Sweating up the steamy stairway

Mumbai has been 'blessed' with so many high rises. As kids, even a 6-7 storey building used to be a skyscraper. These days finding a 15+ storey building is very normal.

Stair climbing has been a prevalent sport in the developed countries for many years. But, the first ever stair climbing competition was held in Mumbai last Dec in the Kohinoor building at Dadar west. Being a regular stair climber while preparing for treks, i did miss out participating in it as it was on the same day as the NEF Enduro triathlon.

Was reading a post on Livestrong, on the benefits of stair climbing. And heres what they had to say.

Counting steps instead of miles can boost your walking workout—and save you time.

Researchers in England and Northern Ireland asked 12 sedentary women to climb a 200-step staircase, progressing from once a day to six times a day. (They were allowed to take the elevator down.) Each ascent took about 2 minutes, so by the end of the study, the women were exercising only 12 minutes a day. 

In less than 2 months, they saw a boost in their fitness level, along with improvements in their cholesterol level that were enough to cut their risk of cardiovascular disease by 33%.

"This is among the best evidence that short bouts of exercise can have tremendous health benefits," says study author Colin Boreham, PhD, of the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.

In a second study of nearly 13,500 men, those who climbed up and down at least 700 steps a week or 100 steps a day (typically 5 floors), reduced their risk of death by nearly 20 percent. This reduction is comparable to what you'd achieve by walking about 2 miles a day, which takes most people 35 to 40 minutes. From a calorie-burning perspective, you'd have to walk briskly for 30 minutes to burn the same number of calories that you would climbing stairs for 15 minutes."

So there you go! You've read evidence. What else can be a more efficient workout? No gym memberships, no queuing up for treadmills or cross trainers, No getting out on the road, no swimming trunks to change into, no bicycling equipment, no hour long exercise, no warm ups. Just walk out the door and your exercise begins. Just a 15 min stair-climbing session can spike up innate adrenaline to keep you kicking the rest of the day. And this has been my experience too!!

With some experience, climbing 5 floors slowly takes not more than 2 minutes!!!

For the past 5 weeks i have been following a schedule of a run-climb session every week. 

It involves 5 repetitions of running alternated with stair climbing. 

My first session was 600m run ( a round of our building parking lot) followed by 6 floors climb. I have progressed now to 2400 m run followed by 12 floors climb giving a 1:45 workout of 12 kms and 60 floors.

My target. 30 kms (50 rounds) and 450 floors (5000ft)! in 6 hours somewhere in July. That should hopefully keep me in shape for the 32km uphill, a climb of 5000 ft to Khardungla pass....phew!!

Running in the high places!!!

As I ease into my routine of getting higher every run in a bid to run up hills, my weekend long runs have essentially become running tours of the richest hills in Mumbai.

A 5:30 am start from home and a flat jog takes me to Haji Ali junction past the shaded boulevards along race course road. Often the ever-wary strays begin barking as i move on from one territory to another. Its almost like having a relay of sound escorts.

5:50 am. Finally i reach the junction, its a lovely open road with half asleep beggars, carelessly strewn Mumbai police barricades and an occasional Merc zipping by.

I almost feel the crunch in my quads as the gradual incline begins leading to the "killer" Peddar road slope and the snazzy JSW white house. The roads getting re'laid' for the 178th time plus the heat aint helping. So i begin walking to catch up on precious breath. 30 seconds and i begin running to reach the top of the slope. I look up and find the awesome Antilia (yes. Awesome) and Mukeshbhai looking down at me. He waves out to me with a promise of a glass of chaas on the way back. Maybe the heat's giving me hallucinations.

From here on, its gladly downhill now to the swanky Kemps corner.

4kms done. 25 mins. Slow but today is just tooo HOT a day.

Next I cross Babulnath and am heading towards the richest vegetarian real estate in the world!! Malabar hill!! Its all an uphill climb of 1.5 kms past the Governor's pad and a building called Necklace view...

Hmm..To begin with it does give an awesome view of chowpatty!

I break into a  walk then a slow jog and huff and puff as i make it to the solemn Teen Batti
 Runners often feel they've arrived having climbed up to here. I feel so too and i feel so cool!!

Next, i take the first slope down to the seaside residences of Napean Sea road. The SBI chief's bungalow with its sprawling garden, makes me ponder and smile!!

I take the next slope up from napean sea road back to Malabar hill with some high walled apartments alongside. This one's a steep slope up but i stay focused on my breathing as i slowly trot up back to the ridge road of malabar hill.

I turn left here and go across the Sahyadri guest house. This one plays host to visiting politicians. Its 6:15 am. Sure enough i hear a siren blaring off a laal batti gaadi and 2 cars in tow enter and a dhoti clad politician with a bureaucrat juggling files and 2 mobile phones and a bunch of cronies emerge at that hour. Glad to see someone's working too!!

I then turn down left onto the steep slope back down to napean sea road along the most important road of the state. the one that has Varsha, the chief minister's bungalow. Just before there's a quaint road that shoots to the left towards the home of the chief of the Bohri Muslims. This road is so tranquil and quiet, its almost meditative and peaceful to even stop a few moments there.


Back down onto Napean sea road, i run towards Priyadarshini park and find a hell lot of people jogging there. Feels good that I am not alone!


