mountainambitions

[mountainambitions]

The Gunks

We went to the gunks this weekend and did some multi pitch trad. I don't really want to do a trip report, but we did Beginners delight (5.3), High Exposure (5.6), The Laurel (5.7), and the one right next to the laurel (5.6).

It was good to get back to leading trad, but mentally it was exhausting.

[mountainambitions]

Carved out of wood.

I did another HIIT workout because I didn't feel like doing "Karen" (aka 150 wall balls).

This was the concoction that Craig came up with (after doing some back squat practice 3x5 @ 75#):

3 x 100m row 15 push ups -- 2 min rest -- 3 x 200m row 15 V-ups -- 2 min rest-- 2 x 300m row 30 mtn climbers -- 2 min rest-- 2 x 400m row 40 kettle bell swings (10kg) -- 2 min rest -- And because Sophia and I were too fast 500 skips 50 body rows

My times were: 3:45, 4:59, 4:18, 8:01, 9:44 = 30:47 in work (10:54 rowing)  and 8 minutes rest

The end result.

[mountainambitions]

You see a guy come to fight club for the first time, and his ass is a loaf of white bread. You see this same guy here six months later, and he looks carved out of wood.

[mountainambitions]

This is Sparta!

Here are two climbing WODs that I plan to do in the near future "Strap on the nitro" 5.7 Suicide (10#) 15 burpees 5.8 Suicide (5#) 10 burpees 5.9 Suicide (BW) 5 burpee 5.8 Suicide (5#) 10 burpees 5.7 Suicide (10#) 15 burpees "Rage fully" 500 ft 5.10 (19 laps- 10 up 9 down) 10 toes to bar 400 ft 5.9 (15 laps- 8 up 7 down) 20 t2b 300 ft 5.8 (11.5 laps- 6 up 5.5 down) 30 t2b 200 ft 5.7 (7.5 laps- 4 up 3.5 down) 40 t2b 100 ft 5.6 (4 laps - 2 up 2 down) 50 t2b

[mountainambitions]

Endurance

Yesterday I had a fantastic day of endurance training. I ran 6k (in 45 minutes, so nothing fast, but I kept moving the whole way) from my house, through princess point, then to CrossFit. At CrossFit I did "abs by Craig" (Core conditioning) where we did:

2min V-sit 1min Mountain Climbers 2min Plank 1min Hollow Rock 2min Medicine ball hold overhead 1min Situps

9 rounds (10min time cap): 3 Pushups 6 jumping Lunge 9 Supermans 12 Squats

Then, I did my lifting: 3 x 5 @ (attempted) 115#. Actually 1 x 5 & 1 x 3 @ 115# and 1 x 2 & 1 x 5 @ 95#.

My legs were so so sore from the stairs and all the running I've been doing and Sophia tempted me to do lighter weight.

Then I did a very scaled version of "JT" the HERO WOD: 21-15-9 Handstand Pushups Ring Dips Push ups

The running killed my legs, Abs by Craig were rough on my abs, and then "JT" killed my shoulders. It was a good, rough, endurance workout.

Oh, and I PRed my atlas stone lift, 95#!!

[mountainambitions]

Some Numbers to check my progress

So I decided to check in with my training program to see how I've been doing. And here are the numbers:

Observed means what I actually did, expected is what the training program tells me to do. Below is the program for the month of April (month 2):

So I think I'm doing pretty well so far, even at the things I don't like very much.

[mountainambitions]

Work + Rest = Training, don't do the work if you don't have the balls to rest.

Here's a reminder for myself to take my rest days seriously.

[mountainambitions]

Some photos from last year to get me excited for our trip this summer!!

[mountainambitions]

Another training update

Friday was a rest day, I ate healthy, resisted the urge to go to crossfit, and foam rolled!

Saturday I did what I've been dreading and I started interval training:

400m run 5x campus ladders 200m "prisoner run" 20 body bag ground to shoulder 5x: 100m row & 10 burpees 20 bb G2S 200m prisoner run 5 campus ladders 400m run

Then I rewarded myself with a 3 hour climbing session with a 10-20# pack (depending on the route) and without the pack sent a 5.10- on the roof. It was a truly exhausting climbing day.

Sunday was a good day too! We got up at 5am to wait outside of Mountain Equipment Co op to go to their gear swap! We ran off with the following haul:

Lindsay: Lululemon running top ($5), MEC climbing bum pants ($4), MEC T2 long underwear top ($3), down booties ($5), Black Diamond Mountaineering axe, 65cm ($5), Women's Muira climbing shoes ($8), MEC duffel bag ($5), Thermos ($3), Dry top ($40)

Greg: Black Diamond Telemark skis ($125), Telemark ski boots ($40), Black diamond ice case ($35), Mens Muira climbing shoes ($10)

I'm pretty excited about all of our new gear!

Then after all that, I hauled butt back to Hamilton to run the stairs with my ladies. We did a stair version of "Annie":

Stair climb, singles 50 double unders (100 single skips) Stair climb, single doubles 40 DU (80 singles) Stair climb, doubles 30 DU (60 skips) stair climb, single doubles 20 DU (40 skips) stair climb, singles 10 DU (20 skips)

I think I will incorporate this into future stair wods, but with some weight rather than just body weight (maybe I can do some weighted skips-- but lets not get too crazy now!)

