So i updated the blog a bit to make it look nice. also made a youtube account for climbing vids since it seems like my files are getting too large for vimeo.
Here's a vid from two weeks ago of my ascent of dragon turns v9, and working on crouching dragon v11
i got a couple clips from last friday in peterskill where i worked on jefe v10. i only had about a half hour to work on it, and i got all the moves except the last one, so hopefully a send will be coming soon. i didnt figure out what im gonna do for the last move yet, so it could possibly be the crux. not sure.
goin to peterskill this friday in hopes of sending!
oh, and if you like v5 or v7 and climb in peterskill, go climb Classic V5 or its extension the hop V7.
such a fun climb! 4 star moves with a perfect topout. so fun :)
later
Wooooweee. lots to talk about.
So my last update was almost 2 months ago. I feel like a lot has happened in that time.
I haven't been able to climb outside since the last update. The weather has been shot on the days that I'm able to make the hike up to New Paltz.
But last week was different! I finally got a decent day in terms of temps. It was drizzling here and there. but it was just nice to be out again.
I've seen some drastic improvements in strength. Especially crimp strength. I knew my crimps needed to get stronger to handle harder problems.
I saw a brick wall at my job and always looked at 1/4 pad crimps, wondering if it was climbable. I felt like it was, except the feet are terrible, I can barely fit my climbing shoes into the crevasses because of how thin they are.
I didn't climb on it that often, maybe once a week for about 3 weeks. The pressure on my joints hurt really bad, and i knew that it meant i could get stronger on them. It was sharp and would leave tears in my skin!
So anyway. besides that, ive been eating normal except a ton of chocolate milk and some calcium tablets.
Last week I went to the trapps, while my friends worked the buddha v7, i worked the first extension, illustrious buddha v8. It was my 2nd day trying the extension, the first day i got to the last move and couldnt throw to the jug. the 2nd day, from the very first go, i got to the last move, but the intermediate was so bad and my shoes kept slipping off with the heel hooks. after a bunch of tries, i decided to click my heels together when i cut feet to put the shoes back on and go to the top all at once. it worked! i sent. awesome problem.
the same day i went to work on boxcar arete and the art of nothing. both v8's.
i didnt think id send boxcar, because when i tried it back in june, my crimp strength was no where near where i needed it to be. so i tried it anyway, and first try i found myself at the top reaching for the jug horn! i cruised through all the moves and they didnt even feel hard. crimp training at my work i suppose...
unfortunately, i had some elbow tendonitis from climbing 3 days in a row, including trying to complete all 14 new problems at the gym the previous night (got 12).
so i lacked the power to campus (i know) to the horn..
walked over to art of nothing, awesome problem. totally looked my style. crimps (now) and a dyno. it was went but i went for it anyway. my 2nd go i was reaching for the top! once again i lacked the power...i really should have waited for the flash, i believe i could have since its a pretty straightforward, short problem.
so the following week i went back to finish boxcar and the art of nothing. i sent boxcar first go after warming up on a v0 and v2, and then sent art of nothing 2nd go. pretty sweet!
so i wanted to try dragon turns v9, since i only tried it once back in april and wasnt even close to sticking the opening.
after some tries, i found myself throwing for the lip for the topout...!! i caught the jug with the tips of my fingers, and went to readjust, and then this happened:
such a bummer! ive never done that to my finger before, but i cut a chunk out of it!
so once again i had another cliff hanger (lol). another problem i have to go back and do..i was too close!
so here are some videos. the first one has me doing illustrious and the 2nd has boxcar and the art of nothing...
So my last update was almost 2 months ago. I feel like a lot has happened in that time.
I haven't been able to climb outside since the last update. The weather has been shot on the days that I'm able to make the hike up to New Paltz.
But last week was different! I finally got a decent day in terms of temps. It was drizzling here and there. but it was just nice to be out again.
I've seen some drastic improvements in strength. Especially crimp strength. I knew my crimps needed to get stronger to handle harder problems.
I saw a brick wall at my job and always looked at 1/4 pad crimps, wondering if it was climbable. I felt like it was, except the feet are terrible, I can barely fit my climbing shoes into the crevasses because of how thin they are.
I didn't climb on it that often, maybe once a week for about 3 weeks. The pressure on my joints hurt really bad, and i knew that it meant i could get stronger on them. It was sharp and would leave tears in my skin!
So anyway. besides that, ive been eating normal except a ton of chocolate milk and some calcium tablets.
