Ran a 10k in June (5 Viewers)

[tri-man 47]

Checking in again, haven't even been on the FFA in over a week. Was in Vegas with 700 of my closest friends last week

My wife and I will be in Vegas in mid-March for five days (our son has a v'ball tournament for two days). We're staying out at the Red Rock resort ...hope to rent a mountain bike and get into the Red Rock Canyon. I hear it's awesome.

 

[GStrot]

GStrot; Your training and race sound like a blast! My only worry is that you are training your muscles in a very unique way (constantly pushing you up) while not working the opposite muscles (those to assist you in going down). I don't really know if this is a potential problem or not, but possibly a concern.

Not spitting would also be a problem for me, as would be not "snotting." I'm guessing that congestion on the stairs will also be a bit of an obstacle, and could make or break your race experience. Have a blast!!

edited to add: This song seems appropriate, and will last more than 8 minutes (paging Tri-Man for mandatory joke).

Funny thing is most of the people I have talked to about this have said that you should not do a lot of going down stairs as it is very bad for your knees. So, I am not going to practice that! Stair climbing does a really good job of working your whole leg from what I have found. I guess I have strong ham strings because mine have not been as sore as some of the other people I train with. But, quads, hamstrings and calves all get worked. I will be careful when I go back to running because of potential imbalances that may have developed. But, I only trained on stairs for about a month and a half so it couldn't be that out of whack. Thanks for the concern!They have start times for each group and let people go (I am using the term launch) every 8 seconds. So, there should be a good gap between people and congestion should not be a huge problem. From what I understand, the stairwells are wide but that also means passing on the outside is tougher because of more ground to cover. No snotting and no spitting could be interesting.

Should be fun. I will post an update here next week.

Nice inspirational videos. I spent a lot of time on one of them. And it wasn't the one with the baby.

 

[pigskinliquors]

My plantar faciitis continues to aggravate me. I can press hard on the spots that really ache, which helps for a while. But the ongoing pain tells me to get to my doc and get a referral for someone that knows the footsies well. I gotta sort this out.

Have you tried any trigger point therapy yet? My MIL has planter faciitis as well, and has just started it. Worth a try

 

[El Floppo]

My plantar faciitis continues to aggravate me. I can press hard on the spots that really ache, which helps for a while. But the ongoing pain tells me to get to my doc and get a referral for someone that knows the footsies well. I gotta sort this out.

Have you tried any trigger point therapy yet? My MIL has planter faciitis as well, and has just started it. Worth a try

what is?My wife has it too, and is miserable- despite a couple of cortizone shots and lots of doctor visits. She's at the end of her rope with it and thinking about surgery... anybody know anything that's worked for it?

 

[El Floppo]

I dusted off the trainer for the first time this year tonight. I'd been doing all my indoor stuff at the gym on the spin bikes.

Set out to do 100rpm/150bpm for 40 minutes or so just to bridge my two bigger days and to start my Wednesday build up.

It is a phenomenal sign that it took me a near hammerfest to keep it at 150bpm. I was absolutely mashing it in. This is clearly the best shape I've been in at this point in the season so far. I credit the near lack of knee pain whatsoever to allow me to really push myself so far.

I'm pumped.

Nice. What's your next race this year?.. damn... 100rpm would have me either imploding or bouncing off the bike after 2 or 3 minutes at this point, regardless of the gearing. 40 minutes? Nice.

It is nice! Little does he know, that I'll be riding right behind him in this for the MS150 in April (I believe his next race). That should get his HR over 150, and keep mine in check

The visual of you on that thing, let alone trailing behind Culdeus...

 

[tri-man 47]

My plantar faciitis continues to aggravate me. I can press hard on the spots that really ache, which helps for a while. But the ongoing pain tells me to get to my doc and get a referral for someone that knows the footsies well. I gotta sort this out.

Have you tried any trigger point therapy yet? My MIL has planter faciitis as well, and has just started it. Worth a try

what is?My wife has it too, and is miserable- despite a couple of cortizone shots and lots of doctor visits. She's at the end of her rope with it and thinking about surgery... anybody know anything that's worked for it?

I guess it's this:http://www.triggerpointbook.com/plantarf.htm

I don't know about the referred part, but I can push hard on the spot just on the front edge of my heel (which hurts like the dickens), and that relieves the pain. I'll have to explore this further!

The article talks about the tibialis posterior as a deep calf muscle. Years ago, I had my right calf totally lock up on me - I couldn't run for weeks, and it was a couple of years before I stopped worrying about it. And it was my right achilles area that hurt this past fall. Huh.

 

[pigskinliquors]

My plantar faciitis continues to aggravate me. I can press hard on the spots that really ache, which helps for a while. But the ongoing pain tells me to get to my doc and get a referral for someone that knows the footsies well. I gotta sort this out.

Have you tried any trigger point therapy yet? My MIL has planter faciitis as well, and has just started it. Worth a try

what is?My wife has it too, and is miserable- despite a couple of cortizone shots and lots of doctor visits. She's at the end of her rope with it and thinking about surgery... anybody know anything that's worked for it?

Mrs. Liquors is actually a certified Trigger Point Specialist, but can't practice it until she gets her Massage Therapist License (in May!). The main concept is that pain in one section of the body is often caused by something else in the body (typically up higher). Trigger point uses pressure "triggers" to release the cause of the pain above the point of where somebody feels the pain. These people were at the Austin Marathon Expo, and use the same types of concepts, but you can do it yourself!

