Finally

If you have been reading, you know that over the past two weeks I have been looking for a long swim. The term "long" for me has a moving definition whether it is referring to swimming or running or cycling. Right now, a long swim references one that goes upwards of two and a half hours and extends for about five miles. I did one last on March 12th. That day I swam for 2:41:42 and went for 8,800 yards (five miles). That was eighteen days ago.

Ordinarily when training for a marathon swim, I want a long one every week. If I miss a week, it's not too big a deal. Scientists say you need one every two weeks. Well, I was going on three. But why? you ask. Why have you gone almost three weeks without a long swim?

There are a couple of reasons for that. One is timing. Three weeks ago, when John was swimming, I did not have time in the morning to go really long. I could get up into the 5,000 range, which is good, but not the long one I need to swim Chicot. Also, I have been experiencing some pectoral twinges. I call them "twinges" because I don't have an injury but I have had some strange feelings in my right pec. These twinges have frightened me, made me cautious, extra conservative on my swims. 

Last Monday I got to 7,000 yards and decided to tap because I was having some sensations in the muscle tie in to the shoulder. Just the mention or thought of anything wrong with a shoulder, turns a confident, strong swimmer, into a paranoid crying baby crouching the fetal position hiding from himself, from the world.

Yesterday, with John still out, I went to the pool a little after lunch. I started swimming with no firm goals, only a hope, in mind. The hope was that I could swim for 9,000 yards. I was about 4,300 in when Billy and Rose Bowman joined me. Although they don't swim but exercise, I found their presence encouraging. Long swims when you are the only one in the pool can get lonely. When I get too lonely, I think too much. When I think too much every sensation in my body becomes a monster threatening my whole way of life. After they had been there about thirty or more minutes, Gloria Hathcock showed up. Now I knew I would have a swimmer with me after the Bowmans left. And I did. And it helped.

To make a short story long, I went for 2:50:30 and 9,050 yards. I could have kept going but that was enough. Live to fight another day, as they say. So now I feel a lot better mentally, emotionally. I know I am on track with my training. I have found from past experience that around five miles is a good distance. I can recover quickly from a five-mile swim and a five-miler builds good endurance. 

I am happy.

I forgot to mention that I ran in the morning. I shuffled 4.26 miles. So I got a medium run and a long swim. It started raining when I got home from the pool. Hence I did not lift. But two out of three ain't bad.

Thank you, Jesus.

Put That COOKIE DOWN! How NOT to Lose an Arm or Leg

Lately, I have taken to watching lots of videos on YouTube. Mostly I watch things related to lifting, running, and swimming. I also follow channels dedicated to big trucks, logging and over the road, and others focusing on big cats, especially lions. Below is a six minute video from one of my favorite YouTubers, Steve Shaw. He produces a ton of quality content on lifting weights. Not only that, but Steve is different in that he and his wife also run. Most muscle heads only run to the refrigerator. Slowly, I learned about his story and why he took up running. It was because of his run in with diabetes.

In this video, he gives us some sobering facts about the state of health in contemporary America. Please take few minutes and listen.

Warning, his language is a bit salty at times.

3/23 - 3/29

Another week of social distancing has left me a little more fit than I was before. I am reading of people having mental difficulty with all of this. It is no joke that introverts like me don't have an issue with being alone. I do miss my church family, however, and I hope we resume services soon, like this week. I also find working from home a bit odd. I don't feel like I am as effective as I am in the classroom. But, as the old saying goes, it is what it is.

Monday I did not run. I think it was rain that did me in. I don't remember. I guess I should start writing that down in my training journal. I did not lift either. I did swim. I went for the long one since I did not get one in last week. I tapped out at 7,000 yards not because of fatigue, but I felt a little twinge in my right pec and thought it best not to press the issue.

Tuesday I swam 5,200 yards giving two solid back to back swims. I also ran, 2.37 miles, but for some forgotten reason I did not lift. Wednesday I did all three with 5,100 yards in the pool, 2.51 miles on the road, and lots of lifting at the gym. That's the way it's done right there.

Thursday I swam a good 5,300 yards and gently upped the running to 2.68 miles. At Plate City I lifted heavy on my pulling routine. Friday I swam 4,900 yards, shuffled 2.79 miles, and smashed the weights and my finger at the gym. The finger is recovering nicely, but it was a real scare as the pain was immense and the blood copious. I did not know for a while how bad I was injured. By the grace of God, I have a blue and sore finger with a healing cut on it, but I can still function.

For the week, I

lifted weights three times,
ran 13.79 miles, and
swam a solid 25,153 meters.

Thank you Jesus.

YouTube Craziness

With the coronavirus disrupting everyone's life, social media has exploded in response. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have all burst out a plethora of videos, rants, and chants encouraging, and showing people how, to stay fit while gyms all over the country are closed. A lot of people want to show how you can workout with the most ordinary things that are sitting around your house. Good. That is all very good.

At the risk of sounding negative, however, I have a couple of critiques. Just a couple. I am not the only one, and I don't want to rehash what others have already done. These are a couple that registered with me.

One critique is a bit mild. I watched one video of a man on a nice bench with an Olympic bar bench pressing with water bottles tied to the bar. Huh? You have a top of the line bench and a slick looking Olympic bar but no plates? It obviously was a staged video, a me-to video, sort of like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his hot tub at his mansion talking about how tough the lock down was. This guy was acting like he was suffering trying to find a way to get a workout while he obviously owns good equipment.

