San Francisco In Flames! ehhhh... The other way around...

Ugh, I am really behind on my blog posts...
That's what excitement at work, increased running mileage, culinary adventures with the farm box, etc. do. Let's see... What's on the list to write about? My report of the Matterhorn Peak trip, a day trip to Tuolumne with Dan, report for the Regular Route of Fairview with Clement, trip report to Temple Crag and White Mountain. So, yes, I have not been slacking, I just haven't found the time to write something up. Well, I guess I could start with last night's 'Urban Adventure'.

I saw In Flames at the Regency Ballroom in San Fran... a truly awesome show!
The first opening act, The Faceless, was rather un-impressive, but the second band on the bill '3 Inches of Blood' was a lot of fun. These guys just seem to have fun on stage, and don't seem to take themselves to seriously. A excerpt form their webpage:
" There's a reason fans have come to their shows wearing Viking helmets and brandishing both real and plastic swords. Born out of a love for pure metal, weaned on a diet of fantasy and mythology, 3 Inches of Blood have been slaying the infidel and defending the faith for nearly eight years."
This attitude goes well with a sound that reminds me of Judas Priest on speed, or the first Exodus album.
Between the Buried and Me, is an interesting case... great in their instrumental parts, but horrific once the dude starts 'grawling'. Also the blast parts don't really go well with the otherwise atmospheric, Dream Theater-like parts. Today I realized that I saw them before opening a show for Children of Bodom last year. Well... not very memorable I guess...
The headliner In Flames blew everything away though! Their 90 minute set had a good mixture of old material and songs from their last album 'A Sense of Purpose' (one of my favorites-powered my ascent of Mt. Shasta in June).
The setlist:

1. Cloud Connected
2. Embody The Invisible
3. Pinball Map
4. Delight & Angers
5. Disconnected
6. Square Nothing
7. The Hive
8. Drifter
9. Clayman
10. Come Clarity
11. Leeches
12. Alias
13. The Mirror's Truth
14. The Quiet Place
15. Take This Life
16. My Sweet Shadow

Fall races

After getting over the ankle sprain I suffered in March, I've been running regularly again. My weekly mileage is around 30 miles at the moment. In my point of view this is a good time to sign up for some races to help with the motivation. The first race will be the Palo Alto Moonlight Run on October 2, were I'll do the 10K, the second will be the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento on December 6. This will be my second 10k and marathon respectively. Comparing logs from last year to this year I think that both races should be successfull.

101 things in 1001 days

Instead of new years resolutions I made a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days.

I wrote most of it down on Jan 3.
Just figured out that the end date is Oct. 1 2011.

I've aready taken care of a good chunk though :-)

Guest Post: Dan's view of the Matterhorn Peak trip

Ugh... I am lacking behind on posting again!
Until I whip up a report of the trip to Matterhorn Peak, Daniela and I made a few weeks ago here's Dan's report!

Thanks Dan!

July 27 2009

Matterhorn Peak – North Arete

Friday evening, Bjorn and I did the usual rush hour crawl out of the bay area and arrived at a campground just off of Twin Lakes Rd in Bridgeport just about midnight.

Before 6am, we hopped in the car for a short drive to the Twin Lakes trailhead. Our trek started out at 615am. The trail headed through another campground then followed the creek upstream. We passed rushing waterfalls, beautiful wildflowers and enjoyed the views of the mountains surrounding us. Soon we could see our destination in the far, far distance. The path was easy going until we headed away from the creek and up steep sections of rock and boulder field. The going got even harder about 3 hours into the approach when we reached the lake. I, having only a pair of trail runners, had very little grip on the glacier and scree sections which made this approach more difficult then it had to be. Bjorn made quick work of the difficult sections with his trekking poles and solid approach shoes, digging out steps for me to follow in the last steep glacier. I basically crawled the rest of the way up and reached the beginning of the climb at noon.

A pair of very happy climbers was descending the east side and verified we were in the correct place to start to the first pitch. Bjorn led the entire climb, combining the 2^nd and 3^rd pitches to speed things up. Rock quality on the 1^st and 2^nd was shotty but it became increasingly better as we made our way to the summit. We reached the top in good time and I couldn’t have been happier. Thanks to Bjorn, I was able to complete my first “successful” alpine climb. It was about 4p, storms were in the distance, and we made our way off the summit, back to the gear we left at the first belay and got ourselves geared up for the hike back. We knew it would be dark before we arrived at the car and wanted to be passed the lake and hopefully back on well-traveled trail before sundown.

We couldn’t help but create mini rock slides all the way down the scree section to the top of the glacier…that kind of terrain is very tricky and I haven’t mastered a good technique. The glaciers also proved themselves to be just as problematic down as they were going up. After some time of trying to make my way down as if I were descending a ladder (thank god I brought gloves), I said F-it and slid down the whole way on my ass. Oh and by the way, Prana pants are NOT waterproof. Bjorn was making good time above me with his poles and started making incredible time when he slipped, landed on his ass, and zoomed past me heading down to the rocks below. Thankfully we both made it to the boulder fields without injury...only very cold and wet backsides. Shortly after that, we could see the lake and knew the hardest parts of the day were behind us. We followed the trail back to the creek, picked up the pace and made it through most of the remaining boulder hopping before we broke out the headlamps. Arriving back at the car around 1015p, were too tired to do anything but head back to the campground. We were lucky enough to find the same little spot to lay down for a few hours before the alarm went off again for an early start back to the bay area.

Awesome trip and very excited for the next alpine adventure.

A good training's weekend

Ugh! I am way behind on my postings... What a new, exciting job does!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I went to Tuolumne Meadows (again!) with Linda. After our successful and quick trip up Cathedral Peak, we figured we'd give the West Ridge of Mount Conness a shot. We left from my place in kind of a rush on Friday night, only to get stuck in traffic on HW680. This was not the last delay of the weekend though: As we stopped at the Taqueria El Algave in Oakdale a couple of hours later, I look down at my feet and see flip-flops... I had forgotten my approach shoes! There goes the plan of an early start the next morning, since a 4-6 hour approach in sandals didn't seem very appealing.
Fortunately the climbing store/ gas station in Tuolumne Meadows had a good deal on 5.10 Tennies, so I wasn't set back too much... We moved the weekend's goal to Sunday, and decided to keep it easy on Saturday. (It was too late to start up Conness after the store opened).
The first objective was Golfer's Route, according to SuperTopo, a great introduction to TM runout climbing. I can only agree to this since it took me a few tries to lead the thing all the way to the top. But ever since I like to come back and enjoy the knobby climbing. This morning however, we found a long line of people at the base of the climb, some obviously intending to set up a TR. Black Widow, a few feet to the right was deserted though, so we hopped on that. Good thing, since I had never done this climb before... By the time we were done, the line at Golfer's had gotten even longer, so we left Low Profile Dome, and headed over to Daff Dome, where I wanted to give Wicked Witch of the West a try. It is a somewhat run-out 5.9, and a felt a bit squeezy at some points, but made it to the anchors alright. After Linda cleaned the anchors and rapped off we did the climb right of WWotW, which seemed a bit easier, and better protected. I don't know the name, though, it's neither in SuperTopo, nor in the Reid guide.
The rest of the day was spent at the beach and having a beer in the meadows before heading to the Mobil Station for dinner. Before hitting the bivy spot we made quick trip the the South Tufas of Mono Lake, where we saw a fantastic sunset. Too bad that the lightning we saw on the horizon caused wildfired in Inyo National Forest...
On Sunday the alarm went off at 4:30AM, in order to give us a good, early start on Conness. Just as I woke up I realized that I felt pretty shitty, but decided to give it a go anyway. By 6AM we were at the parking lot of Sawmill Campground and started hiking in. We were warned that it's a long, steep and confusing approach. All the warnings were correct, as we discovered about three hours later: We had missed a turn off from the trail and ended up in the wrong bowl... After hauling our gear over talus fields, scree slopes and swampy meadows for three hours... At this point we made the best of it, had lunch with a beautiful view and called the day a good workout.
We got back to the car exactly seven hours after we had left.
The West Ridge will have to wait for a bit, but I'll be back!