 

[culdeus]

I dusted off the trainer for the first time this year tonight. I'd been doing all my indoor stuff at the gym on the spin bikes. Set out to do 100rpm/150bpm for 40 minutes or so just to bridge my two bigger days and to start my Wednesday build up. It is a phenomenal sign that it took me a near hammerfest to keep it at 150bpm. I was absolutely mashing it in. This is clearly the best shape I've been in at this point in the season so far. I credit the near lack of knee pain whatsoever to allow me to really push myself so far. I'm pumped.

What's your max heart rate on the bike?

I've seen 185ish. Once my 705 gets in I'll have better tracking of it. I usually like to run in the 150s as much as possible. I can do 160-170 for about an hour (not concurrently) and probably only have 30 minutes above 170 all day to be able to hang around. Missed my thursday workout for work . At least I have ToC replays to work off of from home if needed.

 

[culdeus]

My plantar faciitis continues to aggravate me. I can press hard on the spots that really ache, which helps for a while. But the ongoing pain tells me to get to my doc and get a referral for someone that knows the footsies well. I gotta sort this out.

Have you tried any trigger point therapy yet? My MIL has planter faciitis as well, and has just started it. Worth a try

what is?My wife has it too, and is miserable- despite a couple of cortizone shots and lots of doctor visits. She's at the end of her rope with it and thinking about surgery... anybody know anything that's worked for it?

Mrs. Liquors is actually a certified Trigger Point Specialist,

Oh, is that what you call it.

 

[culdeus]

I dusted off the trainer for the first time this year tonight. I'd been doing all my indoor stuff at the gym on the spin bikes.

Set out to do 100rpm/150bpm for 40 minutes or so just to bridge my two bigger days and to start my Wednesday build up.

It is a phenomenal sign that it took me a near hammerfest to keep it at 150bpm. I was absolutely mashing it in. This is clearly the best shape I've been in at this point in the season so far. I credit the near lack of knee pain whatsoever to allow me to really push myself so far.

I'm pumped.

Nice. What's your next race this year?.. damn... 100rpm would have me either imploding or bouncing off the bike after 2 or 3 minutes at this point, regardless of the gearing. 40 minutes? Nice.

Next big event is http://www.rideforheroes.org/ And *******mit if I don't try to get pigskin up for that. Seriously. Get here for it. This will be my 4th of these events. Always my favorite local ride of the year. Very challenging. I haven't decided if I'll go for a 100k PR, just do the 75 like last year, or what. Very unlikely I'll attempt the 100 mile. It's too early in the season for me to have had enough rides to get there. I like to be running 60 mile rides every other week for two months before doing something that length.

I always threaten to do the http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/main/08_pdf/A..._entry_form.pdf SteamNWheels which is just a sprint at 48miles. It's always right around my wife's birthday so that complicates things. mapmyride of steamn

 

[Darrinll40]

Well I spent most of today in bed because my wife and I have both been sick, and I have already taken tomorrow off of work. I think I may have wasted the 30 bucks when I prepaid for Saturdays 10k and 5k. If I don't feel 100% I am going to skip the races altogether. Any advice on how to feel better in less than 48 hours?

 

[gruecd]

Well I spent most of today in bed because my wife and I have both been sick, and I have already taken tomorrow off of work. I think I may have wasted the 30 bucks when I prepaid for Saturdays 10k and 5k. If I don't feel 100% I am going to skip the races altogether. Any advice on how to feel better in less than 48 hours?

I wish I could help. I'm traveling from Wisconsin to Arkansas next week to run the Little Rock Half Marathon with a close friend, and I've got pneumonia. My doc told me that I shouldn't even think about running until next Monday. The race isn't until the following Sunday, so I'll have to wait and see how I feel.

 

[pigskinliquors]

Next big event is http://www.rideforheroes.org/ And *******mit if I don't try to get pigskin up for that. Seriously. Get here for it. This will be my 4th of these events. Always my favorite local ride of the year. Very challenging.

I'd love to try, but I've got a LONG way to go. I completed my first ride today, a full 10.5 miles at 18mph. It was incredibly windy and miserable outside = Good fun! The upside is that I'm a little bit sore still, but feeling better than I anticipated. I'll try to get a 30 miler in this weekend, and will start working on my base.

 

[SofaKings]

How accurate are the calorie burn counters on the ellipticals in the gym. Heart rate, weight, rpm's I would think they may be 80% accurate? Any thoughts?

 

[culdeus]

How accurate are the calorie burn counters on the ellipticals in the gym. Heart rate, weight, rpm's I would think they may be 80% accurate? Any thoughts?

If it's taking your heartrate then it's at least a decent ballpark. If it's not all bets are off. I mean it does know at least what wattage you are turning it. It's pretty easy to get close if you know watts and weight at least.

 

[culdeus]

10k too short? Well maybe a 1000k is more your speed.

 

[pigskinliquors]

Pictures from the race.

re: 1,000k

 

[Darrinll40]

Pictures from the race.

re: 1,000k

That's amazing. You ran the full and the half at the same time, while wearing different clothes . I don't really like the shades though.

 

[tri-man 47]

Pictures from the race.

re: 1,000k

Sweet! lol Looks like you're whistling along to your headphones early on, but nice game face on #1659. Good leg lift.

