I shot into the stairwell and tried to hit the start button of my stop watch.
"Tried".
The watch face display showed my screensaver rather than my stop watch app. After pressing the digital crown of my apple watch, I realized that the stop watch went to sleep... and it would take 5 seconds of calm, deliberate manipulation to get it back. LOL.
Fuck. I'd have to climb without a stopwatch. It wouldn't be my first rodeo.
Up, Up, Up... To the Left, To the Left, To the Left...
It's been a year since my return to stair climbing and what a humbling experience it has been. My debut race was at last year's US Championships at the Stratosphere. I was 10 lbs overweight and in mediocre shape. It showed. I was over a minute slower than my slowest attempt (Pre-Covid). Very embarrassing.
Throughout the season my fitness increased and my weight dropped but my race results continued to be dismal. World Championships at Taipei, Empire State Building Run-up, and Sear Tower were all below expectations.
However, a decent showing at Bop to the Top had my hopes up for this year's US Championships.
This year it was hosted at Hustle up the Hancock in Chicago instead of at the Stratosphere. It's a somewhat taller race course with about 3 minutes of extra climbing (at my level at least).
I had some experience at Hustle, having climbed it in 2012 and 2013. But that was well over a decade ago when I was relatively new to this sport. If I recall correctly, my times were 11:11 and 11:08 respectively. While I believe I would've challenged the 10 minute mark at my peak, I certainly wasn't at that point now. Maybe I was around my 2013 speed? I suspected as much, but I've kind of lost faith in my ability to estimate fitness (I'm 0-4 in all the big races).
I had set my metronome to 88 BPM. In 2012 & 2013 I used 90 & 92 BPM respectively, but according to my notes (thank you blog!) this pace was slightly aggressive and towards the top I started double stepping the landings. So 88 seemed like a decent target*.
*Plus, 88 is an auspicious number..
The pace seemed fine for the first dozen or so floors and I climbed fairly cleanly - hugging the rails and keeping just a single foot on the landings.
The problem with Hustle, however, is that the stairwell isn't uniform. Sometimes there's an even number of steps per flight and sometimes there's an odd number.
Before the race I looked for a stairwell chart. There isn't one - not even on Stan's blog. However there were a few online videos of the stairwell. I saw a few 11/11s, but sadly that is just in one section and it seems to vary significantly.
So my strategy was to take a single step every time I got to a landing. This would be perfect for 11/11s and merely acceptable for 10/10s
By the 20s, I was still in good shape. My heartrate had stabilized and I could feel the pace. No longer easy... but sustainable.
In the 30s I was still climbing alone. I passed a few volunteers wordlessly (like I couldn't really afford to speak) but other than that I didn't hear anything from above or below.
In the 40s and 50s it was just my metronome keeping me company. By now, the pace felt hard. I knew could maintain it for a little while... but the fact remained that I was merely halfway up the building.
As I approached the 60s I was starting to fade. My turns were becoming sloppy, though I still managed to keep up with my metronome. Somewhere along the way I had switched over from hugging the inside rail to pulling on both sides. Slightly more ergonomic... but less efficient on the turns.
The only silver lining was that I thought I could hear another climber up ahead. Likely Jason. It was hard to tell how many floors ahead he was, but simply hearing another climber gave me some hope.
By this point I was in the upper 60s. While I was still in the hunt, doubts were creeping in. My heart rate had peaked and I was suffering. I honestly considered quitting as I still had 24 more floors of pain to go.
But I managed to suppress those demons. At least partially. My climbing technique took a hit and I started double stepping those landings more often than not. Worse yet, the sounds from above were fading... and so was my confidence.
Somehow I made it into the 80s. I was chasing a ghost... but I was still chasing.
With only a dozen floors remaining I knew I only a minute or so of climbing left. It would be painful, but no longer impossible.
On the 84th floor I started to increase my pace slightly. Turns weren't pretty, but I managed to stay ahead of my metronome.
I crested the 88th floor and I could smell blood. Jason couldn't have been more than a couple of floors ahead.
I used what remaining energy I had on the final few floors. 90, 91, 92. It wasn't much faster, but it was enough to close the gap even further. I could hear cheering coming from the top of the stairwell. One last push. 93... 94... and then a quick run through the door.
While I didn't quite catch Jason, I could see him walking down the finisher's corral. I couldn't have been more than 10 seconds behind.
I collapsed to the ground. No idea what my time was (thanks Apple) but I was thrilled to finally keep up with the pack.
I spend a few minutes on the ground, but slowly I managed to get back to my feet. I was tired, but thrilled.
After speaking with a few other climbers, I realized that I was likely the top American in the US Championship wave. However, as Hustle is a huge event, I didn't really think my time would survive. I was in the low 11s and there are often a few really strong Chicago athletes that show up (runners, cyclists, etc.) that dip into the 10s... and sure enough I was right. You can see the results for yourself:
https://resphealth.org/hustle-2025-results/
A pair of local cyclists (Chris Wiatr & Sean Eisen) took first & second place at the US Championships (2nd & 4th overall) though I wouldn't learn of Sean's time until later in the day as he climbed in the team event.
While I had to settle for 3rd place at the US Championships (6th overall), I was more than happy with the result. My time of 11:11 matched my time in 2012 and I managed to keep up with all of my rivals (Jason, Chris, and Martin).
Grades:
Fitness: A minus - My workouts have been slowly getting better. Slowly.
Weight: B plus - At 174 lbs., I'm only a couple pounds away from an acceptable weight, though I really need to be around 170 lbs to feel like my old self.
Effort: A - I pushed myself hard.
Pacing & Technique: B - Pacing was a couple beats too fast. My technique was okay until I hit the 60th floor. After that point... not so great.
Overall: A minus - I started to break mentally, but I held firm. This was a solid race.
Final Thoughts:
While I still haven't regained all my fitness or shed all of the weight I gained during Covid, this was my first solid race at a big event since my return to competition. While I'll probably never be as fast I was pre-Covid, I feel like I've turned the corner.
I'm Back.
