Month: May 2020

And what a two days it has been

I didn’t lift either day but I did walk about 10K (just over)

1:30:03 (14:23)
1:40:37 (16:07) much easier

Today, I got a look at the flooding.

Yes, this has happened several times; the businesses near the water front have to prepare for it.

Now about my day: well, these are tough times for most, including higher education. Layoffs loom and buy outs have been offered.

As far as tenured faculty: they can be let go IF either
1. Their department is eliminated (even then, it is dicey) or
2. The university declares “financial exigency”, in which case, the non-tenured are let go first, and a positing cannot be refilled within a 3 year period UNLESS the job is offered back

Next year should be quite the wild ride, but surprisingly, the enrollment numbers do not look as terrible as we had feared…now what the school year will look like..
many possibilities. (example, example,, example, example.

And which of these we will do, if any…I have no idea.

Rest between sets..

Today’s lifting was interrupted by helping B with the computer. I had longer rests between sets.
Pull ups: 4 sets of 10, 7, 3, then a penalty set of 5 chin ups
rotator cuff, light squats
bench: 10 x 132, 5 x 176, 5 x 176, 5 x 176 (best yet)
shoulder: 3 sets of 10 x 44 seated
curl: 3 sets of 5 x 60
row (bent over with trap) 3 sets of 8 x 134
goblet squat: 6 x 44, 6 x 60, 6 x 60, 6 x 60 (with band)
hex bar squats (taking care to really squat); 2 sets of 10 x 134
plank (2:30)
Does not seem like much, but it was sufficient.

knot in the butt

Yep, the old “knot in the glute” which had bedeviled me for a few years 10-14 years ago it back. Time to bring back the hip hikes. But it isn’t that bad…yet. I need to stretch, knead, etc.
(left glute)
Workout notes: 10K walk (ok, 6.17 miles?) Cornstalk hill course plus that extra “mile”: 1:28:59, where I was 1:00:37 at the Bradley Park exit, 28:21 for the final “2”. I was 37:08 at the bridge; 14:3x at the entrance. Chilly, wet, but slight drizzle at the start.

I might try jogging tomorrow.

Catch up part XX

I am losing track of time, but I did make some progress on a task.

Yesterday, I did what I think was a 7 mile walk (to the end of the sand volleyball course and back, via Moss) Just over 7.
It alternated between drizzle and hard rain; it was an uninspiring walk.

Today: weights only; more rain so I mostly stayed inside;
usual rotator cuff
pull ups: 5 sets of 10 pull ups, 2 penalty sets of 5 chins, 1 extra penalty rep.
inside: bench press: 10 x 134, 3 x 184, 10 x 161 (decent)
superset of rows, goblet squats, seated shoulder presses
3 x 10 with 44 shoulder
8, 8, 10 x 134 of hex rows
6, 10, 10 with 44 goblet squats
curls: 3 sets of 5 with 62
hex dead lifts: 3 sets of 10 x 184
2:30 plank.

I put something into it..and still…well, not great…though…well, pull ups and bench were not that bad.

Come on Media: we really do not need this..

IMHO, one of the reasons we have less unity than I’d like with respect to social distancing measures is that there is a significant subset of the population that does not trust the media to tell the truth. This isn’t to say that there aren’t a fair number of Republicans on board; there are.

But dammit; the mainstream media doesn’t help things when it tries to sensationalize.

Now none of this says that Texas made the right choice, but if you test more people, you WILL get a spike in the number of positives. The “positive rate” is important, of course, (and false positives aren’t as frequent if the true infection rate isn’t very small) but they are showing the number of confirmed positives.

That is just fuel for the MUH FREEDUMS morons.

And of course, it is important to know where the outbreaks are coming from: are they concentrated in a single location or in a type of place, or all over?

Bottom line: try to report with the nuance.

Related notes: this is an interesting article about some writing during the pandemic in London in 1660’s.

A bit about the journey

I did a “farmer’s walk” (walk with a dumbbell or barbell) to try them out. You are supposed to use heavy weights for these; I need to work up to that. So I stuck with 134 lb.
The walk felt familiar..then I realized why…the weight I was walking with was the excess weight I used to carry every single day.

Note: the younger, fatter guy, was actually much stronger (could dead lift and bench press a whole lot more); the older, slimmer guy can walk faster and do many more pull ups. The younger guy was better at research level math; the older guy has much broader knowledge but less ability to “dive deep.”

