Training Update

 I started training nearly every day with the tension block at the start of the year. The normal routine is two 10 minute sessions with a 10 second pull each hand once per minute. In my last update I said I had stopped doing weighted hangboard training but this month I went back to that, about two to three times per week. If I did a hangboard workout then I wouldn't do block pulls that night.

One thing I noticed was that I'm pretty comfortable on a 20mm edge but it feels like I get disproportionately uncomfortable when the edges get really tiny. This month I went from mostly using the 20mm edge on the block to using the 10mm edge to get my fingers more used to that position. I've also started doing weighted hangs on the 10mm edge on the hangboard and I can hang +25lbs for 5 seconds although I haven't been too aggressive with loading those hangs. With the 20mm edge I've been trying to get more comfortable with adding 24kg (~53lbs). Last session I hung that weight 3 times for about 4 to 5 seconds. I also started doing a max bodyweight hang for time on the 20mm and am up to 30 seconds. My last mini-goal is campusing on the smallest edges on the campus board and I can get up to the 4th rung.

I feel like I'm making steady incremental progress and the challenge is to keep pushing even when it feels like doing a lot of work for a small improvement. My total volume of finger strength training is way up and, like with running, I think it takes months to see a dramatic change. The book Once a Runner talks about the 'trials of miles' and the 'miles of trials'. It's this quasi-mythical experience where if a runner can learn to endure the daily grind of training and be able to exist in that space of steady work every single day then they fundamentally change as a person. It's like when you reach a certain level of fatigue your body and mind face this question of 'if you continue doing this, you won't have a normal existence anymore.'

It's all very dramatic and if you brought it up in regular conversation you'd probably look like a dork but I think there's a nugget of truth to it and I think it's something you can tell about a person. 

Ken Kesey said, "you're either on the bus or you're off the bus."

Anyway, rapid fire updates:

-my calves are destroyed because I ran a track mile in spikes on Sunday. 4:57! the dream is still alive

-I had a great run out at Keene. 7.2 miles at 5:36 pace with an opening 5:21 mile! shoo-wee!

-my coffee machine broke this morning but I have a french press so it's good

-I benched 135lbs for 5 sets of 5 last week and was happy about that

-I'd like to be able to do 3 sets of 3 pull-ups with 70lbs. Lately I've been doing two sets of 3 with 58lbs and then my 3rd set I go up to 68 and do 2. Kinda close-ish.

Final Thoughts: stay tuned for the summer because we're going back to SQUARE NUMERO UNO! TRANSFORMATION!!