Monthly Archives: June 2015

Training June 20th – 26th

This Week  51.2  Miles

Saturday June 20th – 4.8 miles, 5 sets of 64 push-ups, 20 minutes of Planks

Sunday June 21st – 20 Miles in  4:21:51 LSD.  3 sets of 25 squats

Monday June 22nd – 4.8 Miles, 4 sets of 9 chin-ups, 3 rounds boxing the heavy bag

Tuesday June 23rd – 4.8 miles, 5 sets of 64 push-ups, 20 minutes of Planks

Wednesday June 24th – 12 miles LSD In 2:45:25. 3 sets of 25 squats.

Thursday June 25th – 4.8 Miles, 4 sets of 9 chin-ups, 3 rounds boxing the heavy bag

Friday June 26th – Date night with my Wife!

I could still feel my Centurion walk on my 20 miler this week.  Mostly in my knees. Other than that my recovery has been good.  Working on a training plan to add Back to Backs to my workouts. Start my new plan after my half marathon in just over three weeks.

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Training June 13th – 19th

This Week  39.2  Miles

Saturday June 13th – 4.8 miles, 5 sets of 64 push-ups, 20 minutes of Planks

Sunday June 14th – 12 Miles in 2:37:41 LSD.  3 sets of 25 squats

Monday June 15th – 4.8 Miles, 4 sets of 8 chin-ups, 3 rounds boxing the heavy bag

Tuesday June 16th – 4.8 miles, 5 sets of 64 push-ups, 20 minutes of Planks

Wednesday June 17th – 8 miles during the horizontal rain of tropical depression Bill. 3 sets of 25 squats. I might grow webbed feet with all the rain I have walked in this last year.

Thursday June 18th – 4.8 Miles, 4 sets of 10 chin-ups, 3 rounds boxing the heavy bag

Friday June 12th – Date night with my Wife!

Feels good to be back on a training program.  I actually missed training.  My strength training was not as easy as before my Taper.  My Walking feels like I never raced or took a break.  Picked right back up where I left off.  Pleased.

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New Goal

I am goal oriented. I need a goal. A BIG goal. My last BIG goal was achieved. I became a United States walking Centurion. A very satisfying feeling. Now it’s time to set a new goal.

I want all Five active World Centurion badges. United States, Great Britain, Australia, Continental Europe, New Zealand. Only six people have all Five.  A lofty goal to be sure.  A goal like that needs to be taken in steps. I’m thinking like two steps per year.

My Goal, A BIG Goal. Earn my Australian Centurion Badge.

The Australian Centurion Qualifier is in Coburg, Victoria April 2016.  That is about 10 months from now.  I will use this Blog to record my Training and Races leading up to my Goal Race.  Going to be fun!

The quest to walk 100 Miles in 24 Hours in Australia.

 

 

 

Training June 6th – 12th

This Week  100  Miles

Saturday June 6th – Start of the 2015 United States Centurion Qualifier

Sunday June 7th – Finished with 100 Miles in 22:37:49. United States Centurion C 78

Monday June 8th – Day Off

Tuesday June 9th – Day Off

Wednesday June 10th – Day Off

Thursday June 11th – Day Off

Friday June 12th – Date night with my Wife.

Easy week for me this week.  Only problem I have had is a deep blister under my left heel.  Thursday was the first time I could put any weight on it.  Looking forward to hitting the road again Saturday. I have been as content as my cat. Reaching my Goal has been very satisfying. I refuse to stop here. I still have a busy race schedule this year.  I have a half marathon in 5 weeks. A 12 hour race in October. 24 hour race in November. Back to back Marathons on New years Eve and New Years Day.  Time to get back to work.

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Tips to Achieve a Centurion

Find the right shoes: A Centurion would not have been possible in my old name brand shoes. My feet were covered in calluses. I got blisters every race. My feet were my weak link. I made a transition to Zero drop shoes with a wide toe box. My calluses went away. All my foot problems went away. Find the right shoes to become a Centurion.

Consistent training: Train six days per week. Every week. Never skip training. If a conflict comes up. Use your scheduled day off to train and skip the conflicting day. Get up extra early and train before the conflict. Stay up later and train after. Plan training into your vacation. Be Consistent with your training.

Strength Training: A 24 hour walk uses more than just your legs. Prepare your body with strength training. I use Planks, Push-ups and Pull-ups. You must embrace the Planks Exercise for your core. Planks will make everything you do easier. It makes Walking easier. It makes push-ups easier. It makes pull-ups easier. Learn to love the planks exercise.

Never skip or cut a workout short: This is about a Mindset you will need for a Centurion. You will want to train your mind. The job is not done till it is done. No quick out. No easy path. If you are having a tough 28 mile long walk day. Finish it. The last five minute set of planks is tough. You will not stop. Finish it. The reward comes when the job is finished. It is a mind set. Never skip or cut a workout short. It is the tough workouts that build centurions. Become mentally Tough.

