Stair Climbing Training

In this week of stair climbing, I increase to 136 floors. I go to the same 40 storey block as last week. But I change to 5 floor of 2-step-at-a-time and 5 floor of 1-step-at-a-time. Then, switch to the other stairwell. I try to keep my heart rate below 160 as well. The chart below include the warm up and warm down portion.


Overall works well. Take me about 40 minutes to finish the 136 floors, about 400m vertical. More important, I still feel great after the climb.

Trail Hiking in MacRitchie & Bukit Timah

This week hiking route is similar to last week. Starting from MacRitchie going clockwise. I went up to the HSBC tree top walk but they are not opened yet. I went to Bukit Timah via the Rifle Range Link. Go through the summit three times. I think I almost cover every single marked trail in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve - South View Path, Toban Loop, Rock Path, Catchment Path, Keruing Path, Rengas Path, Serays Loop, Dairy Farm Loop. Only missing the North View Path. By the way, the Rock Path is really tough one.

Total distance covered is 32km. Time taken is 6hr 22mins. I have taken a much slower approach in going up the Bukit Timah Summit, keeping the heart rate in reasonable range and it works!!

From the elevation chart, you can clearly see that I went up the summit three times.

Interval run

I am restarting my interval training. 400m x 5 with 2 mins in between walking.

Stair Climbing

My weekly stair climbing. This time, same 40 storey building but extend to going up 3 times. Total is 117 storeys.

I alternating going up 2-step a time vs 1-step a time for every 4 storeys. Therefore, you can see the saw-tooth effect on the heart rate. When I reached the top, I took the lift back to level 1 and start again.

Condition is still good after climbing up the 117 storeys. I can still run the 400m back home.

Trail Training

Another trail training at MacRitchie & Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. I have added a side trip to the HSBC tree top walk. Also an additional North View trail at Bukit Timah.

Total distance is 28.5km and time taken is 5 hr 25 minutes. During the uphill climb on the Bukit Timah Summit path and North View trail. I was going too fast and heartrate goes up to 172. I need to learn to slowdown on these steep uphill climb.

From the Elevation chart, there are three steep uphill climb - the one before HSBC treetop walk, the Bukit Timah Summit path and the North View Trail. Though the distance for these three are relatively short, but the steepness is very similar to MacLehose trail.

Stair Climb Training

I have found a taller HDB block at the junction of Alexandra Road and Commonwealth Ave. It is 40 storeys tall. I went up, take the lift down, walk up again, take the lift down and walk up to the 24 floor for a third time. Totally, I covered 101 storeys. I believe each storey is about 3 meter +, therefore, I totally covered more than 303 meters.

MacRitchie / Bukit Timah Hike

I need to find some good trail to practice. When I search around in MapMyRun, I found a North Face 100 training which is around 23 km. I feel that it is suitable and therefore decided to follow the route.

The route goes halfway round MacRitchie, then take the Rifle Range Road to Bukit Timah. Go through the catchment trail, summit and then down. Then, I took the Kampong Trail to go back to MacRitchie and finish the loop.

Overall is 25.5km and took me 4 hours 25 minutes. A little bit on the slow side. The stair climb to the Bukit Timah summit is good but a bit short. Next time, I should go around it 2-3 times.

Stair Climbing

I have another Stairclimbing training on a nearby HDB block at Dawson Place. The HDB is 30 storeys tall. I went up, walk down, walk up again, take the lift down and walk up for a third time. Totally, I covered 87 storeys. I believe each storey is about 3 meter +, therefore, I totally covered more than 261 meters.

Recovery Run

After Saturday/Sunday's trailwalker training, I have a recovery run today. A short 3.5km started at moderate run/walk to faster pace at the end.

I need to resume my 3-trainings-a-week schedule to prepare for the trailwalker.

Trailwalker training

During my visit in Hong Kong, I join the team of 10 to have a training night walk on the MacLehose Trail stage 3 & 4. I have not hiked in Hong Kong for more than 15 years (possibly 20 years). And I never had any night walk on trails in Hong Kong. Thanks for YC (veteran in trailwalker) in organising the training.

I bought a head-mounted LED light with a hand-held torch light. Also bought a walking stick. All these items are from Ap-Liu Street. The head-mounted LED for HK$24, the torch light for HK$25 and another $25 for the walking stick.

The original plan was to cover stage 3, 4 & 5. But at the end of stage 4, the team voted for exiting via 飛鵝山道.


The total distance counted by the Garmin 305 is 24.22 km, excluding the part from exiting Camp Gilwell (基維爾營) to Choi Hung.


There are a couple of long climb. For example, the 1st 1 km was a uphill climb with 220m elevation gain. These climbs are tough. Even my 70 storeys stair-climb training is not enough. During the stage 4, my quad muscle has started to get tired and I have to slow down and taking 10 second breaks for every 15-20 steps during the uphill climb. Overall, the team spent 9 hours on stage 3 & 4 (we do have two extended breaks with each last for 15 mins). I can go faster on the flat and downhill portion. The walking stick proved to be very useful (the first time I use walking stick). The head-mount light was a bit weak. I think I will buy another one that is brighter. But the weather is really hot and humid. Even at the top of the 雞公山, there is very little wind. I used up about 4 liters of water/isotonic drinks. Luckily, we have a supply at the end of stage 3 and don't need to carry all the water. I also not using the proper shoes. I brought along the Mizuno Elixir which is too soft and not providing enough support.

Just the stage 3 & 4 is so tough that it is almost equivalent to finish a full marathon. Luckily, the stage 3 & 4 are the only two 3-star stages in MacLehose trail. The rest are 1-star and 2-star only. But still need more training, especially for the quad and the minor muscles to control the ankle.