Rocks, with occasional code

just balance on the fence

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:02:47 GMT

Proper recovery, it makes a difference.

I have assembled all the pieces for the v0 that was kicking my ass. It should come together Wednesday. I might have had a breakthrough on the blue/brown balance-y v2, though that was sufficiently close to the end that I was not going to practice bad habits in from fatigue. (Hips. They have an effect on your center of mass' location.) White/natural I have made progress on and appear to be stuck in a new place. To describe briefly: I have two crappy half-pocket, half-crimp sorts of things for my hands. One of these is a straight down-pull about 2 feet above a ledge; one is an angled down/side pull about 9" above the same ledge and a couple feet off to the left. Nice foot chip constructs for my left foot about 18" down from said ledge, and I can get my right foot on there no problem. The difficulty, you ask? Getting enough weight onto my right foot that I can stand up, without screwing up my balance horribly. When I make that move, my weight is about 30/30/40 between my hands and my left foot, and wants to swing right (in a way that pulls me clean off the ledge) pretty badly. Losing either hand, with or without losing/moving my left foot, is prone to me coming right off. About the only thing I can do (and this is not easy) is to flail my left foot around looking for something better. I fished around at all the ways it can dangle down and got nowhere.

I think, gods help me, it needs to come up and heel-hook around where my left hand is working. Yes, that's a terrible idea that leaves me dropping really low and leaning a long way back. I got nothing better, though.

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All I'm trying's to get some rest

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:58:50 GMT

Being An Imagined Dialogue:

Me: Huh. I appear to have become weak.
Peanut Gallery Consisting Of, But Not Limited To, Spouse, Sibling, And Muscles: Well, dumbass, that's what you get for not taking proper rest days.
Me: ...you did tell me so.
PGCOBNLTSSAM: YES.
Me: But having rested, I feel weaker.
PGCOBNLTSSAM: Bull. That's only because you're allowing things to heal enough that you notice differences in pain levels.
Me: ...dammit. Stop being right.
PGCOBNLTSSAM: Stop pushing for four long climbing sessions a week. Especially when at least three are on consecutive days. Then we'll stop being right at you. About this.
Me: But it was stress relief!
PGCOBNLTSSAM: How's that working out for you? Granted, it's not like you've injured yourself. Yet. This time. But the grumbling about diminished capabilities is getting to be more than telepathically audible.
Me: BECAUSE GRANT WRITING OKAY.
PGCOBNLTSSAM: WHICH YOU ARE NOW DONE WITH. STOP BEING STUPID.
Me: Okay.

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Don't believe it when they tell me there ain't no cure

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 04:07:10 GMT

I have been absent, dear readers, not so much because I have not been on the wall this week, but because it is time for me to learn New! Exciting! Core! Competencies! at my job. Specifically, proposal writing. More specifically, for a ridiculous amount of money on a two-week zero-to-submitted deadline. I always did want to learn something about how the grant writing process worked, but this is some serious getting tossed in the deep end.

Which, combined with my lungs finally deciding (courtesy good drugs) to become civilized again, has gotten me back to climbing so that I resemble a human being when I get home. (The resemblance is arguable, and largely based on bilateral symmetry.) So, to summarize the past four sessions or so:

