Triple Dose of Climbing - Aon, Empire & Oakbrook

Step Up for Kids – Aon Center, Chicago

Leading up to Aon, I was feeling kinda burnt out physically and mentally.  I was struggling to get back into my normal stair training routine on top of that, I’d been putting in extra hours at work so was missing workouts, my weight wasn’t where I wanted it to be and my average times in the stairwell were about 10-20 seconds lower than where they should be.  I was digging the endurance climbs, felt good during those but was suffering more than I should be on the speedy faster climbs.  I wasn’t feeling super confident about the upcoming climbing season and I had plenty of races planned.  Last year, I won and set the course record at Step Up for Kids (Aon Center) with a time of 10:49.  This year, I thought I’d be lucky to go under 11 and thought I’d probably end up with a time closer to 11:15. 

Mentally, I wasn’t really prepared for this race.  I was discouraged with my workouts, although I actually hit a few decent times the week before which gave me a little bit of hope.  The day before the race, I hit the stairwell and did 7 x 21 floors at a relaxed pace.  Aon would be a good workout, if nothing else.   Brady helped me figure out my splits, I think we set my goal time as 11:00 even though it seemed a bit ambitious.  I wasn’t thinking too much about this race, I just wanted to climb and have fun but I still got nervous as we were lining up.  I wasn’t supposed to care so why was my heart racing?!?

I started after the fastest guys and just started doing my thing.  Was checking my watch every 20 floors so 21, 41, 61 and then the last set would only have 19 floors since we finished on 80.  I wanted to hit 2:45 at floor 20 and I was dead on.  I think at the start, I was looking at the floor numbers every floor since they have giant numbers posted; it’s hard to miss them.  I thought to myself, this is torture, quit looking at those things!  At this point, I still felt ok.  41 (close to halfway) was 5:33 so a smidge slower than my goal time of 5:30 but still nothing to really worry about.  I kept on climbing.  At this point, I wasn’t feeling it mentally.  Negative thoughts flooded my mind, I thought about how much this sucked.  Asked myself why I was doing this.  I thought about just stopping and quitting even though I didn’t really have that in me.  The inner demons were attacking me and I wasn’t really doing much to fend them off, I just kept on climbing. 

I reached 61 at 8:15 which meant, I was back to being about dead-on my goal pace.  Not quite sure how that happened, guess I subconsciously perked myself up and picked up the pace without realizing it.  The negative thoughts still erupted inside my head, at least at this point I knew I had 3:00 or less to go; the suffering would be almost over.  I wanted to really give it my all with 15 floors to go but we know that’s not always the case.  That’s when mind games are played, I know I need to pick it up but can I do it?  It seems like I’m stepping faster or grabbing the rail more but is it just an illusion?  it’s incredibly hard to tell whether you putting forth the same effort and it just feels harder or if you’re actually pushing yourself harder, giving yourself a chance to reach the edge and possibly topple over it.  With only 5 floors to go, I put in a little extra effort but I still doubted myself and thought I’d be lucky to hit 11:15.  I felt like I was slowing down and there was nothing I could do about it, at that point, I didn’t feel mentally strong enough or capable of pushing myself over the edge.  I didn’t wanna reach that level, not today.  It wasn’t in the cards, with like 1 floor to go, I gave a semi-burst and saw the mat.  I just kinda casually walked across it without much urgency, usually I’m putting more pep in my step or falling down right on the darn thing or at least immediately after it.  I walked a few steps and then just sat down.  Kinda laid on my back and looked at my watch, 10:48!!  That must be some kinda mistake!!  I hit the same time as last year?!?  I didn’t even think that would be possible, I thought for sure I was going over 11:00 and with the way I felt mentally in there, I didn’t think I had any chance of pulling off a time like that.  I kinda laid there in shock and waited for Brady to finish.  My throat was on fire big time and my lungs were burning, the raspy cough and yawning started immediately. 

I’m really not sure how I pulled off trying my time from last year and tying my own course record (10:49 in the official results).  Just completely surprised.  I’d have to say this was one of my worst races mentally, I’m not sure a shred of positivity existed at any point during that climb.  the fact that I really just wanted to sit down on the landing or walk off wasn’t a good thing, wasn’t where I needed or wanted to be mentally in order to excel at the sport I’ve grown addicted to.  I just wonder, what would’ve happened if I came in a bit more rested or with a positive attitude, perhaps I could’ve shaved a few seconds off my time and broke my own record?  Guess we’ll never know.  Plus side, we went to breakfast.  The originally planned pancake eating contest was put on hold due to weight loss goals of the contestants so normal amounts of food were consumed (well kinda). Of course, I had oatmeal, my vegan breakfast staple.

Aon gave me encouragement for empire.  the fact that I could hit the same time as last year without being at race weight, without faster times during my workouts and without a strong mental attitude was beyond comprehension.  I think all the endurance climbs came in handy for this taller tower, I think the endurance training helped but I’m lacking bursty sprinty speed for the normal 21 floor workouts.  that’s gotta be it, I was still putting the time in the stairwell even though I was only in there once a week and wasn’t doing any sprints.  I was also still doing my mountain runs even though they were sparser than I’d like them to be.  This race made me think that I could do better at empire that I could be faster than last year, that I could go under 13:00.  Now all I had to do was keep telling myself that mentally and stay strong. 

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING RUN-UP

I tend to tell myself that empire will be a target race for me; it attracts some of the top international climbers so it lets me climb against the best.  Something always seems to come up and distracts me, last year I decided to do the Vertical World Circuit Championship race in Brazil.  It was a shorter tower so I did more speedy bursty shorter intervals to get ready for that instead of keeping my focus on empire.  This year, I was burnt out and just not into my training and thought I’d be slower.  I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do the race, seemed like most people were complaining about the lottery system and starting waves.  I didn’t know if anyone would be there and thought maybe it’d be a way to save time and money.  Brady was accepted to the lottery (and then later granted entry into the men’s invitational heat).