Last week I went to the trapps, while my friends worked the buddha v7, i worked the first extension, illustrious buddha v8. It was my 2nd day trying the extension, the first day i got to the last move and couldnt throw to the jug. the 2nd day, from the very first go, i got to the last move, but the intermediate was so bad and my shoes kept slipping off with the heel hooks. after a bunch of tries, i decided to click my heels together when i cut feet to put the shoes back on and go to the top all at once. it worked! i sent. awesome problem.
the same day i went to work on boxcar arete and the art of nothing. both v8's.
i didnt think id send boxcar, because when i tried it back in june, my crimp strength was no where near where i needed it to be. so i tried it anyway, and first try i found myself at the top reaching for the jug horn! i cruised through all the moves and they didnt even feel hard. crimp training at my work i suppose...
unfortunately, i had some elbow tendonitis from climbing 3 days in a row, including trying to complete all 14 new problems at the gym the previous night (got 12).
so i lacked the power to campus (i know) to the horn..
walked over to art of nothing, awesome problem. totally looked my style. crimps (now) and a dyno. it was went but i went for it anyway. my 2nd go i was reaching for the top! once again i lacked the power...i really should have waited for the flash, i believe i could have since its a pretty straightforward, short problem.
so the following week i went back to finish boxcar and the art of nothing. i sent boxcar first go after warming up on a v0 and v2, and then sent art of nothing 2nd go. pretty sweet!
so i wanted to try dragon turns v9, since i only tried it once back in april and wasnt even close to sticking the opening.
after some tries, i found myself throwing for the lip for the topout...!! i caught the jug with the tips of my fingers, and went to readjust, and then this happened:
such a bummer! ive never done that to my finger before, but i cut a chunk out of it!
so once again i had another cliff hanger (lol). another problem i have to go back and do..i was too close!
so here are some videos. the first one has me doing illustrious and the 2nd has boxcar and the art of nothing...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
I had a great summer.
I didn't get to climb outdoors, but got some good rest time when I went on a missions trip to the dominican republic.
everything was slow paced, and I really found the center of it all. I gained insight on my future, and what it means to love God.
so the temps have been favorable. I went to the gunks 3 times in september alone!
In short,
A day in the trapps, i got one move away from sending Illustrious Buddha V8. Somehow the moves seem like theyre coming together. just a big lockoff to the jug.
A day at peterskill, i worked on tigerstyle, felt pretty impossible. But as i got my hands in the right positions, and worked on that technical end, it started coming together. Eventually i set up for the dyno, and my hand touched the lip, but no send. So we moved onto other things we didnt have beta for...like dwarf toss v8...we started in the wrong place and it made it really really really hard. might be cool if i climb v11..
so yesterday i went to peterskill again to take down tigerstyle, and it went! afterwards we went to village idiot v7 and i almost flashed it. i was stoked. in a few goes after i realized there was an actual lip to throw for at the top, i sent.
my friend dave got some awesome shots of the send,
and a video.
vengaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
I didn't get to climb outdoors, but got some good rest time when I went on a missions trip to the dominican republic.
everything was slow paced, and I really found the center of it all. I gained insight on my future, and what it means to love God.
so the temps have been favorable. I went to the gunks 3 times in september alone!
In short,
A day in the trapps, i got one move away from sending Illustrious Buddha V8. Somehow the moves seem like theyre coming together. just a big lockoff to the jug.
A day at peterskill, i worked on tigerstyle, felt pretty impossible. But as i got my hands in the right positions, and worked on that technical end, it started coming together. Eventually i set up for the dyno, and my hand touched the lip, but no send. So we moved onto other things we didnt have beta for...like dwarf toss v8...we started in the wrong place and it made it really really really hard. might be cool if i climb v11..
so yesterday i went to peterskill again to take down tigerstyle, and it went! afterwards we went to village idiot v7 and i almost flashed it. i was stoked. in a few goes after i realized there was an actual lip to throw for at the top, i sent.
my friend dave got some awesome shots of the send,
and a video.
