Getting better..sort of

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 on Life’s terms

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.

2 mile commuter walk over lunch finished it.

No live football weekend

I did have some spousal duties this Friday though. One thing to remember: if you are married to an elderly spouse, they get infections easier, recover MUCH longer, and ordinary proceedures are harder for them to recover from.

Thursday 10k course in brisk but dry weather: 1:28:54 (earlier daylight helps) then a 1 miler over lunch.
Friday: 3.1 miles on campus, slowly before class; I did stop a couple of times to talk to the nurse.

Saturday: a long one; leisurely 5k before weights. Pull ups: 10 sets of 5. Swiss bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 150
high incline: 10 x 94, 2 sets of 5 x 115 (first one was “high”, second one was much better.)

Wagon wheel deadlift: 3 sets of 10 x 200 (just for tone)

Sunday: (today) my 10.10 walk was not very fast. But I did the spur, a 2 mile segment where I went up the “classic” Cornstalk course and looped back around, 2 1.15 mile lower loops and a mini-loop; that put me at just under 10 so I added a “around the Honor Circle” segment. It was snowing and sleeting for the early parts; total time was 2:49:37.

Last night, Bradley played their home opener vs Central Michigan. And aside for a short stretch in the first half where CMU cut the lead from 31-12 to 33-25, the Braves dominated all phases and won easily 85-54. No one is confusing Central Michigan for a strong team, but they did win their opener vs Appalachian State by 20+ points.

I watched some football on TV; I watched most of the Illinois State 52-20 blowout of Indiana State, some of the Rutgers vs Maryland (Illinois hosts Maryland next week), 2 of the exiting finishes of the day (Oregon beating Iowa late, Indiana beating Penn State late via a spectacular touchdown catch), and some of the very sad 49-10 blowout loss that Navy suffered at the hands of Notre Dame (who declined a late score).

REALLY catching up

This past week has been a whirlwind. So, here goes:

Saturday: 2 mile walk before the game.
Sunday: Boring 10.1 mile usual course (to the Riverfront) 2:54:23. Absurdly slow; not sure why (bad eating on Saturday?)
Monday: weights and 2.2 commuter walk; featured my usual 50 reps of pull ups, (sets of 5, 6, 8), bench was 10 x 134 Swiss and then 3 sets of 5 x 150, high incline, etc.
Tuesday: bloodwork day (physical on Monday) so a flat 4 mile walk at 14:20 around campus (cool)
Wednesday: 2.1 mile commuter walk; did some deadlifting (10 x 134, 10 x 184 low), 10 x 230 wagon wheel
bench: narrow with 94, 105, 105 (sets of 10) and a first set with 134 (regular)
high incline: 10 x 94, 2 x 115 (didn’t have it), 2 sets of 6 x 105 Pull ups: I did have 5 sets of 6, 8, 5, 6, 6.

Thursday: 6.2 before classes in 1:28:54 (14:20); better than the past few.

Today: B to the hospital (non-emergency procedure) so I walked 5k around campus.

Football: Saturday, I went to the Illinois vs Rutgers (11 am start) (sold my ISU tickets; they won easily 31-16. Because I had B with me, I did not attempt to make the second half of this 2:30 game.)

The Illini won 35-13 and it was not really that close.

You knew how the game was going to go. Rutgers did get a nice punt to pin the Illini on their own 1. Then the Illini drove it 99 yards for a touchdown. Rutgers responded with a drive and a field goal. A tipped pass interception gave the Scarlet Knights another shot and another field goal and so it was 7-6. The Illini drove it again (5 trips to the red zone, 5 touch downs) and it was now 21-6 at the half. Two touchdown drives in the 3’rd put it away.

Rutgers got a face saving touchdown late and appeared to have a chance at another, getting the ball to the 3 with 1 second left in the game. The Illini called a time out to set the defense and prevented the score.

The Illini outgained Rutgers 445-312 but most of Rutgers’ yardage came at garbage time.

Toward the end of the first tunnel

So, here goes:
Wednesday: weights and a 2 mile commuter walk.
Weights: low 10 x 134, 10 x 184. Wagon Wheel: 10 x 200, 10 x 230
pull ups: 50 reps as usual (sets of 6 then 5)
Swiss bar: 10 x 134 then 10 x 94 narrow, 10 x 105, 10 x 105
high incline: 10 x 94 2 sets of 5 x 115

Thursday: dark walk (Bradley Park 5.14 in 1:18 or 15:20 a mile) then 2 miles commuter

Friday: 5k commuter; weights: pull ups 5 sets of 6, 10, 3 penalty, 2 sets of 5
bench: 10 x 134 then 3 sets of 5 x 150 Swiss
high incline: 10 x 94, 5 x 110, 10 x 94

It is several days later

Let’s just say that this week has been a sort-of whirlwind. It has been one of those weeks where I did a lot but accomplished very little, at least in terms of anything that makes a real difference.