 

After Aon, I thought I actually had a chance at cranking out a good climb.  The thoughts of sub 13:00 lingered in my mind, usually it seems that other top climbers are about 2 minutes slower at empire than at Aon/Hancock and about 2 minutes faster than their time at sears so it’s about right in the middle.  Based on my 10:49 at Aon and 14:57 at sears, I should be able to go under 13:00.  I thought I was possibly capable of this last year but I started off too fast trying to hang with some of the faster female climbers and faded in the back half.  This year, I wanted to start off a bit more conservative and then pick it up as the climb progressed, as we climbed higher and higher.  I knew, I’d have to let those girls do their own thing.  I needed to focus on my race and just stay calm and cool without getting discouraged about them darting off once the race started.  A few days before the race, Brady got his hands on the starting wave.  There were 9 girls in my heat including Suzy Walsham, Erika Aklufi and Cindy Harris.  I figured those would be my main competitors, this might finally be my year to crack the top 3.  There were a few other names I didn’t recognize, googled them and found recent races or past empire climbs.  One girl from Australia, Brooke Logan, was a mystery though.  I couldn’t find any info on her but being from Australia like Moon, McNamara and Walsham, I thought she might be a hidden threat. 

The race is on a Wednesday night at 8 pm so Brady and I left on Tuesday afternoon.  We walked around a bit that night and did a little exploring during the day on Wednesday, went for a short run on the treadmill to loosen up our legs, get the blood flowing.   I wasn’t a fan of the night start; it gave me all day to think about the race.  I started to get really anxious as the day progressed and we got closer to the start time.  We went for coffee and the caffeine didn’t help any, just increased my nerves.   We got there around 7:00; the place is a media frenzy which doesn’t help any either.  We loitered around for a bit, talking to people and taking it easy.  At about 6:45, they started lining up the elite females so I rushed to get in line and of course that just meant more standing around but in a different area.  Earlier in the day, Brady came up with some splits for me.  Floor 21 would be about 2:45, at this point in the race, the stairwell is still somewhat normal.  The long flights with running landings don’t come up until 21.  After that, its funky, there are long floors, long landings, a few hallway runs and then you finish with a jaunt outside around the observation deck.  Brady estimated that it would probably take me another 3:00 for each set of 20 floors so I’d just shoot for that. 

We stood at the starting line for a while, just kinda standing around while the media cameras flashed.  The starting guy gave us some last minute instructions; I was situated between Cindy and Erika on the line.  I turned back, gave one last wave to Brady, took a deep breath and looked towards the doorway with my finger on the start button of my watch.   The horn blew and we were on our way.  It all happened so quick, the next thing I knew, I was getting shoved and tripped up.  My feet were getting taken out from under me; I thought for sure I was going down.  Thoughts of being stepped on, trampled, jumped over flashed through my mind as I struggled to gain balance and composure, the next thing I knew I was in the doorway and on the stairs. 

I immediately slowed up the pace; the top girls darted off including Suzy, Erika, Cindy and Brooke.  I hung back, needed to follow my initial plan unlike I did last year.  Other girls darted by me and I knew I’d have to pass them later one.  Not really sure why they were all running the stairs.  Ugh.  I kept my cool and climbed on.  I had to pass a few within the first 20 floors which wasn’t ideal because I had to use up valuable energy going on the outside. I was somewhat frustrated with that but nothing I could do about it, just made a move on the outside and cut over back to the inside.  Then I was gone. 

When I looked at 20-21, I was about 2:40-2:45 so I was on goal pace.  Now the fun would begin, hunting down the 5 girls in front of me.  I was up for the challenge.  The stairwell configuration also switched up at this point, it went from a standard stairwell to the long flights with long landing format.  This race seems like it caters to runners as well as climbers, it’s harder to get into a climbing rhythm when you constantly have to run across a long landing.  Originally, I thought this was my kinda race since I came from a running background and I think it still suits me but at the same time, I miss the normal turns associated with the usual stairwells, where I can just cruise along. 

During the next 20 floors, I came across the girl in 5th; I could hear her breathing and knew I was approaching someone.  I’m not sure how long I was directly behind her, trying to figure out my next move.  I tried using both rails and getting right up on her but she wouldn’t budge.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to pass on the outside either; the landings would be a good place to make a move but there wasn’t enough time.  Eventually I just shoved my way through on the inner rail, this isn’t a move I normally make but I was desperate.  Usually when I come up on a guy, I get behind em for like a flight or two, grab at their hands and then politely ask them to get outta my way.  For some reason, asking a girl to move out the way wasn’t something i wanted to do.  This was a race, we were in head to head competition and I just wanted to blast by her.  Once I squeezed through, I never heard her again.  The next person i came up on was Cindy.  I climbed behind/beside her for a while too, also not wanting to make a move on the outside.  I tried to pass her on the landings but she’d pick up the pace as well, I was getting frustrated so finally I brushed by on the outside and cut back in, ran across the landing and I was gone. 

At this point, we were already halfway through the race.  When I checked my watch at 41, I was somewhere around 5:50-6:00 so I was slower than I wanted to be which was like 5:45.  Not sure if I was fading or if it was the added energy / time having to go around people.  I kept on climbing.  I used the vertical spindle rails as a way to propel myself upward.  At 61, we had to run down a long hallway before getting back into the stairwell, at this point I was closing in on the 9:00 mark with a goal of 8:45 so still somewhere around where I wanted to be.  I couldn’t hear or see anyone else which was somewhat discouraging.  I kept on climbing.  I wondered where those top girls where, how far ahead they were.  It was kinda lonely and desolate in there.  Usually I’m used to the solidarity of the stairwell and can push myself to the brink because i have no idea where I am compared to anyone else, I don’t know what kinda times other people are climbing or what kinda effort their putting forth but now I knew I was in 4th and didn’t think there was anything I could do about it so I settled into a comfortable groove. 

With the long landings to break up the climbing, my legs were still feeling kinda fresh.  I wanted to pick up the pace with like 10-15 to go but the effort wasn’t there.  I think mentally I got somewhat discouraged not seeing or hearing the girls in front of me and kinda surrendered.  The taller flights kinda make the race go by faster because you climb and you’ve already reached the next floor.  The last 10 floors seemed like a blur and went by quickly, I tried to put in a final surge the last 5 and its like out of nowhere, I had only 1 floor to go.  I sped up that last floor and burst through the doorway and out onto the roof, my legs still felt good on the pavement, they weren’t wobbly and I ran towards the finish, crossed the line and glanced at my watch 13:13.  I hit my original goal of 13:15, my random goal of 13:11 was close but I missed my main goal of top 3 and sub 13:00.  I was happy because I finished 4th, 1 place higher than last year and I took 23 seconds off my time so that’s nothing to complain about.  I wandered around to find the other girls, Suzy finished with a blazing time of 12:05, Brooke was in 2nd with a 12:48 and Erika rounded out the top 3 with a time of 12:57. 