 

[2Young2BBald]

Ran 110 flights last night. 5 x 20 and 1 x 10. Should be fine by Sunday. Running stairs is all about pace. Unlike a run, you can't really lighten up too much. With a run you can slow down or even walk. But, with stairs you still have to push your weight up each step which is 80 - 90% of the effort anyway. I plan on starting slow and if I have enough left in the tank with 10 flight left to finish strong.Some interesting observations, my gums and inside my nose tingle some times. I think it is increased blood flow or something. I really thought I was getting a bloody nose the first time it happened. - Breathing through your mouth in an enclosed stairwell is not the healthiest thing in the world. Plenty of coughing afterwards and lots of dry mouth. Looks like I will be drinking lots of water on the way up just to keep my mouth moist. No place to spit the water out in a stairwell so I will have to swallow it (insert obvious jokes here).- I am not that sore the next day after this kind of training like I am running. I wonder if doing two steps at a time is more anaerobic than aerobic and I wonder if that makes a difference.- Using the handrail makes a huge difference in the later flights. - When using flights with an odd number of steps (or even if you are doing two at a time) you need to pay attention to alternating which leg you start on. This can get confusing so I set up a system where I start on my right leg on even number flights and my left leg on odd number flights. Remembering this when you are 70 or 80 flights in can get tough.- I have no idea what kind of music to put in my ipod. Especially since I am trying to pace myself to about 15 seconds a flight or 2.5 minutes every 10 flights or about 24 minutes. I know I can do faster but like any first race, it is hard to judge and I don't want to come out of the gate too fast and wheeze my way up the last few flights. Slow and steady is really the mantra with this one. It seems to me that you can do better by keeping a consistent pace than flaming out because once you are toast, it is hard to recover.Anyway, no more practices. I am taking Thursday off and just going to wait for the big stair climb on Sunday. Then, assuming I don't die, I will focus on my new running goals for 2008. Probably pick a couple of 5ks or maybe a 5k and a 10k if there are any good ones in the Chicago area.

Great post, thank you!!!I am completely screwed for tomorrow's climb. I am writing this from Orlando airport where I just finished a week of eating and drinking too much. The only exercise I got was walking around theme parks. My running stuff never left the bag. To top it off, the 70 degree temp change gave me a nasty chest cold. My thoughts on pacing for tomorrow is going to be to keep a good pace for the first 50 flights of 70 where I can control my breathing. At 50, I am going to try and pick it up for the last 20 to try and leave it all on the stairs. I hadn't thought about water on the way up, but can see how i'd be dry. Good luck tomorrow, no doubt you are 110% more prepared than me!

 

[culdeus]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

 

[Darrinll40]

My temp hit 102 last night, though it was back to normal this morning. I did skip the 10K this morning, but I am planning to run a 5K next Saturday. I most certainly do not envy you guys running those stairs this weekend. If we were meant to go up stairways, Mr. Otis would not have invented the elevator. Good luck.

 

[El Floppo]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

cough cough :sissy: cough

 

[anborn]

hit 5miles today (@9:20/mi). drove out to a local lake where they have a 2mi trail that goes around it. pretty good/steady except for one section where it has this massively steep hill. that thing wore my legs out. I swear the 2nd pass I woulda been faster just walking up it. heh. 1.5 miles to add to the distance. 6 weeks till the race.

 

[Darrinll40]

hit 5miles today (@9:20/mi). drove out to a local lake where they have a 2mi trail that goes around it. pretty good/steady except for one section where it has this massively steep hill. that thing wore my legs out. I swear the 2nd pass I woulda been faster just walking up it. heh. 1.5 miles to add to the distance. 6 weeks till the race.

You are doing great. Sometimes I wish that I had a trail like that to run on, especially one with a hill. I don't know what your 10K time goal is, but you could probably beat 9 minutes miles right now very easily. With 6 weeks left until the race you will probably be up to 7 or 8 mile training runs. Keep up the great work.

 

[meeka]

I did it! 10 miles today. It was not nearly as easy as last week's run, but I still made it. I finished in 94 minutes. That 10 mile mark was a big one for me, so I am happy to have that done.

 

[culdeus]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

cough cough :sissy: cough

Did 2 hours at 18 later that day solo 36 miles mas o menos. Felt good to get out there and didn't want to push things as I'll probably do another 90 minutes pulling the squid tomorrow. Probably could have gone longer today for sure, or harder, but wasn't the goal per se. One random thing I was going along and some dude wearing a kit rides along behind me for a mile or so. I sort of motion for him to come around and he's got a 4x6 glossy of a nekkid girl hanging from his saddle with an ad for a strip club. He was going my pace more or less, but headed up the trail rather than looping the lake.

 

[meeka]

hit 5miles today (@9:20/mi). drove out to a local lake where they have a 2mi trail that goes around it. pretty good/steady except for one section where it has this massively steep hill. that thing wore my legs out. I swear the 2nd pass I woulda been faster just walking up it. heh. 1.5 miles to add to the distance. 6 weeks till the race.

Nice job! Your progress has been great the last few weeks. You should have no trouble getting to 10K.

 

[tri-man 47]

I did it! 10 miles today. It was not nearly as easy as last week's run, but I still made it. I finished in 94 minutes. That 10 mile mark was a big one for me, so I am happy to have that done.

...one for anborn, too.

 

[anborn]

I did it! 10 miles today. It was not nearly as easy as last week's run, but I still made it. I finished in 94 minutes. That 10 mile mark was a big one for me, so I am happy to have that done.

nice!

 

[anborn]

You are doing great. Sometimes I wish that I had a trail like that to run on, especially one with a hill. I don't know what your 10K time goal is, but you could probably beat 9 minutes miles right now very easily. With 6 weeks left until the race you will probably be up to 7 or 8 mile training runs. Keep up the great work.

thx. my goal is to finish the 10k in an hour. I had actually planned to only increase by .5 miles every other week, instead of every week, from here on out. which gets me to 6.5 miles 2 weekends before the race. 7 or 8 mile training runs just sound nuts right now. heh.