Another was a man doing overhead presses with an Olympic bar that had plates on one side and a tire on another. What!?!?! I have seen this guy's videos before all this changed our lives. He has plates. But again, he had to act like he was being creative and doing the best he could. What if that tire slips off the end of the bar?

The worst example I have taken the time to watch was a man doing deadlifts with a bar and two huge wooden spools on the end. This was pretty shocking. If one of those spools slipped off (they looked pretty precarious) someone was going straight to snap city. And snapping up your back is pretty bad not to count pretty stupid

I wrote all of this because, like you, I am at home and doing a lot more of the things I usually do only a little bit of. I am watching more videos, thinking more about working out, and writing more on this blog. I think people trying to help, to inspire, is a good thing. I have seen some really good examples of people giving good advice. Creativity is a good thing, but there is sometimes a fine line between creativity and stupidity. A few people are crossing that line. Be careful out there. Stay safe. Stay sane. Judge carefully what you see given freely as advice. A lot of it is good. Some of it is not.

Slim Saturday

Saturday is often a big training day for me. This one was not. Penny wanted to do some stuff and we did and it was nice. I did go out for a short shuffle around mid morning. I ran 3.44 miles which is my longest one since I re-injured my knee. The knee is better. This was my second day in a row when the temps were in the mid=eighties. The heat is coming. Lord help me.

I did not go to the pool. One reason I did not was the time element. Penny was ready to hit the road. Another reason was the finger. I was leery about swimming and most likely would not have even if we did not have other plans. 

We were gone most of the day, getting home around 5:30. I had time to lift, but I was tired and decided to lounge the rest of the evening. That brings up the question: do I lift Sunday. The most I ever do on the Lord's Day is take a walk. I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I will lift. Maybe I will take it as a de-load week.

Thank you, Jesus, that I have options.

I Feel Sadly

Did that one, the title, catch your attention? I hope it did because if you would say, write, or think "I feel sadly," we cannot be friends.

I've never heard it and for good reason. The reason being that it is not English, it is not English syntax. We don't put words together like that. We don't feel sadly, sickly, or any other adverb you can place there.

If you know where I am going with this, I owe you a cookie or a cup of coffee. I want to am issuing a cease and desist order from the horrid phrase, "I feel badly." Stop it. Stop it! No you don't!!. You feel bad.

To feel badly is like-- between you and I-- someone trying to speak correctly but missing it badly. See what I did there? Between you and I is wrong, and yes, you can miss it badly but not feel badly because "feel" is an intransitive verb. Do not use adverbs as the objects of intransitive verbs. Use adjectives. I feel sad, I feel blue, I feel bad. 

If you say I feel badly in my presence, you run the risk of physical attack.

You have been warned.

Three with an Exclamation

I thought Friday might be the day. You just never know. You get in the pool and see what your body will allow. I tapped out at 4,900 yards. I felt the pec, not pain, but I thought, "You've had a good week. Don't press the issue. Better sorry than safe." That swim brought me to 25,000 meters.

I did a small shuffle, 2.77 miles. This was the second day I ran in heat. What I call heat now. Later I will call 85 and breezy, fall, but right now it is heat. Then I went to Plate City. Because my schedule has been thrown off, nothing was really recovered so I thought I would work biceps, Swim Pulls, and some cable stuff. The biceps get some indirect work when you do back, but I rarely work them directly. I don't know why I don't, I just don't. So I thought it would be a good time. Sometimes in the water, especially when I do backstroke, I feel them. So I need to work them.

I did some rotator cuff stuff, some Swim Pulls, and four set of dumbbell curls. On the last set of curls, I tossed the thirty pound dumbell onto the rack and it jumped off. The rack is springy. Yes, the angle iron the rack is made of has a bounce to it. I picked the dumbbell up and from a lower height dropped it onto the rack. The dumbbell bounce up, grabbed my right index finger and pulled it under itself while it fell back onto the rack.

Really, you can't make this up. Somehow my finger finished under the dumbbell. I didn't know how bad I was hurt. I just knew it was tremendously painful, and I was bleeding like a sack of flour (that's my new writing gimmick, a simile that doesn't make sense). I ran inside and cried for Mommie. Penny nursed me up, and I think I am going to live. I have a bruise on the top side and a cut on the bottom side. 

Now I am limited. Do I swim? Can I lift? I know I can shuffle. I can lift light. I can type. What about the water? I know what a doctor would say. That's one reason I almost never go to one.

Sigh.

Thank you, Jesus, for another good day. And thank you that my finger was not wounded worse than it was. It could have been bad. A thirty pound dumbbell, angle iron, and a human finger. That is not a good combo. If you go to the gym, place the dumbbells back on the rack gently. Please, take note. Place the dumbbell down gently. If you don't, the finger you damage could be your own.

More Records

More Records

by Jay Unver

(Lehrton, Mississippi) While Randy Beets sits in a horse trough everyday, and the Big ASS Training Center remains closed, Zane Hodge is rewriting the record books in the Association of Sports Swimmers and the Association of Sports Strongmen.

The locked doors at the Big ASS
Training Center in Lehrton, MS.

In the pool, Hodge has set new world records in the 900, 950, 1,000, 1,100, 1,200, 1,250, and 1,300 yard back stroke. While Hodge was busy doing all of this, Randy Beets was sitting in a horse tub.

In the gym, Hodge set a world mark in the yoke squat going 260 pounds and in the yoke carry going fifty feet with 180 pounds. Hodge also raised his own deadlift world mark twice lately taking it first to 180 pounds on the 7th of March and then pulling 185 pounds on the 21st of March. Meanwhile, Beets has been sitting in a horse tub.