I left this race with mixed emotions, I was pleased with my time since it was faster but I was kinda disappointed and curious what might’ve happened if I would’ve stuck with those girls from the start.  Perhaps their pace woulda been took quick again and I would’ve faded like last year but what if i would’ve been able to hang with them and potentially squeezed into the top 3?!?  The thought still lingers in my mind, I know I was smart to start off conservative, that’s what I told myself from the start and I actually executed that.  But dang, I really want that top 3 finish and sub 13:00 time.  I’m inching my way closer!! 

Brady shared some of the same experiences in the stairwell; he got kinda content with his effort since he couldn’t see/hear anyone else.  I think it’s easier to push yourself when it’s an unknown but seeing people leave you behind can be discouraging.  We both agreed that the stairwell is tricky and hard to get used to; the consistency we get in other towers is broken up with all the running.   It’s a race that takes some getting used to and its one that I haven’t mastered yet.  I’ve hit all my goal times at the other major races I’ve done except for empire.  Brady and I wanna focus on it big time come the winter and wanna impress at empire 2014, that is if both of us are accepted again!  Before the race, Madeleine and I were interviewed for some NY fitness channel which was cool.  They found me after the race and talked with me and Brady. They loved the fact that we were a fit, healthy, active, competitive couple.  The fact that I was a smidge faster than him, really caught their attention.  

The next morning we went for a run in central park, which was awesome.  Such a great place to run, the loop around the park is 6 miles so was perfect, it was about 1-1.5 miles from our hotel.  Very scenic and a great way to start the day! 

LONG RUNS, PACKING IN THE MILEAGE               

Brady likes to come up with unique challenges and niche sports for me to get involved with, he initially got me hooked on climbing and is now proposing different ideas as well so I have a few things on tap for later this year.  After climbing season, I’m gonna up the running mileage a bit and will do long runs on the weekends to keep up my endurance.  Figured I might as well start this weekend with an 18 mile run out in Barrington.  Brady wanted some company and it’s hard for me to say no to long runs.  I haven’t been running that much, maybe a few days during the week which includes mountain miles and a longer run 10-12 on the weekends.  we did 16 miles a few weeks ago, 18 seemed a bit daunting but I consider myself an endurance creature so was up for it and Barrington has some hills so of course I couldn’t resist.  We cranked out the first 8 miles at 8:05-8:10 pace then picked it up the last 10, Brady really wanted to lay down the hammer the last 5 miles so he could simulate marathon race pace. 





Central Park





I was feeling pretty good and felt strong on the hills, as soon as we turned around for the last 5, we quickened the pace.  My knees started to ache a bit (they do that with cold weather, long runs, hills, etc) and I started falling apart the last couple of miles.  My quads were suddenly sore, one thing ached and then another, a sharp pain here, a sharp pain there.  With 1-1.5 miles to go there was a shooting pain in my quad so I eased up the pace.  Brady pulled away with me, looking super strong and just cruising along at 7:15-7:30 pace, no big deal.  I let him go and just did my own thing, just wanted to survive this run.  Usually I’m strong on the long runs but my body was not used to all this pounding and mileage.  I was immediately sore, my quads felt thrashed!!  I have a feeling Brady is going to demolish me on the pavement and in all our road races this year!!

OAKBROOK TERRACE – POWER HOUR!

Of course, this was the day before I was gonna do the power hour, ultimate climb at Oakbrook Terrace.  I decided to enter this race at the last minute; it would be a good workout.  I wanted to use it as such, was looking at is as fun instead of really pushing the pace and suffering.  I didn’t wanna lay it all on the line, didn’t wanna demolish myself.  Plus I was really feeling it from the run.  I checked the results from last year and 10-11 climbs in an hour seemed doable, an average pace of 4:45-5:00 seemed like it would be comfortably hard without overdoing it. 

I started off my first climb, sore legs and all.  Checked my watch at floor 15, was 1:55ish so thought I’d be around 4:00.  A bit fast, came in at 4:09.  This stairwell has a strange square rail, good thing I brought my gloves!  And the steps were metal.  Felt pretty fast.  The last floor is a long flight so I could kinda run up it and finish strong.  Reminded me of empire, perhaps running is an approach I should take next year?  I felt relaxed on the first climb, ran towards the elevator bank and waited.  The elevator wasn’t there and when it did get there, the paramedics were getting off with equipment and a stretcher, ugh, this is wasting my time.  At least, I wasn’t there to be super competitive otherwise I’d be quite annoyed.  I got down and ran towards the stairwell to start my 2nd climb, was a bit slower on this one 4:18.  Cranked it out and was onto climb #3 - 4:16.  After climb 3 or 4, I ran into Oz on the elevator and then started our next climb ahead of him.  I just kept cruising along, I was kinda started to feel it and could feel my form suffering.  When I’m strong, I’m using the rail but when I get tired, I revert to bad habits and start pushing on my leg and stepping wide on the landings.  Reminded me of my form during the epic climb, not the most efficient but oh well.  I was kinda frustrated with myself and tried to tell myself not to push my leg at least for the first 15 floors but usually that didn’t work. 

I hit the next 2 climbs in 4:27 and 4:35; I was kinda getting slower and still had about a half hour to go.  I was pushing comfortably hard, wasn’t going all out and killing myself but wasn’t totally taking it easy either, it was a good effort.  I just told myself, I was shooting for 10 so thought about it that way.  I had to go around people, usually on the outside unless people moved aside so that would slow me down a little bit but that’s ok.  I wasn’t sure where Oz was, I thought maybe I had a shot at winning but had no idea what his first climb time was or what kinda times he was cranking out.  The 6th climb was 4:39 then 7, 8 and 9 were all about 4:44-4:45 so consistent.  I hit 10 and knew I had time for at least 2 more, hit a 4:50 and started up for my 11th.  I knew it would be my last one, picked it up a bit more towards the end and finished in 4:46.  I started my last climb with Karen, she joked about how it was nice to see me even if it was only for the first couple of floors.  11 climbs, solid in an hour.  I knew both me and Oz cleared 11 but wasn’t sure on the overall time.  I was pleased with my effort, not sure if I would’ve been able to get in 12.  My usual rest was 52-55 seconds but the 1st rest was 1:15 so don’t think that would’ve given me enough time to get back in there but who knows.  I was happy to be done. 

