Category: whining

Brrr January 2026

Friday’s classes were moved online. I taught them from my office. Decent attendance!

Friday’s workout: It was -5 F outside and windy; fingers got cold. Pull ups were “do what you can”: sets of 5-6 until the final one of 4 to get my 50 reps. Some were sets of singles with gloves.
Basement: bench: 10 x 134, 1 x 170, 2 x 165, 5 x 160, 5 x 155, 5 x 155
high incline: 10 x 94, 7 x 105, 7 x 105
Walk: very cold over lunch; 2 miles and my hands got cold

Today: did my out and back plus 2 mile Cornstalk plus 1.1 mile lower loop; did the “long way home” plus enough loops to get 10.1 in 2:49 (16:46 pace; faster after leaving the park). But I was steady and totally layered.
Wool socks, bicycle tights under sweat pants, t-shrit, long sleeved, Chiefs tech stretch shirt with hood, and the high teck jacket with a windbreaker over the top. Gloves: fleece mittens under fake leather ones. 2 hats plus the hoodie hood. My face got cold..for brief periods of time. Note the beard cicles and the ice under my windbreaker sleeve!

Of course, the Women’s Basketball team played their game, as scheduled. It was 51-21 Bradley over Valpo at the half and it ended 79-39. BU played everyone.

Wednesday-Thursday

It is supposed to be -7 tomorrow morning, so classes are cancelled. Ok, they will be online.

Wednesday: 2 mile commuter walk; weights went as follows:
pull ups: 6 sets of 6, one of 8, 2 of 5, one of 4. (touch the chin pull ups)
bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 139, 8 x 150
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110
wagon wheel dead: 3 sets of 10 x 200

Note: as part of my PT, I did a 2 minute plank. I will probably feature that.

This morning: 10k course in 1:29:03; I was 59:05 so the final 2.2 was a tick under 30. Yes, in 2023, I was routinely doing this course faster. Oh well.

Bradley Basketball: you know the drill. At 6:15, Indiana State lead 68-60 and they were getting open lay ups.

And, they were to score no more the rest of the way. BU finally took the lead 69-68 with 1:01 to play, and it was 70-68 with 17 seconds left. BU won 75-68.

Last day

The walk started at 2 F and ended at 10 F. 10k course in 1:30:07, though I was at mile 4 at 1:00:00. I could not quite get sub 30 for the final 2.2

I took B to the doctor’s office for bloodwork and many, and I mean many were wearing masks. So we got some too. Flu and covid are circulating.

Toward the 3’rd Semester

No live sports this past weekend; just a depressing TV basketball game (88-62 loss to ISU) , some exiciting TV football games and the play 39 Steps. That was funny.

Workouts:
Saturday: a slow 10 mile walk (2:48 at 10) where I found a wallet and gave it to the player’s AD. It was cold (12 F) and the first part consisted of the out and back Bradley Park spur, the 2 mile loop and the 1.15 lower loop, plus extra to get me to 10.

Sunday: cold 2 mile walk; some deadlifts:
10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225 low (not that hard)
10 x 255 4 inch, 305 (kind of ragged)

Monday: VERY cold; 2 F. 2 mile walk (2.3 actually)
pull ups 6-6, 10, 7, 6, 7, 5, 5
20 minutes for bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 155, 5 x 155 (not enough rest)
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110 Again, the lack of rest made a difference.

Sigh

These past few months..ugh. That is something to remember if you marry someone older than you are: when they have a setback, they will be more helpless than a younger person, mostly because their capacity to physically compensate will be diminished.

But, there is work at my happy place (workouts)

Workout notes: 10k walk in 1:30:52 (14:39 pace); I was 1:00:24 at mile 4 and the final 2.2 was done in 30:28 (13:52) That was ok. I followed it with a 2 minute plank.

Today (Friday) 2 mile commuter walk.
pull ups: very hard, again. 6 sets of 5, 6, 5, 3, 5, 5 (chin) 54 reps total. 3 was “touch the chin).
Bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 5 x 155
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110.
2:30 plank (hard)

Drowning: sort of.

This has been a busy time in my life; part of it semester prep, part of it is my very needy wife. Living with the elderly is a challenge, especially when they get injured. It is tough for them to shake things off.

But her foot appears to be on the mend.

Workout notes: (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

Monday: weights and pushing Barbara 2 miles.

weights: pull ups were really ragged; 9 sets of 6
Bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 5 x 155 (best in a while)

High incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110

Tuesday 5.14 in 1:19:45 (15:31 a mile) before a Dean’s meeting. Then 2 more miles of pushing Barbara.

