Wait.....Weight!

Today I stepped up the workouts a bit. (that was an unintended pun)   Anyway, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to add some weight to the step machine portion of the training.

I warmed up on the stationary bike as usual and then moved to the step machine.  I put on a weight vest designed for training like this.  It has slots front and back that can hold additional weight ingots.  I started with 50lbs.  The vest can accommodate up to 75lbs.  I thought 50lbs was a good place to start.

I selected 30 floors as the target at a pace of 60 steps per minute and hit the start button.  In only a few floors it was clear this was significantly more difficult with the extra weight.  My balance and center of gravity had changed.  I found it much harder to set and maintain a steady pace.  At 10 floors I felt like I had climbed 40!  Pulse rate was 120 and I am not sure what the respiratory rate might have been.  I could hear myself breathing heavily over the music I was playing.  My only thought was wow, this is going to be much more difficult than I imagined.  69 floors seems an impossible level right now.  I considered stopping for a moment and then as quickly as that thought came it disappeared. 

Previous training took over; I concentrated on my steps and adjusted for the change in balance and center of gravity.  I slowed the pace to 50 steps per min and slowly gained control of my breathing.  Things were not better but it was manageable for the moment.  30 floors came ever so slowly, like a slowly rising sun.   I finished the 30 floors in control.   Not great but at least I didn't fall off the machine.   As before my pulse rate returned to normal in about 6-8 minutes, and the respiratory rate normalized in less time than that.   I walked around to cool down for about 15 minutes. 

This is going to be much harder than I first thought. 

See you at the Top!

John