One degree Fahrenheit this morning, covering the world outside in a thick layer of brittle frost instead of more snow. I woke up way too early, at 5:15, and gave up, after reading my book for a time, on going back to sleep. Oh, well. Downstairs, build a fire, meditate, drink my coffee, read my book (different book). Prepare myself for today’s power workout mentally, after yesterday’s bouldering session.

It was a good one, despite my achy pinky finger on my left hand. Such is life; I simply stopped using it about halfway through the time, and then decided wisely to forgo any additional finger training yesterday—my hands are pooped at this point, so it’s time to just let them recover as long as they need to, until they feel fresher and less worked. I felt like it was my forearms that gave out before my power yesterday, which is the opposite of what usually happens, and so I listened to my body’s message and took it to heart—let the hands rest, and focus on other areas for the moment.

What helped with this, too, was my joining in with my bouldering partner’s efforts at building endurance and power endurance at the end of the session. I first did the problem he was working—a laps problem—saying I was going to try for 10 laps on it. I did this (140 moves), and stepped off, then witnessed a post-climbing pump I haven’t felt in quite some time, the kind that you don’t even feeling happening while you’re climbing, but that rises up and seizes your arms when you’re done. It was great!

After this, I mused aloud about possibly creating a laps problem like this for myself on the ultra-steep wall. I did this, then climbed it up and down once (17 moves). Then, after a rest while my partner worked his problem, I did it again, this time with maximal effort—I managed two-and-a-half laps, up and down climbing, with the final up-climbing mirroring pretty much exactly what climbing in the Red tends to turn into for me—I was hucking, screaming, and thrutching from hold to hold, feeling my body turn into a jumping, ever-smaller coil as I no longer had the power to move fluidly and easily. Forty-three easy moves were all I could manage on this angle, and that last time up, they felt anything but easy.

Totally delighted, I raved about this, realizing that this, along with my pull-up workout, hammers directly on an area of my climbing that could use serious improvement. This workout also thoroughly exhausted me—after all, continuous climbing is one of the top calorie-burning activities a person can do, and I felt the burn for sure. That’s when I decided to not do the finger workouts, feeling my sore pinky and just the overall fatigue levels soaring. Instead, I did all of the other supplementary stuff, the triceps lock-offs (which I’ve suddenly and finally improved tremendously at), squats, jumps, opposing muscles, core, and stretching.

This took me to the end of the day, when, exhausted, I watched the final episodes of The Wire (great show), soaked my hands in healing lineament, and had a dinner of salmon ‘n’ seaweed quinoa, making the best of my scanty pantry, which I’ll hopefully manage with until this Friday, when I have to go into town anyhow.

More snow this morning…for three days now, the snow has picked up in the evening, and apparently continued through the night, falling in tiny, barely discernable little pellets, topping off what’s already there for a time in the morning before stopping around midday. Yesterday, it kept me from meeting with my CPA and getting groceries—after a month of not doing any grocery shopping, I’m nearly out of food, but no matter. Now it’s turned into the grocery game, as in, how long can I make it and how creative can I get with my food? Probably until this Friday, when I have to go into town anyhow—and then it will seem like the most amazing abundance, having all new grocery items after a week of grains and beans or grains and fish, plus seaweed.

Today I boulder in the gym, followed by a training session. I’m looking forward to it, though I can feel that skulking, draggy feeling that starts at some point every winter, a pesky little thought tugging on the edges of my psyche, saying, “Hey, hey…psst…hey…won’t it be nice to climb outside in the sun again?” Impatience is its rightful name, and as I’m just over halfway through my three months of winter training, I’m not surprised at its appearance at this point.

However, since I’m nowhere near where I want to be at the end of this training time, I’ll just have to deal with it accordingly, reasoning with it about how important this consistent training time is, and how disappointed it will ultimately be if I give in to its seductive attempts to pull me from my course. I won’t get waylaid, that’s for sure. I’ll just feel antsy until this training time is up, and that’s fine…good to eagerly anticipate what’s to come while still staying present and dedicated to the task at hand.