Photos after all!

Fortunately Clement took some pics this past weekend. Thanks a lot!

Super Chicken

Me leading Goldmember (with alternate start)

West Face of Eichorn's Pinnacle from the John Muir Trail

Clement on pitch 1 of the West Pillar

Summit shot!

Tuolumne... again!

I spent the 4th of July weekend in Tuolumne Meadows, almost a tradition by now...

I picked up Clement at 6 AM on Friday morning, and we got to the Meadows around 11, thanks to the line at the park entrance. Well, it was a holiday weekend after all...

On the way we decided to climb on Medlicottd Dome on Friday, and kept some options for Saturday.

We started out on Super Chicken, a two pitch 5.9, where I led the first pitch witch a flaring 5.8 section, and Clement led the stellar second pitch. A really nice route! After rapelling off we moved over to the base of Shagadelic and Piss Easier. Our goal was to climb Goldmember... Clement led the first pitch of Piss Easier, I took the second lead...
Once at the base of Goldmember we weren't quite sure if we wanted to actually try the route...
It was supposed to have 9 bolts in 190ft of sustained face/slab climbing on Tuolumne gold-polish... The problem was that we only spotted two of the bolts from the start. We started thinking about a backup plan, but I decided to give it a shot... I clipped the first two bolts, and moved straight up, which (as I later found out) was off route, but actually easier. I managed to place a few pieces of gear in a small roof, and found the remaining bolts. Yay! It turned out to be a very nice route...
To finish off the day we climbed 'D'Oh', and toproped 'Beer' and 'Donuts'.

On the way to dinner we picked our goal for Saturday: The West Pillar of Eichorn's Pinnacle.
Eichorn's Pinnacle is located on the western slopes of Cathedral Peak, so it requires a lengthy approach along the John Muir trail and some cross-country travel to reach its base. Once there the route follows an obvious wide crack. The first 5.9 pitch is not bad though, although the crack is wide, the protection is good and there a plenty of knobs on the outside, which make good footholds. With 160ft it is rather long though, so that we ran out of gear towards the end. The second pitch is a completely different story! I didn't enjoy the pitch a bit... first one has to traverse a slab section, which was fine, rounding the blank arrete was little fun though... followed by a roof with a flaring wide crack. Once that is passed, there is another roof/chimney/OW combination which was also little fun to climb (especially with a backpack).
From there on the climbing eased off. I led the third pitch, long wandering handcracks. A traversing pitch brought us to the base of a 5.9 flake, the last obstacle before the summit...
After the rapell we gained the shoulder of Cathedral Peak and took the trail back to the car.
It took us ten hours car to car.

No pics this week :-(

Tuolumne

Happy!

Kicked off the Tuolumne season last weekend...
Beautiful as ever!

We drove out on Thursday evening, so that we could get an early start on Friday to head up Cathedral Peak. It was my fourth time on Cathedral, but it's always a treat! A nice, mellow alpine climb with fantastic rock and unbelievable views...
What was even nicer, was the weather: T-shirts were sufficient, even on the summit, quite rare conditions!

We ended the perfect day of climbing with dinner at the Mobil station in Lee Vining, where we also camped for the night.

Waking up to these views is incredible!
The morning got even better... Pancakes from the TM grill for breakfast :-)
After the long day on Friday we choose to take it easy on Saturday and go top roping on the Western Front. We climbed 'Green Eggs and Ham', 'March of Dimes' and 'New Tricks for Old Dogs' before heading back to the Meadows to enjoy a beer ...

Tuolumne Meadows and Cathedral Peak
Hoping for a sponsorship from Mammoth Brewing Company!

Mt. Shasta pictures

Below are some photos I took during last weeks ascent of Mount Shasta.

Mt. Shasta as seen from I-5 going north.

Looking up the 'Heart' to 'Red Banks'

View to the Bunny Flat trailhead from the top of Red Banks

The summit

Obligatory summit shot

Above the clouds

Shastina

Google Earth is such a nice toy, especially combined with a GPS unit. :-)

Mountain biking

My last post about mountain biking was not really enthusiastic. The problem was that I joined some veteran riders on a trail, which is beyond my capabilities. As I see it I had two choices... either don't bike with them anymore, or get better on the bike.

Since I had some free time on my hand in the last few weeks and I'm still not comfortable running that much after spraining my ankle, I worked on option 2.
In the last 3/4 weeks I rode at Arastradero Open Space once or twice a week. Arastradero is easy to reach and features some real easy trails with a few technical spots like narrow switchbacks and steep drops. After the first rides, in which I got familiar with the terrain I improved every time I went there, and by the end mastered things like the switchbacks without any problems. I also freaked less on steep descents, and hopped over some bumps with both wheels catching air. Actually very fun!

A few weeks ago Dan took my to Soquel Demo Forrest. I had a blast! After the climb up and the ride along the Ridge Trail we took Tractor Trail down to the Valley again... It was the easy way, but just the right thing for me at the moment. I'll keep working on my skills and make it to the harder trails eventually.

Mt. Shasta

I had my eye on Mount Shasta for quite a while this year, but for most of the time the weather looked not very favorable. When the forecast had a sunny day for Thursday I jumped on the chance and drove up to Shasta on Wednesday afternoon.
I arrived at Bunny Flat around 7PM. After getting the wilderness permit and the summit pass I strolled up the trail a bit, so I was sure on where to go in the morning.
After dinner, I found a nice flat spot to camp out for the night, set the alarm to 3:45 and read until it got dark.

Getting up was tough. It was quite chilly. Fortunately I had prepared my pack for the day the previous evening and was on my way at 4:30 after breakfast.

After last years experience on the mountain, which was quite miserable and unsuccessful, I made some changes to improve my odds of reaching the summit.
The biggest problem last year was starting off-trail. I had taken care of this by checking out the trail in daylight Wednesday evening. Another issue was that I did not eat enough on my previous attempt. To make sure that didn't happen again, I stacked up on GU gels, and would eat one every 30 minutes on the ascent.
Also, last year I over heated... my clothing choice was not appropriate for the conditions on the mountain. This year I choose some very light gear, and figured that I move faster if I'd be cold.
I must have done something right this time around.
I reached Helen Lake at 10400 feet at 7AM, took a 10 minute break eating something and putting on my gloves. The next stop was the top of Red Banks, the spot where I turned around last year. This time I reached it around 10AM, feeling great and with plenty of time left.
Misery Hill definitely deserves it's name though... It was so good to get to the ridge on top and see the summit block! I got to the summit by 11:30. The winds up there were pretty intense, so I didn't spend too much time on the summit, but headed back down.
Glissading from below the rock band of Red Banks to Helen Lake was so much fun! Definitly better than trying to walk in the by now slushy snow. The rest of the descent was rather uneventful, and I got back to the car by 14:55. After hanging out and resting for a bit I hopped in the car and drove back to the Bay Area...

