"Adrenalin starts to flow, you're thrashing all around, acting like a maniac, whiplash!" By the end of this post, I promise this week's classic rock quote will make sense. This was a tough week as far as time management goes. It started with Easter Weekend and finished with a calculus final. Definitely a slog. My biggest challenge was not giving in to the little voice in my head telling me to just stay at the climbing gym all day. Most days had to be planned down to the minute. My alarm, timer, and reminders apps got a great workout this week.
Day 1: Easter dinner. Tough way to start the week. For the most part my family is not religious at all, but we do hold tight to tradition and holiday's seem like the ideal opportunity to build a tradition. Nearly everyone has work off for them and they're socially acceptable times to eat until your stomach feels as though it's about to burst. As the holiday gatherings have transferred from my grandparent's house to our house, my mom has done an excellent job of picking up the organizational torch. She is on the ball. I think it must have something to do with her ability to control a classroom full of 9 year olds, there isn't much of a difference between them and my family. Considering the looming chaos, I thought I would try my shot at going to the climbing gym in the morning. I did pretty well, I made it to the door with my shoes and backpack before I was dragged back in to help with some task. So Week 2 was off to a rocky start.
Day 2: Today was much more successful as I managed to sneak away for a quick hour and half session of fun climbing and projecting. I went in without any training goals in mind and just enjoyed working on some problems at the edge of my limit. After a weekend full of socializing it was nice to have some time to myself. I find climbing, or skiing, or running, or doing any activity alone to be refreshing. It clears my mind. Days where I don't get to experience this clarity really bring down my motivation and ability to be productive.
Day 3: Since it's nearly the middle of the week, it's time to get the ball rolling. A 2 hour session in which I climbed 30 problems in 30 minutes ranging from V1 to V3 really did it. If you're looking to build endurance, that is a great way to do it. My arms felt like wet noodles by the end. After that thrashing, I worked on a dynamic, overhanging V4 and a V5 heavy on body tension. Once I gave into the fact that I could no longer hold my body on the wall, it was time for some slab climbing. This week there's a V4 with a tricky start that involves a pull up onto a small foothold, followed by a mantle up onto some big blobby holds. Boy, did it go. I love everything about that problem. You have to have perfect body position at the start to get up to the mantle, and then, just when it looked like you were in the clear, you have to figure out how to weight a small, slippery, sloppy foothold to get to the last two moves. The flow and the problem solving were incredibly fun.
Day 4: Planned for rest day, but went climbing anyway. I feel like a lot of my days start like this. Because it was supposed to be a rest day, I did mostly fun routes. And, because I didn't want it to be a rest day, I did a half an hour session on the system board followed by a leg circuit.
Day 5: OK, rest day for real this time. My calculus final is 2 days away, which means lots of studying (and procrastinating). As part of my procrastination I decided today was the day to finish organizing my gear storage. It's funny how clean everything gets when I have something I should be working on. One of life's great mysteries I suppose.
Day 6: Last day before my test. Time for a full-on study day. That lasted until about 1 pm, then I had to take an hour climbing break. Since I had only allocated myself an hour of climbing I felt I had to make it count. I went straight for the dynamic V4 I've been working on. It was such a great session! I was feeling strong, I was setting new high points each attempt and thought today was definitely send day. But then, I fell. Not too hard, or violently, or in a weird position. I just fell. On the last move. I landed on my feet and felt my body crunch together. My legs held strong, but my chin tried to force its way through my chest. My head felt as though it was a bowling ball being held up by a pipe-cleaner. It took several minutes of lying still and trying not to move, but slowly I started to feel as though my head was not going to roll away, at least not today. I told you this weeks quote would make sense. That was the end of my session. Now it's a waiting game to see how this injury progresses. Hopefully some aggressive icing and hardcore Netflix time helps.
Day 7: Test day. I woke up with my neck giving up on being able to support my head. Have you ever tried to sit hunched over a test without using your neck? It is incredibly uncomfortable. Picture one of those segmented dolls on a pedestal where you push a button and they go limp. I bet you've guessed already, no climbing today. I did attempt to do some cardio but regretted it, I bet that sentence is pretty common.
I know this is super late. By the time this is posted it will probably be about time to post week 4. But I am human (despite what some people may claim, I am not ET) and life gets overwhelming sometimes. Anyway, to anyone reading this, thank you! And thank you for your patience! If anyone has any feedback, questions, or just wants to say hi leave a comment! Until next time, stay stoked.
Rock quote credit: Whiplash - Metallica