climbing

Sixty flights of stairs, 43 pounds, 45 minutes, and no trekking poles on the way up. Slower than last time, but I dropped the crutch. Once the time comes down, I'll add another ten pounds. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Another ten pounds on the pack, now 43, and sixty flights in 40 minutes. I caved and used the trekking poles from the 24th floor up. Also: my building has two thirteenth floors, so I've really been climbing 61.

I skipped a day and felt guilty, but the rest probably helped my legs. Same 33 pounds, sixty floors a minute faster, and no trekking poles at all this time. Very encouraging progress. Time to add another ten pounds.

Ten more pounds for a total of 33, and sixty floors in 40 minutes. My legs gave out around halfway, so I leaned on the trekking poles, which is a bit of cheating. Forty seconds per floor, 8.1% slower with the added weight.

Sixty floors with twenty pounds in thirty-seven minutes. Now that I'm doing all the floors, I'll focus on adding weight without losing too much time. My per-floor average barely moved from forty to sixty floors.

Forty floors up and down with the twenty pound pack in twenty-four minutes, holding a constant pace. That works out to thirty-seven minutes for the whole building. Now I just need things to weight the pack with.