Last week: Thursday: 5.14 course at 14:40, then a commuter walk of 1 mile
Friday: commuter walk of 2.2 miles. Weights: usual pull ups (mostly sets of 6), Swiss bar bench presses (sets of 10 with 134), high incline presses.
Saturday: 10 miles at 16:23 (to the Riverfront) before the TV football fest.
Sunday: big trip to Costco to get a new phone. 2 mile walk before. Deadlifts afterward: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 all low.

Monday: 2 mile commuter walk. In the morning: 5 sets of 6, 10, 2 sets of 6 pull ups
Bench: 10 x 134 Swiss, then 3 sets of 5 x 150 Swiss
high incline: 10 x 94, then 2 sets of 5 x 110

Today: 10k course in 1:28:54 (14:20 pace); cool; best walk since the half marathon.

Monday-Wednesday

I keep forgetting this isn’t Thursday. It FEELS like it.

It has been a week of hassle and insurance calls.

But I did get some workouts.

Walking: commuter walks of 2.5 miles on Monday and 2.1 miles today, and a mediocre 10k hilly walk in 1:32:02 on Tuesday (1:01 at mile 4 and then picked it up on the way home). It was cool but I just didn’t care.

Weights: Monday; mixed up the back PT with pull ups 6 sets of 5, one set of 10, 2 more of 6

Bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 139, 6 x 145 Swiss bar, 10 x 105 close grip, then 10 x 94, 4 x 115, 5 x 110 high incline.

Today’s weights went a bit better:
pull ups: 5 sets of 6 then 8, 6, 6
bench: 3 sets of 10 x 94 close grip.
wagon wheel dead: 10 x 200, 10 x 225, 10 x 250
high incline: 10 x 94, then 2 sets of 5 x 115 (better than before)

The good news is that I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Last Saturday football

That was the last day before “the tree crash”
I walked 2.2 miles, did rotator cuff exercises, and 3 sets of deadlifts 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225, all low.

Then Harry and I went to watch the Illinois State Redbirds play the Youngstown State Penguins. The game had been moved from 2 pm to 12 to avoid some incoming bad weather. And we got our game in!

And the game itself:

Well, YSU drove for a field goal, got an interception, and drove for another field goal. Another drive (92 yards) and it was 12-0, after missing the 2 point conversion. But back came the Redbirds! They got a 75 yard touchdown drive, got an interception, then drove 39 yards for another touchdown and now it was 14-12.

Second half: a big kick return set up a short field for another touchdown and now ISU lead 21-12. YSU responded with a drive of their own to make it 21-19, but then came ISU with good field position after a punt ..now it was 28-19 going into the 4’th quarter

But the 4’th quarter has been a nightmare for the Redbirds and this was no exception: the defense collapsed and YSU rolled for 21 straight points to make it 40-28 with just over 5 minutes to play. ISU had no answer for the YSU quarterback who accounted for 328 passing yards and 200 running yards. A late TD cut it to 40-35 and ..for a brief second there was hope: the ISU defense did force a 3’rd and short. But what else; ISU gave up another long quarterback run to seal the game.

Total yards: 561 to 348. That isn’t going to cut it.

So, I had a football blast.

I had planned on going 10 miles on Sunday morning. But instead: I heard what I thought was thunder and a crash. And I woke up..lounged around, heard tapping and..well, the top photo was after the tree branches had been taken away. The bottom 2 is what awaited me.

I did most of the work to get the vehicle out (a neighbor lent a hand) and then, after the tree professionals cleared the big stuff up, I loaded up 6 contractor bags full of smaller debris. I squeezed 2 miles of walking and 3-4 hours of academic work.

You just never know what awaits.

It is Wednesday already

Time flies! What did I actually DO with my time? Well, mostly things like this (don’t watch..it is 25 minutes long)

Well, Monday: 2 mile walk (commuter), weight session with pull ups (50 + reps total), 3 sets of Swiss bar bench presses (10 x 134, 9 x 139, 5 x 145), 3 sets of high incline presses (5 x 110)

Tuesday: my 10k course in 1:32:36 (14:56 pace; I was 1:00:47 at 4 miles). I was just …off.

Today: pull ups: 4 sets of 6, a sorry set of 10, set of 6, then 2 sets of 5 chins with PT exercises in between.
bench; 10 x 134 (Swiss), 3 sets of 10 close grip (94, 105, 105)
high incline: 10 x 94, 3 x 115, 5 x 110
Wagon wheel trap: 3 sets of 10 x 200
2 mile commuter walk.