I’ve yet to figure out the Scale the Strat.
This race is the US National Championships and during the
past seven years I’ve been the National Champion twice*, yet I’ve never won the
race. Both times I’ve been beaten handily by a foreigner**
*Once officially, and once unofficially as there wasn’t a
governing body back in 2014.
**Goerge Heimann is my hero. He just turned 50 and he just
keeps getting faster.
If you look at my times year over year, you’ll notice they
are very consistent and I’ve been getting faster each year.
Taken at face value, you’d think I’d be pleased. However I’m not; A 7:42 isn’t a whole lot faster than a 7:57, especially considering I’m in better shape and I’ve had plenty of experience in this particular tower. Since my first race in 2013, my goal has always been 7:30 and I’ve yet to crack even 7:40.
As far as consistency is concerned, each race has a completely different story to tell, so to me it seems odd that my times have been so close. In my first attempt, I raced too conservatively and had to play
catch up. Another year I completely bonked toward the end of the race. There
was also that time I raced sick*… and that time when I was in top shape…
*I had a fever before and after the race, but miraculously,
I felt okay the morning of the race. Go figure!
I feel like I’ve hit some weird plateau such that no matter
how good *or* bad feel, I’m going
to beat my previous PR by a mere second or two, yet still not break into the 7:30s.
You’ll notice that the above chart skips over 2018* so the
last time I raced at Strat was in 2017. I wrote a blog about that race but
never published it (I just wasn’t in the mood). Summary: I *thought* I
climbed a solid race until I learned the results. Not only was my time still in
the 7:40s (goal 7:30) but I came in 5th (worst place yet) and missed
a podium spot by 11 seconds. I was super disappointed afterwards.
*In 2018, I raced at the Crash B Indoor Rowing Championships
which was held the same day as Scale the Strat. Up until that point, I had come
in 2nd place at the Strat three years in a row. I was a bit
disappointed to learn out that the winning time at the Strat in 2018 was 8:10 –
a time that was well within my capability. As a consolation, at Crash B, I
ended up 2nd in my age group (ironically yet another 2nd
place). The winner was the former captain of the Dartmouth rowing team and the
race wasn’t very close - he was taller and had far better technique, not to
mention he had an extreme amount of horsepower.
This year I was determined to break through the 7:40
plateau.
My original plan was to cut weight and race at Crash B which
was fortuitously scheduled the week before Strat. If I could set a PB at
Crash-B, I would undoubtedly crush Scale the Strat since I’d be racing at my
highest power to weight ratio ever.
The plan started to unravel a week prior to Sears Tower (late
October 2018).
I had been training seriously on the erg (indoor rower) for
months and my split times were dropping (at that point I estimate my 2K time was right
around 6:37 FWIW). During my long workouts, I had been noticing that my butt was
getting sore (not much of a surprise) but a week before Sears, I realized it
was more than just a sore butt… I had aggravated an old piriformis injury and I
needed to take a break from the erg.
Fast forward to early February, my piriformis wasn’t fully
healed so I still couldn’t train on the erg. However, I knew I could still bang
out a quick 2K without too much pain. I still wanted to race Crash-B for fun,
although breaking 6:40 probably wasn’t in the cards.
My dieting, however, didn’t go according to plan. I needed
to be 165 on race day which meant I’d have to be around 169 a week prior to the
race (4 lbs of water in one week isn’t too hard). Instead I was around 172. An
okay weight for climbing stairs, but it would be impossible to make weight for
rowing without becoming too dehydrated.
It was my own fault. I just didn’t buckle down and do what
needed to be done.
Otherwise, my fitness was very good. I didn’t break
any workout PBs, but I had several close 2nds all in the span of couple weeks. If I wasn’t in the best shape of my life… I was awfully close.
The days leading up to Scale the Strat I checked out my
competition. My main rivals from the Dallas Vertical Mile would all be in
attendance (Jason Larson, Harrison Kieffer & Mark Henderson) and I estimated
I had a good 20 second advantage on each. Added to the list was Tristan Roth
who is usually right around Jason’s level of fitness. Last but not least was
Greg Billingsley. He was the dark horse. He climbed the building in 8:12 in
2018, but that was just his first stair climb and he apparently started with
the general wave (not the elite wave). Plus he was still only 20 years old
(less than half my age I might add!).
All in all, I felt I had a very good chance of finally
winning the race.
That feeling didn’t last long. A day before the race I learned that Team
Mexico would be attending in full force which meant Alexis Trujillo – Mexico’s
fastest tower runner - would be on the start line. He’s young and fast enough
to challenge the Scale the Strat record. Totally out of my league.
