Tag: COVID-19

Covid still extracting a price

This post isn’t meant to be whiny. I didn’t end up in the hospital and my O2 stayed 97-98 and I never had that much of a cough. BUT, one after effect is that every health related issue has come back..not with a vengeance…but say to where it was only 70-80 percent healed.

My throat, urinary system, fever blisters, piriformis muscle and lower lumbar/glute.

I was reminded of that yesterday. Beautiful day to walk; PT went well so I thought ” go bold; do the W. Peoria 5K course.” That was dumb. The first two miles went very well; last mile hurt; was painful for the last .4-.5 miles. I should have stuck to a loop course.

Note: the final mile was done at 13:04 which isn’t terrible but it hurt.

But this COVID stuff comes in waves. Today: mouth blisters but the back/glute felt better.

I mixed up the PT and pull ups/pull up crunch combos (25 reps) and did a slow mile. More PT/Pull ups (2 sets of 5, sets of 5 singles to get to 50 reps), more PT then walk 2 which went VERY well…but it was only 2 miles. I had to make myself quit. Perfect walking weather.

I have to remember it was the split walks that got me to doing 5-7 miles to begin with.

Then downstairs for some bench, high incline and curls.

Bench: 5 x 134, 1 x 155, 1 x 165, 1 x 175 (disappointed how hard it was)

3 x 165, 4 x 160, 5 x 155, 5 x 155

High incline: 10 x 105 (poor range of motion; I thought I was getting deeper), 10 x 105, then 10 x 94 with much better ROM

2 sets of curls

More PT with 3 sets of 20 push ups, 2 sets of chest taps, 2 sets of 10 push ups. And that was that.

I need to take it slowly and not rush things; “getting ready for the season” now means nothing to me.

I also have to remember this post covid stuff comes in waves; good one day, bad the next, and I have to accept what is there on a given day.

Waves of post-covid body/joint/muscle pain

I don’t intend the title to be that dramatic; by pain I mean “old injuries start to ache again” and by “body pain” I mean a moderate dull whole body arthritis style ache.

I had such a wave yesterday upon waking up. It got slightly better after moderate exercise but, I finally gave in an took a single Narproxen (had stopped this in November 2022). Took one in the evening and this morning.

Prognosis: much better today, though I felt the left glute/hip at 2 miles into my walk this morning (much better pace)

Before the walk:

PT mixed with pull ups: enough reps (10 singles of crunch pull ups, 10 singles of regular pull ups, sets of 5 singles and 5 total) to get to 50 reps total.

Bench: 5 x 134, 3 sets of 6 x 155 (better)

low handle deadlift (form check) 10 x 134, 10 x 185 much improved body position.

3 sets of 10 x 94 high incline

push ups/stretch: 3 sets of 20, 2 sets of 10 chest tap pushups

Then the walk.

Contrast the above to the last time I tried 184.

The second: back is almost parallel to the ground (“stripper squat” position). The top: much better positioning, though on rep 1 there was a bit of hips rising too fast.

The difference: position of the feet. In the first, the hands were closer to my side rather than in front of me; I felt a bit squished at the start.

Enjoying the warmth

Yes, finally, a reasonably warm day! (by February in Illinois standards).

I broke up my workout: first PT and deadlifts. Then T. came by to deliver a lamp. She is an Army vet and KNEW I wore the Navy shirt for her benefit.

Afterwards, I walked my West Peoria 5K course.

Bodywise: I had some glute ache after deads in my RIGHT glute, but in the evening, just the usual in the left. The walk itself: some minor tingles at 2.2 then again at 2.8 but nothing like the bad old days. The walk itself went well.

The deadlifts: I decided to tackle the “hips rising too fast” problem. I think one issue is mobility, though I show decent mobility with 134. Another issue might be that my feet are a bit too far back; I’ll try to scoot them up just a bit.

From 1 week ago with light weight. I wonder if my feet are slightly more forward? The back position looks much better.

Afterward, I decided to catch a Bradley Women’s basketball game against Belmont. I told B that I thought BU would play a competitive first quarter, and that they did: they made 4 of 6 three point attempts to lead 20-17 after 1. But then came reality; it was 34-29 at the half and 55-37 after 3 quarters. The lead reached 22 points then Belmont put in their reserves and coasted to a 68-54 win..that really wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.

Rough season for the Bradley women; they are starting from scratch.
From my end: I am just grateful I got to go and plan to make the rest of the home games (both men and women)

Slow march back

Well, PT mixed with pull ups: 4 sets of 8 crunch singles, 6 reps, 5 reps, then 7 singles on the 1. 50 reps total. One youtube commenter noticed that I was relying on my arms too much. Need to get the back involved.

Downstairs: bench: 5 x 134, 5 x 155, 5 x 160 (hard), 2 x 165, 1 x 175, 2 x 165 (took 20 minutes)

high incline: 3 sets of 10 x 94

Back upstairs for push ups: 3 sets of 20, 2 sets of 10 chest tap push ups, with stretching.

5K walk; pain free for 2.6-2.7, then some dull pain as I tired.

