old catch up (from Wednesday)

I have season tickets for the Peoria Chiefs and so do not post much on this blog during the weeks that they are in town.

Workout notes:

Monday: 4.14 lower loop course in 1:04:58 (15:42) gentle. 1.1 mile walk over lunch
Wednesday 4.14 course in 1:01:03 (14:45). Again, wore the Brooks Beasts.

Tuesday: weights and a 2 mile commuter walk.
pull ups 9 sets of 5, one of 8. Bench: 10 x 134, 3 x 165, 5 x 160, 6 x 155, 7 x 150
high incline: 10 x 94, 2 sets of 6 x 105

Thursday: so far, weights: pull ups 9 sets of 5, one of 8. Bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 150, Incline: 6 x 134, 5 x 134, 5 x 134. 4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234

Chiefs: Won Tuesday night 6-2; rallied. Wednesday: trailed 5-1, huge inning: got a based loaded double to cut it to 5-4, 3 run inning to lead 7-5, then came the 7’th. Pitches struggled to find the plate..7-6 going into the 9’th. Cedar Rapids had runners on base, 2 outs (again, walks..after going up 0-2 on the batter). POP FLY in the infield. Game over, right? Wrong. Drop..7-7. Bottom: get runner to second (single and steal) with 1 out: 2 strike outs. I left; it was almost 9:30. It went to 11 and the Chiefs lost.

Aging: what is causing my slowdown and why I am taking it so hard

First of all, I want to make it clear: I was never an athlete. I played football and wrestled in high school and, well, wasn’t very good. Most of my adlult sports were indulged informally at gyms and in public competitions. Bests: bench press (gym) 310 (1987), deadlift 410 (gym; 1980’s), 5K swim (open water) 1:36 Chicago, 2008, 1:34 (pool, 2010), mile run 5:30 (1980), 5:59 (1999), 5K run 18:57 (1982), 10k run 39:50 (1982), half 1:34 (1999), full 3:33 (1980), 3:38 (2000). These are “no one cares” times for male 40 and under.

But, if one looked at the results in the paper (where they used to appear), you’d see me typically in the upper 1/3 to upper 1/5’th. But there was a reason for that: I was a younger male, period. That is all it was.

I still remember a 15K run that I ran on Quantico in 1981: it was open to civilians but the crowd was heavily Marine. They lined up by 3 mile time: 15 minutes, 17 minutes, then 19 minutes (when I lined up. along with a slew of young Marines who, well, looked a lot like me). And we more or less finished together. (time: 1:04:04)

Well, now I am no longer young. I am 65 and I had to give up running in 2020: knee ache at the top of the shin after runs. I have no cushion in my knees any longer. And so I walk.

It was bad enough that I was walking 5Ks in just under 34 (judged PR was 30:41, unjudged was 29:xx, but this was in 2003-2004) and I walked a 4 miler in just under 44 minutes. But the half marathon: now 3:05…and my last 5K was a glacial 38:50. Yes, I had a layoff due to my knees (reduced walking, no hard aerobic training)

But my goodness: my days of finishing with the “hard bodies” are long over; I now finish with the “old, wounded or not in shape” brigade.

And as far as the slowdowns (half marathon walk PR was 2:17 in 2003): age certainly plays a large role. But an equal role is played by my numerous setbacks: knees (meniscus tear in 2007, operated on in 2010), lumbar (2020-2022 nightmare) and now knees again. Every setback: I recover but never fully; after I recover, my age graded performance goes down.

Similar is true for weights: in 2021 I had a shoulder injury that my bench press never quite recovered from, and my having to take my leg drive out (lumbar stenosis) hurt me as well. 200 lb is long gone.

But: I still can enjoy these activities; I just have to accept that I am now firmly in the rear of the pack, and that my previous stint in the 80’th percentile was about my being a younger male, period.

I needed that!

Ok, my walk was not much to write home about. I did two lower Bradley Park loops followed by campus loops and enough out and back to get to 7.15 in 1:47:43 (15:08 pace). It was very windy. I wore knee braces and I did get tired, just a bit.

