Yosemite Falls Day Hike - 20160730

Yosemite Falls. Got up at 5, Boogie waking me up for once, and we got on the road early. Made it through the park gate just before it was manned with Rangers, and left the park after 8, so we didn't have to pay the park fee. A cheap date!

We parked across from Camp 4, and already felt that the day was getting warm. 86 degrees was the high, but as we made the first switchbacks up and over Captiol dome, the air was thick and hot. Hot, sweaty, steep, muscle tired, out of breath, steep, overweight, and steep. This section didn't seem so bad in the morning, maybe because we were thinking ahead to the difficulty of the switchbacks going up the side of the falls, but on the way down, this last section of switchbacks in the trees seemed like purgatory - the same trail cut with the same slick rocks on indefinite repeat. It hurt coming down the hill.
I could do some more endurance training and I could lose eight or 10 pounds of fat. Some of it can come off if I do fasted cardio by walking in the mornings – walking the ZIP Code; boots on the ground.

The going from the top of the lower falls to the very top was rough. The heat made a difference. We had been leapfrogging a few groups on the trail thoughout the morning, and a couple of them turned around at the 3/4 point. We tried to talk them out of it, but they just weren't up to it. We didn't feel great, but no way were we going to just quit. We did a lot of stopping and cooling down, but I had a worrisome deep quad cramp in my left leg at the top, which, when I tried to stretch out, countered with a hamstring cramp. Rested and drank and it didn't recur. Like old marathon times! In fact, I'd compare this effort to a 3/4 marathon today - even though the total miles were only 9ish.

At the top, we worked our way up the stream to find our own pool to swim in. Most folks took pictures from the falls overlook (not even a view of Half Dome from there) and then swam in the first pools in the river. We got to the first, but furthest pool from all the yahoos upriver - quieter there and no way was I drinking water after people had piled into it.

Going the extra mile (literally) to Yosemite Point made the day. We traversed right up the rock and got up on the highest point; a tower of rock off the edge of the point of the dome, and felt the vertiginous exposure - pulling, yawning, drawing the guts into a desire to fall out and into all that air. I felt small on the way up the switchbacks, underneath the Capitol dome rock wall, but on top I felt large - like I could fly, like I should fly, like I was meant to just cross that space in a single thought.

Lots of people climbing up as we were coming down - smart to do so in the shade, instead of the sun, but late in the day with no time to enjoy the top. A helicopter was rescuing a hiker who'd come down with heat stroke at the top of the lower falls when we were climbing down - just that toasty of a day up there.

PullPush 444 HTstuff - 20160727

4 rounds, HT timer
Ring Row x max reps (10ish)
Ring dip x6-7s
10 mins.

4 rounds, 30 sec RI between exercises
Meadows rows, x8/10/// @ 56#
OH Press x10-8 @ 113#
10 mins.

4 rounds, HT timer
Plyo push ups x5-6 doubles
4x87 Ez-in curl
10 min.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 32 minutes total, PE: 6. 24 hours.

Journeyman Squat Day - 20160726

Assistance
5/4 rounds, loose 1 min RI

RDL x10 @ 163#/183#////
Hip Thruster x12+ in/out
15 mins.

- 1 min -

Main
Oly Squat, SB timer
x10 135/ x5 205/225///, fsl 205 x6? 8? Who remembers?
16 mins.

Didn't do any cash out anything because even after 7pm, it was hot AF outside. Squats feel solid, and, while the numbers aren't impressive (to anyone hack squatting, as folks are wont to do) form and depth are finally there for me. I'm hitting 50# more at 50% more depth than I was 5 years ago.

6 hours - 2200/0400. 32 minutes total, PE: 7. 60 hours.

Sunday Morning Hinging - 20160724

Buy in

Boots on the Ground walking - 45 mins-ish

4/3 rounds, HT timer
Chins x max reps (6ish, still, ever)
GtO x6-7s @113#
10 mins.