It's quite funny... last year I put the attempt on Shasta on the list with the hardest things I had done. Yesterdays attempt was just pleasant. I think keeping well fueled was essential. Another point might be a change in my diet... having the farm box increased my consumption of veggies and reduced my eating out. Also I have been doing CrossFit rather regularly lately, which might have had an effect too, since I felt strong all the time, and recovered quickly when I took breaks. Nothing like last years "walking for two minutes, resting for one"!

Happy! :-)

Hiking at Point Reyes

In the last few weeks I realized that I explored quite a bit of the Bay Area and the surrounding regions, but I've hardly ever been to to the North Bay, except for two bouldering trips to Stinson Beach. So I figured it was about time to change that with a hike at Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
Pt. Reyes is located 30 miles north of San Francisco along HW 1, what makes getting there already a beautiful outing.
We started our hike at the Five Brooks trailhead and picked Alamere Falls as a destination...
To get there we chose a loop consisting of the Olema Valley trail, the Bolema Trail, the Ridge Trail, the Lake Ranch Trail, and the Coast Trail. We started hiking shortly before noon and climbed the first few miles through a forrest to the ridge, from here the trail dropped through brush lands to the ocean. We reached the turn-off to the falls after a couple of hours.

It's an absolutely gorgeous place! After the rain in the last few days the falls were running pretty well. Being there on a Monday had the advantage that no one else was around, an extra bonus!

We took the Coast trail, the Old Out Road trail, Alamea trail and Steward trail back out to the parking lot, to complete an approximately 15 mile hike, which took us 6 hours, with plenty of breaks... Since we hadn't anticipated the hike to be quite as long we hadn't brought any food and were almost starving by the time we reached the car. The fish tacos we picked up in Stinson Beach hit the spot real well!

Sunol Wilderness

Today I managed to got lost in my 'backyard'.

OK, backyard is a little exagerated, since I'd never been to the Sunol Wilderness before, although it's only 45 minutes from my place. I took the trail to the 'Little Yosemite' area and continued on along the canyon, as I planned to take the Backpack Road Trail to the ridge, following the ridge back to the parking lot.
Along the way I came across the sign below:

A 'Rock Scramble' of course I couldn't pass on this!
The 'trail' essentially followed a creek bed up the hill. At some point it was supposed to cross the trail I originally wanted to take...
I followed the creek bed until I saw a path crossing the ravine. Here I took a left turn, bushwacked a little (through poison oak, fortunately I was fine!) and found myself here:


In the middle of a hill with no trail what so ever. I followed a cow trail...
Since I didn't feel like retracing my steps through the poison oak I gained the ridge here and fortunately found the trail on the other side of the ridge...

A nice, adventurous 8-mile outing on a Sunday afternoon.

A few days in Tahoe

End of May I spent a few days at Lake Tahoe. Driving up to Tahoe City on the Thursday afternoon before Memorial Day.
The days were not particularly planned out, but it turned out to be an awesome trip, including some climbing at the 90-foot-wall at Emerald Bay, hiking the Rubicon Trail and the Sherryl Creek Canyon trail. Furthermore I scoped out the Luther Spires climbing area on my way back, didn't do any climbing there though.

Too Hot!

Bailed out of the Valley one day early...
After Dan and I had finished our objectives of the weekend after only one day, we decided to head back and escape he 95F heat forecasted for Sunday. Also my ankle was not too happy after the approach and descent from Lower Cathedral Spire.
It's about time Tioga Pass is opens!

First Mosquito Bites, First Sunburn...

... A good weekend! :-)

I spent the weekend in the Valley with the SAC crowd. After driving up on Friday night we all met up at Swan Slab Saturday morning, where we placed several TRs... Oak Tree Flake, Grant's Crack, the line next to Grant's, the Aid Route, and Lena's Lieback. After TRing and just chilling for a while Paul came up with the idea of trying to free the 11b part of the aid route. Since the moves are well protected I was happy to give it a few goes... I guess that's what's called "working a project"... We both failed miserably... We'll have to come back and try with some aggressive shoes, since we identified that improper shoes were the only reason we couldn't make the crucial move ;-)
At the end of the day I jugged up the line to clean the TR. It has been a while since I last practiced aiding and I had forgotten how hard it is to jug... Good practice for an attempt on something big, which will hopefully come later this summer.

On Sunday I took Sam and Leo to Glacier Point Apron, where we climbed Harry Daley. Sam led the first pitch, Leo the second. We ran into two other parties from Stanford (well, the extended community) Linda and Heather and Mary and Ashley... It was quite cozy at some of the belays.
After rapping the route with TWO ropes we set a TR on 'Variation of a Theme', a 10b slab climb, before heading back to Yosemite Lodge to meet up the rest of the gang...

week 18

Mon: rest, felt pretty off after not getting much sleep during the weekend.
Tue: Climbing, PGSV w/Dan. The first four routes were hideous... I felt way off, no endurance for a series of powerfull moves. Last 6 routes were good. Chose slabby balancy routes... After climbing I did last Fridays CFSV workout: 500m row, 30 burpees, 10 push-press @ 75# : 6:35.
Wed: rest
Thu: climbing w/ Dan at PG SV, two warm-up TRs, 3 lead routes, 4 TRs 11a - 11c
Fri: rest
Sat/Sun: climbing in Yosemite with SAC crowd

Food Adventures

Today I emerged on a new food adventure (besides the on-going quest to try every restaurant on Mountain View's Castro Street) by picking up the first farm box I subscribed to.
I was intrigued by the concept of fresh, seasonal, local, organic food at a reasonable price. The advantages of non-industrial food have been discussed in many different places, most prominently probably in Michael Pollan's book 'The Omnivores Dilemma'. I hope I am doing not only me, but also the environment a favor.

An added bonus: It will be easier to try a new recipe each month since new ingredients are thrown at me all the time. I'm quite excited!

In this weeks box:

• Fava Beans
• Baby Carrots
• Shallots
• Lettuce
• Strawberries
• Scallions or Summer Squash or Artichokes (depending on nature's mood)

I

Road Bike - What to get?

I've been looking into roadbikes a bit lately. Definitely a complex field and it's hard to make a decision on what to get.

First of I need to define what kind of riding I want to do... Looking at the terrain around here it will most definitely involve tons of climbing. As far as I gather popular rides in the area are between 20 and 60 miles. That would call for a light frame... Aluminum or carbon.
Other things to consider:

• Do I want to race my bike? Probably no, except for a Tri perhaps.
  
• Do I want to tour? No.
• Do I want to commute by bike? Unlikely.

Alright...

What else is there to consider?

• Gearing: Questions here: Double or triple? What cassette? 12-25? 12-27?
  
• Wheels: Box vs. Aero? Which tires? 700-23? 700-25?
  
• Components: Compagnolo or Shimano? Which level Ultegra? 105? Dura Ace? (or equivalent)
  
• Size: Probably in the neighborhood of 62cm
  
• Cost: Yeah... well...
  

Perhaps it's time to hit the shops and look at some bikes... I hear the most important factor is fit...