Yesterday I did another climbing night with Greg, Chase, and Marianne though I didn't send any new routes, I did climb really well on a move-by-move basis. It was a good endurance session until I ripped my hand open again. Ugh.

Today I am doing a long run followed by crossfit:

6km run to crossfit Lifting program: goal 3x5 @ 115# backsquat Front squat lifting program (which I still need to post!) 7:15 crossfit 2km run home

I hope I can follow through with that! So far I've been super good at sticking to my training plan for the month of April. Lets hope I can pick up the HIIT and keep going at the rate I'm going even as climbing season approaches!

[mountainambitions]

Rest day

I had a successful rest day on Friday. Not only was the sum total of my exercise walking to and from school (2k total), I even managed to eat healthy even while on a date. Rest days are hard.

[mountainambitions]

Re-boot

Today was a fantastic re-boot. Training could not have gone better. I got a good nights sleep (read: slept through my alarm) and woke up refreshed only to find the most perfect weather waiting for me outside. Sunny and 16ºC. After poking my head out the front door I decided that despite already sleeping in, I had to get outside and train. That I followed that sentiment all day. Hillary and I ran the stairs (I did 3.5 laps) with a 25# pack (in 30 min). Then, I went to school for lab meeting, came home and Sophia and I ran to CrossFit (2km). Where I did some pull-up negatives (10 to be exact) and deadlifting (5 reps 85#, 105#, 125#).

Then we did a Hero WOD:

"The Chief" 5 rounds of 3min AMRAP (only full rounds count):

3 power clean

6 push ups

9 squat

I did 17 full rounds, the first 2 of the 5 at 85# and the last three at 65#. The drop was a good call, but man was that a good WOD. And man was today a good training day, I really hope I can keep going at this pace, just waking up earlier so I can get school work done too.

Now its time to strap on the big girl shoes and do the hard part: recovery. A good, healthy meal, foam rolling, and an ice pack.

[mountainambitions]

When the going gets tough, the tough turn up the volume. -Mark Twight

[mountainambitions]

Nutrition

This is the part I struggle with the most.

I've accepted that the majority of progress is nutrition and recovery, even though I don't like, it cause those are the parts I'm the worst at. But I'm really trying to get it right this time so I can be successful this trip. Mainly because I know that success on Grand Teton will push me to get on harder mountains and maybe push into some frozen things (read: real mountaineering).

I've been seeing one of the trainers at Alchemy about nutrition. Yesterday we talked and apparently I'm not getting enough protein. I guess nuts don't count as a source of protein, they count as a source of fat. So my goals for this week is to keep eating lots of vegetables and to try to get three full servings of protein each day.

So this week my meal plan is:

Breakfast: Smoothie with protein powder

Lunch: hard boiled eggs, salad

Snack: roasted chickpeas, Cliff builder bar, or greek yogurt; and carrot sticks w/hummus

Dinner: Some sort of vegetarian protein along with dinner (tempeh, tofu, etc.)

Also, my goal is to eat until I'm "80% full". We'll see how this works out as I'm going to see Adam again next week.

[mountainambitions]

A Program for Everything

I've been trying to put together a training program that gets me ready for our crazy trip out west this summer and I stumbled upon this training program and I've been using it as a guideline for my own training. Though it seems as if I am now on a "program" for everything.

Here is the program for month two (five months until mountains!) which I have broken down into sub-programs.

My aerobic training program turned out to not work so well for me as I ended up doing far better than it suggested (I wasn't supposed to be able to run 10km until May, and I ran my first 10km in March). So now I'm just trying to get out on a long run 2-3 times per week and short runs the other days. The weather is so nice right now that its hard not to go.

My stair training program is in its early phase and not quite finished yet, but I'm aiming to do the following:

Strength training is probably the most comprehensive for me, I'm on like 600 programs with the help of my CrossFit coaches. They are as follows:

Pullups:

I'm on two lifting programs, one for Olympic lifts and one for Squats. I will update the OLY lifting program later, but so far my Squat lifting program is:

1-2 warm up sets

3 x 5 working sets 2x per week starting (last week) at 110# and adding 10# per day.

This is on top of CrossFit 2 times per week.

PHEW that's a lot! But I do like things to be organized, so hopefully this will help.

[mountainambitions]

Where I'm at

After a month of trips, the CrossFit open, and fickle spring weather, I'm back on track with training. Though I've decided to re-start month 5 in my six month training program.

Mid-January I decided to put myself on a training program to increase my cardio abilities to (a) drop some unwanted winter weight and (b) recover my cardio abilities that have been lost from ankle issues. This way, the 13 mile hike up 7,000 vertical feet on Grand Teton wont seem so daunting.

Since January when I started training I've gone from run/walking 1-2km to running 10km, I've started doing the stairs with weight (25lbs), and PRed almost every lift. So I'm making progress though there is still a long way to go!