Take me Back to Chicago

“Hustle up the Hancock” is finally over. The travel was brutal, but in the end it was worth it. I managed to crack the top ten in one of the biggest races in the US. With a time of 11:11, I earned 6th place overall (5th place male)! See the overall results here.

Travel was the biggest challenge of the trip. I caught the 6:30PM bus to NYC on Friday night and spent the night in Queens. On Saturday morning, I took a cab to LaGuardia, hopped on a plane to Philly, and finally hopped on another plane to O’Hare. Once my plane landed, I rushed to the Blue Line (subway) in order to get to down town Chicago as quickly as possible. I had arranged a group dinner at the Elephant & Castle and I was running late!

Fortunately, I arrived just as folks were about to order dinner. Surprisingly enough, only about half of the invitees showed up. Oz had a valid excuse (he was sick), but Brady and company bailed last minute. When I heard the news, I was stunned. I felt miserable and downtrodden. I wept uncontrollably for an hour and cried myself to sleep…Ok, so I’m kidding about the last part, but I figured I’d get a good barb in before Brady smokes me at the next race ^_^.

Ed, Alex, Bob, Brenda, Karen, and David at Elephant & Castle

In actuality, I had very good time at dinner. I met a few new people (Bob & Brenda, Karen, & David) and got to hang out with my friend Ed from Toronto. Our conversation centered on stair climbing (what else!) including training, race strategy, other climbers, and details about the Hancock Tower. After dinner, the hostess was kind enough to take our picture.

 After dinner, I walked to the John Hancock Tower to scope out the building and to make sure I knew how to get there from the subway. I then stopped by Walgreen’s to pick up some yogurt and milk for breakfast. I then headed back to my hotel, which unfortunately was nearby O’Hare (about an hour away).

I checked into the hotel around 10:00 PM and organized my belongings to minimize my morning preparation. I also asked for a late check-out so I would be able to store my luggage in my room and take a shower before the plane ride home. That bit of forethought was probably the smartest thing I did the entire trip.

The next morning I was up by 4:45 AM and out the door by 5:00. To save time, I decided to take a short cut and jump over the hotel’s iron wrought fence. In the process of climbing over, I partially dislocated my left shoulder. Although I’ve been doing shoulder exercises and rehabilitation for an old shoulder injury (from a biking accident) my shoulder still isn’t 100%. Hauling myself over the fence put my shoulder in just the right spot to pop it out of position. It hurt like heck. In fact, as I’m writing this blog, my shoulder *still* aches. 

The good news was that although my shoulder hurt, I was still able to use it when I climbed up the stairs to the subway platform. The bad news was that I arrived just as the train rolled out of the station. Drat! Fortunately, I left early enough so I still had plenty of time to get to the race. As I waited for the next train I ate my breakfast (yogurt, and English muffin, & an apple) and downed my coffee milk (for that good ‘ol jolt of caffeine). Fifteen minutes later, I was on the train bound for the Hancock.

Hancock Tower in the Early Morning

 I arrived at the Hancock Tower a good 30 minutes before the race and ran into my friend Ed as he was entering the building. Just like at Empire, this race was crowded! But unlike Empire, there was some semblance to the madness. After a brief warm-up, I lined up with the other elite climbers and headed downstairs to the start line. There I finally ran into my friend (and fellow Tower Master) Michael! We continued our warm-ups as we waited for the race to start.

Soon enough we all lined up in order of our bib numbers. I was nervous and my legs felt like marmalade. I was scheduled to start 19^th which was a little far back than I expected, but I wasn’t too worried about passing people. Unlike Empire, I knew the stairwell wouldn’t be crowded and elite climbers are usually pretty nice about letting others pass.

After a short wait, the race started. I drank a couple sips of water to wet my throat and calm my nerves and then set my metronome to 93 beats per minute*. Soon enough, it was my turn to enter the stairwell.

*Why 93bpm? This race is slightly shorter than Empire, so I thought I *might* have a shot at keeping 92 bpm. The extra +1 bpm is because during the Hancock pre-race dinner, we calculated the step height to be 7.375 inches (just a little bit shorter than a typical 7.5 inch step).

I entered the stairwell and immediately matched my pace to my metronome’s beat. The pace seemed easy, but I knew the feeling wouldn’t last long. I resisted the urge to go faster even though the person behind me was quickly catching up. Right before he was about to pass me, he said something like “I can’t start off to fast” and then backed off. In retrospect, that was a pretty smart move. Had this been the Willis Tower and our roles reversed, I certainly would have sprinted right on by (and paid the price later in the race)!

The stair case itself was nearly perfect for climbing. The rails were made of metal tubes which are easy to grip and placed in just the right spot so that I could easily turn around the landings. My only complaint was that the rails felt about an inch too low than what I’m used to and the stairwell itself turned to the left which I’m not quite used to.

Around floor 7 or so I started passing people other racers. I must have passed 4 or 5 people but one climber in particular stuck to my memory; Ahead of me I could hear someone climbing at a much faster pace than I was climbing, but strangely enough the footfalls were becoming louder and louder. Was I actually catching up? Soon enough, I passed a fellow who was running up the stairs one step at a time, not really even bothering with the rails. Mystery solved ^_^. Despite his technique, he seemed to be going quite fast, although I’m certain he was wasting energy running rather than climbing.

