Woooohhhhaaaa...
California totally wimped me out...
I am back in Germany, being whipped by the weather. It's nice and sunny, but it's also COLD.
Highs of -2C (28F, go metric already!) are way too cold! It means I have to run on the treadmill,
and exclusively have to climb/boulder in the gym. This is really unfortunate, since I dug out a climbing guide to the area where I used to live and there's plenty of nice stuff to be climbed.
Too bad I wasn't into climbing as much, when I still lived here! Well, it's a reason to come back in spring/summer :-)
Despite the cold here I am looking forward to get back to the Sierras after the snowfall last week.
Hopefully it lasts longer than last year!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Plans for 2008
Here's a compilation of things I'd like to do in 2008:
Running
Backpacking through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is on the list as well as the crazy idea Lesley came up with: R2R2R: Rim-to-Rim-to Rim in the Grand Canyon, preferably in under 24 hours...
Getting a road bike and practice for a triathlon would be fun too!
Well, I'd also like to eat in every restaurant on Castro in MV :-)
Running
run Kaiser Permanente 1/2 marathonrun a 10k (signed up! Sep. 12)run San Jose Rock 'n' Roll 1/2full marathon late in the year
- Braille Book
EB of Middle Cathedral- EB of El Cap
Sons/Awahnee Buttress/Serenity- South Face of Washington Coloumn
- RNW of Half Dome
- Royal Arches - Crest Jewel
Regular on Higher Spire
West Crack on Daff- Blown Away
- Seconds to Darkness
Regular on Fairview- Aqua Knobby
Shagadellic- West Ridge of Conness
- Phobos
- Deimos
- East Buttress of Whitney
- East Face of Whitney
- Mountaineers Route
- Crimson Chrysalis
- Epinephrine
- More J-Tree stuff
- Mt. Shasta
- Matterhorn Peak
- Mt. Lyell & Mt. Maclure
- Mt. Hood
Backpacking through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is on the list as well as the crazy idea Lesley came up with: R2R2R: Rim-to-Rim-to Rim in the Grand Canyon, preferably in under 24 hours...
Getting a road bike and practice for a triathlon would be fun too!
Well, I'd also like to eat in every restaurant on Castro in MV :-)
Pinnacles
The hiatus ending weekend continued on Sunday with a climbing trip to the Pinnacles with Ben.
We left the Bay Area around 7 and parked the car at the trailhead at 8:45am. In the car we had decided to climb at the Monolith, in the area around the reservoir and on Discovery wall.
Our first goal was the Monolith. Ben started up the Direct route on the East Face. It's an easy route, where the interesting part are the first moves towards the first bolt, since one has to step off a boulder on to the wall and face immediate exposure...What didn't help was that the rock was still really cold, so that our hands started to hurt after a short while.
After that we swung leads on the Regular route on the Monolith. The temps had increased, so it was a very nice climb. After rapelling off we packed up our gear and hiked over to the reservoir, where I led the Central route on the First Sister. A fun, easy route to awesome views...Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera on this one, otherwise I would have gotten an amazing shot of Ben eating an apple while following up the climb :-)
We continues exploring the area by heading to Gertie's Pinnacle (Yes! The new guide book by Brad Young pays off!). There we did three routes...First Ben led the 10a, before I led the 5.7 and the 5.8. Those climbs gave me some confidence, and I hope that my 'lead head' gets better!
To end the day we headed over to the Discovery Wall, where Ben led Wet Kiss.
It was an awesome day, where we climbed seven new (for us) routes.
We left the Bay Area around 7 and parked the car at the trailhead at 8:45am. In the car we had decided to climb at the Monolith, in the area around the reservoir and on Discovery wall.
Our first goal was the Monolith. Ben started up the Direct route on the East Face. It's an easy route, where the interesting part are the first moves towards the first bolt, since one has to step off a boulder on to the wall and face immediate exposure...What didn't help was that the rock was still really cold, so that our hands started to hurt after a short while.
After that we swung leads on the Regular route on the Monolith. The temps had increased, so it was a very nice climb. After rapelling off we packed up our gear and hiked over to the reservoir, where I led the Central route on the First Sister. A fun, easy route to awesome views...Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera on this one, otherwise I would have gotten an amazing shot of Ben eating an apple while following up the climb :-)
We continues exploring the area by heading to Gertie's Pinnacle (Yes! The new guide book by Brad Young pays off!). There we did three routes...First Ben led the 10a, before I led the 5.7 and the 5.8. Those climbs gave me some confidence, and I hope that my 'lead head' gets better!
To end the day we headed over to the Discovery Wall, where Ben led Wet Kiss.
It was an awesome day, where we climbed seven new (for us) routes.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
End of the hiatus
This weekend my hiatus of two weeks after the 1/2 marathon ended!