Speed: You will need to walk sub 5 hour Marathons during training. Even better is a sub 5 hour marathon while racing a 50K. The end of a 50K race is very close to how you will feel during a Centurion. I know a Centurion is not a speed contest. A walked sub 5 hour Marathon is tough. It requires a consistent hard pressed drive with your legs. You will need this consistent hard pressed drive to do a Centurion. It won’t be as fast. It will be just as tough and much longer. Work on speed. Do all your training walks at a sub 12:30 minute per mile pace. Sub 12:00 minute per mile pace is even better. Train your legs to drive. When sub 5 hour marathons become easy. You are well on your way to a Centurion. Work on Speed.

Control your pace: Just like in a Marathon you must control your pace. Don’t go out too fast. Your Centurion will become a death march. A VERY long death march. Set a pace and stick to it for the first 15 hours. After that let your mind and legs decide if holding your pace or speeding up is an option. Be sure and set a pace fast enough to allow for a slow down late in the race. If you get behind the clock catching up will not be an option late in the race. It is much better to bank some time early on. Learn to Control your pace to become a Centurion.

Eat and Drink: You can not walk 100 miles without food and drink. I like to drink a cup of water at the top and bottom of each hour. I eat a handful of food at the quarter and three quarter hour marks. I like to start out eating a handful of candy each time. Peanut M&M’s, cookies. Every six hours I want some real food. PB&J sandwich, pizza, burger. Later in the race I eat what ever looks good. Do not eat to much and do not stop eating. I eat and drink while I walk. I do not take food breaks. Experiment with foods before your race. Find what agrees with your stomach. A coke late in the race can help get you to the finish.

Never Quit: No matter what happens. Never ever even consider the thought of quitting. You are going to feel lots of different pains in 24 hours. If it does not change your gait walk through it. I promise something else will hurt later. You will forget what hurt before. Your Mind will fight to shut everything down. Thoughts of sleep will take over. You must overcome these feelings. You will have to over rule your own mind. The heavens might open up. There might be water to wade through. A rock might fall into your shoe. Do not Quit.

Becoming a Centurion is not a super human feat. It does however require a Large heart and a load of guts. Train hard. Become the person that can Walk 100 miles in 24 Hours. A CENTURION!

2015 United States Centurion Qualifier

Wow! I set a goal of becoming a United States Walking Centurion. A goal much larger than myself at the time. I had to train hard, log lots of miles, devote a lot of time towards such a big goal. I had to become someone else. A much leaner, mentally tougher me.  29 months from couch to Centurion. Over 4500 Miles walked. 8 half Marathons. 9 Marathons. 56 miles in a 12 Hour race. Tens of thousands of push-ups. Thousands of chin-ups and Squats. Hours and hours of Planks. When I crossed that 100 mile mark I was flooded with emotions. It was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Nothing I could write comes close to what I feel.  I Did It!

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The 2015 United States Centurion Qualifier was the F.A.N.S 24 Hour in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The field of 24 hour walkers included a married couple Justin & Sharon Scholz  with Australian Centurions badges.  Two fellows from Netherlands. Antoine Hunting and Jantinus Meints.  Both with Continental and British Centurion badges. Long distance walker Ollie Nanyes.  A chance to witness some world class long distance walking.  The F.A.N.S. Support staff was top notch.  Very supportive. A big thanks to our event Judge Bruce Leasure. We have a U.S. Centurion qualifier because of Bruce. In Oklahoma most people would give you the shirt off their back.  U.S. Centurion John Greene and his wife Betty from Minnesota would give their shirt, home and most likely their car. Everyone involved with the race was positive and upbeat.  Walkers, Runners and Support staff.

My game plan was to walk the first 15 hours at an average pace of 13:47 per mile.  Giving me almost 66 miles logged with 9 hours to go.  That would allow me a nice cushion for the remainder of the race.  Not so fast at the beginning to ensure I had the gas to finish.  Part of the excitement with any new distance is the unknown.  I tend to be very conservative when I don’t know what to expect.  Slow at the start.  Quicker at the finish.

The race forecast changed my plans. An 80 percent chance of thunderstorms overnight.  The race officials would stop the racers if it came a lightning storm. The clock however would continue on.  With this in mind I rolled the dice on starting with a faster pace. The idea was to front load the miles.  Then even with an hour delay I might still hit one hundred miles. The new pace 13:20 for 15 hours.

I got to the race early.  Found a picnic table where I could watch everyone show up.  Meet Ollie right off the bat.  Ollie is no stranger to ultra distance walking events. Next to catch my eye were the Dutch Centurions. Easy guys to spot. What you would expect double centurions to look like. They sat across from me in the timing and lap tent.  Then the Australian couple showed up. You could tell from their meeting there is a magical bond between Centurions. They came from opposite sides of the earth but they had all chewed the same pavement. They had a connection and you could tell it. I so wanted to be part of that magical bond.

