Just one of many awesome trail running adventures during my break from climbing - this time, running in Tuolumne Meadows on New Year's Eve. Cathedral Peak in the background.

This year, I have come back to climbing with a renewed focus on climbing for the right reasons. I am trying to learn how to appreciate challenging myself without getting so wrapped up in grade-chasing. I am blogging less (and tweeting basically not at all), but climbing more and having more success at school. Part of me is sad that I have stepped back from all my social media climbing friends, but for the time being, I’m choosing climbing (and work) and I hope you’ll all forgive me.

When I started training in the gym in early January in anticipation for our spring break trip to the Red River Gorge, I was forced to be humble. I slowly worked my way from leading 5.10- to 5.10+ to 5.11. I fell short of my hopes of climbing 5.12 in the Red, but I was able to appreciate being in a cool place with great people and awesome climbing.

Psyched for a gorgeous climbing day - Snake Dike as a group of 6 (3 rope teams, we're not that crazy) in April.

I guess time will tell how well I will be able to stick to my guns this time around and resist the temptation to chase particular numbers or achievements. I am hopeful, but, at the same time, my time off wasn’t so bad either (my new mountain trail running habit, for example, is definitely a positive addition to my life). All I can say for now is that I am climbing because I love to climb, and that is really the best reason for me.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having a complicated relationship with my motivation to climb, so please feel free to share any input, advice, or experience in the comments.

Lizzy

The graveyard shift, driving late at night, is something I do enjoy. It strikes me as the best way to get the most of out life. Why stop when darkness takes over? Some things may be harder to accomplish, but I could deal with the lost of sleep. I was very excited to be in Bishop.

It wasn’t some pressing sort of desire or specific motivating climb. I was just psyched to be on the road, to be going climbing, to be able to hang out and have fun. Bishop is like a good book or favorite chair. It makes me feel comfortable and soothes the soul. I treasure the smells and day old donuts of Shatt’s Bakkery and the yummy chai at the Loony Bean. I quickly fall into the Bishop routine.

Recent snow on the east side presented us with a pretty white cap on Mount Tom and the surrounding giants. The weather was good for most of Thanksgiving week, with only a few drops of rain. We sampled all of the main areas and even spent time rope climbing in the Owens River Gorge.

Bouldering is a great way to socialize and I often run into friends while in Bishop. It was great to catch up with people from LA and San Diego and to check out new climbs that I had not been on. Overall a great trip with many fun people and another Turkey Day out in the wild.

Enjoy the photos!

Luke

Casey on Action Figure

Luke's Heart Grows Wings over the Desert Sky

Casey looks for the magic pocket on Lawnmower Man

Gotta go big for the Lawnmower Man

More sports action on Lawnmower Man

Casey tickles the final pocket on Lawnmower Man

Ben climbs towards Mt. Tom at the Buttermilks

Casey flashes the exquisite Green Wall

Lizzy enjoys some thin holds near Prozak Nation

Luke gets reacquainted with Molly

Ben samples a quality table-lands arete

Luke is psyched for fire-roasted Thanksgiving chicken

Enjoying a fun day in Yosemite

My first and last climbs of 2011 were done in Yosemite. Yosemite was the glue that held together 2011. I managed to climb in the valley NINE months of the year. It’s ten if you count climbing in the Meadows in August.  I’m astounded, really, at the amount of time I spent in the “ditch”.  I’m glad that 2010 was sacrificed to the weather gods. I’m not saying there wasn’t rain in 2011. It snowed over 10 feet one week in Tahoe. The tweetup in April was full of drizzles and Lizzy and I were rudely rejected from climbing Lurking Fear on Memorial Day.

The “year” of climbing in Yosemite has been an education in jamming, off-widths and long routes. I went on many adventures with a variety of friends all over the valley. I got to discover and explore Sentinel rock, check out the fabulous Good Book and savor the end of fall on the East Buttress of El Cap. I made new friends, climbing partners, and learned tricks to get the most out of Yosemite. Best of all I’ve started to understand a bit of the style of Yosemite. Intricate friction, technical movement and how to climb on the wondrous granite. Jamming is not a new skill but I am still a student.

There are four big things that stand out for 2011:

First of all I got married! We had a spectacular ceremony on the outskirts of Seattle and had an adventurous honey moon in Canada. With all of the planning and excitement it was great to spend a few days (far to short) with friends and family.

Relaxing in Tahoe!