* Grip strength and calluses go away *fast* when I functionally miss a couple of weeks.
* 'Squirrel' still defeats me at the move before the crux. I swear I will get my foot onto that undercling once and finish the rest of the route trivially...
* Lots of new and semi-new v2s to work on. Bits of progress on some of the annoying cramped starts on v2s and v3s; I have finally remembered that I should cheat and start one-legged if the initial feet are bad.
* New 5.8 on the natural face, which is going sideways for me in the middle as soon as it goes to "just use the naturals for this stretch". Working on reading the rock better; there are decent holds and decent positions for holds, but I keep missing the intersections (or gripping improperly, or both) and misreading what is a sufficient protrusion to actually use as a foot chip. This will take practice but should pay serious dividends.
* Red v3 is becoming more reliable and cleaner as I practice it. There's a brown/yellow v3 in the same general area which is pushing me to do better on splayed-out starts like the red is *supposed* to have when you don't break it by being tall. Have not gotten very far on that one though.
* Blue/yellow long traverse is still defeating me in the corner but I'm starting to see how my weight has to hang in order to make it around okay. Given that, I can back-calculate which holds I have to be on (and my proportions are so far off of everyone else that other people's beta is pretty near useless).
* V for Vendetta/Hook Line and Sinker/whatever the hell it's going to be called this time next week is just annoying the hell out of me. Crimpy bullshit is more difficult, yes, but it's painful difficult without being fun difficult. Tempted to just start rainbow climbing up to the crux and work on that move, because I cannot stomach working on the crimps right now.

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been too long, I'm glad to be back

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:17:50 GMT

So SuperComputing happened.

Things of note from the past week, in no particular order:

* There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 14 year publication gap, is there?
* Holy hell am I stronger than I was three years ago. Better able to function under stress, too.
* That said: need to do something about my right knee (balky after a SC worth of walking/carrying) and controlling my stress response (icy calm is great. Icy calm is awesome. Can I have more of that and less of the migraines please?)
* You know you're a systems weenie when a nine hex digit number jumps out at you in a log file.
* If I do not commit personally to doing better than stone knives and bearskins, how can I expect the group to?
* Bouldering walls work much, much better with enough space.
* Bouldering walls work much, much better with experienced setters who take good advantage of that space.
* It doesn't matter where I'm climbing; my brain will not acknowledge any praise from the ground as targeted at me, regardless of the reality. After I'm down, sure, but not while I'm working.
* Field coats and brush cuts are apparently good looks on me, to the point where other guys notice.
* I no longer get to treat SC as a technical conference where I can actually listen to presentations. Meetings colonize all space and time available. Related: I'm going to have to start reading the gorram papers if I want to keep up.
* For a wide variety of reasons, a smartphone is trending towards required rather than optional.
* For a narrow variety of reasons (mostly keyboard-related, some processor-related) a new laptop is also trending towards required.
* There is a not-so-fine line between "display adaptability" and "just fucking wing it". One should perhaps err towards the "display adaptability" side.

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Stand up next to a mountain

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:22:24 GMT

The Plan, day 1 report:

Warmed up properly, with things that are automatic. Yay! Started attacking projects in semi-random order. Top-rope projects were mostly easy to hard followed by a cementing run on a no-longer project; bouldering was a bit more haphazard with a cementing run, a new success, and a fair bit of bashing my head against a long, tricky project problem.

New success is the other (pain in the ass) green v1, which had been blocked on my ability to actually get the starting move cleanly. Fixed the start--while my left leg need not be on a *hold* it had damn well better be on the *wall*--and the rest was indeed trivial. Leg on wall ensured that my center of mass stayed under the initial crimp until I could get my right arm up and secure, and from there it's just a couple large, deeply textured pinches to the top. This also provides the meta-success of all v0s and v1s currently set being finished.

Last non-cooldown route was a reproduction of the white 5.8 that I got once about six weeks ago. Looks like a lot of the regressions there were mental--I took my time and stayed certain of my weight before making moves, and got up it as cleanly at every single step as I ever have. No fatigue whatsoever, no indecision, and a damn solid lock to make the last move. No awkwardness switching hands on the crimp right at the crux. No pain trying to stand up on the pocket mid-route. No punching myself in the face on the crossover move at the beginning--and no hand pain making it.

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Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:28:02 GMT

Well, that could perhaps have been a more exciting and successful session. Fell off *all* the bouldering problems, pretty much.