The results were posted and I beat Oz, I finished with 11 climbs in 50:14 and oz had 50:26 so super close but I edged him out.  His first climb was about 50 seconds faster than mine but he smoked his legs, I played it safe.  I’m impressed with my climb today since I ran 18 yesterday and my legs were sore and trashed.  kinda cool.  The last time I won a race all out was the ultimate climb in Milwaukee in 2011 :)  I wasn’t even putting forth an all out dying effort, just cruising along.  Good stuff!!

Now its time to hunker down and get serious.  Hancock is only a couple of weeks away and its followed immediately by the Strat (US Championships) and PT, then the March Madness half marathon and the Big Climb in Seattle on March 24^th.  After that, I can relax a bit before picking up the vertical training for my next adventure!!

EPIC CLIMB!!

Want a unique challenge?!?
In late November, Kacie Fischer Cleveland approached me with the idea of attempting to set a stair climbing world record for the most vertical feet climbed by a 4 person relay team in 24 hours.  Without even hesitating, I said yes, I knew this was something I definitely wanted to be a part of and couldn't miss out on.  2012, was the year of new experiences and challenges so I was eager to tackle this one.  The only thing was that we were attempting this world record on January 4th, in Jacksonville, FL!!  Kacie was working with the ALA in Jacksonville for their Fight for Air Climb in February so we were using our event as a way to attract climbers and encourage enthusiasm towards climbing and general health and fitness.  

Our 4-person team was comprised of myself (top female climber and 10x Boston Marathon qualifier), Kacie (a world record holder and top short tower female climber), Mark T (founder of WCL and stair climbing obsessee) and PJ Glassey (fitness / nutrition expert, owner of X-Gym and stair sprinter extraordinaire).   I was thrilled to be a member of this unique team!  Our training background and stair climbing experiences were all different but we had the common bond of being obsessed with tower running!!  I come from an endurance background and Kacie inline skated across the county so were both familiar with endurance events.  Mark has done 100 mile races on the elliptigo but PJ is a sprinter, cross-fit guru thus doesn’t believe in working out more than 10-15 minutes a day!!

I wasnt really sure what to expect, anything could happen over the course of 24 hours!!  I had like a month to train so decided to do a few longer endurance type workouts in the stairwell, I convinced Brady, David Hanley and David McGrath to join me.  I hit a few multi-hour workouts, a 2 - hour workout and a 3- hour workout in addition to my normal training.  We would climb the Z tower 10x then take a 45-60 minute break to refuel, I wanted to see how it would be to have such an extended rest period since I would have that during the Epic Climb.  Tried refueling a few different ways, coconut water was a must have, I was also stock-piled with Raw Revolution bars.

I loved the endurance climbs, I had been feeling a bit sluggish in the stairwell post-Sears so doing endurance just let me do my thing without really pushing the pace or worrying about my times as much.  It was mentally encouraging and gave me a boost.  In order to slow myself down, I was using the outer rail or double railing it, if I clenched that inner rail I found myself pushing the pace and going too fast.  

Our team kept discussing the logistics of our climb and what kinda format we wanted to use.  Would we start from floor 1 or floor 9, how many times would we climb before switching off, what we needed to refuel, etc.  We all had different ideas but when it came down to it, we decided we were going to start at 6 pm on friday and go till 6 pm on saturday, we also decided to have floor 9 be our basecamp.  we had the whole floor so we could all spread out, store our stuff and have our own rooms.  That meant we we would be climbing from 9 to 42 every time and since there was no floor 13 (for luck reasons), we’d be climbing 32 floors.  we also decided that each person would climb 3 times before switching to the next climber.  another decision to be made was in regards to which elevator we should use, we could use the freight elevator which was slower but went directly to 9 or we could use the standard elevators but it was express to floor 1 so we’d have to get out at the lobby and change elevators to head back up to floor 9.  we decided to go with the freight elevator because it seemed like less of a hassle.  we set some goals, 100,000 steps, 5,000 floors and 65,000 vertical feet so the only thing left to do was climb!   

at the last minute, brady decided to come.  he wanted to support me and thought it would be an incredible experience to be a part of plus he could act as my own personal assistant or be an alternate if we needed someone.  we bought him a ticket and we were on our way.   

getting starting...

we got to jacksonville on thursday evening, took a look at the tower with kacie and just took it easy. friday we spent the day relaxing and resting before heading to the tower for media and the start of the Epic Climb.  we drew numbers to see who was climbing first and i was the lucky one!!  brady did a test climb and it took him just over 6 minutes going at a super conservative pace.  The clock hit 6 pm and i was off, i decided to check my watch at floor 20, it was an easy floor to remember even though it really wasn’t halfway.  The stairwell turned to the right and had 10 steps per one flight and 11 steps the next.  i finished my first climb in 4:58, whoa, blazing!! much quicker than anticipated, i ran to the elevator, ran down the hall and started up again.  i cranked out 5:09 and 5:08, everyone was shocked and even i thought it might be a bit fast.  i wasnt sure if i’d be able to handle that pace for 24 hours so told myself to slow down.  

i slapped the bracelet onto PJ’s wrist and he was on his way.  The order was me, PJ, Mark and Kacie.  we were sharing go-pro cameras so we’d have the whole 24 hours recorded and we were also keeping tabs of our splits on the overall clocks so everything would be documented for Guinness.  I took in some coconut water and chocolate espresso beans.  I wasnt sure how to refuel during this event, usually i kinda go no fuel but knew i needed to eat over the course of 24 hours.  I figured after 2 sets of climbs, i would have a banana with almond butter, plus a few other little nibbles of stuff but during the other rest periods, i’d just take in some chocolate covered espresso beans, almond butter, dried cherries, other dried fruits and nuts, was drinking plenty of coconut water too.  seemed to be working well, we had a scale to keep track of our weight as well.  

