Month: March 2025

Baseball is back!

First, the workouts. Friday: 4.14 (lower Bradley plus median) 4.14 in 1:03:14 (15:16) Perfect weather; I was just slow. Then 2 miles of commuter walking later.

Today: the walk was a 1 mile walk near Dozer just before the double header and 4 laps (25:49) of inner Dozer between games.

Weights: I took my PT outside and did PT between pull up sets. 10 sets of 5; did my best.
Downstairs: 10 x 134, 4 sets of 4 x 160 (did my best)
6 x 134, 6 x 134, 5 x 134 high incline
trap bar dead: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 4 inch
6 inch: 5 x 280 (quit), 10 x 280

Baseball: Bradley’s home opener was last night. The team was 3-17 coming in; perhaps some home cooking would help.
And it did.at first. After 1 BU lead 2-0, though a baserunning mistake (not waiting to tag up on a deep fly to right) cost BU a run.

The dam burst and it was 13-2 and I thought we’d get “mercy ruled.” But BU slowly clawed back and over 3 hours later, it was 14-11 SIU going into the top on the 9’th. SIU scored ELEVEN runs in the top of the 9’th to win 25-11.

This morning: more of the same. 13-4 final. I stayed for the first 2 innings of the double header.

That sinking feelings when…

things are a struggle and those who are supposed to know, really don’t.

Again, I am a bit behind on my workout log and I’ll talk about a basketball game. Here is the workout stuff:

Tuesday: 2.2 mile walk later; morning saw the following:

pull ups: real struggle (too much body weight), but I got 50+ reps with 9 sets of 5, one of 7
bench press: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 160
incline press: one set of 134 x 5
high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94, 1 of 6 x 105
light trap bar deadlifts (sore hamstring) 3 sets of 10 x 134

Wednesday: 4.4 mile walk; West Peoria. Could not get out of the 15’s; 15:16 average for 4.4. Kind of discouraging.

Thursday: last 2.2 mile walk at a commuter pace.
Morning: 10 sets of 5 pull ups real struggle. (196 lb is why) Mixed the grip.
Bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 150
incline: 3 sets of 6 x 134
trap bar deadlift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234. No difficulties.

Note: one night of oh-so-slight knee pain…when I forgot to stretch. Painless the other nights.

Ball game: Barbara went with me to the Chattanooga at Bradley game. At first, the Mocs missed a ton of wide open 3 point shots and BU protected the ball. The result was a 16 point lead in the first half and 38-25 half time lead.

But in the second half the Braves started to get careless with the ball (12 turnovers), the Mocs pressed on defense and started to make their 3 point shots. It became a back and forth affair.

Late, the Mocs hit a 3 to go up 64-61 but BU’s star point guard and 3 point ace drilled one from deep to tie it at 64. So, with 10 seconds left, Chattanooga nailed a 3 to go up 67-64 with 10 seconds to go. Then BU could not get an open look and were fouled before the shot to bring on a 1 and 1 with 4 seconds to go. BU made the first one and deliberately missed the second, but the Mocs got the rebound and BU fouled immediately. They missed the front end of the 1 and 1 but there was not enough time to get off a credible shot, so it ended 67-65.

After their win, their start guard (who made the big assist in the video above) had something very interesting to say:

That is how I felt as a fan.

Workout videos

The irony of what Trump is selling

First: sore hamstring, so I did a super slow walk (17:45 pace) for 3.4 miles and another 1 mile commuter walk before lunch. Hamstring is still sort of tender but is feeling ok.

Now about the title.
I just read that the Secretary of Defense Hegseth had texted a journalist about military strike plans.

Now, on what planet is such behavior keeping us safe? I suppose that MAGAS might think that tough national security is Rambo like behavior, but the reality is that being strong on national security requires discipline and attention to detail, something this administration is incapable of.

Just “winging it” might work in the movies. Not in real life.

Then there is Trump himself. He rightly decries crime while acting in lawless way and while pardoning those who committed those horrible January 6 crimes.

Law and Order starts at the top, no? I guess it doesn’t with the MAGAS.

End of break…sigh

This week: just lazy. Basketball, working out, chilling. Ok, I’ve done a bit of work on most days, but only 3-4 hours worth.

But that comes to an end tomorrow: back to the grind, most of it valuable and some of it nonsense.

Workouts:
Saturday: weights and a 2 mile commuter walk.
Weights: pull ups: 9 sets of 5, one set of 10 with the final 2-3 reps being very sloppy (unsat)
bench press: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 160
high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94, one of 5 x 105
4 inch trap bar deadlift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234, 1 x 305, miss 315, 1 x 315.

Sunday: Rock Island trail at 15:37 mpm. The trail was in good shape. I’ll see how the knee responds tonight; the night pain has been gone for a while. But the left hamstring was somewhat sore; I’ll have to warm up and go a bit slower and shorter tomorrow.

Toward the end of break

Thursday: 2 mile commuter walk. Lazy weight workout:
pull ups: 5-5-5-5-7-5-5-5-5-5. Mixture of scapular/regular, regular, narrow, chin up. These were ok.
Downstairs: bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 150
incline: 5 x 134, 6 x 134

high incline: 10 x 94, 6 x 105
trap bar dead; 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 4 inch
10 x 280 6 inch.

