The Final Countdown

Here I sit just hours before the beginning of what could be the most painful and simultaneously enjoyable 27 hours of my life up until this point. It's an odd feeling waiting for the clock to start as I dive into the pool at the Coral Casino. The butterflies, the anticipation, the excitement, the last minute details; they all blend together washing over me like the water I will shortly be dancing with.

Am I ready? Well, the short answer is yes. The longer answer is well..... I wish I didn't feel bronchitis creeping up on me, and I wish that I didn't have a major kink in my neck. And man, I wish there were some more easy boulder problems on West Camino Cielo. I'm a little scared, as I should be. Humble yet secure I step into battle with no one other than myself, which can often times be the most difficult battle of all, but it's so damn fulfilling. I'm ready. I can do this. No big deal.

Tentative Challenge Schedule
Friday
5pm-7pm: Swimming and Freediving
8pm-10pm: Cooking Prep+Wine

Saturday
4am-5:30am: Yoga and Headstand
6:30am-8:30am: Bouldering at the Brickyard
9am-2pm: Bouldering at Lizards Mouth
2pm-3pm: Barefoot Hike
3:30pm-5pm: Bouldering at Painted Cave
5:30pm-8pm: Dinner and Wine
8pm-?????: Whatever the Hell I want!

Dumb Dumb's R Us

I should have known better. Everything has been going far too well. With less than two weeks left in my challenge I found a way to truly achieve idiot status. I got the flu last week, and yesterday severly tweaked my neck. What's the absolute worse thing one can do training? Yeah, get injured. Nice work Micahman.

So what to do? Giving up is an option. Nah, everyone's doing that. Change my challenge date? That sounds like giving up to me. Oh I know. Continue according to plan and do what I can over the next few days to rehab my neck as far as possible. That's the one.

Two days of rest and restoration will have to be enough. March is approaching and the weather is looking good. Speaking of which, I need all your help Saturday night. Part of this challenge is to feed 27 people a proper meal. This will take place at my house (550 Miramonte Dr in Santa Barbara) at around 6pm. Please come by and help me out with your hungry belly. Bring some drinks if your into that sort of thing.

2/18

Barefoot neighborhood walk, Restorative postures

Bouldering at Lizards Mouth

-worked out circuits in femme Fatale and Sunset Boulevard

2/19

Sun Salutations, Restorative Postures

1 mile in the pool

-800 freestyle

-8x50 dolphin kick drills on 2 minute intervals

-2x200 freestyle

Stroke really coming together. Actually caught up with someone.

Pecan Crusted Turkey Tenderloin, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary Butter, Warm Radicchio Salad

Late night hike to secret hot springs with Bridget

-Started to feel a little weird tonight. Low energy, a little sick to my stomach. Probably just overdoing it a bit.

2/20

90 minutes of yoga including 20 minute headstand

Started to feel real sick today. I don't like admitting that I'm sick. First of all its a shot to my health guru ego, and more importantly, admitting to sickness is a giving into sickness. You know, mind over matter and all that new age "stuff". By the end of the evening I was in the thick of it. Unable to stay warm, rainbow collard phlegm, weak and achey.... the flu. Love it.

2/21

Slept terribly last night. I woke up at 4am and had to take a bath just to get warm. Got back in bed in alpine gear and slept fittfully, but warm till morning.

Restorative Postures (felt like I had never done yoga before)

Whenever I get sick, I crave spice. Mexican food always sounds good. The problem is Mexican food provides many other things that are definitely not good for one's immune system. Shitty oils, lots of cream, and little to no vegetable matter (most of the time). I want Authentico/Hippie fusion! We settled on Los Arroyos. I hate this place for the most part. Mainly this is due to the unbelievable amount of press they get for their mediocre food. However, they do have a nice salsa bar (which was my main craving at this point). As usual, the food was about a 5 and the clientele was dressed to impress.

As the day progressed my body started to take control of its situation and I began to gain some more energy/heat/strength. Knowing that I would be spending the entire weekend at Bridget's ranch (where I would not be climbing) I forced myself to go do some laps at the shed. Surprisingly I felt quite strong, although I hit the wall after about 2 hours. Campused a bit and got on lap routes.

