I woke up a little earlier today than I did on the previous days for some reason, and thought that since it was nice and cool still I'd go for my jog. My legs were still sore from the running of the two days before so I thought I'd do something slightly different. In the previous days I had done a simple block run of 1.5km around the railway line and home. Instead of doing the distance, I decided to exchange some of the distance for stair climbing.
I did the run of about 500m to the train station where the stairs were. Doing this in the morning with people at the station watching is possibly embarrassing for some people but I couldn't care less since I was already in a bright lime green shirt with my departmental advertising on it, in a pair of shorts and joggers. It wouldn't have made any difference I guess so I didn't let it bother me. The flights of stairs at my station are quite long as they have to be high enough to clear the power lines. While I didn't count how many steps there are in it, it is high enough that they put a plateau section in the middle so people if they were elderly could have a brief rest before continuing up top. Anyone in Sydney who catches trains and has stairs to their station will know what I mean and how big since they seem to be fairly standard sizing.
I ran up the stairs one step at a time (so I wasn't taking two at once or more etc) all the way up and back, touching the railing past the steps (since mine do a 90 degree turn to get to the platform) at the top and then the fence at the bottom. I did four sets up and down non-stop before I had a rest, then three sets, rest, two sets, rest and then the last set I walked up and back down. In total it meant I had climbed the stairs ten times.
I felt a little funny from it, in a almost light-headed way, and while I was still breathing hard from the overall exercise, it was different to the straight running from the days before. I don't know if it was harder exercise but it used my legs just as much. Instead of doing the 500m run back to the house I just walked at a reasonable pace back to finish off since I didn't think it would be a good idea if I started running and suddenly collapsed if the light-headed feeling got worse. I was ok though by the time I got home.
I think I might do this instead of just a flat out run as the 500m to the station is a good warmup, and the stair climbing does use a lot of stamina and leg work. Got to get those abdominals and psoas muscles working hard right?
I don't think that the CityRail people will mind since I wasn't getting in the way of other people going to and from the station since I was running up and down around them and not into them, and the closed circuit cameras that they have don't actually view the staircase I was on, they are designed to watch the platforms instead, which in a way is good, but also bad because if you get mugged on the stairs to the station, no-one is going to see it on the CCTV. I know this for a fact because a while back in a wild windstorm a tree collapse at the stairs blocking the exit and I had to climb out under it.
When I called the CityRail people after I got home, they remote-controlled the cameras but couldn't see the tree and then realised that I had meant the tree was on the stairs off the platform. They told me they can't see them with the cameras but would send a cleanup crew to deal with it. The next day the tree had been cut from the roots and dragged off to one side so people could get to the station. But, it meant that now I knew the cameras couldn't see that part of the station stairs. Not that the information is much use unless you plan on jacking someone for their wallet and goodies......
I did the run of about 500m to the train station where the stairs were. Doing this in the morning with people at the station watching is possibly embarrassing for some people but I couldn't care less since I was already in a bright lime green shirt with my departmental advertising on it, in a pair of shorts and joggers. It wouldn't have made any difference I guess so I didn't let it bother me. The flights of stairs at my station are quite long as they have to be high enough to clear the power lines. While I didn't count how many steps there are in it, it is high enough that they put a plateau section in the middle so people if they were elderly could have a brief rest before continuing up top. Anyone in Sydney who catches trains and has stairs to their station will know what I mean and how big since they seem to be fairly standard sizing.
I ran up the stairs one step at a time (so I wasn't taking two at once or more etc) all the way up and back, touching the railing past the steps (since mine do a 90 degree turn to get to the platform) at the top and then the fence at the bottom. I did four sets up and down non-stop before I had a rest, then three sets, rest, two sets, rest and then the last set I walked up and back down. In total it meant I had climbed the stairs ten times.
I felt a little funny from it, in a almost light-headed way, and while I was still breathing hard from the overall exercise, it was different to the straight running from the days before. I don't know if it was harder exercise but it used my legs just as much. Instead of doing the 500m run back to the house I just walked at a reasonable pace back to finish off since I didn't think it would be a good idea if I started running and suddenly collapsed if the light-headed feeling got worse. I was ok though by the time I got home.
I think I might do this instead of just a flat out run as the 500m to the station is a good warmup, and the stair climbing does use a lot of stamina and leg work. Got to get those abdominals and psoas muscles working hard right?
I don't think that the CityRail people will mind since I wasn't getting in the way of other people going to and from the station since I was running up and down around them and not into them, and the closed circuit cameras that they have don't actually view the staircase I was on, they are designed to watch the platforms instead, which in a way is good, but also bad because if you get mugged on the stairs to the station, no-one is going to see it on the CCTV. I know this for a fact because a while back in a wild windstorm a tree collapse at the stairs blocking the exit and I had to climb out under it.
When I called the CityRail people after I got home, they remote-controlled the cameras but couldn't see the tree and then realised that I had meant the tree was on the stairs off the platform. They told me they can't see them with the cameras but would send a cleanup crew to deal with it. The next day the tree had been cut from the roots and dragged off to one side so people could get to the station. But, it meant that now I knew the cameras couldn't see that part of the station stairs. Not that the information is much use unless you plan on jacking someone for their wallet and goodies......
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