Life of an old goat

Slightly sore

Slight soreness tonight..nothing bad. Almost fatigue.

Morning: 5:30 to 6:15 (bathroom break too) PT and 120 push ups: 6 sets of 15, 3 sets of 10. Slight ..had to tighten the abs.

Walk: very cool (40’s) so my pace, while not bad, was a bit slow for the effort.

I did have some radiating glute soreness with pull ups (let form get away from me): 10 singles, 10 singles, 5, 5 then 5 negatives, 5 singles.

Downstairs at 7:10 for deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 228 all low.

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 with the Swiss bar.

curls: 3 sets of 10

bench press: 2 sets of 10 x 134..getting tired

Lunch: commuter walk; felt good..wonder if I got extra distance.

I have to watch for radiating soreness.

My back has a budget

This is more about my attempt to recover from neurogenic claudication (stabbing glute pain due to a nerve root impingement at L5)

I’ve been able to increase my walking from a rather sorry 0.5 miles at a time to, now, about 25 miles a week. It is mostly a diet of 1 mile commuter walks (M, W, F), 2 mile training walks (M, W, F) and 3-5 mile walks (Tu, Th, Sat, Sun) Pace varies from 11:30 mpm on my fastest training walks to 16:30 on my commuter walks; most is in the 12:30-14:30 range.

Today: 2200 yard swim via

600 of 50 side, 50 back, 50 breast

400 of kick drills/swim with fins

1000 in 19:11 (4:52, 9:42, 14:32) or 4:52, 4:50, 4:50, 4:39. I had the pool almost to myself so no one to push, and I didn’t feel that perky.

200 pull

Weight: 201.0 before, 199.5 after.

Then I did a 3.18 mile walk; I had to dodge some construction and I was a bit heavy legged at first.

This was one of my slower training walks, but I was fatigued. AND..I had some tingles/discomfort (nothing like the bad old days) in the 3’rd mile. First 2 miles were fine.

But …I felt this a bit during my YMCA walks..where there was a hill that I blamed.

I am wondering if the swimming is part of the reason; walks are always harder after swimming. I think that my back has a “done at one time” budget and swimming deducts from said budget.

I won’t make 100

I am at 84.5 miles for September.

It looks like this:

April 19.4
May 32.1
June 43.2
July 68.0

August: 85.9

Yes, I know how feeble these mileages are but neurogenic claudication is a tough condition to recover from. And I am not out of the woods as yet.

Today:

PT plus pushups (5:30-6:10 (break included) push ups: 9 sets of 10, 2 sets of 15

Walk 1 (2.2 miles)

Legs felt great.

Pull ups: got 50 reps. I did 8 sets of 5 singles, 5 negative singles, then another set of 5 singles.

Then at 7:10, downstairs until 7:45 which included:
bench press (legs up) 10 x 134, 3 sets of 150 x 6

curls: 3 sets of 10

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94

Lunch: 1.1 mile commuter walk.

Now the lifting

We got back to Peoria at about 10 am and I wanted to watch the Bears vs Texans on TV …so I split my workout.

First, full PT plus a slow 5K walk (14:36 pace, mostly on broken/cracked sidewalk; part of the reason is my legs were heavy from 3.5 miles of tour walking and 5 miles of workout walking the previous day, plus COVID/flu shots on Friday.

After the game (Bears and Colts both won!) I did my deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184 low

10 x 250 4 inch
10 x 280 8 inch

It was all good..no pain at all. Time to step up the weight by 5 lb.

Milestone

Watching the Maryland vs Michigan slugfest on TV…great game with Michigan getting some lucky breaks.

Today: interesting workout (not rushed)

PT plus push ups: pushups: 10 sets of 10, one set of 20 plus most of my PT

5.17 mile walk at just under 12:50 mpm; I started out gently and got more confident as the walk went on.

