Bicycle Blues

I haven't biked to work since mid-December. I'm really starting to miss it. Sure, it's cold outside, but that alone isn't enough to stop me. What stops me is the large piles of snow ice (snice?) that have gathered into the bike lanes or bike lane areas of every road between my apartment and my workplace.

I do see other people riding bikes, and I've thought about giving it a try, but I just don't feel secure in the ability of my bike to resist slipping and sliding on the ice. I have no desire to crash. And on some of these roads, there's hardly clear pavement enough for a single car, let alone two cars and a bike.

And so I wait for the snice to melt and the roads to clear and the temperatures to climb.

I wait for spring and the return of biking to work (except when it rains, because the roads get so slick and okay the truth is I don't like getting wet before work).

And I wait for the return of hiking season. It comes early this year, because I'll be attempting a section of the Idaho Centennial Trail that is desert and I've decided that late April is the best time for that. I've read too many horror stories about June attempts from the Nevada border. I'd rather be a little cold and be able to warm up from hiking than be so hot that I literally can't carry enough water to stay hydrated.

Still, it's good to have time to recover and rebuild strength. To store up the longing and desire for the wilderness adventures that await so that when the hardships and privations come they don't matter as much. They'll be what I wanted. What I waited for all winter long.

Pulling Up

I'm settling back down into a regular pattern of the pull up workout. 3 days a week, increasing weights and decreasing assists. That may or may not be the bigger factor with my recent improvement in volume. I still haven't gotten more than 3 strict pull ups in a row, but I got a set of 3 after a 38 minute workout, and another set of 3 the next day and another the day after that.

And I've done a set of 2 following a set of 3, so that's almost like a set of 5...

I know, not quite there.

Not yet.

But the other factor is my decision to go to Crossfit more often. I figure if I don't have access to a pull up bar at home, then I need to go use the one at Crossfit as often as possible to get at least 1 per day. Plus, there's a new incentive at the box to attend 20 or more classes in a month. Supposedly, there are prizes.

The biggest prize, of course, is increased fitness. I've read that there's a big different between going to Crossfit 2 to 3 days a week and 4 to 5 days a week. Right now, I'm aiming for 6. I made that 2 weeks in a row at the end of December and beginning of January, but then I got a cold and only made 4 last week. I'm comfortably on my way to the Commitment Crew though. I just need to stick to it.

I've encouraged at least two people to participate in the Open this year. Both of them are a bit hesitant, and I can understand that. It looks intimidating. I'll admit, I probably wouldn't do it if they didn't have the scaled workouts, because there's nothing fun about trying to do a muscle up for ten minutes when you simply aren't there yet. But with scaling, everyone can participate and test themselves.

Last year, I didn't finish ahead of very many people worldwide, even with scaling. But I finished ahead of every single person who signed up and didn't finish. I recorded every workout. I finished every workout to the best of my ability, and I hope I have the chance to revisit one or more of those workouts in this year's open. The new workouts are great and all, but getting a PR on an Open workout is something special. A way of signposting your progress, in front of the world, as it were.

That's my goal again this year, to finish every workout in the Open. And maybe, if the circumstances align, to try one Rx instead of scaled.

Snow Walking VS Snow Driving

There's been a lot of snow in Boise over the last few weeks. It started, charmingly, on the day before Christmas Eve and proceeded to record-breaking levels of accumulation and near-record low temperatures in the first week of the new year. Through it all, I got myself to Crossfit, with the trudge through the snow working adequately as a warm-up - at least on the days that weren't below 0.

One of the things I like best about my Crossfit box is that I live about a quarter mile away. It's easy to walk there, which means I never need to worry about parking and I have an opportunity for pre-warm-up warm ups and post-cool-down cool downs. I don't know that I'd go as often if I had to drive any significant distance. Being close motivates me. I have no excuse not to get over there.

I consider walking through the snow to be easier and safer than driving through it. I have more control over 2 feet and 145 pounds than 4 wheels and 2 tons - and if I fall, I affect only myself, not my expensive vehicle or other people or their expensive vehicles. The main thing that I change to get to Crossfit with snow on the ground is that I wear boots for the walk there and back and change into my gym shoes. Added bonus: saves wear on my gym shoes.

I have to admire far more the people who drove their cars through the messy wreck of our streets to get their workouts in. This kind of snow wouldn't be a big deal in Chicago, because it falls within normal parameters. Their fleets of plows and salt trucks would have handled it. Here in Boise, the yearly snow removal budget was spent by January 4th. The streets were not pretty last week. Deep snow compressed into ruts - high clearance required. Snow plows on the main streets exacerbated the problems on the side streets by piling the snow against them. There are still side streets that haven't been plowed, not even to clear the artificial berms.

But whether we walked or drove, a whole bunch of people were committed enough to come in through Boise's Snowmaggedon and Floodpocalypse. Others did Driveway Shoveling for Time instead. I'm happy to be a part of that community.

New Years Goals

It's a new year, but I have the same goal. Well, not the exact same goal from last year. Last year at this time I was still working on my first pull up. Now I'm working on volume. I want to be able to do 5 strict pull ups in a row without dropping from the bar.

From everything I've read, increasing volume is all about doing pull ups throughout the day, but I don't have a bar. I'm looking at different ways to improvise, but it might have to wait until the weather is warm enough to use the outdoor gym near work. It isn't a perfect solution, since the grass gets overwatered in the spring and summer, making the ground muddy under the bar, and it's a pretty long walk from my office to there. But if I'm serious about volume, then I need to buckle down and find a way.

I suppose I do have another goal - a 100 mile solo hike through the deserts of Southern Idaho on the Idaho Centennial Trail. That trip is tentatively planned for late April, so the next Hike with Me book should be out in plenty of time for next Christmas (unlike the current one which isn't quite ready yet). I've never hiked in the desert before. From what I've read, I'll need to cache water and carry water, though spring will be a better time of year to tackle it than summer.

And I want to be generally fitter - not thinner or lighter necessarily, but more able. Able to bust out 100 miles in 5 days under pack. Able to lift heavier weights over my head. Able to accomplish more gymnastic feats on the bar. Able to push my body farther than I ever thought it could go.

I once overheard someone at Crossfit talk about how they felt it was overly dramatic when people collapsed to the floor after a workout. As someone who frequently makes sweat angels by collapsing after a workout, I took a bit of offense, although I didn't say anything. This person can lift heavier than I can, run faster and has more aerobic capacity. But maybe, just maybe, I push myself harder. To me, if I don't collapse to the floor after a workout, then I've still got energy left that I should have spent on the exercise. If my heart isn't pounding in my ears and my lungs aren't begging for mercy, then I haven't done the job I came to do.

There's always a little harder to push, and every time I push I have the chance to extend myself that little bit more. I don't always notice improvement because I can always make things more difficult for myself. So the last goal will be to take notice of improvements and not let myself forget how amazing what I can do really is.