At 8am sharp the race started. First an out and back then 2.14 miles around Lake Snelling. A beautiful place to race. Lots of shade and big trees. One fourth of the course was paved path. One fourth a paved road. One half a graded dirt trail. The trail had some small rock and some one inch size rock. A few steady up hills and one sharp drop down hill. Many areas had roots and buckled asphalt from tree roots.

The race started pleasantly cool. I had no problem holding a pace a little faster than 13:20. That is good because they were telling us the storms would arrive around 11pm. I started to have a problem. Little rocks were getting in my shoes. It got to be a game with me. A rock would get in. I would adjust my footfalls. Try and herd the rocks to places that did not hurt. If the rocks all gathered under my arch or around my toes I won the game. When you walked the tangents on the trail you had to cross the one inch rocks. On my lap 8 all four of the centurions lapped me.  It looked like they were racing.  Not me I stuck to my plan. Every lap I had to go down that sharp downhill. It hurt to go down. Later it became almost unbearable. Every four hours you had to weigh in. Lose to much weight and the medical staff would hold you. It made you eat and drink every lap. No problem for me. I eat like crazy.  I never dropped more than three pounds. At the eight hour mark I changed socks and dumped the gravel out of my shoes.  Patched a blister on my right big toe. My sweet wife Brenda crewed for me. I never let her go to races. I feel sorry for those wives and kids that watch daddy take off. Then wait around for 5 hours for his return. She was going to crew for me and that was that. I am glad she did. The afternoon turned out Hot and very humid.  Not hot and humid to me but to anyone not from Oklahoma or Florida. I had just got my lap back from the Centurions. Then it happened. A rock jumped in the back of my left shoe. Got right at the bottom outside of my heel.  I could move it but only to the middle of my heel. I would just live with it till hour 16 and change socks again.  I noticed some thing about the Dutch Centurions when I passed them. They did not hold their arms at a 90 degree angle.  I tried it. It was perfect for relaxing my arms while maintaining my pace.  Then I saw it, Lightning flash.  Every time I passed the lap counters I counted it a blessing I could get one more lap. It came one of those Oklahoma Thunderstorms. It rained so hard all I could see was rain with my light on. The low spots had over ankle deep water. The water running off a nearby highway washed out two gullies in the dirt path. The road section looked like a river with Rapids.  Still they let us race and we were glad to do it. There was water. The dirt turned to slick mud. It was crazy. My friend the rock had made a big blister under the callus of my heel. My friend the sharp downhill hurt my legs beyond belief.  I slipped all over that dirt path. Waded through water. Walked around the gullies. Got where no food looked good. Wet socks for six hours. Every reason to throw up your hands and say, maybe next year.  None of us did that. We all five did what Centurion’s do. You keep going, You finish.  It really is 80 percent mental.  I needed 46 laps. On lap 45 it hit me. Empty tank. No power. I was out of gas. I used everything I had and nothing was left.  Brenda told me I could not stop now. I don’t know how I finished that last lap. I would have cried but I was too tired.  John Greene was at the little down hill from hell to walk in with me. I made it. Made the mistake of sitting right down. Almost passed out. No blood in my head. Laid on a picnic table for an hour. Brenda was so sad her camera battery had died. Would have made a great before and after comparison picture.  I knew a Centurion attempt would be tough.  Turned out even tougher than I thought.  Oh what a rush crossing that finish line. No wonder Centurions have a magical bond. It is a Spectacular event with lots of emotions and challenges.  A test worthy of a special name.  CENTURION!

My finish time  22 hours 37 minutes 49 seconds.  I finished after the Australians and before the Dutch racers.

5 New United States Centurions.  Bottom row L to R,  Antoine Hunting,  Justin Scholz, Sharon Scholz . Back Row L to R,  Myself, Jantinus Meints

Capturephoto by Betty Greene

image.jpg1_zps0fewudxx Mile 40. Feeling no pain.

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Finishphoto by Pat Sackett

The finish. Yea!  United States Centurion John Greene in the background.  Thank You John.

Split times.

SPLIT TIMES

11703072_764135450376383_6845163125297777843_nCenturion Rob Robertson

Training May 30th – June 5th

This Week  28.8  Miles

Saturday May 30th – 4.8 Miles on the sidewalk around the Hotel in Lubbock, Texas

Sunday May 31st – 8 miles at Centurion race pace 1:47:47.

Monday June 1st – 4 miles, foam roller workout.

Tuesday June 2nd – 4 Miles

Wednesday June 3rd – 4 Miles

Thursday June 4th – 4 Miles, foam roller workout.

Friday June 5th – Travel day to Minneapolis for the Big race.

I am ready for the Big day.  Legs feel great.  I am well rested.  My six week diet to reach the 150’s came up a little short.  Weight 160.8. In six weeks I lost 4 pounds.  It is a juggling act trying to get enough fuel and still lose weight.  Now the nerves have kicked in.  Butterflies and nervous energy mixed together.  The Race weather forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain.  All that training in the rain might just payoff.

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