2/22 - 2/24
Bridget and I left for her families ranch on Friday morning. Not much training this weekend other than some yoga and some light hikes. I had originally hoped to hit it hard the week preceding and then rest up at the ranch for my final push to the challenge, but the flu put a wrench in that wheel.

Well, life goes on, and turns out there's more to life than training :-)

Nestled in the mountains 9 miles off the coast of Big Sur lies 400 acres of pure wilderness heaven. 100 ft pines with football sized cones, wild horses, deer everywhere, golden eagles, raging rivers, mountain lions (there's tracks all over the property), perfect coldwater sandstone and granite (covered in moss currently), and one small modest house. The good life.

Highlights:

-Maggie (one of Bridget's 3 dogs) pooping in the car on the way up there.

-Cooking for myself and someone special with no pressure or time restraints for the first time in a while.

-Meeting and feeding a dozen or so wild horses.

-Exploring only a fraction of the 400 acres (in the rain) and discovering some of the magic.

-Hot showers afterwards.

-Playing the piano for the first time in a while.

-Almost not making it out because of the storm that pounded us all weekend.

2/25

1 mile in the pool (still coughing up phlegm and not able to breathe well)

-100 freestyle

-200 freestyle

-400 freestyle

-400 breaststroke

-2x200 freestyle

-6x15 freedives with 3 breaths resting

2/26

90 minutes of yoga including 15 minute headstand

The sun was out and I was tempted to hit the boulders, but it had rained hard only 72 hours prior, so I made the drive to Vertical Heaven. My plan was to do a high volume day of stuff in the 5.10-5.11 range (V0-V2). As I warmed up I noticed that I still felt a bit weak from my flu and my body wasn't wanting to work hard at all. I went up and down some easy stuff and then got motivated by a 5.12 in the cave. I decided to boulder up a bit of it and down climb something easy next to it. After 3 fairly powerful dead points I went for yet another big move hit the hold strong, caught my momentum and crack, crack, tweak tweak, ouch, ouch, goes my upper right back area (all climbers know this zone: where the traps, back of shoulder, rhomboids, and upper lats meet up under the scapula). It's happened to me a dozen times climbing, practicing yoga, and even using the toilet (no joke). Instant stiff neck. I wanted to cry. I was able to loosen the musculature up with some opposing motions and finished off some more routes with the hope that the continued motion would help relax the area. In the end I topped out a dozen routes.

Returned home that evening and with the help of my girl made my athentico/hippie Mexican dinner a reality:

Adobado Tempeh, Black Beans, Sauteed Eggplant and Peppers broiled with Jack Cheese, Homemade Pico de Gallo, Homemade Hot Red Salsa, Guacamole with Sprouted Wheat Tortillas.

2/27

Real simple Restorative work on shoulders and back.

Pranayama

After a very deep massage from the lovely Bridget the night preceding and some proper restorative work, my neck is probably back to about 50%. Usually when I tweak it like this it takes about a week to get back to 100%. I've got 2 days. Shit.

Weekend Warrior

As the big day gets closer, I've tried to create multiple activity days for myself that will hopefully increase my tolerance for suffering. These are had to pull off during the week, but the weekends have been filled with a few nice mini adventures. I think it's working. Some notes can be found below.

2/5

I think I did some yoga, but can't really remember

I’ve been hanging out at coffee shops a lot lately (yeah, I’m back on the espresso con pannas), and the pastry selections have been less than inspiring. I love “hippie pastries”. You know, whole grain stuff with good oils etc. So I decided to take the matter into my own hands and created some awesome whole grain all butter Scottish Oat Scones. Yes.

2/6

Restorative poses

Bouldered at the Brickyard. Finally did Lonesome pine (V6) along with an assortment of other moderate classics. Every once in a while I get some perks out of my writing gig. Tonight was one of those. Tre Anelli, a new winery in the valley invited me to their industry party where I was treated to large amounts of wine (1.5 bottles worth?) and some great appetizers.

2/7

1 mile in the pool

-600 freestyle

-4x50 dolphin kick

-2x100 freestyle breathing every 5 strokes

-300 breaststroke

-300 free with leg float

2/8

On Bob's suggestion I decided to check out the boulders at Red Rock for possible Birthday Challenge usage. I hadn't been to Red Rock in a while so it sounded like fun. Of course it was going to be somewhat epic getting to the boulders. The road to red rock was closed due to flooding etc so Bridget and I mounted our bikes, which neither of us had been on in years.