Chicot Challenge 2020, Update One

With the whole world shutdown and hundreds of athletic events cancelled, you might have wondered about the Chicot Challenge. Let me give you the latest. I don't have to watch a website like I have done with some other events. I don't have to wonder. I make this decision myself with consultation from my wife and the crew.

I have not spoken with the crew this year about the challenge. Since we have not met church in a couple of weeks, I have not chatted with them about the swim. But my plans are to go ahead. If, when the time comes, the crew is still practicing social distancing, we can still have the swim. In that case, we can proceed with a skeletal crew of two kayakers so the rest of the crew will not be together on the pontoon. Since I cut the distance to 12.75 miles last year, we can do a swim of that length without a pontoon boat.

Make no mistake about it. A boat is nice and for the longer swims of nineteen or more miles it is a virtual necessity. It provides the kayakers the ability to take a break, to rest, to feed, to swap out. It provides me, the swimmer, a greater measure of security since the big boat makes us more visible and hence me safer. And I am not ashamed to admit that having a few people on a boat watching makes me swim better, faster. I love showing out for my wife.

So I implore you to keep up with my post about Chicot, pray for good weather, and donate when the opportunity arises. I ask people once per year to give to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. People are worried about this COVID-19. We ought to be more worried about diabetes. Almost one third of the population of the USA is now either diabetic or pre-diabetic. Diabetes is no joke. It killed my mother, several other of my family members, and it wiped out a whole church I pastored for twenty-two years.

The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi is our charity that helps people right here in this state. Did you know that we lead the county in the per capita incidence of diabetes Type Diabetes? Do you know why? Do you know what the risk factors for diabetes are? Do you know how to adjust your lifestyle to lower your chances of becoming a diabetic? Do you know what the health consequences of diabetes are?

If you cannot answer yes to these questions, you need to keep up with the Chicot Challenge and with this blog. I will be writing about these things in the upcoming months. Believe me, you are at a much greater risk from diabetes than you are from COVID-19.

The swim is set for Saturday, June 6. I will attempt to swim from the Lake Chicot State Park boat ramp to the boat ramp at Ditch Bayou. And Bethany, this time I will crawl out on the ramp. Two years ago there was a ramp where I crawled out in 2019. Once I set my feet on the bottom at the old ramp, the swim was over.

Back to Back

I back on track, Wednesday, and I made it back to back. That's right, I did a three-workout day two days in a row. At the pool, I thought I might go long, but I felt my pec, not pain, just a sensation. So I tapped out after 5,300 straight. Still a pretty decent number bringing to to 20,655 meters for the year. When looking at my training diary, I realized that I am on pace to swim over 1,000,000 meters in 2020. I don't know if I will actually get that many, but I am on that pace now.

After lunch and a nap, I shuffled 2.68 miles. The knee, praise the Lord, is getting better. I fear, however, that I am losing the base, not the general fitness base but the endurance base. The Viking Half Marathon has not yet been rescheduled. If they announce it for next month will I be able to do it? I has been seventeen days since I did a long run. I refuse to try to rush back to long running. You might have noticed that I am easing the distance up be a couple of tenths per mile per day.

I mowed the front lawn late in the day and then I went to Plate City. It was pull time. On the one-armed bent row, I pulled

21 X 40
13 X 50
10 X 55
  8 X 60
  4 X 65
  4 X 65

I also did two sets of Swim Pulls, and four sets of face pulls. It was a solid day and I slept well. I have noticed that when I do all three workouts that I sleep much better. Thank you, Jesus, for good rest last night.

Back on Track

I finally started getting it all done Wednesday. I went to the pool earlier, around 9:00 and swam

3,300 1:02:35
   500 tt 8:03
1,300 24:33

total: 5,100 yards = 4,664 meters

That brings me up to 15,811 meters in just three days. In case you can't do the conversion, that is over nine and a half miles. But there is more. Before lunch I shuffled 2.51 miles. I am still being hyper conservative with my running because the knee is still gimpy, better, but not well. Thank the Lord that I can do it at all. 

Late in the afternoon I went to Plate City Gym. The sun was shinning, the dogs were happy, and so was I. Instead of doing the Wednesday workout plus Monday's and Tuesday's, I did push and legs, leaving me something to work tomorrow. On the legs, I performed six sets of squats. Most likely, I will never divulge how weak my legs are so you don't get the numbers for that. On the bench press, I pushed

15 X 95
8 X 120
6 X 140
6 X 140
6 X 140
6 X 140

I did more stuff: one set of incline dumbbell bench presses, some triceps pushdowns, some cable work, and some face pulls. I am loving that cable machine. When it was over, I was tired, that good tired.

So it was a three-workout day. Thank you, Jesus, for good health, good energy, and hope for the future.

Martins Licis

Lately I have been playing strongman at Plate City Gym. I purchased farmer's walk handles, a log, and Leflore Steel built me a yoke. I am attracted to this sport even though it is the polar opposite of my own athletic talents.

This interest exploded in 2019 when my wife and I took Trevor McLean, my gym partner at the time, to the Saint Valentines's Muscle Massacre in Little Rock, Arkansas. There Trevor competed as a lightweight strongman in the contest that even my wife enjoyed. I found the atmosphere amazing. The whole vibe was laid back and all the competitors cheered for each other. I thought, I'd love to do this one day. 

