Vinnie Tortorich

Nikki Kimball was a cross-country skier by the time she was three years old. She did biathlons, which is a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting. She also loves to run. In 2004, she signed up for one of the toughest races in the ultraworld, the Western States 100. She not only ran the 100 miles, but she was the first woman in and won the whole thing. She won it again in 2006 and 2007. This year, she won the women’s division of Marathon de Sables which is known as the “toughest footrace on earth.”

Nikki is an Incredible Athlete

• Won the Western States 100 three times
• Won the Marathon de Sables
• Never did a staged race in the desert before
• Carried all her food, sleep gear and medical supplies for 7 days on her back

What She Eats

• Eats no pasta and doesn’t carbo load
• When she was first starting out, was told by a doctor that American athletes were fat because they ate too much fat
• She was training around 15 hours a week of hard aerobics and was gaining weight eating a high carb diet
• Wound up undernourished and hungry and turned to sugar, carbs and grains
• Realized she had to get fat adapted to keep up her energy

Robert “Bertie” Portal is a British actor and ultra-athlete. He is known for his work in movies, television, theater and radio. He can be seen in “The King’s Speech” and “Iron Lady” and is in the soon to be released movie “Mr. Turner”. Vinnie and Bertie Portal discuss his endurance event of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.

How it Started

• Bertie bought an ocean endurance boat that is self-righting
• Doing it for the charity Facing the World, which helps children with facial deformities in third world countries
• Wanted to conquer his fear of open water
• Had no rowing experience
• Wanted to see how he handled potentially lethal situation

Training

• Trained in small cellar with rowing machine in pitch dark for 12 hours
• Wanted to make himself physically and mentally stronger
• Only had banana and a bottle of water during training
• Also trained at a gym on a rowing maching at level 12 for 2 hours
• So much of endurance is mental
• Rowed with partner James Cash for 24 hrs as part of training

What Bertie is Doing Now

• Still working for “Facing the World” Charity
• Just came back from Marathon des Sables
• It is a 6 day event where you do a marathon everyday
• In the middle of the week you do 2 marathons in a row
• No crew. Carry own water
• Bertie tells Vinnie he is not a natural athlete
• Next Bertie is working on swimming the English Channel