 

[2Young2BBald]

Climb Detroit 70-Story Stair Claim race report. This was much tougher than I thought it’d be, but I am very pleased with my time, 10:04. With one of these under my belt, I think I could do it much smarter next year and come in well below the 10-minute mark. The starting line bug bit me and I went out way to fast. You have you chip on your wrist and sweep it over a small mat. I went the first 20 flights or so skipping stairs and puling myself up as well. My legs felt OK, but breathing was tough as it was very hot and there was zero airflow. They stagger each climber about every 10 seconds or so and passing in the first 20 flights was easy. At about 20 I caught a slow team of folks and had to weave in and out of about 12 folks. This killed my two-step at a time rhythm. For the rest of the 50 flights, I could only go one step at a time, switching side almost every one to alternate pulling from both sides of my body. They had water every 10 floors and I thought I could go without, but at 50 I was so dry-mouthed I could hardly breathe so I took a quick sip and tried to power out the last 20 flights. At the finish there was a medic handing our sterile gloves with ice in them to selected climbers. I must have looked gassed as one made a beeline to me. After about 5 good in though the nose out through the mouth breaths I was back to breathing easy, but was definitely pulling as much as I could with those breaths. I have been hacking a bunch since finishing & saw tons of climbers doing the same. All in all, I liked the event & will plan on doing it again next year. When I left, I was in 54th place out of about 400 people that had climbed, with about 50 or 60 left to climb. My legs feel just fine now, but on the last few flights I felt like Frankenstein feet. And, I raised $175 for a good cause. Now, I have to get my butt in gear with more focused running to get ready for upcoming races.

And, I am dang glad the tallest building here is only 70-stories. I am not so sure I could have done the 30 more it would take to do the Hancock (or would have had to pace myself much better at the start). Gstrot, hope your's went just well!!!!!!!

 

[El Floppo]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

cough cough :sissy: cough

Did 2 hours at 18 later that day solo 36 miles mas o menos. Felt good to get out there and didn't want to push things as I'll probably do another 90 minutes pulling the squid tomorrow. Probably could have gone longer today for sure, or harder, but wasn't the goal per se. One random thing I was going along and some dude wearing a kit rides along behind me for a mile or so. I sort of motion for him to come around and he's got a 4x6 glossy of a nekkid girl hanging from his saddle with an ad for a strip club. He was going my pace more or less, but headed up the trail rather than looping the lake.

.... was that a kilt? And was the pic flapping, or tied aero? I was always amazed at the folk in various clothes or goofy bikes who could haul ###.

During one of my practice TTs around Central Park a few years' back, I took a couple warm up laps (6m loop) and then went for it in my 3loop TT. Somewhere around the 2nd loop I feel a guy right on my ### who proceeds to get along side and pass me on all the uphills (Central Park is rolling hills- nothing too long). I try no to worry about him and focus on finishing my 3 loops as hard as I can, but he's right with me the entire time. When I'm done, I signal for him to pass and we start talking- turns out it's a guy in his late 60s (?!) riding a fixed gear (!!!!!!!). I actually PRed my TT that day (avg just over 16 minute/loop) but somehow didn't feel all that impressed with myself.

 

[culdeus]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

cough cough :sissy: cough

Did 2 hours at 18 later that day solo 36 miles mas o menos. Felt good to get out there and didn't want to push things as I'll probably do another 90 minutes pulling the squid tomorrow. Probably could have gone longer today for sure, or harder, but wasn't the goal per se. One random thing I was going along and some dude wearing a kit rides along behind me for a mile or so. I sort of motion for him to come around and he's got a 4x6 glossy of a nekkid girl hanging from his saddle with an ad for a strip club. He was going my pace more or less, but headed up the trail rather than looping the lake.

.... was that a kilt? And was the pic flapping, or tied aero? I was always amazed at the folk in various clothes or goofy bikes who could haul ###.

During one of my practice TTs around Central Park a few years' back, I took a couple warm up laps (6m loop) and then went for it in my 3loop TT. Somewhere around the 2nd loop I feel a guy right on my ### who proceeds to get along side and pass me on all the uphills (Central Park is rolling hills- nothing too long). I try no to worry about him and focus on finishing my 3 loops as hard as I can, but he's right with me the entire time. When I'm done, I signal for him to pass and we start talking- turns out it's a guy in his late 60s (?!) riding a fixed gear (!!!!!!!). I actually PRed my TT that day (avg just over 16 minute/loop) but somehow didn't feel all that impressed with myself.

Kit = some sort of team racing matched pair of shorts/jersey. Probably a racer of some sort with a strip club as a sponsor perhaps?

 

[SofaKings]

Climb Detroit 70-Story Stair Claim race report. This was much tougher than I thought it’d be, but I am very pleased with my time, 10:04. With one of these under my belt, I think I could do it much smarter next year and come in well below the 10-minute mark. The starting line bug bit me and I went out way to fast. You have you chip on your wrist and sweep it over a small mat. I went the first 20 flights or so skipping stairs and puling myself up as well. My legs felt OK, but breathing was tough as it was very hot and there was zero airflow. They stagger each climber about every 10 seconds or so and passing in the first 20 flights was easy. At about 20 I caught a slow team of folks and had to weave in and out of about 12 folks. This killed my two-step at a time rhythm. For the rest of the 50 flights, I could only go one step at a time, switching side almost every one to alternate pulling from both sides of my body. They had water every 10 floors and I thought I could go without, but at 50 I was so dry-mouthed I could hardly breathe so I took a quick sip and tried to power out the last 20 flights. At the finish there was a medic handing our sterile gloves with ice in them to selected climbers. I must have looked gassed as one made a beeline to me. After about 5 good in though the nose out through the mouth breaths I was back to breathing easy, but was definitely pulling as much as I could with those breaths. I have been hacking a bunch since finishing & saw tons of climbers doing the same. All in all, I liked the event & will plan on doing it again next year. When I left, I was in 54th place out of about 400 people that had climbed, with about 50 or 60 left to climb. My legs feel just fine now, but on the last few flights I felt like Frankenstein feet. And, I raised $175 for a good cause. Now, I have to get my butt in gear with more focused running to get ready for upcoming races. And, I am dang glad the tallest building here is only 70-stories. I am not so sure I could have done the 30 more it would take to do the Hancock (or would have had to pace myself much better at the start). Gstrot, hope your's went just well!!!!!!!