Around the 40^th floor or so, I started to really feel the effects of the climb. I went out just a little bit too quickly and I could no longer keep just one foot on the landings. In retrospect, I should have slowed down my metronome a few bpm rather than “two step” the landings, but at that point my brain was solely focused on ignoring the pain.

For the next 20 floor or so I didn’t meet a soul although by the 60^th floor I could hear someone ahead of me. I assumed it was one of the girls, since I caught a glimpse of a pink jersey, but my brain was acting so sluggish that I couldn’t tell who it was. Eventually I passed her and figured out the identity of this mystery woman: Kourtney Dexter, one of the top three racers in the US!

The next 15 or 20 floors were all a big blur. I felt like I was slowing down and I’m sure I was falling behind the beat every now and then. At the same time, I knew I couldn’t slow down too much if I wanted to get a good time and place. I also didn’t want to slow Kourtney down since she was literally just a few steps behind me. However, by the 85^th floor, I was at my breaking point. I really wanted to let Kourtney pass and let her set the pace. I was hanging on by a just a thread, and I couldn’t even see straight.

Kourtney was right on my tail and I started to move aside to let her pass, but she wouldn’t take the bait. She just gave me nudge and told me to go. I can’t remember what she said, but it was just enough encouragement to keep me moving through the pain. With only a few more flights left, I attempted to pick up the pace, but my legs simply wouldn’t go any faster. Instead, I just pulled on the rails a bit harder to accelerate up the last flights.

I remember only one thing quite clearly; although there was just a short flat section between the landing and the timing mat, it felt very odd running on a flat surface again. It kind of felt like the bike/run transition (in a tri) only my legs felt much, much worse. My legs felt wobbly and leaden. Passing the final timing mat, I simply crumpled to the floor. It took me a couple extra minutes to extract myself from the ground and make my way to a nearby chair.

After recovering for a good long while, I was finally able to socialize with the other climbers from WCL. I forgot to bring my watch, so I hadn’t a clue what my time was, although I was pretty confident I had come close to my 11 minute goal time.

Since the view at the top was so spectacular, I decided to go back down to get my camera. When the elevator operator wouldn’t let me on the elevator, I told them I needed to bring up an asthma inhaler to someone who just finished the race. The excuse worked perfectly*, and soon I was back up at the top with my camera.

*Technically, I wasn’t lying. At the top, I took a couple of puffs of albuterol to control my “stairwell cough”.

After taking a bunch of photos with the other WCL climbers, I eventually I caught up with Michael and Ed and headed over to the Hilton for the after climb party. I also ran into Bob, just before as he was heading down to the start line. At the party we verified our times & places. I came in 5^th place (male) with a time of 11:11. Ed came in 10^th with a time of 11:55. Michael came in 20^th with a time of 12:44. Awesome! I was mostly pleased with my time, because it shows I’m starting to catch up with the top climbers, although knew I could have broken 11:00 if I had started the race a tad slower.

Eric & Kourtney. Aren't they cute?

Luis came all the way from Guadalajara!

View from the top!

Ed, Michael, and Alex.

Justin is telling us he won the event!

Kristen, Alex, & Brady checking
out the after party buffet.

Bob and I right before his race.

The selection of food and other goodies was fairly good. I snagged some Kefir yogurt, string cheese, a bagel, two bottles of 5-hour energy, some FRS chews, a bag a pretzels, a couple bananas, a bottle of water, a bottle of muscle milk, and a couple of cliff bar samples. Not a bad haul. When I was satiated with goodies, I met a few more WCL climbers and then said our goodbye to Ed who had a plane to catch.

Outside the Field Museum

At that point, my energy was back to normal levels, but my body felt like crap. My throat was sore and I was coughing up phlegm because I worked my lungs so hard during the race. My stomach felt nauseous, which seems to happen whenever over exert myself. Finally, my shoulder was still aching from my early morning mishap with the hotel’s fence. To avoid thinking how crappy we felt, Michael and I decided to head over to the Field Museum to check out the new Genghis Khan exhibit.

Although I only had a couple hours to spend at the museum, it was the best choice of the day. Michael is somewhat of a history buff, and I like anthropology, too. I was already somewhat familiar with Genghis Khan (born as Temujin) and it was great to learn about the history of the Mongolian empire, learn about their conquests, and see some Mongolian artifacts up close. I wish I was allowed to take pictures.

After the museum, it was time to say goodbye to Michael and head home. After a brief stop at my hotel for a quick shower, it was all planes, trains, buses, taxis & automobiles. I finally arrived home on Monday morning, just before lunchtime. What a trip!

Here are my final random thoughts & comments:

• Ed had an awesome race and maintained his technique throughout the race. Learn from him!!!
• For my next race, slow down the metronome to 90 bpm and DON’T slack off on the landings late in the race. I went out slightly too fast, and I paid for it on the upper floors. I give myself an A+ for effort and a B for race tactics for an overall ranking of an A-.
• Pester Michael to improve his rail technique. He has the capability of sub 12:00 at Hancock. He will kill it at the Rock this weekend!
• Try to get a hotel within walking distance to the race, although staying near the airport wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.
• Late checkout is the way to go. A post-race shower before flying out is well worth it.
• Spend the extra few bucks for a direct flight into O’Hare, possibly from Albany if the price is right.
• Note to self: My CTA (subway) card still has $7.00 left.
• No more gate jumping! Shoulder still hurts.
• Stairwell cough & Nausea lasted about 24 hours. Lungs ached for nearly 48 hours. Ready to race again on Tuesday.
• Meet more climbers!

