And yesterday: 7.1 miles in 1:52:18 followed by a Dozer Park mile. I saw the rain delayed end of the Bradley vs Southern Illinois game (10-1 loss) and the first 6 innings of a 6-2 loss (it was 4-0 when I left). The game was marred by a broken ankle from a second base slide.
This morning: 2 miles of walking and some light deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 230 low, 10 x 260 4 inch. I was all good.
Then after Indian buffet I watched Bradley go out to a 4-2 lead only to lose 13-5. The game got away in the 6’th and again in the 9’th.
Workout notes: Thursday: ho-hum 5 miles (out and back) at about 15:35. Very low effort.
Yesterday: 2 commuter walks totalling just over 5k. Weights: pull ups 6, 6, 10, 8, then 4 sets of 5 Swiss bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 150, 5 x 150, 5 x 150 (bailed on set 2: then pin pressed 134) high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105 (trying for an even bar) curls: 2 sets of 10
This wasn’t a great walk but it wasn’t supposed to be. 7.27 by Strava, 7.04 by Garmin. Call it 7.1: it was the extra loop course. But the day was pleasant.
Let’s just say that it is good to talk it over. Workout notes: pull ups: 5 sets of 6, 10 sort of sloppy, 5, 5, 3 chins sort of strict bench: 3 sets of 10 x 134 high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105 (trying to move the bar up evenly) trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, then 10 x 244 4 inch.
I swear, this past half took something out of me, and it was only a half! Monday: got off to an early start, and even walked 2 miles before class. I did some fiddling with the schedule and some soul searching on how deep to go with the Laplace transform algebra.
The weight workout: 5 sets of 6, one of 8, two of 6 (last 2 were chin sets) bench: Swiss bar: 10 x 134, then 3 sets of 5 x 150 high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 110 (ragged), 5 x 105 (better), one set of curls.
The fun: helped B stretch her hamstrings via hinge squats
Today: easy 4 mile (4.16) Corn Stock course at 15:22. The walk served its purpose. I drove B for her blood work and helped her rollate .72 miles over lunch.
I know it was just a half marathon, but it was a good effort for me. But that means disrupted sleep patterns. Next time: I have to take care of hydration and rest.
Yesterday: I did some light weights: (trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 low, 10 x 244 4 inch), walked 2 miles and went to Indian buffet. Later: Game with Barbara. The Chiefs lead 4-3 in the top of the 9’th when the Cubs hit a 2 run home run to win the game 5-4.
The night before: the Chiefs gave up 8 runs in the 7’th to lose 9-3.
Ever since my lumbar stenosis set-back, I’ve been trying to regain my walking form. Racewalkers: my knees are way soft; I make no pretense of legality in my walking.
I started basically by being unable to walk even a quarter mile without stabbing glute pain (2022) and have built back up to the half marathon distance. That is another story.
In 2024 I worked up to half marathons, but I could NOT walk them in under 3 hours (I got 3:05, 3:03). These were warm days.
In 2025 I did one (with knee braces; I had a knee setback) and improved to 3:01, mostly because of better pacing.
This year, my walks started to feel better so I impulsively signed up for the half marathon in Springfield. I did this race once before (1998) and walked jogged 1:49 on a very warm day. That was about 10 mintues off of my pace in those days.
I spoiled myself by getting a nice room the night before. I like having the time to relax and stretch my lumbar.
Pick up was at the old Capitol.
But, I STILL got up just before 4 am for the 7:30 start; eyes opened and I could not go back to sleep.
Instead of focusing, I made memes.
The memes had some basis in fact. The first one was about the 10ks I did in Madision in 1997-1998 (44 minutes and 41 minutes). Barbara did the 5k walk and the 5k and 10k courses merged in the final miles; the 10k featured an out and back first. Since she walked in the high 40s, I passed her late. She recalled that I looked like a lumbering bear.
The other: I did the 2000 Madison half in 1:35. But that was 26 years ago; you cannot go home again.
Anyway, back to the present day.
The hotel was a short walk to the start line and I got there with little difficulty. It was fun to talk to the other participants. And, I left my phone at the hotel; it tunrs out that this was a good idea!
I lined up at the back, where I belonged. I was hoping to crack 3 hours on the cool, even chilly day.
Unfortunately, I got taken in by the excitedment and the gang. Mile 1 came at 12:21 which was WAY too fast for me, NOW. I tried to back off and I was at 37:10 at mile 3 (38:20 or so at 5K, which was my fastest 5k walk last year) and I knew that I could not sustain that.
I made a deliberate effort to back off to a sustainable effort. The next mile was 13:05 (50:15 at mile 4), 13:36 for mile 5, 13:42 for mile 6 and I was finally at a sustainable pace. It was just past mile 4 when the 2:45 pace group passed me. I said “oh no” and the lady leading the group thought that I was sad that they caught me. I said “no, I should have NEVER been in front of you!” That was to become relevant later. mile 7: 13:41. mile 8: 13:45, next two miles were 26:41 which got me to mile 10 in 2:11:42. I knew that my goal was in reach.
