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.

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.