360 at New Haven

Wednesday's Empire State Building Run-up was a letdown, but Saturday's race at New Haven was a much better experience.


I woke up around 4:40 AM on Saturday Morning and was out the door by 5:20 AM. Although we've had very little snow this year, today was an exception... it was snowing! Fortunately, the snow tapered off as soon as I hit the Massachusetts border and it didn’t slow me down. The trip was pretty uneventful, but it did give me a chance to see both Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT, where I will be racing later this season. Although these places are only a couple hours from Albany, I've never been to these cities and it was nice to check out their skylines.


The night before the race I was pretty nervous. After looking at the starting lineup, I saw a familiar, yet very surprising name: Lam Ka Ming. Although I've never met Lam, I recognized his name. He won a few big races in his native Hong Kong, and had just competed in the ESBRU, winning the MMRF division and coming in 19th (male) overall. I knew he would be my chief competition for this race since he is clearly a very strong climber. However, I still liked my chances in New Haven since it is a shorter sprint race. 

Britney & Alex after the race

I arrived at New Haven right around 8:15 and went directly to the check-in. There I met a couple of the American Lung Association race organizers (Britney and Emily) and then headed to the warm-up area on the 6th floor. The elevator seemed to take forever, so I opted to take the stairs (always a good choice) and preview the race course.

Meeting Lam Ka Ming

At the warm-up area, I caught up with Tower Masters teammates, Michael and Ariel. I also had the opportunity to meet Lam Ka Ming. Although he spoke English was pretty well, I wanted to practice my Chinese so our conversation was a mixture of both languages. He came to the US for the ESBRU and decided to do a local climb before heading home to the New Territories, just north of Hong Kong Island. Lam brought a camera crew all the way from Hong Kong and although it was nice to meet him, I was a little intimidated. Not only was the media involved, but Lam was a 130 lb. feather weight (to my 175 lb.) and it looked like he would fly up the stair case.

A peek inside the stairwell during the race

After socializing, I headed to the stairwell for a closer look at the race course. The stairwell was very similar to Stamford's; The floors were very short, it used a double rail system, the rails were close enough to hold both sides at once, and the steps themselves were short (~7 inches). The only major difference was that the stairs turned clockwise. The race course also featured a couple of flat sections. The first one was at the start line, where we'd have to run 10-15 meters to the stairwell entrance. The second flat section was a 5-10 meter transition on the 6th floor between stairwells. I spent about 10 minutes analyzing the main stairwell since I knew I had lost time at Stamford due to poor technique. Since the floors were so short and I could grip both sides of the rails easily, I opted for a two-handed pull in the middle of each flight which allowed me to take 2 or 3 steps at a time. On the corners, I chose to hug the inside lane and use the inside rail to pull myself around the corner. Although my technique was still a little sloppy, it would have to suffice.


After practice, I stopped by the warm up area to pick up Michael and Ariel and then we all headed to the start line to warm up. At this point it was already 8:45, and still no sign of Steve Marsalese. Our Tower Masters team wouldn’t be complete without him! I continued my warm-ups, which by now are pretty routine (jumping jacks: 1 min --> burpees: 1 min --> rest: 3 min --> repeat). Finally, with less than 5 minutes to go, Steve finally showed up. Our team was complete!

Tower Masters!

Lam & Emily

I would be going first up the stairwell since I won Stamford a couple months ago. Michael would follow a minute later and Steve would climb 3rd. Lam was also climbing with the elite group and would be entering the stairwell 6th. 


The only surprise was that Paul Curley, a well-known cyclo-cross athlete, wasn’t feeling 100% and wouldn’t be climbing. He was still at the race since he is responsible for race timing. He was also there to cheer on his daughter Emily* who was racing with the other elites. It was nice to see him at the race, but it was unfortunate he wouldn’t climb; he certainly would have been a threat for a podium spot.


*Emily went on to win the race on the women’s side. Apparently excellence runs in the family.


Soon enough, I was racing up 360 State Street! I decided not to use my metronome for such a short race and instead relied on my training. Since my training staircase is approximately one third the height of 360 State Street, I decided to go out at my usual training pace, hoping I could hang on till the end of the race. The first 10 flights went by quickly so quickly that I barely remember crossing over the flat section on the 6th floor.  Around the 20th floor, I was beginning to tire and my legs started to feel heavy. I could no longer take 3 steps at a time with my two-handed pulls, but I refused to slow down. Instead I picked up the pace knowing I had less than a minute to race.


At floor 25 my lungs were burning, my shoulders hurt, and my quads were leaden. Even my calves cried out in pain, which in living memory has never occurred to me in a stairwell. With only 6 floors to go, I knew I had to make my move now or risk losing the race. Although Lam hadn’t even started the race, I could feel his presence right behind me, catching up with each flight. 


Although I was in pain, I wanted this race. If someone else wanted to win they’d have to take it from me. I wasn’t going to give it to them. So I did what I’ve been training to do for the past 11 months; I turned on the afterburners and never looked back.


In my mind’s eye I soared up the remaining flights. I’m sure my turns were sloppy and my footsteps heavy, but for that one moment in time, I was an arc of lightning passing through the stairwell. I remember hitting floor 29, but I don’t remember climbing the last 2 flights. I just remember exiting the stairwell and hitting the timing mat with my chip.