Comments anyone?

week 17

Mon: Rest
Tue: climbing PG SV w/Dan. Two warm-up TRs, 4 leads 10a, 1 crack
Wed: Yoga, 90 min
Thu: backyard WOD: 21-15-9: push-ups, squats x2, pull-ups
Fri: Bouldering 40 min. 12 as a warm-up for the WOD: 400 m row, 21 Deadlifts, 21 Push-ups, 400m row, 15 Deadlifts, 15 Push-ups, 400m row, 9 Deadlifts, 9 Push-ups, 400m row. DL @95#
Sat: hiking: Huddart County Park and Phleger Estate OSP approx. 10 miles 3.5 hours
Sun: Climbing PGSF 7 climbs

El Corte de Madera OSP ride

Last Saturday I met Les, Chris and Dan at Skeggs Point on Skyline Blvd at 9:30 in the morning to go on a mountain bike ride in the El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve. My past experiences at ECDM are not the greatest, because of the rather technical trails, and my limited- to non-existing skill set on a mountain bike. However I had felt rather comfortable on the last rides inspite of my sprained ankle and I had made sure that the Resolution trail would not be on our route.

When I got to Skyline it was pretty chilly and quite damp, so we didn't linger for long but rather got going quickly. I don't recall the exact trails we took, but we took the Manzinita trail descent into the valley. Here was my first mistake... I had made sure that we wouldn't take Resolution, not realizing that Manzinita is as bad... oh, well... Of course I made the beginner mistake and went too slow...taking a spill in the first technical section of the day.
Somehow I made it down the hill and enjoyed the next part of the ride...again: I have no idea which trails we were on, as I was just following the blue and orange dots of Dan's and Les's shirts between the trees. At some point we started climbing again on the North Leaf trail... which was about the point where I was ready to throw my bike in the ditch and hike out. I kept unclipping and picking up my bike. Twisting my and loading my injured left foot more then I had wished for. At some point I thought: "Oh, that's why I only rode my bike 5 times between last June (last time at ECDM) and now: It's just not that much fun!" I really couldn't get back to the parking lot fast enough! Apperantly this is a common problem though, since Lesley had a similar experience at Waterdog the previous week. It would have helped if I had slept better the night before as well...
Long rides are taxing... almost more mentally than physically...

After 2.5 hours on (and off) the bike the beer and burger at Alice's was highly welcome!

week 16

Mon: Rest up from the weekend
Tue: Climbing: PG SV with Dan, first time in forever trying to push into hard grades again. 7 climbs incl. several 11b's. Left index finger is fine. Ankle hurt the next day.
Wed: Wanted to do a WOD, but fell asleep on the couch... Ouch! Rest day.
Thu: More Rest. Damn!
Fri: Climbing: PG B w/ Ben.
Sat: Mountain biking: Skeggs Point aka. El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve
Sun:Rest

Scary!

Ben brought this to my attention today.
Scary! I mean these things look like old friends and the 5-for-the-price-of-1 sounds tempting...But what about the "working around certification procedure for this gear according to CE & UIAA standarts" part?

Big Sur Marathon weekend

The Big Sur International Marathion is taking place this weekend. Local runners are raving about it in different blogs, the media coverage is increasing, and the excitement is big.
Not for me though. I was supposed to run the 21 miles as a long trainings run in preparation for the Rock'n'Roll Marathon in San Diego in the end of May. But I haven't run in almost five weeks after spraining my ankle on a trail run in Wunderlich Park. The rehab is taking longer than expected. Cycling, climbing, walking are fine, but running is still a no-no.
So no 21 miles in Big Sur and consequently no marathon in San Diego...

Quite the change of plans for the spring...

I hope to be able to get back in shape for a fall marathon.

Yosemite: Knob Hill

Or: Never stop exploring!

Last weekend's trip definitely sparked the 'climbing outside bug' again, so I needed to get out again as soon as possible. During the week it seemed unlikely that I would be able to make it out due to a pretty big work load. But by the timeFriday came around things didn't look too bad. On Saturday Dan and I decided to drive out to Yosemite in the evening and climb on Sunday.
Our destination was Knob Hill, where I had never climbed before, but it seemed like a nice crag to get back into the groove of leading outside.

We wanted to start out on 'Just for Beginners' and scouted the rock to find the route. At some point I saw a few bolts higher up and figured it had to be the route... I racked up with a few draws ans started up. Just as I clipped the third bolt two guys show up and ask how things are...We chat for a while, when one of them asks: "You know that you need gear up there, right?" After what the following conversation starts: "Hm, the book says just 7 draws..." "Nope... that climb is not in the book" "huh, ok!" "I can bring you your rack!" "Cool, thanks!" "You need some tiny stuff ..." At this point the second guy whispers: "It's his route!" "Oh, you're Eric then!"

It was quite fun to bump into the guy who set up the route and get beta from him. We apparently climbed "Beanie Wienie" or something like that... Quite the nice climb... 4 bolts to a 5.6 flake, protectable with the orange Metolious and the blue Metolious TCU.

After topping out we made our way over to 'Just for Beginners'. Here I took my first Yosemite lead fall of the 10a crux down low. Dan caught me nice and soft though. No harm done. I was quite excited that I was able to get right back on to the climb and even face the runout sections high up without freaking out.

Next were 'Sloth Wall' and 'Anti Ego Crack' both fun climbs. To finish the day I led 'Pot Belly' via the undercling start.

The high temperatures took their toll: By 4PM we were pretty exhausted and decided to call it a day, although we would have had a few more hours of daylight. Back in the Bay Area at 7:15PM.

Yosemite: Reed's and Pat & Jack's

After a long break from climbing outdoors I went to Yosemite with Clint this weekend.
We carpooled with Vince and Eu-Jin on Saturday morning and got to Reed's around 10AM.



While Vince and Eu-Jin started on Eujesta, Clint and I eyed the Regular Route on Reed's Pinnacle. I led the first pitch, but freaked out two moves below the belay... Unbelievable!
After trying different options I lowered off. Clint led on the the chains at the end of the second pitch, on a huge ledge.


Here we had the option to either continue through the big chimney, or to lower off. (Continuing on Reed's Direct did not seem appealing.) Clint led the squeeze section as shown below... Unfortunately I got stuck following him. It was possible to get either my hips or my chest through the narrow section, but not both... We had to reverse our steps and lower off the chains after all.Back on the ground we went over to Ejesta, where I led the first pitch, and Clint the second.

Sunday's goal was Pat & Jack's Pinnacle.
Here I started out leading the bolted line left of Suds. It's a pretty new route, not featured in a guide book. Next was the semi bolted line right of Suds. I only took draws, since I did not realize that I'd need gear on the upper part. Reaching the last bolt I lowered off and Clint finished off the climb. Next was Makayla's Climb. Led it with a small hang at the 3rd bolt.
To finish off the day Clint led Boneheads with an alternate start avoiding the slippery face moves down low. I TR'ed afterwards.

Pretty cool trip! A nice way to get back into climbing outdoors... Last year around this time I had spent 3 days in J-Tree and a few days at the Pinnacles already... Hope things will pick up from here!

Tioga Pass opening date 2009

One of the many questions discussed last weekend was "When will Tioga Pass open this year?"
The estimates ranged from early May to Memorial Day weekend. As much as I'd like an early opening this year (I have a few weeks off in May) looking at the webcam I have doubts that this will happen. Based on the opening dates of the last two years, and the fact that there was more snow this year I assume it will be in early June.