I would, but I am far from strong enough. That is one of the things that motivates my backyard lifting. Maybe one day I can compete. I, by the way, am an endurance athlete. An endurance athlete and a strength athlete are as different as a mouse and a polar bear. Different body type, different muscle fiber composition, different mental attitude, different training. But they have a few things in common: goal setting, hard work, and patience.

Not only did I go to one contest and buy some strongman implements, but I have taken to watching strongmen on YouTube. All the top guys have channels that feature their training, their plans, and their products. I find these guys interesting. They lift amazing weights, but are humble, gentle, easy going. I watch Eddie Hall, Hafthor Bjornsson, Clint Darden, Brian Shaw, and Martins Licis. Martins has become my favorite. Let me tell you why.

Watching these guys is a little bit like watching crossfitters. They do amazing things, but the intensity in which they operate is a little beyond the pale. They kill their workouts and have an energy that is overwhelming. Martins, however, is different from the others. He misses lifts (they don't edit that out), he yawns, he drags around and says, "I don't feel like lifting today." I can relate to that because that is how I go to the gym most days. I really rather just take a nap. The thing that makes Martins so inspiring to me is that he shows up when he doesn't want to and he does the work when he doesn't feel like it. And he shows that to the world instead of putting up a false image.

That is what it takes to be successful in life, in any endeavor. Showing up, doing the work, persevering when you had rather do something else. Take a look at his channel. Watch a video or two. You just might find that you enjoy it, him, the whole strongman enterprise. It's a big world out there. Explore another section of it.

Tuesday

Although the whole town, state, country, world is shut down, I am trying to keep going, to stay open for business, to stay open for working out. This week, it seems, I am not doing so well. Monday I swam but did no other workouts. Rain and the desire for ease overcame me and made me shut down like everything else. Tuesday I performed only slightly better, swimming and shuffling short. In the pool, I went in at 1:30 and swam

2,500 47:34
200 tt 3:17
1,300 back 31:12
1,200 23:58
total: 5,200 yards = 4,752 meters

I might not be doing well overall, but for the first two training days of the week, I am at 11,150 meters. That is a record for the year and maybe for all time. I would have to spend hours checking records to confirm that, so I will just assume it.

I guess I have things out of order because I shuffled in the morning before I swam. I ran 2.37 miles. It was warm, and I sweated a lot. That is coming back to us, the heat, whether we are ready for it or not. I have always enjoyed the heat, reveled in it. But last year, not so much. If you remember, September was our hottest month of the year. The daily highs were 98 to 100 every single day, and I mean every singly day. I kept thinking as I went out to run that it can't stay this hot all month. But it did stay that hot all month and all the way to October the 8th. What will this year bring? Let me guess: heat. It is going to get hot, stay hot, and to run you must be determined. Lord help me.

Thank you, Jesus, for the coming heat. Thank you for the health to train, to play, to have fun. Help my friend John get well. Help our country to get well. Curse this illness and send it from our midst. By your stripes we are healed.

I Know One Thing

I wish I knew. With everything being cancelled or postponed, I wish I knew about the Mississippi Senior Olympic swim meet in Biloxi scheduled for May 16th. Everything that was scheduled for March and April has either been cancelled or postponed. The opening ceremonies, originally set for March 20, were cancelled. All the events on tap for April have been postponed. Only one, basketball has been rescheduled. They set it for May 16, the same day as the swimming.

I check their Facebook site daily looking for any new information. There has been nothing new in several weeks. Although there have been no new postponements in a couple of weeks, one has to wonder and be a bit skeptical that the meet will go on. In light of the Olympics, the real Olympics in Tokyo this summer being postponed for a year, you have to wonder if anything will stay in place.

Already this has effected my training. I have been unwilling to do the tough sets I need to swim well in pool races. Yesterday I swam 7,000 yards. But that swim contained no quality, no fast swimming, no heart-rate sets, no lactic-acid sets, no fast repeats, no strength swimming. It was just an endurance swim the kind needed to do Chicot. At least I still have access to water. Many pools around the country, the world, have been closed. Even Randy Beets is forced out of his pool into a horse trough. Wow. Are my fellow Mississippi Olympians able to train? I don't know.

That is one good thing about my fundraiser: I control it, at least to a point. I don't control the weather, but I decide whether or not the swim goes on. Right now, I am not even thinking about a postponement. But even that, I suppose, is subject to other people. The crew cannot social distance on a pontoon boat. Will they want to get together in June? Maybe they will be willing. Maybe not. So even there, I am not in control.

I guess that is one of the lessons of all this. We see how little we control. Someone (a lot of someones) once said that the only thing you control is your attitude, your response to things. How true that looks now.

Not only has this crises showed my how little I control, it has shown me how little I know. I don't know if the Senior Olympics are coming to passl. I don't know when we are going back to work. I don't know when we are going back to church. I don't know when we, my wife and I, are going out to eat. I don't know much. But one thing I do know: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is where we have to go in these uncertain times. When I don't know, I have learned to ask, What do I know? I know Jesus, and I know He will help you and me to get through this. Thank you, Lord.

Monday

I was asleep, deep asleep when Penny shook me awake with, "You need to move your truck so I can go to work." I had a hard time putting on pants. I kept sticking two legs into one pant. You've heard the old saying, "They put their pants on just like us: one leg at a time." I've never done it that way. For me, it was always two legs at a time. Anything else is a waste of time.

