Category: injury

summer lethargy

Undisciplined as always..
Monday: weights and a 2+ mile walk.
pull ups: 9 sets of 6 (one was 8 plus 2 partials). These continue to be tough. Too much weight.
bench: 10 x 134, 3 x 165, 3 sets of 5 x 160
Note: I have an unusual bench press curve: My bests are (NOT all on the same day!)
20 x 134, 10 x 150, 7 x 155, 5 x 160, 3 x 165 and max is 180
high incline: 10 x 94, 6 x 105, 6 x 105
trap bar dead: low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 4 inch: 10 x 228

I cannot do long walks and maintain anything like heavy trap bar deadlifts at the same time.

Tuesday: Usual 10k course (5 hill) 1:31:02. It was warm (83 F) and humid and I started too late, and the air was tough. I was 1:00:10 at 4 miles. So, that means I did my last two right at 14:00; it should NOT have been that hard.

But, the insoles have really helped that foot lump, so there is that.

Steamboat 2025

This year, well, was very different from the previous 2 years. For the first time, Tracy and I did it together. It was fun; glad we did it. And Tracy won the 80-84 F age group (open category)

As far as our race: I was going to walk with her and we stayed reasonably steady the whole race, never varying much from 15:10 mpm until the very downhill last mile which got us to the finish line in 1:00:17. I had predicted this time for us.


As far as the race itself: it was different. They started us in “waves” but perhaps not quite as defined as they are in other races. They had the wheelchairs, USATF 4 mile waves (W , M, W master’s, M master’s, then some open waves going at 7:15) and we had a slightly different course and went in reverse of the traditional route.

Obviously, I finished much further back than normal, save for the time when I walked with Barbara, years ago. Yes, I walked last year too, but then my “chip time” was just under 44 and people around me were mostly doing their best.

Now, at an hour, you had “participants”, people posing for photos, people engaging in long phone conversations, people with braces, old people (I saw several octogenarians), overweight people, etc. On the way back..I got to see the swift 15K runners; that was fun. It really is a different world back there.

This was definitely one of the “fun ones.” I am glad I did it and I am glad I did it this way.

Afterward, I sneaked in 3 sets of trap bar deadlifts (low handle this time): 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225

Steamboat History

1998: 15K 1:08:22 183/844 (sticky) Was running just under 20 for 5K in those days. 22:50/23:05/22:27, 29/71 AG 167/603 men
1999: 15K 1:07:53 187/725, place was a bit worse; roughly 20:40 for 5K in these days 22:38/23:01/22:13 39/76 AG, 170/511 men
2000: 4m 27:51 After a 10K/half marathon double and 1:35 half a few weeks earlier.
2001: 4m 29:13 Lake Geneva Marathon 3:40
2001: 15K 1:11:16 (126/381) Fall 15K 23:20/24:04/23:51
2002: 4m 43:15 (walk)
2002: 15K 1:14:33 (run; fall) 167/405 24:10/25:07/25:16
2004: 4m 33:10 (two 24 hour walks in May; 101 and 88)
2005: 15K 1:23:13 (26:40/27:39/28:43) McNaughton 100 in April, Marathon on Memorial Day.
2006: 4M 42:10 (walk), FANS 24 in June (83 miles)
2007: Walk with Barbara 1:10
2008: Walk with Barbara 1:13
2009: run 1:27:23 (9:22 mpm) Place: 519/726 29:21/29:49/28:43, 34/43 AG
2010: walk 4 miles 39:32.
2011: walk 15 km 1:48:02 37:12/36:24/34:26
2012: run 15 km 1:36:55 29:26/33:54/33:35 679/835
2013: 15K 1:29:04 (29:34/29:53/29:38) 40/50 AG, 552/866
2014: 1:29:57 (29:22/30:46/29:49)
2015: 1:34:28 (30:49/32:49/30:50) (2 weeks after FANS 59.9) 579/804, 376/461 males, 173/219 male masters, 36/43 AG
2016: 1:41:57: 31:40/34:37/35:40 667/822, 413/458 male, 196/221 master male, 30/33 AG.
2017: walk 1:55:52: 37:04/39:41/39:07 Just not in very good shape.
2018: 2:15:55 walk/jog…gave up after 2 miles and mostly walked (22:15). 39:20/48:19/48:16
2019: 1:38:36 31:44/35:12/31:40 (3 loop version, rainy and cool)

2020: covid cancelled, 2021: cheered on Tracy (injured), 2022 injured (back)

2023: walk with Lynnor: 54:46 (cool day, 27:28/27:18)

2024: 4 mile walk 43:44 cool day, 22:16/21:28
2025: 4 mile walk with Tracy: 1:00:17 (social).

