Hetzler Stairs Of Hell aka Culver City Stairs

This training was scheduled for yesterday evening, but I had to work late, so I didn’t have enough time to pull this off before it got dark out. If I really wanted to do it last night, I would’ve had to put my headlamp on. And I would have been running the stairs up and down in the dark and would have injured myself. Hence, I decided to get up a bit early this morning and it turned out to be a smart decision.

First, I ran over to Baldwin Hills. It was a short and easy run. I didn’t want to run fast  because I knew walking up the stairs would demand a bit of stamina and I didn’t want to exhaust myself even before I started it.

The last portion of the run was about 0.1 mile of uphill, which took me to the bottom of the stairs. And I looked up and saw the notorious and yet popular stairs already filled with morning joggers firmly standing. Walking up about 280 steps offers a good elevation gain of 200 plus feet and makes you sweat and huff and puff.

I used to run up the switchbacks of this Baldwin Hills to the top. This morning I was there to work on my quads, glutes and hamstrings. Of course, I worked on them at the gym a couple of days ago, but today, it was a combination of both strength training and a bit of running. And especially I was walking up and down the stairs consisting of different sizes and heights of stone steps, my anticipation was to feel how differently those muscles were engaging from those gym workouts.

Walk up. Walk down. Repeat.

While up there, might as well, I was enjoying the view, but frankly it was quite smoggy and hazy. It is sometimes good not to know about it. Of  course, because I saw this, it was not like I would have remembered it all day, but as this photo shows, it once again reminds you that this is a typical view of Los Angeles. And, yes, this is the worse drought ever California is experiencing.

Once I was done, I ran back home. Although it was another short and easy run, after 3 times of walking up and down the stairs, I felt that my legs were a bit tired during the run. And, I made sure not go overboard because tomorrow’s 23 mile hike will be definitely strenuous, followed by another long run on Sunday, which is going to be 16 miles.

Since my Amazon order of energy gels are to arrive next week, I need some immediately for Sunday’s long run, so I will probably have to stop by Adventure 16 tomorrow or Sunday and get some.

What kind of strength training are you working on? Do you do stairs? Do you feel more comfortable doing core and lower-body workouts at the gym than walking up and down the stairs?