So I went out in the rain, still mostly asleep, moved the truck and came back in and ate breakfast. I also drank coffee, and settled in for some blogging, some school work, and some YouTubing. What happened to the 3:30 a.m. swim you ask? John is under the weather so I am doing it my way. I went to the pool at 1:30. P.M. 

A brainstorm hit. Since I tapped on my last long swim attempt, do it today. So I tried. I felt the pec somewhere around 6,000. It went away, the discomfort; however, the mentally brick it threw into my thought machinery didn't disappear. I stopped at 7,000. Better sorry than safe as they say.

My pace was slow, 1:55. The swim last 2:14:53. That is three feedings at Chicot. It was a good swim, an endurance one. I have the rest of the week to do it my way. Actually, I don't know how long I have. I need to check on John. I have prayed for him.

It was raining when I left the pool. It rained all day. So I resigned myself to the rest of the day doing nothing. No weights. No running. No walking. No cycling. Just rest. Thank you, Jesus, for good rest.

3/16 - 3/22

A Yoyo week. That is what I call it. Maybe they are all Yoyo weeks, but the goal is always consistency. I kept the swimming up and the lifting was OK, but the running was like falling off a cliff. 

Monday I swam 5,265 metes, did not run at all because of a gimpy knee, and lifted a bit. Remember this is the day that I picked up at the gym from last week and did the skipped workouts. Tuesday I swam 4,821 meters and shuffled for the first time in several day. I went a mere 1.78 miles, but I was out there fighting back. I lifted also and did my push work out of its normal sequence.

Wednesday I swam 5,027 meters and cut the running all the way back to 1.47 miles. I did not lift because I did pulls and legs on Monday and pushes Tuesday leaving me without enough recovery time to repeat any of those. Thursday I swam 3,336 meters. I don't remember why I did not lift or run. Maybe I was lazy. Maybe the weather got bad. Maybe my body was speaking to me and said, "Hang out with the cats. I need a break and they need you."

Friday I tired to get back on the scoreboard. I stroked a short 2,399 meters, failed to run and failed to lift. Wow. What is happening to me? Saturday I did shuffle for a week's long 2.05 miles. I did lots of lifting to fill in all the gaps. I did push, pulls, and legs, everything. 

So for the week, I

ran 5.3 miles
swam 20,952 meters, and
lifted three times.

That is suspect training right there, especially when you consider that I was off work. Well, sort of off work. We didn't go in to the school but moved online. I want to go back to work. I confuse people better in person than I do online.

Thank you, Jesus, for keeping us safe. Help our nation. Forgive our sin, wake us from our spiritual slumber, and heal our divisions. May America bless you.

Lazy Saturday

Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing. I like doing nothing. It's become one of my hobbies, and I'm pretty good at it, a natural. It's easy and it always makes me feel better, stronger, more refreshed and ready to do something.

I did, however, do a bit. That little writeup I posted yesterday happened Saturday. You remember. I wrote about discovering that one of my friends now walks on a cane. Shocking. And I shuffled. Not far, but I went 2.05 miles. The knee is still a little gimpy so I am still taking it a little easy. Maybe next week I can do a bit more.

Then I went to Plate City Gym. After a nap, of course. Since I missed two straight workouts, I did a bit of everything. I pressed the most log I ever have while letting the bench slide. I went for a world record on it, but missed. Surely, I thought, I am strong enough to break my old mark, but alas, it was not to be. I took it easy on the legs, but I did do three sets of leg presses. I also did rowing, cable machine work, facepulls, and Swim Pulls. But where I dug deep was on the deadlift. There I set a new Association of Sports Strongmen world record thus further humiliating my nemesis Randy Beets. I pulled

5 X 135
4 X 155
3 X 165
2 X 175
1 X 185 world record

What did Randy do? He posted a picture of himself in a horse water tub with some ice in it. He was making the mean face. Am I supposed to be intimidated? I know his mother is proud of him.

Thank you, Jesus, for enemies like Randy. With enemies like that, who needs friends. 

A Meeting of Old Men

"Guess who I saw?" I asked my wife Saturday afternoon. I had been to the recycle bins. I had then driven down East Claiborne, and I thought I saw someone I knew walking a dog on the levee. I went back and parked at the tennis court. He walked up. I got out.

"I had to see it for myself," I said. "Jim Bob walking on a cane." (The name has been changed to protect his privacy)

"Walking slow on a cane," he responded.

We chatted a few minutes. We talked about getting old, about the virus, about the stock market.

"Who?" Penny asked a while after the meeting of old men.

"Jim Bob. I saw Jim Bob, and he walks with a cane now."

"Wow. Well you know he's older than us."

"It's stunning to me. It hasn't been that many years since we were riding bicycles together, doing fifty miles at a time."

Back to the meeting with Jim Bob. I told him about my recent experience with my brother-in-law. I wrote about it here. He saw me out running and stopped. He seemed genuinely surprised and said, "You're running like an old man."

"I am an old man," was my reply.

I suppose I'm still processing that. I'm still trying to come to terms mentally, and emotionally with my mortality, my age. I never thought I would be this old. People my age a dying, people I went to school with. Then I see Jim Bob on a cane, barely moving along his grey head bent slightly down. He was once one of the best distance runners in Greenwood, Mississippi. Even ten years ago he was still a very good cyclist. But time waits for no man. Age is undefeated.

That, however, will not stop me from fighting it, from resisting. My dad did that right until the very end. The day he died, he had been out walking. He literally died with his running shoes on. I hope to go the same way.

