Monday: rest
Tuesday: 5.5 mile easy run on SCT
Wednesday: climbing at PG Belmont w/ Daniela 10 climbs
Thursday: mountain biking at Monte Bello w/ Lesley and Marcus (approx. 1hr 15 min)
Friday: bouldering/climbing at PG Belmont w/ Ben 5 boulder probs/5climbs
Saturday: 5 miles easy on SCT
Sunday: yoga w/Eric at PG SV
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
:-)
Just came back from the first run in 10 days or so...
It put a smile on my face!
It was good to take a break...
It put a smile on my face!
It was good to take a break...
Monday, November 24, 2008
48 hours: From the Warfield to Yosemite and back
Last weekend started, like many weekends, with me stuck in traffic... I was not trying to leave the Bay Area, but heading to San Francisco to see In Flames play at the Warfield. The show was well worth the drive and the traffic jam! In Flames entered the stage around 10:30 after the 36crazyfists, Gojira and All That Remains finished their sets. They played a good selections fof their songs with empasis on material from their latest album 'A Sense of Purpose'. The only downside was that they didn't play 'Only for the weak' :-/
I was back at my car at 12:30 and back at my place at 1:05... Gosh my alarm would go off at 5!
Fortunately I had packed already, so I only had to throw the bags into my car and could leave at 5:30 in the morning to pick up Clint in Palo Alto. One advantage of leaving the Bay Area in the early morning is the non-existent traffic: Palo Alto - Fern Spring in Yosemite Valley: 3 hrs 20 min.
On the way we had decided to climb the Regular Route on Higher Cathedral Spire, one of the first rock climbs in Yosemite, which had its first ascent in 1934. It was also one of the first former aid climbs which were free climbed later on. From the Cathedral Rocks pullout we hiked up the tallus field to the base of the spire in a little more than an hour. After eating a bite and zipping some water I started leading the first pitch. From there on we swung leads, until I got off route on the third pitch. I was following some chalk marks up a good looking dihedral with quite a few jugs left and right, until I hit a bulge. I remembered that the topo said something about a powerful 5.9 bulge somewhere, so I gave it a few shots, but I didn't know how to climb the section. To the right was an arette and an other dihedral, so I tried to traverese over, but the rope drag got pretty bad. After a while Clint lowered me to an intermediate belay. He climbed up to my highpoint, checked out the situation and said "That's not 5.9!"
He cleaned my gear, down climbed for a bit and found the traverse around an arette to the left to the chimney... Saved!
The 'powerful 5.9 bulge' was on the fourth pitch :-)
The last two pitched led us to a beautiful summit with amazing views of the Valley and the snow covered peaks of Tuolumne. Five rapells brought us back to the base of teh climb, from where we hiked back down the gully to the car, where we arrived around 6:15. After a quick dinner at Church Bowl we found a campsite and hit the sleeping bags.
Sunday morning we woke up to another amazing day... It was pretty cold though, and I had to scratch the ice from the windshield of my car. During breakfast at Church Bowl we were able to warm up in the sun though. The plan for the day was to climb Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday. We got to the base of Serenity, around 9AM, and there was no one there! Exciting!
Clint led all the pitches, except for the first one on Sons... By the time we reached the other pitches which were within my capabilities I was so spent, and my feet were hurting so badly, that I didn't feel particularly anxious to lead more. After 8 fantasic pitches we rapelled down to the base (one 70m rope is sufficient!) from where we hiked back to the car in the Awahnee parking lot. It was Sunday evening 5:45. Exactly 36 hours after we started our trip in Palo Alto :-)
The ride back was easy and eventless...
I am glad that I was able to do these routes before the winter! Thanks Clint!
I was back at my car at 12:30 and back at my place at 1:05... Gosh my alarm would go off at 5!
Fortunately I had packed already, so I only had to throw the bags into my car and could leave at 5:30 in the morning to pick up Clint in Palo Alto. One advantage of leaving the Bay Area in the early morning is the non-existent traffic: Palo Alto - Fern Spring in Yosemite Valley: 3 hrs 20 min.
On the way we had decided to climb the Regular Route on Higher Cathedral Spire, one of the first rock climbs in Yosemite, which had its first ascent in 1934. It was also one of the first former aid climbs which were free climbed later on. From the Cathedral Rocks pullout we hiked up the tallus field to the base of the spire in a little more than an hour. After eating a bite and zipping some water I started leading the first pitch. From there on we swung leads, until I got off route on the third pitch. I was following some chalk marks up a good looking dihedral with quite a few jugs left and right, until I hit a bulge. I remembered that the topo said something about a powerful 5.9 bulge somewhere, so I gave it a few shots, but I didn't know how to climb the section. To the right was an arette and an other dihedral, so I tried to traverese over, but the rope drag got pretty bad. After a while Clint lowered me to an intermediate belay. He climbed up to my highpoint, checked out the situation and said "That's not 5.9!"