4 rounds, HT timer
KB swings x12 @ 70#
Ez-in Curl x7-8
10 mins.

On the way outta town, no time for any Bag work. Missed it.

6.5 hours - 2230/0500. 21 minutes total, PE: 8. 60 hours.

Front Squat Stuff - 20160721

Buy in
4/3 rounds, no timer
Hip Thruster x13 in/out

Adductors x12ish, doubled grey band
12 mins.

Main
Front Squat, 1 Min RI

x6 135/145/155/165/175/185, fsl 135 x8

22 mins.

Form fell apart a bit at 185. Hot and muggy outside, even after 1900 (and will be worse still next week); this was a mental struggle thoughout. But, as it goes, satisfying afterward.

Assistance
5/4 rounds, 1 min RI

RDL x8/9/10/11/12 @ 163#
Standing Calf singles x12/doubles x10 w/ 35# belt & 39# DB

18 mins.

8 - 1 + 2.5 hours - 2230/0500. 54 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

PullPush Antagonists in Da Heet - 20160720

Death by Chins

6 rounds + 2 ... didn't really sell out - didn't want to tear, and this is just a buy in today (I say that because I couldn't do anymore after 6, bleh). Taking it a little easy today; it's only 92 out, but still, draining me.

7 mins.

4/3 rounds, HT timer

Ring Row x max reps (10ish, still, ever)

Ring dip x6-7s

8 mins.

3 rounds, 1 min RI

Meadows rows, x10/11/12 @ 56#

Plyo push ups x5-6 doubles

7 mins.

Cash out, HT timer 

4x7 Ez-out curl

5 min.

... last two PMs have been occupied with events. Didn't need a 3 days off, but life is what it is. Schedule is still loose, training is still by feel, and I'm not too worried about pounding some square peg of schedule into the organic round hole of my time just now.

6.5 hours - 2130/0400. 28 minutes total, PE: 7. 72 hours.

Squat Sunday - 20160717

4/3 rounds, no timer
Hip Thruster x13 in/out

Adductors x12ish, doubled grey band
9 mins.

Oly Squat - AtG

SB timer

165# x5/205 x5/225 x5////205 x5

18 mins.

4x5 was the heart of this workout. Big gulp, all the way down and pause, controlled up keeping everything square and solid. These sets across were a win for me.

RDL, 1 min RI

4x8 @ 163#

8 mins.

8 hours - 2230/0630. 36 minutes total, PE: 7. 24 hours.

AM Triplet - 20160716

4 rounds, HT timer
Pull up x6ish

BtN press x12 @83#Ez-in Curl x7 @ 94#
15 mins.

Nice pump from the presses, and they felt good at the time, but 20 minutes later, I couldn't reach into my back pocket with my right arm. OH presses in front are bad enough a risk for impingement, attenuation is good here but they're just not worth the potential downside.

7 hours - 2230/0530. 15 minutes total, PE: 6. 6 days.

Squat 3x3 n' Assistance - 20160710

Buy in ASSistance
4/3 rounds, no timer
Hip thruster In/Out x12+ @ double blue bands
Adductors x15 doubled-single grey band
13 mins.

Oly Squat
SB timer
Squat 7 @ 155#/7 @205#/5 @ 225/3x3 @ 255/7 @ 205 lsf
18 mins.

Assistance
5/4 rounds, 1 min RI
RDL x 10 @163#
Plyo Box LSDs 
10 mins.

5.5 hours, 2230/0400. 42 loose minutes total. PE: 7.

Open Shoulders - 20160709

Buy in
5x4 Weighted Pull up w/ 10#
6 mins.

Couplet

5/4 rounds, HT timer

Clean and Press x5 (in .30) @ 113#

Chins x6-4ish

11 mins.

Ez-in Curl

3x7 @ 94#

1 min RI, 4 mins.

No, ten pounds does not feel heavy on the pull up bar. Just won't go up.
Higher frequency is feeling good right now. Instead of maintenance, I feel like I'm making up for lost ground.

