One day reprieve

Though today it hit in the 40’s, tonight the polar vortex will allow arctic air to cream us; I am still hoping to walk outside tomorrow (if it isn’t too slippery) after doing the indoor bike.

Today: weights; slow 2 mile commuter walk.

Weights: pull ups: 3 sets of 10 (one with 2 penalty reps), 4 sets of 5 (including 2 mixed grip sets). The sets of 10 are just tiring.

bench press: 10 x 134, then 4 x 160, 5 x 155, 5 x 155, 5 x 155
incline press (high incline) 4 x 105, 6 x 105, 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.

This really does not look like much, does it.

Commentary on my knees:

My first sign of trouble was in the summer of 1978; I got some swelling in my right knee. I tried to lay off exercises but then a 1 mile run made my knee swell up like a balloon. I had surgery (they thought it was a torn cartilage); it turns out my synovium was inflamed and I had “rice bodies” in the knee. They cleaned it up; I recovered until a few months later: boom. Swelling again.

This time, they took my synovium out (fall of 1979). By December 1980, I was able to run a 3:33 marathon with no issues.

But then in the early to mid 80’s (early 1983-1988) I had several episodes of knee swelling; this lead to 2 lateral releases (one in each knee) in 1984. The swelling continued though (again, sporadic) until my 1988 episode when my right knee blew up due to a staph infection.

After that…the knees kind of steadily (but slowly) improved and by 1996 I could resume running.

I had problems again in 2007 and these ran through 2010; I had night pain, pain behind the knee and once a loud “RIP” upon a flip turn in the pool; this lead to my hobbling then regaining some lost mobility? The night pain returned though, and it turned out that I had a “bucket handle” tear in my meniscus, which was removed by my 5’th surgery in the summer of 2010. I improved enough to do 5Ks in August and a 30 mile trail walk in November. But I was slower in all distances. Sub 7 minute miles were now a distant memory.

Again, no more difficulties until 2020 when even the top of my shin hurt after running. Doctor recommended no more running, and I quit; still walked though. 2024 was my last knee related doctor’s visit; that was due to night pain which HAS cleared up nicely.

But here is the kicker: the doctor said that it was highly likely that I’d never need knee replacement surgery!

And I thought about my wife: she never had the knee problems I had, until she got well into her late 50’s..but when she got them, we are talking “even standing” was very painful problems. She ended up with both getting replaced. And I see those stories everywhere: people who never had the knee troubles that I did ending up with knee replacement.

But *I* am not a candidate despite having “severe patellofemoral osteoarthritis” in both knees. The symptoms just aren’t there.

By this video: my arthritis is at “stage 3” but my symptoms are “stage 2”

According to this video: my only “possible knee replacement” warning sign was the night pain; and even that has mostly gone away.

What I am doing now is: extra knee exercises, reduction of walking (35 miles to about 20 a week), adding of cycling, and using a knee brace for my deadlifts and for some walks.

Indoors

Kind of sloppy outside, at least during the morning. So: 10 miles on the stationary bike (35:44) followed by a 5K trackwalk: 13:46, 12:38, 12:18, 1:48 for 40:32.

Tonight: we will see.

I might write a bit more later; that Bradley vs. Indiana State game last night was something to behold. This is the best I’ve ever seen Bradley play against a conference opponent: it was 66-33 at the half and it finished 118-65, with everyone getting to play at least a few minutes.

More importantly, B felt good enough to go! It was treat to go out with her again.

Arthritis achy weather

I am trying to get back into it, and trying to figure out what seats to get for Illinois football for 2025. Do I jump into club seats or …maybe one of the nicer non-club options?

As far as the workout: very slow 5K walk on campus (slick getting there) after weights:
pull ups: 5-5-5-5-10 (3 bad)-1, 5-5-5-5 then a penalty set of 5 (one set of 5 was a chin set)
bench press: (progress) 10 x 134, 7 x 150, 8 x 150, 6 x 150
high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94, 1 set of 4 x 105 (tired)
curls: 3 sets of 10.

