Sky Tower Challenge

[Daz69]

Been training for the Fire Service Sky Tower Challenge, its basically running 1100+ steps straight up the Auckland sky tower, in full structural fire fighting uniform and boots wearing breathing apparatus..

Looking for some advice on nutrition in the days leading up to the event..

IE: Some form of carb loading days before, fast carbs or energy drinks/stimulants prior to competing....

Your thoughts Pls....

[Kalidane]

An anecdote from a guy who did a similar thing http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2013/04/gr ... ghter.html

On the stims: gotta be good to go stim free from now until the day of the event. Get that sensitivity primed. On the big day 400mgs caffeine should have ya flying up them stairs.

Not sure about fast carbs on the day. It's a serious endurance event and I dunno how you're left after most of the carbs are burned but you've still a lot of insulin running around. Try it out on a training day and see how it feels. Defo want full glycogen stores when you're suiting up and I'm sure other posters will have the good advices on that.

I'd imagine being creatine and water loaded plus sufficient electrolytes will keep ya operating through the event. Also sweet B12 level.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

dunno much about this but just wanted to say good luck, that would be hard even half way without all the gear you have to lug around

[Daz69]

Would really appreciate some advice here fellas....

I reckon 1100 steps should take 15-20mins, any help regards nutritional preparations and or stimulants..

Thanks....

[harmonist]

One of the partners at our firm in his 50s did this a few years ago and did it in 12 minutes 39 seconds, I reckon you should be aiming for about 10-12min

[Daz69]

One of the partners at our firm in his 50s did this a few years ago and did it in 12 minutes 39 seconds, I reckon you should be aiming for about 10-12min

Yeh maybe in my younger days but I'm old, and a cripple..... lol

[Yeah-Buddy]

I highly doubt that harmonists. In the donned and started category 12:39 is pretty quick and only 5 or 6 years ago 12min was a winning time. 10-11minutes is flying and you'd be super fit to do this in full gear and BA, that would place you around a likely 5th out if 550 firefighters.

A realistic average time is 17-18min.

Perhaps your person was in the corporate climb which is in gym gear and running shoes.

[Pseudonym]

I have absolutely zero experience here, but I think I'd be cautious about the caffeine. Your heartrate will be sky high as it is, I'm not sure you'd want to take it any higher with stimulants. But I could be wrong?

Personally, I think some fast carbs beforehand would be good, but don't go nuts on them. I don't suppose you can sip them as you go? What about those squeezy energy sachets endurance athletes use?

[Cameron_R]

This is not answering your question, but I would have thought training (like running/walking up Mt Eden every couple days) would do you a heap more good than anything you could eat on the morning of the event.

Stating the obvious, but you don't mention anything about your build up.

[Daz69]

This is not answering your question, but I would have thought training (like running/walking up Mt Eden every couple days) would do you a heap more good than anything you could eat on the morning of the event.

Stating the obvious, but you don't mention anything about your build up.

Build up all done, 1200 steps twice a week now in full structural with BA.. Just after a few tips with the nutrition.....

[Cameron_R]

Cool.

If it's only going to be 15-20 mins, I'd say fast carbs are the way to go!

[ttssmm]

Hi Daz.

As far as your question goes i would suggest not to bother carbohydrate loading there is only real benefit from it for events longer than around 90minutes of moderate to high intensity physical output.

For 20minutes there will be little benefit.

In layman terms how it works is that your body can store around 2kcal of glycogen in your muscles, carb depleting and then carb loading can increase this slightly up to maybe 2.3kcal (a similar concept to what bodybuilders do with a water deplete/load). This can be very benficial in a longer race but for 20minutes you wont see any benefit. so that is the just of it and how it is used.

There are many different methods and options of what you could do, this is like bodybuilding again in the way it is personal preference. Personally if it were me i would up my carbs 2days before so my total calorie intake was 90-95% carbs. Still keeping my calorie total the same (that is assuming you count calories). 3 hours before i would have a light-moderate sized carb only meal and would have some simple carbs 20-30mins before hand. I find flat coca-cola to be really good for the simple carbs pre event. just buy a bottle and take the cap off and put in fridge a couple days prior. it has a small amount of caffiene so this is ok.

heavy dosages of stimulants i would recommend for longer duration event these only dehydrate you, but again you only going to be goinf for 20minutes so you would know how you feel on them.

that was pretty breif, good luck and if you have any further questions id be happy to answer.

[Daz69]

A very informative post yet again, your knowledge and experience will be missed on here...

Thanks Tom......

[Flex]

I did it in either 2004 or 2005, which I think was the last year they let us mere mortals do it before it become firefighter and celebrity only (because celebrities are always great athletes) - took 8mins 14s but wasn't kitted out with all your gear - had a cough for days after it as the worst thing about it was all the dust and crap that gets stirred up and you end up breathing in - you'll at least be spared that with your fire gear.

Best piece of advice I can give you if you want to beat all your mates and get a fast time - make sure to get at the front of the pack in that first 100m or so before you get into the stairs. I was dumb at the start and let everyone go in front of me. I then had to pass everyone in my group - you're supposed to stay to one side but most people just go straight up the guts or two abreast and no one lets you through , then you're stuck trying to get past people. Could have knocked a good 20secs off at least because of that.

