Month: March 2024

Dumpster fire and a 5K

Well, my spouse ended up in the ER again; this time for an infected tooth. Yes, the infection was serious. It did impact classes on Thursday. She will certainly need more work and assistance.

Wednesday: 5.2 mile walk in the morning. 1:13:49 (14:20 pace) then a 2 mile commuter walk.
Thursday: 3.4 mile walk to the hospital to pick up the car and drive her home. Class was impacted.

Friday: weights: and two 2-mile commuter walk.
Pull ups: 6, 5, chin ups: 5, 5, 5 pull ups, 5 chin ups, 8 pull ups, 4 pull ups, 5 chin ups, 5 chin ups, 48 second hold.

bench press: 10 x 134, 5 x 155, 5 x 155, 4 x 155, 4 x 155

high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 10 x 105

curls 3 sets of 10.

Saturday: 2 mile warm up walk. 5K Interplanetary race: 11:10, 10:42, 10:25, 1:00. Final time: 33:20, which is faster than last year. But I am lighter and not fighting COVID. Then 1 mile cool down. This gives me 156.9 miles for the month; even 5K tomorrow should get me to 160 miles, which will tie my “post stenosis” high water mark.

Working it

Interesting day: “two factor authentication” was on the fritz so I had trouble logging in to Canvas. I was able to, eventually.

Besides the usual PT, I did the following:

pull ups: 6 sets of 5, 8 plus 4, 7 chins plus 4. I was doing to do some holds but the skies let loose and the wind kicked up like crazy.

Downstairs to high incline: 10 x 94, then 3 sets of 5 x 120 (this was my max not that long ago)

bench: 3 sets of 6 x 145

curls: 3 sets.

Then the W. Peoria 3.14 plus 1.2 campus for 4.35 in 1:01:44 (14:11 pace); not that bad given I was just around 30 minutes at mile 2. I picked it up quite a bit. And nothing hurt; I was 183.0 after the walk.

.

Human variation: COVID and acting one’s age (“you’re too old for that”)

Covid: it is hard to discuss this at times, because there is such a great variance in experiences.

Here is my experience with my age peers.

2 of my good friends got it, but only found out they had it via a test. It wasn’t even a cold for them.

2 of my other friends got it and ended up hospitalized; one of them had their oxygen levels drop into the 80’s. He was hospitalized for a month and almost died. He has recovered since. Mind you, he was an accomplished ultramarathon runner.

The other also was hospitalized and, 3 years later, has not recovered. She went from being an ultra marathon runner to barely being able to walk.

I knew of someone else who ended up wheelchair bound and lost a limb!

Me: sick for 2 weeks (worse than any flu I had) and it took me another month to get up to speed, physically. But I did recover at home.

My point: people’s experiences are all over the map, so it is hard to generalize.

Age: So, are you really “too old for that?”

It depends. Most of us have chronic conditions of some sort. My right knee now precludes my trying to run; the last time I tried I could feel the pounding on the top of my shin bone. My back precludes squatting and going for max deadlifts, and it makes open water swimming all but impossible (the “sighting” motion where one lifts their head to look puts the back into extension).

But others do not have this set of difficulties, and still others have the body awareness to know how NOT to put their respective condition into a painful position.

So, the answer to the question is “it depends.”

I do know that my days of jogging to the pool, swimming, lifting, jogging home and then going to work are pretty much over. I have to be selective and I have an “energy” and a “back” budget.

Today’s workout post

Yes, I actually have something to say that isn’t “I did this for my workout”, though what follows is the workout:

PT
Deadlifts: 10 x 134 4 inch, 10 x 134 low, 10 x 190 low
Low: 5 x 225, 5 x 235
4 inch: 5 x 264, 5 x 275

8 inch: 5 x 280, 5 x 300 (went ok; no video)

Then 5.2 miles of walking (lower Bradley Park plus campus loop) in 1:15:55 (14:36) I was not fast during the Bradley Park stuff; 58:xx at the 4 mile mark. It was one of those walks were cars showed up at *every* intersection, despite there being little traffic. There are walks like that.

As far as the deadlifts: these probably went better than they have in a long while.

As

Progress continues

After my 4 mile walk today (campus loop plus Moss plus Laura, 14:46 pace) I weighed 182 lb. So, there is no weight gain.

But I appear to be getting stronger again; perhaps I am adjusting to my new body positions.

Workout notes: leisurely approach to pull ups (PT intermixed)
10 singles, 10 regular, 8 plus 3 regular, 7 plus 4 chin ups, 6 mixed, 6 mixed

downstairs:

bench: 5 x 134, 5 x 145, 1 x 155, 1 x 165, 1 x 175 (UGLY, but no bounce, butt on the bench, feet on a chair), 5 x 154, 5 x 154, 4 x 154 (missed rep 5), pin press 134, 10 x 134 (whew)

high incline: 3 sets of 7 x 105.

Wow..that was it. Then the walk

NIT, more work

Yesterday: 5.15 in 1:11:55 (13:58 pace; picked it up a bit); 2.15 mile commuter walk.

Today: weights and a 3.45 commuter walk from Moss to West Peoria. 15:47 was the pace and AFTERWARD there was an oh-so-slight right hip ache. I do have to watch my courses and mileage.

The weights: PT plus pull ups: 6 sets of 5 (regular, chin, mixed, mixed, regular, chin), 7+3 regular, 7+4 chin then a 44 second hold (timer at 45 seconds)

downstairs; deadlifts were 10 x 134 4 inch, 10 x 134 low, 10 x 190 low, 10 x 225 low (kind of sloppy)

bench: (super setted) 10 x 134, 3 sets of 7 x 145 (getting better)

high incline: 10 x 94, 1 x 115, 7 x 105, 2 x 120 (wanted 3-4)

Now about the NIT game

The crowd was mostly diehards: just under 4700 which was a bit under the season average. That makes sense as they use group tickets to get people there.

The game: Bradley roared out to an early lead and, in the second half, built it to 21 points. They were holding Loyola to 22-23 percent shooting.

But LU rallied and, at one point, cut the lead to 4. But BU made the plays it needed to make down the stretch and won 74-62. This was probably Bradley’s best game of the year, though BU got hurt by Loyola’s offensive rebounding.

I decided to sit in better seats and I might go that route next season. B is nearly 82 and struggles a bit with mobility.

Slowly getting better

I weighed in at 182.5 after my 4.1 walk (flat ground) at 14:32 (45:30 at 3.14; W. Peoria) The walk was painless.

Started out with pull ups: 8 sets of 5, then “almost 8 plus 4” then an attempt at 4 pause reps (made 3)

Downstairs:

high incline: 5 x 94, 5 x 105, 1 x 115, 1 x 134, 5 x 115, 5 x 115, 6 x 115 (felt strong with these)

bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 145, 5 x 145

curls: 3 sets of 10.

Again: does not seem like much.

Break gone too quickly

Oh well…back to work…

Today: took my bumper plates for a spin.

low: 10 x 94, 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225

4 inch: 2 x 275, 5 x 264, 5 x 264, 5 x 275. Tried to keep from bouncing the reps; the new bumpers ARE sort of bouncy.

Then 5.15 mile walk in 1:11:49 (13:57); 14:40’sh first mile and an uphill mile that was like that. Got it cranking toward the end; felt great.