Here's 'The Man'- Doing stairs

Tale of the tape- "let's measure where we're at"

Big week for me so far, and a big day tomorrow! Brad is coming into Pittsburgh via train, and early tomorrow he and I are going to do some stair climbing at the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt (BTW- go PITT, whoop Villanova's butt!) Brad get's his first chance to see what type of shape he's in. We're going to set a stretch goal of 4 times up the stairs, though 3 is a reasonable request. Then we're headed to REI for get some gear for our trip. New hikers! I'll be taking some pics and sending out an update early next week. C U then!

keep on keepin' on

it's after 10 o'clock at night, i'm tired, i'm sore and i'm feeling alittle less motivated than i have been lately. with a bit more than 4 months yet to go before we head for africa, it's easy to to get stuck in a rut and simply be tired of all the training and other preparations that we're doing to be as ready as we can be for kilimanjaro. after all, this trip has been on the forefront of most everything that i've done in the last 2 1/2 months to this point. not to mention, though i'm about to, all the everyday life 'stuff' that still has to be taken care of and demands my time and energy. no wonder i'm tired! BUT...
our goal is not for the weak. it's not for the timid or unmotivated person. and even as i write this i'm feeling the motivation creep in, the goosebumps form, and the desire to do everything i can to make this trip a success. this isn't the first time and i'm sure it won't be the last that times get tough, either mentally of physically, but i truly am inspired by our trip's purpose and the mere thought of who it might effect and in what ways it might change their lives makes my complaints seem petty. it motivates me. keeps me pushing. i came across a qoute from winston churchill the other day that reads, "success is the ablility to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm". i think the guy was on to something!

More than one way to skin a skunk!

Was thinking last week when i was doing my weekly torture of stair-climbing to train for Mt. Kilimanjaro, that Kirk, Brad and I are all essentially forced to train differently for a variety of reasons. I have really no mountains to climb, but have great access to the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt's Oakland Campus. For the past 5 weeks, i have been climbing 36 flights of stairs multiple times to get my legs, knees, gluts and back in shape for our trip. i started at 3 times up, and now am at 7 times up to the top. I've been carrying a day pack with about 15-20 # in it. I've really noticed a difference to date. Kirk on the other hand, doesn't have any stairs to climb, so he actually climbs a mountain.... go figure. Then there's Brad- he doesn't have a mountain or a tall building anywhere around, so he's relying on walking and short buildings to build his legs up. However, when the weather finally breaks and spring arrives, our three different training styles will start to merge toward one common style. We will all be outdoors, climbing hills and trails, with weighted packs and hiking boots on. This is when we will be starting to train with each other; which has huge benefits. Just a few are learning each other's pace, pushing each other's potential to a new limit, and learning how to communicate on key hiking issues. Kirk and I will be learning how best to communicate to Brad about what to expect on the trail, since he will not be able to see most of what is ahead of him. These upcoming months will be very exciting and demanding for us as we learn about each other. Keep posted, more good stuff to come!

results

oh, i guess i forgot to write how i actually did. i ended up in the 20% of my division (36 out of 121), and 192 out of almost 1500 overall. i was pleased with the results, and had a good time doing it!

stair climb

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

stair climb

well, it's been a week now since the 'run the republic' stair climb so it's about time i get something on the blog! the short is...i made it. the long is...it was a LONG way up those stinking stairs! really, i felt good about the whole thing. i knew going into it that i wasn't a top tier stair climber. my goals were to do the climb, enjoy myself, and try to push myself enough that when i got to the top i would be spent. from that i was hoping to be able to recognize what part of my training was lacking. and in the end, i accomplished all of my goals. my lungs were burning so bad at the end! i'm pretty sure that at the pace i was moving , i wouldn't have been able to much more. heck, i don't even remember seeing but 3 or 4 floor numbers from about 35 to the top at 53! it's all a blurr. so i succeded in wasting myself. what did i learn? well, 53 stories is a LONG way up there! really, my legs and the rest of my body felt good. even as hard as i pushed myself, i didn't get sore. BUT my lungs were in rough shape. so...more cardio. that's the lesson...at least it was a fun class!