I started sport climbing again, semi seriously, for a few months at the very beginning of the year, and was rewarded with a streak of memorable sends. The steep rock of the Jailhouse is my anti-style, but I managed to build some fitness and learn how to knee-bar.

In July and August I spent a bunch of time at the Incredible Hulk cleaning, bolting and climbing (most of) Lost in the Sun. A new route project is a great way to captivate my obsessive nature and endless energy.  The reward of finding a tricky path up the stellar hulk granite was amazing.

Having fun on Lost in the Sun

In October, with excitement, and much apprehension I climbed Astro-man. This was facilitated by my strong and motivated climbing partner, Keith. He saw through my doubt about the Harding slot and helped take us to the summit. A grand adventure lit by the full moon!

During the year I tried to check in every now and then with the goals that I written down. I missed the boat on a lot of them but learned something in the process.  Primary goals, like Astro-man, take a lot of time and both physical and mental energy. It may only be a day of climbing, but I’m unable mentally to do committing routes back to back. Even if my arms can move, I don’t have the drive to climb at my limit after a big day. It takes a motivate partner to get me going on day two.

The INCREDIBLE HULK

One goal for 2012 is to create more “Sunday” objectives. These are easier mid-term goals that I am still excited about but not as long, hard or taxing as my main goals.

In recent years I’ve tried to cut off some of the emotional baggage tied to having specific and defined objectives.  This is an attempt to step back from needing success and forcing ones life around it. This has also mean less “success” with big numbers and progress. With the specific and numeric goals I have lost a bit of motivation. When I get obsessed I am full committed. The moves, logistics, and objective become the focus of all my energy. I know how to live in this singular way, but it doesn’t allow for chill weekends at home or much diversity in the weekly routine. I’m torn between these methods because I am not sure of what I am willing to sacrifice for my dreams.

It's Race Time!!

With Lizzy’s encouragement running has a more prominent feature of 2012. My 2010 goal of getting into ultra-marathons has been re-instated. This time, however, I’m trying to take it a bit easier and build up the miles. I’ve got decent speed, but running fast has most often lead to injury. I entered 2011 with frequent IT band pain which I’ve overcome with diligent post-run exercises. I’ve still run into a hand full of small running setbacks, but I’m pretty psyched. Lizzy showed me the power and beauty that distance running can give over New-Years in Toulumne.  You can really get into some amazing places with two legs and a small pack. I’ve also learned that I don’t always need to be pushing the pace to have a good time.

Cheers,

Luke

With the the two weeks spent bouldering in the gym and a finale of skin removal in Joshua Tree I was cooked. Fingers glistening and red, how would I recover for Thanksgiving in Bishop? I’d spent many weekends there in the past but never more than 3-4 days. My skin always failed.

I had to reverse my course and luckily Jason, at Sierra Climbing Salve, had sent over a few magic tins. I had used the Sierra Salve occasionally but now my skin had required immediate help. I dug in!

Over the next week I diligently applied salve at night and continued during Thanksgiving week out in Bishop. While I still lost skin, and often struggled on sharp problems, my skin held up quite well.

Over the Presidents day weekend I returned to Bishop for a a four day bout of bouldering. With no time for rest days I entered skin conservation mode immediately. With the first two days at the Buttermilks my skin was starting to shine red. The second night I woke up with burning tips, I had forgotten to apply the magic salve. A midnight application and another before breakfast put me back into the running. I managed no split tips and four days of excellent climbing.

This experience was very similar to the 6 out of 9 days I spent climbing over Thanksgiving. My fingers survived the sharp rock in Bishop and have even started to thicken up!

The Sierra Salve did a good job keeping my fingers from cracking in the desert air. The texture is slightly greasy at first but it absorbs into your skin within 5-10 minutes.  On the bad nights I would apply more than one coat to insure my fingers would be ready the next morning. The after effect of thick skin is very nice for sharp holds. You may end up with a touch less skin texture, but that’s much better than bleeding from your tips.

In addition to the skin slave I also tested out the Sierra Lip Balm. This was great in the dry Bishop air. I’m more of a fan of lip balm in a stick (like the classic ChapStick) but in a pinch the Sierra Lip Balm works. I had the mint “flavor” which was had a nice bite but not too overwhelming of a flavor.

Overall I would happily recommend Sierra Salve products. The salve helped to both reduce pain at night and helped me conserve skin during lengthy climbing trips.