Tiger Style V7 from Alan Kahn on Vimeo.
vengaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
So my ring finger's tendon has almost completely healed. i can dead hang on my campus board on the good two finger pockets now.
my middle finger's crimp pulley is almost completely healed too. ive been able to crimp pretty hard on it. ive lost some crimp strength from my right hand taking a break because of my wrist and my left hand taking a break because of the injury in hueco...but im good to go now!
my good friend JJ had vacation this past week for the first time in 2 years, and he really wanted to climb a lot...so we climbed 5 days this week...saturday, monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday. each session was at least 3 hours long. i was wrecked on tuesday! i felt the elbow tendonitis coming back, and i tried very hard to keep climbing lol.
climbed at brooklyn boulders, garden state rocks, earth treks in rockville near washington d.c., elite climbing gym in south jersey by philly, and manhattan health plaza club rock gym in nyc.
at bkb, i didnt feel too strong, i had a 5 day break to rest up and i needed to break my muscles in again..but i took some vids of v9 attempts (video below)
monday at gsr, i felt strong. i finally sent the red v8 pinch problem (video below). that v8 felt really hard when i first tried it over a month ago. i sent the problem first go on monday, and it made me really feel like im progressing. i also sent a orange v6- upstairs with my really burly beta that makes it go at v7, first go. that problem felt really hard with my bad beta the first time i ever tried it, so once again i felt good.
tuesday in d.c. i felt drained. however, i managed to make progress on a couple v9's and 8's, although no sends. one particular v9 on the overhang involved a powerful heelhook, big throw move which started up my elbow tendonitis..
thursday at elite, almost nothing was graded because it was all new, but i was able to bust out a send on a problem that i was maxing out on. i felt my fingers uncurling, but i pulled through. no matter what grade, i felt that i mentally made progress. there was also a pretty gnarly crimp problem i made some progress on. but i felt whooped.
friday at mhpc, i was dead. but i still climbed somehow... in fact, i almost flashed a v7+ on the overhang. it felt pretty burly even with being super sore. i made progress on a v-hard there as well. seeing jj and manuel try the problem, although they were tired as well, helped me get a sense of how hard the problems were. the problems were much more beta intensive, but i had fun, and was glad to be on new stuff.
tomorrow is another day. i took off the past two days from climbing, and im trying to recover so that i can climb hard at gsr tomorrow. i have an idea of what i want to work on. i really feel like im about to make a big breakthrough in my climbing. we shall see!
(by the way, in a couple days it will be exactly 1 year and a half since i started climbing. im getting old.)
my middle finger's crimp pulley is almost completely healed too. ive been able to crimp pretty hard on it. ive lost some crimp strength from my right hand taking a break because of my wrist and my left hand taking a break because of the injury in hueco...but im good to go now!
my good friend JJ had vacation this past week for the first time in 2 years, and he really wanted to climb a lot...so we climbed 5 days this week...saturday, monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday. each session was at least 3 hours long. i was wrecked on tuesday! i felt the elbow tendonitis coming back, and i tried very hard to keep climbing lol.
climbed at brooklyn boulders, garden state rocks, earth treks in rockville near washington d.c., elite climbing gym in south jersey by philly, and manhattan health plaza club rock gym in nyc.
at bkb, i didnt feel too strong, i had a 5 day break to rest up and i needed to break my muscles in again..but i took some vids of v9 attempts (video below)
monday at gsr, i felt strong. i finally sent the red v8 pinch problem (video below). that v8 felt really hard when i first tried it over a month ago. i sent the problem first go on monday, and it made me really feel like im progressing. i also sent a orange v6- upstairs with my really burly beta that makes it go at v7, first go. that problem felt really hard with my bad beta the first time i ever tried it, so once again i felt good.
tuesday in d.c. i felt drained. however, i managed to make progress on a couple v9's and 8's, although no sends. one particular v9 on the overhang involved a powerful heelhook, big throw move which started up my elbow tendonitis..
thursday at elite, almost nothing was graded because it was all new, but i was able to bust out a send on a problem that i was maxing out on. i felt my fingers uncurling, but i pulled through. no matter what grade, i felt that i mentally made progress. there was also a pretty gnarly crimp problem i made some progress on. but i felt whooped.
friday at mhpc, i was dead. but i still climbed somehow... in fact, i almost flashed a v7+ on the overhang. it felt pretty burly even with being super sore. i made progress on a v-hard there as well. seeing jj and manuel try the problem, although they were tired as well, helped me get a sense of how hard the problems were. the problems were much more beta intensive, but i had fun, and was glad to be on new stuff.
tomorrow is another day. i took off the past two days from climbing, and im trying to recover so that i can climb hard at gsr tomorrow. i have an idea of what i want to work on. i really feel like im about to make a big breakthrough in my climbing. we shall see!
(by the way, in a couple days it will be exactly 1 year and a half since i started climbing. im getting old.)