5.5 + 2 hours - 2230/0400. 21 minutes total, PE: 6. 24 hours.

AMPM - 20160707

AM
7/6 rounds, HT timer
Neutral pulls, x4's mostly
Incline push ups, 3 variations x20-10s
16 mins.

PM3 rounds, no timer
Adductors, grey band x12's
Hip thruster x12+
7 mins.

- 1 min -

5/4 rounds, loose timer
Front Squat x6's @ 135/155////
RDL x10 @ 163#
Then
Oly Squat 3x10 @ 155#
25 mins.

Can't stop the volume. I don't feel like I'm overreaching, just under resting and underfed. I keep meaning to solidify this into an HT cycle, but I'm not getting the open time to sketch it all out - so, still going by feel, and I feel like working antagonistic open sessions.

6.5 hours, 2130/0400. 16 + 34 minutes total. PE: 7.

Saving Some for Tomorrow - 20160706

Buy in
3 rounds, no timer
Meadows rows on landmine x12's @ 53#
OH press @ 113# x12/9/7/6
10 mins.

- 1 mins -

Main Set Triplet
4 rounds, HT timer
Ring dip x8+
Ring Row x max reps
Ez-out/in curl @93#
14 mins.

Did 6 sets of chins on the HT timer yesterday AM, this session should have been the PM, but I was pretty wrung out and just slept in the PM. I'll be fresher for it all tomorrow. 

In case you haven't noticed, looks like I'm doing an HT cycle, whether I want to or not. I do want to, BTW.

7 hours, 2200/0500. 26 minutes total. PE: 7.

Somewhere in There, I Squatted - 20160704

Buy in
3 rounds, no timer
Plyo Box LSDs x10/10
Adductors x15 doubled-single grey band
10 mins.

Assistance
4/3 rounds, no timer
RDL x 10-11 @133/@163#///
Hip thruster x12+ @ double blue bands
12 mins.

Main Set
5 rounds, SB timer
Squat 6 @ 135#/6 @205#////
13 mins.

Whatever
4 rounds, 1 min RI
Standing Calf Raise singles w/ 40#DB and the diving belt x12s
FtB (still the diving belt, noice) x6's
12 mins.

- 1 min -

Cash out
Tabata simple kicks
5 mins.

7 hours, 2200/0500. 56 loose minutes total. PE: 8.

I Don't Beer Anymore.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated; men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
Hebrews 11:37-38

Reputation is an oddity. Rotten, despicable people are fawned over as the world pets their every image, the sick selfish have reps as philanthropists, but good and Godly people are branded as haters and cast out. Who can control how others see you? There's perceptive whimsy to every reputation - and many times it's simply inside out. If character is Who You Are When No One's Looking, reputation is Who You Are Depending On Who's Looking. Beauty based on the eye of the beholder.

There was a distant time when the World's Biggest Dallas Cowboys Fan was my reputation. I would get coffee mugs and baseball caps with blue stars on them as gifts. So pleased to have outlived that. 

I've spent the last year and a half repeating the same line to everyone who talks up beer with me, verbatim: I don't really drink beer anymore. Some few are warming up to the notion that there's truth to it. Some of even my closest friends and relations still haven't heard my seriousness, though. A reputation is hard to overcome.

After a Christmas of getting gifted with bombers of IPA This and Crafty-Stout That from co-workers, on New Year's day 2015, I stopped and looked at the back of my car. Over time, most of the space had gotten covered with stickers for brewery This and IPA That, and in the seeing, I hit the realization that not only was I now known as the Beer Guy, but I'd been feeding the notion that I was the Beer Guy. I didn't like that. I didn't want to rep the Beer Guy anymore.
That was the initial impression - just a mental note: Beer has become too much of your identity. But I didn't make a New Year's resolution to stop pouring beer down my reputation's throat. Beer took a while before its glass was emptied, even though there were layers of reasons to stop beering during 2015.  

