The past week and a half I've been sticking with a rather rigorous plan of running most mornings (4x's a week), and then at night heading to the gym 4-5x's a week for weights followed by a brief climbing session. I know, it's kind of psychotic, but I'm seeing some pretty significant gains and I have a lot of energy. Another bonus...sleeping like a total rock lately. I used to get up to go pee every night, but now...I just pee in the bed. Just kidding. But seriously, I sleep through the entire night - SOLIDDD. I feel like I just sink into bed. Ah...bed.
My climbing has improved as well! I just finished my second V4 (since coming back into training), and each night I seem to make progress on problems that I've been working on. I feel confident on most 3's, which is kind of where I was before I stopped climbing. What surprises me most is that after a grueling 45 min weightlifting workout, it strangely gives me more power in my climbing. You would think I would be spent, but I think it gives me an adrenaline boost or something.
The weights have been tough. I am sore almost every night, and this is my 3rd week in. Things are amping up each week. Now the workouts are a bit longer, there's 5 of them a week, and the breaks are shorter. Most recently, the leg workout nearly killed me. It's been three days and they are STILL pretty achy. The worst part is that I just checked the schedule and realized tomorrow is ANOTHER leg day. *groan*
These One-Legged Deadlifts are kind of the worst. They look easy, and the first few definitely are, but they are deadly! I find that with deadlifts, the first ones you do are always the worst as far as soreness after. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so painful.
I think the weakest part of my body is by far my chest and triceps. My back is in decent shape from the climbing, and the legs are good from running (for the most part), but I certainly abandoned my chest and tris. Come back to me, precious muscles!
Somehow I managed to head out to Mt. Diablo on Sunday with Jon to try to run up it. I keep making the mistake of sleeping in, even though I know better. We didn't get started until 10:00am, and the sun was scorching. So much regret...
I hadn't had such an awful "run" in a long time. We were pretty much hiking up the entire thing. Jon had picked this new alternative route, thinking it would get us up there faster than our previous 16 mile summit. Well, the shorter version was technically less mileage, but wow was it steep.
We only managed to get to Eagle's Peak, a neighbor summit to Diablo. Jon and I had not prepared for that kind of heat, and each only brought about a liter of water. I was rationing mine out to make sure I didn't drink it all, so we were becoming dehydrated fast. We both were feeling not so hot, so we decided to turn back early to be on the safe side. In the last couple of miles, I found some energy and was able to do a decent jog, but most of it was a slow trudge.
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| Data stolen from Jon's Strava (his was most accurate) |
Oh! And I got myself some Hoka One One Challenger ATR's. I love my Cliftons so much, that I figured I needed to try these out since they are basically identical but with a trail tread. I can't say it was love at first run. I am used to my cloud-like Cliftons, and the Challenger's seem a bit heavier, and stiffer. I probably just need to break them in. They look great though!
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| New out of the box! |
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| one trail run later... |
Lastly, my garden has been on my mind a lot. Oh, and chickens! My four baby chicks arrive June 22nd, and we are going to build a coop this weekend. Pretty excited! On a more dark note, we are also taking a class for home butchering: fowl edition. I have to admit, I'm a little terrified, but I also feel like I want to know where my food comes from, and to fully appreciate every bit that I get. That's a whole different blog though there...
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| My monster turnip |
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| My beautiful tomatoes! |
