Still suffering from waking up very early. Pretty tired. Talking to doctor tomorrow, current plan is a ridiculously high dose of trazodone. Would prefer not to go back on the marijuana. It just doesn't seem like an option, but if the sleep meds don't work maybe I'll have to compromise and just have it at the very very end of the night, at this point the reduction in sleep has taken a considerable toll on my health the past two weeks, although part of that could be illness

Damn that sucks, is quitting marijuana strictly because it causes eating binges? I know nothing about it really but my first super uneducated thought was are there strands that can help with sleep but don’t trigger some of the other responses? Again way outside my depth so tell me to **** off if I’m overstepping.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be blessed with the ability to be a sound sleeper. Falling asleep is sometimes a chore as I pound caffeine and workout in the evenings, but I cannot imagine getting poor to no sleep and trying to be remotely active. Hope you get it trending in the right direction soon!

Yeah that’s pretty much the only reason. There’s also some notion of not wanting to be dependent on it and seeing how I feel without it, but I would never have quit it if it weren’t for the appetite stimulation. Unfortunately even indicas have this effect on me, it’s a deeply ingrained habit. The only way I’ve found around it is smoking at the very end of the night when already tired. I’m really trying to keep going with not smoking but if my health deteriorates as a result I always have that option.

In general my family says my mood has been worse the last month. Bleh.

The max dose of trazodone did literally nothing, waiting to hear from psychiatrist today about what else we are gonna try/meeting him tomorrow night. I woke at 2am last night, was brutal

I’ve also been mildly sick for 10 days or so which has certainly played into these issues.

In other news my 2 month abdominal pain is technically a strain now. I have a script for physical therapy and am gonna start ASAP. Luckily I can still climb, just gotta go easy and no cave stuff or big core tension moves. I think my current trend of climbing 1.5x/week or so should go well with PT. Goal is to fix this sleep problem, get the shoulders a little healthier, heal the ab strain, and get the two compromised fingers to 100%. Also keep up the diet. Should be doable with effort and lots of rest. The PT will focus on the abs, but I can also hit the gym for the shoulder/back stuff, and do light climbing plus 3 finger pockets at the bouldering gym

Wish I wasn't still sick, would love to do this comp http://rockspotclimbing.com/usac9-9/ on Friday, but between the sleep deprivation, my weight, being sick for 10 days, and my various injuries, it's probably an absolutely terrible idea. Maybe if I could slip into the beginner category I'd have a shot... hah

9/5

Climb 2:30

Went to rock spot Boston and volume climbed V2-3. Sent 4 new V3 and one V4 and got shut down on 3-4 other V3 and even 4 V2, one of which appeared to clearly be V4 lol, I would say all of them except for 1 were V3 or harder. Sent a hard V4 slab problem but skipped first move. The other 4 I sent was a cool route that finished in the cave, but also the softest 4 I tried this session. Video below

https://youtu.be/VWeB6Wwtf1o

Well today makes 4 good nights of sleep in a row. The previous 3 nights I woke between 2 and 3 AM but got back to sleep and totaled 8+ hours sleep. Last night I slept straight through 1130 to 8am. However I am drowsy as hell today, gonna definitely reduce the sleep med a bit. I actually felt better previous days when I woke up in the middle of the night and got back to sleep, hmm. For sure I can significantly cut back on the sleep med now

Weight continuing to drop eating around 2k calories. I'm not gonna post it yet since it was very slow till recently, but I'll let you guys know when I break 190 (at which point I'll still have 20+ to go)

Hoping to get in a sick climb today, just waiting for the drowsiness to wear off

PT for my ab strain starts next week

9/8

Climb 2 hours

Low energy weak session. Flashed a bunch of new V0-2, maybe one was V3. Flashed a new V3/4 crimp climb that I had to fight through and a new V2 cave route. Fell on new V4 crimp climb with beta I couldn’t quite figure out and an old V4 traverse I’ve sent before. Fell on a new V3/4 cave route at end of session due to beta error. Also fell on an orange V3 pinch route that seems very seriously misgraded, it’s at least a 4+.

Didn’t expect much of this session. Should be stronger and better rested come Monday or Tuesday

Had a nice 2500 kcal day. Didn’t go out to eat like normal or have any wine and family got junk food takeout so I devoured some chili’s enchiladas. Was pretty awesome

9/9

Hike 2 hours

Bouldering 15 mins

Took the dog on a long hike and discovered some small boulders at the end. None more than 6 feet tall and mostly Vb or V0. However one of them had another line on the side... starts two hands on jug, right hip to wall right foot on nice hold, left foot flagging. Switch the feet, right foot goes way up to a nice high foot, left foot cuts, both hands bump to jug near top, right hand goes over the top to find a hold to top out... only to find there are no real holds, just texture you can painfully crimp. I tried to lock off on this with the right hand and bump but I wasn’t strong enough to pull on the “crimp”. Probably a V6 or V7 move, felt way too hard for me. Didn’t help I was in hiking shoes and the Boulder was slippery. Still a lot of fun

Have you ever been out to this place? https://www.mountainproject.com/area...096/lynn-woods

It looks pretty dope from just browsing around on MP!

It is still hot AF down south, but I bet the weather is already decent up in your next of the woods?

