FitView
By Efren Martinez
Staying Alive
Well you can tell by the way he uses his walk he’s a racing man with no time to talk.
When Bob Tennent takes his place at a race you can bet that he’ll be “Staying Alive” speed walking with no “Jive Talk’n.” Eat your heart out John Travolta AKA (Tony Manero), with this 69 year old unlike any other racer, he’s a speed walker. Although some may think that pushing 70 might be a bit too old for racing, in Bob’s mind age is just a number and his racing finish times more than prove it. In fact you might have been past by Bob at any one of his local races. He’s the guy who speed walks to the finish line with his arms swinging in motion as if they were propelling him through the air. Although Bob may not consider himself a speed walker, more so “just a guy who walks faster, and farther than the average person.” It was back in on April 2, 2013 when a friend of his challenged Bob to walk the Modesto Peace Officer’s Memorial Half Marathon that was to happen in September 2013. This was Bob’s first timed race and his goal was to finish in under 3 hours. He ended up crushing his goal with a time of 2:38:08. His amazing pace was 12:04 per mile. That’s smoking fast even for a run, but Bob wasn’t running or even jogging, he was walking. On November 1st, 2015 he participated in the Fresno Half Marathon Walk. He ended up doing extremely well with a finish time of 2:37:56, placed 2nd in 60-69 age group, 2nd in Master 50+ group, 3rd in Men’s Division and 3rd Overall/out of 130 walkers.
With such great times under his feet I asked Bob how often does he walk per week and what’s the distance? He replied, “When I first started walking in April of 2013 the first week I started with 3 miles and did just 10 miles for the week. By the end of April I had walked 49 miles. Prior to the Peace Officer’s Walk in September I had walked 345 miles. In the first three months of 2014 I walked 639 miles and in 2014 I walked a total of 3004 miles. Now I usually walk 7 days a week, but normally don’t walk much the day before a race. The distance can vary from 3-5 miles a day to 12-15 miles when I have the time. In the past three months August-October I’ve walked 700 miles.” What an inspiration to us all!
As we get older it’s even more important to stay active for one’s mind, body and soul. With that being said, I asked Bob if his overall health has been changed in anyway from his choice of fitness/walking. He said, “In January 2012 I weighed over 250 pounds and had a waist of 44″. I hadn’t exercised in 20 years. In May 2012 I weighted 232 with BMI 33.2, Body Fat at 36.9% and Muscle Mass of 26.8%. I was 4″ short of being able to touch my toes. I started working out at the gym, three days a week, and over time increased to working out 5 days a week and added walking. I actually got my weight down to 160 after walking a half marathon, but my body told me that was too low. In November 2013 I weighed 168, which is less than I weighed in High School and I had lost 12″ off my waist. My BMI was 24.1, Body Fat was 15.4%, Muscle Mass 37.7% and I could wrap my fingers over the ends of my toes a 7.5″ improvement.” WOW!
Efren Martinez
To motivate & inspire
