For the third year in a row I decided to participate in the American Lung Associations’ Fight for Air climb in downtown Minneapolis. It didn’t take as long for me to decide to sign up this time as I was motivated to perform at the fastest time I’ve climbed these stairs ever. My goal was to conquer 680 steps in 5 minutes. My best time was over 6 minutes and last year it took me more than 7 minutes to complete all of these stairs. What would it take to achieve 5 minutes? A lot of work with the biggest hurdle being my ability to breath. My lung capacity always has appeared smaller than others affecting my endurance even in high school when I played football. It’s something I’ve struggled with but with hard work and dedication I can improve the ability to breath.

At first my plan was to hike hills and climb stairs as much as I could along with riding my mountain bike. My first ride last fall was somewhat unpleasant as the bike kept reminding me of how inadequate I was to be riding at a fast pace for any length of time and that hills were an obstacle beyond my abilities. I did not take this well but all that told me was how much I really needed to be out on a trail riding the bike as hard as I could as often as time allowed to regain some of the health I’d lost over the previous year. Quitting was worse than the ride I had just completed! But now my goal of 5 minutes seemed really far away too.

Over the next several weeks I continued to get out 3 or 4 days a week either riding or climbing stairs as much as possible and improvement became noticeable which encouraged me to keep working harder, but then Mother Nature decided to weigh in. All of a sudden the ground was coated in ice with a little bit of snow mixed in making it very difficult to continue riding and dangerous to climb stairs. Now what? After a couple of weeks struggling to train it was time to do the thing I wanted to do the least – join a gym! Working out while being in a stationary location seemed absurd to me, but being ready for the climb was a higher priority, so with a month to go it was off to the gym.

Surprisingly I didn’t hate going as much as I thought I would and I was motivated to go. Rotating between the stair machine, stationary bike, and elliptical machine I sweated away trying to work my lungs as much as I could handle.  And then one day it was time to enter the water and swim laps. Another activity I despised while listening to others who did laps every week. I’m not a strong swimmer but love snorkeling in the ocean. In a pool there’s no fish or corals or even a shark to motivate me. Have you ever swam with a sea turtle? You don’t realize you’re even working out. Well, until you look up once the turtle has gone and realize how far you need to swim back.

Entering the pool I planned to do 6 laps on this first attempt. Completing my first half of a lap I was breathing pretty hard already. Was swimming really this aerobic? Am I really this out of shape? There are people swimming next to me that just keep going and going – How? Returning to complete the first lap and it was time for a break to catch my breath. Once again how out of shape I must be has confronted me. Eventually I did swim 6 laps, a half a lap at a time, and sat up out of the pool almost completely exhausted. Sitting there staring back into the blue water while an internal struggle commenced – time to take a shower and leave this place, exhausted and a little defeated, or get back in the water and work even harder? Could I even stay afloat now with fatigued muscles? After a minute or two and the life guard continuing to glance my way I re-entered the pool determined to do 1 more lap. That lap completed, after stopping at the halfway point briefly, and then I did another. By this time my body was telling me safety was becoming a bigger concern with being able to stay afloat so I exited and ended my first experience in the pool.

With only a few weeks until the Fight for Air climb I continued to get better but the Stairmaster informed me that 680 steps in 5 minutes was highly unlikely. A little disappointed each week that my performance had not improved more it was time for me to take on this challenge. Unfortunately I had been battling a cold for the past few weeks and on this day it decided to stage a comeback making breathing more difficult once again but it wouldn’t stop me from trying anyway. All I could do was my best.

Getting all checked in and securing my number to my shirt and tag on my shoe it was time for stairs. A few stretches to warm up and my time arrived. Step after step, floor after floor, I could feel the difficulty I was having in breathing and my time was not going to be what I was striving for, but I didn’t stop. I did have to slow down for awhile in order to catch my breath so I could continue on and reach the top at a fast pace. With only 10 floors to go I was struggling to pick up my pace but tried to get going faster again. At that point my cold was really affecting me, causing difficulty to catch my breath, and I could feel my heart pounding. Now with 5 floors left I forced a faster pace and reached the top sooner than I expected, yet disappointed that my goal was not met. Walking around to slow my breathing back down and reduce my heart rate I felt pretty good overall so working out did make an impact verses the previous year where my chest really hurt from my heart pounding which lasted for almost a week. The hurt was more like a muscle that had been worked than what I believe a heart attack to be like so I didn’t worry too much about it and I could still breath normally.

After 15 minutes I went to check on my time and saw that it took more than 6 minutes for me to complete the climb. Not even close to 5 minutes I was shooting for but still better than either of the previous 2 times I participated in the Fight for Air climb so not all bad. My cold probably cost me a few seconds of time but even with that I would not have made it under 6 minutes. Once I finished I knew I didn’t push hard enough at the top so I was responsible for another few seconds of time. Combining those things I likely would have been under 6 minutes, but still a ways away from 5. What does this mean for me? I’ve got a whole year now to train for my goal of 5 minutes! I will continue at the gym and once warmer weather arrives get back out on my bike to keep pushing and training.

Overall it helped me to maybe feel what it’s like for those that can’t breath normally most of the time and what they must deal with on a daily basis. Knowing they can’t use their full potential because of the inability to take in the air required to do so. I’m so appreciative to be able to breath in a normal manner even if my lung capacity is smaller than others. Five minutes in 2020! (That’s 2.27 stairs per second or 136 per minute)