the rest periods ended up being about 60 minutes to start because we were each taking around 20-23 minutes/round.  i was up again and went back at it.  slowed it down a bit with a 5:23 but then came back with a 5:14 and 5:09, oops.  i told myself to slow it up and brady reminded me of my pacing as well.  the rest was about 1:00-1:30 so relatively short.  i kept checking my watch at floor 20.  at floor 27, i’d tell myself only 15 left then when it got to 32, id start counting down each floor.  i think i did that for 24 hours!!  but it let my mind focus.  there was also a shiny sparkly fuzzball on the landing heading up towards 32, i looked forward to seeing that sparkling fuzz, gave me a glimpse of the future, was a warning that i was almost done, at least with that climb...

i cranked out 5 or 6 sets of climbs at 5:00-5:15 pace, i wasn’t slowing down, there was no stopping me.  brady hopped in the stairwell with me, tried to slow me down and it worked for one climb but once i was on my own, i was back to blazing it.  i was feeling good, getting recovery and just kept doing my thing.  

bad things happen during the middle of the night...

sometime past midnight, kacie got stuck in the elevator!! luckily, she had her phone with her so could call for help.  we kinda stood around not knowing what to do, i was on deck so just got back in the stairwell and continued to climb, she just kept telling us “climb on, climb on!!”.  for the first 6-7 hours, i was going with no tunes.  i just wanted to figure out my pace and get into a rhythm, i knew that music would definitely make me pick up the pace so i told myself i’d start using it during the middle of the night or 12 hours in.  i decided this was the perfect time to crank it out so i plugged in kelly clarkson and started off, hit 3 sub 5:00 climbs.  whoa!  im sure that was a bit too speedy, darn clarkson!! but i was feeling good.  since kacie was stuck for almost 3 hours, the rest of us were getting shorter rest.  at one point, i only had 4 climbs as rest (maybe 30 minutes of rest) so i was up after no time, i was really starting to feel it during this time.  the lack of sleep was starting to get to me as well, we had been up since friday morning so i was getting sleepy tired although my body still felt alive while climbing.  we had an air mattress in our room, as soon as i’d lay down, i knew if i closed my eyes, i’d fall alseep so i wouldn’t let myself do that.  i wasn’t sure how my body would feel if  took a nap, might just wake up feeling groggy so i just stayed awake.  i spent my rest period jotting down my splits, snacking and making FB posts.  the middle of the night seemed to drag on, everyone was sleeping or just low energy.  i was starting to get irritated and kinda felt myself breaking down mentally during my rest periods but whenever it came my time to climb, i was ready to go and still hitting the same splits.  

after my 8th set of climbs, i had done 704 floors, that was the most i’d ever climbed and still had lots to go!!  the elevators were dragging a bit and since kacie was stuck in the freight, we decided to use the express so had to switch on floor 1 which was kinda annoying.  i kept having to wait for the elevators at the top which was frustrating and i was antsy.  not sure how many times i’d hit that darn button before the thing would show up.  

once kacie got out of the elevator, we all started to do 2 climbs per round, while kacie did 3 so she could catch up.  mentally it was a boost to only do 2 climbs.  i was still feeling pretty good but my legs were starting to feel it and i was starting to feel some blisters from yanking the rail so put on my gloves.  i was still using the inner rail and cranking out 5:00-5:15 climbs, no signs of slowing down.  a friend of Kacie’s was there to give us massages, which was quite beneficial when my calf started getting tight.  my left back/shoulder was also getting really tight from constantly pulling over and yanking the rail.  i had a few minor breakdowns during the middle of the night and was glad brady was there to encourage, motivate and support me.  he got me back in the stairwell and even climbed with me when i needed an extra boost.  another milestone came when we each hit 1000 floors, that was just incredible!!

and then there was light!

once morning came around, it was great seeing sunlight and more people were up and at em.  there was a practice climb for the Fight for Air climb so it was terrific having other people in the stairwell, it was encouraging seeing other people and just gave a mental boost when we all needed it.  

when we had about 8 hours to go, i was really dragging.  i was majorly sleep deprived and my legs were starting to get heavy.  thankfully, the massage brought them back to life.  brady made sure i was getting the proper nutrition and kept me going.   i was still hitting the same kinda times at the 20th floor but found myself slowing after that, i was still hitting 5:00-5:10 but the effort felt much greater.  i was breathing hard (i was the entire time) and my heart rate when we started was around 160 for the first climb and 170-180 for the other 2 climbs in the set.  after a few hours, i stripped the monitor because i was seeing any changes although it woulda been interesting to monitor at this point!!  i told myself that the sub 5:00 climbs were history, i just wanted to stay sub 5:30 and that i needed to slow down a bit so i could survive the rest of the climbs.  mentally i felt like i was just getting through it.  i was still listening to the music, katy perry and maroon 5, of course slow songs would always come on during my 2nd climb or towards the end, really?!? come on, thats not what i need!!  yet i finished with a time of 4:50, haha.  not sure where that came from especially since i was fried and though sub 5:00 were long gone.  i was feeling fresh again!!

we had about 4 hours left, so about 8 sets of climbs or 250 floors, yowzas!  but at the same time, that was nothing compared to what we had already done. i put on kelly clarkson for the next round and pounded out a 4:53 and 4:52, plus some really short rest.  was my fastest 2 climb time!!  totally shocked that i was still keeping pace and hitting these times with only 4 hours to go!!  kinda freaking myself out, super encouraged and excited.  when we had 3 hours left, we switched to single climbs.  so we probably had about 6 climbs each, it was mentally awesome to climb once, just made it much easier.  

the hours are dwindling, down to single digits!  i begged brady to climb with me during the last few hours, i was mentally needing some support and wanted someone in the stairwell with me.  i was listening to music so i couldn’t hear what he was saying but i loved just having him there.  it was a relief and just encouraging.  we started off on my 1st single climb, “stronger” by kelly clarkson came on and we just took off.  it was a blazing, almost all out effort, and it certainly felt like it especially after climbing for 21 hours already!!  we came in at 4:39, whoa!! that was about 11 seconds faster than any of my others and i was feeling it, i knew that was probably a bad idea.  not sure how i’d feel for the rest of my climbs but wanted to ease up just a tad to recover.  the break flew by, only about 20-30 minutes now so super short.  the next climb was 5:00, i was majorly feeling that freakish climb.  that was a bad idea...

