Monday, September 14, 2015

The Beginning of Insanity

Today marked the beginning of our Insanity workout: the fitness test. My legs already hurt.
Beth stretching her hamstrings after Insanity Day 1
We bought Insanity several years ago and we tried it then. We got up to the week of yoga (halfway through) and just lost interest. I will say that it got me into much better shape, but I've clearly lost that cardio since then. Word of advice: don't do Insanity in a room with a ceiling fan...

I'll update this post with our fit test scores when I get home, and keep posting them as we go!

On another note, I have been getting much better at my handstand work. I've been practicing kicking up as well as holding a handstand against a wall. Last night I managed to kick up and hit the wall with my foot, but I'm not quite sticking the handstand yet. I am also able to hold a handstand for about 25 seconds, before either Beth makes me laugh or I forget my core and fall over. Progress!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Latest Hueco Tanks Trip!

It's been a while since our last post, so here's an update.

We went to Hueco Tanks for Labor Day Weekend. Beth was finally able to get her second observational tour in, and she passed with flying colors. She is now fully certified as a Hueco Tanks guide! She tried three times before, but each time the park had to cancel the tour because they were short-staffed that day.
Beth guiding us through the Hueco Tanks back country, East Mountain. She's now fully certified!
We went to East on Saturday morning, hitting Hobbit and Try Hard. It was a bit hot, and none of us (Austin and Nicole came too) really wanted to commit to the final move on either problem. After Beth passed her observation, we tried hard a bit longer and then left for North Mountain so Beth could climb too. FYI: Put your pads way further back from Try Hard than you expect. If you hit the lip but swing off, you fall really far back!

On North, we headed up to the New Meadow. Beth and Nicole worked Lobster Claw and both got further than last trip. Beth tried a knee bar pad and managed to reach the last left-hand sidepull below the face. I tried the knee bar pad too, just to show the unnecessary extra knee bars you can use super high up. Austin and I then went over to Beer Can Traverse and worked it for a while. Austin got really close, but didn't quite send, so maybe next time!
Me working the crux of Beer Can Traverse, North Mountain, Hueco Tanks. Thanks for the photo Nicole!
Sunday I took us all out to East and East Spur on a commercial tour. Unfortunately, it rained a little the night before, so we had to stick to roof climbs and severely overhung problems. We avoided any topouts just in case, since holds tend to peel off after a rain. We warmed up on a crack near Moonshine Roof, then played around on Moonshine for a bit too. We then went to Javalina, and Nicole and I got fairly far on it. Then Austin and I worked The Egg. I gave up and finally put the knee bar pad on, and then quickly worked out the first few moves. It looked like it was going to rain so we had to hurry up, so Austin and I traded off attempts. On my last attempt I got a lot further than I had anticipated, and had forgotten the beta and just did some really stupid stuff. Austin tweaked his pinky on his last go, so we decided it was a good time to leave. Luckily, it never did start to rain.
Nicole working Javalina, East Spur, Hueco Tanks.
No sends, but still a great trip! I've got a few new projects and Beth made progress on hers!