Then pull ups; experimented. In short: 8 sets of 5 (or 5 singles), 5 negatives, 2 more. The idea was to NOT inflame my nerve root. PT for the shoulder and wobble board work.

Downstairs for weights: bench press:

10 x 134, 8 x 145, 5 x 150, 4 x 155, 3 x 160, 1 x 171 did NOT inflame the L5 nerve root.

curls 3 sets of 10

high incline (Swiss bar) 3 sets of 10 x 94
It didn’t seem like I did much but I was grateful to do it.

Up too late

I was up too late watching Illinois beat FCS Chattanooga 31-0 in a game that was even more lopsided than the score might indicate. It was 24-0 at the half, and the Illini worked on clock and played a lot of guys in the 4’th quarter.

So, I went with PT and a 3 mile (3.3) walk and then a commuter walk over lunch.

Back to the Illini: I am watching Virginia go toe to toe with Syracuse; this is a team that Illinois dominated. Evidently the Illini are not a joke any longer.

Swimming baseline

I did some academic stuff today; worked out some details that were bugging me.

And I am eagerly awaiting the Illinois football game; were I 10 years younger I would have gone. But I cannot drive late at night when I am tired.

Morning: a LOT of PT: 5:20 to 6:15; (one b-room break); did a LOT of it and it felt good. But no lifeguard at the pool, so I walked 5K+ instead.

I still think I got shorted just a bit but never mind that. It was a workout.

Then at 11, returned to the pool and decided to get a baseline:

500 of 50 side, 50 back (felt the back here)

500 of 50 drill swim, 50 swim (first 4 no fins)

1000 in 18:41: 4:38, 9:18, 14:00, or 4:38, 4:40, 4:42, 4:41 No one to chase. This was typical for me when I did the 250 swim, 250 pull. Average: 56 per 50. Back in April, when I started, I could barely do 50’s in that. Then again, even 1 mile of walking wasn’t quite pain free then.

200 pull to cool down.

After swim weight: 197.1 That IS getting better.

Goals: 34 minute 5K power walk, sub 18 1000 swim, under 190 body weight, painless pull ups (no back pain), painless bench press (still have to work on that)

And the swim: I did feel the back in the first 1000.

Getting it right

I came to a truth about my back and my working out: at my age with my spondylolisthesis, any effort that induces even the slightest bit of arch in my back is bad for me, be it pull ups, bench press, high incline press or deadlifts.

I think that I have the deadlifts and high incline press worked out. But the issues for me appear to be the pull ups (getting better! reset between reps helps) and bench press. It seems that “just get one more rep” effort sets it off ever so slightly, even with legs up. I have to stay in my “comfort zone”

Today’s workout (started early: 5:20 am, ended at 7:40)

PT (lots of it) with 10 sets of 10 push ups

walk 1 26:53 for 2.2 miles (12:18 pace) Started at 6:15 (bathroom before), finished 6:45

pull ups: did 2 sets of 10 singles, 4 sets of 5 singles (ok, 1 set of 5), 5 negative singles (between shoulder PT)

bench press: 10 x 134, 5 x 154, 5 x 154, 3 x 154, 3 x 154 (went to 3 as the set of 5 bothered my stenosis; felt slight radiating pain)

deadlift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 low, 10 x 234 4 inch

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 Swiss
curls: 3 sets of 10

Later: 1 mile commuter walk at a 16-something pace

Little things

B to the doctor for her hand..already had eye stuff.

Locker: did not work. Grrr.got staff to open.

Still, 2200 swim in relatively warm water went ok.

250 (5:10?) 250 side, 250 back, 250 drill/swim with fins.

500 in 9:12 (chased Jason..did ok)

250 pull in 4:40

250 drill swim

100 in 1:41, 50 drill/swim, 50 in 0:48

Weight: 199.5 before, 198.1 after (like that)

3.1 mile walk; final 2 was 27:40 but it took me a while to get going.

I kind of wandered all over the place…pain free.