Wednesday, March 31, 2010

24 hrs (recovery zone)

First off… THANK YOU EVERYONE! I definitely feel humbled by the support this MORE Project effort received. From my awesome volunteer support crew, to those who pledged and donated, to Paislee for being an AWESOME crew chief! You all have my utmost respect and gratitude!

Well, Sunday night was a blur as we got back, unloaded the car, and passed out. I was actually a tad surprised by how good I felt Monday, and my Chiropractor was likewise surprised by how relatively limber I was considering less than 36 hours earlier I was finishing up my 64th mile… I guess the training program paid off somewhat!

My right knee is finally back to normal today as well, and so the only real residual affect is some muscle soreness in the Anterior Tibialis, and the Gastrocnemius (likely due to the heavy use traveling over that crazy, off-angle, ankle-twisting, slick-rock landscape) and the feet. I think I’ll need to adapt some of my winter training to include some kind of trail running simulation, and some weight lifting to build up the muscles in the lower leg and around the knee. There was so much heavy pounding running on that slick-rock, that I think I’d have had greater endurance with some greater muscular support around my knees.

The feet issue is primarily the toes… I think I goofed on maintaining proper foot care. I know I should have changed socks more frequently (every 4 laps would have been smart), and probably applied a skin lubricant between the toes each sock-change. Likely would have made a difference. The other item is just the actual “impact” on the feet. They’re still a tad sore, so I have to assume that’s part of the equation, but I’m going to ping out to my more accomplished running associates and see what advice they have to offer.

Lastly, I’ve decided to adjust my race schedule for several reasons. I’m not going to do the Fruita race, and instead going to do the SLC Marathon. My pacing crew is doing the half-marathon, so I can run with them for the first 7 miles, and then Allen Steele from my office is running the marathon so I can run with him for the rest of it… assuming he doesn’t run me into the dirt! He is fast on his shorter runs, so if he’s going to hammer it that way for 26.2, I’ll have to fall back. All in all, 26.2 will be a better option than 50 considering I only have 19 days until the 17th and I’m still recovering from the 24hrs.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

24hrs... Not quite!

Well, after 19 hrs my right knee was rapidly swelling, and my 12th lap had taken almost 2hrs and 20min of extremly painfull limping to accomplish... So I called it a "day" and crawled into the car to try to regain some core body heat. After 4 hrs of fitfull, but at least warm sleep, I hobbled my way over to the finish area in time to hear the horn blast indicating the official end. My 64.44 miles was definitely not enough to place in the race standings, but will make a significant multiplier for all the pledges-per-mile for Paislees MORE Expedition, and that's what really counts!

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Lap nine done!

Well, connectivity has been a major challenge! We're on our way back and trying to catch up with the postings, so hang with us!

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Location:Cotter Mine Rd, Moab, UT

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Finish lap 8


Legs are a little cramped for pops. But the pacers will help out significantly.


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Finish lap six


Doing strong. Dad is slowing down just a tad so he can make it through the rest of the 24 hours.


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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Finish lap 5


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Lap 5


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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Lap 4

Backing off the pace.


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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Lap 3


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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

3 2 1 go!


There goes popi. We'll see him soon. :)

Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Almost ready

About five minutes before the race.

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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Dinner


Eating dinner with tina and steve. It's awesome. Getting ready for tomorrow. We'll all talk to you in the morning. :)

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Location:Kane Creek Blvd,Moab,United States

Friday, March 26, 2010

WINDY!

Well, definitely going to skip the barbecue at the basecamp tonight!! 9 seconds of video below show a quick escape!

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Location:Cotter Mine Rd,Moab,United States

Heading South!

Here we go! Listening to the Doors and hoping the storms are heading somewhere else!

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Location:Bangerter Hwy,Salt Lake City,United States

Thursday, March 25, 2010

<48 hrs to the 24 hrs!

