Month: May 2020

Staying with it

Woke up later, again (6:30 ish). Still out the door by 9:15 or so and I got in 4 loops of the 1.77 mile course; I was just in a weird mood. 16:30 ish pace; not much pain (no NSAIDS) and it was perfect after yesterday’s harder 8.3 miler.

Glorious weather.

Yes, there were protests in the area and unfortunately, SOME looting (much more protest than looting). I just hope that the protesters realize that COVID19 doesn’t care about their cause and is killing far more people than rogue police.

About the protesters vs. rioters/looters: it is complicated.

Yes, I’ve seen black rioters looting and beating people up; I’ve seen white rioters doing the same while black protesters are yelling at them to stop. I’ve seen black protesters protecting police officers.

and I’ve seen protesters practicing good social distancing.

There really isn’t a THEY as in “THEY ARE”; lots of stuff happening and many different types of people are involved; many (most?) are good, and a few are truly awful:

progress on the injury

I think the glute exercises are working. But I do better when I stay on flat ground.

Yesterday: after weights I did about 3 miles in Glenn Oak Park with B.

Today, lots of pre-walk exercise and some post walk, then 8.3 via Cornstalk out and back, long loop (the 1.4 loop), then return past the house to Cooper to Moss..back to Bradley then home. 2:08:49 (15:32 pace; steady)

Slow workout

I admit that I kind of slow walked today’s workout (weights; will walk with Barbara later)

I started out with alternating rotator cuff, PT for my glute and pull ups:

5-5, 10, 10-5, 5, 10, 5-3-2 (60 total; went ok; varied grip; some “chins”)

These are what I did..some with bands, some without.

I need to focus on the form.

Then as I moved weights to the driveway and did hip hikes, I did bench press
10 x 132
4 x 181
1 x 198 (got it! Best in several months..I think the best for 2020)
5 x 176
10 x 154

Outside: clean and press with the 1 inch bar: (25 for the bar plus collars)
10 x 84
5 x 95
5 x 95
5 x 95
10 x 84

stiff leg deadlift (sort of Romanian) 8 x 44 (44 dumbbells); 2 sets
dumbbell presses 7 x 44 (2 sets)

trap bar deadlifts:
10 x 134
10 x 184
10 x 211 (challenging)

This tuckered me out.

squatting to blame?

I don’t know if I have a piriformis issue or if it is a back issue but my left glute sometimes hurts. I’ve had this before.
I think I brought this on by trying to go deeper in my goblet squats (to the stool, rather than to the chair) and I might rest from these for a few days.

Today, I jogged 5k (yes, right around 40 minutes; I was that slow) and walked 5k (50 minutes) and I did have some pain at the lower part of Bradley Park.

These, plus hip hikes should help.

Time to get back on track

I admit that 11 days ago, my online teaching ended for the semester. I had not felt the angst that others have felt during “shutdown”. Now…it is getting to me, just a little. The reason: I really do not know what the semester will bring. I am confident that I’ll be teaching students and have one class lined up. I have students in two other classes, but as of now, both are in the same time slot so obviously, I won’t be teaching one of those.

And given our university’s changes…which classes? How many students? Online, in person, or hybrid? Heck..who will be my colleagues; my uni is offering a buyout that might be attractive to those with a large nest egg or near retirement. So much uncertainty..and mind you, I have it better than others have it.

Workout notes: just weights.

rotator cuff, free squats
note: I cannot reach the same depth without weight than I can with weight…

pull ups: 3 sets of 10, 5-5 (wide), set of 10, 2 sets of 5 chin ups, penalty set of 2. Not bad.
bench press (hip hikes): 10 x 132, 3 sets of 5 x 176 (solid)
outdoor: standing shoulder with 1 inch bar: 10 x 67, 10 x 85, 5 x 93, 4 x 98, 5 x 93
goblet squat to the footstool: 6 x 44, 6 x 44, 6 x 60, 6 x 60 (felt ok)
rows (indoor) 3 sets of 8 x 134 (trap bar)
dumbbell press: 10, 10 7 x 44 standing (sloppy at the end)
2:30 plank

It sure doesn’t look like I did that much, does it. Yes, B went for a walk.

