My name is Chris and I’m the Education Coordinator here at PTA.
Outside of work I am an elite Stair Climber and have been racing around Australia and Internationally for the last six years.
Stair Climbing is what I train for. I may be professional at work but I’ll agree with most when they say I have a screw loose to be so passionate about this sport.
Stair Climbing is a sport? Yes it is.
Australia has produced some of the best Stair Climbing Athletes the world has ever seen, with Paul Crake still holding the records for all the major races around the world since the 90’s.
As a country, we actually won the World Tower running Championships last year. I’ll understand if you haven’t heard about this. The stairwell doesn’t allow for a great spectacle, so the sponsors and publicity are hard to find. If the news does report on a race it’s usually some “dad” joke about not taking the lift.
This doesn’t bother us though. As I’ve said, we’re a passionate bunch. I have heard whispers of a cult…
Are you intrigued yet?
The stairwell can be a pretty isolating place so I’m lucky that I have a training partner that has been there with me for the entire time. Together we run Stair Climbing Australia.
I do have access to a 52 story building in the CBD of Melbourne so training specificity is easy for me. Some Stair Climbers aren’t so lucky and I often get asked how to train without stairwells.
The following video, while not specifically about stairs will show you how I simply alter my training program to still simulate my race conditions?
For those of you who have completed CIV or more specifically attended a CIV Workshop, you would have been exposed to our Gears & Goals Tool.
With understanding your predominant energy system for your sport and the adaptations associated with working in certain gears, you can easily simulate any required training load and stress. Couple that with understanding how to load the body to simulate race conditions and you have yourself a winning formula.
This video is of my training session from today. I like to mix up my races so am focusing on trail running for the moment. With hills of course.
Excuse the flies and my pauses; the brain wasn’t working that well after the first few sets.
Now that you know who I am. Who are you and what are you training for?
