Month: May 2021

Catching up on baseball

The Chiefs having a series with the Bandits (double header on Wednesday night) and Bradley having a series with Illinois State (daytime) has lead me to making a lot of ball games..making up for lost time.

Today’s game was a crisp (2:30 time), exciting 4-3 Bradley win. Bradley’s home run hitting ways continued (to get to a 2-0 lead..) and BU took advantage of bases loaded to get 2 more runs.

Good fielding robbed ISU of an extra base hit too:

Yes, you can see me in the stands, just above and to the right of the pitcher. In fact, the BU athletic director went down to say “hi” to me.

And so BU took a 4-2 lead into the top of the 9’th; but a couple of doubles (including one into the opposite field) cut the lead to 4-3 with 1 out. But the coach settled the pitcher down, who then got a strike out and a fly out to win the game.

But, to be fair, ISU did give up a run on a wild pitch..so they might say they gave this one way, just as BU did yesterday.

Workout yes, sore shoulder and all (this time..not that much pain on moving, but a tightness..sympathetic pain?) I swam, but put a lot more emphasis on kicking with fins (drills), different strokes, etc. 1650 yards in 50 minutes or so.

Afterward, 20:33 for 10k on the indoor bike.

Note: the Riverplex now allows vaccinated people to go without masks.

I think the pandemic is on its way out, though we still have deaths left over from the surge, and my guess is that we’ll need booster shots before too long.

Lost week

Colonoscopy on Monday, ball games Wednesday and Thursday (Chiefs double header, Bradley), some math writing (recreational) and not much else.

Yeah, I am ok with an easy week where I am not under the gun, but…I do have to get back to work and adult chores, sometime.

Ball games: Chiefs got swept in a double header (close losses) and Bradley lost in 10 innings..after failing to bring runners on 2’nd and 3’rd with 1 out in the 9’th, and the game tied.

Yes, I was entertained though my teams lost every time.

Workout notes: I didn’t sleep that well, so I stuck with swimming (1100 yards) and stationary cycling (10K in 21:33) Swimming: mix of drill/swim and my shoulder is still too tender to push things.

I am sort of “out of sorts”; not quite out of the pandemic; we are still having deaths due to the surge a few weeks back, but cases are about 1/4 of what they were during the surge peak.

I am not quite healthy (else I would have walked to the game and pushed the swimming) but not really unhealthy either.

I am not doing intellectual stuff at a high level, but I am thinking about things. I am kind of in a neither land in many aspects of my life.

Pathology report workout

I did have to navigate my shoulder issues just a little during today’s workout. But I am lifting and there isn’t much pain in the exercises I chose.

I got my pathology reports back and read up on the type of colon polyps there are. Mine are lower risk but I’ll need to get more frequent colonoscopies.

(here and here)

Pull ups: kind of off; got my 50 reps in (including one set of 10; several sets of 5; did a few wide and a few chin ups) Ok, these were garbage today.

Push ups: 35, 35, 40 (lots of rest in between)

bench press: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 10 x 105 (full reps); this will be a long journey back. Not much pain.

dead lifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224, then 10 x 246 high handle. Made sure to pause at the bottom; zero bounce. Made sure I wasn’t in a hurry.

shoulder press: 2 sets of 10 x 80 (parallel elbows), 1 sets of 10 x 70 closer grip, greater ROM.

curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50.

Live life to the fullest..

I know, a cliche.

Yesterday, I had a colonoscopy. The prep procedure dehydrates you so last night, I got up to drink some water. And then I read what amounted to a farewell post on a blog.

I’d never met this lady in person; in fact, my first contact with her was a reaction to a “fun” post-triathlon photo. She was a skilled photographer and I enjoyed seeing snippets of her athletic and social life..and we have a few “back and forth” discussions about some of the issues of the day.

She has since died.

Workout notes: I was able to swim and ride 10K on the indoor exercise bike (23 minutes)

Swim: 200 free

300 of drills with fins, some 25’s were swimming

10 50 yard free, alternating pull/free

200 of drills with fins.

I got all of this in 28 minutes or so. Yes, way slow for a good swimmer.

200 lb weight after swimming.

Then the bike.

Shoulder: not 100 percent, but I swear, it is getting better. I need to keep on those shoulder exercises.

Peaking…coming again

One positive: shoulder felt better last night.

I did have some cramping in my left glute (the troublesome one).

I am doing prep for a procedure on Monday; haven’t started the tablets yet.

In my previous deadlifting, I may have made a mistake. I had a few weeks of rapid increase, a “post 60 year old” PB (301 low) followed by a regression. But I also notice that my sessions were longer; I needed a lot of recovery between work sets. Today: the poundages were more normal.