Cheers,

Luke

Full Disclosure: Sierra Climbing Salve provided these products to DreamInVertical in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed above are my own and reflect my experience.  Feel free to leave comments!

For more Sweet Gear reviews from Luke and Lizzy check out our Gear Reviews page.

The reason for being awake is simple. I am filled with anticipation. My alarm is set to go off at 5am. Often dreaded, sometimes splendid, my alarm is a call to action.

Some people wake up instinctively. I wake to consider my plans. My body knows of the alarm and inside it stews fighting between snooze and action. It is easy to go with the flow, resist change, and just keep on sleeping. In the moment the effects of this decision are obvious. Sleep = good. More sleep = better.

Hours later the day starts in a fuzzy like I’ve awoken from a coma. Having overslept the alarm I’m on the verge of being late to work. My body is still moving slowly, ripped from the simple slumbering state.  Forcing down breakfast and running out the door, my body is deprived of endorphins.  I miss the post-run feeling in my legs as I sit at my desk.  I miss the orange glow of sunrise. I miss the feeling that I’m getting the most out of each day.

My decisions come full circle when I am yet again laying in bed. This time the clock reads 10:30 and I just can’t seem to fall asleep. I want to be asleep. I want to rest, to wake up invigorated. How many minutes will pass before I no longer remember checking the glowing red digits of the clock.  Without an outlet for my energy I am denied sleep and enter back into the vicious cycle.

I set my alarm for 5 am again and wonder if I will get up to run. If I keep trying I’m bound to succeed.

-Luke

While winter has barely hit California this year things have been going slowly at DreamInVertical. Expect more frequent posting in the coming weeks.

I wanted to share the two videos below. Very high quality content with different artistic vision. Pat Bagley has a good interview with Austin Siadak, who shot the Desert Life.  Austin also has a very though provoking blog on the  how to tell good stories. The final video shows the making of Yosemite HD. It is proof of all the hard work that goes into these movies.   Enjoy the videos!

A Desert Life from Austin Siadak on Vimeo.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Making of Yosemite HD:

Yosemite Timelapse Documentary from Dalton Runberg on Vimeo.

Given some rather radical running goals for 2012 (Tahoe Rim Trail 50k and the Evolution Basin Loop), plus my unfulfilled longing to run more in the Yosemite high country, some trail running was in order. A brief search of the interwebs suggested that trail would be reasonably runnable, so off we headed.

For our first run, after a not-so-good night of sleep at the 9000ft bivy, we planned to go from the Cathedral Lakes Trailhead to the Sunrise Trailhead via the Sunrise High Sierra Camp (~12.7 miles). We locked Luke’s bike to a bear bin at the Sunrise Trailhead for the shuttle back to the car (although he was able to hitch a ride). From the very beginning, we encountered a little bit more snow than we expected, but the trail was well trodden until Cathedral Lakes. After that… there was generally one set of footprints, a few sections of snow-free trail, and enough landmarks to use the map to navigate when we needed to. It was a challenging but extremely rewarding run (try running through snow when you’re plunging through crust every step). I put together a little video about it:

Tuolumne Trail Running from Lizzy Trower on Vimeo.

The next day, despite tiredness from running and not sleeping (again) at the 9000ft bivy, we went out on another run, this time an out-and-back from the Porcupine Creek Trailhead to North Dome (~9 miles round trip). There was barely any snow on this run, and it was actually quite warm on top of North Dome.

Luke takes a break from running on top of North Dome.

Silly faces in the woods on our way back to Porcupine Creek Trailhead.

It was a great way to take advantage of the splitter weather (hey, you get to spend more time in the sun when you’re not in the Ditch!) and the miraculously open Tioga Road. I don’t know how much longer it will last, but do be prepared if you go out there, too. Having a map, extra layers, and plenty of food and water were necessities. Above 8000ft, the trail was more often snow-covered than not, and all the creeks we crossed were frozen solid.

Hope everyone is getting after it in the new year!

Lizzy

- Luke

January – Sport Climbing

January causes chilly belayer syndrome

Wet weekends are good for craft projects

February – Skiing

Epic snowstorm en route to skiing.

Great ski conditions at Kirkwood

March – Indian Creek

A happy Lizzy after sending Sacred Cow.

Luke onsights Extra Lean

April – Vegas vacation and the first Yosemite Tweetup!

Count the climbers. There are four in this photo!