Red V8 @ GSR from Alan Kahn on Vimeo.
Two V9 Attempts @ BKB from Alan Kahn on Vimeo.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Wow. it's been a WHILE since i updated.
let me fill you in with some short details.
i injured my left hand middle finger crimp pulley in hueco
i injured my right hand ring finger pocket pulley on a v9 at the gravity vault in chatham
ive mostly been trying to rehab my injuries, and am able to start climbing semi-normally only now...although this past week, ive been climbing every other day unintentionally and im starting to feel my tendons wearing down again.
ive been doing some secret training to get stronger, but i have only been able to implement my training for a week or so..but i have seen some good results.
i went to the gunks last tuesday and the week before that...
sent the buddha v6/7 on my 3rd go
worked on boxcar arete v8 (i can get 2 moves from the top, and almost am able to start from there and topout. but i need to get stronger, maybe in a month ill be strong enough to send it. really hard on my crimps right now..)
ive been getting better flow on easier problems like the lorax v4, and the gill egg v4. im understanding things a lot better now.
at my home gym GSR, theres one red v8 project that im able to link up to the crux, and then from the crux get to the finish, but the crux is just a little bit rough for me to do on command every time. i think i can pull it off this week, but its a basic power pinch problem, and really powerful on a steep overhang.
they put up a bunch of new problems the other day and i either flashed or got 2nd go every problem on the boulder except a new black v8. the new black v8 includes a scrunchy foot that you have to make a big move off tiny crimps. it seems impossible for me at my level now. but i have some time, hopefully i can dispatch it before it gets taken down.
so i wont bore you with too much more detail...im trying to get stronger, im starting to take protein again, tuesday i was WRECKED.
climbed at the gunks all day and came back home and climbed at gsr...definitely overdid it that day.
anyway. here's a vid from the gunks of me re-sending the buddha. enjoy.
let me fill you in with some short details.
i injured my left hand middle finger crimp pulley in hueco
i injured my right hand ring finger pocket pulley on a v9 at the gravity vault in chatham
ive mostly been trying to rehab my injuries, and am able to start climbing semi-normally only now...although this past week, ive been climbing every other day unintentionally and im starting to feel my tendons wearing down again.
ive been doing some secret training to get stronger, but i have only been able to implement my training for a week or so..but i have seen some good results.
i went to the gunks last tuesday and the week before that...
sent the buddha v6/7 on my 3rd go
worked on boxcar arete v8 (i can get 2 moves from the top, and almost am able to start from there and topout. but i need to get stronger, maybe in a month ill be strong enough to send it. really hard on my crimps right now..)
ive been getting better flow on easier problems like the lorax v4, and the gill egg v4. im understanding things a lot better now.
at my home gym GSR, theres one red v8 project that im able to link up to the crux, and then from the crux get to the finish, but the crux is just a little bit rough for me to do on command every time. i think i can pull it off this week, but its a basic power pinch problem, and really powerful on a steep overhang.
they put up a bunch of new problems the other day and i either flashed or got 2nd go every problem on the boulder except a new black v8. the new black v8 includes a scrunchy foot that you have to make a big move off tiny crimps. it seems impossible for me at my level now. but i have some time, hopefully i can dispatch it before it gets taken down.
so i wont bore you with too much more detail...im trying to get stronger, im starting to take protein again, tuesday i was WRECKED.
climbed at the gunks all day and came back home and climbed at gsr...definitely overdid it that day.
anyway. here's a vid from the gunks of me re-sending the buddha. enjoy.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
So by the way, Easter weekend (April 2nd-4th) I, along with my friends JJ and Manuel, went to Hueco Tanks in El Paso Texas.
Yeah. it was a short trip, but it was definitely worth it!
We couldn't stay longer because of work/school/etc. but this is the time to go before it gets too hot...so we just did it.
left early friday and flew back 2am sunday night. i had a test early monday morning too hahah
Got to see a bunch of sweet classics, See Spot Run V6, T-Bone Shuffle V4, Nobody Here Gets Out Alive V2, Power Of Silence V10 (recently sent by Ashima who's only 8 years old.) 3D V7, Esperanza V14...to name a few.
The atmosphere was so awesome. It was completely dead silent. You could hear people whispering in their tents from 50 feet away.
The stars were blinding at night. It was fantastic!
As for sends, I personally didn't get much to work on for lack of time. But I got to flash T-bone shuffle V4, which was a super awesome problem.
