camwyn | (no subject)

Did Week 3, Day 2, column 2 of the Hundred Pushups workout. That's fourteen straight-leg pushups, then ninety seconds of rest, then nineteen pushups, then ninety seconds, then fourteen more, then ninety seconds, then fourteen more, then ninety seconds, and then as many as you can do, which in this case was twenty-five. Today I've got off from that and will probably use the weighted ab machine here at the office; tomorrow's day 3, and I think on Friday I'll go for a full-on exhaustion test for the week.

Also did basement to rooftop access on the office building stairs, which is to say 45 numbered floors. There's about a floor and a half between the basement and first floors and the first and second floors, and between 11 and 12 there's a blind floor- no door, no fixtures, nothing. I'm told that city ordinance allows for buildings that're constructed over subway stations to put a 'basement' level on one of the upper floors so long as only the freight elevator has access, so I'm assuming that's what the blind floor is for. There don't seem to be any floor-numbering superstitions at work here; 12 is followed by 13. It's all just displaced a bit.

Rules I use when climbing:

- No stopping to rest until 20 unless there is a medical emergency. If Peter Venkman could wait to throw up until 20, so can I.
- For preference, no stopping to rest until 22, as that's essentially halfway.
- 'Stopping to rest' means five to ten seconds standing-still time at most, and should ideally be spent stretching against the wall. Walking in circles is preferable as I still have to finish the building and should keep my heart rate up.
- Leave my stuff on floor 29 before going down to the bottom to start the climb. There is no other company on floor 29, and nobody in my company other than me uses the stairs, so it is safe. Leaving it on 29 guarantees that I will be forced to at least climb that far.
- Leave a bottle of beverage with my stuff on floor 29. Drink it when I retrieve my stuff on the way down.
- Since none of the floors actually let me out of the stairwell unless there is a fire, I have to return to the basement on foot. Downward travel is to be done more slowly than upward as it is harder on the knees.
- Start the climb with the Mjollnir mix of the Halo theme on my mp3 player. An acceptable pace will have me setting foot on floor 13 as the last note fades. Pace to maintain after that: ten floors every three minutes.
- When the climb and descent are both over, "Any Dream Will Do" from the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat soundtrack, "Kolnidur" by Jonsi or "After The Fall" by Two Steps From Hell should be played to cue my physical responses into 'okay, guys, it's all right to stand down now' mode.

As for why I'm doing this, for those of you who don't already know... on February 27th I'm going to be participating in the Multiple Sclerosis Society's Climb to the Top. It's a fundraiser in which we climb the GE Tower in Rockefeller Center, which for reference looks like this. We start on the mezzanine floor (3, basically) and go to the roof, which is the 69th floor, so that's 66 floors of climbing to raise money for MS research, care, and treatment. The disease got my grandmother and a number of other people I respect, so I'm trying to raise money to give it a good solid slap in the face. The Climb to the Top link in this paragraph leads to a donation page if you're interested. And if not, well, I'm also doing this because I like the look on people's faces when I tell them I'm climbing sixty-six floors of New York City skyscraper at once, so as long as you're duly impressed or horrified, that's good too.