Some Workouts May Be Harmful To Your Training

On Sunday, at the fire station we went to the Town Center in Virginia Beach to climb the stairs of the Armada Hoffler building. We do this every weekend. When we work Saturdays we just go up in workout gear. On Sundays we dress out in full firefighting gear with air pack and tools. It is probably an extra 50-60 pounds carried up.

This past Sunday I started off fast. I started by taking two steps at once. I began to pull away from the rest of my crew (who are very fit and young). So the competitive nature of mine made me go even harder. By the end of the 23 1/2 floors I was pretty spent. It only took me under 5 minutes to get to the top and I finished an whole floor and half ahead of the other guys. Then came the hard part...going down. The eccentric contractions of your legs hurt and they are what will make you sore the next day, or three.


Later on that night we had a fire in which we all worked really hard. By the next morning I had a hard time just walking. So I skipped my easy ride.

Tuesday I still had a hard time walking. My calves were tight and very painful. So I skipped my intervals and the Trashmore cyclocross practice.

On Wednesday I was back at work and my calves were still sore. So I skipped my strength training.

Here it Thursday, they are a little better but still tight. I will force myself to do my workout today. Unfortunately it is riding and running hill sprints. That will probably put me back into the category of too sore to move.

So even though I thought going fast up the stairs was great cross training, I have concluded that it hurt my program. I will take it slower next time.