Month: August 2022

Busy…

It is the last week of the season for Chiefs home games. I made last night’s game and Harry showed up.

Our rally caps didn’t help; the Chiefs lost 4-1. Hits were pretty even but the Chiefs stranded several runners (loaded bases) whereas the Timber Rattlers did not; their runs came off of a solo home run and a 3 run home run.

Note: their starter had an 0.79 ERA; ours had a 5.8 …that told the story. Still a gorgeous night for baseball and I have 3 games left.

I’ve had to buy 2 more tickets this season.

Workouts Yesterday the university pool was closed (again) so I drove to the YMCA and used he 50 meter; turns out we get a few more weeks.

Swim 2000 meters; couldn’t get into it. 11:44 for 500, 500 of strokes (lots of back, side, 50 meters of breast), 500 of drill/swim with fins then I tried some 50’s and 100’s: 50’s were 55-56 each; 100’s were 1:57-1:58. I gave up after 400 and finished with 100 easy with fins.

Walk was kind of rough; second half was achy in spots. Downhills are still a challenge.

Today: I decided to lift…PT, Walk 1, weights. Then over lunch, a therapy walk (to practice keeping my abs tight); I think Mapmywalk missed some miles (1.13 by this app, but I got credit for 1.03.) It doesn’t really matter; 17:28 of walking that was a bit more painful than Monday but not bad at all.

PT, and the first walk; (went great)

Mile 1 was 12:59; mile 2 was a better 11:47. I was adventurous enough to try a different route.

Pull ups: 6 sets of 5 on 20-30 seconds rest, 4 more done the same way, 5 wide, 5 chins (bad)

push ups: 2 sets of 30 incline, 4 sets of 10 flat in between more PT

bench: 5, 6, 6 reps with 156, 4 with 161

dead (all low) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 230.

curls 3 sets of 10 x 50

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 Swiss bar.
Finished right about 7:35-7:40 AM

Lunch walk (not 100 percent comfortable) 17:38

More encouragement

Ok, walk 1 came after PT and finished with weights and pull ups/push ups, etc. Suffocating conditions: 73 F and 95 percent humidity.

Walk 2 was casual, over lunch (back to work) and I did it..no stopping, no having to “suck it up”, etc.

Last semester: even going between buildings on campus was painful.

No, I am NOT out of the woods as yet, but I am doing better than I had hoped for.

The workout: pull ups, 12 sets of 5 with shoulder PT
push ups: 3 sets of 30 incline, 10 regular

downstairs: high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94

curls: 3 sets of 10.

bench: 3 sets of 5 x 156

Finished at 7:45; started the walk at 6:15.

Illinois off to a flying start

Well, after this unexpectedly convincing 38-6 win (and the Illini ran out the clock at the Wyoming 14, passing up the opportunity for another score), I found myself nitpicking the team’s performance:

“well, Wyoming ran it well in spots and had success on the quarterback bootleg….and the field goal unit needs work..(2 misses, and a less than crisp snap on one of them)”

When I found myself doing that..that is a good place to be in.

I honestly don’t know how good Wyoming is or isn’t; they won their bowl last year but lost a ton of talent and had a new quarterback. And it was HOT…they had to be dying out there (Illini sideline is in the shade).

Many of the fans escaped from the upper deck and plopped themselves where ever they saw something empty..glad I had my mask..but that added to the heat.

Back to the game: the experience in walking over I described in a previous post. To be able to walk to the stadium from the garage and not be in pain was a blessing that I really enjoyed.

Illinois started out like a ball of fire: a big kick return put them on the 48; then two plays later (38 yard run, 14 yard pass) saw the Illini up 7-0.

They returned to being sort of normal for a while…and Wyoming eventually pieced together a drive that gave them 3 points. Second quarter saw the Illini defense smother the Cowboys and a touchdown and a field goal right before the half: 17-3.