UPDATE: Tue, Apr 21: Looking at the webcam I see one lane at Tioga pass is plowed! Perhaps there will be an early opening!

A quick update

I spent the last weekend climbing in Yosemite, and had a great time out there. It was the first time climbing outdoors since the end of November. A long time for a guy who calls his blog "Adventures in the Mountains". Anyway, since I had some adventures, I hope I will get around to write about them soon. Unfortunately I am swamped with work at the moment. On top of that is some other paperwork I need to take care of in the next few days, but I have quite a few new posts coming up:
The trip report from last weekend, the "Ascent for Mac"-review, a report on research regarding the purchase of a roadbike, a blurb about the differences in gym vs. outdoor climbing, some thoughts about ethics and motivation, and finally an assesment of my fear of falling...
I'll try to bring it out there in due time, hopefully interupted by more trip reports and the weekly training updates.

week 15 workouts

Mon: swimming 600 yards
Tue: climbing PG SV with Dan. 2 warm up climbs at 10a, 5 leads 5.9 - 10b, 1 11a TR
Wed: due to time shortage made up my own backyard WOD: 21-15-9 Push-ups, 2x air squat, pull-up. Tried to minimize breaks... Pull ups were hard though. Overall time approx. 10 min. Kicked ass!
Thu:rest
Fri: 30 minutes bouldering PG SV
Sat: rest
Sun: Climbing, Yosemite, Knob Hill

New Side Bar Feature

After spending the first night outside for this year I decided to keep track of how many nights I sleep out there. For this reason I added a counter to the side bar on the right. Unfortunately it's only one night for this year, but I hope I'll be able to beat last years twelve nights, which was the lowest count for the last four years...

Week 14

Mon: Rest
Tue: Spin class at PG SV. My first spin class ever. I liked the workout but the instuctor was really bad. If one does a count down it should be consistent and not something like 5-15-8-5-3-3-3-2-1. WTF??? On another note: I think the marathon in SD is not going to happen for me. My ankle is still very unhappy if I try to run. However the chances of me getting a road bike are increasing...Need to do some research on that. Look out for the post!
Wed, Thu, Fri: Off
Sat: Climbing: Reed's Regular: first two pitches, Ejesta
Sun: Climbing: bolted routes on Pat & Jack's Pinnacle

Mid Peninsula OSP Mountain Bike Ride the 2nd

Did about the same ride as last week. This time with a larger group though...
Dan, Chris, Les, Marcus, Brandon and I.

We took a different start through Russian Ridge and a different turn in Monte Bello.



Map/Elevation profile: Screenshots off Ascent... look for a review of this program soon...

week 12

Mon: Rest
Tue:Pull-ups,push-ups,
Wed: Rest
Thu: Climbing PG B w/ Dan. 11 climbs
Fri: Rest
Sat: Mountain biking Mid-Peninsula
Sun: Rest

Still no running since ankle still bothers me :-(

Mid Peninsula OSP Mountain Bike Ride

I haven't been on my bike since the end of November. Training for a few races and the trips to Germany and New Mexico had kept me busy. After last week's ankle sprain I was still in no condition to run, so I joined Lesley on a ride across the Peninsula Open Space Preserves. This ride had been on my to-do list for quite a while and it was fun to get on it.

We started at the Russian Ridge parking lot, headed through Russian Ridge to Coal Creek, on to Monte Bello, up to Upper Stevens Creek, through Longs Ridge and Skyline Ridge back to our starting point. It was a total of about 15 miles, with a few serious climbs in it. The total time was around 3 hours.

The burgers we had at Alice's were an appropriate end to a gorgeous morning!

"Yay!" for REI dividends!

Used my REI dividends today to get some new 'toys'.
I had some items on my wish list for a while, so I decided to get a pair of Black Diamond 'Trail' trekking poles, and a pair of Petzel Ascension ascenders.

I've never been a fan of trekking poles, but on last years trip to Mt. Shasta a pair would have been tremendously helpful. There are a some mounataineering trips on my to-do/to-go list, so I hope the poles get some good use.
Opposed to the trekking poles I had used the ascenders before. About a year ago I did some aid climbing practice to prepare for a big wall in Yosemite, but never got around to do the trip. Back then I used borrowed ascenders, so I decided to get my own set for the next -hopefully successful- attempt.

Week 11 workouts

Mon: 5.5 miles on SCT. Yay! Running feels good again! Quite a new experience after the last few weeks.
Tue: 4.5 miles on SCT. some GI issues towards the end... Shouldn't have had the Espresso Beans beforehand!
Wed: Rest
Thu: Climbing! Yes, back to climbing after a pulled tendon in my left index finger. Taped the finger and took it pretty easy: 6 climbs 10a-10b. Felt good though. Probably up to hit the Valley next weekend.
Fri: 3 miles on SCT. I wanted to do 4 miles, but I'm quite happy with 3 since I was super tired after coming home from work. I also have a long run planned for tomorrow.
Sat: Long-ish run at Wunderlich 8.3 miles, due to sprained ankle on the way back.
Sun: RICE Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate of left ankle after sprain on Sat.

Wunderlich Park Trail Run

It was about time to get some serious mileage in before the San Diego RnR Marathon end of May.
The idea was to run bout 12 miles at Wunderlich County Park. I met up with Dan at 9:15AM in the parking lot off HW84. We started out on Bear Gulch trail up to the meadows. Since Dan dropped back a little I turned around once I reached the meadows and ran back down to meet up with her.
She decided that she didn't want to run up to Skyline as I had planned, so we parted ways. While she headed back down to the parking lot I continued on to Skyline. The climb was more than I expected. Well, I was aware that I was looking at a total of six miles climbing, but it dragged out longer than expected. The downhill afterwards was pretty fun though, lots of cruising on wide soft trails. To my surprise I bumped into Daniela, making her way up the hill. She had gotten a second wind and decided to add a second loop to her run. Together we continued down the hill, happily chatting along. This ended up being a problem... About three miles from the parking lot I twisted my ankle. I don't exactly know how I did it, I ight have stepped in a hole, on a root, a rock, or something else. All I know is that I sprained my ankle pretty bad, and that I could not walk for a few days. The training for San Diego has taken a big hit! I hope I manage to recover soon!

Squaw Valley

Until now I did all my skiing in the US at Kirkwood, CA, which is a beautiful resort, but it was time for a little variety. Lid and I had planned a skiing weekend for quite a while now, and our goal was to check out some places in around the North shore of Lake Tahoe. Saturday we planned on skiing at Squaw Valley USA, location of the 1960 Winter Olympics, Sunday we intended to go to Alpine Meadows.

After driving up to Tahoe City on Friday night, where we arrived around 11PM, we had a hard time getting out of bed Saturday morning. Never the less we made it to Squaw by 9:30 and took the gondola up the mountain. From here we took the Gold Coast Express to a blue warm-up run, which was a first test for Linda's knee. It passed! To be sure we stayed on blues for a few more runs, mostly off of the Emigrant and Shirley Lake chairs. Soon after we moved to the blacks of Granite Chief though. We stayed mostly on the groomers, since the snow off the prepared areas was pretty chunky. It had been the warmest week of the winter, but during the night the snow had iced over. After a run down the moguls to Shirley Lake we made our way to the Headwall Express in order to ski the North Face. The conditions here were awesome, since the wind had dumped a lot of powder on the slope. Before our lunch break we managed also two runs of Sibiria Bowl... nice fast fun! For lunch we went all the way back to the bottom of the mountain to get some runs on KT-22 in afterwards. I usually try not to stop for luch, because I have a hard time finding my rythm afterwards, but keeping in mind that we wanted to ski the next day as well it seemed a good idea to take a break. The first run off of KT-22 however did not feel that great...as anticipated. On the second one I was back in my groove again and enjoyed a nice cruise down the mountain. We finished an amazing day of spring skiing with two runs on Red Dog.