He cleaned my gear, down climbed for a bit and found the traverse around an arette to the left to the chimney... Saved!
The 'powerful 5.9 bulge' was on the fourth pitch :-)
The last two pitched led us to a beautiful summit with amazing views of the Valley and the snow covered peaks of Tuolumne. Five rapells brought us back to the base of teh climb, from where we hiked back down the gully to the car, where we arrived around 6:15. After a quick dinner at Church Bowl we found a campsite and hit the sleeping bags.
Sunday morning we woke up to another amazing day... It was pretty cold though, and I had to scratch the ice from the windshield of my car. During breakfast at Church Bowl we were able to warm up in the sun though. The plan for the day was to climb Serenity Crack and Sons of Yesterday. We got to the base of Serenity, around 9AM, and there was no one there! Exciting!
Clint led all the pitches, except for the first one on Sons... By the time we reached the other pitches which were within my capabilities I was so spent, and my feet were hurting so badly, that I didn't feel particularly anxious to lead more. After 8 fantasic pitches we rapelled down to the base (one 70m rope is sufficient!) from where we hiked back to the car in the Awahnee parking lot. It was Sunday evening 5:45. Exactly 36 hours after we started our trip in Palo Alto :-)
The ride back was easy and eventless...
I am glad that I was able to do these routes before the winter! Thanks Clint!
Plans for 2009
It's Thanksgiving week, the year is coming to an end... Time to look back, but also time to look ahead. I have accomplished quite a few of the goals I had set for myself for this year, not all of them, but given the circumstances I am quite happy with what I managed to complete.
During the year a few things came up which I want to do next year:
Running:
During the year a few things came up which I want to do next year:
Running:
- do more races (5k - half marathon)
- improve PRs
- do trail races
- run an ultra (50k)
- increase weekly mileage (and run consistently)
- Palisades Traverse
- become a more solid leader, I know this is hard to quantify...
- Mt. Whitney East Face/East Buttress
- East Buttress of El Cap
- a bigwall (Half Dome, Washington Coloumn, Leaning Tower?)
- a trip to Red Rocks
- a trip to J-Tree
- Mt. Shasta
- Mt. Lyell/Mt. Maclure
- Matterhorn Peak
- Asia, South America or Central America: I need to do international travel again! I haven't done any (besides Germany) since 4 years! I miss it!!!
- Hawaii
- Skiing in New Mexico, Colorado
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Thoughts on Marathons and Training for Running
This week I am taking a break from running, since I have a cold (sore throat, congested nose), and I have a hard time breathing. With Vegas coming up in less than three weeks, I am going to take it easy.
As I posted last week, I have a really hard time to motivate myself for the long runs. One of the reasons might be the time of the year. It's dark by 5:15PM right now, and I find it hard to get out even for shorter runs. If I should decide to train for another marathon, I will chose one earlier in the year.
Although I seem to need a break from running, and I am looking forward to a break in training between Dec. 8 and Dec. 20, I started researching other trainings plans. Up to now I used smartcoach from RunnersWorld.com, and was quite happy with it. The results were consistent when I used the training calculator on the webpage. I plugged in my 10k time, and it gave me a half marathon time, which was 7 seconds off... I think that's impressive!
However, I am not really happy with the plan for the marathon training, essentially it cut one workout and increases the mileage of the long run. Given the necessary time commitment, my motivation problems and the time of the year, this is not very satisfactory.
Earlier I had mentioned an interest in the Crossfit Endurance program. The shortm high intensity workouts seem very appealing, and actually remind me of the time I did Track and Field back in Germany. One big plus is the versatility of the program. It probably benefits my climbing as well as my running.
Further research today led me to Hal Higdon's site. He has a few programs, which look very interesting too.
It seems as if I have to do some more research, and come up with a plan for next year, before I decide on how to proceed.
P.S.: I definitely need to incorporate yoga into my regular schedule again!
As I posted last week, I have a really hard time to motivate myself for the long runs. One of the reasons might be the time of the year. It's dark by 5:15PM right now, and I find it hard to get out even for shorter runs. If I should decide to train for another marathon, I will chose one earlier in the year.
