One America Building (36 floors) Indianapolis, IN
1st Place Single Climb 3:30
1st Place Triple Climb 12:11 (4:10, 4:04, 3:56)
____________________________________________________________________________________
This was only the second time racing up the One America Building in Indy but it is slowly becoming one of my favorites. Its a nice little sprint climb where I can leave Friday night after work and drive to one of my friends places there in downtown Indy only 2 blocks away from the tower. I usually crash on the couch and wake up early to jog down the street just as the sun is coming up.
Night before its always good to hangout with college buddies you havent seen in a while. That night we were watching the second segment of Lance Armstrongs interview and I ended up staying up later than I probably needed or wanted to. I ended up sleeping alright and woke up around 5:30 a.m. and ate my usual breakfast which is...if you were wondering (bagel or toast with crunchy peanut butter and sliced bananas, dry cereal or oatmeal with almonds, a couple kiwis, handful of spinach, and water). I always eat 3 hours before my race no matter what it is; a 5k, marathon, or stair climb, it doesnt matter, for some reason my body needs that 3 hours in order not to get a side ache. Not just in races but also in training runs I need that 3 hours for my food to digest or else I will get a side ache and it will aggravated my side for a couple days if I try to push through it. Weird I know, but thats what works for me. Anyway, after I ate I did an active warm up stretch in the living room to warm up the body.
Race Day
Around 6:45 am I started to get ready to head downtown. Nice light jog to the building which ended up being just shy of a mile. Found a spot to put my gear. Wondered around for a little bit, tried to get into the staircase but got stopped by security. I couldnt quite remember what the stairwell looked like from last year so I tried to see and I even used my best persuasive skills with the security guard but he took his job very seriously. Headed outside for a warm up run and found a parking garage across the street with a nice staircase that was about 9 floors. Ran around the garage and stairs for about 10-15 minutes and headed back into the building to stretch.
This race is unique in that it has two staircases to choose from that you can race up. Both staircases are equal in every aspect. I chose staircase A to go up in. Did some last minute drills to get the HR where it needed to be, shook some hands and it was time to go. I was first to go up...
Since this is a true sprint climb (36 floors) I went after pretty quick from the get go, a nice uptempo pace that was flirting with the red line but staying under control. I remember feeling it around floor 24 but knew I had to keep pushing. I always tell myself you can hurt tomorrow but not right now to point of slowing down. 10 floors to go an I knew I could have gone out a little slower in order to have a little more at the top for a kick. Got to the top and remember to stop my watch...3:30. It was a PR and another step closer to that crazy record of 3:20 set way back in 1989; which by the way I was only 2 years old then, lol.
But I wasnt done with just the single climb...got on the elevator and headed back down to the registration table to grab my triple climb bib #. In about 30 minutes I would head back up again. I am still trying to figure out what the best method would be rest wise for the triple climb. I took close to 30 minutes between climbs, but Im starting to think maybe 7 minutes between climbs might be beneficial next year because after 7 minutes your blood starts to cool back down after exertion. Felt good on the triple and actually got faster as I went and even going under 4 on my last one.
Here is a video I put together of the race this year.
Also, check out this list of top times over the past 30 years of this event.
Course Record-1992-Brian McCauliff 3:20
| Year | Name | Time | ||||
| 1984 | Mark Carlson | 04:05 | ||||
| 1985 | Jeff Price | 04:00 | ||||
| 1986 | Joe Kenny | 03:51 | ||||
| 1987 | Joe Kenny | 03:50 | ||||
| 1988 | Joe Kenny | 03:45 | ||||
| 1989 | Brian McCauliff/Joe Kenny | 03:50 | ||||
| 1990 | Joe Kenny | 03:47 | ||||
| 1991 | Brian McCauliff | 03:32 | ||||
| 1992 | Brian McCauliff | 03:20 | ||||
| 1993 | Marty Wilkey | 03:34 | ||||
| 1994 | Marty Wilkey | 03:40 | ||||
| 1995 | Bob Curts | 03:48 | ||||
| 1996 | Marty Wilkey | 03:35 | ||||
| 1997 | Marty Wilkey | 03:47 | ||||
| 1998 | Bob Curts | 03:51 | ||||
| 1999 | Marty Wilkey | 03:53 | ||||
| 2000 | Marty Wilkey | 03:47 | ||||
| 2001 | Bob Curts | 03:46 | ||||
| 2002 | Marty Wilkey | 03:43 | ||||
| 2003 | Marty Wilkey | 03:48 | ||||
| 2004 | Marty Wilkey | 03:53 | ||||
| 2005 | Marty Wilkey | 03:55 | ||||
| 2006 | Dave Shafron | 03:56 | ||||
| 2007 | Marty Wilkey | 03:58 | ||||
| 2008 | Marty Wilkey | 04:03 | ||||
| 2009 | Dave Shafron | 03:52 | ||||
| 2010 | Marty Wilkey | 03:53 | ||||
| 2011 | Marty Wilkey | 03:55 | ||||
| 2012 | Justin Stewart | 03:39 | ||||
| 2013 | Justin Stewart | 03:30 |
As you can see the Bop to the Top race has a pretty long history of fast times. I didnt know of these times until this year. Finding out the course record was a huge surprise to me. Knocking off another 10 seconds from my best PR at the One America tower seems really hard to do but it might be doable within the next couple years of training, always something to shoot for. I caught a brief history of Brian McCauliff's record setting race from another past champion of this race, Joe Kenny who won back in 1986-1990. He says Brian was a slave to the steps. He would spend at least 5 out of 7 days of the week in the staircase, he ate right, and was in bed by 8pm every night, and did all the little things.
I first did this race in 2012 and I think I will continue to do this race until I get that course record.
No comments:
Post a Comment