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Saturday Climbing

I went climbing on Saturday. I couldn’t hook up with my climbing partner Michael, so I went for some bouldering. It was like 5ish when I went and the place was only lightly populated. I worked a bit around in the boulder cave, then on the walls of the gym where people weren’t roped up.

They cleared away a lot of the holds in the boulder cave and it’s much nicer now. It was too chaotic before – way too many holds. It was hard to figure out where the route went, and you’d be on the wall looking for the next holds in the midst of a bunch of rudely tagged stuff. Now the wall is much more clean, and it’s easier to identify where you can “legally” use holds in a tagged climb.

So in the middle of my climbing session I tweaked my left shoulder. I was on the ceiling of the boulder cave and I went for the last hold on a new route with my left hand, and something went wrong because it just hurt and I dropped down and felt nauseous. I climbed a bit on the slab wall, giving that arm a rest, and moved it around until it felt better, and later went and completed the climb; apparently I had missed this one large red hold immediately prior to the last hold.

Anyway, on Sunday my shoulder was painful to move. I even tried putting my arm out the window driving (since it was fairly nice out) and that hurt too much to do.

I had a pretty good climbing session on Sunday. I’d given myself some rest during the week, and when I got to the gym I was met with success after success. Kind of.

There’s this one purple an orange route in the boulder cave I’ve been playing on, and I made it a hold farther this time than I had before. I’m not quite sure what I should do after that. I’m also not sure if I should have my left or right hand on the hold.

I also did this pink route in the back room on the boulder wall. No problemo.

Then I met up with Michael and we did this green and white route on the bulge wall immediately to the left of the entrance. It’s of a technical nature. Fortunately for me, I watched this girl do it earlier and pretty much used the same ideas she used. It’s quite cramped, with a couple of foot placements that you can’t see as you make them. A lot of small steps up. Very strenuous near the top.

There was also a green route (unrated) that I did for the first time as well in the back room, adjacent to the slab wall. I did both that and the pink route on that wall. I tried the black one, but my fingers weren’t up to the challenge at the time.

I did a pink route on an overhanging arête. I made it one move away from the top before I went hangdog. Once I recouped some strength, I was back in business and made it to the top.

It’s been about a month and a half since I started climbing again. I’ve been going a couple of times a week. Usually once on the weekend and once during the week. It’s been Tuesdays and Sat/Sun. Thu and Fri are booked for me; Wednesday usually has plans. Mon and Tue are typically free.

I blew my left arm out once – that took me out for a week.

I’ve been doing okay. My technique seems to have mostly stayed with me. My breathing isn’t where I’d like it to be, nor is my mental focus.

I’m having an easier time mentally visualizing the moves I need to make. There is a certain disconnect between visualization and implementation, however.

I’m weaker than I used to be. I’m building strength steadily though, and supplementing with Muscle Milk prior to sleeping.

I find that, in comparison to many of the other gym-goers, I am fairly timid/conservative in my approach to the wall. If I’m blown and I know I simply don’t have the strength anymore for a move, I will just lower rather than hang it. I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much to me at this point that I be able to complete a climb. I mean, it does matter – I do try and finish the climbs. But I’m not going to hangdog it at this point; it’s not a project.

I’ve noticed some additions to the climbing slang, in particular “send”, which means to finish a climb.

When last we left our fearless adventurer, he was proclaiming the great deal he got on a pair of climbing shoes. He’s been putting them to good use!

Christmas

But first, a small recap. Christmas I spent up in NH with my parents. There was a lot of snow up there; the day before I left, they had 2 feet on the ground and were getting hit with another 6 inches. I didn’t feel any particular desire to ski.

We mostly just hung out. I recall playing a couple games of Battle Line, which both of my parents seemed to take to.

Christmas morning we watched a Stargate SG-1 marathon while opening presents. This fit right in with my current endeavor to watch Stargate SG-1 from the start of the series to the end. I just finished season 3, and am finally off of those horrid 80mb avis to a more respectible 5.1 350M avi. The resolution on those is still only 1/2 720p, but it’s still better than the miniscule other files.

Speaking of Christmas, my dad loved his laptop backpack. My brother seemed to like his book, though I think he was dubious of the Gamerang subscription. My mother said she was going to save her Netflix subscription until she got her knees replaced (which will be this summer). It is step one in her grand plan to become the first cyborg Grammy.

I went rock climbing over the weekend with a guy I met hiking a couple of weeks ago, Michael. I’ve been climbing less than 5 times since I’ve been in CT, which has been nearly 10 years now. So I’m not exactly in prime physical form for it.

We climbed for about an hour and a half for $13. They’ve got a special running until year end where you can get a yearly subscription to the gym for $300. You can also get a 10 punch ticket for $110. That yearly pass is a good thing if you climb twice a month (300/12 = 25, 13×2 = 26). If you climb more than that, or more than 25 times in a year, then you’re good to go. I figure I could hit the gym twice a week. Once mid week after work, once on the weekend. That’s 2×50, or 100 times, or $3 a shot. Not bad. A good replacement for a coffee habit, a new video card, or cable television.

Speaking of cable, I’ve been thinking of dropping the high test internet in favor of something a little slower. I’ve got a $50 plan now, and I think I could go lower than that and not really notice much of a difference. Sure, it’s nice to get some fast speeds once in a while, but it’s not so often that I really enjoy that benefit. Certainly not $120 worth, or a new mp3 player. I’ll have to have them dial that down.