Month: April 2023

US shootings. In my opinion: it will get worse, not better.

Factually, gun homicides have been worse (per capita) in the past, though it appears that recently (post 2020), we’ve been increasing. It seems that we read about a mass shooting almost daily. And we frequently read about a shooting occurring due to a dispute.

And this is my unprofessional, possibly ill-informed opinion.

It appears that public behavior is getting worse. (here, here, here). Caring about how your behavior might affect others is just so…well, quaint.

Note: I am not talking about only “common people.” Billionaires are indifferent to the misery they cause too. Example: when Musk’s rocket blew up, what did you think happened to the wreckage? Do you seriously think that Musk cares, at all?

And our country is awash in guns and in anger. The latter: well, remember the news shows are designed to gain viewership and they do that by inflaming passion.

I remember one of the PBS news shows I watched was called “Make your blood boil” television…and that was PBS, not Fox!

And, if one tries to confront someone over bad behavior, well..sometimes THEY respond by..killing you. In this story, some idiot was shooting a rifle in their yard, thereby waking up their neighbor’s baby. He was asked to stop and he responded by killing them.

This increase in inconsiderate, “I don’t GAF about others” behavior in a country that is perpetually angry and awash in guns….well, it is my prediction that the gun violence will get worse, not better.

I’d so love to be wrong.

Life after death (ok, I am a drama queen)

Thursday night: I bit on that last date and “puff”..out came the black smoke of date mold. I spit out what I could but it was too late; that evening was to be almost sleepless, with frequent trips to urinate, and chills. Miserable night; had I had a gun, I would have shot myself. The body aches were terrible; it was as if I had run a marathon and played a football game the day before.

Still, on Friday, I did my PT exercises and yes, taught my classes, competently I think. Still I was dead tired and slept through all of my free time.

So comes Saturday: 100 percent better so I decided to do a scaled down workout.

PT (full), walk 5 miles (ok, really 5.3; not the 5.5 the pedometer gave me but more than the 5.2 my watch gave me; I modified the course by swinging wide on the turn to Parkside. It was damp, windy (what else?) and there is high traffic in West Peoria during that time slot. So while my whole walk was slow (first mile split appeared to be accurate) I was really slow in the first 2 miles.

But I almost felt normal at the end; there was some dull ache in the final 1.2-1.3 miles, but nothing like the days of old. This is what it was last year. So, I’ll shut up and take it. Still..did I have to start off THAT slowly? I guess that was prudent; I was not sure as to what I could do, and I picked it up as I got more confident.

Then I did the weights and pull ups (no push ups, no curls); I took it easy.

Pull ups: 10 singles (alternating pull ups, chins), 6 sets of 5 (one set pull ups, one set of chins), then 2 sets of 5 singles, 5 chins.

I had to rest quite a bit between sets.

Downstairs: bench press (Swiss bar)

10 x 134, 5 x 145, 4 x 145 (could NOT lock out rep 5), 5 x 145 (lots of rest) (no wraps)

High incline: 10 x 88, 10 x 94, 10 x 94 (even with the bad elbow wrap job)

And THAT was enough for me, today.

Looking at it, it sure looks like I did nothing. But I really felt awful the day before, so there is that.

Yin and yang…

One one hand, today’s workout went ok. Weight: 193 after the walk (about 196 before). On the other hand, some moronic driver almost hit me. I was on a residential street and crossed the street to avoid oncoming traffic, just as some jerk PASSED on said street, almost running me over. I cursed loud enough for those in the yard to hear me.

But enough of that:

PT and some pull ups/chin ups:

Singles: 5-5

Sets: 7 pull ups, 6 pull ups, 5 chins, 5 chins

Sets 5 pull ups, 5 chin ups, 5 pull ups, 5 single chins

then 4 singles, alternating mixed grips

push ups; 3 sets of 30 slant, one set of 10 chest tap push ups, 10 more chest taps.

Downstairs: 3 sets of 10 x 134 Swiss bar (lost of rest) with

Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 (low), 10 x 250 4 inch; trying to get into the “hip hinge” pattern. It will take a while but I can feel the glutes activate.

Then the walk (about 2 minutes slower than last time, but that’s ok; finished ok.

Very little, if any pain.

Bradley 7 Illinois 6

Yes, last night I bundled up (and was just warm enough) and watched the Bradley vs. Illinois game. The Illini drew some fans, as usual.

And it was back and forth for a while. It was 6-5, Illini after 6. Then came the bottom of the 8’th. A triple and and a double put BU up 7-6 going into the top of the 9’th, and then Bradley retired the side. Great ball game.

Bradley IS playing better of late; BU won the third game of the Illinois State series (missed that one) and then won this one; this is welcome after a 6 game losing streatk.

Of course, this game, plus the bomb threat on the BU campus, made it tough to get proper sleep and today’s walk (after PT) was a bit rough, though not as rough as Monday’s.

