28 Days Later
Hi folks!
It’s been a month (or, you know, nearly) since I started hoofing it to the gym every other day to walk up the down escalator. Most of it was “fine”, in that:
- I did it
- I did not die
- I was pretty ok the day after, and
- I maybe did one or two extra floors, as a treat.
But mainly, it’s been a month of learning how things work, and how to plan the rest of this challenge. And I’ve learned a lot. But first things first: here are the 1 Month stats
February
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CURRENT ELEVATION: 4.91 kilometres above sea level
TOTAL TIME: 3 hours, 53 minutes, 40 seconds
TOTAL FLOORS: 982 (24,550 steps)
AVERAGE PACE: 74 spm
AVERAGE STRAIN: 3.75 out of 5
AVERAGE VIBES: 3.2 out of 5
Nearly 5k is an alright amount in a month, I reckon. But -as some of you will have already noticed- this is too slow a pace to get it done in a year.
Planned floors vs Actual floors
From the start of February, I have 48 weeks in which to get to 20,000 floors aka 100 kilometres straight up (or, if you want to be persnickity, up at a ~45 degree angle) That means that I have to climb an average of 417 floors per week (rounded up) - In February that would’ve added up to 1668 floor, but the info above states I’ve only done 982. So what’s happening about the other 686 floors?
I’ve taken them, and scattered them lightly over the last six weeks of 2025. Over the course of February and March I am slowly increasing my week-upon-week planning (I started at 200 floors) until I hit a number slightly above the 417 average. The floors I ‘missed’ will bring this number closer to 500 a week near the end of 2025. It all makes sense. On a spreadsheet.
Not Pushing It
The reason for these skewed weekly targets is of course that I expect to be in better shape by the end of the year than I am now. And I have deliberately not gone and gunned it and done ‘as many floors as I can’ because I want to make sure I’m actually able to reach the end of the year. This month I’ve discovered that my muscles are fine, fully able to do it, very rarely have I had aches and stiffness in my leg muscles. Having said that, my calves complained more than I’d like but that’s mainly due to me not being very diligent about warming up and looking after them.
Pushing It
There was exactly one day where I would have rather done anything else than walk up a down escalator, up to and including pulling out my own teeth. Not surprisingly, this was the morning after a couple of delicious drinks. I was hungover, and it was like I was trying to move while wrapped in a wet duvet. I had to push hard to scrape it over the edge. I’m not keen on feeling like that again.
Vibes
I’m enjoying myself. I have good tunes on while I walk, and since it hasn’t been THAT difficult, motivation isn’t that diffiocult yet. If you’d like to contribute to my “Songs to walk up the Stairs to” playlist on Spotify, click here: https://linktr.ee/stairstospace
While you’re there, please do contribute with a donation to Drake Music Scotland.