We had 20 minutes left before we had to leave to catch a plane home on sunday, and I really really wanted to try 3D V7 next to Alma Blanca V13.
So I worked on it, it was pretty rough! But I'm very happy to say that I linked it to two different sections, The only move I couldn't get was a weird cross move to an undercling jug. I was touching it but we ran out of time...
If only i had an extra day to try it! but oh well. I'm still happy, it was a really fun trip.
Now I have returned and am back in business...So much work to do! It was really nice to escape everything for a weekend. I kinda forgot i existed. haha.
I went to the gunks on monday night for 3 hours, didn't get to send anything new, but I am proud to say that I got the first two opening moves on Karajo V11! I got video of it too...Now I'm obsessing over getting back to the gunks to work on it some more...It's definitely a milestone boulder for me, that top-out is crazy scary to me.
Well first i better get New Pair of Glasses V7 done...and then I'll get the remaining 3 extension moves...My shoulders are still very sore.
Lots of work to do! Maybe I'll post some video later.
Check out all the photos on facebook here
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hey! Short update:
After I climbed in florida, I climbed for 3 days straight, which is a huge improvement from the past month of injury!
I have no endurance and I'm very very sore. Over the weekend I climbed at Brooklyn Boulders, It's always really fun there!
I just wanted to put up a video that I took of a pretty V7 I sent there.
I sent the problem, got really pumped, and took a vid. In the vid i dont send it.
I guess you dont have to believe me that I sent it in 3 tries, or that i sent it at all, lol
But here's the video nonetheless
btw: after changing a tire last saturday during the apocalyptic weather, I hurt my wrist a little bit...It seems to be getting back to normal again, it just got a little swollen.
Hueco is a week from friday! need to build endurance...
After I climbed in florida, I climbed for 3 days straight, which is a huge improvement from the past month of injury!
I have no endurance and I'm very very sore. Over the weekend I climbed at Brooklyn Boulders, It's always really fun there!
I just wanted to put up a video that I took of a pretty V7 I sent there.
I sent the problem, got really pumped, and took a vid. In the vid i dont send it.
I guess you dont have to believe me that I sent it in 3 tries, or that i sent it at all, lol
But here's the video nonetheless
btw: after changing a tire last saturday during the apocalyptic weather, I hurt my wrist a little bit...It seems to be getting back to normal again, it just got a little swollen.
Hueco is a week from friday! need to build endurance...
Monday, March 22, 2010
I don't know what happened.
It's been 5 weeks since I sprained my wrist. Everyday it felt as if it was sluggishly healing, hardly improving.
On saturday night, feeling crappy as it usually does, my brother did this anti-swelling trick on my wrist. I was like, lol...what do you mean you know a trick? and then he did it and i was like uh huh...whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Also, during the day as i was stretching it, I cracked it by accident...It hurt but idk. maybe that contributed too...i have no idea.
I think God just decided it was time. and i am very very very thankful.
My wrist has finally healed from its sprain! so i climbed in florida, totally had no endurance but had some amounts of strength.
The gym was called Aiguille, and is based in orlando.
For a gym that doesn't have real rock within a 100 mile radius, they do really well! the problems were very thought out, very fun with the features and angles, and had some tweaky beta.
I was glad i got to climb my hardest once again. It really felt amazing.
I woke up this morning and my forearms were sore for the first time in over a month. I am very very happy.
and my wrist still feels good! praise God.
So here's a video of some of the climbs.
Sorry bout the quality, I was just intending on climbing...lol
V9- the move after is the crux, very tiny crimp and a throw to an ok edge
V6- Holds are small slopey crimps except for the big left hand pinch. I didnt think i could even start this one when i looked at the bad feet.
Last problem- As i upload this video, i want to go back and campus the finishing move...it felt possible that way, but i was wayyy pumped outtt.
So! I feel good! I'll keep you posted. hopefully ill be sending some really aesthetic projects real soon!!
It's been 5 weeks since I sprained my wrist. Everyday it felt as if it was sluggishly healing, hardly improving.
On saturday night, feeling crappy as it usually does, my brother did this anti-swelling trick on my wrist. I was like, lol...what do you mean you know a trick? and then he did it and i was like uh huh...whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Also, during the day as i was stretching it, I cracked it by accident...It hurt but idk. maybe that contributed too...i have no idea.
I think God just decided it was time. and i am very very very thankful.
My wrist has finally healed from its sprain! so i climbed in florida, totally had no endurance but had some amounts of strength.