I’d be racing for 2nd place yet again. But since
Alexis is Mexican… I still had a great shot at taking the US National
Championship!
On Sunday, I was full of race day jitters. This year the
gathering point was in a slightly different location due to construction, so it
took a little bit longer to get my bib. It was cold outside!
About 30 minutes prior to the start, I headed to the gym with
my friend Napoleon to warm up. They happen to have a Precor Stepper (albeit
with a barely functioning control panel) so I was able to complete my normal
pre-workout routine: 6 minutes of active stretching followed by 6 minutes of warm up.
With five minutes to go, I headed back to the staging area.
They were running a few minutes late so I got in a couple rounds of burpees in
the casino hallway.
Finally we were called to the staging area. We followed our
guide all the way to the Skydeck entrance and about 10 of us crowded into the
elevator to go *all* the way up to the 3rd floor start line (typically
we’ve taken the stairs, but this year the Strat was doing some remodeling).
In previous editions of the race, we’ve had to wait in the 3rd
floor hallway for up to 20 minutes before the official start of the race, but
this time we started a couple minutes after we arrived.
Alexis was first out the gate as we all knew he was the
fastest climber.
I was up next… and I was in for a bit of a surprise. I’m
used to 30 second gaps at the Strat (which helps avoid unnecessary passing) but
this time it I was ushered in after just a few seconds!
I quickly turned on my metronome and checked to make sure it
was set to 97 BPM. Showtime!
Alexis was out of sight by the time I entered the stairwell
but I could hear him a couple flights ahead. He was going out fast! A few seconds later heard Jason start behind
me.
My pace felt relatively slow and my first thought was that
Jason would soon overtake me. But then he settled in about a flight behind,
which upon further reflection made sense
– Jason is too experienced to go too fast right off the bat. We both
knew the “slow” pace would become brutal in a couple minutes.
Prior to the race I debated what pace to use. My goal was
to climb in 7:39 or less (roughly a 101
BPBM pace) but I also knew my competition would likely struggle getting under
the 8 minute mark. Prior experience told me that a 97 BPM would get me to the
top in about 8 minutes and I contemplated splitting the difference. However, my
desire to take the US Championship outweighed my desire to go for a decent PB.
Going out too fast increased the odds of bonking near the top which would
jeopardize the US Championship. Anyway, If I felt good during the middle of the
race, I could always go faster and still meet my goal.
Jason eventually settled in about a flight behind me. I
risked glancing at my watch. 2 minutes down and I still felt strong.
Behind me, things were getting tense. I could see Jason
climbing head to head with another climber. Presumably Harrison. Now I had to
deal with two climbers breathing down my neck. Considering they had started
roughly 5 & 10 seconds behind me respectively, I was likely sitting in 4th
spot. Great.
Unlike a traditional skyscraper, the Strat is a tower and
the vertical position inside the building is marked off in feet rather than
floors. To be honest, I don’t exactly know where the half way point is, but I
knew that it was somewhere in the low 400s. I was now approaching that point
and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone blast past Jason & Harrison.
Crap… now I had to deal with Tristan, too!
Just after Tristan passed, I did the math. Tristan likely
started 15 seconds behind me and with this trio hot on my tail I was now likely
in 5th place with just under 4 minutes of climbing left in the race.
I was fully winded, but the pace didn’t seem brutal. I knew
I had climbed fairly conservatively for the first half of the race and now it
was time to pick up the pace and drop my rivals.
But here is the thing: I was scared and doubting my ability.
The only thought going through my mind was that this was the US National
Championship and I was losing! Plus, the pace was hard enough that it was
beginning to get uncomfortable. In this mental state, it took a lot of
willpower to force the pace… but I did.
Over the next couple minutes, I slowly pulled away, climbing
just a little faster than my metronome on each flight.
When I reached the 700s, I could sense the final part of the
race was coming up. I thought I could faintly hear Tristan down below so I
figures he was still in the hunt for 2nd place. Oh how I wished I
knew exactly how many seconds he started behind me!
With a quick right turn, I exited the tower into the
occupied “donut” section. I had maybe 7 or 8 floors left to go. Unlike the
tower core, this section had true floors consisting of shorter yet wider
flights and tubular rails. I think it starts at floor 100 and ends on the
Skydeck at floor 108.
This was it. The final push to determine who would be
crowned US Champion.
I had way too much energy left, but it was still a struggle
to sprint these last flights. Faster pace, yes… full out sprint, no.