Our Sunday plans were altered by the weather... Always a possibility in the mountains!
When we arrived at Alpine Meadows the visibility was really poor and the most interesting runs were closed due to storm conditions. Given that we already had a great day on the slopes we decided to save our tickets and come back in better conditions. Let's hope for one more storm this year! (Well perhaps two, since I also have a couple of tickets for Bear Valley :-))

week 10 in workouts

Mon: Rest after skiing Saturday, and spending Sun. mostly in a car.
Tue: 4 miles on SCT. I realized this was the first 'real' running I've done since the 8K race 10 days ago... It felt like it :-/
Wed: CrossFit Sunnyvale WOD: run 800m, 21 Bench Press, 42 Pull Up, 21 Bench Press, 800m run. The Bench Presses were supposed to be at body weight... Well! Good joke! I did the first set and the first 7 of the second set at 115 lbs, the last 14 at 95 lbs. The Pull Ups ended up being jumping Pull Ups mostly. About an hour after this I did 90 min of yoga. Plank positions and Vinyasas were very painful! Not a good combination!
Thu: 4.5 miles on SCT. I felt tired all around, I guess the Wednesday workout took quite a bit out of me. My cold is also still lingering :-(
Fri: Rest, drive to Tahoe City
Sat: Skiing at Squaw Valley

Life is Good!

Yes, I stole the headline of this post from REI :-)

Did I ever mention that I LOVE daylight savings time? OK, we're robbed of an hour of sleep, but now it's actually still bright out after work, so that running and other workouts are more fun. With the weekend the great California weather is back too! Despite the brisk temperatures my mood is just soaring seeing the sun and the blue sky...
Let's hope it lasts for a while!

week 9

Sat: Juana Run? (I have no idea why they have the '?' in the name!) 5 miles: 37:02.
Sun: climbing PG SF 5 or 6 climbs, until injured left index finger
Mon: CrossFit Sunnyvale WOD: 500m Row, 45 Push Press (55#), 500m Row, 45 Push Ups, 500m Row, 45 Kettleball swings (35#) 17:25. Nice workout! Pretty draining!
Tue: Rest
Wed: CrossFit Sunnyvale WOD: Max. rounds of 400m run, max. rep. Pull-Ups in 20 minutes: ran 1.75 miles (@ approx. 6:30) 30 pull-ups.
Thu: Rest. I need to get over this frickin' cold!
Fri: Rest. Skiing Sat. & Sun.

Banff Moutain Film Fest World Tour '09

Once again I realize how time flies! Last night it was time for the Banff Moutain Film Festival World Tour again, and tradition dictates a trip to the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz. Although there are a few showings along the Peninsula and in San Francisco, I like the trip to the coast, since Santa Cruz has a nice vibe, wich is quite different from the rest of the Bay Area. Also the proceeds of the showing go to the UCSC recreation department, who can use it better than REI, who organizes the other events.

After an early dinner at the Seabright Brewery we went down the street to the theater to pick up the tickets at will call. As the shows in the previous years it was sold out. The crowd was in a good mood and welcoming the seven movies screened that night.
The program included:

• The Red Helmet
• The Sharp End (the Lisa Rands segment)
• Red Gold
• *intermission w/ raffle*
• Grit Kids
• Die Seilbahn
• Mountain Town
• Seasons

My favorites were "The Red Helmet", "Red Gold" and "Seasons". "Die Seilbahn" a Swiss animation clip did not really fit into the program, and I had seen the clip from "The Sharp End" before. In my opinion it's not the strongest segment of the movie.

A nice perk was the $50 gift certificate from Bugaboo Mountain Sports in Santa Cruz, which I won in the Raffle. Together with the REI dividends and the 20% membership discount, this
should provide some sweet new gear this spring!

AAAAHHHHHH!

With the spring climbing season just about to start and a trip to Red Rocks planned for the end of the week things seem fine... Until the gym climbing session at PG SF yesterday, where I pulled a tendon in the first digit of my left index finger. Bummer!
At them moment I rest and pop some anti-inflamatories. By Wednesday I'll decide if I go to Red Rocks or not... Given the rain during the weekend, the conditions in the Sierras should be awesome for skiing. That would be an alternative.

Juana Run 09

It's amazing to see that races still keep my inner alarm clock set. Although my alarm was set for 6:30 I woke up half an hour early feeling quite good. Meaning way better than the previous mornings where I had to fight the symptoms of my cold quite badly. The stretching during the last few days also seems to have worked, since my quads felt a lot better too. So things seemed to be on track for the Juana Run 2009. It is a five mile race and the first race of the Palo Alto Grand Prix series.
After I picked up my bib and the goodie bag, I jogged about a mile and stretched before I went to the start area. Just after 8:30 the gun went off and a few hundred runners set out for the course. Due to my cold I was aiming for a 7:30 pace, which would put me to the finish line at 37:30. The first mile felt pretty hard, actually the whole race felt pretty hard, except for the stretch between mile 2.5 and mile 3. I was really looking forward to the final stretch... After 37:00 I crossed the finish line and was rather glad I was done. Even a little faster than aimed for.
A pancake breakfast was waiting for all the finishers. A yummy finale for a tough, but nice morning.

Official time: 37:02
28/59 in age group
167 overall

week 8

Sat: Wanted to do the weekly long run of 11 miles, but at about 3 miles in the tightness in m IT Band I had noticed the day before and some GI issues forced me to turn around and cut the run short: Ended up running 7 miles.

Sun: Too wimpy to stick to the plan and make up for the failed long run on Saturday. Climbed at PG B instead. Did a handful of 10's topped off by a couple of 11a's. Finished the day's workout with 90 minutes of yoga with Annika. It was the first time I took her class. It was pretty nice! A good balance between relaxation and exercise. Also good for my ITB.

Mon: Climbing at PG B with Dan. 4 leads 10a-c. 1 TR 10c to cool down.

Tue: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B. Last night I researched IT Band issues on the web: It seems that a combination of strength training, stretching, applications of a foamroller and anti-inflamatories should work to keep things in check. As a first step I stretched 20 minutes right after getting up, followed by some 'rolling'. I stretched for another 2o minutes after my run, before I hit the weight room for some deadlifts and squats. The deadlifts were a surprise! It was the first time I "went heavy" and worked my way up to body weight. Not to bad for the beginning. My legs were tired after the workout, but felt good otherwise. Also learned that a few more spots opened up for the Big Sur 21 miler...Need to sign up!

Wed: Skipped the scheduled 6 mile run. Stretched and rolled for 10 min just after getting up. Went climbing with Ben at PG SV in the evening. Awesome session! A few TRs to warm up, 10a, 10d, 11a, 11c and then some easy leads (9s & 10a). Now I am wired and can't go to sleep :-(

Thu: Coughing and sneezing... AGAIN! :-( Rest day!

