Second dress rehearsal in the bag...

Did the second full gear climb today, with a backpack of 24 sodas to once again simulate the weight of an air pack. I did the same as last time; 82 times up, 82 times down, 1,312 stairs each direction. I hopped on the scale, and my gear (including backpack) is right on 60 pounds. I also weighed myself before and after climbing, thinking I'd see a drop of a few pounds due to lost water, but that didn't seem to be the case. But I did lose 1-2 pounds, according to my ultra-cheap and probably-not-very-accurate Wal-Mart scale. In fire school, they teach us that the average firefighter loses about one quart of water per hour in a fire, and I can verify this as being accurate in my own experience. On our burn-to-learn day a few years back, we had a total of 8 evolutions (fires) over about 6 hours. I was very well hydrated before starting the day, and I drank 14 or 15 pints of water and/or Gatorade during the day, and never had even the remotest urge to pee until the very end of the day. At that point, I thought, "Well, we'll be driving for an hour, and then on the ferry, so I should probably try to go." The urine was the darkest orange I've ever seen, in spite of all the fluids I'd had that day. And my bunker gear was soaked from the inside out, no small feat.

Back to stairs, I have to say that the climb today was noticeably easier than the one last week. My two theories about that are: first, I had a better memory this time of how hot it is, and second, I slowed myself down on my overall pace. I'd describe myself as trudging, but "slow and steady wins the race" as they say. Ironically, today I was finished in 35 minutes, where it took me nearly 40 last time. I started much much slower today, but finished at that same pace, and I think last week I started too fast and really bonked at the end--I had to take many breaks to catch my breath and so on last time around. Today I took the one-minute break at just over halfway to simulate having my air bottle changed, then took a short (5-10 second) break with 22 floors left to go, 12 floors left to go, and 3 floors left to go. On the real race day, there are volunteers cheering you on at least every 10 floors, and also with 2 floors to go--the charge of being so close to the end really carries you up those last few painful floors. I learned today that my main focus this year will be keeping my pace as slow as I possibly can.

At the end of these dress rehearsals, I can't get my gear off fast enough. Gloves, helmet, face piece, jacket, and then pants/boots. Let me just say how much I appreciate the fact that the volunteers at the actual climb literally strip you of your gear in seconds when you finish--with little or no effort on your part. It is a huge help, no doubt. We got new gear recently and the boots are awesome--snug and leather--but they are next to impossible to get off. Everything stays where it lands, and then I go for water, rowing, walking around; all I can do to let my heart unload gradually instead of all at once. This seems to keep my PSVT from acting up, which is always a good thing.

Recovery today was quicker, though I did have one moment when I (stupidly) sat down for about 20 seconds and then stood up to walk around some more. I definitely felt the lightheadedness of that, and won't do it again. But overall, this time didn't knock me down like the first one did--I also remember this from fire school--the first time we dragged charged hose lines up a stairwell, I thought I would drop dead on the spot. Each successive time was easier and easier, and ultimately, we learned how to do it with as little effort as possible, in addition to being in progressively better condition. So it goes.

The rest of the week will be about light workouts; some rowing, lots of walking, and lots of good food and fluids. Just keeping the old heart working a little bit, but letting the legs rest. I've surpassed my $1,000 fundraising goal as of Saturday, and may bump that up to $1,500, a good problem to have! This looks to be a good year for the climb for all of us at BIFD, and I'm once again glad to be able to take part. Five days to go...