Has anyone everydone a skyscaper race? Just wondering…I have the opportunity to maybe do the Hustle Up The Hancock in Chicago and had a few questions:
I did the Hustle a few times.
(Best time 12:02)
I started out with the stair races, after we organized 343 firefighters to do the Sears tower race in firefighting gear as a memorial of the fallen brothers at the World Trade Center.
From my training log 2002: “Decided to go with mask and air tank as well - about 50 pounds of gear, The bell came on at floor 40, turned the bottle off. It took 7 minutes to finish a 1/2 hour bottle.”
The next year I went in running gear. From the log " Ran up 23 floors, walked the rest. Fifth overall out of 4000 competitors! Work on hand-on knee technique, and get better lungs. Next year walk ALL floors fast."
I did the Tackle the Tower in Oakbrook as well a couple of times. Came in second overall wearing firefighter gear!
I did Hustle up the hancock in 2005: 13th place overall out of 4000 competitors. The time was 12:02
In my race notes I have " Big crowds, got slowed down by packs of people, finally opened up the last 3 floors sprinted to the top the 3 - plenty of energy left. Disappointed, could have gone about a minute faster."
I don’t know if these race notes will help or not, but go for it - the race is a lot of fun, if you think a world of hurt is a lot of fun.
My best advice is that the key to a good race is lung capacity. This is some very steep stairs, If you try to run in the beginning you will hit your VO2 max after 10-15 floors. I did some testing and figured that walking fast every other step is almost as fast as running them, but you can hold it for a little longer.
For the last 20 floors or so it’s all about how you can handle pain. Your body will be screaming for air, but here is no stopping until you are at the top. Mind over matter stuff - focus on being in a good place and delay the negative thoughts. Do not allow yourself to stop until the top!
To answer your questions:
A lot of people think this is about legs until they try it and realizes that it’s all about how fast you can get O2 to your bloodstream. Lungs and heart is being used to the max.
Recovery. I took me 4 - 5 days to fully recover.
Pacing - Very important. I learned the hard way about the walk, don’t run. It looks like 95 % of people there start out running and then crash. With this little secret you can pass them all 
Just a steady, quick walk. Take every other step, and pivot on one foot at each turn. Pull on the handrails with the inside hand. Use the handrails to take some weight off, and in the end I even push down with a hand on the knee to keep things moving!
Good luck!
very cool ( coming from someone who’s city has one story building)
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I did Hancock and Sears.
It is very anerobic so a marathon time would not matter, but your 5K or even better 3K time would be more appropos.
I did every step and used the handrails extensively. I am not graceful and would have killed myself skipping steps.
Early on(first 20 floors) the trick is to not go out too fast, but fast enough to pass the people in front of you before the logjam. With people starting every 5-7 seconds you will more than likely pass a person every floor for the first 20 floors. After that you will have some floors where you pass 5 people and others where there is nobody. Your speed will slow greatly as nobody follows the race on the left(counter-clockwise stairs) and you will have to break your rhythm by letting go of the handrail and passing on the right.
As you get nearer the top the floors are shorter and the stairwells are narrower and have a lower ceiling. Watch out for this as running into concrete with you head is not pleasant.
I disagree with the previous poster – recovery is trivial. I went home after finishing and ran, because I did not feel I got much of a workout. While it was happening my lungs were burning, but it is a pain that you don’t remember once the event is over.
I will reemphasize don’t sprint the early floors! Just like a marathon everybody goes out way too quickly in the first miles.
Best of luck.
I did HUTH 5 times, I think. Recovery is trivial–you spend 10-15 min. doing the race is all. If you already run your legs are in fine shape. You might have a dry, hacking cough for 1-2 days afterwards, which is normal.
Training on real stairs is very helpful. If you can train in a building of 10+ floors, great. Stairmaster will train your calves to take it but not what happens once you are 15-10 floors up when you first begin gasping for air.
I think a cross trainer type of shoe is better than a running shoe, since you’ll be spending your time on your toes.
Hydrate well before the start–the stairwell is extremely dry, and while they do have a water stop or 2, best to have plenty in the tank to start.
To clarify , it took me 4-5 days before the lungs recovered. Legs were fine the day of, but I got hoarse, coughed and generally felt like the lungs needed to heal.
Good topic:
Best time 10:19, 2nd 2 times. Watch out for Terry Purcell, he dominates this scene and always takes the title at these things.
I did the Top of the Hub Run up the Prudential Tower once, lungs felt more fried than the legs when it was done. As others have said, use the handrails where you can and be careful not to go out too hard too soon. Enjoy!