New Low

Friday I hit a new low for activity. I met John at the pool at 4:00 a.m. I was leery because of the pec issues I had Thursday. So I started slow and tapered off. To make a short story long, I never felt anything bad. I am pretty sure I am OK. But knowing myself from past experience, it might be weeks before I have the confident to open it up, to put the hammer down, to swim really hard. That's O.K. too as long as I stay wet. I warmed up with the brick, 25 yard back, and then 1,700 straight. After that, I started brick kicking with an easy 100 between. At first I was doing it with the Zoomers (short fins) that reside at the pool. I made it both ways, with the current and against it. It is a little bit easier with the fins on. Then I went east on the north wall without fins. That direction in that lane has the strongest current, almost like a river. I made it but the pain was immense. My lungs felt like they were going to explode and my quadriceps felt like they had been bitten off my a grizzly bear. I finished with 2,625 yards. I guess you can tell there was a lot of stalling in there.

I had to work in the afternoon, from 1:00 to 5:00. The school has opened a call center and staffed it with teachers. Nine of us unsocial distanced for several hours to answer five phone calls. Nine workers for five phone calls. That, my friend, is efficiency at its finest. I went home exhausted. I had rather swim for that many hours straight. It's easier.

Thank you, Jesus, for a good day, a healthy body, and a hopeful outlook.

How Many Pecs Would a Pec Pop Pop if a Pec Pop Could Pop Pecs?

Not much to say today because I did little yesterday. I slept in and went to the pool at 10:30. A couple of other people showed up and John got out and left. My goal for the day was to swim 9,000 straight. I was swimming pretty well when I felt a little pop in my right pec somewhere around 2,800 yards. I slowed down and for several laps, every thing felt fine. Then I had a little pain where I felt the pec pop. I swam on to see if it would go away. One thing I have learned about swimming long is that things come and go. When it did not go after a few hundred, I tapped out. Better sorry than safe as they say. I finished with 3,650.

I went home and tried to be a good social distancer. I'm pretty good at that already because as an introvert I had rather spend most of my time alone anyway. I did not run. Penny and I had an appointment at 5:30. When we got home, I did not feel like lifting. So it was a pretty slim day.

Thank you, Jesus, for the life you gave and the grace I live in. Have mercy on our nation, on our world. Forgive us of our sins, wake your people, and heal our land.

Hodge Questioned

Hodge Questioned

By Jay Unver

(Lehrton, Mississippi) Star swimmer and strongman, Zane Hodge, was called to the Big ASS Training Center and Headquarters in Lehrton, Mississippi today to answer questions from Dr. Noman, President and CEO of Big ASS Endurance.

Specifically, Nomann queried Hodge as to his role in the development and spread of the corona virus. This became a concern after Randy Beets, Hodge's chief rival, raised the possibility that Hodge is responsible for COVID-19.

In a recent Facebook Post, Beets wrote:

      The pool is now closed for a month, subject to extension if needed. Is Zane Hodge behind all of this?        Would he go so far as to cause worldwide turmoil just for a competitive edge? I'm not making                    accusations, just asking the tough questions!

Hodge, who appeared before Nomann without counsel, replied that "Even if I were that devious, certainly I am not that smart. There is no evidence that I did this and there can be no evidence that I did because I did not do this. Randy Beets is a loose cannon who needs to keep his mouth shut."

"I'll disregard the comments on Mr. Beets," Nomann responded. "But if any evidence ever surfaces that you had anything at all to do with starting this pandemic, it could mark you end as a Big ASS athlete," Nomann warned.

Nomann then announced a preliminary investigation and sent Hodge on his way.

As he left the Center, I asked Hodge for a response. He shook his fist and yelled, "If I ever see that Beets again, his butt is whipped." 

With that, he climbed into his truck and smoked a tire exiting the parking lot.

Slow Down

I slowed things down Wednesday for several reasons. One reason is that three days of 3:30 a.m is pretty much maxing out for me. I was worn out by the time Wednesday morning's swim was done. Another reason is my lifting schedule changed this week. Normally I do push/pull/legs (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday and then start over). Since I missed my final two workouts last week, instead of just skipping that pull/legs and starting over with push on Monday (which is what I have always done in the past), I did pull and legs Monday, push Tuesday, leaving me with nothing for Wednesday. It was too soon to work legs again or pull again. I thought about hitting some oft neglected muscles such as my biceps which get a lot of indirect work but little focus on them alone. But after considering how far I planned to swim Thursday, I decided instead to spend some time with River on the couch.

In the water Wednesday morning, I swam

brick
25 back
1,000 22:43
200 3:18
1,000 21:44
100 1:34
1,000 21:20
100 back 2:07
1,000 21:32
500 8:45
200 small paddles
25
brick kick
350 medium paddles
total: 5,500 yards = 5,027 meters

What I did here was my swim meet at the Senior Olympics. I warmed up with 1,000 and then did my first event: 200 yards. I swam another 1,000 and did my second event, the 100 free. I swam another 1,000 and did my third event, the 100 back. After another 1,000, I swam my final event, the 500 free. Now I know I have plenty of endurance to do the four events in Biloxi. 

I'm sure you can see that that was a pretty long practice but not a very fast one. In fact is was slow, disgustingly slow. If I did not know my body and my patterns and what I have been doing, I would be disturbed by these times. Even John asked me afterwards what was wrong with me. I was not nice in my response.

I did run, but only 1.47 miles. After that the whole rest of the day was consumed with taking it easy on the couch. The front door was open and I could see the traffic outside. Then a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowed down and took a look at me. River had a great time. So did I.