10 x 134, 10 x 184 (basement)

Outdoor:

10 x 224, 3 x 251, 3 x 251, 3 x 251, 3 x 251, 3 x 251 low handle

High handle: 3 x 274, 1 x 274, 3 x 274

Farmer’s walk: short: 224. longer: 134

Note: though reps were “touch and go”, I did not bounce reps.

Note: I did alternate the direction I faced to even out the stress.
Though I was NOT impressive in the least, I was much stronger than the last time I did outdoor deadlifts.

What is the right amount?

There are so many questions when it comes to training in general, coming back from an injury and training while old.

And there is so much variation between humans.

So, weight wise, I am trying to come back from a shoulder tweak. It came about as a crackle that left me unable to bench heavy…back in February 27.

I had a run in with this back in 2013; couldn’t bench for a month.

In 2010, I hurt it in June 2010…didn’t return to swimming until April 2011. It can take a very long time.

So, what CAN I do?

Pull ups, pulling motions and some shoulder pressing, and some light swimming. Trying to thread the needle between not doing anything and doing just enough is a tough line to walk.

pull ups: 50 total; started with 12 and 15 singles, ended with 5 chin singles.

push ups: 35, 30, 25, 20..these appear to be ok. I might try some decline presses.

bench presses: 116 felt bad (3 reps) but 3 sets of 10 x 94 were fine. But that was true 2 months ago.

curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50

shoulder presses: bad set at first (collapsed to the spotter arms) but then 2 sets of 10 x 75 narrow, 2 sets of 10 x 80 regular (lowering “to the eye”) which is where I usually do these anyway.

How do I keep my belly from popping out?

CDC, masks, etc.

Ok, local cases have fallen from the 100’s per day to the 30-40 range and the CDC has come out with some guidance:

“

Choosing Safer Activities

Friends and family grilling outside
  • If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
  • Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
  • If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, find a vaccine.

Yes, there is extra guidance for hospitals, transportation, etc.

Why I will mask up around strangers in indoor settings (e. g. stores) our in larger outdoor settings (e. g. ball games): part of it is store rules. But part of it is that a possibly immune compromised stranger (or someone who cannot get vaccinated) has no way of knowing that I am vaccinated and am therefore of little danger to them.

Yes, I trust the science on my own risk AND on my risk of actually giving it to others. But there is a human emotion side as well.

Still…I am feeling more and more “normal” by the passing day; I am swimming, going to outdoor games and just bought tickets for a late season Colts game.

Dialing back expectations

First longer swim in a while. Right shoulder is still somewhat sore..not terrible but I need to remain careful. And there is no way I can compare this to a swimming workout of the “days of old”

I swam this 5K in 1:36 (winner was a university swimmer who swam it in 55 minutes; my age group was won in about 1:05 or so. Still, I was toward the back of the thick of the “bell curve”..not an isolated straggler.

I averaged 1:45 per 100 yard. Today: resting 15 seconds or so, I averaged..1:57. Just. Shoot. Me.

1650 yards:

200 free

200 drill (fins)

200 alternating pull/free (50)

200 drill (fins)

200 side/free

4 x 100 on the 2:15 (1:57 average)

200 drill (fins)

50 dolphin kick.

Weight: 201.

Sleepy but worth it.

Today: sleepy, but yoga and an 1100 swim. Some shoulder ache last night but it was ok to swim..just a bit. Trying for a bit longer tomorrow.

I also had some weird pain in my left foot last night too…not sure..kind of where the bunion was.

Weight: 201. Hanging in there. Still, too heavy for my lack of muscle mass.

Chiefs: I went last night; Harry and Vickie were there.

Very sparse crowd..toward the end there were FIVE people in our section, and 2 in the section next to us.

And yes, it looked bad after 3; a rough start had the Chiefs down 7-0. It was 7-1 going into the bottom of the 8’th but then the Rattlers made some mistakes; hit batters, walks, etc. And so the Chiefs rallied to cut it to 7-6 but missed an opportunity to take the lead on an overslide into 3’rd.

9’th: the Chiefs tied it but couldn’t pull ahead.

10’th: “ghost runner” It was 8-7 when the Chiefs came up to bat; managed to get some runners on and an extra base hit walked it off.

Chiefs Home opener

Ok, the Chiefs lost 3-2, but rallied in the 8’th to make it interesting. They were down 3-0 and then scored 2 and had 2 on base…but couldn’t bring them in. The first hits came late.

This game went on for a long time..very long considering the score. There were many runners left on base and lots of “long counts.”

Here is the first pitch; I almost got dewy eyed.

I wore a goat mask and my new Chiefs sweatshirt; it was chilly (high 40’s at the end)

You had to wear a mask to enter and to walk around the concourse. You could take your mask off in your “pod” (groups of 2-4)..every other row. The limit is 25 percent though my guess is that there were fewer fans than that due to the chilly weather.

I sat in a pod of 4 guys (including Harry, my football buddy) (all vaccinated) and there were 4 women (including Vickie)