To say Robert Clark runs a lot is an understatement.
"Monday and Tuesday runs are 30 miles each," Clark said.
Clark is training for the Trans Rockies Ultramarathon in late August. The race takes runners through a six-day 113-mile journey up the Colorado Rocky Mountain.
"We are running over mountains," Clark said.
To the average person, an ultramarathon may sound like a crazy task, but to Clark, it's a goal he says he can have great success in achieving.
"In ultramarathon distance races most of the winners of the races are in their mid 30s and 40s. Younger people don't tend to have the endurance to train long enough to endure that much of a distance," Clark said.
In his mid 30s getting to the race without injury will be a rough task.
"What's really big in distance running is shin splints, stress fractures all throughout the tibia and all throughout different bones in the foot" Catz Sports Performance trainer Bill Meyer said.
Clark has been able to avoid these problems. He attributes his success to the Alter G-Trainer anti gravity treadmill. The technology behind the machine was originally created by NASA and is now used by runners at Catz Sports Performance to take some of their body weight off while they run thereby minimizing impact.
"It can take up to 80 percent of his body weight off of him but allow him to still go through his natural arm mechanics and leg mechanics are all normal and the same," Meyer said.
Clark still has to pound the pavement several times a week. Balanced with proper core workouts and speed training on the G-Trainer, he thinks he can reach his goal of completing his first ultramarathon injury free.
"It's not something you can say today I'm going to do it and tomorrow do it," Clark said. "If I can do that accomplishment it's an accomplishment I can carry for a long time."