i felt even worse on the next climb, came in at 5:09 but majorly struggled. the effort was super hard and my legs just felt shot.  what had i done?!?  the climb after that, i was totally frazzled., we only had like 2 climbs left each but the rest period wasn’t easy, i was doubting myself mentally and physically and just breaking down from lack of sleep and exhaustion.  brady was climbing with me again, we were a bit sluggish at floor 20 and i was totally feeling it, i felt like a slacker and that i was letting myself off the hook.  i decided to pick it up with 10 floors to go, at that point, i spontaneously burst into tears.  i just couldn’t help myself, it was so incredibly hard and i was pushing myself to the max both mentally and physically and felt like this was the hardest thing i’d ever done.  we finished with a  5:02 and i just kept on crying, i couldn’t help myself.  it was so brutal but i was proud of myself for pushing and really picking up the pace at the end.  i really picked it up in the back half, i had to drop like 5 seconds.

on what we thought was my last climb, brady took the lead to pace me.  i was still smiling and giving it my all even though my legs were wanting to just curl up and crumble beneath me, i was actually behind him and kinda wanted to pick up the pace but just went with it.  we cranked out the climb in a 5:09.  at that point, i thought i was done, finished, had done my thing and pushed to the limits the whole time but there was extra time so i was going up again.  mentally, i wasn’t really prepared for this, of course i had no choice.  brady went back in there with me and we blazed another super fast climb with a 4:43 or there abouts so my 2nd fastest time was my last one after 24 hours of climbing!!  

this was such an incredible experience, there were plenty of ups and downs and i found out a lot about myself over the course of 24 hours.  there were periods when i just wanted to give up, go to sleep or just lay around but whenever i hit the stairs, i was pushing the limits and giving it my all, i wasn’t backing down.  i forced myself to tears, i thought i’d fade towards the end but was hitting my best time.  i just couldn't believe it, i stayed strong the entire time and of course i couldn't have done it without brady, my parents, family, friends and epic climb teammates supporting and encouraging me.  we were always getting messages from people and it helped me get through it.  the toughest time was the middle of the night when the rest of the world was sleeping and we were climbing but having daylight and people around was incredible.  

EPIC - No Doubt!!

i will always remember this experience, i ended up climbing 1,472 floors and i kinda wanted to hit a  few more to get to 1500, haha.  we busted out goals, finished with 123,480 steps, 5,880 floors and 76,000 vertical feet.  i really wanna conquer this again, maybe in chicago?!?

after the climb, i gave myself a couple of days to rest.  my body was feeling pretty good, my legs felt fine but physically i was just exhausted so wanted to take it easy.  i was also struggling to get back into my routine since sears.  ive just been kinda burnt out and tired, i haven't been able to motivate myself to hit my normal routine.  i’d get it for a day or two but then would just wanna take it easy or rest, i was burnt out on intensity.  i was hitting the stairs hard for all of 2012 and now, i just wanted to do long endurance kinda stuff.  it seemed more appealing, pushing to the limits and always going hard didn't seem to suit my interests at the moment.  i was struggling with my training, my eating habits had suffered and i just wasn't there.  it was frustrating, i wasn't used to having a down period like this, especially for so long.  i didnt like it, i didn't know what to do.  i have all these stair races coming up but wasn't getting in my unique training and frankly, i just wanna have fun with it.  whatever happens, happens but i wanna enjoy myself.  

2012, was my year to hit all the races, travel.  i wanted to win and own the chicago skyline, which i did.  i wasn't sure that 2013 could live up to 2012 and i didn't wanna compete with it either.  i wanted to savor it and i wanted to appreciate what i had done.  i was looking for new unique challenges, the 24 hour climb opened up my eyes to something different.  i was kinda craving endurance again.  i have plenty of stair races planned for this winter and i’m gonna hit em up, hancock will be my main focus and the rest will be for enjoyment, to see my step-siblings and to participate in the sport i love.  i finally feel like i’m getting my groove back and am starting to get into my training so hopefully it’s another fun and exciting year.  i've got my eyes set on a couple of new opportunities and i'm thrilled for what the future will bring!  

skyrise!

**SKYRISE CHICAGO - Sears Tower - 14:57

1st place female - 5th place overall - tied course record**

Let’s step back a bit

I was traveling most of September, over Labor Day I was in Vienna for the Millennium Tower Run-Up, I came home for about a week then was off to Italy for 10 days with my parents.  My race in Milan was cancelled so it became just a vacation, I wasn’t really sure what that meant, haha.  I’m used to traveling for a specific purpose and most of my trips were quite short.  Go there, get it done and head home.  I actually welcomed the change of pace; it was nice not having to think about a race at all, I could do whatever I wanted.  I took this as a period of time to recharge myself, get in some easy workouts before smashing myself training for Sears.  My dad and I did a bunch of running and I also got him to do a stair workout on the Spanish steps with me.  Talk about a different and neat experience :)

While in Europe, my rawness kinda dissipated.  I fell back into the trap of bread.  It had a hold of me, one that I wasn’t proud of.  I couldn’t escape its grasp!  I was eating chocolate croissants and things I wouldn’t normally touch but I was in the mood to indulge.  I could tell my body wasn’t really a fan of this though, I felt sluggish, slow and just blah.  I came back and my stair workouts suffered as well, I wasn’t hitting my usual times so I knew it was time to say good-bye to bread again.  It just doesn’t work with my body and/or training and I can’t control myself around it.  Give me a loaf of grainy nutty fresh bread and I’d most likely devour it in 2 days.   I kicked the habit and instantly felt leaner and my times drastically decreased again!  Yes, I was back!!!

