Stair climbing

I had one of the more challenging mornings in a while a few hours ago. I woke up knowing that I wanted to tune out for a few hours, but was also aware that my legs were going to take ages to warm up. I did the next best thing. I shut all the windows in the stairwell and did one of my favorite workouts : stair sprints!! These were no ordinary stair sprints - I have taken to skipping 3 stairs at a time to increase leg strength. I am not quite sure how stair climbing helps. I do however know that Singapore is flat as a pancake and running long on flat pavement gets boring very quickly. Today was an excellent opportunity to just let the mind switch off and repetitive movement is almost like meditation - the mind goes quiet, and one is left alone - totally!

I was dripping within 5 minutes. I have always believed that sweat cleanses you from places that water cannot reach. When you increase leg strength, you increase the amount of capillaries, and in my experience, blood is transferred to your muscles at a faster rate. Whatever it is, stairs have definately helped my legs fatigue much more slowly. How else would you explain the fact that I can run 12 miles quite comfortably after a session of sprints?!

The human body is capable of so much more than we give it credit for. I prove it to myself day after day. I am not a natural athlete by any means - but I make no excuses - not getting out there, even if its for 20 minutes, is just not an option. Once you make up your mind that quitting is out of the question - you have no choice but to do it. So get out there and run already!

400 double stair sprints 83 minutes
9.4 miles even splits ( I did however finish faster than I started - my first mile was 8min/mile, I finished at 7:40min/mile)

A glorious morning. Thank you!

Trade sweat for strength, trade doubt for belief, trade fear for courage.