Well, it's been 4 months since I participated in the Big Climb, in which I raced up 1,311 steps, or 69 floors at the Columbia Tower in Seattle in just 13 minutes. I trained hard for 3 months, climbing real stairs and doing redline training. In October, I will be tackling another stair climb- the LONGEST STAIR CLIMB IN THE WORLD- at 180 floors. The Fight for Air Climb will take place in Bellevue and I will be traveling up a total of 4 staircases in 2 towers. Instead of going for speed this time, I just want to FINISH! I haven't been very motivated to start training again, but once I get back home to Olympia I will be hitting the gym several times per week. In addition to high intensity training, I will also be working on my arms. I didn't focus on my arms much last time, but I found that strong arms would be a valuable asset for a stair climber. By the end of my race last time, my arms were just as, if not more, worn out than my legs. This is due to having to use specific hand-railing techniques (to pull oneself up while double-stepping and turning corners between flights) throughout the race. As soon as I get signed up, I will be calling for donations of support! The Fight for Air Climb will be raising money for lung cancer.
If you don't know much about the sport of stair climbing, you have no idea how intense this sport actually is. Watch this video of my friend/trainer PJ, an internationally known in the world of stair climbing as one of the top stair climbers in the world:
Click here for video:
