Walking: 2.1 mile commuter walk (somewhat slippery) Saturday: 8.3 miles (8.04 Garmin, 8.6 Strava) Basically 14:55 mpm walking on campus. Lots and lots of loops on mostly snow free, ice free walk.
Sunday (today) 4.2 miles at 16:46, BEFORE some deadlifts. Weights: Friday: pull ups; 7 sets of 6, one of 8 bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 150, 4 x 150, 10 x 134 high incline: 10 x 94, 4 x 115, 5 x 110
Sunday: wagon wheel: 10 x 200, 10 x 230, 10 x 250
I watched a couple of Bradley Basketball games: the men (predictably) blew out Northern Illinois. The women (predictably) blew out Chicago State.
Football: I watched Illinois St. at North Dakota State. NDSU scored on long pass on its first play from scrimmage, and I thought “the rout is on.” They also got a quick punt return for a TD…and intercepted the Redbirds FIVE times (one pick six, one run inside the Redbird 5). The Redbirds had two drives inside the 15 result in zero points.
Walking: Tuesday: 4.1 miles on the treadmill, 14:40 pace (treadmill reading had 4.6, Garmin had 4.0) Wednesday: 45 minutes on slick, icy surfaces. Yuck. Today: 41 laps of Markin (mostly inner lane) in 1:08:44 (13:45 pace). My “unofficial” miles were 13:52, 13:07, 12:59, 12:53, 13:10, and a bit extra. These were 8 lap “plus a bit” times.
Weights: on Wednesday, I did a complete weight workout. pull ups (sloppy) 5 sets of 6, bad set of 8, 2 sets of 6
Bench (Swiss) 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 150 High incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 110 Wagon wheel dead 3 sets of 10 x 200
Bradley Basketball: it was cold but I went to the Washington State at Bradley game. WSU lead by 4-8 for most of it, but BU caught up at 60 with 1 minute left in the game and won by 64-60. BU shot poorly (save one player) but got a ton of turnovers. It was a gritty win.
We (Jacob and I) drove from the hotel to the stadium; Tom met us there. My goodness, was it eerie.
The game: well, it snowed during the first half and they only allowed fans in the club section and in the lower West side section and in the club sections.
The game went sort of quickly. Illinois drove but failed on downs. Northwestern drove and kicked a field goal. That was almost the first quarter. Illinois responded with a touchdown drive to go up 7-3. Northwestern drove and went up 10-7 hitting a pass in the back of the end zone. Illinois stalled..punted with just under 2 minutes left in the half, but Northwestern threw an interception (tipped ball). That lead to an Illinois touchdown and a 14-10 halftime lead.
The Illini stopped the Wildcats in the second half and appeared to take control of the game. But a good drive ended with a field goal.
Northwestern continued to make mistakes. But then came the play that changed the game: Northwestern got a strip sack and got the ball at the Illinois 1. So on first down:
On 4th down, the Wildcats took a deliberate “delay of game” penalty and then kicked the field goal.
After that, the only score came when the Illini kicked a field goal. It was only 20-13 but that appeared to ice the game. Northwestern turned it over 4 times, the Illini only once. And that, plus the goal line stand, made the difference.
It was an unforgettable game played ..almost like on the moon, with lots of big plays.
We got back to the hotel late, but got a good start to Indianapolis. The roads were fine there.
We watched the Texans beat the Colts 20-16. While it was true that the Texans benefited from a questionable pass interference call:
Colts fans also complained about an extra point, but it appeared to me to be good (it did hook outside the upright as it passed.
The Texans struck first with a field goal. In the second quarter, the Colts scored on a nice pass to the left but missed the extra point. The Texans drove a scored a TD to take a 10-6 halftime lead.
Another nice drive lead to a 13-6 lead, but the Colts tied it at 13 with another passing touchdown.
The Texans took a 20-13 lead with a rushing touchdown, and the last score came with a Colts field goal with just under 9 minutes to play. The defenses took over from there and the Colts failed on downs with just over 2 minutes left. This allowed for the Texans to pick up one first down and then run out the clock.
So..this was quite the weekend of football.
Underrated big play in the #Illini win over Northwestern:
This Dylan Rosiek tackle for loss on first and goal from the Illinois one, a drive that only resulted in a field goal.
Special shout-out to the hearty fans who came out tonight to help us get this victory. A game we’ll all remember for a long, long time. Grateful we could share the memory and cap it off with a WIN! Love our #famILLy! Thank you, everyone! #GratefulAD 🔶🔷 pic.twitter.com/iwmh6n7n6l
For anyone wondering about crowd: Here’s a look about 15 minutes to kickoff.
