It’s been a wild year and I’ll return with more content soon dear reader, but let’s put a cap on these gains.
While the updates fell off mid-year, the persistence did not. I am proud to say that I have become more of an alpine athlete and less of a lunk. Although I retired from the climbing gym in August, I picked up another sport that rewards being limber over brawn. The stoke for surfing is real. After one rental on a foamie I decided to go all in, grabbed a longboard off Craigslist, and have been following the swell well into winter and now have a 5/4 wetsuit to add to my gear closet.
Weight: 218 to 207/208 Slow and steady baby, mind you this was with monthly work trips and open bar conferences.
Iron: Doing 4-5 day splits, while the #s aren’t as big on the compound lifts, I have been going absolutely HAM on volume. We are talking 80- 100 total reps per body part, especially on bis/tris arm days. The pump is real, and the lower body weight helps showcase my gains. The real game-changer has been gym cardio which I “tricked” myself into liking by using it as a way to grind magic the gathering arena. Yes “those” magic cards, you saw nerds play at lunch in 1999. I’m clocking a good 30-60 mins on the Stairmaster every sesh, which helps amp up my caloric burn over the week. To break it up, I’m rowing 5km on the machine on “leg” day and recently did my best 5km row at 19:29 which was a sweaty speed run. Lifting will always be part of me until I’m RFK’s age (and hope to match his physique) but I am now not lifting at the expense of my other sports. In fact, you’d be shocked how many days I’ll skip if the surf is good!
Climbing: 5.10 ain’t nothing to see here. Let’s see what ice season brings, I’m in the market for some Scarpa’s that are actually in my size and hope to learn to set up my own anchors this year rather than just be a top rope nerd.
Running: Gotta’ dig into Garmin here. It’s been a bit since my last run as the time changes but I made some significant progress over the year.
Fastest mile: 7:47 which was actually my last mile of a long run~! 9/18/24
Fastest 5k 25:21 10/02/24 & also Fastest 10k 51 min even on that same day!
My goal next year is to run a half marathon distance but it doesn’t have to be a “normie” road race, I’d much rather do a trail run though not wild about racing.
Surfing: So my very first session ever was in August and now I’m catching 4-6′ green waves on an 88L 9’6″ TANK of a longboard. Whether I am surfing “well” is another story. I usually end up going with a slight turn with the wave, but most of the time being just amped to get up and go straight. I have “ridden the line” at least twice, but it’s not consistent, and certainly an area I am working to improve. I had my first surf injury which put me in the game as an actual surfer– needed 5 stitches after catching my board in the forehead getting pulled back into the shore break and rolled when I was trying to end a session. It was an important learning experience as I came out of the water way too gassed and wasn’t thinking of the danger behind me, just wanted to get out of the 51F water and out of my thick suit. Instead, I got clocked and started leaking blood all over the beach. Was glad to have first aid supplies in the car, I wrapped my head in a towel and walked to tape myself up. Driving home I was seeing stars and had the windows down since I was still disoriented driving in my 5/4 suit. Not a good luck for safety or otherwise. Next time I won’t surf without a buddy, I need to find someone like a belay partner who is equally stoked to wake up before sunrise to catch some weekday swells well into winter.
2024 was a year of healing as much as it was a year of personal gains. I am stoked for 2025 and hope to report increased performance on the trails, waves, and ice.
Stay strong,
Anders