knee rehabilitation – Life of an old goat

Insight to satellite signals for GPS watch

Today: I was not feeling my best; very tight. So I decided to walk a 2.1 mile course 3 times, and I was able to do it in 31 minutes each. Yeah, I got rained on during the final loop.

But:

check out that mile 2 split: I am now an Olympic caliber racewalker! So, after 1 loop, I stopped, reset my watch.

Same course, much more like it. Slowed down during the rain.

This was my actual course

And this is what my wacky split course looked like: evidently I lost the crossing satellite signals and only had that one line.

The good news: posture is much improved; no butt pain. Knee: slightly heavy.

You can do anything you set your mind to doing

I’ve been thinking about a math project..want to revise it..and about goals in general. And I’ve been thinking about goals.

Now the title of this post: this is the dumbest cliche I’ve ever heard of. No, I can’t deadlift 1000 lb or overhead press 570 lb. (though some can..
1000 deadlift (straps), 57x overhead press (from the rack, NOT cleaned). I won’t win a Nobel prize.

But..what CAN I do and am I willing to work toward achievable goals, or will I underachieve? THAT is what I have control over.
Annals of Math paper: nope. But what about the 2 I have in the hopper right now?
400 lb dead lift? Probably not. But what about 275? I am reasonably close to that. Make that..maybe 285? Etc.

Walking marathon? Well, not next week, but what about a multiple loop 10 miler where I focus on posture? Get posture fixed..then maybe 13, then maybe 15, and so on.
5:20 won’t happen, but what about 6:20?

Time to shift the thinking.

Now back to my boring morning, which I enjoyed very much: deadlifts (trap bar, low handles), walk, then Indian food.

Deadlift workout: some upstairs PT.
10 x 134, 10 x 184, 5 x 228, 2 x 250 (yay!), 5 x 233, 10 x 184 (deficit: stood on 11 kg plates) Yes, floor is still damp from heavy rains.

Wore my spiffy brace and Adidas Superstar basketball shoes, which were state of the art in the early 1970’s; NBA players wore them.

The walk itself: I asked B if she wanted to hike in FPNC. She said yes..but she was nervous about the full parking lot. So we chose to go to Glenn Oak and walk where there were fewer people. She did a 5K course; I put my head down and did multiple laps of the upper park.

USATF application got the loop at .61 miles; 8 times around is 4.88 and then I added a .45 out and back and a .05 out to get 5.38. My Garmin: 5.01; it doesn’t like the tight turns. That makes a minute a mile difference.

But nevertheless, I got it in..no matter what the pace actually was.

Along the way, Cassie drove past in a van (with her St. Jude friends) and said “hi” and offered kind words, and took the following:

Argh..that posture …I’ll have to focus on that so much if I want to walk longer and pain free.

Yes, that shirt is from the 2014 Peoria Marathon..so long ago.

working on the pull up

Yeah, I know; it has been a long time since I talked about anything of importance here; during the COVID 19 pandemic this has been more or less a workout journal.

Yeah, things are going relatively poorly, with respect to COVID 19 so keeping track of my workouts has kept my emotions occupied. And well, I am finishing up some math stuff.

Note: knee has felt great almost all day.

Warm up: 5 minutes bike, assorted glue exercises including 1 leg bridge, clam shell, hip hikes, etc. And yes, the usual rotator cuff

mostly outside today:
pull ups: focus on getting my chin over the bar; NO BAD REPS today; 7, 7, 8, 8, 5 (narrow), 6, 4, 5, 4 (chin) 4 (wide) 3 for 61 total, plus a few demos for photos.

shoulder presses: 3 sets of 10, one awful set of 1, then 1 more of 10 with 44 lb. dumbbells.
single arm rows: 5 sets with 60
push ups: (deficit) 4 sets of 15, 1 of 10
goblet partial squats (working down, upright torso, knees over toes: 5 sets of 5 with 22 (learning the motion). One time I went a bit too deep.

trap bar deadlifts: 10 x 184, 10 x 211 (went very well)

Pull ups:

Yes, chin all the way over the bar today. Now to work on squeezing those elbows back.

8 walk

1:59:29 for about 8.1 miles; yes that was 14:55 a mile which wasn’t that bad, given the crumbly sidewalk I was forced onto on Moss.

The course: on Cooper toward Main, then loop around to Bradley then to Cooper, Moss, turn right to Western, double back and go all the way down Moss to Sheridan, Main, left, first street, then double back. Second loop was to Main again, back past the house and on to Moss, double back along McArthur, back, back to Main, etc to Bradley to the Pizza place and back via Laura. I did lose concentration.

Of note: piriformis tingled until I super focused on posture at mile 4 or so; mild ache from either knee. Avoiding NSAIDS.

I got back, got some computer equipment and then noticed that my basketball paper isn’t as far along as I had hoped; I still have a little writing to do.

Feeling good..and getting over it

I felt weird… almost good.