I now turn up one of the steepest slopes in Mumbai, the one that goes past some awesome skyscrapers. Its so steep my legs almost automatically break into a walk. I realise that walking is even tougher on this steep gradient, so i choose to slow jog up the loong slope up back to ridge road.


Pretty much at the highest point of my route, it does feel like an achievement. I turn left towards the hanging gardens. The area houses plenty of politicians so there is a fair amount of police security and chaiwallahs to cater to them. Luckily i find a shop open at that hour and fill up my bottle with some water and have a couple of bananas to feed my growling tummy.


I then run past the tens of cars belonging to morning walkers at the park and descend down what is arguably the loveliest part of my run. In a jungle of cold stone, nestles a verdant oasis. The beautiful Parsi Tower of Silence. Simply the number of trees here, the summer crescendo of the Cuckoo, plenty of bulbuls in their morning frenzy, and the komorebi of the early golden sun adds up to the joy of running.

The quiet roads head down to Kemps corner as an occasional cyclist zips past me.


Its 6:45, I have completed a good 11kms and i turn back on my favourite road to retrace my route back home up and down all the lovely high places for an 8:00 am finish !

Trail running in Mumbai city

151 days to go..

Trail Running in Mumbai city.

Trail running is a sport which consists of running and hiking over trails. In the United Kingdom and Ireland it is called mountain or fell running. It differs from road running and track running in that it generally takes place on hiking trails, often in mountainous terrain, where there can be much larger ascents and descents. It is difficult to definitively distinguish trail running from cross country running 

The ranks of trail runners are increasing annually. Runners often cite less impact stress compared to road running, as well as the landscape and non-urban environment, as primary reasons for preferring trail running. This move to nature is also reflected in a large increase in competitors in non-traditional/off-road triathlons and adventure racing over the past five years

The BMC took cognizance of this fact and decided to single handedly be responsible for giving a taste of trail running for Mumbaikars.

If the BMC's 'masterplan', 'open heart surgery', largest road digging 'exercise' ever is to be believed, we are going to have 'few' road woes this monsoon. So some 598 roads have been 'completed'. i believe they have been 'completely finished'. Some 100 roads more have yet to be 'finished'. 

So what do hapless runners like me get????

Paver blocks (the bane of the previous government) being uprooted, roads dug with monstrous machines, 













being 'leveled' with roadrollers,





















straight slopes, horizontal slopes, gravel, potholes,..

All just about matching the requirements of a challenging trail.

Hell...Bring on KhardungLa!!!!!

 

The Ladakh Marathon KhardungLa challenge

Over the past 1 week, i have been reading about the road to KhardungLa and various blogs that talk about high-altitude running. The KhardungLa pass also called as the "Pass of the Lower Castle" is what connects Leh valley with Nubra valley and further on to Siachen 40 kms North of Leh. It offers magnificent views of the Karakoram range to the North and also the Stok range in Leh


 The 71 km KhardungLa challenge though in the image below looks like a descending worm to Leh, is actually a tortuous and involves extremely steep ups and downs. 

The road consists of steady linear gradients and almost 40-60 ft (4-6 floors) elevations at turns

Being the end of summer when we do the run, there could be snowfall at the pass. The roads may be as smooth as when RedBull pulled off this feat, 

or if the roads have been battered by the heavy tourist traffic of the season gone by, it could be like this


For perspective, the last time i visited KhardungLa pass in a tourist vehicle in 2009, i felt dizzy, sleepy and had a massive headache thanks to the rare air (low O2). As can be seen, these bikers seem to have been affected by Altitude Sickness

The challenge here is not only the rare air and a distance that needs to be covered in 13 hrs, but also the extreme temperatures.

Last year, it was snowing and -5 deg C at the 3 am start of the race which may lead to the pass looking like a snowfield. I would be probably running with a couple of layers which not only adds to the weight but also slows down running..err...walking speed considerably

 and then a blazing Sun at noon causing a hapless runner to shed all the layers and run down to better oxygenated air. 

 Why am I doing this madness???

I am supporting a cause thats very close to my heart. I am supporting Welfare of Stray Dogs (www.wsdindia.org). 

The Ladakhi runners finished this damn thing in 6-7 hrs last year with a time difference of just 1 min seperating the top 2 runners. 
 

Results: Khardung La Challenge 71.12 Kms
1st	Shabir Husain	6:35
2nd	Rigzen Nurboo	6:36
3rd	Tsering Gyatso	6:42

I am hoping to train HARD and try and atleast at worst finish this run and at best in 10-12 hrs 

 Do follow my blog that will keep you posted on my training, the challenges, updates on some phenomenal work done by WSD, trivia and of course lots of photographs!!!

P.S. - none of the pictures in this post are mine, all picked up from google images, www.ladakhmarathon.com

KhardungLa challenge elevation chart @ Ladakh Marathon

Its now almost a month since i registered for the KhardungLa challenge. Most Mumbai runners will be familiar with the Peddar Hill 'killer' slope that haunts the living daylights for many on the day of the Mumbai Marathon. Thought i will index the elevation charts of both for some perspective.

At the start of the Peddar slope its 20 ft, near haji ali and peaking unto 145 ft approx a 1.2 mile later, an elevation of 125 ft, i.e. 100 ft/mile

The KhardungLa challenge rises 4400 feet over 19 miles i.e. 231 ft/mile!!

Therefore, almost double the Peddar gradient for over 18 times the distance!! And at half the oxygen saturation in the air! Phew!