Good job!

 

[El Floppo]

It was 35 when I woke up this morning. No group ride for daddy. Probably will get loose this afternoon for a few lake laps perhaps.

cough cough :sissy: cough

Did 2 hours at 18 later that day solo 36 miles mas o menos. Felt good to get out there and didn't want to push things as I'll probably do another 90 minutes pulling the squid tomorrow. Probably could have gone longer today for sure, or harder, but wasn't the goal per se. One random thing I was going along and some dude wearing a kit rides along behind me for a mile or so. I sort of motion for him to come around and he's got a 4x6 glossy of a nekkid girl hanging from his saddle with an ad for a strip club. He was going my pace more or less, but headed up the trail rather than looping the lake.

.... was that a kilt? And was the pic flapping, or tied aero? I was always amazed at the folk in various clothes or goofy bikes who could haul ###.

During one of my practice TTs around Central Park a few years' back, I took a couple warm up laps (6m loop) and then went for it in my 3loop TT. Somewhere around the 2nd loop I feel a guy right on my ### who proceeds to get along side and pass me on all the uphills (Central Park is rolling hills- nothing too long). I try no to worry about him and focus on finishing my 3 loops as hard as I can, but he's right with me the entire time. When I'm done, I signal for him to pass and we start talking- turns out it's a guy in his late 60s (?!) riding a fixed gear (!!!!!!!). I actually PRed my TT that day (avg just over 16 minute/loop) but somehow didn't feel all that impressed with myself.

Kit = some sort of team racing matched pair of shorts/jersey. Probably a racer of some sort with a strip club as a sponsor perhaps?

I thought only soccer players used that term.And how do I sign up for that team?

 

[tri-man 47]

Way to go, 2Young!

I missed my workout(s) yesterday, so doubled up today with a reverse 'brick.' I ran 5 miles and then hopped on my indoor bike trainer for 90 minutes. The five miles, my only run this week, were farklek - using short accelerations as I worked on a good leg lift. For the minimal running I'm doing, it was a very smooth run.

Saturday was a trip to Bloomington, IN for a very big men's volleyball tournament. My son's Illinois team ended up winning it all today! In the next rankings for men's club volleyball, Illinois will probably move up to #1 nationally. Following on the trip to Indy with my daughter on Saturday afternoon to see Drake upset Butler, it was a very good weekend for my kids and our family.

 

[GStrot]

Ran 110 flights last night. 5 x 20 and 1 x 10. Should be fine by Sunday. Running stairs is all about pace. Unlike a run, you can't really lighten up too much. With a run you can slow down or even walk. But, with stairs you still have to push your weight up each step which is 80 - 90% of the effort anyway. I plan on starting slow and if I have enough left in the tank with 10 flight left to finish strong.Some interesting observations, my gums and inside my nose tingle some times. I think it is increased blood flow or something. I really thought I was getting a bloody nose the first time it happened. - Breathing through your mouth in an enclosed stairwell is not the healthiest thing in the world. Plenty of coughing afterwards and lots of dry mouth. Looks like I will be drinking lots of water on the way up just to keep my mouth moist. No place to spit the water out in a stairwell so I will have to swallow it (insert obvious jokes here).- I am not that sore the next day after this kind of training like I am running. I wonder if doing two steps at a time is more anaerobic than aerobic and I wonder if that makes a difference.- Using the handrail makes a huge difference in the later flights. - When using flights with an odd number of steps (or even if you are doing two at a time) you need to pay attention to alternating which leg you start on. This can get confusing so I set up a system where I start on my right leg on even number flights and my left leg on odd number flights. Remembering this when you are 70 or 80 flights in can get tough.- I have no idea what kind of music to put in my ipod. Especially since I am trying to pace myself to about 15 seconds a flight or 2.5 minutes every 10 flights or about 24 minutes. I know I can do faster but like any first race, it is hard to judge and I don't want to come out of the gate too fast and wheeze my way up the last few flights. Slow and steady is really the mantra with this one. It seems to me that you can do better by keeping a consistent pace than flaming out because once you are toast, it is hard to recover.Anyway, no more practices. I am taking Thursday off and just going to wait for the big stair climb on Sunday. Then, assuming I don't die, I will focus on my new running goals for 2008. Probably pick a couple of 5ks or maybe a 5k and a 10k if there are any good ones in the Chicago area.

Great post, thank you!!!I am completely screwed for tomorrow's climb. I am writing this from Orlando airport where I just finished a week of eating and drinking too much. The only exercise I got was walking around theme parks. My running stuff never left the bag. To top it off, the 70 degree temp change gave me a nasty chest cold. My thoughts on pacing for tomorrow is going to be to keep a good pace for the first 50 flights of 70 where I can control my breathing. At 50, I am going to try and pick it up for the last 20 to try and leave it all on the stairs. I hadn't thought about water on the way up, but can see how i'd be dry. Good luck tomorrow, no doubt you are 110% more prepared than me!