During the last couple of weeks I had to take care of a lot of different stuff, so that my physical activities were reduced to bouldering at the gym twice. Taking a "break" felt actually pretty good...Getting out on Friday felt even better :-)
Friday afternoon I took my mountain bike up to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve for an hour long ride. I have to check the stats of the ride... I can't even remember which trails I took.
Since this was the first time on my bike since mid-September, I felt a little rusty. That didn't keep me from hitting the climbing gym later that evening. Despite being tired from the ride I had a good couple of hours climbing with Dan. I am making progress on the 5.11c... only one hang this time.
Saturday afternoon I went for the first run after Las Vegas... And, Dang! Did it feel good. Only then did I realize how much I missed running. But also here the break was helpful. I ran approx. 5 miles on the SCT in just under 40 minutes. It would be great if I could keep that up for the 1/2 in San Francisco in February!
During the last couple of weeks I had to take care of a lot of different stuff, so that my physical activities were reduced to bouldering at the gym twice. Taking a "break" felt actually pretty good...Getting out on Friday felt even better :-)
Friday afternoon I took my mountain bike up to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve for an hour long ride. I have to check the stats of the ride... I can't even remember which trails I took.
Since this was the first time on my bike since mid-September, I felt a little rusty. That didn't keep me from hitting the climbing gym later that evening. Despite being tired from the ride I had a good couple of hours climbing with Dan. I am making progress on the 5.11c... only one hang this time.
Saturday afternoon I went for the first run after Las Vegas... And, Dang! Did it feel good. Only then did I realize how much I missed running. But also here the break was helpful. I ran approx. 5 miles on the SCT in just under 40 minutes. It would be great if I could keep that up for the 1/2 in San Francisco in February!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
PRs
Having finished my first race in over ten years, and having added a new distance to my repertoire, I think I need to keep track of my PRs.
So here we go:
100m: 11,22s (May '96)
200m: 22, 44s (Oct '96)
400m: 51, 86s
1500m: 4:55min (Jun '96)
10km: 45:22 (Nov '09)
1/2 marathon: 1:44,45h (Oct '08)
marathon: 3:48,40 (Dec '09)
So here we go:
100m: 11,22s (May '96)
200m: 22, 44s (Oct '96)
400m: 51, 86s
1500m: 4:55min (Jun '96)
10km: 45:22 (Nov '09)
1/2 marathon: 1:44,45h (Oct '08)
marathon: 3:48,40 (Dec '09)
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon
Wow! I did not expect that a race could touch me that much as my first half marathon did...
Crossing the finish line was quite exciting! But let's start at the beginning:
The start of the race was at 6:07am. Horrible!!! I usually run in the evenings and do not do well in the mornings...and 6am is not even a morning, it's the middle of the night, since it meant I would have to get up at 4:15. Now that is not that unusual, taking into account that I've done that on plenty of climbing trips. But still, this was something different!
Surprisingly enough, getting up was not that hard at all...The anticipation of my first race in over ten years definitely helped :-)
After having a banana and a coffee we headed to the lobby to find our way to the starting line, which we did not scout before...not that it would have been a problem, following about 2000 other runners...It was quite interesting to see the mixture of people in the hotels at 5am. On the one hand the runners anxious to get to the race, on the other hand the Vegas party/gambling folks heading back to their rooms. The vibes form the runners were incredible though...Everyone was psyched, looking forward to a fun event.
We made it to the starting line at about 5:45, just in time for the start of the women's elite group...We had to hover around for another 20 minutes before we were sent of as well...
Then the race itself: My plan was to start out easy, since my legs were not that happy with me on my last training run, when I started out pretty hard, and of course I had never run more than 10k...Well, starting easy was no problem at all, since it was so crowded, that it was pretty hard to go fast :-)
At mile two the field had spread out enough that I could find my own rhythm without having to think about other runners too much.
The best part of the race was definitely between miles 5 and 8, were I had a hard time getting the smile off my face. Everything was perfect...The tunes the shuffle function of my ipod threw at me, the sunrise, the run, the people cheering from the sidewalk...everything was flowing!
Then I ran past a mile marker, and a few minutes later I had forgotten if it was mile 9 or 10...
That was a little weird...of course it was mile 9...Anyway, I still felt well...until mile 12. Up to now I had the feeling that I was passing more people than people were passing me...but at mile 12 it hit me...I felt as if I was going backwards...My left calf and my right hamstring were tightening up, I was getting hot, and I just wanted it to be over...and soon enough it was over...
crossing the finish line I got the chills! An amazing feeling... To top it off, I had achieved my original goal of going below 2 hours, despite not having run too much in the last weeks...
Walking out of the finishing zone towards the hotel runners were handed all kinds of foods, which I happily munched on...really good!
Can't wait for the next race! Probably another 1/2 in SF in February...
