess.
G: (Arrrgh)

First beach run in Florida. Ariane's pace is better than it used to, and she's not as winded. But after 15 minutes:

A: Let's walk.
G: (crap)

Then running for 4, walking for 1 until 30.

Not my kind of run, but it nonetheless got me exhausted. The heat really adds something.

In case you have missed it, Sharma sent his project. See below (check the pressure on the finger when he does the drop-knee with the 2 finger pocket for the right hand and the mono on the left hand).

Petit train va loin

Today started on the rock rings with the following:

1. 5 pullups (jugs)
2. 10 secs L-hangs + 20 secs dead-hangs (large edge)
3. 10 pullups (medium edge)
4. 30 secs asym. dead-hangs (jugs + 3 finger pocket) - 15 on each side
5. 10 asym. pullups (large edge + medium edge)
6. 15 secs L-hangs (large edge) + 15 secs dead-hangs (medium edge)
7. 10 pullups (jugs)
8. 30 secs hangs (but can't remember what)
9. 6 asym. pullups (jugs + 3 finger pocket)
10. 5 pullups + dead-hangs until failure (jugs)

It was approximately 1 set a minute. Failure came quickly at the end (about 10 secs).

Then we went for our usual run to which we added a 2 min detour. Took about 23 to 24 min today. Ariane was trying her brand new pair of Mizunos wave rider 13 and although they felt good, she had a tough time from the start.

Decrepitude

Unlike K who seems to be getting back into shape, I seem to be in a downward spiral.

Today I tried to do the Metolius suggested 10 minutes sequence for the rock rings (see http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/pdf/Training_Board_Brochure.pdf). I substituted the medium edge for the 3 fingers pocket (in which I can only fit 2 fingers), the large edge for the medium edge, and when it suggested the large edge I used either the large or jug. I thought it was very good. Felt it more in the fingers than the biceps, which I guess is what you want. The L hangs were horrible, I can't keep my legs straight.

I then wanted to follow it up with a 5-10-15-20-25-25-20-15-10-5 sequence of pushups (one set every minute). On the second set of 25 I collapsed after 16. Then I tried the next set and fell to the ground before finishing the 1st... depressing.

It was followed by the same slow paced run as the other day with Ariane. This time it took less than 20 minutes. The run is very nice, it follows a very quiet road in the forest and then between corn fields. It finishes with a very steep hill, and we stop when we can't take it anymore. I think next time we'll have to make it a bit longer.

Country training

This morning I attached my rock rings to the swing set of the kids. It was the first time I tried them out. Slowly did 10 to 15 minutes of work on them. Pull-ups, asymmetric pull-ups, dead hangs, asymmetric dead hangs. Tried to use everything, the small pockets and the jugs. Quickly burnt-out my forearms...

Then went for a slow run with Ariane. A little over 20 minutes.

Not a killer workout, but better than nothing.

Running for poutine

I went running for 20 minutes with Ariane. First exercise since my Stanford visit. Again we went at a slow pace, but this time on a slightly hilly path, which made it a bit more of an exercise. Unlike last time, I had skipped breakfast and I think that is why I felt much better. Ariane changed her plans to go for that run because she said the poutine we had a few days ago in Quebec was still stuck somewhere! Great poutine (don't take my word for it) with a hot-dog Quebec style: toasted with relish, mustard, and cabbage. The place is called L'ami du passant (loosely translated: "the friend of the passer by"), we discovered it last year going through Farnham (population: 7809).

Both the run and the poutine were great!