Michael & Alex trying to catch their breath

I collapsed in a folding chair, my legs writhing in agony. I couldn’t believe how exhausted I felt considering how short the race was. My quads and calves were on fire and my right shoulder was numb. Since I had forgotten to start my stop watch, I hadn’t a clue what my time was. As Michael and Steve finished the race, I asked one of the volunteers what my time was in between gasps of air. Someone told me I had finished in about 2:46, the same time I had at Trump Parc Stamford, which was a slightly shorter building. I was a little surprised with my time because I knew I had pushed myself harder for this race.


Lam finished the race shortly thereafter and I asked him how he did. Unlike me, Lam remembered to use his stop watch and he told me he clocked in about 2:40, a very fast time indeed (matching my goal time). I was disappointed, but not disheartened. If Lam had gone faster, then so be it. With a time of 2:40 he deserved to win. I would just have to train harder for the next race. Even though I was prepared to come in 2nd, I still held out some hope for a win. I had raced to the best of my ability and felt that I had gone faster. A time of 2:46 just didn’t feel right.

A view at top

Tower Masters at the top

After recovering for a while longer, we took a few team photos at the top and then headed back to the warm up area to chat and change clothes. We then got directions to the Wolf’s Head Tavern, where the after event party would be held.

Jim & Alex

Alex & Alan

The party was a blast. Although Steve had to leave early, I got to hang out with my friends and meet the Stamford Fire Fighting team. Those dudes take stair climbing just as seriously as we do; they are all in awesome shape and dominate all the local Fire Fighter climbs. They are also built like bricks. Their captain (Jim) tips the scale at 216 lbs. and the winning fire fighter (Alan) is about my size. It turns out their training is very similar to my regimen, although they usually wear 45 lbs weight vests while training. Seriously. I’m not kidding. After doing a little math, I’m sure that Alan would have been able to keep up with the Tower Masters if he ran without gear. His power to weight ratio puts him right in the medal hunt.


Although the party was enjoyable, I was still nervous. The ALA would be posting the race results shortly. Upon the awards table there sat a little trophy that I wanted so badly, but I had a sinking feeling I’d be going home without it.


Just before 1:00 PM they posted the race results. I checked the board and there was my name at the top with a time of 2:34. Not only did I beat my goal time by 6 seconds, but I had won the race outright! I was overjoyed. After celebrating for a couple minutes I went over to Lam to congratulate him on his 2nd place finish. I know he expected to win this race and was a bit let down, so I told him that he kicked my butt at ESBRU a few days ago which was a much more important race.

1st and 2nd Place Winners

After the award ceremony (in which the Tower Masters basically swept with 1st, 3rd, and 4th place showings) I said goodbye to my all of my friends and departed for home… with my new trophy in the front seat of the car ^_^.


Next on the agenda is to buy a 45 lb. weight vest. After all, I have to get ready for “Hustle up the Hancock” in Chicago later this month!

360 State Street (Back)

360 State Street (Front)

Burned at the Empire State Building

The "Super Bowl" of stair climbing was held last Wednesday night in NYC. I have decidedly mixed feelings about this race and if you detect a hint of sense of bitterness in this post, than your sense of taste is spot on.

For the weeks prior to the race, I've been hitting my training sessions hard. Unfortunately I missed out my last tough stair climbing workout the Friday before the race due to a virus. Despite having a slight fever the following two days, I still slogged through a couple of workouts, keeping it light enough to make sure my illness didn't get worse. On Monday I felt marginally better and I tested myself out on the stair stepper at the gym. Although was worried I'd have an asthma attack, it never fully developed and I finished my workout feeling like I was pretty close to 100%. On Tuesday I took it easy and did a few practice runs on the stairs to work on my pacing.

My game plan for ESBRU was simple; I wanted to have an even pace throughout the race and to do this I could not afford to go out to fast at the start of the race. In each of my previous long races (Sears, John Hancock Boston, & One Penn Plaza, which are all greater than 200 meters) I've always sprinted up the first few staircases and eventually had to slow down in the middle of the race. To make sure I wouldn’t go out too fast at Empire, I planned to use my new metronome and set the beat in rhythm to my climbing pace. Based on my calculations, I needed to climb my practice stair case in about 50 seconds in order to match my planned pace, so during Monday’s workout I spent about 30 minutes climbing up my practice staircase to fine-tune my metronome’s pace. My calculations indicated 90 bpm would be required to climb the stairs in 50 seconds, which was the same pace I tried out at One Penn Plaza. That number turned out to be spot on as long as I kept only one foot on the landings. However, since my practice stair case includes several difficult landings and doorway which is difficult to navigate, I sometimes had to sprint a couple of steps to catch up to the beat of the metronome. To avoid these tiring sprints, I eventually settled on 92 bpm. Although it was slightly faster pace, I no longer had to worry about catching up to the beat every time I turned a corner.

The evening before the race was a quite stressful. Based on my calculations, I thought the steps at Empire were about 8 inches tall (based on 1050 feet climbing elevation with 1576 stairs) and I'd have to set my metronome to about 87 bpm to compensate. However my stair climbing friends assured me that the steps were only 7.5 inches tall. Since I know stair counts are often inaccurate, I put my faith on my buddies (Brady & Jeff - thanks for the info). I went to bed confident I had my game plan settled.