It’s been hot as hell but today was nice, first reasonable day of the summer, 67 for a high or so

Lynn woods looks great!

I’m going to have to get a crash pad asap

https://www.mountainproject.com/area...6/hammond-pond Was thinking of checking out this area too

9/12

Climb 1:15

Awesome session. Sent a new V4, re climbed a ton of old routes V2-4 all flashes, made it near the top on a 4+\5 tricky crimp climb, and made it very far into a long V4 cave climb before barely falling on a toe hook move. Very short rests between climbs. Left with a lot in the tank. Now having opposite skin problem as before, skin has thickened and was peeling so much that I had to trim it with a scissor between almost every single climb lol. Find I am doing that daily now. Not sure if increasing the climbing volume again soon will change that.

No shoulder pain today. Minor finger pain that went away with some rest

Momentum tomorrow for my ab evaluation

Skin is just a constant battle... Clip any flappers or callouses that are coming off. Then you can sand down the rough parts. Ideally this will remove the dead skin leftover and hopefully prevent it from tearing further. This is certainly not a cure all, but seems to help me a bit.

It really is.

This was weird, no flappers or tears at all. Just skin peeling off in large quantity. Like there was a large layer of dead skin covering all my fingers that was ready to come off and was peeling with every climb, leaving regular soft and not at all sensitive skin underneath it... lol so random

Your gym sets some weird stuff.

Hahaha yeah. This was rock spot south Boston. Some super weird climbs at both there and CRG Framingham

They have a bunch of straight forward boulders too though. There’s a short V6 crimp ladder I would love to climb in South Boston. The holds just feel very slightly too bad. I love that kind of climb as much as the creative ones though, requires pure V6 crimp strength and not much else

9/13

Experiencing an unfortunate flare up of the ab strain resulting from Sat climb + sundays hike + Weds climb

Saw the physical therapist today and established that I can't do much of anything until this goes down. If it decreases by the weekend I can get in a very light climb but can't do any high feet, core intensive climbs, or moves that require a high level of core tension at all. I also need to evaluate the next day whether that makes the strain worse. If so will need a 1-2 week break from climbing.

Can do a few very basic PT exercises plus some cable work right now, apart from that rest is the name of the game. Pullups with relaxed core and lower back, and hanging from pockets are possibilities

The strain is 2+ months old and could have been from going hard climbing, but the PT finds it more likely that it first occurred when I took that traumatic fall that hurt my lower back a while ago.

diet continues to go well

Well since I'll have less fitness stuff to post for a bit I will enrich this log with the food I eat

Last nights dinner:

Chicken thighs marinated in a blueberry sauce topped with au jus, with sides of beans and homemade coleslaw

Tonight’s dinner:

Pork tenderloin with roasted cherry shallot compote, and sweet potatoes stuffed with sautéed onions, kale, goat cheese, bacon, and dried sour cherries

I had about 6oz of this pork loaded with cherries and half a sweet potato and was stuffed, A+

9/16

Climb 3:15

Warmed up on a lot of easy stuff V1-2 then sent two new crimp routes that could be V4 or V5. Spent the rest of the session working on two V6, could not stick the heinous crux move on one but came super close, on the other hit the crux but struggled with a foot move. Likely just fatigue

Never come this close on a legit 6 before.

New set is awesome, 1 V8 crimp climb, 3 different V6, and 4 V4-V5 plus a few easy routes.

Feels good I bet! Nice work!

It felt great, primarily because I figured out the beta to make it possible and was really close to sticking. I was really close on this terrible yellow sloper problem too that was super physical. I have 6 weeks for these so I’m nearly 100% sure I’m gonna send them

I was also really happy sending the two new crimp routes I did, I would be surprised if at least one of them wasn’t graded V5. One of my best sessions ever for sure

9/18 PT 45 mins

Have about 8-10 exercises to do at home now

Ab strain continues but didn’t seem to be worsened by climbing

Been sick since last Weds or so, at first it was the stomach but it’s been a cold the last few days. Seems to be slightly improving now

Hellaciously sore from my climb on Sunday. Won’t be able to climb again till at least Friday

(In the background Spenda climbs 5x/week and keeps progressing, lol)

Still sick and having sleep problems. Increasing a sleep med tonight; hoping this helps me sleep through the night. Ive been waking up and taking an anxiety med to get back to sleep but it hasn't worked a few times recently. I even tried smoking at bed time a couple nights and it didn't help at all. Looks like my smoking days really are behind me.

If I can reclaim some energy by Sunday I can finally get another climb in. I think even with the sleep issues I can get back to climbing once this sickness is over. Cold seems mostly done

Weight still dropping: down to 193 (finally). Last couple weeks have been really good. Especially the past week.

Higher sleep med dose worked. Woke up today after 8 solid hours sleep not drowsy at all. Abs still a little sore and shoulders aren't perfect but I think I'm actually up for a climb. Cold seems to be over but I think I still have a little stomach bug, nothing too bad at this point. Been 10 days though, and this is the 2nd round of sickness in a month + the 5-6 weeks of sleep problems. Then there's the ab strain and shoulders not being 100%. Gonna be glad when I am through all this and back to climbing way more often. Despite all of this one thing is clear, weight is going down which means I am progressing