Aging and working out: right now

I’ve wanted to talk about this for a while. What is different about my workouts now than before? Note: I am 65

Of course, I’ve changed what I do: running no longer works (severe patellofemoral osteoarthritis in each knee) and swimming the crawl: I have not learned how to NOT extend (arch) my lower lumbar. And I’ve modified other exercises:
Mostly trap bar for the deadlift and wagon wheel plates for the straight bar (mostly), taking the leg drive out of the bench press (feet on a chair) and switching to the high incline (supported) instead of standing shoulder press. Pull ups: keep the knees in front of the body. This induces a small “kip” which would DQ me in a competition.

But here is the major stuff:

  1. Lots of daily PT for the lumbar, shoulder and a bit for the knee. I do this in the morning.
  2. Longer recoveries are needed after strenuous workouts. Go too long or too hard, and it affects my job. It is even more difficult to climb stairs.
  3. Aches and pains: I almost always have them. But they are far worse if I don’t move. So, it is workout and hurt a little bit (at first) or do nothing and hurt a lot more.
  4. Recovery from injuries or flare ups: MUCH longer these days. This is why I am more conservative.
  5. Pushing my limits: FAR less frequent these days. I rarely try for a max effort with the weights or with a walking race. Recovery takes longer and I want to limit the risk of injury.
  6. Performance! At my current bodyweight: at one time in my life, I could bench press 260 lb (310 is my max, but at 40 lb heavier body weight) I could do a set of 20 “less than perfect” pull ups; now 7-9 is a challenge. I can’t quite get the 10’th cleanly. Pull ups used to be 20-10-10-10 or 15-15-10-10. Over time I’ve changed to doing sets of 5-7 and even singles. Walking: last year I got under 11 minute miles for a 5K and 4 mile race, and 3:05 for the half. In terms of my walking, my unjudged PR (not being sloppy) is 29:2x and half (monitored) was 2:17 but this was 2003. My judged PR: 30:42 and 20k was 2:24 (about 2:33 for the half) Again, this was 2003. As a runner: 19:00 for the 5k, 1:34 for the half (1982 and 1998 respectively) .

In terms of the 5k (a nice benchmark), I said goodbye to sub 20 in 1999 (last did it in 1998), sub 22 in 2002, sub 24 in 2009 and sub 25 in 2014 (last time was 2014)

BUT the good part: at 65, I am feeling the way I expected to feel at 50. At 50, I still had some gusto and still could run the 5K in 24:00 or so, and at 49 I could barely break 7 minutes for the mile. 1999 (at 39) was my final sub 6 minute mile (5:59) 1998 I could run a 5:41 1600 and I last did 5:30 in 1982.

So…no, age is NOT “just a number” for me.

Visually: 1982, 2000, 2005, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2024. I am approximately the same weight in each photo (a little lighter in 2000) but the body composition is very different.

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.

Workout dump

Thursday: 2 mile walk over lunch. Weights:

pull ups: 10 singles (alternating chins and pull ups), then 7 sets of 5, one of 7. Downstairs: 10 x 134, 10 x 150 bench (best in a while), 3 sets of 5 x 134 incline, 4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234

Friday: 5K walk at 16:48. Bad sleeping night; some knee pain.

Saturday (today) 2 miles at 15:10 per mile. Weights: 10 singles (alternating pull ups and chin ups), 8 sets of 5 alternating pull up sets and chin up sets.

bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 155, 5 x 155, 5 x 155
incline: 5 x 134
High incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10
straight bar dead lift: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225 (exhausting) burn in the hamstrings.

