Day: April 17, 2022

Baseball weekend

Thank heavens for the orthopedic cushion and the blanked I used as a lumbar cushion.

It was nice to forget about my back/piriformis for a while.

Ok, Saturday, Bradley lost to Dallas Baptist 6-1. But BU had one the first 2 in this series and sweeping no. 16 DBU was a tall order. They pulled out the stops with their pitching, getting strong performances from the entire staff.

Sunday: 40 F and breezy; the Chiefs went to 6-3 by way of a walk-off 7-6 win. But what a game. The starter threw fire and struck out 10 in 5 innings; the first reliever didn’t drop off much, striking out one and not allowing any runs.

So after 7 the Chiefs were up 2-0 and then came the top of the 8’th. OMG..the Loons teed off and got 5 runs..and were close to a 6’th when a runner was thrown out at 3’rd trying to leg out a triple..and from where I sat..the Loons had a right to complain. But the umpire was right there.

And so the Chiefs promptly..scored 4 in the bottom of the 8’th to retake the lead!

In the 9’th the Loons tied the game with a solo home run to left..but in the bottom of the 9’th..two outs..one on base due to an infield single and throwing error…what should have been the third out was botched allowing the runner from second to score and win the game 7-6.

Sadly, few were there to watch.

Break even weekend

I am getting ready to go to a Chiefs game; I saw a good Bradley Baseball game yesterday. That is for my next post.
What I will report is that using an orthopedic seat cushion and my Bears stadium blanket as a lumbar cushion helped me forget about my back/piriformis for a while.

The big news (in my saga) is that I returned to swimming on Saturday and decided to try the following routine:

Swim: Sat, Mon, Wed, Friday, lift: Tu, Th, Sunday with short walks (1 mile or so)

Saturday: swimming: 200 free slow, 100 kick drill with fins, 4 x 50 0n 1:10 (55-57 each), 100 kick drill with fins, 200 drill/swim with fins 100 side stroke, 4 x 50 on 1:10 free (56-57 each). Sad but it is a start.

Then I walked 1.25 miles outside; same old story; went great for 0.6-0.8 miles, ok at mile 1, then kind of tough. PT on the grass before the walk, then on my porch when I got home.

Today: long workout broken up by:

28 minutes inside PT (laying stuff)

42 minutes outside with PT (including banded walks) and 5 x 10 pull ups, 5 wide, 6 chin.

Push ups: 40 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 20 flat, 10 deficit

Then 56 minutes inside (2:10 total) which included:

bench press: 10 x 145, 10 x 150, 10 x 150 (feet on a stool to relieve back pressure)

curls: 3 sets of 10 with 50

high incline back: 3 sets of 10 x 103

deadlift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 being very careful. Next deadlift session will be handle work.

Note: McKenzie afterward didn’t yield that left side leg/butt pain like it did before, and I wore a light belt.

Then some stretching (10 min) and a 16 minute walk (1 mile) to finish it all up.

Note: the walk was not GREAT but…one interesting sign: the pain..was mild and it seemed to migrate upward..I could feel my glutes working. Getting the pain to localize to the back would be a major step forward for me. For some reason: back pain is easier to deal with that deep glute pain.

Note: weight is 205 (Riverplex): too heavy. I really need to be 195 or lighter, but pull ups are going ok. Go figure.

Back: who knows; I don’t know if I am willing to risk back surgery or if I even need it. But I think I am ready to try shots.