Stair Tales

This has been a busy week.  It seemed to be composed mainly of running up stairs, running up hills and walking up hills!  Time is pressing and this week I am racking the stairs up to 1200.  I have also started mixing in some press ups and upper body strengthening as it is quite useful as I hold onto the bannisters on either side of the staircase to get up.

I have also been busy trying to get donations to the MMRF as I am committed to raising 2500 USD for them.  People have been really generous thus far, and the amount raised stands at 915 USD.  Also a big thank you to Christina from lazybonesrunning.blogspot.com, for her generous donation to my climb.  So if you are feeling the love, please visit my site at http://www.active.com/donate/2011MMRFRunUp/RUNUPNShunmu and make a donation.  My aim is to reach the fundraising goal by Christmas.  Talking of goals, I signed up for the Race Up Boston Place and registered as an....Elite!  The cut off time is 9:54 (my old time was 10:29), and that gives me a good goal to work towards - after all, the stairs are half those of the Empire State Building.
Nothing much else, except my Finnish Marimekko dress arrived, and I am very pleased with it.  I adore their fabrics, and the dress looks very sixties - a look that I am rather partial to!
Kruuna tunic

Stair Climbing 201

After my initial enthusiasm with the stair climbs last week, I got a bit caught up with the running, and this fell behind. This morning I went to downtown to see where the stair climbing event would take place, and got a shock to see the building up close and personal! It's...high.....so I'd better get with the programme.

A little research took me to Virgil Aponte's website which has loads of goodies, such as video clips.  After signing up for a free 15 page report on stair climbing, I received a pdf which gave lots of useful tips, and 5 free workouts.

The key workout I shall be using is his 'pressed for time' one:

- Walk up 20 flights of stairs (twice if you wish)

- Run up 10 flights at a medium pace

- Sprint up 10 flights at an all out pace.

- Take the lift down after each, to recover.

For those among us who are well hard, he recommends skipping before or after the workout, and for an extra challenge, run with a weighted vest.  If anyone is interested in the other workouts, let me know and I shall be happy to post them here, or you can sign up for the report on his website.