Luckily we both remembered how to work the simple mechanism known as the bicycle and made it through the 7 river crossings ( including the final one which was deep enough to require ditching the bikes and egg beatering across holding our gear above our heads) injury free. I highly recommend everyone try riding a bike with a boulder pad on at least once in their life. Red Rock was beautiful and because the approach required effort, we were alone the entire day except for a brief encounter with two other people. Good stuff. I bouldered a bunch of easy stuff and worked the moves of Seven Year Plan (V7). Bridget made me proud and traversed all the way in and out of the Bro Den even though her instincts told her to swim it instead.

After a cold cold cold ride back to the car we had dinner at Mattei's Tavern in Los Olivos. To be honest, this place is way overpriced, but the food is good, and the crowd is great. I had the buffalo sirloin and a full blown hamstring cramp which created a bit of a scene. "Are you all right sir?" I hear as a squirmed across the floor praying that I might pass out to escape the pain and embarrassment I was experiencing.

2/9

75 min yoga including a 15 minute headstand while being hosed down by Brian. The crux was by far the water that was flowing up my nose. Thanks guys.

Feeling stoked on my bike, I got on with my climbing shoes in tote and rode from my house to Westmont where I bouldered all the up problems on the boulder except for one (that crimpy thing to the left of the hueco on the back side). As the sun started to go down, I realized I was in no condition to ride home, so I coasted over to Bridget's house and acted pathetic enough to earn a ride home in the car. To thank her for her efforts I created a new dish: Butter Chicken and Cauliflower Curry with Pasilla mango chutney. This dish was so good and easy to prepare that I will probably be serving it for the cooking part of my challenge.

2/10

Climbing at Lizards Mouth with Andy, Mary and co.

Good times bouldering with good friends.

Highlights included:

-Andy's awesome style.

-Mary sending Shaken like a tornad0 (v6) not once but twice.

-Andy showing me some great new problems.

-La Super rica and Modelos at the end of the day.

2/11

Neighborhood Walk, Restorative Poses

Tried to swim a 1600 in the pool without stopping. Had to stop at 1200 because I had a splitting headache (probably because my goggles suck. I'm working it out as we speak). Cooled down with a 200 of kickboard.

2/12

Sun Salutations, Restorative Poses

Bouldering at Lizards Mouth. I spent the afternoon mapping out my circuit in the Top of the World, MA area. There is actually a lot of climbable rock in this area including some very nice moderate and sometimes a bit scary problems.

2/13

90 minutes of yoga including headstand variations.

40 problems at Painted Cave.

Hike up Hot Springs trail with Bridget, Blake and Bosco. For those of you that have never done this, you are missing out. You may not believe me when you first arrive at the less than inspiring looking pools, but with the help of a large tarp and the company of some good friends, good times are more or less guaranteed.

-1 hour of hiking

-2.5 hours of soaking

-1 bottle of wine

2/14

Restorative Postures

Valentine's Day

-2 hours finding and "decorating" Bridget's car

-2 hours preparing/serving Pasta Puttanesca for the two of us.

-1.5 bottles of wine-1 large bar of Chilean Chocolate

-Other Activities

2/15

Sun Salutations

1 mile in the pool

-2 x400 freestyle

-4oo breaststroke

-300 freestyle with leg float

-6x15 free dives with 3 breaths in between

-3x25 free dives with 9 breaths in between

-50 meter free dive!

Zen Yai plus 6 beers out and about.

2/16

Sun Salutations

Went climbing at Mr. Lees. The day started off well. Shortly after arriving at the crag, I realized that in true genius style I forgot my harness. Phil was totally stoked of course. Luckily we were able to warm up on White Lotus belaying from the bolt at the bottom of the route. After a few goes Chris arrived (with his harness like a normal climber), and saved me from the certain death that Phil was surely planning on treating me to. In further "normal" style, Chris belayed me on my red point of White Lotus (11d) using a harness made from the rope we were climbing with. He must have foreseen my success, because catching a lead fall on the harness he fashioned out of Phil's "brand new" rope could not only possibly turn him into a castrato, but may have allowed me a the chance to test out my chute less base jumping skills. You’re a good man Chris. Later in the day I got on Drunken Master (12.d) and found may what up the damn thing doing all but one move. There were two harnesses involved in this ascent. I know. Boring.

