Climbing To New Heights

On November 8^th, University of Alberta Faculty of Law employee, Tim Young, competed in the 103 storey Willis Tower Skyrise Chicago race, as well as the Climb for Life stair race in the 58 storey 300 North LaSalle tower. With over 3000 people participating, it was the largest tower racing event in North America, where legends and world record holders such as Rudolf Reitberger, Cindy Harris, and many others from around the world came to compete.

Though Tim has been running stairs at an elite level for over 22 years, this was his first time competing in high-profile races.

The first race was in Willis (Sears) Tower, and the second race took place at 300 North LaSalle. The competition was fierce with Tim coming in 7^th for the first race, but dominating the second race, coming in 1^st, four seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.

The Faculty of Law offers sincere congratulations to Tim. We're grateful to have you representing us as a valuable part of our team and look forward to many successful races to come!

Interview with Tim Young

Q. Why did you start running stairs?

A. Originally it was to complement my figure skating and dancing and stair running was the best activity for training purposes. It made my jumps frighteningly high, and my footwork incredible. Then I realized that stairs let you do almost any sport or physical activity well.

Q. Do the long hours of training ever become boring?

A. Sometimes it's called "the lonely road." Even running legend Rudolf Reitberger asked me this when we met in Chicago at the races, since I run 16,000 stairs/day, which is unusual even among top racers. My brain never slows down though, and when I run, my brain is running faster, thinking about a million things. So really, I'm just running while mentally working on other things.

Q. What keeps you going and motivated?

A. A lot of positive thinking and strategic psychology, minimizing my perception of the difficulties, focusing on the easy aspects, and on what I'll be getting out of it. I discovered that a vegan diet makes a big difference for me. I also add purpose to training by using it to enable me to commute to and from work and for my breaks, thinking about other things while I train. This allows me to still have a life outside of training, and the excellent physical ability let's me do more living in a day.

Q. We notice you run pretty much anywhere you go. Why?

A. There's too much living to be done to walk. Life goes by quickly. Why waste the opportunity. It's a habit now.

Q. Isn't running stairs hard on your knees?

A. It's the opposite to what you might think. Climbing stairs is a no-impact activity, and can even be healing for the knees. If anything hurts, it's most often due to bad technique and/or a muscle imbalance. Even descending (I'm one of the few who "trains on the down") can be almost no impact with proper technique by moving gently, like your feet are made of glass, especially avoiding any abrupt jolting, and avoiding training too far beyond the point where you can maintain good technique.

Q. How do you know you're not pushing too hard?

A. You get to know your body after a great deal of time and training. Gentle (but immense/daily) persistence makes it sustainable, and consistency is key. Sometimes you learn to limp without having it turn into a muscle imbalance or bad technique, or you learn that your heart won't explode if you keep pushing. (I also have various testing done, like ECG, VO2Max, Wingate, etc.) In the beginning, things like muscles, tendons, bones, etc will be at risk if you push too hard, but with proper technique your limits change to things like how fast you can metabolize oxygen. EVERYTHING changes with stairs - your muscular/skeletal and circulatory systems, in ways you wouldn't expect. Though, if you push too hard at a given moment on the stairs you'll quickly run out of anaerobic (sprinting) power and collapse, so you want to max out your aerobic range until close to the end of a race.

Q. We notice you wear unusual footwear. Can you tell us something about this?

A. I've found so many benefits from using minimalistic footwear like my Vibram FiveFingers "Signas". They're sold as water shoes, but I've found they're VFF's best and most minimalistic shoe. With proper toe separation and NO support, it's much easier to zero in on proper technique. You run more softly and efficiently. The small size also gives me greater clearance on the stairs, and I love the way they feel. Vibrams allow all the small muscles to work in the lower legs, making physical development more well-rounded and technically sound leading to better performance and less chance of injury.

Q. When did you start competing?

A. I've been running stairs at an elite level for over twenty-two years, but I'm a private time trialer. The Chicago double-header actually constituted my first two official races. The president of the US Tower Racing Association described me as "definitely the darkest horse of the races". They've been trying to get me to compete for a long time, but the schedule just hadn't worked out, and I'm focused more on being my best than on competing, especially with the race expenses.

Q. You said you competed while feeling under the weather, please explain?

A. I did end up having a cold-the sore throat didn't lie-and insomnia did its thing with a max of two hours of sleep. I missed my proper eating the day before the races, and the jitters were sickening. I'm not terribly thrilled with my performances as a result, but I'm not worried either, and it's even exciting because I think my training was 'spot-on'. Next time, if I simply continue to train in the same way but eat, sleep, and don't get sick, I should perform better, especially if I'm able to be less nervous. I'm super happy with my pre-race training times, but that's also about 9.5% slower than my fastest time, which I might be able to work my way back to, but who knows what will happen. I think for LaSalle, my unusual volume of training kicked in and compensated for my handicaps. I'd like to run better with my handicaps though. We'll see.

Q. What's next?

A. I've now joined the International Towerrunning Association, and I have one more race to do to be "ranked" in the US system, so most likely it will be a race in the US. However, I've also been told I may be invited to the world championship though, so 'worlds' could be next!

Q. Is there anything additional you'd like to add?

A. What a great weekend! The stair-running community is wonderful! One of the greatest things about the experience was how the community kind of follows the motto of the Bahamas: "Forward, Onward, Upward, Together!". The competition/points aspect is really secondary (as it should be) and we all move up together. Everyone is elevated as individuals, and as a group. It's a wonderful experience, and I feel very fortunate. I'm very thankful!

I'm so grateful to work at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law where it's okay to be different, where I'm allowed to physically run (both during my breaks, and in the course of my job), where I'm allowed to dress differently, and be my best in my own way. The students, staff, and faculty are so supportive and they all seem to realize that when I'm able to do these things, I'm my best for them. I think they know I'd pretty much do anything for them to make life easier, whether extremely technical or mundane, requiring great speed, time, effort, or patience.

For more information please check out: https://towerrunning.com/news.html