Step it up

Once I got back, I had a little over a month to kill my training before my big race of the fall.  I knew that I had to be spot on with my training; I had to increase the incline, hit more of it and had to be vertically focused.  I switched things up a bit, I continued to put time in on the rower to give me some arm strength and hit my secret training machine to provide another 1-2 vertical arm punch.  I cranked the treadmill and ran easy mountain runs, conquered cobra intervals and was hitting the stairs 2-3 times a week.  I started doing sprints and running in the stairwell once or twice a week and was hitting the bigger Z steps on the weekend, trying to line up solid 5 climb averages.  3 weeks in a row, I hit my best averages and I felt awesome doing it.  My mental attitude was sky-high and my training was all there.  I was having high hopes for sears.  I can see the skyline from my office so I “staired” at that tower every day and just became fixated with it but prevented myself from obsessing over the race.   I wanted to add this tower to my collection of towers I’ve dominated in the Chicago skyline.  I wanted to look up at that beast and know that I finally slayed the fire breathing dragon and owned him.  I didn’t want him to break my heart again or chew me up and spit me out like he’s done in previous years.  It’s funny because when I think back about last year, I have a distaste in my mouth and feel unpleased with my climb yet when I look back in my log its nothing but positive.  I saw how thrilled I was with my time; hit my goal time and this or that.  Strange how your opinion changes, like when you’re giving it your all during a race and you’re telling yourself that you’re pushing it to the limits but you finish and 5 minutes later think you could’ve pushed a smidge harder.  At least I tend to wonder that…

 Driving in and looking up

I really hadn’t been thinking about the specifics of this race, I wanted to do well but I didn’t wanna pressure myself because I think I’m a stronger athlete when I’m positive and don’t get bogged down with the details.  But I usually start second guessing just about everything when it comes down to it.  Was my training enough, am I really capable of the goal times I have in mind.  Sears usually runs about 4 minutes slower/longer than Hancock or Aon so based on those times, the thought of a sub 15 climb lingered on my mind yet I was hesitant to say it out loud or actually tell anyone.  I had a goal of sub 15:30, under 15:15 would be superb and seeing a 14 in the first 2 digits would just be stellar.  Besides Cindy Harris, no female had gone under 15 at Sears, which was a lot to take in. 

I figured out my splits for floor 25, halfway at 52 and floor 75.  Once we got to the higher floors, the configuration of the building would switch, for the first 65 floors we turned right on steep steps then we’d spin off down a little hallway take on a giant massive flight of steps then start turning left.  It also got real funky towards the top because there would be 3 flights per floor so additional turning and that slows ya down so I had to take that into consideration.  The splits couldn’t be equal all the way up; there would be some time differences.  I set my goal time for 15:05 and set the splits accordingly to 3:20 for 25 floors, 7:10 at halfway and 10:25 at 75.  Then I’d only have like 4:30ish left and would need to start giving it my all or pushing to another gear somewhere in the last 25 floors. 

I decided to sleep in my own bed the night before the climb, would save me cash then I could get my coffee on while driving in.  I wasn’t all that nervous until I was driving and could see the tower looming in the distance.  It looked so tall and like it would swallow me whole in the blink of an eye.  My heart started racing and the caffeine didn’t help.  My hands were getting clammy.  I got there and just didn’t know what to do with myself.  I ran through my splits in my head, chatted with my step-siblings.  Blasted some Kelly Clarkson – stronger through my headphones and just visualized my race trying to let nothing get to me.  I’d been training with music the past few weeks and I found it to be motivational but didn’t trust myself to use it during a race, figured it’d make me go training pace which would be way too fast for sears and I’d blow it so I was stuck listening to the sound of my extreme breathing. 

I wanted one last bathroom break before heading to the starting line and saw my step-brothers walking up the escalator.  I wasn’t paying attention and of course they were walking up the down escalator as a warm-up.  As soon as I stepped on I knew I was in trouble, I wasn’t really a fan of this experience.  I didn’t like the movement and I just felt unsteady, anyways I continued upward in a downward fashion.  I reached the top and stepped on the flat moving part like I would on a normal up escalator except this was moving backwards, the steps slipped out from under me.  My hands planted into the top and my knee slammed into the step.  Dang!  That’s no good, I got up, I had escalator marks on my leg, and my knee was throbbing and instantly swelled up.    My knee looked like a fericious feline had scratched me, I joked that I now had the blood of a lion in me.  I attempted to jog around, not a pleasant feeling and my hands were feeling it too, how would they feel yanking the rail for 100 floors?!?  Great, 10 minutes before taking on the tallest tower, I do something stupid.  I jogged around some more and tried to loosen it up, it wasn’t feeling any better. 

We got to the starting line and the nerves started to really hit.  It felt surreal that this race was finally here; of course we all stood around trying to decide who should start where.  Cindy insisted that I go in front of her so I started behind the Stair Climb Lunatic; we were shooting for similar times.  Some other random guys decided to weasel their way in front of us as well, great, now I’m gonna have to lose time trying to get around them.

Climbing higher and higher

I watched Dinkin disappear into the stairwell and patiently waited for the next several seconds until I was given the go ahead.  I ran in there and started to do my thing. I kept telling myself to stay relaxed, there’s no need to blow the race in the first 25 floors.  Last year I was 20 seconds faster than I was supposed to be (I believe I actually hit a 3:05 which was quicker than my goal pace this year!), I didn’t want the same thing to happen this time.  My goal was aggressive so needed to stay on target.  It’s hard to see the floors in this tower, there are several signs with numbers on them and it’s kinda off to the side.  I quickly came upon a few guys who started off in front of me, great now I gotta get around them just like I predicted before the start.  One guy actually muttered something beneath his breath (probably something related to being scared since he was about to get chicked!) and picked up the pace, started running.  Seriously?!?  You’re gonna play this game and try to stay in front of me?  This frustrated me instantly.  I got behind one of the guys and politely asked him to move aside which he did.  Came up on another one, was right behind him for a flight or two, literally one step behind him.  He wouldn’t budge, finally I was like umm, excuse me and he stepped outta the way.  Passed the “runner guy” too.  Ok, now that we crossed that hurdle, I can get back into my routine. 

I saw one final guy in the distance, it was SCL.  He looked down and saw me, shouted some words of encouragement.  I turned the corner on a landing and he swung wide, using the outside rail.  Graciously letting me by, he yelled something along the lines of “go, spider, go!” and gave me a boost of encouragement, motivation and then I was gone! He later said that he felt a gust of wind as I blew by, haha.  My response was that I doubt I’m capable of producing any gusts but perhaps more of a slight breeze. 

Got to the 25 floor mark and glanced at my watch, 3:10.  A bit fast but not as extreme as last year, 9 seconds in the bank.  Continued with the rhythm, tried not to look at the floors.  Didn’t wanna play mind games with myself.  Didn’t need to be fixated on every passing floor!  I was still feeling strong and relaxed.  Just one hand over the other, grabbing that rail and stepping up 2 steps at a time. 

