Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Training

My mother in law is dying. We went to see her today to say goodbye. I'm super close to her so this is super hard for me.

I'm not a social kitten by nature but I really don't feel like going to Boot Camp tomorrow and putting on a friendly face for my classmates. I feel like a solitary day is in order for me. I don't, however want to go another day without doing SOME form of exercise and since it's going to be a high of 33 tomorrow biking is out.

Tomorrow I'm going to my mom's place to work on stairs.

It's 17 stories. The most I've done so far is 6 stories of 100 steps and both times I'm huffing and puffing at the top.

I went looking to see what  I could find to help me train and push myself and get the most out of the stairs.
The first thing I came across actually made me cackle and snort:

Sample Running Stairs Cardio Workout

Find a flight of stairs that has at least 20-30 stairs (a track with stadium seating at a high school or local college is ideal).
Walk up the stairs to the top and then down the stairs to the bottom 3-5 times. After this warm-up you will begin the workout.

1) Sprint from the bottom of the stairs to the top as fast as possible
2) Then walk down.
3) Repeat this routine for a total of three to five sets. Your legs should be pretty sore the next day. Work your way up to a total of ten sets.
As your conditioning improves you have many more options to continually challenge your anaerobic system.
Run more flights of stairs
Increase your sets
Use a weighed vest


While I totally dig the weighted vest idea and it's been something I've wanted to invest in for a while and might before all of this is over, the sprinting up the steps as fast as possible is what made me laugh.
I might be vain, and stubborn and a bit of a Pollyanna when it comes to these sorts of things but that I know I cannot do yet.

I think tomorrow my plan is to walk up the steps one time and count them so I know what I'm dealing with and then head right back down and go up again trying to take the steps two at a time.
No extra weight, nothing but my IPod and a bottle of water and my camera to record the whole thing.

I have to do this in baby steps. One at a time, one foot, one step at a time. I have to remember that I'm not competing with anyone but myself on this one...

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