West side pretty much full, no one else in the rest of the place. Of course students being on Thanksgiving break is a factor, along with the snow/cold. pic.twitter.com/uW1RLKBLRe
This has been a trying week. Let’s just say that, well, there was the fiasco of getting out of the parking lot at Indianapolis (but getting IN was easy), and B breaking her foot in the hotel room. The drive back: rough…not bad weather, but when we got back to crappy old Peoria, the porch was buried..the city had buried the walks and entrance to the drive way under blocks of icy snow.
Love it: pay taxes to local government so they can make your lives worse.
Workout notes:
Thursday: nice 8.2 miler at 16:32. Slow, but kind of hilly.
Friday: weights and a 3.2 commuter walk. Saturday: 5K walk around the hotel..two “squares” and a spur. We had left on Friday night.
Sunday: pushing B in a wheelchair. She would not let me use the stadium ramp.
Today: weights only; had to run B to the doctor: her lung doctor and then the walk in clinic where she got seen for her broken foot.
The weights: 7 sets of 6 pull ups and one very bad set of 10. I was not into it. Swiss bench: 3 sets of 10 x 134 Wagon wheel dead: 3 sets of 10 x 200 high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94
Well, Thanksgiving travel will be a mess, so we might leave Friday night for Champaign, then Indianapolis on Sunday. We shall see.
Personal: interestingly enough, we bought a new car on Friday, picked it up on Monday, and found out today (Wednesday) that we had the wrong vehicle: we did not have the hybrid we paid for. We found that out when the dealer called us! So, it is all straight now: another hassle.
Workout notes:
Monday: weights and a commuter walk; the bench press was interesting: 10 x 134, then 4 x 150, 3 sets of 5 x 150 all with the Swiss bar. Then 10 x 94, 7 x 105, 7 x 105 high incline..and of course the usual “bunch of sets of 6”: 53 total reps of pull ups
Tuesday: 10k walk (usual course) in 1:35:37 (15:25 pace); wet pavement. Of interest: I was at 1:04:11 with 2.2 miles to go but only needed 31:26 for the final 2.2 (on much flatter ground)
Today: leisure: 2 mile commuter walk after my chore. Before: 5 sets of 6, set of 10 (almost), 3 penalty, 2 sets of 6 so 55 total reps. 10 x 134 Swiss, 3 close grip sets (94, 105, 105). High incline: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 5 x 115. Wagon wheel: 3 sets of 10 x 200.
Wednesday: 2 mile commuter walk; weights included some deadlifts Thursday: 5.14 at 14:53…I had forgot about a meeting> Friday: car day (damn…when that tree came down in October, I KNEW it would be months of hassle and more hassle) 2 mile commuter walk and weights; I dabbled with some single rep pull ups, 5 sets of 6, one of 4, 2 of 5. Swiss bar bench: 10 x 134, 2 x 154, 3 sets of 5 x 150. The high incline: 7 x 105, 5 x 110, 7 x 105
Saturday: game day: 4 mile walk at 15:06 (final 5k was in 45), deadlifts: wagon wheel: 10 x 200, 10 x 230, 10 x 250
Sunday: bad attitude 10.15 at 16:56. I was tired and cranky.
It was one of those weeks where something *always* appeared during a block of time..not a happy time.
Sports: Bradley men won after struggling against a very non-descrpit opponent: U-Mass Lowell. The women beat Bellamire this afternoon (by almost 30: 67-38)
And football. Harry and I went to the Illinois State vs Southern Illinois game and the Redbirds got run out of the stadium 37-7. It was close for the first 2 series..and domination by the Salukis after that.
Then in the evening, the Illini got run out of Camp Randall 27-10; the Wisconsin lines bullied them all game long.
I looked at my phone sadly: the season finale tickets are on them: Illinois State next weekend (hosting Southern Illinois) and the Northwestern at Illinois game the weekend after that. This season has blown past quickly!
First the workouts: Friday: pull ups (5 sets of 6, 8 then 2 more sets of 6); not great quality. Bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 150 (all Swissbar), high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 110, 7 x 105 (doesn’t seem like much!) Commuter walk of 2 miles and later, blood donation.
Saturday: game day. But a 2:30 kick off allowed me to get in 3 miles of walking and some deadlifts (all straight bar) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225. The walk 3.17 in 44:17 (13:58 mpm; final 2 miles were 13:51, 13:36..campus loops)
Sunday: (today) 10.1 mile walk; the usual loop before the Marina and goose loop, ball field. 2:46:05 (16:27); kind of windy. Blood donation may have been a factor.