How did you do?I made my goal of getting in under 20 minutes. 19:29 or something. But, I did everything wrong in doing it. I looked down at my watch after 10 flights and I was at a pace to win the whole damn thing. I was under a minute (winner did it in 9:30). So, I had messed up and let adrenaline take over early and burned myself out too quick. I then got stuck behind a girl (not worth pics) around 40 and just did not have enough in the tank to get around her. I kept trying to pass on the right and she kept catching up to me after the landings. I was stuck on the right for 15 floors before I felt comfortable enough to turn it up a notch and not worry about falling apart on floor 80.The middle floors were the hardest for me. The first third I blew up by going out too fast. The middle third I was trying to get through the mental barrier of having 50+ floors to go. (Note for next year: I really should have practiced more than 20 at a time to get through this mental barrier.) The last third I blew through with no problem as I had a good pace and rhythm and it was easy to know there were less than 20 flights to go and I had done 20 flights plenty of times before.But, it was a fun experience. A lot of us, ironically, are having throat and lung problems today. Ironic because it was an event for lung disease and it appears to have given us lung problems. Some of us (not me) are hacking like 2 pack a day smokers. Talking with other climbers, it sounds like this year was harder. Since they did not add any more steps, they must have done a bad job with air circulation and cleaning out the stairs before hand. I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on. Checking the times, a 60 year old woman had a better time than me. Something to shoot for next year. I may do Sears Tower and Aon, kind of like the grand slam but the trifecta for tower climbs in Chicago. We will see how my throat and lungs heal.

 

[GStrot]

My temp hit 102 last night, though it was back to normal this morning. I did skip the 10K this morning, but I am planning to run a 5K next Saturday. I most certainly do not envy you guys running those stairs this weekend. If we were meant to go up stairways, Mr. Otis would not have invented the elevator. Good luck.

Thanks. What does that say about Ford inventing the car?

 

[GStrot]

I did it! 10 miles today. It was not nearly as easy as last week's run, but I still made it. I finished in 94 minutes. That 10 mile mark was a big one for me, so I am happy to have that done.

 

[GStrot]

You are doing great. Sometimes I wish that I had a trail like that to run on, especially one with a hill. I don't know what your 10K time goal is, but you could probably beat 9 minutes miles right now very easily. With 6 weeks left until the race you will probably be up to 7 or 8 mile training runs. Keep up the great work.

thx. my goal is to finish the 10k in an hour. I had actually planned to only increase by .5 miles every other week, instead of every week, from here on out. which gets me to 6.5 miles 2 weekends before the race. 7 or 8 mile training runs just sound nuts right now. heh.

Shoot for under an hour. It feels like more of an accomplishment. Trust me.Best of luck. You should have no problems getting there with the training you are following. Keep it up.

 

[GStrot]

Climb Detroit 70-Story Stair Claim race report. This was much tougher than I thought it’d be, but I am very pleased with my time, 10:04. With one of these under my belt, I think I could do it much smarter next year and come in well below the 10-minute mark. The starting line bug bit me and I went out way to fast. You have you chip on your wrist and sweep it over a small mat. I went the first 20 flights or so skipping stairs and puling myself up as well. My legs felt OK, but breathing was tough as it was very hot and there was zero airflow. They stagger each climber about every 10 seconds or so and passing in the first 20 flights was easy. At about 20 I caught a slow team of folks and had to weave in and out of about 12 folks. This killed my two-step at a time rhythm. For the rest of the 50 flights, I could only go one step at a time, switching side almost every one to alternate pulling from both sides of my body. They had water every 10 floors and I thought I could go without, but at 50 I was so dry-mouthed I could hardly breathe so I took a quick sip and tried to power out the last 20 flights. At the finish there was a medic handing our sterile gloves with ice in them to selected climbers. I must have looked gassed as one made a beeline to me. After about 5 good in though the nose out through the mouth breaths I was back to breathing easy, but was definitely pulling as much as I could with those breaths. I have been hacking a bunch since finishing & saw tons of climbers doing the same. All in all, I liked the event & will plan on doing it again next year. When I left, I was in 54th place out of about 400 people that had climbed, with about 50 or 60 left to climb. My legs feel just fine now, but on the last few flights I felt like Frankenstein feet. And, I raised $175 for a good cause. Now, I have to get my butt in gear with more focused running to get ready for upcoming races. And, I am dang glad the tallest building here is only 70-stories. I am not so sure I could have done the 30 more it would take to do the Hancock (or would have had to pace myself much better at the start). Gstrot, hope your's went just well!!!!!!!

Nice job!!Our stories sound very similar. Sounds like you and I made similar "mistakes" and had similar "problems" but both turned in good times (yours looks like a great time) and both had breathing problems afterward. The dry mouth I knew was going to be a problem from my one month of training (not nearly enough). Glad to hear you had a good time and are thinking about next year. 24 more and you are at the top of the Hancock. 40 more and you are on top of the world. You should come down to Chicago and do Sears in the fall. Lot of bragging rights to say you climbed the tallest staircase in the world. Just saying.

 

[tri-man 47]

I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on.

BM: "How will I know when I'm done?"Race director: "When it gets really cold, you've reached the roof. We recommend you stop running at that point."

Congrats, gstrot! Hope the lungs clear up OK.

 

[GStrot]

I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on.

BM: "How will I know when I'm done?"Race director: "When it gets really cold, you've reached the roof. We recommend you stop running at that point."

