Melancholy workout

I am trying not to be a drama queen, and trying not to live in the wreckage of the future, but it looks as if my sports era will come to an end very soon.

No, I am not going to sell my equipment; I plan on using it as long as it benefits my health and doesn’t harm it. And I will probably have to order a new set of bands as I broke my second one today. And I’ll be looking for new goggles and swim suits as swimming seems to be doing ok.

BUT: so much of my life, I wanted to either run faster, run longer, lift heavier, do more reps, etc. But now I need to focus on what is good for my health, and that means being risk adverse in my training and *always* leaving something in the tank.

I get my MRI tomorrow AND see my primary care doctor for my prostate and hopefully, finally some answers. What lies in store I do not know.

My guess: a benign enlarged prostate (which might contribute to the “swollen” feeling I sometimes get in my left pelvic/glute area) and some sort of bulging disk impinging on a nerve affecting my left side. (L-5?)

But it could be anything from piriformis/gluteus medius strain/tear, to broken pieces of disk, to prostate cancer, spinal tumor, etc.

The physical therapist says it isn’t spinal stenosis as my McKenzie press ups are way too high.

My symptoms: left leg, tingles down the side, full feeling when I do something like banded walks, some discomfort upon standing still for too long and walking: onset of glute pain after 15-20 minutes if I am stretched and warmed up, 5-10 minutes if I am not. Tingles in the left lower leg/foot at night if I don’t stretch first..knees bent is more comfortable.

Relief: stretching; McKenzie press ups, Open book, yoga pyramid, revolved triangle, triangle help relive it almost instantly; bent forward twists help too.

Ok, there is still a lot I can do, and I can enjoy doing what I can. So what did I do today? I did all of my physical therapy along with:

pull ups: 10, 15, 10, 10, 10, 5 wide, 5 chins (strange I am 206-207..too heavy..but pull ups are going very well??? Improvement on my back?), push ups 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 30 sissy, 10 deficit

weights: 10 x 134, 5 x 156, 5 x 156, 10 x 134 (feet elevated)

4 sets of curls with 50

deadlifts: taking care to keep a flat back and use the glutes, hamstrings and quads:

10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (these went well)

high handle (8 inch) 5 x 260, 5 x 280 (heavier belt) Rule: leave a lot in the tank. Can’t strain the lumbar.

The post lift McKenzie press ups had none of the warning left leg pain that I got when I did too much low handle or tried to arch when bench pressing.

Then a 1 mile walk; not my best as I got symptoms at .7-.8 miles but I got a mile.

Other tidbits: cutting back greatly on caffeine and spreading out my Naproxen dose (1 pill upon waking up, 1 after) and I have an oh-so-slight whine in my right shoulder.

I use an orthopedic cushion at games (watched Bradley softball split with Evansville yesterday with no ill effects)