How to win the Fight For Air Climb on Feb 28, 2010 February 20, 2010

Posted by jamieatlas in denver, fitness.
Tags: denver stair climbing, fight for air climb, run the republic, stairclimbing
1 comment so far

The Run the Republic (or now as it is known, “fight for air climb”) is an event that involves a relatively achievable goal with a relatively simple premise:  climb 1,098 stairs and do it to help benefit the American Lung Association.

Pain mixed with charity?  Now that’s my kind of event!

I am part of this event with a team of amazing, generous, humble folk that I hope people will one day sing songs about.  Sure, most of them are my personal training or bootcamp clients, but that doesnt mean they aren’t all those things and more!

TIPS FOR STAIR CLIMBERS

1. Wear running shoes or those designed for cross-training.  High heels are not your friend here – there are no points for fashion awarded in competitive stairclimbing.   Just orthopedic surgeons waiting for you at the top.

2. Take a few minutes to warm up first by walking around on level ground before you start your ascent… and cool down the same way afterward, followed by stretches (described below).

3. Stretch the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves after your workout, not before.

4. As you climb, lean slightly forward from your hips while keeping your back straight.

5. Place your entire foot on each step. Allowing your heels to hang over the edges may injure your Achilles tendon. Look forward, keeping your head up. Don’t let it droop, which can cause neck strain, though it is fine to glance down when necessary to get your bearings.

6. Don’t lock your knees as you climb up.

7. Vary your pace for maximum fitness benefit. Start by walking… walk faster… then slow down and speed up again, and again.

8. Stay safe. Just as you wouldn’t jog in a dark alley alone, don’t use stairs in a remote stairwell where calls for help wouldn’t be heard.

9. Drink plenty of water before and after. Stair climbing is intense, so you should plan to rehydrate just as you would during a jog or a race on level ground.
So there you have it!  Now go get ‘em!

Aaaand if you are doing the 2010 Run the Republic/Fight For Air Climb in Denver Colorado , I will see you at the bottom of the Republic building on Feb 28th!  (and then hopefully at the top!)

Yours in health

Jamie Atlas

PS Just in case you had a change of heart but didn’t have the finger strength left to scroll all the way back up to the top, here’s how to give to a good cause if you feel this article was of use to you:

TO SUPPORT THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION AND GIVE LESS THAN 5 BUCKS (TAX-DEDUCTIBLE),  CLICK HERE

And now….

Some more indepth tips for you just in case you have the gee-willikers and are looking for all the info you can get:

BE READY FOR DRY AIR:

The air within the stairwells will likely be dry and dusty, making your lungs feel a tad uncomfortable – train for it as best you can…

To quote Michael Branca, a 58 year old competitive stairclimber:

“Any skyscraper looks clean, but there’s going to be dust there. Even if [the stairwells] are damp-mopped prior to the competition [to pick up dust], your airways are going to be clogged in some way,” he explains. “It’s just harder to breathe.”

Becky Kay, a 32-year-old who lives near the Art Museum, learned that lesson at her first Mellon Bank Center Race on Feb. 25. She says she’d trained by trekking the museum’s 72 steps 2,000 times a few times a week. Yet in the 53-floor race, she didn’t make it past the fifth or sixth floor at a running pace.

“I trained on steps, but when you do that, you get the down, so it’s not the same as going straight up with no down,” remembers Kay. “It was pretty rough. I felt like there was so little air.”

According to Branca, it’s hard for runners to find a venue to get a one-up on the dusty environs. Besides training on the stairs of their own apartment buildings, homes or offices, runners have to stick to outdoor staircases because it is nearly impossible to get permission from tall buildings to use their steps because of liability and safety issues.

USE YOUR ARMS

We are talking thousands of straight arm cable pulldowns here…. your arms will help you with every step (which means with 1,000 stairs, you will be doing about 250 pulls to get you to the top)

Integrate upper body work into your training

START SLOW AND MONITOR YOUR PACE

Just as in any marathon or racing event, adrenalin can take over and you can find yourself running a championship pace… for the first 10 floors.  It is usually at about the 30-40th floor (according to former Run the Republic and Fight For Air Climb racer Warren Boizot) that the ‘bottleneck’ kicks in.  We’re talking people hovering with hands on knees, wondering from where will come the desire and drive to finish the remainder of stairs that await them.

BRING WATER

Did we mention it was dry in there?  While there are usually plenty of water stations, having a small camelback never hurts – especially if you don’t intend on finishing the event in under 12 minutes (like the guy who just won the Empire State Building StairClimb)

BE AN ELITE ATHLETE OF RIDICULOUS LEGEND

The guy who won the Run the Republic/Fight For Air Climb in 2008?  Also the same guy who holds the world record for running a mile backwards… in under 6 minutes.

I’m not sure about you, but I can’t imagine many more things that would be more humiliating than watching someone beat me in a running race as he ran backwards past me.  I think the temptation to trip him might just be too much….