Trying to adjust

I messed around too much this morning and didn’t start weights until late. So I walked 2 miles (slow pace) after the game on mostly shoveled walks.

The game: “it was a good game until it wasn’t.” Northern Iowa lead by 2 at the break and by 6 after 3. But a 22-5 4’th quarter was, well, a disaster. Final was 67-44, with UNI getting largely uncontested lay ups in the 4’th.

Weights: 4 inch: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (no bouncing)
4 inch: 1 x 305
6 inch: 10 x 280 pauses at the bottom.

Well, that’s embarrassing

Today: my plan was to do 10 miles on the indoor bike (just under 4o minutes) then walk outside for 3 miles. Well, the outside walk was 2 very slow miles as the bike..well…changing by mile: 1, 2, 3, 4,3,3,3,1,1,5 and the final 3 minutes killed me. It was not quite as hard as racing 5k.

So, the outdoor 2 miler (on mostly plowed paths) was really just a cool down.

Another catch up

prepping, reading, dental work…and snow.

Wed: weights plus a slow 2 mile outdoor walk.

Weights: 50 reps outside (10 sets of 5; it was just hard today)
bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 145
incline: 5 x 134, 5 x 134, 4 x 134
trap bar dead: 4 inch: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234
6 inch: 10 x 280

Thursday: slow, snowy 4.1 mile walk around campus (after dental work)

Friday: walk to and from Walgreens (very slow, snowy in places)
pull ups: 5, 5, 3 reasonable sets of 10, mixed grip: 5, 5 (much easier than Wednesday)
bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 155, 5 x 155, 5 x 155
inline: 4 x 134, 5 x 134 (ran out of gas)
high incline: 7 x 94, 7 x 94, 10 x 94

Note: knee ache the night of the 7’th and some knee ache on the next two nights; 5 miles may have been too much..or is is weather?

Enjoying the college football play off games.

Wednesday: saw Bradley lose to Drake 64-57 in a very physical game.

No game but

I had tickets for the Jaguars at Colts, but decided not to go due to the treacherous highway conditions between here and there (normally a 3:30 trip)

So I watched the woman’s basketball team instead and got in a slowish, flat 4 mile walk. It was just over 15 minutes per mile. I was kind of tired from yesterday, yadda yadda.

The women won their game (vs a 2 win Indiana State team) which is a big improvement from last year.

Why are old people grumpy?

No, I did no “research” to see if older people are grumpier than younger people. But this Threads post generated some discussion:

https://www.threads.net/@walterbr42/post/DEYm4AUsFCJ

Here is the screen shot:

“Legit question: why do people get angrier as they get older? Especially people who are financially secure and generally doing okay in life.”

Now, as previously stated, one could challenge the hypothesis of this question. But if one accepts it, or merely wants to answer the question “what are older people unhappy about or angry about” , one has to be careful: not everyone has the same life experience.

That being said, I’ll answer for myself, with the caveat that my answer reflects MY personality, life experiences, etc.

  1. Physical deterioration My physical abilities have declined. I’ve talked about this at length in other places. I’ll just say that, at one time in my life, I could expect to finish a 5k in under 20 minutes. Now it takes me 33-35 minutes (as a power walker; my “run” would not be much faster.) It took me 3:05 to finish a half marathon as a walker. 25 years ago, I walked it in 2:17 and 26 years ago, I ran it in 1:34. I’ve suffered similar declines in strength; my current max trap bar deadlift (300-314) is roughly what my lifetime bench press used to be (310). Pull ups: 20 has no become 10. It goes on. Closely aligned with that is:
  2. Pain and chronic conditions Knees (severe patellofemoral osteoarthritis), lumbar (spondylolisthesis leading to foraminal stenosis), shoulder (os acromiale, which leads to rotator cuff issues). I do 20-30 minutes of PT every day in addition to working out. And working out: yeah, it hurts…a little. But my choices is to move and hurt a little, or do nothing and hurt a lot. The stenosis causes tingling feet but most of the time is not too bad, but I have to stretch a lot.
  3. Death and deterioration of friends and loved ones. Few people my age have living parents. But as one advances toward the expected value of lifespan, the number of friends and loved ones who die or become incapacitated, either physically or mentally, increases. And as a side note: when you want to plan an activity, (say, select sports tickets), one has to take into account what one’s friends can do (can they get to those seats?)

