Training Zone

Well, after getting back from my Canadian Rockies trip, I'm back into sport climbing mode. So while I don't have any climbing adventures are planned at the moment, I'm back into bouldering for a while at Metrorock. A lot of the ice is pretty baked up north, and if it isn't already, it will soon be the yuckiest time in New England for climbing anyways. I did see some pictures of Hannah & Co. at Waimea (Rumney) recently, but I saw there was a big icicle in the background (where it's always wet in the summer). I couldn't help but think somebody ought to be drytooling his or her way up to that hanger...one of my big goals is to become a competent mixed climber and I always feel inspired when I look up at stuff like that. For this summer, I want to try and do some 5.12s. I know core strength and endurance are two of my weaknesses, so I'm taking this opportunity to target those. It's always so much easier to target strengths than weaknesses during training, so I have to try and be disciplined about it. I hadn't been to Metrorock (or generally rock climbing) for about six weeks before last week, so I am constantly sore these days. But that's part of the fun of training for climbing, right? I think a good intermediate goal for me would be to boulder V5 or V6 in the gym in the next few months. I think I'm at the point where I've learned a lot of the easier stuff about climbing. So everything's hard now. :) I know I say I'm sick of winter, -30 F days, and screaming barfies right now, but soon, you'll probably hear me saying how much I want to go lead a dead vertical WI 5 and finally get over my sweating palms and pounding heart... But there really is nothing like the perfect swing, little sparks of ice, or a bomber Stein pull...

In other news, as of the very first round of March Madness, I was doing pretty badly. Fortunately, I seem to be doing a bit better now. As someone who knows almost nothing about basketball, I am confident I should be win our lab pool. How complicated can it be? Don't elbow or kick, dribble while you move around, and get the orange thing in the peach basket...

Here are two of my favorite pictures from the trip:
Red Man Soars (M6)

Whiteman Falls (WI 6)

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36326863@N06/