Although I seem to need a break from running, and I am looking forward to a break in training between Dec. 8 and Dec. 20, I started researching other trainings plans. Up to now I used smartcoach from RunnersWorld.com, and was quite happy with it. The results were consistent when I used the training calculator on the webpage. I plugged in my 10k time, and it gave me a half marathon time, which was 7 seconds off... I think that's impressive!
However, I am not really happy with the plan for the marathon training, essentially it cut one workout and increases the mileage of the long run. Given the necessary time commitment, my motivation problems and the time of the year, this is not very satisfactory.
Earlier I had mentioned an interest in the Crossfit Endurance program. The shortm high intensity workouts seem very appealing, and actually remind me of the time I did Track and Field back in Germany. One big plus is the versatility of the program. It probably benefits my climbing as well as my running.
Further research today led me to Hal Higdon's site. He has a few programs, which look very interesting too.
It seems as if I have to do some more research, and come up with a plan for next year, before I decide on how to proceed.
P.S.: I definitely need to incorporate yoga into my regular schedule again!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A solid week...
... of workouts:
Mon: 12 miles on SCT, Shoreline, Baylands
Tue: rest
Wed: 5.5 miles, SCT & climbing PG Belmont: 7 climbs
Thu: climbing PG Belmont: 10 climbs
Fri: 5.5 miles SCT
Sat: climbing PG San Francisco: 7 climbs (cracks)
Plus some occaisional core work & stretching.
Mon: 12 miles on SCT, Shoreline, Baylands
Tue: rest
Wed: 5.5 miles, SCT & climbing PG Belmont: 7 climbs
Thu: climbing PG Belmont: 10 climbs
Fri: 5.5 miles SCT
Sat: climbing PG San Francisco: 7 climbs (cracks)
Plus some occaisional core work & stretching.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Motivation
Why is it so hard to find motivation to go on long runs? I've really been struggling lately to get out to runs longer than 12 miles. These runs are no problem at all, but once it comes down to 15, 17 miles it becomes somewhat boring and really time consuming. Not only the longer run times, but also the recovery time afterwards increases tremendously...
I hope I can get myself to run at least 20 miles this coming weekend... Otherwise Vegas might be BAAAAD!
I hope I can get myself to run at least 20 miles this coming weekend... Otherwise Vegas might be BAAAAD!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Skiing
Ok, I am still in the preparation for the Las Vegas Marathon, but I find myself thinking about skiing more and more over the last few weeks. First there was the SF Ski & Snowboard Fest at Fort Mason last weekend (an excellent opportunity to try tons of California wines). Then the Sierras got hit by the first winter storm. Kirkwood got between 10"-24" which results in a base depth of 12"-14". Compared to the last two years this seems quite promising.
In a previous post I mentioned that I want to change my training after the marathon. I have been looking at different resources like crossfit, crossfit endurance, Gym Jones and Mountain Athlete. On the later I found some promising workouts, which could enhance my shape for the skiing season. An example would be what Rob Shaul calls a 'Leg Blaster':
20 Air Squats
10 Lunges ea leg
10 Jumping Lunges ea leg
10 Jump Squats
And this is just the warm up :-)
I am looking forward to it!
In a previous post I mentioned that I want to change my training after the marathon. I have been looking at different resources like crossfit, crossfit endurance, Gym Jones and Mountain Athlete. On the later I found some promising workouts, which could enhance my shape for the skiing season. An example would be what Rob Shaul calls a 'Leg Blaster':
20 Air Squats
10 Lunges ea leg
10 Jumping Lunges ea leg
10 Jump Squats
And this is just the warm up :-)
I am looking forward to it!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
One year of blogging!
Happy B-day to me! Well, not to me but to my blog...
So what did this year bring?
So what did this year bring?
- Lots of running: This is pretty much the only category in which I achieved the goals I set during last winter. I ran three half marathons (Las Vegas, San Fran, San Jose), one 10k (Palo Alto) and one 25k trail race (Mount Diablo). Currently I am training for my first marathon in Las Vegas in a month.
- Some climbing: Not as much as I would have liked to, and not as spectacular routes as originally planned. My life was pretty messy in spring, and I was not in a good head space climbing wise. During summer (July, August) and fall (October) work related travel made climbing trips scarce. But I still managed to get a few classic lines in. A trip in late September (East Buttress Middle Cathedral) was really promising.
- Travel: I never spent as much time on a plane as this year. Unfortunately mostly for unpleasant things.
- Food: Made quite some progress on the project of eating at every place on Castro Street in Mountain View.
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