Thank you, Jesus.

Closed

I would not be as aware as I am if it were not for social media. But every day I read it. Another swimming pool closed. Another gym closed. As a member of several swimming groups and several groups devoted to strength sports, I see the whining daily. I don't blame them. I would be crying to.

These closings are throwing people out into the streets. Literally. Over and over I have read the cries for help from displaced swimmers. They are turning to the roads to run. They want advice, encouragement, empathy. They certainly have my empathy. 

It is not just in America. I saw a Facebook video of a woman in England being forcibly removed from a swimming pool and hauled of to jail. Her crime? Swimming in a "closed pool." This virus has infected us all. We have gone stark raving mad.

Even my old nemesis, Randy Beets, cried foul at his pool in Morganton, North Carolina closing for a month. He was so exacerbated that he questioned if I, Zane Hodge, could have caused the corona virus to gain a competitive edge over him. Thanks, Randy, but I am neither that devious nor that smart.

At times like this, I am reminded of one of the reasons running has always been so appealing to me. You don't need a special place. You don't have to go somewhere, and you are not dependent on someone else saying it is OK for you to work out. You can run almost anywhere almost anytime with almost no equipment. You just need some good shoes and the gumption to get out the front door. It is simple, natural, and effective. That is why I will always be a runner if I can do it, even if it means being reduced to an old-man shuffle, which is my current state of "running."

I have seen a number of videos of late of people who normally lift in a gym, being forced to find a way at home or in the front yard. God bless them. Here I have the big advantage of being a gym owner. I am the founder, president, and CEO of Plate City Gym. Essentially, Plate City is a bunch of weights, benches, bars, dumbbells, racks, and other equipment in my backyard. The only problem with having a backyard gym is that inclement weather can knock out your best laid plans. That happens from time to time and when it does, I just go to Twin Rivers and hit it there. But now, I am not sure that option even exists anymore. When I left the pool yesterday morning, I noticed a sign near the front door of the main building. It read: Closed  C Virus.

And that brings me to my next point. This morning at 3:30 a.m., I stuck me key into the lock of the pool building. Then I noticed the sign: This pool is closed. Key holders are permitted to swim at their own risk.

Thank God I'm a key holder. When so many people don't have access to water right now, mine is at an all-time high. Twin Rivers opened the indoor pool a year and a few months ago. Since then my swimming yardage has soared. Previously, most of the year I was limited to swimming twice per week at Delta State University, a fifty mile one-way drive. I swam with the Masters group there. After the first of the year, I would begin my Chicot build up by going again on Friday. That meant I was driving 300 miles to swim three times per week. In March, anxious and stressed, I would begin to venture outdoors, in a wetsuit and try to swim the catfish ponds in a desperate attempt to get in some distance. These March swims were usually very short bouts of torture. By April, however, the water had warmed some and my cold water acclimation had risen to the level that I could stay in a while in a wetsuit. It always worked out, my Chicot training. With the advent of Twin River's indoor pool, however, it works out much better with little stress over my yardage.

All of this is to say that I recognize God's abundant blessing on me. At a time when many people can't, I can run, I can lift, and I can swim virtually all I want whenever I want. God help those who are displaced right now. May they find running a good thing. May they discover the joy of body-weight exercises. And may this virus to leave our land and our life return to normal.

Thank you, Jesus.

Three out of Three

Tuesday morning at 3:30 a.m., I hit the pool and swam

brick
25 back
3,100 1:04:49
50
1,250 back 29:00
25
brick kick
850 medium paddles
total: 5,275 yards = 4,221 meters

I decided it was time to shuffle again so I went out for an easy 1.78 miles. I felt the knee a little bit from time to time. I think it is going to be OK, but the Viking Half Marathon is coming up. Will it be up to that?3

Work out number three was a major push session at Plate City. On the bench, I pressed

18 X 95
10 X 120
7 X 140
3 X 150
3 X 150
3 X 150

On the Log Press, I got

18 X 52 (a new reps record)
8 X 63
4 X 68

Triceps push down

39 X 30
16 X 35

I also did a bunch of cable stuff and face pulls. I'm still loving that machine.

So I had a good day of coffee drinking, cat loving, and training. Thank you, Jesus.

Zeitgeist

If you haven't noticed, the Zietgiest of America, maybe the world, but certainly America, is fierceness, argumentativeness, and condescension to any viewpoint other than one's own. Believe me, this goes beyond politics. I have seen this often and so have you unless you live in a camper trailer in Alaska and survive off carrion with no contact with the outside world. Social media has made this all too clear, painfully clear, even for someone like me.

When I say even for someone like me, I mean that I am the most non-confrontational, non-argumentative person who ever lived. Really I am. If you don't believe it, meet me down on the river bank at the Greenwood Walking Trail and I will kick your a$$ if I can't convince you it's true.

But every now and then I can't help myself and I find myself disagreeing  with someone. Every time I have, I have immediately been attacked, called names, sometimes removed from groups, and otherwise vilified as a simpleton who thinks he knows everything. Let me tell you about the latest incident.

I saw an Instagram post on running. The post consisted of two drawings of opposite running styles. The problem with both of these supposed styles is that they were straw men positions. No one runs like either of them. That is why they used a drawings rather than pictures. But over the past few years, it has become fashionable for armchair run coaches to tell people to run with their foot landing directly under their body. This, it is reasoned, causes less stress on the joints, is more efficient, and everyone should do it. It all sounds very reasonable, good, logical. The problem is, no one runs like that and the reason is no one can run like that.