On Wednesday, I worked for 1/2 day and then took the bus down to NYC at lunchtime. I spent the afternoon in Korean Town and I eventually parked myself in a yogurt shop to chill out with a book*. Around 7:00 PM, I bought a double espresso and headed over to the ESBRU check-in.

*If you are into manga and haven’t read “20th Century Boys” by Urasawa Naoki, then pick up a copy; I highly recommend it.

Before I discuss how my race unfolded, it is important to know a little bit about the actual course. At the start line, racers will run about 15 meters and then pass through a doorway to get into to the actual stairwell. The first part of the climb is pretty typical of most other buildings. Climbers will ascend ½ a flight to a landing, turn 180 degrees clockwise, and ascend another ½ flight to the next landing. The stair well configuration then changes about a third of the way into the race. In this section, climbers will run across a short hallway (about 10 meters or so) to get to the next flight of stairs, turn 90 degrees clockwise, climb up a few steps to a landing, turn 90 degrees clockwise, and then climb a full staircase to get to the next level. When climbers finally reach the 86th floor observation deck, they exit the stairwell and run around the building (about 80 meters) until they end at the finish line. Since there is quite a bit of running involved, it is hard to estimate finishing times based on height alone. Additionally, results from prior years cannot be fully trusted because in those years, racers started en masse, leading to a huge bottleneck inside the stairwell entrance. So with nothing reliable to go on, I figured I’d come in somewhere between 12:30 and 13:45 minutes based on my friend Steve’s past performances. Although I’ve beaten him in shorter races, he has excellent endurance and I knew I’d be hard pressed to beat him in this race. Steve is a fellow Tower Master and has done this race countless times, often cracking the top 30 and sometimes even the top 10 at this event!

Fellow Tower Masters: Alex and Steve

Check in was a complete mad house. Climbers took up almost every available inch of the place. It was challenging to even find a spot to change into my WCL jersey! Eventually I bumped into a few folks I recognized from other stair climbs. In summary I saw Kristen, Tim, Napoleon, Jamie Kate, Luis, Jesse, & Kacie although I mainly hung out with my friend Steve and another racer from California  (I'm sorry I can't remember his name). I also *finally* met up with my friend David Tromp, who also hails from the New York Capital Region.

Listening to the race announcer, I heard that the elite 22 climbers would start around 8:00 PM and that the Charity and Corporate racers would race next. The general time trialists would start last and would be grouped into waves of about 100 people. The time trialists would start one-by-one in 5 second intervals rather than en masse. Since my race number was 1097, I learned I'd be in the very last wave! Since I didn’t want to get stuck behind hundreds of people, I asked one of the organizers if I could start off near the beginning of the time trial. They told me that I'd have to start with my wave, but I was allowed to go to the front of the pack if I'd wish. Although I didn't like it, at least I'd be able to enter the stairwell without trouble. Since my start time wouldn't be until 9:30, I downed my double espresso just after 8:30 to make sure I was properly caffeinated.

First in the Last Wave

After Steve got in line to race (he was in the 800 wave) I started my standard warm-up routine: jumping jacks and burpees every 3 minutes until race time. When the announcer called out my wave, I weaved my way to the front of the line and continued my warm-up. Right before our wave left to go to the start line, I ran into another one of my Tower Masters buddies, Scott Chappe who had just finished the race. Although we only had a couple minutes to socialize, it was nice to run into a familiar face.

Moments later our wave descended the escalator to the start line. This was it! The organizers took about 40 extra seconds or so to welcome us to the event and during the wait, I set my metronome to 92 bpm and clipped it onto my WCL jersey. Suddenly it was my turn to go and I was racing in the ESBRU!

Since we were given nearly a minute of extra time between waves, I had the stairwell to myself for about 5 flights. I could actually hear the person behind me getting closer during this period, and although I *wanted* to speed up, I kept up a steady 92 bpm pace. Eventually I dropped the people behind me and I started passing people around the 6th floor. By the 10^th floor, the stairwell became really congested.

At first I told people to get out of my way and pushed through other climbers to get into the inside lane. At this point I was consistently passing at least one person each flight and it was getting difficult to pass. Many people simply wouldn’t get out of my way, and several people yelled back at me “Pass on the left!” as I passed by them on the right. I was expending more energy trying to take the inside lane so I eventually stopped yelling at people and took the outside lane. When I looked at my watch around the 3:00 minute mark, I was already in the lower 20s (although I simply can’t remember which floor) so I knew I was right on track. I was pretty winded by that point, but I felt I could continue at this pace for another 10 minutes.

Right around 6:30 into the race, I was into the upper 40s, but I was getting tired. I was well into the 2^nd section of the race by this point and although I was still able to run across the hallways between the stair cases, I knew I couldn’t keep up the pace for much longer. I had spent too much energy passing people on the outside lane and I was suffering. At that point I decided to turn down my metronome down to 89 beats per minute but I made a promise to stick to that pace no matter what.

By floor 70 I had kept my promise, but the stairwell was just too crowded. I could no longer summon the energy to sprint around people and I found myself getting caught behind slower climbers. On the rare instances I had a clear stairwell, I could still keep my 89 bpm pace, but it took longer and longer to get around other climbers. I also caught myself walking along the hallway between stairs rather than running whenever I had more than two climbers to pass. My mental resolve was almost broken, but I still kept up my 89 bpm pace up the stairs. The only thing fueling my climb was my bitterness toward the New York Road Runners Association for putting me in such an awful position.

