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In case anyone else would find this interesting...

I have to do something to motivate my carcass to get out and moving. I am going to enroll in the Hardrians Wall 90 mile virtual run. You register, either Individually or as a team, and then use a fitness tracker/app to log your miles that you run/walk/cycle into their app. The app charts your progress and displays it amongst other teams. There is a virtual reality component in the app as you can see where you are along the route. When you complete the route they send you a medal. Looks like a cool way to get focused and motivated. They have other shorter and longer events. The English Channel is 31 miles, while Route 66 is the longest at 2,280 from Chicago to LA. It’s only 30 bucks to enter. I figure cheaper than a gym membership.

I think I am going to try to get a team together to do Route 66 challenge.


https://www.theconqueror.events/hadrians/

My brain almost had a sympathetic aneurysm just reading the topic title. But it isn't an actual all-at-one-time combo ultra-marathon/Trojan race kind of thing. Whew.

I find this quite appealing. I’ve run 39 full marathons and one 50k, but this whole Covid-19 thing has had marathons cancelling left and right, but I haven’t had a 20+ mile run since March.

With this team, what kind of timeframe are you looking at? I’m good for about 100 miles a month.

KC5AV wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:29 am I find this quite appealing. I’ve run 39 full marathons and one 50k, but this whole Covid-19 thing has had marathons cancelling left and right, but I haven’t had a 20+ mile run since March.

With this team, what kind of timeframe are you looking at? I’m good for about 100 miles a month.

I was thinking of getting my Brother in law in the mix. He is a firefighter and does stair climbs and marathons all of the time. Me... not so much. I am just starting after many years of no exercise so you may not want me to drag you down...

The max time frame is 18 months. You can shorten it or lengthen the goal as many times as you want. So we could set a longer time frame and get 4 or 5 or however many people into a team and divide it up. I wish I had known about this in Feb.

I started walking again when the quarentine started and have been logging 4-5 miles a day. Since I started wearing a Fitbit, May 31st, I've logged over 70 miles. Nothing that's going to break a record but I'm proud of it. Thought about trying to run it, but know my knees won't take it so I alternate a +/-30lb ruck pack every other day or so.

This challenge looks like it could be interesting if nothing else.

KC5AV wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:29 am I haven’t had a 20+ mile run since March.

Oh man, me either!

In all seriousness, I'm only a 3-5 miles per run, kind of guy.

With all my usual 5K events canceled... this does sound like a good idea!

KC5AV wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:29 am I find this quite appealing. I’ve run 39 full marathons and one 50k, but this whole Covid-19 thing has had marathons cancelling left and right, but I haven’t had a 20+ mile run since March.

With this team, what kind of timeframe are you looking at? I’m good for about 100 miles a month.

You can be on my team. Between your 100 and my -10 per month, we can finish it in one month. What do you think?

Seriously though, I am getting back into starting a program also. As soon as the doctors clear me, I am going to start the couch potato to 5k program. I was walking 7-8 miles per day before I got sick again.

I'm only doing 10-15 miles per week right now, but that will increase as I get used to the heat and I start training for my next half.

I'd be willing to join.

Had an idea and looked at the website, as well as the "parent" site, https://www.myvirtualmission.com/, and everything available, including the "custom" challenges, are all distance based: walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, etc. Makes sense, since then you can hook a FitBit or other tracker into it.

But I've never been a distance kinda guy. I'm on the stationary bike 2 to 3 hours a week because I need the aerobics, not because I or my backside likes it. I do a little running, but only 40s, 100s, and occasionally 220s; wind sprints, what my dear wife lovingly calls "Centrum Silver Shuffles." Easier on the knees and, mentally, I can concentrate that long. I'm wired for anaerobic bursts.

What we need is a similar type of virtual challenge thingy, but for folks who prefer slingin' iron to cross-country runs. Unfortunately, no way to really quantify stuff like bodyweight calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups, unweighted pull-ups or dips, elastic resistance bands, etc.), but with any implement of a known weight, you could simply record the weight and the number of reps performed, multiply the weight times the reps, and there's your output; total the results for all sets in the workout.