When you're a homebrewer with 10 gallons of exactly-the-beer-you-love-because-you-custom-made-it in your fridge, having a beer every night as you walk in the house is an easy habit to cultivate. A tipping point telling moment was reading some of Dan John's wisdom, as he pointed out that most of evening drinking is simply thirst. Snapping out of that impulsive reaching for a beer and instead, grabbing a water required a nudge. Right at that time, I caught the Bakersfield-air-sucks-in-January respiratory infection and felt like crap, drinking only bottles of Perrier and eating nothing. After getting well, I just stuck with the bubbly water, reaching for a bottle of Pellegrino in the evenings instead of a homebrew for refreshment. 

Also, I spent 2015 depressed. Drinking a depressant while depressed, should be an easy out - who needs to drink to feel worse? Not the wise course. I was wise enough to try to exercise right and eat right and sleep right to work at elevating right up out of the blues. Beer wasn't part of the elevation plan. This is a fact, and it cannot be disputed: Beer is bad for you. Worse than bad; maybe the worst foodstuff ever. Sick and sad and sloppyfat and sluggish, thank you beer.

Later, with some household financial belt-tightening, beer money became food money. It's easy to cut down on your brewing and brewery sessions when you don't have enough money to buy beer. And when you don't have enough money to buy beer, your beer drinking friends stop calling. So peer pressure diminished with the bank accounts.

So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord…
Ephesians 5:17-19

I'm not playing on the ragged edge of dissipation anymore. Dissipation is a strong word. Can you say it and hiss the esses, and hear the air going out of your spiritual tires as the Holy Spirit evaporates? Life without God in it is flat. This is just an extension of why I don't beer anymore: why I don't whiskey anymore, why I don't wine anymore. Whiskey and wine won't make you sloppyfat, but they will make you sick and sad and sluggish, and drunk. And, if there's any truth to the Bible, then drunkeness is trading the indwelling presence of the God of the Universe for a buzz. Not a trade up, in my Biblebook. I want the Holy Spirit more than anything.

Like I said, lots of reasons why to Not Beer. I haven't been a pilgrim about it; I've had a beer here or there to be sociable, but most of the time, I've not finished them. I was always a beer snob, and truth be told, most of the best of what's brewed out there now doesn't taste good to me. 

I don't really drink beer anymore. I've said it for a year and a half now. I don't really drink beer anymore. I don't really beer anymore. I don't beer anymore. I don't beer. I don't.

Beer's a fading echo of someone I used to be, someone I'm not now. People who don't know who I'm becoming still don't know it yet. Because, a reputation, once earned, is a sticky thing to outlive. I hope to see if I can't replace it with something else. Someone else. Man of Whom The World Was Not Worthy has a nice ring to it. I will pour myself into that.

CoupletTripletCouplet - 20160702

3 rounds, HT timer

GtO x max reps in .30 @113# (8ish)

Chins

7 mins.

3 rounds, HT timerRing Row x max reps
KB swings @ 2 pood x12ishPress @ 135 x5+
11 mins.

3 rounds, HT timer, 2 on, 1 off

Ring dips (10-8ish)

Chins

10 mins.

15/15 easy bag hands - simple combos
8 mins.

6 hours, 2200/0400. 36 minutes total. PE: 7.

444 Squat n' Assistance - 20160701

4 rounds, HT timerRDL x 10-11 @163#
Hip thruster x12+ @ double blue bandsAdductors x14 single grey band

16 mins.

4 rounds, HT timer

Goblet squats x max reps in .30 @35#

4 mins.

- 2 mins -

4 rounds, SB timer

Squat 5/6/7/8 @ 205#

10 mins.

I was really pretty done for by the time squatting started. This mightashoulda come first, but we were working a circuit with the Laurie and Lorrie today.

- 1 min -

Tabata simple kicks
4 mins.

6.5 hours, 2130/0400. 39 loose minutes total. PE: 8.