13:26 for mile 11, 13:58 (vs uphill and stiff wind) for mile 12, and then to my 2:54:23 finish. My final 5K was 42:41; final mile against the wind was a bit slow.
And now back to the 2:45 pace lady: she saw me finishing and she went on the course to take me in! That was so sweet of her; my reaction was part “awwww” and part “well, I guess that I really am an old man.”
The performance itself: what I did right vs what I did wrong:
Right: training, taper. And I didn’t panic when I went out too fast; I salvaged my race by deliberately slowing down BEFORE my body forced me to. Fuel: orange juice seems to work.
Wrong: I didn’t drink enough; I had that “sort of double vision” I get when I am tired. I should have carried larger containers of juice and taken electrolyte tablets. And the start was downright stupid; I have to start these at a “stupid slow” pace.
Just is: ok, I am struggling with aging. I am not saying that I was ever good; I never was. But I once walked 2:17 (and won a monitored power walk) and I once ran 1:34. I was what a few other recreational runners aspired to be (seriously).
No one wants to be me now.
At my pace in the pack (final 200 of a 1300 participant race) you see mostly older people, crippled people, “party people” and those who are clowning around. One guy ran with an airhorn, yelled frequently, and just cut up all over the place. I think that I started too fast to get way from him, but then let him go, and then passed him for good at about 10k into it.
I want to make this clear: he was doing nothing wrong. He was being courteous of the other runners and I noticed that he thanked the police and volunteers (as did I). He has every right to enjoy the race the way that he wants to. It is just that I’ve reached the point where a younger person can totally clown and still be ahead of me, and that bruises the old ego a bit. Ok, more than a bit.
The good part is that I was able to race similarly aged people; I remember a tall guy and a lady with a blue top and black spandex. I really do enjoy racing the other gray hairs. And I was really impressed by one massive guy (50ish?) He was huge, very overweight, and (as a runner) left me in the dust at mile 5. Never saw him again. He struck me as a would be 1:30 runner in a XXXL body. I wonder if he was a former football player.
And so, my reactions are mixed. I am glad that I can walk this far, given what I feared in 2021. But, well, it is clearer than ever that I was, at my best, just a participant. It is just that “young man slow” is faster than “old man slow.”
My half marathon walks: (no running at all in any of these) Note: most links are broken.
As expected, blogging gets non-existent when the Chiefs are in town and I am still teaching.
Here are the workouts: Tuesday: hill course 4.14 miles in 1:01:05 (14:46) Wednesday: short walks of 2 and 1.4 miles. Pull ups: the usual 50 reps (a few sets of 6 were chin ups), bench: 3 sets of 10 x 134 Swiss, high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94 (trying to get “even”), trap bar dead: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 4 inch: 10 x 244 Thursday: 4.14 miles in 56:00, or 13:32 (felt it that day) Yesterday: 2.1 commuter, light weights: 50 reps (5 sets of 6, 1 of 10, 2 of 5) bench: 3 sets of 10 x 134, high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94
Today: in Springfield for the half marathon. I’d love sub 3 hours but..we shall see. Weather: high 40’s. Do I wear leggings under my shorts?
Chiefs: well, the first two games were interesting.
Tuesday: the Chiefs came out on fire and led 7-1 after the first and cruised to a 10-1 win. Wednesday: well, the weather was warmer and so were the Cubs’s bats. They shelled the Chiefs pitching for 17 hits and won 13-1.
There weren’t many there to see either of those games.
Finally, on Thursday, we had a nice game and the Chiefs got an insurance run in the 8’th to win 5-3. I didn’t see last night’s 8-6 loss as I was on the road, but I hope to take Barbara and Tracy to tonight’s game.
It turned out to be a good Easter weekend after all. I hope to cajole my wife into walking later.
First: the workouts. Yesterday: I managed my hilly 10k course (slightly wet and 50’s) in 1:27:31 (14:07). I was 58:30 at mile 4 so the last 2.2 was in about 29 minutes. Then I walked 1 mile (3 laps) in Dozer between the two Bradley Baseball games (12-3 and 9-4 losses to Evansville)
In an improvement, Barbara managed a 0.2 mile walk under her own steam (no rollator) after lunch on Saturday.
Today: slowish 3.2 mile walk at 16:27; just cruising around campus and on Moss. Before that: trap bar deadlifts. Low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 230 4 inch: 1 x 300 (felt bad so I aborted), 5 x 300, 5 x 300, 5 x 300. Felt ok.
Bradley Baseball: they suspended Friday’s game with the Braves down 7-0 in the top of the 5’th. I missed Bradley scoring 2 runs so it was 7-2 when I arrived. BU cut it to 7-3 in the top of the 9’th, when Evansville slammed the door with 5 runs to win 12-3.
Second: Evansville started out 3-0 and lead 6-0 before cruising to win 9-4. It is a long season for BU.
Easter: great brunch with Barbara and Jennifer. I forgot how much fun Jennifer can be.
Commuter walk of 1.55 and 2.2 miles. Weights: Pull ups: 6 sets of 5, one of 10, one of 5, one of 7 bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 150 (all with the Swiss bar) high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94, 1 of 5 x 110 curls: set of 10. Does NOT seem like very much, does it.
Life of an old goat 