Later: Bradley Baseball. The game started out..well…2 on base, Belmont hits a hard line drive snagged by the BU shortstop..stepped on second base and was INCHES from throwing the runner out at first (who was racing back to the bag). But then came a walk, hit, error..and Belmont lead 3-0.

But this time Bradley rallied for 4 in the bottom of the first and never looked back. The Braves shelled the Bruins with 5 home runs (left fielder had 2) and won going away 15-4 in 7 innings. Ok, that was the first conference win of the season and, yes, Belmont won the previous 2. I’ll gladly remember this one and forget about the 9’th inning of yesterday’s game, which went from 2-1 down to 10-1 down.

I needed this! Oh yes, the Chiefs won in South Bend to get their second win of the season.

Belmont at Bradley: close until it wasn’t

First my workout: pull ups 5 sets of 6 (scapular/regular, narrow, chin, mixed, mixed), then 4 sets of 5 (wide, narrow, regular, scapular/regular) with a penalty set of 3.

Bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 4 x 160, 4 x 160 (lots of rest)
4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234
incline: 6 x 134
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 105, 5 x 105
curl: 7-7-7.
Then I walked with B then 2.4 miles on my own.

Now to baseball. It was a beautiful day with Bradley hosting Belmont: they lost 3-0 last night. Gorgeous day.
After an inning in which the pitchers dominated, BU took the lead on a home run to right field. Eventually, well executed “small ball” by Belmont got them a 2-1 lead, and it stayed that way going into the 9’th. Yes, Belmont had many more hits; BU had one, but Belmont’s hits were mostly scattered.

The dam broke open in the top of the 9’th and Belmont got 8 runs on bunts, well executed hit and runs, and yes, walks. It was an unmitigated disaster and it ended 10-1, with hits being 11-1, and BU having 3 errors.

Sanity

Work…well…let’s just say that I was hit by a bombshell out of the blue that undermined our ability to do what we are supposed to do.

But the worst is probably yet to come.

Today: 3 miles at just under 19 minutes per mile over lunch, BEFORE I knew.

weights: pull ups: 10 sets of 5; different grips: 2 sets mixed grip, 2 sets underhand, 1 set wide, 2 sets narrow, 2 sets scapular/regular, 1 regular.

bench: 10 x 134, 9 x 150
incline: 6 x 134, 6 x 134, 5 x 134
4 inch trap: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234

I had pains in the bottom of the foot but rubbing them helped them go away.

Bradley Baseball Bradley fell behind Western Illinois 2-0 but rallied in the bottom of the 6’th with 1 run plus a grand slam to go up 5-2, and that it is how it ended. There was rain during the game, and few were there (7-26 vs 4-24)

But I was.

Rest between sets

I am finding that I lift my best when I have a long rest period between sets. That is hard to do when working full time.

pull ups: 5 sets of 6 (different grips), 8, 5, 3 wide, 5, 5 (today 2 sets were mixed grip

bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160 (hard), 3 x 160 (exhausted, 5 min rest), 5 x 155, 5 x 155
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 105, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.
The above looks like, well, nothing.

2 mile walk to Walgreen’s and back.

Chiefs teeth chattering opener

First, about my workouts:
Saturday: 5K race (as a walker). Somewhat hampered my a sore left hamstring so I had to be cautious.
2 mile warm up
5K: 13:03 first mile, low 12’s for the next two (stop to get a rock out of my shoe in mile 3) for 38:40 by my watch (12:28 mpm). I barely held off some slow walk jogger with a dog; I could hear the dog panting.

Below: Crystal (24:40-ish..at 61 years of age) and me. She has kept a good deal of her speed; she started running in 2004.

Walked another mile to cool down, then 3 stadium laps between double header games.
When we finished, we were treated to this:

Then 2 more (16 mpm) this morning after lifting:
5 sets of 6 pull ups, 7 pull ups, 5 pull ups, 6 more, 2 reps wide, two sets of 3 mixed for 56 reps. These felt …ok
weights: bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 5 x 160
trap bar (4 inch) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234
high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10. 75 minutes for the session after pull ups.

