Pretty day but…slow

Today was my usual 6.2 mile course: 5 out and back plus a campus 1.2 loop. And my goodness, it was slow: 1:35. Other times: 1:25-1:32. I was 1:17:30 at the 5 mile mark. And it was a gorgeous day; I just had no interest in pushing the pace or even paying attention.

It was almost “walking for pleasure”, and yeah, it was not an effort. But 15:25 should not be an effort either.

Ah, let the healing begin.

The Presidential Race: toss up

Ok, here is what I think will happen: I don’t know. I’ll give my 90 percent confidence interval (realistic ceiling for Harris, the mean and the ceiling for Trump:

Now many prominent conservatives are campaigning for Harris. That will NOT persuade any MAGAs. But, it *might* be just enough to peel off some conservatives who are repulsed by Trump’s emotional and moral unfitness for office, as well as his refusal to accept the outcome of an election.

The reason I think it is close: too often, the Democrats appear to sneer at the mainstream and lionize anyone out of the social mainstream

I honestly believe it is these sort of issues that are keeping Trump afloat.

And I take a tumble…

Friday: weights, then a 3 mile commuter walk.
The weights: pull ups (mostly sets of 5, some scapular plus regular)
bench: 10 x 134, 2 x 165, 2 x 160, 4 x 155, 5 x 150, 6 x 145
high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 84
curl 3 sets of 10 Swiss bar.

Saturday: 10.3 in 2:37. I did the Union Street to Dozer park entrance, one goose loop, dam and back. 15:15 pace. But on Union Hill..on the way down, I did not see some cable on the sidewalk and I tripped over it and took a tumble.

Yes, there is a deer in the 3’rd photo. The walk was relatively pleasant (aside from the fall) and not that much of an effort. I wanted to get it in before the football games.

Today: before the Bears game: deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225 low.
10 x 280 6 inch.
Later: 4.15 mile walk though campus and on Moss. Just around the neighborhood, enjoying fall break.

Onward through October

Well, it seems as if September flew by.

Today: pull ups (lots of sets of 5, one of 10, enough to get 55 reps. Some had scapular starts before full reps)

bench: 10 x 134. Incline: 3 sets of 5 x 134.

deadlift (low), 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225

then 2 commuter walks: 1.55 and 3.0 miles. Both pretty slow. Latter one was stiff.

Carter: my first Presidential vote

I did not vote for Carter in 1976 as I was still in high school and too young. I did vote for him in 1980 when he got trounced by Ronald Reagan.

So, on his 100’th Birthday, I’ll look at some election maps and note which states were once “blue” and what happened since:

Isn’t that weird? Carter lost both Illinois and California but won Texas (the last Democrat to do so) and much of the south. Clinton picked up that strip of states running from Louisiana through Minnesota as well as much of Appalachia. Obama added Virginia to the fold (and won Indiana once!) and Biden got Arizona and Georgia.

Workout notes: 10k walk (5 out and back plus 1.2 loop) in 1:32 (14:52 pace). I had to focus to get the right muscles to fire today.

It is October!

Well, September just blew through. Walk totals: 138 miles total (lowest since February, mostly due to the taper and recover from the half).

Today: weights and two 2-mile commuter walks.

weights: pull ups felt good (scapular plus regular; one set of 10, and an extra set of 5 penalty reps for 55 total)

Then downstairs: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 150 on the bench (good pullups => bench will be subpar)

high incline: 3 sets of 7 x 94 curls: 3 sets of 10

YUCK!

I was lazy this morning; did not start deadlifts until 11 am. I decided to take out some nasty mattresses that I should have dumped 30 years ago. So I did that between sets. The mattress ripped and spread it innards on the basement carpet.

Then the delivered groceries came.

Deadlifts: low handle: 10 x 134, 10 x 190, 10 x 225 (all went fine)
4 inch handle: 10 x 244, 1 x 300.

Later: I did a very lazy 4 mile walk around the neighborhood (1:06 or so). This was after watching some football.

Football: I watched the first half of Navy’s 41-18 victory over UAB. Navy is hitting on all cylinders. I don’t see them beating Notre Dame or Tulane. And there are other challenging games, such as Air Force (this week) and, of course, Army, who is also undefeated. But I think that Navy can find 3-4 more victories on its schedule and go to a nice bowl.

I mentioned watching North Dakota State blow out the Illinois State Redbirds; they are just on different levels. Then I watched the Illini lose 21-7 to Penn State. Yes, the Illini fought hard, but PSU was simply too physical up front on both sides of the ball. I see the Illini finishing like this: there is one “going to be hard to win” game (at Oregon), two “should win but these are rivalry games” (at home vs Purdue..Purdue has not lost in Champaign since 2010) and on the road vs Northwestern (Illini won there in 2014 and 2022). Then there are 4 toss up games: two that lean to the opponent (Michigan at home, Rutgers on the road) and two that lean to the Illini (Minnesota, Michigan State, both at home). So I see a 7-5 to 8-4 finish to the regular season. We shall see.

Pro: Bears and Colts both won! I kind of wish I had gone to Indianapolis to see the Steelers at Colts, but it is nice to be home and ready for bed.