On floor 80 I could no longer think straight. I knew I should start increasing my pace near the end of the climb, but I couldn’t remember if there were 86 floors or 88 floors! Around floor 84, I started going all out. I was totally surprised (yet thankful) once I reached the observation deck because I still thought I had 2 more flights to go! I ran blindly around the observation deck and although I was pretty dazed, I still managed to pass a couple more people on the run.

After the finish line, I stumbled into a corner to catch my breath. A moment later, I remembered to check my watch. It said 14:01, so I knew I broke the 14 minute mark. I was satisfied with my exertion level, but I knew I could have gone a little bit faster near the end. I felt like collapsing, but I had enough strength to stand, albeit hunched over with hands on the knees. At least I exerted more effort here than I did at One Penn Plaza a few weeks back. After a couple minutes of rest, I finally managed to stumble my way around the rest of the observation deck to get to the elevator. 

And then I got burned at the ESBRU. No kidding! Somewhere along the observation deck, I ended up in a heated glass hallway. I know it is heated because I accidently brushed up against the metal heater. Take a look at these 1^st degree burn marks. Believe me it hurt!

Burned at the ESBRU

Although my time was slower than I had expected due to the congestion inside the stairwell, it was still a respectable time. I figured that I still had an outside shot at a top 30 (male) spot as long as the other time trialists faced similar problems during the race.

Man vs. Building

I spoke with Steve after the race and he told me his time was about 13:45. My chances of a top 30 spot were now pretty slim since I knew Steve was fighting for a top 30 spot, too. We both complained about the race and how much we were slowed down by having to pass so many people. I estimated that I had lost at least 15 seconds and Steve figured he had lost at least 30.

By this time it was after 10:00 PM. I grabbed a sandwich and headed down to the bar to meet Dave Tromp and another friend (and fellow Tower Master) Jim McNamara. Jim didn’t race in the ESBRU this year, but Dave started with the other elites and clocked a time of less than 12 minutes, a VERY fast time indeed! After Jim and Dave went home, I stopped by Korea town for a bite of dessert and then headed home. Since I was so pumped up with caffine, I lay in bed thinking about the race and I didn’t fall asleep until 2:00 AM. Getting up at 5:30 AM the next morning to catch the bus to Albany was not a pleasant affair.

On the bus ride home, I found out my time was only good enough for 36^th place (male), just outside my top 30 goal. In other circumstances, I would have been proud, but today I was furious. I felt that I hadn't been given a chance to race and potentially missed out a top 30 spot because of it. I spent some time thinking about the race and here are my final thoughts:

1)      Having a start time at 8:00 PM is simply too late. Most New Yorkers were in the time trials which started past 9:00 PM. I could have left work at 5:00 and *still* made it to the start line in time, and I live THREE HOURS away!

2)      Letting only the top 22 racers compete in a clear stairwell is unfair. There are 30 spots worth points in the rankings and there at least 50 racers who had legitimate shot at a top 30 spot. The NYRR could have easily seeded the time trialists (or let the racers decide starting order).

3)      Starting in the middle of the time trial cost me at least 30 seconds (much more than I initially estimated). Here is where I lost time:

a.      I stayed on the outside lane(a longer distance than the inside lane) for a good portion of the race

b.      Sprinting by other racers expended more energy than what was necessary.

c.      I used my arms far less than I typically do, causing extra fatigue in my legs. This is a very important part of my racing technique because I’m a heavy racer and I have strong arms.

4)      Many potential top 30 racers were left out of the race because of the opaque selection criteria and random general entry policy, which is very unfortunate since this is the supposed to be the most competitive race in the World.

5)      There wasn’t enough space for the athletes to change, let alone properly warm up.

The sad thing about this race was that many of the problems could have been avoided with a few simple changes. Unfortunately, it is the athletes who suffer the most because of how poorly this race was planned.

Power up a Tower: Part I

After reading my friend Stan's excellent blog for some time, I've decided to do a bit of number crunching, too. My end goal is to be able to predict performance and benchmark other athletes depending on the height of a climb. I won’t be able to do it all in one post, so I expect this will be one of many.

Like Stan, I believe an important measurement is power. To get a good understanding of power, here is a brief explanation on the difference between work and its close relative, power.

Work, is defined as force (e.g. weight) multiplied by distance. The standard SI unit of measurement of work is called a joule (J). It takes 9.8 joules of work to lift 1 kilogram (kg) of mass one meter (m) straight up in earth’s gravity field [written as 9.8 J = (1 kg x m²)/s²]. The 9.8 factor comes from earth’s gravity field acting on a mass (i.e force = mass x acceleration). Basically, a mass will drop (accelerate) at a rate of 9.8 meters per second each second (9.8 m/s²).

Power is closely related to work. It is defined as the amount of work done per a given time period. The standard SI unit of measurement of power is called a watt. For example, it would take 9.8 watts of power to lift 1 kilogram (kg) of mass one meter (m) straight up in exactly one second [written as 9.8 watts = (1 kg x m²)/s³]. Likewise it would take 4.9 watts of power to lift up the same 1 kg mass if the work is spread out across two seconds. In essence, you’ve done the same amount of work at half the power output, but it has taken twice as long to do so.

Power and work are very import in stair climbing because you are primarily acting against gravity when you climb up a stair case. This is unlike other sports like running or cycling that primarily act against friction and drag (unless you are climbing uphill).