Other highlights of the day included

-Phil and Chris creating the new and superb true finish to Wild Kingdom

-Steve (Also known as Wolverine) redpointing Hard Boiled (13.b) in style

-D. kicking ass on Wild Kingdom (13.a)

-Woofie (Chris's dog) not trying to kill me

2/17

9o minutes of yoga including 10 minute headstand

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for the plants getting some water every now and again, but this is getting ridiculous. How the hell am I supposed to train for this challenge when I can't go climbing outside. In order to pull off 270 boulder problems, I'm not only going to have to be in phonomenal climbing shape, but I'm going to have to have all the circuits wired, and that's hard to do on the couch or climbing in a gym. Oh well, anything that makes a challenge harder qualifies as "good" (at least that's what I want to think).

In other news, OFFICIAL CHALLENGE REVISION:

The pranayama component of this challenge has officially been replaced by a 54 (27x2) meter fin free dynamic free dive. This is a warm up by freediving standards, but given that last month was my first month doing this shit, I feel pretty good about this amount. I've yet to break 45 meters, so we''ll see.

Training Notes Below:

1/26

Sun Salutations, Restortative postures

Went to Vertical Heaven. Bridget joined the boys for her first day of rock climbing. Even with a severly weak left wrist, she was able to flash to routes and get hyper motivated on yet another, pulling off 5.9 moves one handed! I'm gonna find a way to get that left wrist stronger, and with any luck she'll be kicking my ass real soon. I felt real strong on routes. Flashed everything I got on including two 5.11+. Cheers to Vertical Heaven for actually setting some great stuff.

After climbing Bridget and I hiked part of the way up Cathedral peak only to realize that a summit attempt would mean a rainy hike down in the dark. Already tired from climbing at the gym and not in the mood for an epic, we opted to bail arriving back at the car just before dark.

1/27

Sun Salututations

The rain was still coming down hard when I woke up on Sunday. So what do to do? I suit up in a full wetsuit and run up seven falls with Elijah and Elhanan. We made it to the top pool and screwed around for an hour or so. Some may laugh at our antics, calling us names that put our masculinity in question, but I scoff at these folks. Good times are good times. Period.

1/28

90 Minutes of Yoga (15 minute headstand)

1/29

Sun Salutations, Restorative Postures

1 mile in the pool (All freestyle because my groin still felt strained)

-400 freestyle

-2x200 freestyle (breathing every 5 strokes)

-2x100 freestyle (breathing every 7 strokes)

-2x50 freestyle (breathing ever 11 strokes, but had to cheat a little)

-200 kickboard

-300 leg float freestyle

1/30

Sun Salutations, Restorative Postures

Climbed at the Shed. For some reason I felt motivated to campus for the first time in 9 months or so. Campusing is rad, and for those that think Elijahs rungs are too small, I'm gonna have to side with Elijah on this one. They serve their purpose beautifully. I did every combination between 1 and 5 except 1-5. Then I tried my best to get up everyone of Phil's lap problems. Didn't get them all, but was pretty inspired by how many I actually did get up.

1/31

90 minutes of yoga (19 minute headstand). I know I can do 27 minutes on my birthday. It's gonna be great.

2/1

20 or so boulder problems at GVAC.

400 in the pool (shoulders real sore)

6 x 25 free dives

Dinner Party with Roberto Cortez (see the links to the right)

-Billionaires are funny. 20 guests means 4 chefs,6 servers, 2 dishwashers, and far too much undrunk expensive wine. Rob Lowe was there. He's short.

2/2

Barefoot Neihborhood Walk

Restorative Postures

Dinner Party for 10

-Kale, Shitake "Bacon" and Fried Oregano Guacaomole Sandwhiches

-Fennel Dusted Slow Roasted Salmon over Braised Rapini

-Sweet Potato Mascarpone Cakes

-Celery Root and Pistachio Salad

-Lobster Mushroom Rissoto.

5 cocktails with the guys afterward.

2/3

Rain meant more gym climbing. I hustled through 20 or so problems at Vertical Heaven. Yeah, I was that guy covered in sweat running from boulder problem to boulder problem.

400 at the Coral Casino with Bridget.

4 goes at 50 underwater (real close on the second go, and coincidently, real close to a black out)

2/4

Barefoot Neihborhood Walk, Restorative Postures