At the time, I said this:

And they did…but not before the Cowboys got an impressive drive to cut it to 17-6. After that..total domination with the back up quarterback and skill position players getting a final TD to push it to 38-6…and passed on a final score.

At ten minutes into the video, check out the run (runner rolled over a body and kept going) and the devastating pancake block by no. 54.

Upshot: ESPN’s computer LOVED the performance by the Illini; the expected win total climbed from 4.5 to 5.9, and many of the games where the Illini were underdogs have become toss ups.

Interesting that the Illini got more credit than Northwestern did for the latter’s more impressive win over Nebraska.

I honestly don’t know what will happen. My guess is that 6-6 sounds about right (though 7-5 or 8-4 are not out of the question…ok, neither is 5-7). I need to see what the Illini do in the next two weeks.
Sweep: I’ll think 7-8 victories. Split: I’ll think “ok, a bowl is possible, even likely. Get swept: “same old stuff.”

It is my OPINION that Indiana, Virginia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Purdue Northwestern are all toss ups, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State are likely losses and FCS UT-Chat is a likely win. Win 3 of the 7 toss up games and the likely win gets us to 5. Win 4 of the 7 sends us to a bowl.

Have I finally turned the corner?

Long post: it is about my “little” workout program and, yes, my back.

I ‘ll be so happy when my back is no longer on my mind; as for now, it still is, but this has been the most encouraging weekend in a couple of years or so.

The skinny: Saturday’s football game was at 3pm so that gave me time to train first.
PT, 5K walk, pull ups, 1 mile walk, weights and push ups. All went ok.

The 5K walk: I slacked on the way out and even a couple of sub 12 minute miles could not get me under a 12 average. But it WAS warm so I was ok with it; this was my W. Peoria course, which I am now confident of being able to finish without being in pain. That is minor in the great scheme of things, but much better than the 17 minute a mile 1.25 mile limp-fests that I was doing this spring.

Then I drove the 90 miles to the football game, got there early, and decided to walk another mile (it is 0.8 to the gate that I enter, so I just added a little.

No problem. Last year: I had to stop 3 times on the 0.8 miles due to pain. This is so much better.

The other part of the workout: I am embarrassed to say that the 5K tired me out a bit. So my pull ups were 2 sets of 10 singles, 6 sets of 5 with PT rest, 2 sets of 5 mixed (back?)
Walk 2; then push ups: did 30 inclined, sets of 20, 20, 10, 10 in between banded walk sets, 10 inclined.
Bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 156, 4 x 161, 3 x 166, 1 x 171 (all reasonable)
curls: 3 sets of 10
high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 Swiss bar (kind of went through the motions.

Sunday’s workout:

more progress: short PT, 1 mile slow walk to warm up (and the slow walk did not hurt!), more PT, deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184 low

10 x 251 4 inch (this was work; feeling it in the hamstrings)

10 x 280 8 inch (easier)

Walk two (dodged some cars; very humid 87 F, 61 percent humidity) went ok.

Saturday:

The above is where I ended my walk.

Sunday

Changing it

Ok, swim today…and I had time to get a walk before class. PT (finished) over lunch.

the swim: at the YMCA (50 meter; got to race some of the swim team members, and held my own..when I was using fins and they weren’t.)

500 in 11:24

500 of strokes (400 of breast/back..went better) then 100 side

500 of 50 drill, 50 swim

200 in 3:57 (best yet) then 5 minutes:

100 in 1:57 (bad)..still fatigued

4 x 50 on 2: 54, 55, 55, 55

Drove home, then walked.

Reasonable..no real pain though I did bend forward upon stopping.

Soaking

Now the other app and Strava rates this route at 3.25 miles But it is the same route that I did in 36:29 on Saturday, albeit in much better conditions.
This one: I had planned to swim at the YMCA 50 meter ourdoor pool, but it was raining. Then I found out the Bradley pool was not open today (open tomorrow) and so..after PT..I went for a walk in a downpour. It was achy and my second mile (over brick streets) was a bit slower; and the final .5 miles was a bit rough; had to focus and had mild pain.

