Too hyped up to sleep.

I drank a large diet coke before the 10 pm drive home to Peoria (1:30 in total) to drop Tracy off and go home. So, it is 12:15 am and I am still up. But I am at home.

Workout notes Friday: weights. It went like this: 10 sets of 5 pull ups (kind of a struggle), bench press: 10 x 134, 5 x 154, 5 x 154, 5 x 150
high incline: 7 x 94, 9 x 94, 7 x 94 curls: 3 sets of 10. Two commuter walks: 2 miles and 1 mile (just over) to total 5k.

Saturday: 10.5 miles of walking: used Moss to High to Main to Hamilton to get to the trail, goose loop, ball field, dam, goose loop where some faster fitness walkers (middle aged couples) shamed me into going faster. Then I returned the conventional way; 14:06 was my final Moss mile.

It is humbling that I am no longer a fast walker. But it was 2:34 for 10.5 and that was enough training. And I handled the ramps and stairs better than most fans.

Chiefs Baseball Friday’s 4-3 loss in the 11’th inning was a heart breaker. In the 10’th, with the game tied at 3, the Chief’s ghost runner advanced to 3’rd on a balk..NO OUTS. But there he stayed and you could see the Chiefs morale sag and they lost in 11.

Illinois Football What a game. The Illini played slow in the first half and took advantage of an interception to get a 3-0 lead. Kansas tied it at 3 and then, on a drive took a 10-3 lead. But then the Illini got another field goal..taking advantage of a spectacular catch.

and a spectacular pick-6 just before halftime to lead 13-10.

In the second half, the Jayhawks appeared to take control. They had an impressive touchdown drive to go up 17-13. Then later in the 3’rd , they got the ball back and appeared to be driving again. They had momentum and was moving the ball easily. But then they the Illini got a huge interception at the Illini 5 (poorly thrown ball). And THAT turned the game completely around.

The 4’th quarter was all Illini. They had two nifty drives: one for the go-ahead touchdown (20-17) and a second to burn clock and to put the Illini up 23-17 with 58 seconds left to go. KU had no time outs and never made it past the Illini 45.

Chiefs week Catch up

Between late activities and Chiefs games, I had little time to write here.

But I’ll make some time right now.

Workout:

Tuesday: Hill walk: usual 5 mile Bradley Park course (hills) plus campus loop: 6.2 in 1:27:52. I did pick it up in the final 2.2 miles

Wednesday; weights; two commuter walks (2 miles , 1 mile). The weights:

pull ups: lots of sets of 5 (two chin sets, 2 mixed grip sets) plus 4 singles as penalty sets.

bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 145

incline: 10 x 115, 10 x 120, 4 x 134
deadlift: low trap: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 204 4 inch trap: 10 x 244

Thursday: same as Tuesday, but I charged the hills. 1:25:55 for the 6.2, 1:10:18 at 5, 29:17 for the final 2.2 miles.

Chiefs games

Tuesday saw the Chiefs take a 3-2 lead into the top of the 9’th. But with 1 out, the Captains got 2 runs to secure a 4-3 win. That was depressing. Harry and Vickie were there, as was Barbara.

Wednesday: 2-1 loss; the Chiefs averted the shut out in the bottom of the 9’th. That 2-0 lead seemed like the largest 2 run lead ever. On a good note, Barbara got to meet Libby.

Thursday: monster 6 run 3’rd inning were all the runs the Chiefs needed in an 8-3 win over the play-off bound Captains. Their starter had a 3.59 ERA coming in but just struggled a great deal.

So…recovering

I don’t know whether my age requires that I rest more or that I’ve just become smarter or less motivated..whatever, but today I more or less rested.

PT, deadlifts:

trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 5 x 225, 5 x 225 (low)
4 inch: 5 x 255, 5 x 255 I just did not want to grind it out today.

Then an easy 5k walk in about 50 minutes (15:53) and that was it! I am feeling ok right now.

Right now, the walks are the most important thing. I have one more long training walk left.

Going the distance

In 2000, I ran the Indianapolis Marathon in 3:38. Today I walked 14-14.2 miles in 3:36. My goodness. (15:30-ish pace)

Ok, this was not a difficult effort; I felt pretty good in the final miles. Great weather and I got going at 6:30 am..in plenty of time to beat the Market crowds. On the way back I took it up Hamilton, then Main and then to Kumpf and back up Union Hill.

I got off of the trail in Springdale and then did the Mausoleum Hill and then did the “Prospect Exit” hill and then exited it to return to the Riverplex, then up Hamilton as the Riverfront was crowding up. Lots of strollers!

64 no longer

Personal: yes, it is about to hit the fan. Work should be a circus.

So, what are the changes? I can say that the changes from 50 to 65 are pretty big, at least physically. At 50, I was still running 24 for the 5k (but not under). Now I am walking 33-35. Bench press: 210 lb is long gone; my max this year was an ugly 174, *though* I now have to keep my feet on a chair due to my lumbar stenosis. Pull ups: sets of 15-20 are a distant memory. Now 5-10 is the norm and some days even doing sets of 5 are HARD.

And yes, things hurt, seemingly at random.

Let’s not talk about my 3:05 half marathon walk, my worst ever, by 13 minutes.

BUT, as my wife likes to tell me, all of this is better than my measuring tennis balls for a walker.

So today’s workout:

pull ups: mixed with PT, 10 set of 5 HARD. Just a chore.

downstairs: bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 154 (ok, good for me)

curls: 3 sets of 10. high incline: 3 sets of 7 x 94 (one set slightly sloppy).

then I did a 2 mile walk at just under 15:00 mpm plus a commuter walk of 1 mile. Planning for longer tomorrow.

At home tonight

And yes, there is a home Illinois football game at 8 pm. Too much for a week night (could have made Friday) So, I’ll miss as will many others, given the dollar tickets for good seats that are available.

I did a hill workout: the Garmin got it as 6.26 in 1:30:14, or 14:24 total average pace. This is a nice grade of hill. I did 7 of these all-together.

Sometimes it just isn’t there

Today’s workout was a chore.

I mixed pull ups with my PT (2 set of 5 pull ups, PT exercise in between) plus one penalty set of 4 singles. They were just hard today.

Then downstairs: 10 x 134, 10 x 145 (hard)

incline: 10 x 114, 3 x 135 , 2+5 x 125 (hit the standard on the way up)

deadlifts (trap bar) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 5 x 225 (felt off)

4 inch: 10 x 244 (lost balance on rep 8, reset and got 2 more).

The good news is that I got a great leg pump out of it.

then 2.13 miles of walking (H course) in 31:26 with a 1.29 commuter walk at 18:30.

I am coming up to the moment of truth: 2 more training weekends (this weekend and the next one).

Illinois football first home game is tomorrow: 8 pm. No way I can make it. But that is how it is: all is sacrificed for TV bucks. I suppose I might stay with season tickets ..or maybe not as they are “re-seating” next season.