And let’s face it: there comes a time when one’s spouse starts to fail, at least physically. That is both inconvenient and emotionally painful.

4. Change. Now some have claimed that “change is scary” but that really isn’t the case for me. I’d say that change can be very annoying and irritating. Here are some examples: new software packages and new high level computer languages are always being introduced. Just as one gets proficient and comfortable, someone makes a change, and that leads to even more unproductive effort. Eventually, one gets tired of it.

Another example (first world problems): I used to take my wife’s “special needs adult” nephew to NFL games. He has a condition where he should eat lunch at the game. Pre covid: easy, hand him money. But now things are “cashless”: so, there is the added hassle of getting him a prepaid credit card. It is just one more thing. Yes, I see the benefit of being cashless.

Then there are the enthusiastic younger people who are just so sure that “we were doing it all wrong” and that THEY have all the answers. And once in a while, they are right. But most of the time, their “new” ideas are hare-brained; and in fact, their “new” ideas are merely “new to them”: we’ve tried them before and understand why they won’t work. But oh now, we are merely inflexible idiots.

And, there are some cases where the nature of our jobs have changed, as has our employer. In my case: I would NOT have accepted a job offer from my current employer in its current state; it was a great offer and had much of what I wanted at the time of the offer (1991). I won’t leave (unless I get sacked) because I am too close to retirement and I would not be attractive to other employers. Closely related is:

5. Mental deterioration Yes, I am very glad that I am not starting my math Ph. D. right now. I am still competent enough to teach undergraduate mathematics, and I’ve gained some perspective with my years. But learning new things (at advanced levels) off the beaten path is tough. Yes, I picked up a book on life contingencies and learned it well enough to teach a course (as a stand in) but that was hard work! And at times, I tend to shy away from the hard work of learning that is both difficult and brand new to me if there is no pay-off. My mental plasticity has decreased. No, at the moment, my mental deterioration is nowhere near as great as my physical deterioration, and I had more going for me mentally than I did physically to begin with. I have “more steps to lose” here.

6. Unrequited love and unfulfilled dreams and goals. I remember thinking that, when I got my Ph. D., I was going to work super hard and make that big discovery to get me to a research job. Then reality hit: I wasn’t that good, and it took most of my abilities and energies to do the job that I was actually hired to do. So…be happy I got somethings published and enjoyed myself (at times) along the way. And then, just over a year ago, the job really changed. I’ll keep the rest of what I am thinking to myself. Let’s just say that my angst is a mixture of inflated expectations and a tough break.

CAVEAT I don’t want to imply that my life is a living hell; in fact, I rather enjoy it (most of the time). There is still a lot I look forward to. I still enjoy loved ones and friends, and I honestly enjoy being able (at the moment) to help out others who have had it harder in life.

And, let’s just say that when the house, car, and child’s college education is paid off, there is more money for better sports tickets, trips and the like. Of course, there is a yin-yang here: I can afford to buy more weight plates for my home gym, but I am not strong enough to lift all that I have right now, and that isn’t going to ever improve.

I suppose it might be a better exercise to list things that I have to be grateful for (and I do this privately) but some things are probably best kept private.

But I just wanted to answer this young man’s question.

stretching it a bit

The long and short of it: a bunch of small irritations (plus sloth) lead to me getting a late start. So it was “walking only.” It wasn’t that bad: I did the 4 mile “out and back” and added a flat 1.25 mile campus loop and the mileage worked out in the end.

I wore knee braces (17 F at the start) and footing was good. This is better than the recent snail-slow slogs. But I’ll find out tonight if I exceeded my limits.