Wild West Relay 2023

Hey Friends, 

For the 6th year in a row, I am running the Wild West Relay which will be held on August 4-5th. This is a multi-day event where we run from Fort Collins, CO to Steamboat Springs, CO. It is ~200 miles on foot, with 2 mountain passes that cover some 20,000+ feet in elevation change. We sleep in fields, we run through the night, we run through rain, hail, and wind. We have encountered bears, moose, and bighorn sheep and are hoping to see mountain lions and wolves (not really!) so we can complete our Colorado wild animal bingo card. 

So why would 12, otherwise sane people do such a thing? We do it because we are running to raise money for the Matthews House. The Matthews House is an organization that was founded in 2005 with the mission statement to help kids that were aging out of foster care. They have since expanded their services to help families with varying needs. They provide career services, help kids graduate high school, apply to college and get jobs. Through donations, they are able to provide no-cost after-school care so that parents can work. It allows kids to just be kids and not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Many of the families that utilize the assistance of the Matthews House are trying to escape abuse and poverty. Together we can help. Please watch this video that does a better job at explaining the importance of the Matthew's House than I ever could. Supercool update for 2023, because of our commitment to the Mathews House we are being given the Jim Drendel award for community service at an awards dinner this September. I have been told this is sort of a big deal for Northern Colorado as the Mayor of Fort Collins and various other big wigs will be there. This could not have been possible without your kind donations and we will be accepting this award as a team and thanking those that donated.  

Two years ago we contended with and ran through summer wild fires that painted the sky orange and our lungs black. Last year we were hoping for a reprieve but instead got a deluge. During my run up Deadman’s pass the sky opened up and sent a river down hill for me to deal with. I took some pics of that and posted below but had to stow my phone when it got really bad. Running roughly 9 miles and climbing 1100 feet topping out at ~10,200 feet above sea level is just never a fun time and the rain made it pretty brutal. By mile 3 my running shoes were nuked and I was picking up clods of mud with each step. I still managed to beat my time from 2019 by 2 minutes. Get bent Father Time! I spent the next few hours in a van trying to avoid hypothermia. Fun times! The next day I met my twin who had a shirt that matched a bathing suit I have (pic below).

For 2023, I have switched my running position so I will not be running up any mountains. I will be running down them! I am super pumped to ruin my knees and quads and lose a few toenails for the cause! My second leg will be 10 miles long with a net elevation loss of roughly 1500 feet. My goal is to use this downhill to my advantage and set 3 all-time personal best times for a 5k, 10k and 10 miles… age is just a number folks. Also, new for 2023… we have somehow convinced 12 other crazies to to run with us. So now we have 2 full teams running this race!

If you are interested in donating, the instructions are below. I have also included some other links about the race, organization, and my personal stuff. Lots of pictures from 2022 as well.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. If you are interested, email me and I will figure out how to live track the event so you can track us on our adventure. I will be posting pictures as cell service allows. 

Important note: All funds that are donated go directly to the Matthews House. No funds are used by the race team in any way. This does not pay for our race entry, this does not cover food, gas, equipment, etc. 100% of the donated money goes to the charity, which means that 100% of it gets spent within our community. No team member wins anything for raising the most funds. We are a self-supported team and donate to the charity as well. Many of us lose a day's wage or burn vacation days to participate in this event. 

Thank you for your time. 

DONATION INSTRUCTIONS:

It is simplified this year, simply click the link and donate. No need to select my name from a list but there is a section for you to write comments to cheer us on.

https://nutrien.benevity.org/community/fundraiser/1128

More information:

https://www.thematthewshouse.org

https://www.wildwestrelay.com/

Social/other:

Personal email: luigiaversano@gmail.com

Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/laversano

Instagram: luigi_ave123

Website:  https://www.LuigiAversano.com

Wild West Relay

Hello friends,

I am running in the Wild West Relay on August 5-6th. This is a multi-day event where we run from Fort Collins, CO to Steamboat Springs, CO. It is ~200 miles on foot, with 2 mountain passes covering some 20,000+ feet in elevation change. We sleep in fields, we run through the night, we run through rain, hail, and wind. We have encountered bears, moose, and bighorn sheep and are hoping to see mountain lions and wolves (not really!) so we can complete our Colorado wild animal bingo card. Last year was especially fun running through smokey valleys because of our summer wildfires. So why would 12, otherwise sane people do such a thing? We do it because we are running to raise money for the Matthews House. The Matthews House is an organization that was founded in 2005 with the mission statement to help kids that were aging out of foster care. They have since expanded their services to help families with varying needs. They provide career services and help kids graduate high school, apply to college and get jobs. Through donations, they are able to provide no-cost after-school care so that parents can work. It allows kids to be kids and not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. We let the kids paint our race vans and they have a ball doing it (pics below!) They are a truly wonderful organization and we are excited to represent them for the fifth year in a row. As the pandemic winds down, we have decided to increase our fundraising efforts. The pandemic was hard on many families and it is no surprise that organizations like the Matthews House and the families they support were severely impacted. 