Finished with 3 minutes of plank and chest taps.

Up and at ’em

Today was class day one. I has gone well so far.

Classes change my workouts; performance decreases a bit. But still: up at 4:20, started PT at 5:15, walk at 5:45 and done by 7:15. I was efficient: 2 hours.

Walk: 12:52 pace for 2.2. getting to 3 miles would take 11 more minutes (I have them)

Walk: not 100 percent pain free, but pretty close; didn’t notice much until late and even then, it was very mild. Tightening the abs really helps.

weights: efficient: pull ups 10 sets of 5 regular , 2 sets of 5 mixed grip. First 3 sets were “5 on the 50 seconds” then I mixed shoulder PT between sets. I think I had better quality.

push ups: 30 incline, 60 in sets of 10 regular, 20 more incline. Did the regular between banded walk sets (my 3’rd)

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 (Swiss bar)

dead (all low)10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224

curls: 3 sets of 10

bench: 3 sets of 10 x 134, taking care to keep pressure off of the back with my feet on a bumper plate/stool tower.

Moving forward: waiting to see what Bradley’s swim schedule will be; right now, I can use the YMCA for another week and a half (swim on Tu, Th, F)

Almost over

Dang…summer is almost over and hopefully, I can get this darned project done. Just 2 more diagrams to smooth out.

Today was a bit achier than normal..though the way out was ok. Still, not bad; 15:20 uphill, 14:04 down and this came after 2100 meters of swimming:

600 strokes warm up (100 side, 100 back/breast, 100 side, 100 back/breast, 100 side, 100 back/breast). Breast was straighter.

500 in 10:38 (steady)

500 of 50 drill, 50 swim with fins.

4 x 50: 55, 55, 56, 55 (kind of slow)

100 fins

200 in 4:00

It was ok. Note: if I try this on Friday, I won’t have time to walk unless I get there 40-50 minutes earlier.

Getting there

Change of plans due to a very restless night: B was in the hospital with daughter..not sure when she would call so I sort of half-slept.

so, started late, changed to lifting, PT and walking.

Walk: before pull ups, then after

The Garmin messed up my route AGAIN for the first walk; was ok for the second. I adjusted..both walks were fine; second went VERY well. Kept the pace steady.

pull ups: 10 sets of 5 (first 8 had 30 second rests), then 2 sets of 5 mixed grip.

push ups: 3 sets of 30 inclined, 10 flat

bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 145, 10 x 145.

curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50

No high incline today; it was already after noon.

And the Raccoons beat us

Last night: 2 hour delay to dry out shallow left field.

And it ended 6-2, Quad Cities. The Chiefs starter, recently from low A, gave up two 2-run home runs in the 1’st and 2’nd inning, and 2 more runs (3’rd and 4’th); the relief pitching was good but the Chiefs only mustered 2 runs in the bottom of the 8’th.

Then today: kind of the opposite. Chiefs were down 2-0 early but then rallied to seem in command at 6-2 through 6. Then came the relief pitching..walked the bases full and gave up 2 runs..so 6-4..then with a new relief pitcher, 3 more (1 HR) and now it was 7-6..one more in the top of the 9’th to lead 8-6.

Bottom of the 9’th..2 outs..and the Chiefs get a run and put runners on 1’st and 3’rd! But…called third strike (looked inside to me) ended the game.

Workout notes: PT, deadlifts, then 2 mile walk (12:55 at Moss and MacArthur )

The GPS screwed up again..gave me way too much going out (1 mile at the Church) and shorted me badly (note the parallel legs) on the way back. Turns out it gave me 2.1 for a 2.05 course…so overall, cancelling errors. Not bad for me at this stage on deadlift day.

Deads: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 low

10 x 250 4 inch

10 x 280 8 inch.