Stairs Climbing @ Bishan

Joined in the MK Climbathon team training on Wed evening. Rodney, Roland, Henry, David, Yulan and myself gathered at Bishan Stadium, and kicked off a 6km short warm-up run to Bishan Estates, where Roland lives. There we did sets of 30floors of stairs climb to build up our leg strength and climbing abilities. I had not done stairs climbing since the NTU VM, and was relishing to use this training climb to exercise my quad muscles.

I started off the first set with mainly double-steps to exercise the quad muscles. I was breathing quite heavily by the 18th floor. I switched to single-steps for the next 5 floors, before resuming double-steps to reach the remainder of the 30floors. The steps here are slightly higher than those at the Toa Payoh 40 storey flats (which we did for our Time Trials recently). There was a good breeze at the top of the flat, and a very nice night time scene. I took a short rest, before taking the lift down for the next set. The next set of 30floors had me doing about the same as the first set, mainly double-steps with a few single-steps for a few floors when I needed a breather. I could feel my quads working very hard, and I was perspiring heavily. Stairs Climbing is indeed a hard workout. Met Roland at the top of the second set, and he told me to switch to the right flight of stairs to get the breeze. I did the next 2 sets on the right side of the building. There was a better breeze along the climb, and it was a good change in direction. I was breathing hard and for each set, I got tired after about 15floors. I then switched to single-steps to get a breather. I did the remaining 7-8 floors using double-steps. I find that these double-step climbs help to strengthen my quads, which I exercise much less than my hamstrings and calves during my runs.

After 4 sets and 120 floors, I decided to call it a day. Took a 10min rest, before I saw DO and Kops. I went up for a final 18floors to get drinks from Roland....ice-cold 100plus...refreshing, and good for carbo reload. In total, I climbed 138floors. I did not time the activity, just wanted to go through the exercise and sweat it out. We chatted a bit about the Mt. Kinabalu Climbathon, as well as the increasing number of training days. When the rest gathered, we took a 800m walk back to the stadium where we met Evelyn, Hamidah and Carmen from the Organizers, NTUC. I handed in my Duathlon form, an event which is spondored by NTUC for the Climbathon team. I am still not sure if I can swim that 200m minimum requirement in the open sea....hmm, must go find some practise. After a brief by the NTUC team about the upcoming Time Trials and new training areas at MF, plus some sponsorship matters, I left with David for some nice Fish Porridge at Joo Seng Food Centre. I liked the evening's hard workout, and will look forward to the next stairs climb training.