I used this product for training and for the event - http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bq/body.html

It's pretty low in caffeine but high in ingredients for focus and mental alertness. Unfortunately it's banned for OTC sale in NZ now due to it's Vit B12 content - bb.com are now the distributors for USA and won't ship it to NZ either which is stupid as it's legal for personal importation just not retail sale. You can make you're own with a good dose of l-tyrosine (1000mg to 3000mg), small amount of caffeine (50mg-100mg), some b12 and b-vitamins and any over the counter nootropic, "brain" or neurotransmitter formula if you can find one.

I trained on Jacobs ladder downtown, plus hill running with a weighted vest and lots of hack squats and calf raises. Jacobs ladder is not meant to be used for running/training on and I think they've either closed it or banned public access to it now. Some carpark buildings have pretty good stairs for training on. I went with the 2 steps at time method for the event which worked well for most of it. You'll want to do lots of arm, back and shoulder work too as you can pull yourself up using the stair rails.

I carb loaded for 3 days leading up to event (Leppin Carboloader) and used a complex carb/ electrolyte supp pre-event. For training/event I would stick to predominantly complex carb based formula's or a product that has maybe 20-40% simple sugars and the rest complex carbs. Use the same stuff on race day as what you've used during training - don't try anything new.

Pretraining/event you could use some beta alanine (dose 4g every day start using at least 12 weeks out from event), and histidine to help buffer lactic acid and definately BCAA's to delay fatigue. GU Roctane gels/powder has all of that in it so could be something to try.

Definitely use creatine monohydrate for strength - try and time it so that you start your loading phase about 6 to 8 weeks out and then maintenance dose for the 5-7 weeks leading up to the event so you're all topped up on the day.

You could add in some peak-atp with your creatine and maybe some HMB for recovery, though high dose bcaa's pre and post training should help.

[Yeah-Buddy]

There is no choosing when you go. Race times are out and you go with your squad leaving 30seconds apart. The dash to the stairwell has gone and you now start in the basement, 4 or 5 flights then loop around the base, 40 more floors, loop around the 45 floor, then 6 double flights to finish.

Take it like any race, keep your nutrition relatively normal but maybe add a little but more carbs thurs and Fri then decent breakfast, hydrate, coffee and go hard.

Wearing BA is much harder than not, you air is restricted making pacing your breathing far more critical.. Basically get winded and your fuked as there's nowhere to recover without stopping. One of the toughest 10-20minute events IMO. Good luck Daz!!

[Daz69]

A big thank you for your input fellas.....

[maccaz]

Hi Daz.

As far as your question goes i would suggest not to bother carbohydrate loading there is only real benefit from it for events longer than around 90minutes of moderate to high intensity physical output.

For 20minutes there will be little benefit.

In layman terms how it works is that your body can store around 2kcal of glycogen in your muscles, carb depleting and then carb loading can increase this slightly up to maybe 2.3kcal (a similar concept to what bodybuilders do with a water deplete/load). This can be very benficial in a longer race but for 20minutes you wont see any benefit. so that is the just of it and how it is used.

There are many different methods and options of what you could do, this is like bodybuilding again in the way it is personal preference. Personally if it were me i would up my carbs 2days before so my total calorie intake was 90-95% carbs. Still keeping my calorie total the same (that is assuming you count calories). 3 hours before i would have a light-moderate sized carb only meal and would have some simple carbs 20-30mins before hand. I find flat coca-cola to be really good for the simple carbs pre event. just buy a bottle and take the cap off and put in fridge a couple days prior. it has a small amount of caffiene so this is ok.

heavy dosages of stimulants i would recommend for longer duration event these only dehydrate you, but again you only going to be goinf for 20minutes so you would know how you feel on them.

that was pretty breif, good luck and if you have any further questions id be happy to answer.

can a banned person get post of the month lol?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hi Daz.

As far as your question goes i would suggest not to bother carbohydrate loading there is only real benefit from it for events longer than around 90minutes of moderate to high intensity physical output.

For 20minutes there will be little benefit.

In layman terms how it works is that your body can store around 2kcal of glycogen in your muscles, carb depleting and then carb loading can increase this slightly up to maybe 2.3kcal (a similar concept to what bodybuilders do with a water deplete/load). This can be very benficial in a longer race but for 20minutes you wont see any benefit. so that is the just of it and how it is used.

There are many different methods and options of what you could do, this is like bodybuilding again in the way it is personal preference. Personally if it were me i would up my carbs 2days before so my total calorie intake was 90-95% carbs. Still keeping my calorie total the same (that is assuming you count calories). 3 hours before i would have a light-moderate sized carb only meal and would have some simple carbs 20-30mins before hand. I find flat coca-cola to be really good for the simple carbs pre event. just buy a bottle and take the cap off and put in fridge a couple days prior. it has a small amount of caffiene so this is ok.

heavy dosages of stimulants i would recommend for longer duration event these only dehydrate you, but again you only going to be goinf for 20minutes so you would know how you feel on them.

that was pretty breif, good luck and if you have any further questions id be happy to answer.

can a banned person get post of the month lol?

he just got one last month (or was it the one before) :pfft:

[Diab0lic]

What stims do you have access to?

[Daz69]

What stims do you have access to?

Bugger-all I'm in New Zealand..... lol