Here is an illustrative example. If a 100 kg climber (about 220 lbs) races up a 100 meter stair case (roughly 30 stories) in 300 seconds (5 minutes) then that climber has done:

100 kg x 9.8 m/s² x 100m = 98,000 joules of work

98,000 joules / 300s = 326.67 watts (on average during those 5 minutes)

So how would your climbing ability compare with this person? It is hard to tell just by looking at a person’s power output. After all, a lighter climber (say someone who only weighs 110 lbs (about 50 kg) only needs to do 49,000 joules of work to climb this stair case. Similarly, the lighter climber would only need to exert a paltry 164 watts to climb up this staircase!

A good measure of relative performance would be to compare the power to mass ratio of these two climbers. In the case above, each climber has an equal 3.27 watts/kg power to mass ratio.

Interestingly enough, to calculate this ratio you don’t even need to know how much someone weighs! Since mass is used to calculate power, you effectively eliminate mass from the equation since you divide by mass when you calculate the power to mass ratio. This simplifies things greatly:

Power to mass ratio (watts/kg) = [Height of climb (meters) x 9.8 m/s²] / Climbing time (seconds)

This ratio gives a good performance indicator when climbing up given height. But how do you compare performance between climbs of different heights? The answer is somewhat tricky. After all, athletes can only maintain a difficult pace (i.e. a high power output) for a relatively short amount of time. The length of the race really determines what pace you are able to maintain. Here is an illustrative example: Runners can’t sprint an entire marathon. Conversely, runners can’t competitively jog a 100 meter dash.

To better make this point, here are the power outputs and power to mass ratios of the last two races I participated in. I also included data for Sproule Love and a couple other fellow Tower Masters so you can see some relative data points. Weights are approximate except for my weight and Sproule’s. I specifically asked him how much he weighs after our race up One Penn Plaza :-)

*note* I think One Penn Plaza climb is actually about 10 meters taller than my estimate above. Does anybody have a tape measure I could borrow?

As you can see, since the Trump Parc is only 100 meters tall, the climbers were able to put out around 20% more power than in One Penn Plaza which about twice as tall.

Also note that although I had a larger power output than Sproule, he climbed much faster because he weighs a good 25 lbs less than I do. He has a superior Power to Mass ratio.

Finally, can you tell who use to be an elite marathon runner? As you can see from the two data points above, Steve has a very good power to mass ratio on tall climbs. I have a feeling he’ll kick my butt at the ESBRU, which is nearly 100 meters taller than One Penn Plaza (^_^).

So now that I’ve written about work, power, and the power to mass ratio, I hope to show how power output will vary depending on the height of a climb. It will probably be a while before my next post since it will take a bit of time to collect the data I’m going to need. Until then, I’m going to be busy climbing stairs. I hope to improve my power to mass ratio in time for the ESBRU!

Schooled by Sproule

The results of One Penn Plaza are in! See the results here. The Tower Masters came in 2^nd, 3^rd, & 4^th behind stair racing legend Sproule Love.

The night before the race, I took the bus from Albany to NYC, stopped by One Penn Plaza (near Madison Square Garden) had a light meal in Korea Town. I then took the subway to my friend Michael’s apartment to stay overnight. Michael, having been a tower far longer than I have, has built up an impressive set of trophies and awards. He also has a collection of miniature buildings representing some of major towers and skyscraper he has climbed. Very cool!

The next morning I ate a light breakfast consisting of 6 ounces of blueberry Greek yogurt, an apple, and a raisin English muffin and then took the subway to midtown. Although it was snowing, the subway system was running smoothly and we arrived at One Penn Plaza with plenty of time to spare.

After checking in, downing a bottle of 5 Hour Energy*, and hitting the rest room, I started my pre-race warm-up: Active stretching, jumping jacks, burpees, and power pushups. I even did a few dance moves with SuzieQ, a local celebrity fitness trainer who was guest starring at the event. Check Suzie out at her website.

 *Note to self: 5 Hour Energy is pretty nasty… next time drink coffee.

Midway through the warm-up, Michael pointed out Sproule Love in the crowd.  At that point we knew the Tower Masters weren’t going to sweep the event. I had hopes for a 1^st place finish, but with Sproule Love in the lineup, all thoughts of a win were dashed. On the other hand, there was one benefit with Sproule in the race: I’d have a good data point for benchmarking my progress.

Minutes before the race, I introduced myself to Sproule (after all, I know so much about his athletic achievements) and chatted for a few minutes. At the start line, several folks had already entered the stairwell. I guess I chatted a bit too long with Sproule J. The other elite racers let Sproule get to the front of the line and as soon as he left the gate, I checked my stop watch and set my clip-on metronome to 90 beats per minute. Fifteen seconds later I was off!

Right out of the gate, I tried to step to the beat of my metronome for the first few steps, but 90/60 seemed much too slow. Instead, I raced up the first 9 flights. Right around floor 10, I realized that my current pace was much too fast to maintain and I finally slowed down to my metronome’s pace. I passed several other folks on my way up including some of my team mates (who gave precious encouragement). Somewhere near the middle of the race, it began to get more difficult to keep up with the metronome’s pace. Through sheer will, I continued onward although I know I was losing half a step around some of the turns. Finally, around floor 47 or so, I picked up the pace getting faster and faster with each flight. Before I knew it, I had finished! My stopwatch indicated I beat 7 minutes (my goal time) although I knew I didn’t meet my stretch goal of 6:40. Although I was winded, I wasn’t on the ground like I should have been. Next time, I need to start my last kick with 10 flights to go J

At that point, I asked Sproule his time and I was completely shocked when he said he finished in just over 6 minutes. I was expecting a 20 or 30 second gap… not 50 seconds! No wonder he owns the record at the Sears Tower!