Warm walk again

It was 77 F, 74 percent humidity when I started and didn’t change that much. Course: Cornstalk 5.1 at the start, but then 3 lower loops: one “classic loop” with new bridge, one “full” loop (all the way to the top) with the old bridge, and one “lower loop” again with the old bridge. Then I crossed at the Main/Western light and walked it in:

Later: a run to walk, get some dinner and I got to see what happened to a large tree during yesterday’s storm:

Society
I do see society fracturing. There is the “we are all in this together” camp and the MUH FREEDUMS camp. This weekend saw some rather disturbing things.

Now there were about 2500 people here. At 1 percent being infected, that is 25 people, who, in such a crowded environment, could easily pass it to 5 others which is 125 new cases, which probably means 1-2 deaths among this crowd and several times that many really ill. But that 125 goes out and infects, maybe 2-3 each and so on.
But the secondary, tertiary and longer term effects will take a while to show up in the spreadsheets. And without strict contact tracing, it will be difficult, if not impossible to trace it to a specific event.

That is, most who attended; well some will get sick, not too many die but they go out and infect others.

My guess: we are going to spike hard.

Now as far as assessing the general risk, this is a good article. And if an elderly person (say, 70 +) gets COVID, their risk is similar to a British bomber pilot flying a mission over Germany in WW2.

Commentary I speak for only myself. But more and more, I find myself getting MORE tribal; when given the opportunity to, say, get take out or go to a store, I tend to recoil from the thought of going to a place that conservatives frequent, even if it is a place I used to patronize. The reason: I think that I go to places where people wear masks and give each other social distance; I just won’t patronize a business if their customers are disrespectful about such things. And in the process, I am seeking out “blue” hangouts, so to speak.

Memorial Day

What a change from last year…

Today has been somewhat stormy though Barbara and I went for a walk; it was 4 miles and took quite a long time; toward the end my glute (left) felt ok, but it was torture for a while.

Later: I finally did that “bar fixing project” (so I can use my 1 inch bar, which was very uneven..2 inches!) and then lifted inside:
pull ups: 10, 5-5, 10, 10, 5-5, then two sets of 5 chins; reasonable
rotator cuff and free squats
bench: 10 x 132, 10 x 159, 10 x 159
seated military: 3 sets of 10 x 44 (each arm)
rows: 3 sets of 8 x 134
then 2 sets of deadlifts: 10 x 184, 10 x 206
No. Bouncing.

On the good side: we saw Mat and Tracy; it was fun to talk to both. When we get to phase 3, Tracy and I might run/walk.

Speaking of COVID 19: what is good and what is bad?

Buffets:

• Self-serve buffets probably create an unmanageable amount of viral spread.

Gatherings of friends and family

Avoid hugging and sharing food, especially while sick.

Gyms

• Gyms can quickly spread the coronavirus, especially when instructors become infected.

• High-intensity workouts may be more dangerous than low-intensity workouts, though that’s unclear.

Offices

• The most dangerous method of transmission in an office is spending a long time near an infected person.

• Using shared facilities like restrooms with an infected person appears to be less dangerous.

• Spending a short amount of time with an infected person, like on an elevator ride, is not especially dangerous.

• Jobs with frequent talking, like call centers, do appear to have elevated risk for superspreading.

Sporting events

• Getting thousands or tens of thousands of people together in one building can result in community-changing “biological bombs.”

• Sports celebrations (singing, hugging, cheering) could potentially mean more spread.

Upshot: if we teach in person, I am masking up and maintaining a nice distance.
My office: not much space for safe interaction.

And the main thing: we really socially distance ourselves to keep from spreading it to the vulnerable. Via Brian Doyle.

And I grow even more discouraged …

Yes, it is another damned COVID19 post. This pandemic is just tough to wrap your head around.

First of all, I had a nice 8.2 mile walk. I saw uplifting things (people out walking, practicing social distance out door activities). I saw some discouraging things too.

For one: I walked along Rohmann avenue until it turns into Swords. There was this HUGE half-barrier saying “road closed ahead”. Now someone coming from the closed part was just barreling down the street going way too fast as an older gentleman turned onto it..evidently the barrier and the excessive speed prevented the older man from seeing the speeding vehicle ..they didn’t collide but the speeder blew his horn and then PASSED the older guy (on a residential, 2 lane road. What a jerk!

