Folders |
Stairs Workout
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Last year, I couldn't do much in the way of running in order to prepare for the 10K Classic. I knew the race consisted of hills. I knew I needed to get my legs strengthened for the race. So, I decided to run up and down the stairs in my house. I did this nearly every day. At first I could hardly do any, but I began to increase my time, and decrease the time I spent taking breaks. I think it must have helped, because I only lost 10 minutes off of my year before's time.
I convinced my son, Jay to do stairs with me. I did them the week before, and in 20 minutes had done 62 returns on one flight of stairs. I told him he had to beat my time. I put a chair at the top of the stairs with a stop watch in hand and he began. He said it was silly, and he took two stairs at a time and nearly jumped down the flight of stairs in three or four steps. But then he began to sweat and he stopped saying it was silly. He had on his favourite music and I counted each return he did. He began to slow way down and said that he could still beat my time if he just walked it. That's when I told him that I was going next and I was going to try and beat the amount of returns he did. Without saying a word, he just picked it back up and began racing up and down the stairs again. When he got to the 70's I told him I thought I could still beat his number. That made him run even harder. He really picked it up the last few minutes, and the last few seconds he was going like quadruple time! He eventually finished 90 returns in 20 minutes. I told him he was mean, and he laughed. I told him he only speeded up because he didn't want me to have any chance in beating him. He laughed harder. So, then it was my time. Just then, my other son, Beau and Jay's girlfriend, Sammie came home. Sammie got some ice cream and sat at the bottom of the stairs, cheering me on as I had to run up and down the stairs. And I have to say, that because of my hard work at running around Stone Mountain, pushing myself up those hills as fast as I could go, well, that really did a number on my legs and after two returns, my legs felt like jello, and I wanted to quit, but there was Jay sitting in a chair in the upper hallway, with the stop watch, counting my returns, and Sammie at the bottom of the stairs cheering me on, I had to keep going. I had to force myself to keep going. My legs felt like when I was on my last 10 returns, instead of just beginning. But I kept on going, listening to my running music. When the music speeded up, I made myself run up or down even harder. Jay said that I ran up the stairs like a football player. Sammie got mad at him and told him he had to support me. Lol, he was just teasing me. I teased him the whole way through his run of the stairs. I only made it to 57 returns in 20 minutes, but I made myself keep going till I reached 62. It only took me a couple of minutes more. The rest of the day, we were fine. But the next day, Jay was complaining that his calves were hurting. And for several days, he still complained that his calves were hurting, and sometimes the muscles just above his knees. I told him he needed to take a long hot bath and do stretches, but he just "poo pooed" the idea, actually I think his exact expression was a wave of the hand and "spshh." We were supposed to go for a 2 and 3 mile run doing tempo and speed runs, but my asthma is acting up, and Jay has come down with something, so I guess we'll just take another long day of rest. 
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