At Upper Yosemite Falls for the Yosemite Tweetup

May – Yosemite Storms and Sending

A bear patrols the El Cap bridge

Looking up at Tales of Power.

June – Wedding and a Honeymoon

We tied the Knot!!

Honeymooning in Canada

July – South Africa and the Steck-Salathe

Lizzy in South Africa doing geology field work

Summit Glory after the Steck-Salathe! (I'm a little bit excited...)

August – Hulk-O-Rama

Luke enjoys live climber "TV" on the Hulk.

Lost in the Sun!

September and October – Running and Climbing in Yosemite

El Cap (look how little the East Buttress is!) from Taft Point.

Amazing views from Clouds Rest

Keith leads the Harding Slot

November – Bishop bouldering

A snowy drive to the east side.

Lizzy works out a technical sequence.

Luke gets some altitude at the Happy Boulders

December – Running

Lizzy during the TNF Challenge Half Marathon

Looking for the trail somewhere near Cathedral Pass

I trained semi-seriously, pretty much the first time ever, for our Spring Break trip to Indian Creek. I had an extreme lesson in humility when I attempted my dream project, Tricks are for Kids, but made up for it majorly with an onsight of the spectacular Sacred Cow.

Success on Sacred Cow

I had expected April and May to bring a climbing lull, as I prepared for quals and getting married (yeah, good planning, right?), but my advisor and I agreed to push my exam back to the fall quarter and so I suddenly had some weekends free to go back to Yosemite. We hosted the first annual (hopefully) Yosemite Tweetup and it was super fun, despite the exceedingly wet weather. I also managed to redpoint Tales of Power, which was a huge mental victory for me. Plus, two 5.12s in a year is a good year for me! Finally, we attempted to climb Lurking Fear in a push, but bailed in the midst of a crazy hailstorm.

Lizzy free climbing on Lurking Fear

After Tales of Power, my gym motivation was waning and I decided to focus my energy on my upcoming long course triathlon (and getting married, which was a week after the race). It was a great learning experience, where I got the full realization of how much more cycling you have to do, relative to swimming and running, for half or full Ironman triathlons, and how much more I like swimming and running, relative to cycling. So maybe Olympic distance will end up being my favorite…

And then, we got married! All the preparation and planning was crazy and more stressful than I would have liked, but the wedding was beautiful and perfect and it was wonderful to share our day with so many friends and family.

Canada bound on our Honeymoon

After getting home from our honeymoon, I had a week to get ready to go back to South Africa for my second field season. I was not particularly happy about the timing of the trip, so soon after our wedding, but had a much more fun trip than before because of the company (other students to hang out and work with!), the insulated skirt my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday (it’s winter down there), and a cell phone so I could talk to Luke every morning. It’s the small things that make all the difference.

Beautiful views on the Bishop Pass Trail

By late summer, I was both out of shape and low on motivation for climbing, so I rolled with it and got psyched on running. Particularly running on awesome alpine trails in the Sierra. My previous longest run had been ~14 miles at sea level, but over 2 months, I went on 4 amazing runs: 13 miles out-and-back to the ~12,000ft Bishop Pass, 17 miles from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley via Cloud’s Rest (~10,000ft) , 14 miles in Yosemite via 4 Mile, Panorama, and John Muir Trails, and an 18 mile trip along the south Valley “rim” via the Pohono Trail. This all by the girl who really thought I hated running a few years ago. Major thanks and love to awesome running buddies SK and Julie

Amazing views from Clouds Rest

Finally, the last couple months have been singularly focused on one of the biggest hurdles of my graduate career: my qualifying exam. I’m happy to report that I passed and am now a PhD candidate! I’m definitely exhausted, but also full of motivation for my research, as well as some major extra-curricular goals for next year, including:

1. Trip to the Red River Gorge for Spring Break! I don’t want to chase the numbers too much, but it would be great to finally climb 5.12 on bolts
2. Be able to spend more time in the Sierra this summer, both to climb and for goal #3:
3. Running to Bishop Pass planted the seed of running the ~56 mile loop through Evolution Basin. It would probably be ~9000ft elevation gain, over three 12,000ft passes, with some ridiculously incredible scenery. I know this is a big jump from what I’ve done so far, so it will require some major training, but I’m super psyched on it.
4. I ran the TNF EC half marathon in the Marin Headlands again this year, and thought, maybe I should just do the Gore-Tex 50 Mile next year… if all goes as planned, I’ll have already run 50+ miles for the Evolution Loop and there’s so much more singletrack on the 50 Mile than the half!

