I am shocked by how improved today’s stair workout was over last week’s. A week ago, 10 trips up the 110 steps* left me hardly able to walk for a couple days. Today, I did 16 trips and now don’t have any pain in my legs at all. Crazy.
Of course, it was still a hell of a workout. I was sweating like a greased pig in just shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt despite the fact that it was only 46 degrees out. My legs started to shake pretty bad after the 11th trip and I had trouble getting back down the stairs without falling. But, I was still able to keep a solid pace, never letting two feet touch at the same time. All the trips were within 4 seconds of each other, so there was no significant fade. When I finished up and started towards home, I got noodle legs again, but only for a couple hundred yards and was able to run 8:04s instead of last week’s 8:30s.
I broke out my calculator and figured out that if the Empire State Building Run-up is 1,576 steps and 86 floors, today’s 1,760 steps is equivalent to just over 96 floors. That makes me feel a little better about my odds of actually finishing this thing in a decent time. Let’s hope.
* I recounted today a couple times and kept getting 110 instead of 109.
You made me smile with the “broke out my calculator” bit. I’m a numbers girl, myself. I’m always running them in my head while running: pace, timing, negative splits, etc. I’d have done the same thing.
When is the Run-Up? You seem to be ready to take them on!
It’s two weeks from yesterday, Feb. 2nd. So I’ll be able to get one more big stair workout in before then.
Good luck and enjoy the views at the Empire State run. Just be weary of the bottleneck in the beginning! You are gonna be awesome!
Nice!
For what I’ve heard… you should estimate 5 minutes off your best 5K for the ESB Run Up
Nice. And just so you know what you’re up against, here’s a video: Man vs. Skyscraper
http://www.runnersworld.com/esbrace
That video was hilarious.
Yeah, apparently the crazy crush to get into the stairwell is the hardest part. Well, the doorframe might technically be the hardest. Just don’t hit it.
So I keep hearing from everyone… I’ll have to get there early and try to fight for a spot close to the start.
Nice work on the stairs. I’ll be doing the Empire State Building run-up on Feb 2 as well. My goal? To just get to the top in one piece:)
That’s a good goal. Good luck!
It’s amazing how fast the body adapts to new stresses, isn’t it? I’d never do that race (not only because I hate crowds and am mildly claustrophobic, but I fear tripping since I tend to be a natural shuffler). But I’m looking forward to that sure-to-be-unique race report. You should try a mountain race after that one maybe get another pop from all the stairs work.
I hadn’t thought of it before, but now that you mention it, this whole stairs routine would be great prep for my Leaville Marathon this summer. I’ll have to keep up with it (or, at the least, come back to it.)
Julie’s right. Some of our good stair runners are equally good mountain runners. The girl I was telling you about ran in the last World Champs. And yes, another Aussie expat Suzy Walsham, had a ‘meeting’ with the door frame before winning last year.
I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for this doorframe I keep hearing about.