I got a free pedometer as part of the Eat Well/Live Well challenge that my company is taking part in. I got it last Friday, and played with it a little bit. The official start of the challenge was sunday morning. Besides all of my normal day-to-day walking around doing stuff, I am also doing my marathon training. I ran 12 miles Sunday, 4 miles Tuesday, 8 miles Wednesday, and 4 miles last night. Since Sunday morning, the pedometer has logged 82888 steps. The pedometer has both a daily total, and a overall total. I reset the daily total every morning. The challenge is 8 weeks long. The pedometer maxes out at 999,999 steps. I am hoping to roll it over by the end of the challenge.
I previously got a free pedometer from McDonalds with their Adult version of a Happy Meal. I played with that one for a while. I ran with it, and it didn’t accurately log the steps. It stopped working altogether. I think the running killed it. It was cheap, and only had one mode. This new one I got works much better.
Overall, the pedometer is a toy. I don’t think I will use it much after the challenge other than as a curiousity of how many steps I took. My heart rate monitor of the other hand is a serious training tool!
I ran/walked 9 miles yesterday. I ran/walked 12 miles today. I ran the first part of my 12 miles today, but I just really didn’t have the energy to run today. So I started walking. When I walked, my heart rate would drop. I would occasionally run, and my heart rate would come back up. Then I got an idea. I cranked the grade up to 4.5%. I was walking at that grade at 4.5-4.6mph. It was definatly using different muscles. I took a short break to do some stuff on the computer. Then I got back on the treadmill. I cranked the grade all the way up to 10%! Wow! I had to drop the speed down to 4mph to stay in the proper heart rate zone. When I got up to 11 miles, I dropped the incline back down to 1%. WOW! It felt like I was walking downhill! I raised the speed up, and only upto 4.3 mph since I wanted to cool down a little. Following my workout, I could feel it in my legs. I climbed into a hot bath tub and soaked for a while. I will have to do this workout again. It will be usefull when I am running the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra which will be in the Adirondack mountains with a lot of hills!
I am registered to run an Ultramarathon in July named the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra. It is 32.6 miles through the Adirondack mountains with no water stops, aid stations, or even crossroads. So I will have to bring my supply of water with me. On the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra they have a list of recommended gear. Among the gear are a several hydration systems including the Camelbak Mule. I already have a smaller Camelbak Flashflo. But the FlashFlo doesn’t hold enough water, and doesn’t have enough storage for other stuff either. It only holds 40 somes ounces of water. But with 32.6 miles of trail running, I want to make sure I have enough water available. I will also need to bring some food, and some other emergency supplies just in case. I will also need a water purification system. So I decided I wanted to try the Camelbak Mule. The Mule holds 100 ounces of water!
I could have gotten older models a little cheaper, but the 2007 Camelbak Mule has newer features that sounded useful, so I decided I that was what I wanted. So I have been checking various sources and found the Camelbak to be a bit pricey. So I have been watching eBay. I have tried to buy a couple, but they have gone above what I wanted to pay before or after I bid. But today I managed to win an auction for a 2007 Camelbak Mule. I got it $43.25 plus $12.99 shipping. And it is brand new.
Now that the weather is warming up, I will probably start running outside some. I will do some trial runs wearing the Camelbak and see how it is.
Last night I ran the Stairclimb 2007 Challenge for the local Cystic Fibrosis Foundation chapter. It was held of the First Federal Building in Rochester, NY. It was 19 floors. This was my first stairclimb event. Actually it was my shortest event ever. My next shortest event was either the half marathon, or the off-road duathlon (run 2, ride 10, run 2).
I had never been to the building before, but I had rough directions, and an address. So I left work a little early to leave time to find it, and the nearby parking. But the directions I had were good, and I got right into the parking lot. I met a guy while walking in, who turned out to be the guy who starts the runners. I was already registered, so I checked in, got my number, my tee shirt, and a water bottle. I took the tee shirt back out to my car as I didnt want to be carrying it around.
