Welcome To The Great World Race Challenge

Written By Greg Wells PhD

Seven Marathons. Seven Continents. Seven Days.

This November, my daughter Ingrid and I will walk the Great World Race. Seven marathons, seven continents, seven days. It starts in Antarctica on November 15 and finishes in Miami on November 21, with Cape Town, Perth, Singapore, the Algarve and Cartagena in between.

We walk one, sleep on a plane, land on a new continent, and do it again.

The reason is simple. A year ago we both looked at where our health was heading and decided we wanted a different answer. Not a small correction. Something big enough to reorganize how we eat, sleep, move and recover every single day.

We wanted a goal large enough to spark real changes in our daily behaviour, because changed daily behaviour is what remodels your physiology. When you train consistently, your heart develops a larger stroke volume and your muscles build more mitochondria, which means you extract and use more oxygen at every level of effort. My own VO2 max has gone from 31.6 in January to 43 this month. Nothing dramatic happened in between. Small things happened, repeatedly.

So - the Great World Race. And we would love you to come along.

Here is what I am building for you between now and the start line.

Every week you will get a short video, a brief article and one small task, each built on a single piece of performance physiology you can use that day.

During race week, November 15 to 21, you design your own 777: seven healthy habits, about seven minutes each, seven days in a row, ideally alongside someone you care about.

Your 777 is whatever matters to you. We will be walking a marathon in Antarctica, and that part is not the point. Maybe yours is a 5K, making dinner with your family, calling a friend, signing up for dance lessons. It all counts.

We just want all of us to get healthier together.

To get you started, today's video is longer than the weekly ones, about 15 minutes. In it I ask you four questions designed to give you the best chance of success.

Watch it, journal your answers, and come along for the journey. In case it helps - here’s today’s worksheet.

We're so glad you are here.

Dr. Greg & Ingrid

PS In case you missed it here is the video where we announced the project .

PPS And here is the video where we share how we’re training to get ready.

Greg Wells PhD

For Dr. Greg Wells, health and performance, particularly under extreme conditions, are personal and professional obsessions. As a scientist and physiologist, he has dedicated his career to making the science of human limits understandable and actionable. Dr. Wells has spoken to audiences all over the world at events such as TEDx and The Titan Summit, where he has shared the stage with Robin Sharma, Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak and Deepak Chopra.

For over 25 years, Dr. Wells has worked with some of the highest-performing individuals on the planet, including Olympic and World champions, and with organizations ranging from General Electric to BMO, Deloitte, KPMG, BMW, Audi, Sysco Foods, YPO and Air Canada. He is also committed to inspiring children and young adults through his close working relationship with school boards and independent schools.

A veteran endurance athlete, Dr. Wells has participated in the grueling Nanisivik Marathon 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Ironman Canada and the Tour D’Afrique, an 11,000 km cycling race that is the longest in the world. He is also a travel and expedition adventurer who has journeyed through every imaginable terrain and conditions in over 50 countries around the world.

Dr. Wells is author of three best-selling books – Superbodies, The Ripple Effect, and The Focus Effect – and hosted the award-winning Superbodies series, which aired on Olympic broadcasts worldwide in 2010 and 2012.

Dr. Wells has a PhD in Physiology, served as an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Toronto and is an exercise medicine researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

He is the CEO and founder of The Wells Group, a global consulting firm committed to achieving the moonshot of helping teams, schools and businesses become places where people get healthy, perform optimally and ultimately - reach their potential.

http://www.drgregwells.com