On to new challenges

Well, grades were turned in yesterday. And so ended the online semester. I did walk 5 miles prior to that (my hill course).
Today, I didn’t walk at all (right knee is not quite right) but I did have an interesting lifting session:

rotator cuff and some free squats.
pull ups: 10, 5, 5, 10, 10, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3 (5 of the sets of 5 were chin ups; I did a few wide drip, and the final 5, 3, 3 were a penalty set for sloppy reps.
then to the basement for bench presses, and taking weights outside as rests:
10 x 132 , 5 x 176 (hard), 5 x 170, 5 x 170 (reasonable)
Outside:
3 sets of 5 x 94 “clean and press”: one clean for each press. Ugh. Got them all; wasn’t easy.
3 sets of 8 x 134 trap bar row.
dumbbell shoulder press: 6, 10, 10 with 44 lb. dumbbells.
trap bar dead lift: 10 x 178, 2 x 200, 5 x 200, 5 x 200, 10 x 178
farmer’s walk: to the side door to the garage and back: 2 44 lb dumbbells, then 134 (trap bar)
If you don’t know what a farmer’s walk is: (ignore that she is doing MORE than DOUBLE what I did my heaviest with today)




And “my” bunny paid a visit..hopped right past me and wasn’t really bothered by me at all.

Yeah, I admit that seeing myself in a sleveless shirt was distressing. 20 years ago, I looked a bit different:

But you know what? That isn’t coming back.
As my wife likes to remind me: “be grateful you aren’t cutting tennis balls to go on the bottom of your walker.”
And the old body..the visual of it..is helpful. Sometimes I think “maybe I am just not putting enough effort into it” when in fact, “”it” just isn’t there.” You can SEE it ..or the lack thereof.

The reality is my choices are: “do it and suck” or “don’t do it at all.” That’s it.

Something more hopeful: I wonder how a farmer’s walk up a hill might go? Do I take my trap bar to Bradley Park with some 45’s and try? The hill from lower to upper Bradley Park is blocked off.

COVID-19: advantages of slowing the “return to normal”

First of all, if anyone thinks I want a perpetual lock down, they do not know me well. Just scroll through my blog; lots of sports, races, outing with friends. I may be an introvert but I love going to the game, going out to eat, doing a marathon..ok..make that a 5k…to half marathon, etc.

And small group outings with friends are the things I love the most.

So, what about this pandemic?

Here is the advantage to slow-walking the return to being more open:

1. We have time to learn more about this virus; this will enable better prevention and treatments. Maybe we’ll be better able to identify those most at risk too.
2. We have time to come up with a more efficient testing and tracing program; it helps to know who has it.
3. A vaccine may well be on the way..even an imperfect one that can at least counteract the worst effects and
4. Maybe the virus might mutate to something less lethal; it is in its “evolutionary interest” to do so (dead people can’t spread it; asymptomatic people are the best spreaders.

And just a note: if almost all of us would wear masks around people and practice social distancing, maybe we could reopen sooner? Why is this even a tribal thing? Do we have “Republicans for drunk driving?”

Personal note: I have zero patience. On Facebook, I block at the first stupid comment.

Uplifting personal note: it seems that some of the unscripted personal interactions I’ve had (with Red Cross blood technician, or with someone from my dentist office) have been very encouraging. There are a lot of people taking this seriously, including many Republicans.

Really, though I admit that I can be as big of a tribal ***hole as anyone else..at times, this is one time I really wish we were together.

Workout notes: my right knee was a bit wonky this morning, so I did my 3 lower loop Bradley course; 6.6 miles (I think..maybe 6.4?) in 1:49 (walking). Opening mile was 15:30 or so.
It rained hard and then drizzled off and on.

quickie

Right knee: questionable. Not really painful but I do have to watch the squats.
Lifting only.
rotator cuff
pull ups: 10,5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2-2-2-2-2 (2 sets of 10, final set of 5 were pull up grip); 60 total including the “penalty sets” (for sloppy reps)
bench press: 10 x 132, 5 x 176, 5 x 176, 5 x 170 (challenging)
goblet squats: 3 sets of 6 x 44 to the chair
shoulder presses: 3 sets of 10 x 44
row: 3 sets of 10 x 134 trap bar.
hex bar dead lifts: 10 x 184, 10 x 184, 5 x 206 (taking care of form)
plank: 2:30

back to grading.

COVID note:

This isn’t true for me: due to work, I have a lot of “task horizons”

Day one of grading

Ah, off to a decent start. And I had a decent walk too (resting that sore knee some more..I get it when I try to deadlift without shoes)


Time for the course was 1:31:09 for 6.15 miles (ok, really closer to 10K..) 14:50-ish pace.

My walking pace has improves somewhat..probably my giving up running for a while and the leg work.