Now it was about 5:30, and they were going to be starting the runners till 6:30. So I waited. More people from my company started showing up, and I talked to them.
A little before 6:30, they had us lineup in bib number order. The 4 person relays were going to go first, then the two person relays, then the single runners, then the firefighters in full gear.
I had talked to the guy in front of me, and he said he probably wouldn’t be fast. So I asked him to let me by if I came up behind him. The guy in front of him looked fast, so I didn’t ask him (he ended up getting third fastest time for men). They were letting people go every 15 seconds. Soon I was close to the stairs. Shortly before I was going to go, I started my heart rate monitor. I didn’t want to start it just as I went in case there were problems. I didn’t make it past the 2nd floor before it started beeping saying I was above my 145 aerobic threshold. The stairs were narrow, and I used the railings on both sides to help pull me up. I was taking the stairs 2 and 3 at a time. Around the 8th or 9th floor, I couldn’t run anymore. It wasn’t my legs so much as I couldn’t seem to breathe enough air. My body slowed down, and I just started climbing, 2 steps at a time. I passed several people around floor 11 or 12, including the guy that was in front of me. They were very nice, and let me by. I kept going. I was getting exhausted, but I forced my self to keep going. I kept watching to floor numbers going by. I remember seeing floors 16 and 17 and thinking I still had a bunch of floors left. When I hit 18 I thought the same thing, and then realized only one floor left. Then I was at the top. Some people led me though a door. Some gave me a bottle of water. I went and sat against a wall gasping for breath. My throat was burning! Somewhere I looked at my watch and saw 2 minutes 30 seconds. So I know I was less than 2:30. But I didn’t start my watch right when I started, and I didn’t look at my watch right at the top. I think I may have done the stairs in 2:05-2:15.
I sat against the wall for maybe 5-10 minutes. The burning in my throat spread to my chest. I eventually took the elevator back downstairs. I wanted to find out what my time was. I was told they would be posted in a little while. They had food but I didn’t feel like eating yet. I rested and talked to people. The burning in my lungs subsided, but my throat still hurt. Then I got some pizza. I had some friends that were still going, so I took the elevator back to the 19th floor to wait for them. Mike, one of the guys from my karate school did the stairclimb in full firefighter gear. Wow! He was zonked, but these firefighters are so impressive!
Then the other people I knew came up and I talked to them for a while.
We went back down in the elevator. We got more food. I checked my watch and found my heart rate maxed out at 188. I was sure I would have hit at least 193, my previously tested max heart rate.
Later they announced the winners. They never did give us our times saying the printer wouldn’t work. They are supposed to be emailing us our results. I really want to know my time, and how I compared to other runners! I told the people I knew that I was going to go home and run my 4 miles. I don’t think they believed me. When I got home, I ran my scheduled 4 miles. 
Tonight I am racing in a stair climb challenge. According to the brocure, it’s 19 floors, 38 flights, 393 steps. The top male last year did it in 1 minute 42 seconds. The top female did it in 2 minutes 26 seconds. I am hoping to do it in under 2 minutes. But I have no reference point. I have never done anything like this. All my training has been long slow distance, marathon training. This will be a sprint. I am going to wear my heart rate monitor. I am guessing I will max out my heart rate. I may even get a new max heart rate number out of this. My current maximum heart rate is 193. I did that my running intervals on a hill. A couple of my younger co-workers are also running the stairs. I am hoping to keep up with the one, and beat the other. But who knows.
I figure it is only 2 minutes. I can force myself to go all out for 2 minutes. That’s where my karate training comes in. I have had to force myself to keep going maximum effort for longer periods of time than 2 minutes. Sel when I feel my legs begin to slow down, I will try to override them, and keep them going. When my brain is telling it’s okay to slow down, I will ignore it. I will keep going! I will tell myself that I will have the rest of my life to relax after I get to the top of the stairs! It’s only 2 minutes! Full bore! 2 minutes! It will be fun!
I just hope I don’t pull a muscle or something! I have been having a bit of tightness in my left leg. I will take some ibuprofen.