VITAMINS/SUPPLEMENTS
See your doctor before taking any vitamin or supplement, doing your own research & doing what works best for you. I do offer Online Fitness & Nutrition Coaching. Email coachrob@worldfitnesschampion.net $20 per session $80 for a 7-day week.

I am often asked how to research which are the best vitamins and supplements.
I use the internet searching Web MD, Livestrong and Wikipedia.
Once I find three separate sources that all agree on the same information and have no advertisement attached to it, you are on the way to the truth.

TRAINING PARTNERS
I get a lot of emails, questions, and every time I give an interview, they all ask me about my training partners.
Well, there weren’t any, other than the pups over the years. My first training partner was a great cow dog named Buck. He was my dog on the ranch as a boy. He was my training partner from Jr. High, High School, and when I was home from college. He was always there waiting for me at 5:00 AM ready for those early morning runs providing pace, company and security. He was extremely protective over me, especially as a kid. He was a great dog and a great friend.

The first pic is of the late wife and Blade (Sir Gray’s Blade) He was a 90-pound Doberman. He was a great loyal friend and my running buddy for his entire life. This pic was taken in a spare room with over 300 trophies, medals, plaques and ribbons for track & field, road races, triathlons, and cycling races. The ex said before he got old enough to go with me on the morning runs that he cried for me the whole time I was out. I really miss that pup; he was like a big kid to us both.

There were other rescued strays that were great, friends and running buddies over the years, 14 different dogs to date, and I do miss them all. Give a dog a chance, give a dog a home.
It will make you a better person, and they gotta be walked/run, so they will help to keep you in shape.
Believe me when I tell you you will love them all for a lifetime, and you will never have a better friend.

The next pics are of Wolf (Lone Black Wolf Powell), a Black German Shepard. He got up to 100 pounds when full grown. He was my only training partner during the World Record Years. I still morn his loss. He was always there waiting for me. He was very special, as they all were in their own way. Wolf has a special place named for him, as you will read about later. As you see from the pic, he was also a ladies man.

Then there was the old stray Black Lab that wandered up to the ranch house. For the things that I do, he was as useless as tits on a boar hog. But I loved that dog. He needed more attention than a 16-year-old debutante. I never knew how old he was or even his real name, but I called him Beau. I bawled like a baby when he died. He was a great and loyal friend and a good running partner.

Now, I have Buck. Yeah, I do recycle names, and he is the first of many that was worthy of that honor.
His full name is Buck Diefenbaker Powell. I rescued him at almost 7 months old. He is also a great & loyal friend, and an awesome training partner. He has run and swam farther and jumped and climbed more difficult terrain than any animal I have ever heard of. He has on many occasions ran up to a half marathon with me, and then swam with me for 1 mile. When climbing, he has followed me up cliffs that other men had to turn back on.
He hit 125 pounds once he got full grown. He also, as all my pups are famous ladies men, as these pics will attest to.

Buck passed away on August 21, 2018. I was and still am devastated losing such a loyal friend, protector, and training buddy. See the YouTube show for more on him and the other pups.

WOLF CROSSING
One half mile from the gate of a hike and bike trail known as Lacy Point on the South side of Lake Waco is an old 4 way stop now known as Wolf Crossing.
Today it has the largest and oldest pecan tree in Texas at the SW corner with a sign carved in its trunk that says Wolf Crossing.
Of course, I have no idea how it got there. ; )

This hike and bike trail was created by the floods of December, 1991.
It was once a regular drive through park with boating and camping.
Since raising the Lake Waco level in 2004 the area floods at any heavy dew.

It got the name when my former wife and I were there training for races.
She rode the bike while I did speed work. We had some great memories there.
She reminded me that we had company coming over and we were going to watch “American Werewolf in London”. Being the typical smart ass that I am, I said, “lets just get past this Wolf Crossing and I’ll pick it up the last half mile to the gate”. Since that day, it was referred to as Wolf Crossing.
When Wolf, my Black German Shepard died on October 19, 2005.
I drove 1,000 miles to bury him there, further signifying the name.
Today, Wolf Crossing is gaining popularity as a meeting place on this trail.

