Amping it up

I hurt my back last Monday, lifting weights.  Initially it seemed like a normal stiffness, then it seemed as though my back was in a vice-like grip!  I could not even bend my knees.  Thanks to massages, endless applications of Bengay and the use of those heating pads, it passed.  It also meant that I did no stairs in a week.  Yesterday was the first time back on the stairwell, and it was tough!

I only did 800 stairs and limped back completely out of breath, and exhausted.  Tonight I went back, and did the full 1400 that I had built up to, and guess what....yes, they rocked!  I cannot believe I am saying this about stairs, but I actually enjoyed it.  I felt in control of them and my breathing, and it was only on the last set (the final 200) that I need to stop a few times for 15 seconds to recover.

The plan is to work up to 1600 next week, and do that for 2 weeks, and then wind down a bit in the final week.  I can't believe it's almost time...... I still have some preparation to be getting on with.  Friday I will start a jump rope class at MIT.  Thirty minutes every Friday - that should help with building some dexterity and agility.  In addition to that, I will also swim twice a week.  Since swimming is a bigger challenge for me right now, it will reframe the ESB event, and allow me to be more competitive on the day precisely because the event is 20 feet in the sky, rather than in 20 feet of water.  Not sure if I explained that one very clearly, but you know what I mean!