Chiefs Baseball

Friday’s opener was rained out. Saturday: double header starting at 4:30. First game was crisp; Chiefs gave up a home run on the first at bat and went on to lose 6-2, getting one run in the bottom of the 7’th (7 inning game). It finished in 2 hours.

Then came the next game. The Chiefs walked 12 batters in what turned out to be a 8 inning game! Still, it was 6-0 going into the top of the 4’th..then the Chiefs rallied for 6 runs to tie the game. It went to the bottom of the 7’th. 2 outs, runner on second, shallow base hit to right, runner tries to score (perhaps hesitated just a tiny bit), thrown out at the plate. Bandits get 2 runs in the top of the 8’th. Chiefs then load the bases with no outs on the bottom..to end up with 2 strike outs and a ground out.

If I thought that was long, Sunday’s 2 pm game was 4 hours plus long! It was a longish 2-2 going into the bottom of the 9’th: Chiefs get a runner to 3’rd but can’t bring him in.
So in the 10’th: Quad Cities score 2. Chiefs score one. One out, “double play ground ball” is hit, but they throw away the ball at first and the Chiefs tie it.
11’th: QC gets a run. Now the Chiefs are up, 2 out, runner at 3’rd: pop up in the infield. QC drops it and the Chiefs score! It is now 5-5 going into the 12’th.
4 runs for QC, Chiefs retaliate with a 2 run home run, but cannot score again; they lose 9-7.


Tired

Sleep issues again but hoping that noise cancelling headphones will work (unavoidable noise)
Still: 4 mile campus loop course at 15:31 mpm then a commuter walk of 1.5 (slowly) with more and more stretching. I need to do this.

But the overall increase to 30 mpw has made me tired again.

My crumbling body..

Time is relentless and slows down for no one.
There was a time when I was a (sort of) fast walker. Only rarely did a walker ever pass me, and almost always it was a racewalker in training.

Well, those days are over. Recently, young people have passed me when I was out for my “steady, commuter paced” walks. Last fall, I got passed while on a training walk (albeit a longer one).

But I can be grateful that I haven’t had that radiating pain in many, many months and that my night knee pain appears to be gone (reminds me: I had better do my nightly stretches)

Today: 2.5 mile commuter walk (4 km) and weights:
pull ups: 4 sets of 5, 7, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5 (50 reps)
bench: 10 x 134, 8 x 150 (wanted 10), 7 x 150
incline 3 sets of 5 x 134
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 105 (wiped out)

Advancing

Workout notes: before my walk today, I weighed in at 192 on the gym scale. Getting there.

Today: I had problems with sleep last night (game, work, and one other factor). So I stretched, did a damp 2 mile commuter walk (got passed by a student), then later a harder 5K (25 lap) walk on the track. 14:11 (very slow first 1/2 mile), 13:05, 12:32 for 41:29 for 25 laps. Ok though most were lane 1 laps. Some crowding.

That left me tired and with a sort of stiff lumbar for the afternoon; I did not do my PT routine a second time.

Yesterday: weights and 2 miles of commuter walking to go to the polls.
Weights: pull up: 8 sets of 5, one of 10, 4 penalty reps (varied grip)
Downstairs: bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 5 x 160, 4 x 160 plus 1 spite rep.
trap bar (4 inch) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234
high incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.

Baseball:

Bradley hosted Iowa. Cold. And the start was very cold for Bradley.
2 out in the top of the first, no runs. They walk the bases loaded and walk in a run. New pitcher. First batter: soft grounder to second…I start to clap…booted…2 runs score. Next batter: wild pitch. score. Load the bases again..walk in another run. It is now 5-0 and Iowa has not had a single hit.

Bradley rallies though: 1 run in the first (off of an Iowa error) and two solo home runs from the same player. So it is 5-3 after 4 and we have a ball game!

Then comes the 5’th, this time with Iowa bats opening up. Barrage and now it is 10-3.

3 more Iowa runs in the top of the 7’th (with one home run) seals a 13-3 “mercy rule” victory. The Braves had more errors (6) than runs (3). Oh well…I think the players have lost confidence.