Congrats, gstrot! Hope the lungs clear up OK.

I am hoping the guy that was with him walking around went up with him. There were some floors where the number of steps were inconsistent and there were doorways and all kinds of odd moments. From what I can recall of it.

Lungs are feeling fine now that I am back in the stale air of the offices here.

 

[anborn]

I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on.

BM: "How will I know when I'm done?"Race director: "When it gets really cold, you've reached the roof. We recommend you stop running at that point."

Congrats, gstrot! Hope the lungs clear up OK.

hahahaha. congrats on the stairclimb!

 

[culdeus]

A lot of us, ironically, are having throat and lung problems today. Ironic because it was an event for lung disease and it appears to have given us lung problems. Some of us (not me) are hacking like 2 pack a day smokers. Talking with other climbers, it sounds like this year was harder. Since they did not add any more steps, they must have done a bad job with air circulation and cleaning out the stairs before hand. I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on. Checking the times, a 60 year old woman had a better time than me. Something to shoot for next year. I may do Sears Tower and Aon, kind of like the grand slam but the trifecta for tower climbs in Chicago. We will see how my throat and lungs heal.

I can certainly see how putting a bunch of people in a confined space and not pushing enough 02 through could lead to issues, but I don't see how it would give you coughing later unless you just got everyone's cold.Still, I get worn out just climbing the two flights to get up to my office each day. I hate stairs.

 

[pigskinliquors]

Pictures from the race.

re: 1,000k

Sweet! lol Looks like you're whistling along to your headphones early on, but nice game face on #1659. Good leg lift.

Couldn't be more true. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 21 miles. I talked with volunteers, high-fived spectators, whistled to my music, etc. but got pretty serious over the last five miles. Pic #1659 is during the last half mile, where I really pushed it to make sure I made my goal. I was literally sprinting (term used loosely for this old guy) when that pic was taken, and was in some serious pain.

 

[pigskinliquors]

Next big event is http://www.rideforheroes.org/ And *******mit if I don't try to get pigskin up for that. Seriously. Get here for it. This will be my 4th of these events. Always my favorite local ride of the year. Very challenging.

I'd love to try, but I've got a LONG way to go. I completed my first ride today, a full 10.5 miles at 18mph. It was incredibly windy and miserable outside = Good fun! The upside is that I'm a little bit sore still, but feeling better than I anticipated. I'll try to get a 30 miler in this weekend, and will start working on my base.

STOOPID weekend for me. My legs were still a bit tight on Saturday morning, but I still set out for my ride. It was 38 degrees and very windy, which is perfect weather for my first hard ride in nearly 3 months .

I did a fairly flat 27 mile loop, with the first 9 miles with a side wind, 5 miles with the wind, 8 miles side wind, then 5 miles into the wind. I was averaging 19.5 mph through the first 20 miles, which is when my knees (both) started to hurt pretty bad. I slowed it down quite a bit, and finished at an average of 18.2 mph. Both knees hurt like a "mother-you-know-whater."

Both of my semitendinosus muscles were inflamed. A quick Google search revealed the main causes of such an injury while cycling are:

a) Pushing yourself beyond your current limits (check = strike one)

b) Having too tight of hamstrings (check = legs still tight from last week's run = strike two)

c) Seat too high (just put new pedals on, with lower platform = check = strike three)

d) training in cold weather w/ cold muscles (check = I pushed it from the start at 7am in the cold = strike four )

The good news is that they feel quite a bit better already, and most recommend just a week (or even less) off to recover. I'll skip my scheduled ride for tomorrow, lower my seat a half inch, and possibly go back out on Thursday. It's frustrating to think such a short ride caused damage. I have a LONG ways to go in the next six weeks.

 

[pigskinliquors]

hit 5miles today (@9:20/mi). drove out to a local lake where they have a 2mi trail that goes around it. pretty good/steady except for one section where it has this massively steep hill. that thing wore my legs out. I swear the 2nd pass I woulda been faster just walking up it. heh. 1.5 miles to add to the distance. 6 weeks till the race.

Great job anborn!! Running trails is a great way to save your legs, and your progress has been amazing!

I did it! 10 miles today. It was not nearly as easy as last week's run, but I still made it. I finished in 94 minutes. That 10 mile mark was a big one for me, so I am happy to have that done.

10 miles is a BIG landmark. Just 3 more to get to your half, then just a few more small increments to get to a marathon

Did 2 hours at 18 later that day solo 36 miles mas o menos. Felt good to get out there and didn't want to push things as I'll probably do another 90 minutes pulling the squid tomorrow. Probably could have gone longer today for sure, or harder, but wasn't the goal per se. One random thing I was going along and some dude wearing a kit rides along behind me for a mile or so. I sort of motion for him to come around and he's got a 4x6 glossy of a nekkid girl hanging from his saddle with an ad for a strip club. He was going my pace more or less, but headed up the trail rather than looping the lake.