I did a little quick math, and my "moderate" back workout today (right now I'm doing a periodized schedule with light, moderate, and heavy poundage microcycles alternating among five bodypart areas through a 15-day cycle, 5 days on, 1 off) and it came in right at 40,000 pounds calculated that way. And I ain't that studly. Again, just ask my dear wife...who pulls no punches and never asks me to open a jar.

If you pick up a pair of 20 lb. dumbbells and do, say, a set of 20 curls, that's 40x20=800 lbs. Do a set of 10 deadlifts with 315 and you've notched 3,150 lbs. Adds up really quick! And looks a lot more impressive written down than it really is. I had no idea I lifted a total of 40,000 pounds this afternoon.

But that could lead to some pretty cool challenges. Like, say, the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Battalion Challenge. The M1A1 weighs 67.6 tons. A battalion usually has 4 companies of 14 tanks, plus 2 more tanks for Headquarters Company, for a total of 58. Call it 3,921 tons, or 7.842 million pounds. At a 40,000 lb. clip 5 days a week, that would take about 39 weeks.

Could have longer and shorter goals, keeping it heavy metal military focused for the coolness factor. "What's an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Battalion Challenge?" "It means I lifted the equivalent weight of a full battalion of 58 M1A1 tanks."

A longer one could be the USS Winston S. Churchill Challenge. She's an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer displacing 9,200 tons fully loaded, so 18.4 million pounds. At 40,000 lbs. per workout, you'd need 460 workouts to get there. If you do five a week, it's a 92-week affair. A shorter could be the Black Hawk Assault Helicopter Battalion Challenge. There are 30 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks in a CAB assault helicopter battalion, and max take-off weight is 23,500 pounds, for a total of 705,000 pounds. That would need only about 18 workouts; at four per week that's only a little over one month.

Okay. Back to real-world stuff...

Well it looks like there is some interest. I am probably the least physically fit of any of you but I will contribute. I am planning on trying to do a mile or two per day. I am going to sign up for Hadrian's wall as a single. Its 90 miles.

Here is a list of the challenges.

Camino de Santiago - 480 miles
The English Channel - 21 miles - obviously a little small for a team.
Inca Trail - 26.2 miles
Hadrian's Wall - 90 miles
Alps to Ocean - 180 miles
Great Ocean Road - 149 miles
Grand Canyon - 280 miles
Length of UK - 1,083 miles
Route 66 - 2,280 miles
Appalachian Trail - 1,968 miles

Now everyone has to pay the $30 for each event they enter. If we could get enough team members and divide up the miles we could do the Route 66 challenge. We can set it for 18 months and if we do it faster then it will be done faster. I am only going to be good for a mile maybe two a day while I get started.

Route 66 - 2,280 miles 10 people for 78 weeks (the max time) = 5.8 miles per person per week. I can contribute that at the start but 78 weeks is a long commitment... We could do one of the smaller ones.

Syntyr - 30 miles per month
KC5AV - 100 miles per month
Katy00 - ~ 100 miles per month
Flechero - ?
TomV - 60 miles per month
Rafe - Want to join?

I'm in, I assume if we go over the distance we're fine right? For example, you have me for ~100 m/m say something happens and I pull off 120 or more, it just goes towards the tally right?

Every time i think about exercise i lie down till it passes.

kayt00 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:46 pm I'm in, I assume if we go over the distance we're fine right? For example, you have me for ~100 m/m say something happens and I pull off 120 or more, it just goes towards the tally right?

Yes. I have 3 half marathons to do by the end of the year to hit my goals. As I ramp up, I'll be doing over my numbers.

TomV wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:55 am

kayt00 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:46 pm I'm in, I assume if we go over the distance we're fine right? For example, you have me for ~100 m/m say something happens and I pull off 120 or more, it just goes towards the tally right?

Yes. I have 3 half marathons to do by the end of the year to hit my goals. As I ramp up, I'll be doing over my numbers.

So after I sign up how do we get into teams?