The gym was called Aiguille, and is based in orlando.
For a gym that doesn't have real rock within a 100 mile radius, they do really well! the problems were very thought out, very fun with the features and angles, and had some tweaky beta.
I was glad i got to climb my hardest once again. It really felt amazing.
I woke up this morning and my forearms were sore for the first time in over a month. I am very very happy.
and my wrist still feels good! praise God.
So here's a video of some of the climbs.
Healing! Climbing in Florida from Alan Kahn on Vimeo.
Sorry bout the quality, I was just intending on climbing...lol
V9- the move after is the crux, very tiny crimp and a throw to an ok edge
V6- Holds are small slopey crimps except for the big left hand pinch. I didnt think i could even start this one when i looked at the bad feet.
Last problem- As i upload this video, i want to go back and campus the finishing move...it felt possible that way, but i was wayyy pumped outtt.
So! I feel good! I'll keep you posted. hopefully ill be sending some really aesthetic projects real soon!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
HI!
I've been having a really silly day today.
maybe its carrying over from last night...
It was just one of those mornings where youre like...oh boy...Here we go!
i was gonna go into it but i decided against it.. "a fool vents all his feelings but a wise man holds them back"
so anyway. 2 weeks ago i competed at my home gym's climbing competition.
after 8 sustained hours of climbing problems rated v6 and higher, my tips were way beyond shredded, my muscles are limp, and i was out of energy.
the only reason i was still climbing is because a good friend of mine just got there after he got off work.
so there was a "v7" probably more of a 6, that i sent earlier that day that had a deadpoint throw from a left hand crimp and a right hand pinch to a font
this hold...lol.
in the past, no matter what direction its facing, ive felt my wrist dislocate on it while trying to gain some form of grip. it doesnt happen all the time, but it has happened.
now, i did the throw, felt my wrist dislocate...didnt shake it out or anything, just dead hanged, campus matched, and campused up left hand with right hand still on the hold to the finish hold.
when i came down i knew something was wrong, i moved my wrist and i heard it crack along with feeling a sharp pain in the back of my wrist.
i couldnt move my hand up or rotate it without sharp pain, and i know now that i sprained it. figured that my tendons and ligaments were already overstrained, and when my wrist dislocated, all my weight rested on my ligaments.
a sprain is when you hyperextend the ligaments, usually by falling on it or using a great amount of pressure...
so now ive been resting for the most part. trying to work on my legs...
i climbed "lightly" (under v5) exactly one week after the comp and i think it lengthened my recovery period a bit.
last night, 2 weeks and 2 days from the comp, i went to gsr after i had done some physical therapy the previous night. i had full range of movement in my wrist as well as minimal soreness when i moved it up.
i limited myself extremely to static moves only, and i didnt realize how much ive been relying on dynamic motion until this point.
im probably at most a v2 or v3 climber without dynamic movement. this made me very frustrated, because i felt like a completely different person climbing, i couldnt climb by instinct, and thats pretty much all i have.
i feel like if i climb like this too much, ill lose my ability to read problems correctly.
although for some reason, while i climbed last night, i didnt look at the problems at all, i just tried to onsight everything while being static.
its just very frustrating, i really want to climb again on things that are my limit.
ive been very afraid lately of havting to get surgery or something, i dont think thatll be the case but itll take a little bit more time before im completely healed.
im a little bit more sore today unfortunately. still got full motion fine, but i gotta ice it when i get home from class.
now. i know in time itll heal back completely and ill be back trying my hardest and pushing the limits of whats possible for me...im just very impatient!
i realized that this morning.
my flat iron is broken and you have to wind it up in order for it to turn on.
this time it took 15 minutes of me trying to wind it up, and it didnt work. each minute i got more and more frustrated, until i ran out of time to leave for school and i actually started praying "GOD PLEASE TURN THIS ON NOW!"
thats when i kinda just stopped, and looked at the silly situation i was in.
the word, "NOW" really hit me. maybe i havent even fully realized this until just now as im writing this.
everything has to happen NOW for me. i want everything NOW. i am super impatient on everything just because i cant see what God's doing in my life on a day to day basis.
why cant i just accept circumstances as they happen and praise God anyway?
probably because im trusting in my own plans.
in the process im hurting myself. making myself frustrated, delaying my wrist recovery...
i dont know. in fact im going to stop writing this post.
I'm going to try to hear from God. I'm talking way too much lately
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
So Yesterday, January 19th, marks one year since I began climbing.