So there you’ve got it. I think this year has taught me a lot about balancing work and play, following my psych, and becoming a more well-rounded athlete. I think these skills will really be beneficial for me next year and I should have a little more free time (and energy) to blog about it all, now that I’m post quals!

Lizzy

We pre-ran the half marathon course back in November

But even with all this, running and trail racing are unpredictable and the race just didn’t go as planned. To make a long story short, although the rest of my body felt great, my stomach felt awful, which meant I only ate 3 shot bloks in the first 8 miles (including what I managed to choke down before starting) and bonked really hard on the last hill. Although I’d made good time until that point, all I could muster was slow walking (my body really wanted to sit down, so any movement was a victory), and I finished about 6 minutes slower than last year. I was disappointed, but I actually learned a lot through this experience, including:

(1) Sometimes routines that work well for training don’t work the same for racing.

I know most advice out there for racing is not to try anything new on race day. I imagine, then, that the implication is to test everything out while training, then use the same routine for race day. I learned, however, that there’s a bit more complexity. In the past, my pre-race breakfast has been one banana 1.5-2 hours before the start, with ~3 shot bloks 20-30 minutes before the start. However, on all my long mountain runs, I switched to eating a ProBar (way more calories than 1 banana, which was a good thing) and a couple shot bloks. In combination with salt pills taken every hour during the run, my stomach behaved perfectly.

Fast forward to Nike Women’s 13.1 in October: I ate a ProBar 2 hours before the start and my stomach was unsettled the whole race, but I thought it was just nerves. So come TNF race morning, I had a ProBar again. I already told you what happened… So clearly although the ProBar is a great breakfast for a long mountain run, on a race morning, when I’m already a bit anxious and tense, it’s not the way to go.

Solution? I’m not sure yet. A single banana is almost certainly not enough for some of the longer events I want to do. I know a lot of people swear by oatmeal, but I’m not sure I could manage to eat that when I’m nervous. I’m thinking about quinoa with a little sugar and some dried fruit, but I’ll have to think more about the digestive implications. Any suggestions would be welcome!

This sign says 482 miles to Oregon... (this photo is also from November, there were many more people here on race day)

(2) Listen to your body.

If I had just slowed down or stopped earlier on to calm my stomach down and get in some more calories earlier, I would probably have been a lot less miserable, and faster, on the rest of the course. This will probably be especially important the longer I want to run.

(3) Maybe it would be a good idea to use aid stations…

Since I got my sweet running pack, I’ve basically been able to be self-sufficient, which was really important for long runs in the Sierra. I figured I’d just do the same thing about the race, but in retrospect, it would have been a good idea to actually stop at the aid stations. Stopping would probably have helped me actually eat something, plus I could have benefited from drinking some sports drink. On all our long mountain runs, we did actually stop to eat food on a semi-regular basis, so this is probably something to incorporate into my racing strategy as well.

Cloudy, but scenic on our practice run of the course. It was beautiful and sunny on race day - too bad I was zombie Lizzy by this point, though.

(4) Recovering quickly is good for the soul.

I pretty much felt like death after the race. My body was just so messed up from all the exertion with so little fuel. But by Tuesday I was basically back to normal and I had a great 5 mile run on Thursday, just 4 days after the race. I suppose if I just wanted to be faster, I’d be more upset about not PRing, but since I actually want to go longer, I’m pretty psyched about my speedy recoveries. It works for psych, too. After the race, I just felt grumpy when I saw people running. A few days later, I was planning my next race…

(5) Although I prefer trails to roads, not all trails are created equal, and I’m totally a single-track snob.

My very favorite section of the course was the only bit of single-track on the half marathon course, a fun semi-technical downhill where I could just fly by tons of people. I was basically constantly saying, “on your left!” Single-track, with it’s more variable and often more technical terrain, is much more suited to my skills and IT’S JUST MORE FUN. So I can stack the deck in my favor, race mentality-wise, by finding courses with lots of single track.

Anyways, despite my complete nutritional explosion and theoretically disappointing result, I’ve kept a surprisingly good attitude and am more psyched than ever about taking on some much more ambitious and exciting goals in 2012. But you’ll have to wait for my end-of-the-year post to hear about those. Suffice it to say, 2012 WILL BE AMAZING!!!

Lizzy