And..a bit later, here comes another SUV at high speed around the curve just to see…YES THE ROAD WAS REALLY CLOSED. (yes, there were places to run onto the residential side streets but this vehicle wasn’t interested in that..they wanted to go straight through.

All of this I DO WHAT I WANT attitude is discouraging

Now…to the COVID-19..

1. Understanding how it affects the public requires some nuance. Yes, if there is a large gathering, large groups of people will NOT drop dead soon after. Instead, IF said large gathering had some infected people there, those infected people will spread it to many more and those will spread it to many more, and again and again…and when the net widens, eventually several vulnerable people will get caught up in it and end up very sick or dead. But we are talking about a somewhat delayed effect.

Think of a super slow moving fire. You might not have a fire right now, but if you have a bunch of old newspapers, magazines and oily rags..fire starts and then…that is where the trouble starts. And the fire isn’t just there but spreads elsewhere. And for COVID19, a large gathering is a bit like concentrated tinder.

2. Yes, the individual risk to younger people IS low. But risk is multiplied by exposure; not only intensity (say, a coughing, unmasked person in an enclosed space) but in duration(hours at a time vs. a few minutes?) So the young CAN suffer too. We are seeing it elsewhere. Don’t think it can’t happen here.

3. The data is messy, but there appears to be some solutions. Japan has focused on limiting the “3 c’s: closed spaces, crowded spaces, close contact”. Yes, there could be other factors (e. g. a different strain of virus).

4. But too many have this “freedom means I can do whatever I want and to hell with everyone else” concept.

And, oh, do they just show us:

5. And people continue to pile up combustible tinder…all it takes is a well placed match (e. g. an infected person or two) to light it up.

Again, most of these morons will be fine..a few will really get it, and most will allow the virus to spread through them.
Think of it this way; say 1 percent of a crowd of 10,000 has it. The R_0 for a crowded situation can be as high as 5-6. So, those 100 people spread it to 500 at at a 1 percent mortality rate, that is 5 deaths and perhaps 5 more seriously ill from that crowd. But THAT 100 newly infected go out and spread it, say each to 2 more (probably more than that..)

Of course, the extra spread will take some time to show up, as will the extra hospitalizations and deaths; it isn’t as if the people in those videos/photos are just going to keel over the next day.

Anyway, I think we might see a spike 2-3 weeks hence, as much as I’d love to see the virus just go away.

Warm walk

It took me 2:12:40 to do; pace was relaxed and while I had some “bum burn” (left) for the first 4-5; the final 2 miles were downright pleasant, but a bit slower.
I was 1:05 at 4.1 (note the Rohman to Swords) and the final 2 took 32:11, so that was a bit slower. It was 33:15 for the, what..2.1 from upper Bradley Park to lower and around, but that included some social distance swerving (glad to do it).

It was warm; low 80’s at the finish, but not oppressively hot.

I’ve had 3 six mile and 1 eight mile walk this week; the build up to a possible fall “virtual marathon” will continue. Yes, no football or marathons for me this fall. 2021?
This week: workouts have gone better, though a lessening of stress (sort of…) has helped..that will change.
There is just so much uncertainty in all of our lives now; perhaps it has always been there but I’ve been blissfully unaware of it.

Mind you, I have better job security than most (NOT perfect job security, just better job security). I am by no means in the “don’t worry, be happy” zone but, well, we shall see. There WILL be pain and unpleasantness, and I should take advantage of the time I have now to learn and get ahead of some things.

In between storms

Storms have been moving in and out of our area; sunshine, then BOOM, then sunshine. This would play havoc with a baseball game, were there one to go to.

I did lift though:

pull ups: 5 sets of 10, 2 penalty sets of 5 chins afterward.
Did some rotator cuff and free squats in between.

To the basement:
bench press (LOT of rest between sets)
10 x 132, 5 x 176, 5 x 176, 5 x 176, 1 x 193 (not that difficult..but not easy either)
hip hikes and step ups in between
goblet squats and row super set
10 x 44 (to the chair), 2 sets of 6 x 44 “to the footstool”, 2 sets of 6 x 60 “to the footstool” (about 1 inch deeper than the chair)
rows: 3 sets of 8 x 134 (hex bar)
hex bar dead lifts: 10 x 184, 10 x 206 (that’s it)
2:30 plank

I didn’t do my planned walk, but might try to go longer tomorrow.