(Defined as going to the climbing gym to climb for the sake of climbing, not counting a high school summer camp fake rock experience or anything silly like that. Which has happened to me in the past like 4 years ago, but I usually avoided it because I was scared of heights and was pretty bad at it.)
Before climbing i didnt do any kind of sport since freshman year of highschool...Which was basketball..
Although 3 years ago i tried lifting weights for an entire summer. but that was still a while ago.
So I'm glad I was introduced to rock climbing via a couple of friends that invited me. It definitely got me into shape and makes me look at life in different aspects, as well as meet a whole bunch of new friends along the way.
So. I would say at this point I'm a crappy climber. My fingers are weak, I am horrible at footwork, and I'm always rushing to do things.
but i had a silly goal of trying to send a V10 boulder problem outside within one year of climbing..because Dave Graham sent a 5.14a sport route within one year of climbing.
The latter part of this year I got pretty sick, I lost 10 pounds and it took a whole month to recooperate and that long in order for me to be allowed to eat normally.
Last post I tried to come up with a workout regimen to get me in shape, but i got sick again and went on a couple road trips that killed my diet.
Well, I didn't care, I was still going to give my all in order to try to send V10 anyway.
So i saw Sweat of the Rapist, a V10 in central park (LOL) first ascent made by Ivan Greene.
It was a 4 move extension (said to be V9 rated extension alone) out to an existing V6 Traverse.
I bought a DVD called the road by mike call in order to get beta on the problem. (which by the way, is an excellent classic movie).
to be honest, Ivan made the problem look so easy lol.
But i figured thats how it was when i saw the beta, So i memorized each sequence for the extension, and I'd figure the V6 on my own (The v6 is kind of hard to tell from the video.)
I went to the city with my friend manuel in order to try the problem. and if it was really THAT hard, (LOL duh) I would come back on monday in order to finish the problem. And there was a cool V9 called priviledged that i could try on the same boulder as well.
My plan was to get all the moves down to a science on Thursday, and send the problem on monday.
Then the weather told me that monday would be shot.
My only free two days were in trouble..So I was left with only thursday to send the problem.
This was a problem...
Well anyway.
So we get to the boulder.
One of the key holds is broken off on the extension.
!!!
Now what was a bump, becomes a large throw. And that is kind of out of my league for now...
And then at the sit start for the v9, privileged, theres a pile of dog poop. LOL.
So i attempt the beginning anyway of the v10.
surprisingly, although pretty burly...I could do all the extension moves EXCEPT the one that bumps to the broken hold. because it wasnt there anymore.
You begin with a really high good heelhook, and go out left to a microcrimp, and then get your right hand on a very thin gaston crimp.
Left Hand Crimp
Left Hand Two finger Crimp with Fingers to scale (very tips of your fingers..like where your finger nail starts...)
Right Hand Crimp
Red Line marks the outline of the missing hold
So i tried a number of things, But couldnt make the stretch without the bump. I'm sure someone could. Just not me.
So i tried the V6 extension for a bit which felt totally doable, but felt like we should move to a different boulder to keep morale up.
Went to south central park to work on rat rock and send the polish traverse.
in short. I did not send the polish traverse lol. I hate it. i hate the problem. i hate it.
its too technical for me i guess at this point. PLUS. its a whole thing of, "this is on, no thats not on, you start here, no you start here, no you top out there."
and i cant ever be sure. so im not going to go back there until its packed with people.
i was doing really well on a flash attempt of koma's roof from the v7 start, but i stepped off. i dont know why.
so then we went to climb at manhattan plaza health club.
turns out while talking with people there, one dude actually has the broken v10 hold at his house...
so im like !!
so hes going to email me when he glues it back on. just like all of the holds there.
i dont feel like giving beta on the rest of the extension for the v10, but the moves were definitely fun. lots of cross-overs and tiny crimps and bad feet.
i must say, im horrible at heel hooks, and my hamstring almost got pulled after trying that start a bunch of times. by the time we were climbing at mphc, it was locking up and i was getting charlie horses. it was pretty bad!
so now. im pretty inspired to try new things and to climb harder than ever...
and to have fun! thats the most important thing!
here's a pic of the v6 extension:
Right now I am so sore, I havent had a rest day since i went outside thursday. I've either climbed or done hangboard training. I got the first flapper in forever last night, and my forearms are so shot.
But theres a comp next week, and i think itll help show me where I'm at if i push myself to try all new things all at once...
I need to get outside!!