Quick conclusions from the past month+ of training:

* If I leave top-rope routes out of my rotation, my stamina and efficiency drop like a rock.
* If I leave bouldering out, my power becomes nonexistent, as does my grip strength.
* If I don't work on new challenges, my brain turns off.
* If I don't practice projects until I can't get them wrong, I will go back to getting them wrong.
* If I don't do something automatic and satisfying, my mental outlook will not stay good.

New plan:

* Warm up with an easy top-rope route and an easy bouldering problem every session. Cool down with same.
* Alternate top-rope and bouldering for project work during each session.
* Experiment with placing the projects in increasing, decreasing, and random difficulty order.

I should have enough data to start evaluating how this is working by the end of December--the next two weeks will of course be irregular with SC and Thanksgiving.

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and the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:01:25 GMT

So here's the thing: be careful what you ask for. You might well get it.

"Knitting", the red 5.7-cum-5.8, has been reset with different holds for the bottom half of the route and the end hold of the crux move, and has become a 5.9, "V for vendetta". It also lost yet another supporting hold at the crux. What this means: the first 10-15 feet have gone from a simple ladder climb to a collection of tough crimps (and really, what is it with the setters right now and EVERYTHING CRIMPY?) and the ledge that starts the crux sequence going from one of the harder holds of that portion to by far the easiest. The crux must stay diagonal rather than unfolding to traverse and get vertical, and the hold above the ring that you finish the mantle onto is much, much worse. Have not sent yet.

"Squirrel" regressed due to massive footwork!fail. Have acquired some inspiration for how I might wish to attack it; might be able to enter the crux sequence if I can transform theory into practice. Sadly will not be able to try bicycling the actual crux move if I enter along this path.

Pink 5.10a has gotten halfway, which is to say I have gotten a secure hand on the 5th hold of 10. That doesn't mean my feet are anywhere I can actually advance from; the blessing and curse of a "natural feet" route is that you can fix anything if you know where to go, but there are so very many blind alleys. It's getting more solid for the first few moves, though, and one of my limiting factors is now my right hand's fingertips and their ability to keep pinching hold #4. Need calluses. Good news, though: having stopped to observe my own technique, I can confirm that I reflexively open-hand all the crimps on this route. So there's some chance that, despite the general grumpiness of my fingers, I am not working in the short term on destroying my tendons. Which is nice. I'll leave that for the young and stupid.

Pink/blue 5.10, "Bravery Jerk", I am going to start working on as an intro to crack climbing. I can't do a damn thing with this route because I keep forgetting what I'm doing and trying to treat the crack like it's a regular hold, rather than something to wedge body parts into and expand maximally. I have big damn hands. I can do this if I practice. Very unnatural approach compared to all other types of climbing though. May decide to say screw the route, climb the crack with both sides of body--the crack portion is set with left side in crack/right side on normal 5.10 holds, which is all kinds of awkward given that the holds would be a challenge even if I weren't learning a new skill with my nominally smarter side.

General bouldering: has regressed. Some is undoubtedly lack of focus. Some is that I'm not picking up bouldering problems until I've already spent 30-45 minutes working on top-rope projects. Should probably get a near-pure bouldering session in for either tomorrow or Friday's workout. Should definitely put some serious focus on bouldering in SLC (if nothing else because that means I don't need a partner as badly).

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rock bottom's where we live and still we dig these trenches

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:04:34 GMT

It is, I think, getting to the time of year when my lungs actually need medication for proper function. Three off days are not enough--or possibly too much--to recover stamina proper-like.

In the interests of space and not boring the regular readers (all five of you, I know), I shall attempt to sum up changes/lessons learned on the day:

Pink 5.10a: yes, this is easier when the 3rd hold is a proper down-pull and not a side-pull. 5th hold kicks my ass now even if I get up to 3rd/4th well, though. Thus far this is one hell of an exercise in patience and being careful/reading rock for where your feet can and must stand. Going to be *very* satisfying when I knock this one down, assuming it stays up long enough. The crimps are getting less deadly though, which is a Good Thing(tm).