Fri: Rest Day, try to recover enough for tomorrows 8k Juana Run in Palo Alto.

More Pictures coming up!

I finally replaced my point-and-shoot-camera, which died last fall while climbing in Yosemite.
(Huh, that was the 2nd camera in two years, who shared that fate! I wonder if it's me?)
When I opened my mailbox yesterday I found the Canon Powershot 770IS! I'm looking forward to using it, especially since it features an integrated image stabilizer and 4M pixel more than my previous camera (a Powershot 660).

Week 7

Wow! This blog is degrading to a list of workouts... :-(
Unfortunately there's not too much more happening at the moment. When I am not in NM the weather here doesn't allow for any climbing outside. I guess skiing would be an option...
Anyway, last weeks workouts:

Sat: 9 mile run on the trails in the desert around Carlsbad, NM
Sun: Rest
Mon: 5 mile run
Tue: 3 mile run
Wed: 6 mile run (back in Cali SCT)
Thu: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B, 45 minutes of bouldering, mostly long traverses to increase endurance
Fri: Rest, noticed some tightness in the IT Band of my right thigh.

mileage (Sat - Fri): 26

WOD

Although today was meant to be a rest day I did the following:

2 rounds of:

• DOT drill
• 10 burpees
• 30 sec bridge

2 x ABS bridge complex

Weekly update

This week I skimped a bit on my workouts.

After skiing on Saturday my legs were super tired on Sunday so I skipped the long run of 9 miles (I can't believe that I start skipping those already!), but went to a Mexican themed BBQ at Lesley's instead :-)
Monday I spent mostly on a plane, in airports and a rental car, going back to Carlsbad, NM.
Tuesday's 3 mile run was cancelled due high winds and replaced by this workout.
Wednesday I ran the scheduled 5 miles in gorgeous weather.
Thursday I squeezed a 3 mile run in before work.
This puts me at 8 miles for the week. Now I hope that I get the 9 mile run in tomorrow and 5 fast miles on Sunday after work. This would put me to 22 miles, which would be par with the schedule!

WOD

It's super windy today! In fact it's so windy that one easily loses balance just trying to stand outside. Under these circumstances I decided not to run the scheduled 3 miles, but to do an indoor workout. Since I don't have access to a treadmill here in Carlsbad (yupp, I'm back!) I did the following:

• 15 minutes step-ups onto a chair
• 2 minutes chair jumps
• 3x 90 second abs-bridge complex
• 1 leg blaster (20 squats, 20 lunges, 10 jumping squats)
• 20 HSPUs

It feels like I forgot something... Anyway, I think it's a good substitute for a 3 mile run.

Kirkwood

I hadn't been on my skis for a year, so I was looking forward to a day trip to Kirkwood with Daniela, Lesley and Marcus. There was some rain in the Bay Area the past two days, which supposedly meant snow in the Sierras. Perfect for a Saturday on the slopes!

We met at Lesley's place at 5AM, packed our stuff into her XTerra and got on the road around 5:20. Traffic was pretty mellow, providing for a smooth ride with fun conversations ranging from '25 random things' to 'pre-marital sex in the bible'.

After a coffee break in Stockton we got to the resort around 9:30. The conditions were nice: 10" of fresh powder. It was a little foggy in the beginning, but it cleared out during the morning. To start with we did a couple of runs off chair 5 before heading over to the Backside for a couple of runs. Shortly after noon Lesley and Marcus took a lunch break, while Dan and I decided that we were having too much fun to stop even for a short time. So we munched on some energy bars while on the lifts.

The weather had cleared enough to hit the powder lines through the trees. It was just amazing! i had forgotten how much fun skiing is! I was also surprised how well I was dealing with knee deep powder...

After we met up with the other two guys we hit the bowls off of chair 6 and did a few runs over there. By that time I knew I would have a hard time getting my smile off my face in the evening.

Another couple of runs my legs were fried, and Lesley was the only one of our group who still wanted to keep going, but we all settled for some hot chocolate before heading back to the car and back to the Bay Area.

Although I was super tired when I got home at 8:30PM I was not able to sleep... in my mind I was still in the mountains, carving turns between rocks and trees, and making plans for going back soon! It was well past midnight before I finally fell asleep.

Another week...time flies!

Ok, here's the next weekly activity/training update:
Saturday:
5 miles running on the SCT at race pace. The 8 min miles felt tough today...especially mile 5.
45 minutes bouldering at PG Belmont rating 10 (I sucked!)
90 minutes Yoga class. Was awesome... nice and relaxing, just what my legs and I needed!

Sunday:
I was way to tired to get out of bed for a long (8 mile) run this morning, so I decided to switch Monday and Sunday on the training schedule, and cross trained by hiking up Mission Peak .

Monday:
'Long Run' of 8 miles: Figure 8 consisting of "The Dish" and "Campus Loop" starting from the driving range.

Tuesday:
3 miles on the treadmill at PG B.
Climbing at PG with Daniela. I haven't climbed in a while, and haven't lead in even longer. So I was overgripping a lot. After about 5 leads my forearms were shot... Added a couple of topropes at the end.

Wednesday:
5 mile run around campus.

Thursday:
Climbing at PG Belmont with Ben. Forearms still toast... some toproping on the harder side.
Although the running schedule asked for 3 miles today, I did not run and decided to do Saturday's 5 mile pace run on Friday, due to exciting weekend plans.

Friday:
5 miles at race pace. This time it felt way better than previous Saturday...

Mileage this week: 26 miles (Sat. - Fri.)

Signed up for the 'Juna Run' in Palo Alto on Feb 28. Should be a nice fast 5 miler!

Trainings notes

For the coming Fridays I'll try to summarize the past weeks activities and workouts. Mostly to keep track of things.

This week stood out a bit, since it was pretty much the first 'regular' week at home since mid-December. So much of it was used to get back into the rythm of daily life.

Despite a cold I managed to go to the gym on Saturday. Did a few climbs -on which I felt very weak, really struggling on a 10c- and 90 minutes of yoga, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I felt the benefits of the core workouts I had done in Germany and New Mexico.
Sunday I did a quick 5.5 mile hike at Wunderlich County Park, which inspired me to watch 'The Fellowship of the Ring'... and that was the rest of the day :-)
Tuesday was the first day of the 18-week marathon training plan. Based on my experience in Las Vegas I decided against going with the Crossfit Endurance plan and for the Inermediate-I Marathon Plan from Hal Hidgeon. Back in Vegas I hit the wall, or better my legs hit the wall, exactly a mile further than my longest run was. I blame to little mileage, hence the plan with a higher mileage. The Intermediate I plan starts with 24 miles/week and peaks at 44 miles/week.
Also I'll run 5 days a week compared to 3 days as I did before Vegas following the RW smartcoach.
Anyway, the first run on Tuesday was a really mellow 3 miles on the SCT. Afterwards I did a short workout on the Rock Rings in the backyard.
Wednesday saw the second run, it called for 5 miles, I did 5.3 on the SCT.
The third run was scheduled for Thursday. I ran the 3 miles on the treadmill at PG Belmont. Something remarkable about this: It was the first run on a treadmill I actually enjoyed! Funny. The second part of the Thursday workout consisted of bouldering. For the first five minutes I stayed on the wall without a break, doing a bunch of consecutive V0's and V1's. Following this I tried to do through problems quickly to work on strength and stamina. The 'Boulder Rating' for the evening was 22 (or 23 don't remember exactly).
Today is a rest day.
The plans for the weekend include a 5 mile run at marathon goal pace on Saturday and a long run of 8 miles on Sunday. The later one will probably be at Rancho San Antonio. I'll also try to get some yoga and climbing in tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, yes, I signed up for the San Diego RnR Marathon in May...
There's also some preliminary talk about a climbing trip to Red Rocks in March.