Finally, I reached the halfway point, floor 52 – 7:00; I was still about 10 seconds ahead of pace.  I was starting to feel it now; the next 25ish floors were drastically harder.  I found myself repeating this phrase to myself “I hate this right now, I hate this right now”, the little demons started to take over.  Then I would quickly tell myself not to think that and I’d go back to something positive or just not thinking at all.  I looked at the signs on the wall, you’ve now climbed the height of the Eiffel tower or the Space Needle or you can see 3 states from the Skydeck.  I’m probably one of the only top climbers who sees those things.  Floor 66 spits ya out down a little hallway and forces ya up this massive long steep flight, its kinda never-ending.  Then it evens out again.  I tasted that blood-iron taste in my mouth and my breathing was rapid fire and so was my heart rate.

Approached 75 and checked the watch – 10:25.  Oh, now I was dead on my goal pace.  That means I lost the 10 seconds I had in the 1^st half.  I was still encouraged being on pace, could be worse and I could be behind.  I knew I had about 4:30ish left to go so really had to give it my all.  4:30 isnt that long but when your legs are already feeling like iron dead weights, your arms wanna fall off and your lungs are filled with fire covered daggers, 4:30 can be an excruciatingly long period of time.  I started to dig deep and found myself repeating that same phrase “I hate this right now”.  My mind quickly retreated back to the positive demon on my other shoulder, he would give better advice.  The flights start to change towards the top, they get smaller/shorter and theres 3 per floor instead of 2.  This was gonna slow me down regardless of how I felt and I felt like I was creeping along!!  I really tried to pick up the pace the last 5, 10, 20 floors and it was like I had nothing.  My legs couldn’t go any faster; I was stutter-stepping on the landings and was pushing off my knee instead of relying on the rail.  In a last ditch effort, I attempted to veer down the middle of the stairwell and use both rails but realized that’s not my style and went back to the inner lane and my beloved inner rail.  I was starting to see spots and I knew I didn’t have much time.  I looked at my watch at one point and still had a couple of minutes left, I had no idea what pace I was going or what my finishing time was gonna be but I suspected it was slower than my goal.  I couldn’t hear Cindy or anyone else so figured I was in the clear as far as anyone passing me and I just hung on for dear life.  I tried to bound and give it that extra effort but I just couldn’t will my body to do anything.  Maybe the extra turns make the end feel more dramatic and worse than it actually is but wow it wasn’t pretty.  Some volunteer asked if I was ok or if I needed help, geesh, I must really look bad or sound like a dying wild animal. 

Floor 100, oh my gosh really only 3 floors left.  Were at the end and I really tried to pick it up. 102, one floor left come on do something.  I could hear the cheers from the top and volunteers saying 1 floor left.  I tried to kinda “run” that last flight.  I flung myself across the mat and down onto the carpet.  I laid there motionless for a while, trying to catch my breath.  My entire body felt limp and I looked at my watch – 14:56.  Oh my gosh!!  Excitement rushed through my head but at the same time I couldn’t even process it.  I had no idea how I made up that extra time, I thought I was gonna be like 15:15 or something, the last several floors made me lose hope of sub 15.  I finally got up and attempted to crawl across the floor, my knee was throbbing.  When I made it over to a few of my step-brothers I just laid there in heap.   All I could do was show them my watch.  I felt really sick and just not good; I tried to walk around a bit.  My throat still felt like it was lined with daggers, I had this pounding headache and my knee locked up.  Luckily I didn’t notice my knee at all during the climb and my hands were totally fine too.  I was yawning uncontrollably as well, not like a small weak yawn but like the yawn of a lion. 

We took a bunch of pictures and waited around for everyone to finish.  My step-siblings did a tremendous job, a bunch of them climbed their fastest times and others were ecstatic with climbing this beast for the first time.  I was eager for my dad to finish, this was his first time doing sears and I couldn’t wait to see him.  He finally popped out of the stairwell and a huge smile came across my face and I gave him a giant wave!!  He had been sick the past few days so he didn’t his his goal time but  I was proud of him regardless, he took on the challenge and didn’t give up.  It was great having him there and introducing him to my step-siblings.

I was so thrilled about my time and knew that I had possibly passed or tied the course record which was incredible.  I just couldn’t believe that I won this race and could add the sears tower to my collection of Chicago skyscrapers.  That was my goal and I did it.  And I placed 5^th overall, only 4 guys beat me!! 

This race really took a lot out of me; I was mentally and physically exhausted on Monday!!  My nervous system was fried, my knee was still throbbing and my forearms, abs and back were all sore but my legs felt fine, haha.  I decided to take a rest day.  Tuesday was a little better but was still not feeling up to doing anything so took it easy again.  No reason to force myself into training, I deserve a few easy rest days before I start cranking out training at warp speed again.   It seems like this 15:00 race oobliterates me more than a marathon!  But maybe I wasn’t running them fast enough, who knows.  But dang, that tower packed a punch!  At least now I can say that I own the beast! 

It’s so crazy that this race is over; the whole thing went by so quickly! I really can’t even believe everything I’ve done this year and everywhere I’ve gone.  Its kinda surreal.   Now it’s time to start focusing on the other Chicago towers and crushing them in 2013.  First I have to take on a new challenge, the XTERRA 21k trail world championships in Oahu, Hawaii.  I’ve never done a race like this so I have no expectations but maybe my climbing legs will do some work and produce some impressive results.  Then it’s the smaller 58 floor CF climb at 300 N. LaSalle, I just love this building and it’s a fun no pressure kinda race.  But the main focus is on Aon, Empire and Hancock.  Those are my 3 jewels for the winter climbing season; PT is in the mix too but kind of an afterthought.  Stratosphere is a possibility and so is the Big Climb in Seattle along with Aon LA, which is another favorite of mine.  Not sure what other major races I’ll do next year, would like to hit more on the international circuit.  Taipei 101 is one that I would like to return to, there’s no doubt about that!  I'm really looking forward to this upcoming stair season, I cant wait to see all my step-siblings on a regular basis!!  So lucky to have such a great family, were all insane and i love it!

Plenty of time to get back into the groove and crank out the training.   Perhaps I’ll switch it up for a bit although whatever I’m doing seems to be working so might just stick with that but I think I’ll tweak a few minor things.