Football: First the games I didn’t watch: Illinois State beat a reeling South Dakota State team 35-21. They raced out to an early 35-0 lead and held on. Navy surprised me by beating a ranked USF team 41-38.
The game I went to: Illinois defeated Maryland 24-6 in very workman like fashion. They fell behind 3-0 early and it was only 7-6 until just before the half, when a late score made it 14-6.
The Illini appeared to take control with the first drive for the second half: they lead 21-6 and really appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away.
After a Maryland punt, they drove 62 yards to the Maryland 1 (over 7 mintues) to get first and goal at the 1. Stuffed. Maryland drove it to the Illinois 4 (taking over 6 minutes) getting it to the Illinois 4..first and goal. Stuffed.
Then the Illini drove it 82 yards and had to settle for a field goal.
19:54 of game time, 238 yards, no turnovers and 3 points!
Navy is 8-2 with games at Memphis and against Army. Illinois State is 8-3 with a tough Southern Illinois squad visiting next week (taking a crew to the game). Illinois is 8-2 with a road trip to an improving Wisconsin squad and a home finale vs decent Northwestern team.
Texas got creamed by Georgia (35-10) and is 7-3 with home games against a bad Arkansas team and against the no. 3 Texas A&M Aggies. ND is 8-2 with games against Syracuse and Stanford coming up. They destroyed Pitt 37-15, to the surprise of no one.
Workout notes: yesterday, 2 mile commuter walk and weights.
Weights: Lots of sets of 5 and a couple of 6 ; enough for 50+ reps Bench: 10 x 134 Swiss, 10 x 94 narrow, 2 sets of 10 x 105 narrow Wagon wheel: 3 sets of 10 x 200 high incline: 10 x 94, 4 x 115, 7 x 105
Today: 2 commuter walks: 5K and 2 miles (slept in due to the ball games)
What of the games?
In the opener (started at 5 pm) the women’s team beat DePaul 78-64, leading 38-30 at the half. The Braves swarmed on defense and played sound offense. They held DePaul to 36.5 percent shooting and 16.7 percent from 3. All around, it was a great effort.
The second game didn’t go as well. Tennessee-Martin has a mostly international team of players who play smart and as a team. American players played a total of 14 minutes out of the 200 player minutes available. They held Bradley to 33 percent shooting including 15 percent from 3. So, though BU made 30 free throws and got 23 turn overs it was not enough. The Braves lead 36-34 at the half, in large part thanks to the turnovers and foul shooting.
Time and time again, UT-Martin found holes in the Bradley defense and forced Bradley into doing things like running themselves out of bounds.
Ok, I walked my hilly 10k course in 1:27:52, which is the fastest I’ve finished this course since October 2024 (when my knees went). So, that’s progress, right?
The middle line (faint) is my all time average, and the red segment is the period over which most of my below average performances were: the later ones. The bottom started to fall out last fall right about the time I had a knee setback. I’ve recovered somewhat but not all the way back.
And that is how it usually goes: I have a stable period, get a setback, start up again at a lower level and get better, but never quite to where I was before the setback.
My marathon performances show this. I started in 1980 with 3:33 and did 3:48, 4:24 (showed up fat and out of shape), long period of morbid obesity, then 1998: 3:55, 3:46, 3:45, 4:26 (hot), 3:38, 3:40, 3:57, 4:44 (walk), 4:04 (walk jog; shin splints) in 2002. Then came the walking period (mostly longer) but 5:12 in 2004 to 5:28 in 2009 (knee surgery in 2010).
The post knee surgery period was a disaster: almost 7 hours in 2012 (walk), 5:44 run/walk (2013), 5:48 walk (2015) 5:52 run walk (2016) then 2 slow walks (2018, 2019) in 6:14/6:42.
I have not been worth a darn since 2009. But there it is. And now: I had the lumbar setback in 2020-2021 and it took a long time for me to recover and..I am not sure if there is another marathon in me. I wonder how normal this is.
Life is not “made to order” and stuff happens that you do not anticipate and do not welcome. That is all I will say. Ok..these are “first world problems” and are mostly “irritants” than serious issues.
Now onto things I have some control over: it was the first day of pull up season. I had 2 sloppy sets of 10 (going inside and out), one of 8, one of 5 then 3 sets of 6. These were not great sets.
Bench: 10 x 134 Swiss, (sore shoulder today), then 3 sets of 5 x 150. These were hard. High incline: 10 x 94, 2 x 115 (not there), 6 x 105, 6 x 105. Made the best of it.
Life of an old goat 