just another ho-hum 36, while looking at some pRon for you

Climb Detroit 70-Story Stair Claim race report. This was much tougher than I thought it’d be, but I am very pleased with my time, 10:04. With one of these under my belt, I think I could do it much smarter next year and come in well below the 10-minute mark. The starting line bug bit me and I went out way to fast. You have you chip on your wrist and sweep it over a small mat. I went the first 20 flights or so skipping stairs and puling myself up as well. My legs felt OK, but breathing was tough as it was very hot and there was zero airflow. They stagger each climber about every 10 seconds or so and passing in the first 20 flights was easy. At about 20 I caught a slow team of folks and had to weave in and out of about 12 folks. This killed my two-step at a time rhythm. For the rest of the 50 flights, I could only go one step at a time, switching side almost every one to alternate pulling from both sides of my body. They had water every 10 floors and I thought I could go without, but at 50 I was so dry-mouthed I could hardly breathe so I took a quick sip and tried to power out the last 20 flights. At the finish there was a medic handing our sterile gloves with ice in them to selected climbers. I must have looked gassed as one made a beeline to me. After about 5 good in though the nose out through the mouth breaths I was back to breathing easy, but was definitely pulling as much as I could with those breaths. I have been hacking a bunch since finishing & saw tons of climbers doing the same. All in all, I liked the event & will plan on doing it again next year. When I left, I was in 54th place out of about 400 people that had climbed, with about 50 or 60 left to climb. My legs feel just fine now, but on the last few flights I felt like Frankenstein feet. And, I raised $175 for a good cause. Now, I have to get my butt in gear with more focused running to get ready for upcoming races. And, I am dang glad the tallest building here is only 70-stories. I am not so sure I could have done the 30 more it would take to do the Hancock (or would have had to pace myself much better at the start). Gstrot, hope your's went just well!!!!!!!

AWESOME

Way to go, 2Young!I missed my workout(s) yesterday, so doubled up today with a reverse 'brick.' I ran 5 miles and then hopped on my indoor bike trainer for 90 minutes. The five miles, my only run this week, were farklek - using short accelerations as I worked on a good leg lift. For the minimal running I'm doing, it was a very smooth run. Saturday was a trip to Bloomington, IN for a very big men's volleyball tournament. My son's Illinois team ended up winning it all today! In the next rankings for men's club volleyball, Illinois will probably move up to #1 nationally. Following on the trip to Indy with my daughter on Saturday afternoon to see Drake upset Butler, it was a very good weekend for my kids and our family.

How's the foot pain? 5 miles has + 90 minutes has to be encouraging!

How did you do?I made my goal of getting in under 20 minutes. 19:29 or something. But, I did everything wrong in doing it. I looked down at my watch after 10 flights and I was at a pace to win the whole damn thing. I was under a minute (winner did it in 9:30). So, I had messed up and let adrenaline take over early and burned myself out too quick. I then got stuck behind a girl (not worth pics) around 40 and just did not have enough in the tank to get around her. I kept trying to pass on the right and she kept catching up to me after the landings. I was stuck on the right for 15 floors before I felt comfortable enough to turn it up a notch and not worry about falling apart on floor 80.The middle floors were the hardest for me. The first third I blew up by going out too fast. The middle third I was trying to get through the mental barrier of having 50+ floors to go. (Note for next year: I really should have practiced more than 20 at a time to get through this mental barrier.) The last third I blew through with no problem as I had a good pace and rhythm and it was easy to know there were less than 20 flights to go and I had done 20 flights plenty of times before.But, it was a fun experience. A lot of us, ironically, are having throat and lung problems today. Ironic because it was an event for lung disease and it appears to have given us lung problems. Some of us (not me) are hacking like 2 pack a day smokers. Talking with other climbers, it sounds like this year was harder. Since they did not add any more steps, they must have done a bad job with air circulation and cleaning out the stairs before hand. I knew i wasn't going to come in last when I was waiting to check my bag and I saw both a midget and a blind man with bibs on. Checking the times, a 60 year old woman had a better time than me. Something to shoot for next year. I may do Sears Tower and Aon, kind of like the grand slam but the trifecta for tower climbs in Chicago. We will see how my throat and lungs heal.

Sounds like you had a blast Gstrot! You've gone from struggling to run a mile on a flat surface, to racing straight up!

 

[culdeus]

Next big event is http://www.rideforheroes.org/ And *******mit if I don't try to get pigskin up for that. Seriously. Get here for it. This will be my 4th of these events. Always my favorite local ride of the year. Very challenging.

I'd love to try, but I've got a LONG way to go. I completed my first ride today, a full 10.5 miles at 18mph. It was incredibly windy and miserable outside = Good fun! The upside is that I'm a little bit sore still, but feeling better than I anticipated. I'll try to get a 30 miler in this weekend, and will start working on my base.

STOOPID weekend for me. My legs were still a bit tight on Saturday morning, but I still set out for my ride. It was 38 degrees and very windy, which is perfect weather for my first hard ride in nearly 3 months .

I did a fairly flat 27 mile loop, with the first 9 miles with a side wind, 5 miles with the wind, 8 miles side wind, then 5 miles into the wind. I was averaging 19.5 mph through the first 20 miles, which is when my knees (both) started to hurt pretty bad. I slowed it down quite a bit, and finished at an average of 18.2 mph. Both knees hurt like a "mother-you-know-whater."

Both of my semitendinosus muscles were inflamed. A quick Google search revealed the main causes of such an injury while cycling are:

a) Pushing yourself beyond your current limits (check = strike one)

b) Having too tight of hamstrings (check = legs still tight from last week's run = strike two)

c) Seat too high (just put new pedals on, with lower platform = check = strike three)

d) training in cold weather w/ cold muscles (check = I pushed it from the start at 7am in the cold = strike four )

The good news is that they feel quite a bit better already, and most recommend just a week (or even less) off to recover. I'll skip my scheduled ride for tomorrow, lower my seat a half inch, and possibly go back out on Thursday. It's frustrating to think such a short ride caused damage. I have a LONG ways to go in the next six weeks.

I'd think your x-2s would have a higher platform then just about any pedal system out there? There are websites that tell you what this is though I forgot what you were swapping from. I think the likely problem may not be the seat height but that you have your cleat in the wrong place.