Leisure

I had a day of leisure today. Later: basketball game between UIC (who was favored) and Bradley.

The back-and-forth contest was tied at the half (28-28; UIC had a 3 point shot disallowed after review due to a shot clock violation) and it was 44-44 going into the 4’th. But then BU pulled away and won 65-54. Bradley played great defense in the paint, mercilessly harassing the UIC forwards and centers.

BU is by no means a good team, but at least this year, BU would be fairly be called “bottom of the midpack” of the Missouri Valley Conference. They are no longer an automatic win for a MVC team.

Before that, I had a long weight workout (2 hours, but I took tons of rest) and a 2 mile walk at just under 16 minutes per mile (I tend to speed up with knee braces)

I may have overdone it a little; tonight will tell. I have some barely perceptible soreness.

Pull ups: ok, these were just plain hard. 2 sets of 5 singles, then 8 sets of 5, with 3-4 sets being chin up sets (harder for me, but better bicep activation). It was in the 20’s with a wind.

Bench press: 5 x 134, 2 x 155, 1 x 165, miss at 175, make at 175, 10 x 145 (hard)

1 inch bar deadlift: 10 x 105, 10 x 149, 10 x 193
Olympic bar deadlift: 10 x 225 (not that hard) slight residual lumbar soreness later; mostly glutes and hamstrings.

High incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94
curl: 3 sets of 10

Well, I asked for it

I just said “no” to NSAIDS. Last night: that hurt..the knee absolutely killed me. I’ll take the opioid tonight, though…well..

As far as stress on the knee: just a slow 2 mile walk (to vote then to the office) and weights:

pull ups: 8 sets of 5, one of “almost 7” and one of 4 (two were mixed grips). These were just hard. I did not sleep well..was tired and I had no endurance at all.


bench: 10 x 134, 8 x 150, 6 x 150, 5 x 150, 1 x 150 (wanted 20 reps)

curls: 3 sets of 10

high incline: 10 x 94, 2 sets of 5 x 105

Yes, the knee, well, both knees, was a little bit sore.

A 47 year old relationship turns toxic and I say “goodbye.”

The relationship began in 1978. I had a strange knee pain and swelling; I couldn’t even run a mile without the knee blowing up. Exams, surgeries..and I had “your symptoms are consistent with rheumatoid arthritis, but the blood markers never showed up (my synovium was very inflamed; red to purple and I had rice bodies in my knee). So began a 10-12 period where I was on heavy doses of NSAIDS: aspirin (4 taken 4 times a day), Naprosyn (prescription level doses), etc.

Eventually the knee stuff died down but I had the usual shoulder, lumbar, and yes, knees at times. So I was on again, off again with heavy doses.

But..eventually, I got mouth ulcers (last November it was severe) and I got off of them. I tried a few Naproxen and…bam..mouth ulcers are back. The doctors would not prescribe NSAIDS for me but gave me a weak opioid (Tramadol) instead. I’ve yet to take any.

But NSAIDs, we’ve had 47 years together, and I’ll miss how good you made my joints feel. I am going to have to take it the rest of the way with heat, ice, activity management, etc. And yes, I can still do stuff; I have very little daytime pain. The pain is almost exclusively at night, at about 5 hours after going to sleep. It is relieved by stretching and it goes away after a step or two upon waking up. Crazy.

Today: super slow 5k of walking (almost 19 minutes per mile) and 1 more mile of commuter walking. No problems .

Second thriller of the weekend

I watched some basketball this weekend. Today, I watched the stirring Bradley 65-60 victory over a good Illinois State team. The Braves started 9-0 down but then just rained 3 point shots on the Redbirds to take a 28-16 first quarter lead. This is very rare for BU. The game then evened out a bit; mostly ISU would creep to within 3 but BU would then pull away.

Finally, in the 4’th the Redbirds took a 1 point lead. But BU never wavered; they took care of the ball and matched every ISU surge.

This was one hard earned victory. Even better: Barbara went with me!

Working out: 4 mile walk on the Riverfront. I could feel that troublesome left knee at times. I might invest in one of those heated knee sleeves for sleeping.