Crossing the finish line was quite exciting! But let's start at the beginning:
The start of the race was at 6:07am. Horrible!!! I usually run in the evenings and do not do well in the mornings...and 6am is not even a morning, it's the middle of the night, since it meant I would have to get up at 4:15. Now that is not that unusual, taking into account that I've done that on plenty of climbing trips. But still, this was something different!
Surprisingly enough, getting up was not that hard at all...The anticipation of my first race in over ten years definitely helped :-)
After having a banana and a coffee we headed to the lobby to find our way to the starting line, which we did not scout before...not that it would have been a problem, following about 2000 other runners...It was quite interesting to see the mixture of people in the hotels at 5am. On the one hand the runners anxious to get to the race, on the other hand the Vegas party/gambling folks heading back to their rooms. The vibes form the runners were incredible though...Everyone was psyched, looking forward to a fun event.
We made it to the starting line at about 5:45, just in time for the start of the women's elite group...We had to hover around for another 20 minutes before we were sent of as well...
Then the race itself: My plan was to start out easy, since my legs were not that happy with me on my last training run, when I started out pretty hard, and of course I had never run more than 10k...Well, starting easy was no problem at all, since it was so crowded, that it was pretty hard to go fast :-)
At mile two the field had spread out enough that I could find my own rhythm without having to think about other runners too much.
The best part of the race was definitely between miles 5 and 8, were I had a hard time getting the smile off my face. Everything was perfect...The tunes the shuffle function of my ipod threw at me, the sunrise, the run, the people cheering from the sidewalk...everything was flowing!
Then I ran past a mile marker, and a few minutes later I had forgotten if it was mile 9 or 10...
That was a little weird...of course it was mile 9...Anyway, I still felt well...until mile 12. Up to now I had the feeling that I was passing more people than people were passing me...but at mile 12 it hit me...I felt as if I was going backwards...My left calf and my right hamstring were tightening up, I was getting hot, and I just wanted it to be over...and soon enough it was over...
crossing the finish line I got the chills! An amazing feeling... To top it off, I had achieved my original goal of going below 2 hours, despite not having run too much in the last weeks...
Walking out of the finishing zone towards the hotel runners were handed all kinds of foods, which I happily munched on...really good!
Can't wait for the next race! Probably another 1/2 in SF in February...
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Red Rock Canyon
What is the thing with me and Las Vegas?
The last time I was here, in February, it snowed in Red Rock Canyon, so that my climbing trip was cut short. This time around I wake up Friday morning after arriving the previous night, look out the window and see a downpour! On top of that it was freezing cold...not the best perspectives for the race on Sunday.
After spending most, actually all of Friday, in the hotel (earning $10 for a survey of NBC trailers, and $125 in dining coupons for listening to a timeshare sales guy for an hour) Lesley and I headed out for a hike to Red Rock Canyon on Saturday.
The weather was gorgeous, pretty windy, but sunny. We did the Calico Tank trail. A moderate out-and-back trail of approximately 2.5 miles. It was just the right distance to get our legs moving, but not tiring us out before the half marathon the next day.
The path led from the parking lot through a wash to a narrow canyon. We followed the canyon to a pool of pretty fridgid looking water. Continuing past the pool we reached a nice vista point overlooking the plains all the way back to the Strip. It's quite amazing how remote the canyon feels although Las Vegas is a mere 30 minutes away.
The goodie package for suffering through the timeshare sales pitch also included tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel. Seeing all those fish, turtles, corrals, etc. made me want to go diving again... I haven't been since the Advanced Open Water certification class last winter...Need to go! Anyone up for it?
The last time I was here, in February, it snowed in Red Rock Canyon, so that my climbing trip was cut short. This time around I wake up Friday morning after arriving the previous night, look out the window and see a downpour! On top of that it was freezing cold...not the best perspectives for the race on Sunday.
After spending most, actually all of Friday, in the hotel (earning $10 for a survey of NBC trailers, and $125 in dining coupons for listening to a timeshare sales guy for an hour) Lesley and I headed out for a hike to Red Rock Canyon on Saturday.
The weather was gorgeous, pretty windy, but sunny. We did the Calico Tank trail. A moderate out-and-back trail of approximately 2.5 miles. It was just the right distance to get our legs moving, but not tiring us out before the half marathon the next day.
The path led from the parking lot through a wash to a narrow canyon. We followed the canyon to a pool of pretty fridgid looking water. Continuing past the pool we reached a nice vista point overlooking the plains all the way back to the Strip. It's quite amazing how remote the canyon feels although Las Vegas is a mere 30 minutes away.The goodie package for suffering through the timeshare sales pitch also included tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel. Seeing all those fish, turtles, corrals, etc. made me want to go diving again... I haven't been since the Advanced Open Water certification class last winter...Need to go! Anyone up for it?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)