The Season Is Almost Here

I'm headed to the woods this weekend and that's practically all I can think about. It's just a car camping trip to the Queens River Trailhead, not a backpacking trip, but still. I'll be out there, right next to the wilderness, breathing in the fresh, cool mountain air and seeing the incredibly starry night sky.

Last year, we started our camping season a bit early, but this year we had to wait for Memorial Day weekend. I'm itching to get out there. I don't know if I'll even remember to bring everything I want to bring because I just want to be there now. As long as I have the basics, the essentials, who cares about luxuries?

I hope this is the year we find some morel mushrooms. I hope I can either make a fire with a spindle and bow or watch Ambrose make one. Either way would be pretty cool. I'm going to learn how to make a snare and I'm going to scout out how high the Queens and Little Queens Rivers are running.

Every season of backpacking so far has been different. Each one has had its own special moments, like the time we hiked through a blizzard in June, or the small section of the PCT in California, or last year's incredible coast hike. I'm looking forward to discovering what this one has in story and it's almost here!

Just Keep Pulling

I got to do a crossfit workout focusing on pull ups last week. The good news is that I managed to do two strict pull ups in a row. The bad news is that I hadn't done a pull up workout at crossfit before with a successful single strict pull up, so it didn't count as a personal record on the Wodify app.

I'm continuing to work on my pull up workout, but I'm trying to increase the intensity so I can increase the number of pull ups I can do in a row. For example, in my day 1 workout, I'm trying to do strict pull ups for the first set of 4 negatives, and then progressively starting from a higher point. I reset between each negative, so it isn't a set of 4 strict but it forces me to build the strength I'll need to link them.

I'm not doing much different on my day 2 workout, because it doesn't involve as much pulling. I do try to complete a strict pull up after completing that workout, which burns out my forearms pretty well every time.

For the bar assisted pull up that I do on days 1 and 3, I'm trying to touch my chest on the reps instead of just getting my chin over the bar. Having gotten my chin over the bar, I can't help but think that it might be possible for me to do more - more reps of the strict pull up and, one day, a chest to bar pull up. Maybe even a muscle up, if I work hard at it.

I can feel how easy it would be to lose the strict pull up. I know I have to keep working on it and keep pushing myself to get stronger if I want to keep it. I had this kind of feeling that once I got the strict pull up I would be done, but I'm not. I have to work to keep it, and I have to work to get more. No, I want to. I want to see how fit I can get.

Toughening Vs Injury

My hands don't look very nice this week. I've got some garish red spots at the bases of my right index finger and left ring finger. Yellowish calluses stand out a bit on the other fingers, or pinkish craters where I've shaved them off. My palms display little tears and my left thumb has a slightly deeper tear with some red accented skin splits.

And this state of my hands, this not very pretty, rather painful in a stingy way state, makes me happy. I did 85 pull ups (not strict) on Friday and, rather than tearing the skin off of my hands, I only got two blisters.

And some soreness.

But no bleeding! No serious tearing. By which I mean tearing that results in bleeding. It turns out, using the callus shaver and paying attention to my hands has really helped keep them in good shape. Well. In a shape less destructible than they used to be, let's say.

I skipped crossfit on Monday to let my hands heal a bit more before putting them back to vigorous usage, but I went on Tuesday and tested them with kettle bell snatches and rowing. Still, no serious tears. Then I did my day 1 pull up workout, which was a bit more stressful. I ended up using tape on my left ring finger callus to protect it from being torn, but my right hand survived.

Sure, sometimes I end up cutting myself with the callus shaver. Not only does that hurt, but my husband teases me about it. But overall, using it has been a great benefit. 

My hands might look ugly, but I'm feeling good.

What These Shoes Aren't Made For

I am, I suppose, one of those rare women who lacks a plethora of shoes. I have one go-to pair of shoes for exercising. They are a pair of Merrel pace gloves, in the flashy lime and purple color combination. They work well for running and well for most things that I do at Crossfit.

But not everything.

This week, I went to a WOD that involved rope climbing. I was excited to see rope climbs on the menu. I haven't done them very often, and definitely not since I got my strict pull up. I wanted to see how my increased pulling strength would affect my rope climbing skills.

The last time I tried rope climbing, I had a different pair of shoes. Those shoes made it impossible for me to get a grip on the rope with my feet. I thought, perhaps, these shoes would be different.

They were not.

In order to get a grip on the rope with my feet in my shoes, I had to pinch so hard that I managed to bruise the outside of my right foot. I ended up mostly relying on my arms as the rope continually slipped through my feet, but I was able to make a total of 3 climbs in the course of the 7 minute WOD. I felt pretty good about it, because I was able to get up there, supporting my weight with my arms when my feet slipped. But my foot is hurting and I can't help but place some of that blame on the shoe.

Of course, that blame may be misplaced. I don't know for sure, right? But I do know that the pace glove is a barefoot style shoe. The sole does not extend at all past the bottom of my foot. There's no protection for that outer edge of my foot at all.

The other option is that my technique is simply wrong. Something that I'm doing to get the rope to stay between my feet is affecting the outside of my foot in a way that it shouldn't. After watching some videos, I'm inclined to believe that I do need some technique practice.

But a new pair of shoes probably wouldn't hurt.