First, I did a ton of PT exercises: glute, knee, back, shoulder, and my usual rotator cuff
pull ups: 3 sets of 10 (not that bad) but went to 4 sets of 5 (one wide, one narrow) for better quality
bench press: 10 x 132, 2 x 181, 4 x 181 (4’th rep was ugly), 3 x 181, 10 x 154
seated shoulder: (84-86?) 10, 8, 7
trap bar row: 3 sets of 8 x 134
then outside (mixinging in the trap bar squat)
3 sets of standing shoulder (40s sets of 10
3 sets of 5 chin ups (decent quality)
3 sets of single arm rows (60, sets of 10)
3 sets of 10 deficit push ups (getting down there)
3 sets of 10 x 134 trap bar squats (tried to keep the shoulders high)

Overall..not that bad.

knee held up

I did some PT, did my walk (humid conditions) and then neglected to stretch after. No NSAIDS; some hip tingle but I felt good enough to make 7 miles.

79 F, 77 percent at the start
84 F, 67 percent at the end.

My course, according to the USATF ap: 7.37. By my Garmin: 7.17 (it shorted me the “to the mouth of Bradley Park” and the two lower loops) Most of it: the 1.235 mile loops measured 1.18 by the Garmin (2 of those) and the 1.03 was 0.96.

Time: 1:47:32 pace: 14:35 by USATF, 15:00 by the Garmin. There wasn’t much difference in the out and back portion on Moss.

More effort at the end. It was a success …by my current standards.

Working it out

Ok, what will my routine look like? This one took about 80 minutes and included no cardio. But I wanted to test out my new brace

pull ups: 3 sets of 10, 7-3, 5, 5, two sets of 5 chins
rotator cuff (and moved weights up the stairs)

super set of
dumbbell standing shoulder press (usual grip: 3 sets of 10 with 44
goblet squats to the bench (after a couple of warm ups) 6 x 44 (3 sets)
single armed rows: sets of 10 with..57-60 ?

Then two more sets of 10 with the single armed row super sets with
3 sets of 20 deficit push ups, 1 set of 10, 1 set of 20, 1 set of 10 (100 total)

mixed with two sets of trap dead lifts:
10 x 184
10 x 206 (focused on form, full sets, knees, etc.)

That’s it.

Not dangerous …working it out. The brace is working well. No NSAIDS. Slight warmth afterward. I’ll have to ice afterward.

Management ..my knees

Well, first things first: I had a nice 4 mile walk; 14:0x pace for 4 miles. It was just enough to be work but nothing severe.

Then to the doctor.

I got a lot of x-rays. I was amused at the new machine; you stood and a technician adjusted your body, fiddled with the controls, etc. This wasn’t the old, clunky 1970’s stuff.

I was expecting one of either:
1. overuse..will get better with rest and PT or
2. more tearning…surgery.

I got neither. Instead, I was shown the x-ray; nothing lose but the gap between the bones in my right leg are narrower than the ones in my left. And arthritis continues to develop.
The PA recommended cycling, swimming or elliptical.

The latter two can’t be done at the moment, though in the future I might save up for an AMT machine.

That is a 2000 dollar investment.

Maybe..in the future.

Yes, some people who are already running can still run with arthritis and here are some tips (2-3 times a week…sounds familiar? Slow pace..yes, I felt pain after trying to pick up the pace)

Arthritis isn’t a death knell for runners nor for working out in general.

BUT those studies on runners: they are experiences (as am I) but my guess is that many have efficient strides and lean bodies. I am not built like a runner; walking appears to be more natural for me so I’ll stick with that. But: sane distances, and rest days, and yes, cycling in between.

I am at a stage in my life where my bets lifts, best runs, best walks and best swims are behind me. I am now at the “management” stage and doing what my body does the best (walks, lifts, then back to the pool) and my workouts will be two parts: PT, then sport (probably PT, sport, PT)

I might set some goals: perhaps a 35 minute walking 5K and a sub 3 hour walk half marathon.

And…all of the damned butt/knee/PT stuff..probably should do every morning.

knees: the easy stuff:

And the piriformis/glute stuff:

And yes, the “easy” knee stuff.

What I might try with weights: trap bar deadlifts (regular, straight)
step ups with weights
lunges with weights (light at first)
1/2 squats to the chair/box..some goblet, some barbell.

A little bit calmer

First: glue exercises
only weights this morning; I was a bit stiffer than normal.
rotator cuff
pull ups: 3 sets of 10, 5-5 (wide, regular), 10, then 5-5 (chins last set)
indoors: bench: 10 x 132, 10 x 154, 10 x 154
rows: 3 sets of 8 x 134 trap)
hip hikes
seated, supported shoulder (3 sets of 10 x 44)
deficit trap dead: 10 x 134, 2 sets of 10 x 184; second set of 10 wasn’t bad.
plank
Workout took about 80 minutes; some troubling residual pain last night in my right knee…not terrible. Glute: coming along nicely; those band exercises appear to be helping.

I found an old race program; Azalea Trail 10K in Mobile, Al, March 5, 1982. I got Bill Rodgers’ autograph. Then I went to see Chariots of Fire that night in the theater; almost all young skinny guys in race t-shirts; I may have been the slowest one there.

Though it was my best ever, it was slow by the standards of the day and for a 22 year old.