The warmer temperatures helped.

I am NOT fully recovered, but I am much improved from a week ago.

End of a week

Strangely enough, it appears as if I have been post covid longer than I have been. I keep forgetting that I came out of isolation just a week ago yesterday.

I say this because I am a bit run down and achy; the back and glute: I would not say that I am back to square 1: far from it. But I am back to where I was in, well, maybe August/September, though I better know how to brace when I walk.

That is something to keep in mind about COVID: even those who were almost asymptomatic report some flare up of old injuries. I HAD symptoms (though never bad O2) and over the past 2-3 weeks: old frequent urination, heartburn, ache in back, some radiating pain, and a general overall “background” arthritic ache.
If you are an older athlete with a history of injuries and you get COVID to the degree that I did, your training will be set back.

Today: it was 3 F when I walked (after PT)

Then later I followed it with a commuter walk of 1.3 miles in 22 minutes. (17 minutes pace)

Good riddance to January

Ok, on some level, January has not been THAT bad. I caught a Bears game, got a paper accepted for publication, completed an admin task (more to do in just a bit) and have hit a lull.

But..Jan 10-25 sucked; COVID. Yes, I did my duties online and even did my PT on most days; only one day was “please kill me” and about 4-5 were “normal flu” like days, others were annoying and testing positive. What set me back was the rebound infection.

But I am teaching in person again, easing back into it…and yeah, it was 3 F when I woke up, 5 F when I did outdoor pull ups and my walk (20 seconds slower than the day before)

Today’s workout: PT, push ups: 3 sets of 20, 2 sets of 5 chest tap push ups, 1 set of 11.

pull ups: 1 set of 6, 1 set of 6 singles, 3 sets of 6 single crunch pull ups

bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 145, 5 x 150 (didn’t want to strain)

deadlift (low handle) form check: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 (hips looked good..need to carry this with heavier weights)

high incline shoulder: 10 x 94 (two sets)

walk: some discomfort in the left leg (hamstring) need to roll a bit.

Progressing

No, not 100 percent; not even close. But I did have a leisurely paced workout that didn’t kill me.

PT with 5 sets of 10 push ups

Pull ups: 2 sets of 6 crunch style singles, 2 sets of 6 and one set of 6 singles.

bench: 6 x 134, 6 x 145, 6 x 145

high incline: 3 sets of 6 x 94

4 inch dead: 5 x 134, 5 x 184, 5 x 228 lb.

Then a 2 mile walk: Put a slight effort into it.

The deadlifts: second 3 reps looked better than the first 2, where my hips shot up.
Overall: slight cough is there at times, mood: I get irritated easier, sort of tired.

First 2 miles felt really good; rolled on the hip/glute afterward.

Masking, public opinions, personal opinions, etc.

First some personal stuff: this morning, I did my PT in a very leisurely manner. Then I walked 2 miles on a route which was 95 percent snow-free. Averaged just a hair under 15 mpm (15:15/14:45).

Not much pain, but I do have to roll a bit…and this is now infections go: your recently weak areas get exposed.

I had almost 2 week of symptoms. And I noticed the following: of a group of 3 friends, two with small, slender builds had almost no symptoms at all, whereas the 3 with higher BMI (I am 6 feet, 195 lb pre COVID) had worse symptoms.

Technically, my symptoms would be classified as “mild” as I never had breathing problems; O2 was 97-98; main symptoms were disrupted sleep, fatigue, body aches, old injuries flaring up. Fever was only 1 day, coughing is slight and I did have mild drainage, except for one day where it was heavy.

Still, the experience is unpleasant enough for me to work to avoid in the future; the mask is coming back (I got slack for couple of days).

Public Opinion and masking Yes, I posted a photo of my getting ready to teach a class by Zoom and I posted a video of my wearing a mask while doing push ups.

And OF COURSE, someone had to comment on the mask, each time.

“Mask for Zoom?” and “Bro, take the mask off.”

Context: in the photo, it was my day of my first negative test. It was in the home office room, which has two folding doors leading to the living room, where my wife hangs out. So, I wanted to limit the amount of virus I put in this room (that she uses) and in the adjoining room; this was NOT my isolation room (nicked name “the goathaus”)

In the second case (the video) I had another negative test. But I was doing these in the living room where my wife was, so the mask was to protect her (unseen in the view of the camera.

Moral: if it looks strange that someone is masking, there may be more there than meets the eye. Sometimes, I am walking a short distance between indoor buildings and don’t want to bother with the “on/off”, especially if I am bundled for winter.

First full day back

Yes, it felt good; few streamed the classes. But it WAS tiring.

Maybe this will be the final test result I’ll post.

Workout notes: yesterday, full PT and 5 sets of pull ups; 3 were 6 singles and 2 were 6 reps (ok, 4 if you believe the critics)

I went into the office a bit.

Today: PT (full) and push ups: 5 sets of 20. Then one sort of rough commuter walk; I’ll have to roll a bit and I’ll have to stretch before walking. It wasn’t like the bad old days though..not even close.