BEST WEIGHT LIFTING DAYS
It is true I have 5 World Records involving Weightlifting, and those were great days and great memories.
There are also great memories of training sessions of lifting 50# dumbbells in each hand for 50 reps of curls.
And 50# dumbbells in each hand for 50 reps of bench press, followed by 50 reps of 40# dumbbells in each hand for incline press. There are also training sessions of 50 reps at 150# of lat pull, 50 reps of 200# of seated row and 50 reps at 225# of hammer strength chest press.

However, I would have to say my best weightlifting day was during my second WFC/Guinness World Record in 2002, when doing seated row at 100#. It was supposed to be a 50 rep session but I just kept going.
Next thing I knew it was 100 reps, then 125, then 150, then 200.
I finally got tired and went to the next station after 275 reps.

I remember saying, “no one will ever believe that, a record within a record at the end of a long competition”.
They said, “nothing you do is believable, but we all saw it, and it’s on tape .
That’s also true, they all saw it, and it is on tape.
That has got to be my Best Weightlifting day.

Best Cycling Days
There are so many to choose from when asked about my best cycling day.
There are the 4 World Records. The ride across the Southeast US in June 2002 on the Natchez Trace, from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville Tennessee, 443 miles, with 177 miles on the last day through the mountains of Tennessee with thunderstorms. There was also the ride across Texas in June, 2003 from Corpus Christi to the Red River, 500 miles, when I was nearly killed by a rogue truck. Those all come to mind.

However, I would have to say my most memorable ride was in 2001, when I was training for my first World Record riding to work at the Waco Alternative School through Cameron Park. It was early September, the weather was perfect, and the air was so crisp and clean that day.
I remember seeing two boys from the Baylor Cycling Team on their really nice road racing bikes. I was on “Man O War”, the name given to my old mountain bike. There are some serious hills in Cameron Park, so I set off after them.
Even though they had lighter, faster bikes than me, a 1/4 mile head start, and I outweighed them by 50 pounds and many years. I know I was stronger on the hills and faster on the flats than they were, and I wanted to prove it.
The next 1/4 mile was the second toughest hill in the park. I caught and passed them both within that 1/4 mile.
Now it was stay ahead of them for the next 5 miles which turned out to be no trouble at all. After the next mile, they were no longer any competition. I got to the school pretty full of myself and happy for my morning win.
Then, I saw my principal. He was waiting for me to arrive.
He told me on this beautiful day of September 11. 2001 that a plane had just flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers. My first thought was a small Cessna plane got lost in the New York fog.
At the time, I could have never imagined the horror or the reality of the situation and all the problems it caused.
So I’m not sure this was my best cycling day, but it is certainly my most memorable bike day.

Best Swim Days And Best Run Days
I am very fortunate to have 5 World Records associated to swimming.
But if I had to pick one, it would no doubt be a separate day from all that, and I would have to say the day I swam across Lake Waco and back, 3 miles in June 2002, to raise $$$$ for an animal rescue shelter.
Not much of a story really, it’s swimming. I had a boat escort with 2 lifeguards and media.
My friend, manager and former student-athlete Beau Brabbin was there for help and support.
We raised a lot of money to help rescue many dogs that became pets and helped their owners to get outside and shape up walking and running with them.

Before you wonder and ask, there is no best running day. The best day was my last day of running.
I love to run. I love running alone, or with my dog, or wolf. It is the perfect time to pray, think, and solve problems.
While you are running the mind can relax and allow the free flow of ideas while you are focused on your running.
It works just like meditation does, and much more physically beneficial.
There it is. The answers to all those repeated questions over the years.
I hope you enjoyed the answers as much as I did living them.
Now get out there and make your own memories.
God bless you and yours, Rob

I was asked to post my best combined PR Run Times by numerous emails, so here they are 40 yard dash 4.40, 100 yard dash 9.90, 100 meter dash 10.87, 200 meter dash 21.27, 400 meter dash 49.00, 800 meter dash 1:53, 1500 meter run 3:57, 1 mile run 4:07, 2 mile run 8:43, 3 mile run 14:57, 5k run 15:22, 4 mile run 20:56, 5 mile run 26:13, 6 mile run 31:03, 10k run 31:58, 15k run 48:57, 10 mile run 55:16, Half Marathon 1:11:55
These times aren’t the world’s best by any means, but they are World Class. Very few, if any others in History have such a varied range of World Class times from 40 Yards to the 1/2 Marathon. I’m proud of that and having a 4.89 40 yard dash, timed in the grass on a football field, at age 50, just before being seriously injured that June 2nd and losing my speed.