Saturday, January 30, 2010


Workout Jan 30 2010:
I got in the stairwell today for the first time since the Wamu tower race in December where we completely lit up the competition; (You can read about that here)We spend most our time training in the Wamu tower, as its convenience is unmatched because Kevin works on the top floor; today's suffering however, took place in the Seattle Municipal Tower (Picture to our right) Instead.
I put up a respectable time of about 7:40, and was informed that I likely became 1 of only 4 people to break the 8 minute barrier(The others are PJ, Kevin(my brother), and Jesse Berg who is currently ranked number 1 in the US, but that is debatable).

After that 8 or so minutes of lung and leg burning, Kevin and I went back to his place, made breakfast, and later in the day hiked up mailbox peak at a nice slow pace. We summited in 1 hour 30 minutes(far off my record of 1h:04m:56s, but setting records was not todays purpose). All in all it was a good, but somewhat uneventful day.

Todays Stats:
Seattle Municipal Tower: 7:40s (PR, First time in building)
Mailbox Peak: 1:30:00 (approximate, from gate to summit)

Seattle Municipal Tower All time record: 6:59 (Jesse Berg)
Mailbox All Time Record: Unkown, but I have seen no reports of anyone beating my time of 1:04:56, although it is very likely someone out there probably has.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Introduction

For the first post on this blog I am going to explain my purpose in making it. This is simple, I do a lot of random shit, soccer, climbing, stair racing, cycling, crazy ass training for mountain climbing, engineering...You get the idea. This blog is simply a tool for me to show a little bit of what I do from day to day; share stories, pictures, ideas, and other information I find interesting. A large portion of this blog will be dedicated to training, fitness, health, and dieting, as I have been experimenting for the past year with many different methods to improve athletic performance. I have found information that I feel is valuable through research and by using myself as a test dummy. This will be a place for me to post my results, and what I feel is useful information.

Here is a Brian to Brian question and answer session that will help portray what will be contained in this blog.

Q1: Brian what should I expect to see in this blog?
A1: Brian, thanks for asking... You should expect to see the following: Mountain Climbing Trip Reports, workouts that I found particularly effective(IOW they hurt a lot, the good kind of hurt), a log of foods I eat(believe me, as I get more in depth you will find this interesting), recipes, and my thoughts on just about anything.

Q2: Brian, I heard you were on the Paleo Diet??? Why are you such a crazy Mother F'er?
A2: I was born that way, and yes I am currently experimenting with the Paleo Diet for Athletes(also the title of a book that I recommend reading to get a different perspective for dieting). I am measuring it's effectiveness at improving post-workout recovery(I will get more into this subject later).

Q3: Do you adhere to any particular workout protocol?
A3: The simple answer is no, however I do tend toward a Crossfit style workout. These workouts are usually very intense, and last 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is a little longer than most crossfit style workouts, but I have modified them to meet a slightly different level of fitness designed for mountain climbing. I also recommend googling(some day this word will be added to the dictionary, just wait) Crossfit, and taking a look at the www.gymjones.com as these sites provide the inspiration for many of my workouts.

Q4: Mountain Climbing, soccer? I heard ballet was good training for some of that stuff, you don't do that do you?
A4: Sssshhhhhhhhhhhhh

Q5: Engineering, where does that fit in?
A5: That is what I do for a living right now, it funds my various adventures, and It is also a warning that I may get a little technical and number oriented when analyzing workouts and results.

OK enough talking to myself, even though I could go on all day. Please stay tuned...