Back in Cali

I got back from my trip to New Mexico last night, and I have to ask: What's with the weather here?
Wednesday afternoon I ran 4 miles in the mid-70's without a shirt on... I guess Carlsbad is not all bad! On the other hand, the rain here is much needed and hopefully this weather system will bring some snow to the Sierras.

Camelback Mountain

While in Phoenix last Sunday, Linda and I hiked up Camelback Mountain. I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about this at first, since other activities, or rather non-activities like sleeping or watching the NFL-Conference finals seemed more attractive. My mood didn't improve much, when Linda almost sprinted up the first part of the trail. Half an hour into the hike a transformation happend though: Not only was the trail less crowded, the weather perfect, but the trail was actually really nice and fun.
Camelback Mountain is the highest moutain in the Phoenix Mountains and great urban hiking. The summit is at 2704 ft and can be reached by two trails: Either from Echo Canyon, or like we did by the Cholla Trail, which is 2.5 miles long (one way) and gains 1275 ft of elevation. The first part of the trail is pretty easy, the second part climbs the ridge to the summit and is a bit exposed in several places. Some people even get of route ;-)
After hanging out on the summit for a bit we retraced our steps down the trail. On the way we saw - according to two girls ahead of us - a huge squirrel, the size of a cat! Well... they must have pretty small cats in Phoenix!
Anyway, I'm glad that Linda dragged out for this hike!

Hueco Tanks

Last week was really productive at work, what made it possible to take the day off today and visit Hueco Tanks State Historic Site 32 miles North East of El Paso.
The park was established in 1969 to preserve the archeological sites, both pre-historic and historic as well as the unique natural resources of the oasis.
Since the mid 90’s Hueco Tanks has also become a prime bouldering/climbing destination, which is how I learned about the place.
On this trip my only goal was to scope out the area, because I didn’t have any climbing gear on me. I was also pretty slow getting ready this morning, which made me miss the Rock Art tour, offered by the Park Service.
Stopping at the park entrance to get a permit I felt as if I were in Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley: Tons of climbers, either surfing the web on the wifi, or preparing for the day.

Since the park’s popularity increased dramatically during the last few years access is restricted to 200 people at a time. Also, only the North Mountain area is accessible for self guided hiking or climbing.
I was lucky to get a permit without prior reservation!
After a 15-minute visitor orientation I started a Self guided walk in the Northern part of the preserve. Leaving from the Interpretive Center I took the Eastern path around North Mountain. The trail leads to some pictographs, most of which are unfortunately buried beyond graffiti,,, But who thought that graffiti was a modern phenomenon is wrong: Some of the inscriptions were dated 1884, and even earlier... I guess the white settlers wanted to show their „superiority“. So sad!
A climbers trail leads to the summit of North Mountain at 4800ft. The rock reminded me of Joshua Tree, but it has more pockets and is less slabby.
Folowing the trail further to the end I came across a group of climbers working on „the hardest V1 on the planet“. The problem looked quite nice! Too bad I didn’t have my gear with me... I’ll have to get back for this one. Just around the corner was a perfect finger crack, which would be worth a shot too!

Too soon I reached the entrance to the East Mountain area, and had to retrace my steps beck to the Interprative Center. From here I started around the North side of the mountain to the Western side. Again: here are plenty of nice lines waiting to be climbed! I even tried one problem in my sneakers and got a good start... It would be super nice to spend more time here! Walking along the trail I heard some noises in the brush to my right. On further investigation I saw two, what I would call wild boars, but what apparently is locally known as Javalinas, munching on the cacti... They were perhaps six feet away! Amazing!

Even only a couple of hours made it clear: Hueco Tanks is definitely worth going back to!

What was slightly disturbing though was seeing a Pittbull (or something similar, I am not an expert on fighting dogs) chewing up some roadkill on the street to the park. A pretty gross sight! What was even more disturbing was that it apparently dragged ist prey across the street, because it lay on the opposite site of the road when I went back... Crazy! The deer was a few times bigger than the dog!

Off to Phoenix now...

Why?

From the Mountain Athlete front page:

"WHY CLIMB"
by Mattie Sheafor-Hong

You get to explore beautiful places with an intimacy that only a bird, a spider or a lizard might ever get to know...and maybe not even another living thing.

You get a window into yourself. You cannot hide, not really, and not for long. It is humbling, consistently demanding, and ultimately richly rewarding--sometimes briefly satisfying--when you meet the challenge to the best of your ability. Climbing asks everything of you mentally and physically: problem solving, creativity, full on-all out-effort, and self possession, sometimes all at once. Sometimes fiercely. It is absorbing, cleansing, pure. It is a crucible to make yourself stronger (not just physically), richer (not even monetarily), broader (in every good way).

Climbing often requires keen partnership and sincere, even if brief, communication. It tends to breed deep friendships, indelible memories, and a rich respect for the present.

Climbing is a refuge. A place where gravity prevails, where the elements are master, and if you r-e-a-l-l-y listen to what they tell you, and use your tools and judgment well, you just might get to be a part of it all, for a little while. Plus, on occassion you get to feel like your 6 years old again.

I can subscribe to that!

Weakness

Ohoh... One resolution for January was not to drink any alcohol during the month.
Well, I am weak! As long as I was in Cali it was fine and easy to stick to the resolution... But: I can't stand Carlsbad, NM without beer... I tried... it doesn't work :-/

PG session

Last night I had a great climbing session with Dan at Planet Granite in Belmont. It was almost a month since I had climbed last at PG, and only once in Germany. As a consequence my expectations were pretty low, since I was also still sporting a jet lag from coming back from Germany.
Accordingly I started out on a 5.9, went to a long 10a, a long 10d, a short 11a, an attempt on a 11c, some 11b's... It felt really good! Especially since I felt strong. Usually I can tell when I gain some weight. Not this time though. I guess the weight work outs I did back home worked! They constisted of the Mountain Athlete barbell complex. I found this to be an easy but efficient whole body workout.

A Change of Mind

Yesterday I had a kind of epiphany: Reading a blog post about trail running at Point Reyes National Seashore was one part, and kind of set the tone. The author described a 22 mile run through the Southern part of the park, and posted a bunch of really great pics...
Later that day I went for a short hike at Castle Rock State Park. Now, I've been to Castle Rock countless times... exclusively for climbing though. I've been to Goat Rock, Castle Rock Falls, Castle Rock proper, etc. But I never ventured further down the trail... Yesterday I did. It was amazing! And it struck me: Just do trail runs... Not as a means of training, but as means to go to places! Just enjoy being out there... I guess that's what 'Mountain Running' and 'Adventure Running' is all about: One can get to really cool places by really simple means...
Expect to find me on trails in the hills more often instead of the Baylands in the future!

Trans-Atlantic Airtravel...

... can be pleasant, if one gets upgraded.
As it happend to me on Thursday.

Back in Cali now, figuring out how to go about the goals of 2009.
My marathon trainings schedule starts in 4 weeks. Most of the time until then I'll probably spend in New Mexico.