While waiting for the other climbers to finish, I chatted with Sproule for a bit and received a couple tips about stair climbing. When he set the record at Sears he had even splits between the first and second halves of the race, so pacing is critical. He didn’t think a metronome was necessary, but he did advocate checking the stopwatch at set intervals in order to adjust the pace accordingly. The final bit of advice was to suffer a bit during training J

Although he didn’t tell me anything new, it certainly helps to hear it again, especially from a living legend.

Interview with the Tower Masters

After the race, Michael, Steve, and I did an interview with SuzieQ for her website. We talked a bit about nutrition and fitness and during the interview and then she asked us to show off our stair climbing “attributes”. By popular opinion Steve had the best abs (he is ripped!) and I had the best legs.

Alex & SuzieQ

Sproule & Alex

Last but not least, the team went over to the post-race bar to eat, drink, chat, and pick up our awards. Sproule didn’t stay for the awards ceremony, but I managed to take my picture with him after the race.

1st Place Female, 5th Place Male, & a Future Tower Climber!

All the Tower Masters!

During the rest of my stay in NYC I did a little sight-seeing. Can you figure out where I went based on the photos I took?

Hint: I'll be here on February 8th!

Hint: The Knicks play nearby

Hint: A Popular TV Show is based here

Another view of the same building

Hint #1: Taken at a Museum.
Hint #2: The artist cut off his own ear

Racing Season is Coming!

Racing season starts in just one week and I have very mixed emotions regarding my progress. In the negative category, I managed to gain 2 or 3 lbs since the Christmas holiday. In the positive category, I’ve set a few PRs for the following exercises: practice staircase intervals, step machine, & tabata leg presses. Additionally, my pull-up & push-up counts continue to increase and I’m getting faster at the 4000 meter row (Concept2 erg rower). I know I’m in the best shape of my life, but I can’t help think that the extra weight is going to slow me down in the longer races.

My first race will be at One Penn Plaza in NYC on January 21^st. The race will cover 55 flights (in a 57 story building) so the race itself will cover a little bit less than 229 meters (the height of the building). Based on that information, I’m guessing my time will be anywhere between 6:30 to 7:30. I’m hoping for a first place finish, but since the race will be held in NYC, the race could potentially have hundreds of competitors and attract some fierce competition.

To get ready for racing season, I’ve added the Concept2 indoor rowing machine to my exercise plan. Paul Teti, the record holder at the John Hancock Tower in Boston is a former Olympic rower, so I figured that rowing would be a good exercise to add to my repertoire. At first I thought the machine was pretty easy. After rowing for about 15 minutes at a reasonable pace, my butt would be sore (from sitting) but I’d otherwise feel pretty good. Since then, I’ve been consistently increasing my pace from week to week. Right now, my workout consists of a 4000 meters done at a just under 15 minutes (excluding time spent warming-up). In my opinion, the rowing machine is a great cross-training workout since it builds up cardio endurance and is relatively easy on the joints. I find it a perfect exercise for the day leading up to a heavy stair climbing workout since rowing won’t kill the legs (compared to heavy cycling or lifting weights).

In other news, I received a tiny clip-on metronome for Christmas and I’m dying to try it out at a race. I’m planning to set it to my expected pace to prevent going out too quickly. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to use it until the Empire State Building Run-up since I haven’t a clue how many stairs are at One Penn Plaza!

Race Schedule 2012

I'm planning to make my mark on the www.towerrunning.com rankings in 2012 so I've amped up the number of races I plan to race in. I'm already ranked in the top 70 for the 2011 rankings, but I had too few races this season to really be in the hunt for points.

The ranking system works like this: In each race, the top 30 athletes are awarded points depending on their gender placement. 80 points are awarded to 1st place down to a single point for 30th place. These points are then multiplied by the race factor. Most races have factors of 0.5 or 1.0, depending on the competitiveness of the race. There are also a select few races designated as "Masters Races" that have factors ranging from 1.5 to 3.0. Examples include a few well-known races such as the Empire State Building Run-up (worth 3.0 points) and the Chicago Sky Run in the Willis/Sears Tower (worth 1.5 points). An athlete's cumulative score is based on their top scoring 8 races, with no more than 5 races coming from a 0.5 or 1.0 factor race. Athletes are then ranked in order of their cumulative score.

So, to be really competitive in the rankings, I'm going to need to run in a fair number of races and score points in Masters Races. With all that in mind, here is my tentative race schedule for 2012:

You can see that it will be a pretty busy February and March since this is traditionally when many charity climbing events are held. You will also note that I only have a handful of Master’s races planned for the year, which may seem counterintuitive if my goal is to score points. However the reality is that at my current fitness level, I won't be scoring very many points at Masters Races. For example, by winning the Parc Trump, I scored 40 points (race factor 0.5). However by coming in 17th (for men) at the Chicago Skyrun (race factor 1.5) I only scored 21 points. Considering the travel costs to get to the different Masters Races (many of which aren't within driving distance) it makes much more sense to focus on winning local races in 2012.