Orange 5.9, "Squirrel": THIS IS RESURRECTED, GUYS. BECAUSE SARAH T. LOVES THIS ROUTE AND WANTS US ALL TO BE HAPPY. The lower 10 feet or so are radically different from how it was set previously; I think it's nearly as left-handed now as it used to be right-handed. It is incredible how much difference it makes to my perception of the route when all the easy holds are for my shitty arm, rather than vice versa. This, plus six extra weeks of climbing development or so, means that I can pretty easily haul my carcass up to the start of the crux sequence. The crux is (approximating): left hand pinching a decently horizontal blob, right hand on a side pull on a crimp, left hip in, both feet on pretty solid big-ass ledges that are tilted back relative to your orientation. You have an undercling paddle thing around your left thigh somewhere and a solid crimp-like thing with a decent lip on it about 3 feet above your head (assuming your head is pretty much between your arms). Get over to the paddle, stand up, and grab the crimp-like thing. Simple, eh? (The problems of course being getting over to the paddle in the first place, and then standing on it successfully.) I have a Clever Plan that is probably too cute for my own good, but the fact that the paddle is an undercling means I should be able to wedge one foot *under* it for counter-rotation force to stay more secure...noting that otherwise you have no footholds of use and are flagging, smearing, or hand-foot matching.

Other stuff: the bouldering wall is getting back towards route-dense enough not to be much fun. Everything zusammengeworfen, routes getting randomly altered/half-deleted, no good. Unlike past Mondays, not too crowded, though that may partly be because I didn't make it over until 6PM. Fingers not too pissed off at me today; nor are large muscles. Bike tires need inflation or I'm really losing it with my legs (guessing the former).

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i got space and space got me

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:58:06 GMT

In which Our Correspondent learns several things, some of which are useful.

First: yeah, I'm migrating over to DW. Crossposts will continue until morale improves, but everyone who's not-reading me over on LJ can continue not-reading me on DW, and likewise for those who are reading. Posts will be about 99% public and about 95% climbing diaries (with the occasional other stuff mixed in). We are of course all shocked by this.

Second: goals for teh climbing. I have set myself three! They might even happen!

1) Climb a 5.10 cleanly.
2) Become proficient at bouldering v3s and below.
3) ADVENTUR! Bike to Devils' Lake/climb/bike home over a weekend.

Timeline: by end of spring semester for all of these
Requirements: rope, crazy person willing and able to belay, possibly some practice on non-biked Devils' Lake ADVENTURs. Camping gear sufficient for number of crazy people involved in the biking. Food sufficient ditto, cargo capacity ditto ditto.

Now, skills what I have learned over the past week of climbing:

* I can now do hand-foot matches, if careful and if the hold is sufficiently large. This, in particular, makes the slab blue v2 I had been cursing at since the contest a feasible climb. Still haven't gotten the last move and a half (foot switch or awkward layback, either one sucks).
* Slowly getting better at crimping, though it kills my fingers. The pink 5.10a that's a currently active project is all crimps and pinches. The good holds are the ones where there's any degree of incut such that you can wrap your fingers around something and there's enough space for more than half your finger pad. The bad holds are...neither. Literally fingertip crimps of about 1/2" and no angle. One of those had spun from a horizontal crimp (hang down off it) to vertical (hang with your weight to the right of it) which made things even more challenging; with it spun I could still get past it when fresh but only barely.
* Endurance is improving, in that I can do back-to-back days of >90 minutes and not be completely dead.
* Balance and fluidity are definitely getting better.
* Power is getting better though endurance with power is still kind of pants.
* Generally getting better at laybacks by virtue of beating my head against the start of the 5.10b (which is about 15 feet of traverse, all done leaning back at a 45 degree angle). Yes, I can only get 3-4 moves into this one but I'm slowly getting *better* at those 3-4 moves.

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