Wednesday: 2 mile commuter walk.
Pull ups 10 singles, 5, 5, 8,, 5, 5, 5, then 2 sets of 3 “touch the bar with your chin”

bench: 10 x 134, 18 x 134 (wanted 20) 10 x 134
dead: low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, Wagon 10 x 200

high incline: 10 x 94 then a “drop set” (rest to change the plates) 3 x 115, 4 x 110, 3 x 105, 5 x 94 Felt the burn.


It isn’t as if I have nothing to say

The point is: my wife is recovering from a broken foot and should stay off of it. So, all household chores are on me, and that is time and energy consuming. So, not much here, other than hum drum workout posts.

So, the workouts:

Walking: Thursday, before Memphis: 3.27 in 46:14 (14:09 pace; 13’s over the final 2 miles) on campus.

Friday: 2 mile treadmill 2.04 in 30 minutes; almost 16 for mile 1 (increased the speed as I went along). Also, dumbbell weights in the hotel gym: bench (55), standing shoulder (30), curls (20, 25): 3 sets of 10 of each exercise. Got out of breath.

Saturday: core only. no walking

Sunday: B park spur (1:18 at the turn around), 2 mile Cornstalk “wrap around” loop then from the exit: wandering around campus, Moss, etc. Total: 10.1 miles at 16:12. (2:43:36). Disappointed in the pace but this was better than my recent 8 milers. And the hills coming first took it out of me a bit.

Post Christmas

First the workouts:
Chirstmas: weights early (pull ups: 7 sets of 6, 1 of 8), bench: 10 x 134 Swiss, 10 x 134 regular, 7 x 150
high inline: 10 x 94, 5 x 115, 5 x 110
Wagon wheel: 3 sets of 10 x 200
Walk: East Peoria: pushed Barbara on the river. Saw a hawk and an eagle.

Christmas day (Thursday) 10k course in a very pedestrian 1:38:25; just had no zip. No extra walk.

Today (Friday) 2 walks; 2 and 2.5 along the Riverfront pushing Barbara.
Pull ups: 10 singles, 10 sloppy set, then 5 sets of 6 (some of them chin ups)
Bench: 5 x 134, 16 x 134, then 3 sets of 5 x 154
high inline; 10 x 94, 2 sets of 5 x 110.

This was a challenging set.

This holiday season has tried my patience. The issue is that my wife cannot use her foot too much; she cannot drive and needs the wheel chair to go any distance. And she needs tending to (treatment). So, where most of the time, I can just do my own thing, in this holiday period, I cannot always do that. And she wants to make some decisions but cannot execute them without me. That has led to some tense conversations. She is not used to asking for permission (and does not need to if I am not directly affected or required to do something) and I am not used to care-taking.

Still, it isn’t all bad; I enjoyed her son’s visit and it would be a lite to say that I’ve been miserable the entire time. But I have been tired and haven’t had the energy to make the math videos that I had hoped to make.

And, hopefully, some fun lies ahead.

One good aspect

I am a bit down on my wife at the moment and the upside to that is that I have more time to write, though I really don’t have much of importance to say.

Workout wise: I was scheduled to walk hard, indoors, but elected two commuter pace walks (2 miles, 4 miles) instead. It was gentle and help me get some demons out. And it got me outside.

Ok, I might make a math post later but for now, here goes: someone I know posted this meme:

Frankly: this meme is illogical. It is entirely possible for a country to import both a lot of poor immigrants who need help AND a lot of highly skilled immigrants who take high paying jobs. Doing one does NOT preclude the other.

And, well, immigration is a touchy subject, and with good reason. The very poor ones DO eat up resources. The low-skilled ones compete for jobs and sometimes, the competition is not a fair one (though we can blame employers and lax labor law enforcement for that). Then there is the issue of assimilation: sometimes immigrants bring their customs with them (e. g. loud gatherings in residential areas).

And no, these issues are NOT new; they’ve been around for a long time.

Now let’s look at the upper end: yes, importing outlier talent can be a big help. I even see that in sports: my favorite baseball team has a LOT of international players. But an issue can arise: are we importing top talent as the expense of failing to develop existing home-grown talent? That is a genuine issue.

Let me point out that I have no good answers. I think that a well thought out immigration plan can help our country and also be a way of fulfilling a humanitarian mission. I do not know the proper level or the proper mix. I believe that good people can think about these issues in good faith and reach differing conclusions.