(Defined as going to the climbing gym to climb for the sake of climbing, not counting a high school summer camp fake rock experience or anything silly like that. Which has happened to me in the past like 4 years ago, but I usually avoided it because I was scared of heights and was pretty bad at it.)
Before climbing i didnt do any kind of sport since freshman year of highschool...Which was basketball..
Although 3 years ago i tried lifting weights for an entire summer. but that was still a while ago.
So I'm glad I was introduced to rock climbing via a couple of friends that invited me. It definitely got me into shape and makes me look at life in different aspects, as well as meet a whole bunch of new friends along the way.
So. I would say at this point I'm a crappy climber. My fingers are weak, I am horrible at footwork, and I'm always rushing to do things.
but i had a silly goal of trying to send a V10 boulder problem outside within one year of climbing..because Dave Graham sent a 5.14a sport route within one year of climbing.
The latter part of this year I got pretty sick, I lost 10 pounds and it took a whole month to recooperate and that long in order for me to be allowed to eat normally.
Last post I tried to come up with a workout regimen to get me in shape, but i got sick again and went on a couple road trips that killed my diet.
Well, I didn't care, I was still going to give my all in order to try to send V10 anyway.
So i saw Sweat of the Rapist, a V10 in central park (LOL) first ascent made by Ivan Greene.
It was a 4 move extension (said to be V9 rated extension alone) out to an existing V6 Traverse.
I bought a DVD called the road by mike call in order to get beta on the problem. (which by the way, is an excellent classic movie).
to be honest, Ivan made the problem look so easy lol.
But i figured thats how it was when i saw the beta, So i memorized each sequence for the extension, and I'd figure the V6 on my own (The v6 is kind of hard to tell from the video.)
I went to the city with my friend manuel in order to try the problem. and if it was really THAT hard, (LOL duh) I would come back on monday in order to finish the problem. And there was a cool V9 called priviledged that i could try on the same boulder as well.
My plan was to get all the moves down to a science on Thursday, and send the problem on monday.
Then the weather told me that monday would be shot.
My only free two days were in trouble..So I was left with only thursday to send the problem.
This was a problem...
Well anyway.
So we get to the boulder.
One of the key holds is broken off on the extension.
!!!
Now what was a bump, becomes a large throw. And that is kind of out of my league for now...
And then at the sit start for the v9, privileged, theres a pile of dog poop. LOL.
So i attempt the beginning anyway of the v10.
surprisingly, although pretty burly...I could do all the extension moves EXCEPT the one that bumps to the broken hold. because it wasnt there anymore.
You begin with a really high good heelhook, and go out left to a microcrimp, and then get your right hand on a very thin gaston crimp.
Left Hand Crimp
Left Hand Two finger Crimp with Fingers to scale (very tips of your fingers..like where your finger nail starts...)
Right Hand Crimp
Red Line marks the outline of the missing hold
So i tried a number of things, But couldnt make the stretch without the bump. I'm sure someone could. Just not me.
So i tried the V6 extension for a bit which felt totally doable, but felt like we should move to a different boulder to keep morale up.
Went to south central park to work on rat rock and send the polish traverse.
in short. I did not send the polish traverse lol. I hate it. i hate the problem. i hate it.
its too technical for me i guess at this point. PLUS. its a whole thing of, "this is on, no thats not on, you start here, no you start here, no you top out there."
and i cant ever be sure. so im not going to go back there until its packed with people.
i was doing really well on a flash attempt of koma's roof from the v7 start, but i stepped off. i dont know why.
so then we went to climb at manhattan plaza health club.
turns out while talking with people there, one dude actually has the broken v10 hold at his house...
so im like !!
so hes going to email me when he glues it back on. just like all of the holds there.
i dont feel like giving beta on the rest of the extension for the v10, but the moves were definitely fun. lots of cross-overs and tiny crimps and bad feet.
i must say, im horrible at heel hooks, and my hamstring almost got pulled after trying that start a bunch of times. by the time we were climbing at mphc, it was locking up and i was getting charlie horses. it was pretty bad!
so now. im pretty inspired to try new things and to climb harder than ever...
and to have fun! thats the most important thing!
here's a pic of the v6 extension:
Right now I am so sore, I havent had a rest day since i went outside thursday. I've either climbed or done hangboard training. I got the first flapper in forever last night, and my forearms are so shot.
But theres a comp next week, and i think itll help show me where I'm at if i push myself to try all new things all at once...
I need to get outside!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)