Day: July 11, 2022

Finding balance

PT, walk, more PT, rest, swim.

As I started the walk, I knew I just “didn’t feel it.” It was wet, damp pavement and I decided to try a different course and do 2 one mile walks. But as I approached a mile, while I didn’t feel outstanding, I didn’t feel horrible either. So I decided “get it over with” and the last 0.4 miles were kind of rough..not terrible, but very mild pain…and at times, when I focused on posture and locking the lumbar, the pain darn near went away..only to come back when I relaxed too much and slumped a little.

The second mile was actually a bit faster than the first so there was no great power loss.

Then came more PT then rest, then swim.

600 of side/back; raced the slower freestylers while doing these and held my own..even won.

200 of front/swim

200 of fins: 75 drill, 25 swim

Then I did a weird set of 200 hard, 200 pull times 3, resting just enough to check my time and make the equipment change:

3:37, 7:30, 11:11, 14:58, 18:41, 22:36

Swim segments: 3:37, 3:41, 3:43

Pull segments: 3:53, 3:47, 3:55 (these were recovery intensity)

Post swim: 203.4 lb. Ok for after the weekend.

Reality: I think that weight loss would help me a great deal. I’d probably feel great at 185…even 195 would be better.

Getting it figured out..

First: I was somewhat sore last night and wondered how much I could walk. It turns out that I handled 2 one mile walks easily and painlessly ..nothing residual. What I didn’t do is “belt squat” afterward. More on that later.

The workout: PT, walk 1, PT, walk 2, a bit more PT and then downstairs for some trap bar deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184 (low handle), 10 x 270 8 inch…went fine, no residual glute soreness.

This was much better than yesterday (especially walk 1)

What seems to bother the glute/nerve root: Pressure when the thigh is horizontal to the ground and the shin is vertical; in particular:

Presses (bench and seated shoulder) when I don’t have my legs up.

Squatting when I go deep and keep a relatively upright torso

Cycling in a recumbent; the upright cycling is better.

Horizontal thigh + vertical shin + pressure = glute pain, either then or after the fact.

Non-horizontal thigh is ok.

Baseball: I made a baseball game; it was a very painful 6-5 loss. This game featured a bit of everything:

Early, there were two outs and the second baseman fielded an easy grounder but their throw was too high; the first basemen had to go too high and came off of the bag. Chiefs should have been out of the inning. Next batter hits a home run (ok, really smacked the ball too) and now it was 2-0.

Next: runners on second and third …pitcher balks. So now it is 3-0.

The lead increased to 4-0 before the Chiefs rallied; 2 runs via a double with runners on base to make it 4-2, and later a big home run tied the game 4-4.

Sky Carp made it 5-4, but the Chiefs tied it ..and stranded runners.

Now to the top of the 9’th; 2 outs again, and the pitcher tried a pick off at 2’nd and it sure looked as if he got the runner, but the umpire said otherwise.

Next batter hits a shallow fly to center and the outfielder made an excellent diving try at the ball…had it for a moment but the ball popped out and the runner scored. Then the umpire threw out the Chiefs’ manager, so he ran out on the field and had some more things to say.

And that is how it ended: 6-5 loss, with many, many chances to have pulled it out.