Important note: All funds that are donated go directly to the Matthews House. No funds are used by the race team in any way. This does not pay for our race entry, this does not cover food, gas, equipment, etc. 100% of the donated money goes to the charity, which means that 100% of it gets spent within our community. No team member wins anything for raising the most funds. We are a self-supported team and donate to the charity as well. Many of us lose a day's wage or burn vacation days to participate in this event. 

If you are interested in donating, the instructions are below. I have also included some other links about the race, organization, and my personal stuff. I included some pictures from years past and an elevation profile of one of the legs I run. The slogan for the race is "Get your ass over the pass." which refers to the two mountain passes we traverse. I have had the privilege of running up both Deadman's Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass in years past. It looks like I will have to run Deadman's Pass this year - thanks Sean! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. If you are interested, email me and I will figure out how to live track the event so you can track us on our adventure. I will be posting pictures as cell service allows. 

Thank you for your time. 

Donation instructions:

https://thematthewshouse.networkforgood.com/projects/156200-nutrien-runs-for-the-matthews-house-2022

Click the donate button

Put in your donation amount - $5 minimum

Hit the Donate Once button

Select my name, Luigi Aversano, from the drop-down menu and click continue to payment.

More information:

https://www.thematthewshouse.org

https://www.rltrelays.com/wild-west-relay

Social/other:

Personal email: luigiaversano@gmail.com

Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/laversano

Squat progress

I usually have a 20+ mile run on or around my birthday every year (Woo! 40yrs old with abs!) that coincides with some silly marathon I’m running in the spring or fall. In 2019 I blew out my knee on a 25 mile training run for an ultra marathon. I lost that season and rehabbed for a year. I signed up for a Spring 2020 marathon, but because of COVID it got delayed until the Fall of 2020. And then it got delayed until the spring of 2021. By that time I was just mentally and physically fatigued from peaking with no race to run. I decided to take a break and put some much needed muscle on my skinny ass. 

This is the first time in 10 years or so that I have been consistent with weight training and the first time in my life that I have been consistent with leg training. My exercise of choice for the last decade has been running and some Jiu Jitsu. I shifted my focus to weights in the summer of 2021 and have been focusing on improving my barbell back squat since August 2021. My squat has jumped from ~160lbs for 5 reps to 240lbs for 5 reps in the video. Starting body weight was ~170lbs, current is 185lbs. A 1 RM calculator puts me at ~270lbs. This is 45lbs away from my year end goal of 315lbs - 1RM. I think I cleaned up the form as much as I can on my own. I video and assess all the time and add cues and practice technique with light loads at least once a week and squat 2x a week. I can break parallel without issue and my back is mostly straight throughout the lift, neither of which were true when I started. I think my bar path still needs some work as I feel as though I’m pushing through my heels and not my whole foot. I notice my feet splay outwards sometimes as I progress with reps. Using some data extrapolations I think that it is reasonable that I will hit 315 1RM by December 2022/January 2023 - around 275lbs for 5 reps or so. Assumptions: 

1. I don’t expect linear progression to continue. Adding 80lbs in 8 months (10lbs/mo) is nice but not sustainable long term as I exhaust neuromuscular adaptation/n00b gains. Adding an additional 35 lbs over the next 8 months seems reasonable if not a little conservative. 4.4lbs/month seems doable.

2. I need more lean body mass. ~10-15lbs of total weight is my best guesstimate on what will help the most without adding too much body fat. There is probably something to be said about overall muscle size to support the weight on your back. Calorie bump incoming.

3. Deadlift: My form is still not the best and am still working on technique with very little weight. As this lift gets better it will add more strength to my posterior chain that should have some synergistic carryover to my squat. I’ll add a second deadlift day to my week and bifurcate the training with heavy/light loads. I did this with the squat and it paid dividends in my progress. I have cleaned up my setup a bit lately. I’ve focused on foot placement, lat/trap engagement, taking the slack out of the bar, making sure my armpits are over the bar and lowering my hips while keeping my back straight. It’s coming along fine. My current last set is 225lbs for 5 reps with probably 4-6 reps in reserve. It’s a matter of gaining more confidence with the lift before I scale it up more. 400lbs by January 2023 should be a walk in the park.

4. Secondary/Tertiary movements. I’m almost certainly leaving a lot of hypertrophy gains and by extension some strength gains on the table by not doing leg press, hack squats, leg extensions, leg curls. These will allow me to overload the leg muscles without much additional stress on other joints that add too much fatigue to the system. I’ll add some of these in when I do a program adjustment next.

5. Bump calories to ~3800/day from May - August. I can’t afford to lose weight as I train for some summer races. I won’t be running more than a half marathon distance so I won’t need to train that hard/much therefore I don’t expect there to be an interference effect with squat/deadlift strength gains.

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Pondering