Stairs - Running Equivalence

Stairs for 50 minutes today, more than 200 trips (2800 steps) up and down at a little over four trips per minute, leg turnover at least 120 footfalls per minute, finishing heart rate 143. That heart rate corresponds to a running pace of about 8 minutes per mile. At that running pace I burn about 938 calories per hour (125 calories/mile * 60/8). Round down to 900. Today, if that rate of caloric burn is correct, I used up 750 calories in the 50 minutes. Divide 750 by 50 = 15 Weight Watcher points. That’s also 15 calories per minute. Is that math correct? Hope so.

Bottom line:

• Stairs at 4 trips/min up & down = 900 cal/hr, 3.75 cal/trip.
• Running at 8:00 min/mi = 938 cal/hr, 125 cal/mi.

I weigh 150 lb; these calorie values would be higher for a heavier person, less for lighter, roughly proportional to weight.

Good news is: NO HEEL PAIN. The last time I did stairs for cross-training, my left heel with plantar fasciitis began to ache after a while, but today it’s entirely quiet. Nevertheless I’ll ice it a bit. The bad news is my right knee does hurt a little, the same one that hurts when I bike, and in the same place. But I’m not as worried about that little pain because it doesn’t hurt at all when I run, though it’s about time for that pain to go away - it’s been hanging around since before Grandma’s Marathon, June 16.

Too many food pictures in the queue again, so here goes a day’s worth of meals:

Breakfast:

Organic oatmeal, organic milk, blueberries, organic strawberries, organic apricot. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 3.

Lunch:

Cold roast free-range bison, 100% whole-grain bread, organic pickle relish, organic yellow mustard, organic nectarine, organic plum. Estimated Weight Watchers points = 8. Nice post-run recovery lunch.

Supper:

Roast lamb, Jim's cabbage roasted with caraway, organic carrots with Jim's onion, roast organic sweet potato, Jim's beet roasted. Virtually eveything is local. Estimated Weight Watcher's points = 4. Cat in background is forever optimistic about a food accident.

Fruit-yogurt dessert:

Banana, organic red seedless grapes, blackberries, blueberries, organic plum, organic nectarine, organic fat-free yogurt. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 5. While most treats are gone in five minutes, this big bowl can entertain for twenty or more.