Stairs of Death

On Friday I took the run squad for a little jog towards Maroubra along the coast to the end of the path in South Coogee, with the sole intent of coming back to the stairs of death (coogee stairs that take you up to Denning St) and did them three times with only a walk back down as recovery.


The stairs are quite shocking for first timers as they go on further than they seem when you first look at them, as it is only the half way point you can actually see from the bottom. I did warn them we were going to do these so the warm up was supposed to be easy.

I wanted everyone to give 100% effort going up the stairs each time and take as much time as they needed to go down the stairs for the recovery, but keep moving. I timed my first trip up which took 1:17 at an all out pace.

I was hurting when I got to the top. The recovery was nice, but more difficult than I thought as it made my thighs burn even more than going up the stairs. The second one was going to be great fun...in a demoralizing way.

So I get to the bottom of the stairs which means it time to go back up. I started up at the same pace I had the first time up them. the pace was quite hard to keep as my legs were burning, especially the thighs from taking two steps at a time. There is this one section which the double step seems like taking three steps, as they are quite big and then the burning sensation really hits.

I'm past the halfway point and finding it harder, but still keeping a good pace. I am really aiming to get as close to my first time, so I keep pushing up the stairs at a frantic pace trying to forget about the searing pain in my thighs and glutes, just trying to think about quick feet. Oh, my calves seem to be on fire too.

I find it hard to keep the pace at the top, but know it is almost over so push myself to keep going. I finally make the top in 1:24, so not as fast as I wanted, but not as slow as I thought with the burning legs.

The trip down this time was horrible and took me almost a minute longer as the burning continued throughout my legs while taking it easy going down the stairs. I knew the third one was going to hurt, but I wanted to get as far up it as I could before the runner came down too far. I wanted them to know I was still pushing hard even though I was in pain because I knew they had to be hurting as well.

So on to the real reason I call these the stairs of death, the third time up trying to go as fast as possible with just under 4 minutes of recovery (under 3 on the first return) and legs already gone from the first two goes. But up we must go for a final time. This is by far the hardest and slowest, but not from a lack of effort as I really wanted to see how close to 1:30 I could get.

It was just after the halfway point in which I had to stop taking 2 steps at a time because it was too hard to lift my leg that high. So I was now taking one step at a time, which seemed easier at first, so I thought i would be able to pick up the pace. However, soon after starting to take one step, my calves were starting to feel the effects of these stairs and my foot was coming off the steps as fast.

I started to walk the flat, so I could push myself through on the stairs, with a little under a 1/4 of the way to the top. Then I was barely able to get my leg high enough to do one step at a time and was bent over at the waist and throwing my arms up in the air to create enough momentum to get my legs up each step. My heart was pounding my chest, my lungs felt like they were on fire and my legs working just enough to get them barely high enough to get on the next step.

When it was all finally over, I thought to myself, "why did I say we would return to the bottom after the 3rd set?" because I had no desire at all to see those steps again after how my legs were feeling.

I had a massage after the stairs after not having one for three weeks (I usually get one a week) and was in a serious pain as those knots (more like steel cable) were pressed on to loosen them up. I was not sure how a run on Saturday would go, but I was going to make an effort, so I didn't have to run before touch footy Sunday.