We need to record how many paces/stairs/circuits we’ve completed. Recording steps (paces) taken is easy - you can use a smartwatch, fitness band, pedometer or just your smartphone to track your steps. Your phone can track how many steps you take and how far you walk all by itself, assuming you just carry it with you in your pocket.
If you're climbing stairs, you have a few options to record the number of circuits completed.
use a physical tally counter or digital counter to record each circuit
use paper and pen at the top or bottom of your stairs to record each circuit
carry 5 small items (e.g. pebbles, coins or whatever you have to hand). Pick up one of these items when you start your first circuit. Pick up the second when you complete the second, and so on. On every fifth circuit, when there are no more items to pick up, mark another 5 circuits as complete on a piece of paper and start again with the first item only. Alternatively, you could move these items from one pocket to another until all items are in one pocket, then mark 5 circuits as complete
If you have access to a laptop, you can do this by using two Excel spreadsheets. On the first, you simply record ‘1’ in a cell every time you complete a full circuit, then hit return/enter to move the cursor to the next cell down in the same column. In a second spreadsheet, you input a formula into a cell here to add up all of the entries in column ‘B’ in the first spreadsheet. Now, every time you complete and record a new circuit in spreadsheet 1, the number of circuits completed in spreadsheet 2 will increase by 1. In another cell in the second spreadsheet you can automatically calculate the number of metres climbed. Other cells can calculate how many metres remain, allowing you to have a 'live' view of progress and metres remaining at all times.
Now you’re ready to begin your Virtual National Three Peaks Challenge!