Paul Smith
Paul's Vertical Mile Challenge
Fundraising for Shelter
Story
Latest News - Friday April 20th 2012:
While in London for the London Marathon Expo - I'm running it on Sunday http://www.justgiving.com/marathonandon. Now praying for good running weather! - I met with Barry Rushmore, manager of Tower 42, who was very kind and let me spend a couple of hours crawling up the building, measuring a step per flight as well as counting the number of steps and making lots of notes along the way.
Against what I'd been told and seen online, there are 51 levels (six below named floor 1, and three more - between 13 and 14, 22 and 23, and 31 and 32 - are 'unnamed service levels'), eight flights of seven steps and 94 sets of nine steps; a total of 902, not 920!
Averaging the height of the 102 steps I measured (18.309cm) gives a fairly accurate figure of 165.15m/542ft for the deck level of Floor 42 above lower ground level, where Vertical Rush starts. I'd based all my Vertical Mile and record attemp calculations on 920 steps and 180m, meaning not only did I fall short of a vertical Km in an hour by about 56m (ouch) I also failed to hit a vertical mile at all! My nine climbs 'only' add up to 1,486.35m/4,876.5ft; 123m/403.5ft short. At least 8,118 steps/459 floors climbed still sounds ok though ;)
Local newspaper headline: Heartbreak for Aylesbury Man.
In light of the above I hope Shelter will be happy to have me back in 2013 to attempt the record again, after some more aggressive training. Allowing 86 seconds per lift descent (the average from 8 descents this year), I'd need to do six accents around 8:29 each - a big ask, but possible! I did a single run in 6:58 in 2011 and the average for my first six climbs this year was 9:27, so I have a way to go...
I also now have enough information to identify the step I need to hit on my 7th climb - the 50th, half way up the second flight of steps on the Podium level - in under an hour in order to secure the record. I'd also like to continue on to ten climbs; a total of 1,651.5m; 1.02 miles.
My sincere thanks to Mr Rushmore for his help and to all my supporters who were/are so very kind in supporting my charity efforts. At least I have an answer as to whether I got the record now, even though it's far from the one I hoped for!
Thanks too for Shelter's help and support. I appreciate it's a shame for them that a record wasn't broken on the day too. Fingers crossed for 2013.
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Why the odd amount? If every one of the 1200 Vertical Rush climbers each raise an average of £208.34, Shelter will get over £250,000 for their important work.
On March the 1st 2012 I'll be attempting to run up the 920 steps, 42 floors and 590ft of Tower 42 in London for Shelter, just as I did in a smidge under 7 minutes in 2011 for their Vertical Rush event. But with one small difference...
This time I'll not be doing it just once. I'll be doing it NINE times in succession. A total of 378 floors, 8,280 steps and 5,310ft; a little over a Vertical Mile! More than that, I'm going to attempt to set a new Vertical Kilometre Tower Climbing record along the way by covering 1km in under an hour, non-stop.
It would mean a huge amount to me - as well as the wonderful work that Shelter does - if you could find a few bob to sponsor me. I'll be training hard ahead of the climb (current record - as of Feb 2nd - 524 floors of the gym's Evil Stepper machine in an hour) and knowing it'll be doing some good really helps motivate me. Thank you.
Here's a little video I made last year to give you an idea of what's involved. Well, a nineth of what's involved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvSPgQ_SUEI
Post Run Update:
News of my record breaking attempt, which I'm happy to say went really well!
Despite training injuries which made walking very painful on the Monday ahead of the Vertical Rush event (I'd ran up the Upper Hundreds car park 50 times in succession - a total of 250 floors, 4,000 steps and 760m vertical in 35m30s - on the Saturday, that proved to be too fast!), which meant I had to postpone my planned second climb up Tesco's down escalator (I was going to aim for 103 minutes for a vertical mile rather than the 65min/1024m walk you reported on), I did take part in Shelter's Vertical Rush event on Thursday the 1st of March even though my legs weren't 100%. I'd rested them, tried Deep Heat and Deep Freeze to soothe them and eaten protein-rich foods to heal them... But frankly I was worried.