The above is my actual course; just over 4 miles.

This is what my goofy Garmin gave me:

It had me at 1.98 after the out and back Cooper-Moss (2.1 miles; hence the 16:32) and the watch just plain shut off the GPS at mile 3 and gave me a 12:32. But the overall average was, well, pretty close.

Home stretch

I made last night’s Chiefs game and this afternoon’s game; then I went to dinner with Barbara and Lynn (who bailed on the game due to it being cold)

I’ll say more about the games at the end of the post.

Today: PT, deadlifts, walk.

The walk: some slight discomfort around mile 3, but it did not last. It was effectively painless. Course: 1 mile to the start of Bradley Park, 2 loops (one Cornstalk, one lower) which meant I had 4 hills altogether; 2 dog park, 1 upper Bradley, 1 Cornstalk. This is perhaps my best post-COVID walk.

And speaking of COVID and sports: if you have a big competition coming up in the next 3-4 months, avoiding COVID might be as important, if not MORE important, to your preparation. We are in the final week of April and I am finally back to where I was mid January. Finally. Of course, in my case, you have age and the fact that I have a chronic back condition.

Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, then: 5 x 234 low (not hard but my form was disappointing), 3 sets of 5 x 265 (4 inch), 5 x 300 (8 inch). My last two sets were the best. Then the walk.

Chiefs baseball:

Both games were cold.

And the first game looked good after 5 innings; the Chiefs stole 6 bases in a single inning and lead 3-1 going into the 8’th. Then:

They took out the pitcher for a reliever in the 8’th when it was 3-2. Then 6 runs or so later, relief pitcher no 2..the disastrous 8’th saw the Chiefs use 3 pitchers total. It ended 11-4.

Then came today:

Cold..again. But this one ended 9-0 Chiefs..

not shown was a bunt with runners on 1’st and 2’nd…and the Tincaps did not cover first base!

This one ended 9-0 Chiefs.

Baseball day 1

I got in a workout and then made the Bradley vs Illinois State baseball game. Ok, it was never much of a contest: 9-0 Redbirds. Yes, it snowed a few times, this was the heaviest period.

Chiefs game tonight. It will be colder still. LOL.

Today’s workout: full PT, then weights (no push ups today)

pull ups/chins: 3 sets of 10 singles, alternating chins and pull ups. Then 2 sets of 5 pull ups, 2 sets of 5 chin ups.

Swiss bar bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 6 x 145 (no wraps)

3 sets of 10 x 134 shrugs

2 sets of 10 x 94 high incline, 1 set of 6 x 105

curls: 3 sets of 10.

Then I did my 4.1 mile hill walk (dog park and lower Bradley hill) 55:11 for 13:28 mpm pace, with a 12:37 final mile. Not swift, but pain free (30’s, windy) and probably my best post COVID walk. I do have to watch for the left knee: behind the knee, upper calf, kind of the way my right one acted prior to the meniscus tear.

Catching up mid April

The skinny: Tuesday: weights and a walk. Walk went much better than Monday, with respect to discomfort. Wednesday: some discomfort in the final mile (not much, really) AND I did the 3 hill Cornstalk course. Today: decided to do my West Peoria 5.1 miler and it went very well.. 1:10:50 for 5.15, 13:45 pace with no 14 minute miles. Felt good about it..but I think the deadlifts prior helped me out.

Weights: on Tuesday I did a lot of pull ups, mixes of singles, sets of 6-8, etc, enough to get 60 reps . Downstairs: Swiss bar, 10 x 134, then sets of 6 x 145 (3), sets of 7 x 94 high incline, and curls. Elbows were ok; thinking I may have banged my left elbow. Oh yes, 3 sets of 10 shrugs with 134.

Thursday: the pull ups: 20 singles done pull, chin, mixed, mixed (5 sets), 16 singles (4 sets), 5 pull, 5 chin, 5 pull. The mixed sets were challenging.

Then push ups: 3 sets of 30 slant, 1 set of 20 flat, then downstairs for deadlifts/shrugs: 10 x 134 low, 10 x 184 low, 10 x 265 4 inch (challenge)

Baseball:

The games were Chiefs wins: 8-5 (started out 4-0) and 6-3; some very savvy (and fast) base running and hitting made a difference. The Chiefs star started the first game by stealing second AND third.

Chilly on Tuesday, relatively warm on Thursday.

One of those days

I was kind of stiff today; PT..didn’t do enough McKenzie stretches. The walk: knees got on me early, then dull achy in the glute late (last mile?) and my time for the 4.1 mile walk was slow:

1:01:14 for my 4.1 mile walk (lower Bradley Park) slower than any walk last week. But it was windy, wet and chilly and this was a “every joint” from my knees to my back to my elbows to my shoulders…just ached a bit.

Last night, I had to get up a lot; this feels like one of those “post covid relapse” days, just a bit.