Well, I’ve slacked off here a bit – this blog was never meant to be a full-time blog, though I do love writing about what I’m doing on the stairs and with other exercise, it isn’t really a focus. Writing books is much more my focus at the moment.
I’ve been carrying up 6-7 liters of water to the top of the mountain for workouts lately. It doesn’t really feel like 14 pounds, but my time does reflect that I’m doing something serious. My latest climb up was at 16 minutes… quite a bit off my usual 14 mins without the extra weight.
So, I climb with the extra water… and pour it out at the top so as not to stress my knees going back down the stairs. At the bottom I decide whether I’ll do another stair climb or go run at the park. Wish there was a safe place to run right there near the mountain, but the dogs are rabid around there. Not literally… they are thick though.
Running at the park I’ve been doing 2-3 miles of running and then walk 2.4 km usually after to cool down and dissipate the lactic acid I’ve accumulated during climbing and running.
Today it’s raining. Well, last 2 weeks it has been raining. I’ll go to the temple today and attempt a fast record breaker to see how it goes. Usually in the cool rain I do well. It’s about 82 degrees right now. That’s MUCH cooler than the usual 90-96F temps when I climb the stairs in the hot sun and humidity. Today will be a great day for a hard effort. The rain won’t die away I’m sure!
My friend Alfred has pretty much recovered from his inguinal hernia surgery. He has come along on climbs recently. I do hope he gets back into the shape he was last year, the guy is phenomenal. Any guy that climb the mountain in 15:30 is amazing. Doing it at 73 years old is Herculean.
That said, I’m always shooting for 10 minutes. That’d be better than 2 steps per second. Seems easy I know – because most of you aren’t climbing these steps in the heat. Or maybe you could all destroy me on these stairs too – it’s so hard to guess how my training here relates to everyone else’s that climbs in a building.
I am going to grab my bike from my wife’s aunt’s house in a couple of weeks. We’re flying up soon and I’ll take the bike home on the plane or train. I don’t know if I’ve EVER been without a bike for so long… it’s been about 17 months now. That’s a very strange thought. I’ve ridden more miles than I’ve walked or ran in my entire lifetime, I’m sure of that. To be without a bike is a bit weird.
Anyway, will rectify that soon.
The Taipei 101 race in Taiwan is coming up on the 10th of June. Kristin Frey will be there, and I hope winning the thing! That’d be cool. I will miss it due to some surgeries I’m going to end up paying for – not my own.
Will have to bring my black shirt and take a pic of me in it for Mark – I won’t be racing until October maybe.
Ok then, good luck to you with your workouts! If you need some motivation, this did it for me this morning… listen to the story…
Cheers!