Well, I'm over at the gym for a light walk, some stretching, and that'll be the last of the exercise til Saturday! It's a little odd hitting the treadmill at the gym and being able to type on the iPhone at the same time... But I need to stay loose and at the same time not deplete any of my glycogen reserves. It's a pasta, fish, and veggie night tonight (yay!) and I'm hitting 5 meals a day to stay on the "gain" cycle.

I'm getting pumped to just get going! It's an anxiety-rich environment right now, being this close, but not quite there!

PaIslee will be shooting a video blog segment as I complete each lap, so it should show my slow degradation into total exhaustion... ;). Hopefully it'll prove entertaining for those "tuning in".

Again, MAJOR THANKS to everyone who has pledged, donated, or supported this adventure! The next blogs will be video! Woooohoooo!

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Location:S River Front Pkwy,South Jordan,United States

Sunday, March 21, 2010

D-day Approaches!

Yesterday was the one-week mark to the 24 hrs




of Moab Solo Challenge. I’m getting nervous, for sure. My big concern is keeping my IT band in good shape, as that seems to be my Achilles heel in running. I’ll be using my “marathon stick” on it each lap to try to keep it in good condition, and supplementing electrolytes like crazy. It’s a theory… hope it works.

Just for grins, I reviewed the results from the 2009 race, and there were only about 10 men in the solo run, and only one ran all 24 hrs… and he placed 3rd (after 64+ miles). Yeah, it’s about total distance covered, and the guy that placed 1st stopped running at about 2am (after 80+ miles) so he didn’t have to run all 24hrs to win. For me, it’s not about the “win”; it’s about getting as many miles as possible for the MORE Project Expedition. Not that a “win” is a possibility for me, but it would be a killer serendipity to actually place in the top three somehow. I’m targeting a 60+ mile event, so there’s a slight chance I could be in the running for a place!

I’ve been doing some zone 1-2 runs to keep limber, but not deplete my glycogen stores. I ran hard on Thursday, spent about 30 minutes in zone 3, with 15 min in zone 2 before and after, and definitely felt the effects. Today I’ll run 90 min in zone 2, and then three more 60 min zone 1 runs before Saturday, and I’ll be eating well this week… fish, pasta, rice, dark green veggies, and full supplements. It all comes down to giving myself every possible chance to make the best of the pledges Paislee has received for this event. If you’re reading this, and you haven’t pledged… please do! :) (email me with your pledge-per-mile at vince.romney@gmail.com) Thanks to everyone, and stay tuned for more on this entertaining little adventure!


Friday, March 12, 2010

Real Life...


I’m realizing that running is absolutely not “real life”. Supporting that whole “living in-doors, eating food, paying tuition, attending band concerts, parent-teachers meetings” thing is real life… and it gets in the way of running. As a result, I’m finding that keeping a consistent training schedule is nearly impossible. I’ve had to bail on my lunch run twice this week to deal with some Air National Guard issues, so that leaves squeezing in a run right after work (not terribly successful yet), and a late night session on the treadmill (more successful, see photo of me watching "Claim" at 10pm). I have learned that the belt offers the advantage of being able to watch a movie while running, which in my case consists of a narrow bandwidth of ski-adventure films, “rockumentaries”, and Monty-Python. Simultaneously, it comes with the disadvantage of being… well… a treadmill.

The running thing is definitely laced with “reality” however. I’m slow, fairly old, and only marginally successful in completing races. And I’m definitely sore after training, let alone after race day, and there’s always that fact that when I finish a race, there’s about 55% of the pack ahead of me. With that in mind, I still get an incredible amount of satisfaction from running that has limited parity to anything in my real life.

With no first places in my future, what’s the point? As always, there is that challenge thing: “Can I do that?” And that seems to be rubbing off. My wife is pushing for her first half-marathon! Several of my co-workers are pushing for their firsts: Allen Steele is training like a mad-man for his first Tri. Chandler Childs is working towards his first marathon. Steve Proffit is looking towards his first half-marathon. Dan Eastman is returning to marathons after a long hiatus. How much of that was me? Probably not much, but even if I had a little bit of influence, then maybe there’s some point to my running. Real life aside, I’m a runner for life.