I burned what energy I could, but I knew I had left
something on the table.
I crossed the finish line tired, but still standing upright.
I glanced at my watch as almost an afterthought. 7:45. Crap. I stopped my watch
a little late so likely was a little faster, but chances were that I didn’t
break the 7:40 mark. Now I just had to wait for my rivals to show up.
I didn’t have to wait long. I heard Tristan whooping for joy
as he crossed the line. He was perhaps 15-20 seconds behind me so I knew the
race had been close. Damn. If I lost the National Championship by a few seconds
it was going to sting. I briefly put my hands on my quads for a rest but stood
up after a few seconds. I was winded, but feeling good enough to walk around. I
grabbed a glass of orange juice. Nothing to do now but wait for the results…
As the other climbers filtered in, I chatted a bit and
learned that I had handily beaten everybody but Tristan (and of course Alexis).
Tristan self-timed himself at 7:45 so it indeed was a close race. I suspected I
was slightly faster, but too much uncertainty remained – I know from experience
that a few seconds is solidly within the margin of error.
After downing a banana and another couple glasses of orange
juice, I headed back down with Tristan to see the final results.
Up on the screen, I found my name up in 2nd place
behind Alexis.
Yes! I was finally the US National Champion!
Then I peered at the times. Holy cow they were close…
Alex Workman 7:42
Gregory Billingsley 7:43
Tristan Roth 7:46
I felt bad for Tristan who had a good race, but was clipped
by a handful of seconds for not one, but two podium spots.
I knew I was lucky for
narrowly edging out Greg. He started further behind us so I honestly forgot
about him. Clearly he had a good race. Had he been climbing up front with the
rest of us, it might have been a different outcome. I certainly had enough
energy go faster but did I have the mental fortitude to back it up? Doubts
linger.
I would have been bitter about the results had I been in
Tristan’s shoes, but he seemed pretty happy about his performance. He easily
shattered his goal of breaking the 8 minute mark which is a great prelude to
the Columbia Tower (a similarly sized building in Seattle, where he lives).
Someday I hope to have such a positive attitude.
All that was left was to take a shower and attend the awards
ceremony for the annual points competition. For the past three years I’ve been
atop the points rankings, but this year I gave up the top spot to Terry Purcell
who has had my number in 2018. With a couple of big wins already under my belt
this year, I hope to be top dog again in 2019.
Final Thoughts:
A couple people came up to me to congratulate my 2nd
place finish at the Stratosphere, but nobody mentioned that I was the US
National Champion. In fact, the accomplishment wasn't even mentioned during the Towerrunning
USA awards ceremony. Boy that really stung.
A few days after the race I checked out Towerrunning USA and
Stairlife.com to see if there was an announcement that I could share with my
friends and family. Nothing. Nada.
Sometimes I feel like climbing stairs doesn’t matter and I’m
honestly sick of training my ass off. I know I’m not the fastest climber, but
at least I show up and compete in the big races; nobody can accuse me of cherry
picking only races I can win. Officially winning the US National Championship
was supposed to be my time to shine and nobody gave a damn. To be honest, it
still hurts.
Awkwardly, I contacted Stairlife and the Towerrunning USA
director a few days after the race. I felt embarrassed having to ask for my
name to appear, but upset enough to actually push for it. Thanks Stairlife for
updating the Stratosphere post to include my name.
Finally, thanks to Towerrunning.com (the governing
international organization) who at least mentioned me in a brief post. That
made my day.
As for my performance, I’m happy about my place, but
disappointed with my time. Not *that* disappointed mind you. I’m another
year older and few seconds faster and I plan to keep the streak alive next
year.
I learned a lot in the stairwell during this race. There
have been times were I’ve blown up at 97 BPM and this time I handled it with
aplomb. In fact, I had energy in the tank even after I increased my pace during
the 2nd half. For the 6th time in a row I believe a 7:30 is in the
cards (no pun intended being Vegas and all).
Effort: B;
The first part of the race was more like a training session. I pushed it during
the latter half, but I left too much in the tank.
Weight:
B+; I was likely around 172 or just hair above. Good but not great. I honestly
need to 170 or less.
Conditioning:
A; I was in great shape this time around.
Pacing &
Technique: B+: The turns seemed to be efficient and the
blisters on my right hand can attest to using the rails. My strategy was sound
and I increased the pace during the latter half, but I should have used a
faster pace right off the bat.
Overall:
B; There is room to improve as long as I can maintain my conditioning (no small
feat, I might add).