I arrived at Tower 42 around 7am on a bright, mild morning, got changed, checked my laces were tight and met with the organisers and timing guys, who explained how the attempt would work. Initially I was concerned about my speed (I'd trained to match my time last year; 6:58) as it took me just over eight minutes to complete my first climb, breathing heavily in the dry air of the air-conditioned stairwell all the way. However, my speed dropped more steadily than I'd expected it to - see the attached file for full details - and I paused after an hour - and five and a half ascents - to record where I was on the video headcam I was wearing, watched by an independent observer from Shelter. It appears I'd passed the 1Km a few seconds earlier, around 59m 10s; which if Guinness confirm the attempt, will mean I sent a new official world record. I've avoided saying it out loud, in case that jinxes things! I need conformation of several factors - the true height of the deck of the top floor included - before I can be 100% certain how long it took me to reach 1Km, but I am confident I covered the distance in less than an hour to set the record.
I continued on, completing the final three climbs in around 10:30 each (a decent enough speed for a single ascent) and finishing the vertical mile, to the applause of Shelter volunteers, after 1h28m18s of climbing, and 1h39m50s elapsed since the start, including the very efficient lift rides down. Waiting for the lift had been one of my biggest fears but fortunately Shelter had arranged a dedicated lift for me and it all went very smoothly. The charity were wonderfully supportive of my attempt and I hope to return to Tower 42 for next year's Vertical Rush with a fresh endurance challenge. There's always a wonderful atmosphere there, both before the event, at the top of Tower 42 - which has the best views in London. It really is stunning up there - and back down at the hall where everyone gets to see their times on big screens. With a full size Bob the Builder (Shelter's mascot) running around, plus a band outside welcoming those going up and coming down, it has a bit of a carnival feel and is run very efficiently. Shelter certainly know how to make people feel valued. I'd like to thank them, their enthusiastic volunteers, Tower 42 management - I met the building's manager, Barry, at the top - and all the kind people who sponsored me and helped Shelter; it's a day I'll never forget.
The whole experience was very surreal and it was only afterwards, looking up at the 183m, 600ft tower, that what I'd done began to sink in. I'd covered a total of 459 floors (the top floor of Tower 42 is 42, but that excludes service levels I passed on the way - I counted a total of 51 levels), 8,280 steps and 5,402ft/1,647m vertically. Even now it feels rather unreal.
The shower I got at Bannatyne's gym at the foot of the tower was really appreciated! And not just by me, I imagine :) Weirdly, the following morning my legs were fine - I'd expected to be walking like a zombie again - after my experiences earlier in the week - but if anything, they felt better than they had on the previous morning, ahead of the ascent. Strange but true!
I'm now switching my fundraising attentions to http://www.justgiving.com/marathonandon - as after two failed ballot attempts to get into the London Marathon, this year I was picked. So I have the Adidas Half marathon around Silverstone circuit this weekend to look forward to - hoping to beat 2 hours for the 13.1miles/21.1km - followed by my first London Marathon on April 22nd, which I'm running for The Stroke Association. My father had a series of strokes before he died in 2005, so it's a cause close to my heart. I'd like to complete its 26 miles 385 yards/42.2Km in a pretty steady 4 1/2 hours. So not planning on setting any records there :)
February 29th Update: It's been a dramatic week. Last Saturday I went to the gym, discovered it closed at 8pm so took myself to a local car park instead. I warmed up and spent 35.5mins climbing the 80x 19cm steps and 5 floors - 50x in succession. A total of 250 floors, 4000 steps and 760m up. While I could feel it on Sunday, by Monday I couldn't walk. Thus I had to postpone Tuesday's Vertical Mile training climb up Tesco's down escalator (103min+ planned) and have been doing everything I can to fix my legs in time for tomorrow's climb. Cashews and Toad in the Hole for protein, hot baths (ice cold to follow) and a mixture of Deep Heat and Deep Freeze gels, trying to work out which has the bigger effect. I hope I can get them back into shape in the next 23 hours... Pretty cross with myself but apart from rest and finger-crossing, plus the above, there's not much I can do at this point. I'll hit the painkillers & do my best.
February 22nd Update: The climb up the down escalator went well. Much easier than I'd feared. I stopped at 65mins/1024m more because I was hungry than tired. I hope to be back next week to try for a Vertical Mile! there. Here's some video of this week's climb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oc1D_TBO-E&list=UUWAufi7GxRUyXuTG0AyQ5Zg I also set a new stepper machine PB of 610 floors in an hour; 1615 calories. I've probably never been fitter. Go me! :)
February 17th Update: I set a new record at the gym today; 601 floors on the evil stepper machine in an hour. That's 1599 calories gone too. Two and a half horsepower? In other news, on Monday I'm walking up my local Tesco's down escalator for as long as I can - a much better test of my fitness level. Wish me luck!
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So please dig deep and donate now if you can. It would make a huge difference to me and help my motivation levels both for training and on the day itself.