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Posts Tagged ‘climbing’

Turning a corner

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Recently I feel like I’ve turned a corner with Getting In Shape 2009. I’ve exercised 9 times in 10 days, which I’m not sure I’ve ever done: Monday 3-mile run, Tuesday top-rope climbing, Wednesday 3-mile run, Thursday bouldering, Friday 3-mile run, Saturday a 6-mile (and terrible, might I add) bike ride, Monday a 6-mile run, Tuesday terrible top-rope climbing, and today 3.25 miles of interval running. (As an aside, I really liked my interval training! This is the first time I’ve ever done it, and it made the miles fly by. It’s sort of makes running a game, and I didn’t even notice that I was working hard.)

In general, I’m happy that my runs no longer feel like torture, and even though I have the occasional terrible day of climbing, I do feel like I’m slowly getting stronger. I think the difficulty with exercising so much (besides the ever-present threat of injury) is that my body is usually tired. During climbing on Tuesday, I think my legs were still tired from Monday’s run, and they were shaking while I was up on the wall. Hopefully I’ll build up my strength and endurance and get my body used to being so active. That, or I’ll just be terrible at everything. Always. Whee! Project Eating Mindfully is going really well, too, and I feel good after meals instead of super stuffed. If I can stay healthy (read: uninjured), I think I could soon be in the best shape of my life!

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Goals, Update #1

Friday, January 30th, 2009

So, it really was severely misrated, buuut…I don’t make the ratings. :)

1) Memorize one phone number from my cell phone’s contact list per week.
2) Get back into running shape (half marathon at least)
3) Shoot pictures more in Manual
4) Finish my photography website
5) Beat Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect
6) Finish the many, many wedding albums I have on my backlog.
7) Go camping
8) Climb an 11b
9) Get a puppy
10) Think of a #10 for my goals list.

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Things I learned this weekend

Sunday, June 1st, 2008
  • Enzo needs another medication (aluminum hydroxide, a phosphate binder), which brings the total up to 6. (7, if you count the fluids.)
  • When making beef stroganoff, don’t go for the cheapest steak you can find at Safeway. It just isn’t worth it.
  • Climbing 3 times in 4 days makes me tired.
  • Enzo decreases in volume by approximately 50% when wet, only to increase by 200% after being dried by a shop vac in reverse.
  • That girl in the building next door? She’ll take your wet clothes out of the washer.
  • June 1 is the perfect date to remove the ski rack from one’s car.
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Lead Belay Test: 1, Sha Sha: 1

Friday, April 18th, 2008

:D

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Lead Belay Test: 1, Sha Sha: 0

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

:(

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Leading

Friday, April 4th, 2008

As a birthday present, Buddy got me the lead climbing class at Planet Granite. I’d been wanting to take it for a while, so Buddy offering to pay for it was just the push I needed.

It was three hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and it was a lot of fun. There was a little bit of talking about gear and techniques, then it was straight into practicing clipping in, and then doing mock leading (leading while also tied into a top rope). Tonight (Thursday), we did real leads, and I led a 10c, which I did cleanly up until the last move, where my brain/body sort of gave up and I fell. Still exciting, though.

Part of the lead class is also learning how to fall, so the instructor had us do some pretty big falls (I’d estimate 10-12 foot falls), which was a little scary. I mentioned that I had bungy jumped before, so one of my classmates asked me how the fall compared to bungy jumping. My response? “Same amount of terror, but shorter.”

As a perk for taking the lead class, we also get 20% off lead climbing-related gear, so I finally picked up a belay device and a locking carabiner. I’m also considering picking up a rope, but they’re pretty expensive.

Who’s up for some climbing trips this summer??

In a mostly-related note, I also found out today that Planet Granite is opening a San Francisco location! Anyone want to go to the open house with me?

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Happy Leap Day!

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Buddy reminded me that it was Leap Day today, so I decided to post because I won’t get another chance until 2012!

Last night we went to Bucci’s for Joe’s birthday. I had a mixed green salad with pine nuts, and cassoulet, which was pretty yummy. How can you go wrong with sausage, bacon, lamb, and duck confit?? Mmm…

Otherwise, not too much new. I’ve found a new climbing nemesis in the form of an 11a that has a crappy move going over a lip, but I think I’m slowly getting it. It’s nice to have a “project” to work on, even if it is just an 11a.

I’m trying to resist feeling mentally crushed when I think about how much there is left to do at work. I think I need to focus more on each task one at a time, rather than looking too far ahead and feeling overwhelmed. That, or I’ll just curl into a fetal position and cry.

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King Lines

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Last weekend Buddy and I watched King Lines, which I gave him for Christmas. It may be because it’s the only climbing movie I’ve ever seen, but I thought it was awesome and very inspirational. Watching Chris Sharma climb is like watching Spiderman climb — graceful and controlled, yet so powerful. It was also nice to see that things like fame and sponsorships were more like bonuses to him, and what really drives him is just a love of climbing. If I get to be a fraction of the climber that he is, I will be very, very happy. Now I just gotta go work on this 11a project at the gym…

(As an aside, while looking up info about Chris Sharma, I happened upon the website of Corey Rich, who has some really cool adventure photos, including the one that is on the cover on the King Lines DVD.)

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Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

150px-Rat.svg.pngHappy year of the rat, everyone! I was a good Chinese kid and had fish last night for dinner (after being reminded by both my mom and my brother.) A special thanks to Yar and Jan for picking up my dinner for me from Pacific Catch. I was coming back to the city from climbing and wasn’t going to make it back to the city before closing, so I called in the order had JanYar pick it up for me. I ordered grilled escolar which was actually really good, but if you check out the wikipedia article I linked to, you’ll find some interesting information under the section titled “Effects of consumption”. I did have some mild “issues” today, but I’m not sure if it was the escolar, coincidence, or psychological. In any case, I may be avoiding this particular fish in the future.

In climbing news, I had a pretty good night last night and did a 10a, a 10d, and two 11as. I’m a little sore today, but I’m glad that I’m getting into better climbing shape. I’m also going to run at the gym today, so this is shaping up to be a pretty healthy start to the (Chinese) new year.

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I remember you!

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

I went to my 5th-year college reunion class party on Saturday, and had a lot of fun. When I decided to attend, I was afraid that I would just spend the whole night hanging out with my normal friends, which would kind of make the night a bust (sorry, friends). But I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people I saw who fell into the “I forgot about you but am really glad to see you” category, and ended up staying until 1:30am. I even remembered everyone’s name, which was quite a feat for me.

On the way back, we were driving behind a clearly drunk driver on 101N. We called 911, and were promptly put on hold for a full 5 minutes, before a surly operator answered and hung up after about 10 seconds. The conversation in full:

“Hi, we’re on 101N, and the person in front of us is really drunk.”
“How do you know he’s drunk?”
“…He’s swerving all over the freeway.”
“Ok. *click*.”

Good thing we were only calling to tell them, “I’m driving behind a drunk driver” and not, say, “A crazed cannibalistic maniac is currently chewing off my foot, please send help.”

Besides reunion activities, the weekend was good, too. Amanda and I went on an urban hike to find a birthday present for my sister (it’s in the mail!), which took us around the sunset, as well as to The Haight. Sunday we made the awesome blueberry muffins again, and didn’t do too much else.

In other news, congrats to Buddy for placing second in the ABS bouldering competition last Saturday! I think next time a competition rolls around, I may compete in the recreational (i.e. wussy) division.

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