Friday: Bradley park walk: 4.1 in 1:05. I was just plain slow; sunny, breezy, not much traffic but my body stayed in the 15’s. Sleep?

BUT: no night knee pain!

Basketball: Bradley started out quickly vs Northern Alabama and lead by 19 at the half and even pushed it to 20 points in the second half. But the Lions fought back and got to within 4. BU lead 67-62 with 30-40 seconds to go and NA missed a shot that would have made it a one possession game. It ended 71-62 thanks to good free throw shooting. Attendance was small: 2950.

Midbreak

Taking a quick break from the dreary task of grading…

Monday: 5 miles at the Rock Island trail. 5.27 at 15:32. Slightly sloppy but I should have been faster than that. Still: no knee pain that night.

Tuesday: commuter walk; weights: 4 sets of 5, one of 10 (penalty set of 3 reps afterward), 4 sets of 5. Varied the grip.

Downstairs: 10 x 134, then 4 sets of 4 x 160 (disappointed; wanted sets of 5)
incline: 5 x 134
high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 3.

Today (Wednesday) 4.10 in 1:01:23 (lower loop plus median extra; flat parts were 14:57 to the entrance and 14:42 from it. Pavement was wet. Now, to see how the knee feels tonight: I DID stretch after this.

A cheap way to feel better about myself

I admit that I’ve enjoyed following the antics of El Campeon:

Now, I do not know whether he is an expert troll who is doing it for influence and to sell shirts (yes, you can buy his shirts) or a complete moron. But, in a way, that does not matter. I watch (mostly on Instagram) and laugh. But why?

I think there is something in me that says “ok, I might suck, and I might be delusional about how much I suck but I am not this idiot”, whether the idiot is real or just a social media character. It is kind of a cheap high.

Stumbling into spring break

So, this spring has started with some challenges. We had a nice 29’th anniversary dinner at an Indian restaurant. The day before and the day after…kind of rough.

That is one thing about aging. If B were in her 50’s or 60’s, I would not be worried. And the saying “this too shall pass” becomes “this too, is likely to pass” and then “this too, might pass.” Enough said.

Me: I am doing ok.

I had lazy workouts: weights and a short (2 mile) 17:45 mpm paced walk yesterday, and 4 miles today (15:47 pace; 3 laps of my longish “around the arena” to Moss loop, averaging about 21:30 per lap; 1 minute per lap slower than I’d like (1.35-1.40 each). It was 32 F (0 C) and we had some light snow last night.

Yesterday weights:

pull ups: 9 sets of 5, one of 7, mixing the grips up: regular, narrow, chin up, mixed.
Bench: kind of pathetic: 5 x 134, 3 x 154, 1 x 165, BAD miss at 180, 2 x 165, 4 x 160, 3 x 160, 5 x 155, 5 x 155
trap bar dead (4 inch) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224, 10 x 244
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 105, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.
This all took a long time.

Knee pain: none at night for the last several nights. No ice, no “happy pills” (tramadol). But I have been faithful with my hamstring stretches and quad stretches with a yoga belt. I really believe that these are helping. I might try to bring back stationary cycling at some point.

Catching up

Let’s just say that today was a half-wasted day due to, well…negligence.

But as far as working out the past two days:

Thursday: 2 mile commuter walk (and a lunch “walk” with B) and weights in the morning:
pull ups: 10 singles (hard, mix pull ups, chin ups), 6 sets of 5 (chins, pulls), 7 pull ups, 5 pull ups. Not quite as hard as Tuesday
Bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 155, 6 x 155, 5 x 155, 1 x 155 (spite)
incline: 5 x 134
high incline: 5 x 105, 5 x 105, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.

Today: great weather: W. Peoria 3.14 in 44:30 and an extra loop (not the circle) to get 4.03 in 58:17. Ok, it was really about 4.1 miles (the large block I did was just under a mile) 14:13 pace.

Some days, it is just hard

First, a bit of social/political commentary: this going in and cancelling NSF grants: I’ll admit to having very mixed feelings.

On one hand: basic scientific research is rarely immediately profitable, and much of it will not pan out in terms of producing something material. But: it is important, not only because expanding human knowledge is good, but also because you never know when having research “on the shelf” will come in handy (e. g. research was already done on RNA type vaccines before covid hit).

So, yes, the NSF should be funding science.

On the other hand, some of what the NSF was funding IS stupid and a waste of time and money. Don’t ask me how I know.

A saying about babies and bathwater comes to mind.

But in the current academic climate, any time you want to fund something, even a STEM project, the wokes will want their cut and cry “bigotry” if they don’t get it.

And here is the rub: the MAGAS are against the wokes, but also against science. The liberals are for science, but also support the wokes. Sigh..

Workout notes

Minimal knee pain last night. Wonder how effective the knee sleeves are.

Workout: pull ups: 10 singles (HARD), then 8 sets of 5 (alternating pull ups, chin ups, two sets of mixed grips) then a set of 4 (penalty reps). It was hard..don’t know exactly why.

Downstairs: bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 160 (best in a while?)

deadlifts: 10 x 134 straight bar, wagon wheel with the straight bar: 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (glutes and lumbar were slightly sore from the last straight bar session)
4 inch trap bar: 10 x 244

high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.
Two 1 mile (plus) commuter walks to and from Walgreens.