I have run for decades, competed for decades, and spectated for decades and have yet to see anyone land with their foot directly under their body. Once I ran with over 30,000 people in a single race so when I say I have seen thousands of people run, it is no exaggeration. Yet, when I pointed this out on the post, I was immediately assaulted with shouts of "You are wrong!" and was blasted with lots of personal attacks and name calling. People, personal attacks and name calling are NOT forms argumentation. But they happen so much in America today that people really think this is how arguments are conducted. It is not.

One of the nicer comments I received was that one person was impressed by my "confidence without intelligence." Never mind that I was and am right. Another person wrote a long diatribe saying that I "obviously know everything," and from looking at my "Insta photos" she knows that she is "more fit than you are." She went on to boast of her athletic accomplishments. I was tempted to boast of mine, but God reminded me that He did not gift me to boast, but to glorify Him and help other people. (My athletic giftedness is not in running but in swimming.)

By the way, the thread got long, and I was the only one that offered any evidence. I could not post it there, so I posted it on my wall and tagged some of my detractors. The evidence I posted was of a picture of Usain Bolt running, winning an Olympic sprint with his foot landing in front of his body. That is how runners run. But no one runs with their foot landing in front of their body and with the foot in front of the knee while doing an exaggerated heel strike like in that absurd drawing. That is the straw man part. People don't run like that. And you literally can't run with your foot landing directly under your center body mass. Try it. It does not work that way. Your knee would have to be straight for that to happen. It baffles me that people can get so caught up with an idea that reality disappears from view and anyone calling for a look at what really happens is called a DA.

Ah well, what does it matter. The world is not made for the average intellect much less the above average. I have never thought I was smart, but the longer I live the more I believe that there is a vast difference between me and most of humanity. Maybe I am a DA, but I am right about this running thing. Olympians, dogs, cats, horses, and children all run the same way. Just watch them. And anytime you tell people how to run, something is wrong. Children do it perfectly and no one tells them how, no one shows them how, no one has to. God made us to run, to experience it, to enjoy it, not to analyse the mechanics of it and create theories contrary to reality. Move on, there is nothing to be gained there.

Two out of Three

My first day back at work was a bit strange. We are closing school for the week, and we are socially distancing (I think that is the new term) but our administration was desperate to get us all into one room. Thank God I was allowed to go to work in Greenwood for the day. But even there we were ordered into one room for some training. Why we could not do this in our offices, I am not sure. Maybe they want us to die? There were, thank the Lord, only three faculty members in Greenwood-- a few were in Greenville and who knows how many were piled up on the Moorhead campus-- so I did not encounter too many people.

I had a lot of work to do. Since I do not use Canvas extensively, I was at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to putting my instruction online. Thankfully, Anita Horn walked me through some things, and I was able to get it all done in a few hours. Now I only hope for not too many complications with the students. And I wonder how long this is going to last. My wife said that I am getting more vacation. It is not exactly like that. This online stuff takes a lot of time.

Before all the fun at work, I went to the pool and swam

3,000 1:01:30
4 X 50
200 small paddles
200 fast (forgot to start watch)
300 4:58 r :50
300 5:03 r :50
400 medium paddles
25
brick kick
1,250 25/25 free/back
total: 5,875 yards = 5,367 meters

After work, I took a nap and decided to let my knee have another day off. A lot of people face the issue of having their gyms closed. That is just one of the advantages of a home gym. I can go whenever I want. Since I missed my final two workouts last week, I picked up there instead of starting over. In the past, I would do my push workout. Now I did pull and legs.

Lat pull down

31 X 55
22 X 65
16 X 75
11 X 85
  7 X 90

I am still working with the cable machine every workout. I love the way I can do facepulls on it. That works both the back deltoids as well as the rotator cuffs with the external rotations.

For the legs, I did several sets of squats and several sets of leg extensions.

Although it was only two, it was still a solid day. Thank you, Jesus.

3/9 - 3/15

It was a pretty solid week, another 20/20. Monday I hit it hard for 5,849 meters in the pool and 3.32 miles on the road. At Plate City I worked the bench press for both intensity and volume. Tuesday I swam 4,135 meters, ran a whopping 10.45 miles, and lifted some more weights.

Wednesday I swam 3,518 meters, shuffled 4.11 miles and lifted. Thursday is the long swim day and I went for 2:41:42 covering 8,800 yards. I then went for a 5.48 miles run before heading to the gym. The run must have been a bit too much giving me 23+ miles in only four days. My left knee got gimpy before bedtime and I limped for a few days.

Friday I swam 3,747 meters. I did not manage my time or energy well enough to get anything else done that day nor Saturday either. Still it was a solid week. I

swam 25,292 meters,
ran 23.36 miles, and
lifted weights four times.

Meanwhile, Randy Beets is still in hiding. Someone told me he has entered the Witness Protection Program. I don't know, I just know I have been unable to flush him out.

Thank you, Jesus.

Alabama Rustic Camper

Forty More Acres Gone

A couple of months back, I wrote about my emotional upheavals when we sold ninety-three acres of Hodge Ski Lodge. In case you missed it, you can scroll back to January 18, 2020 and read "The Place." It was for me another loss-- coming on the heels of losing Mom and Dad, of losing my ability to run and swim-- another monumental change, a blow of inestimable magnitude. I mourned; I grieved; I was off kilter.

Thursday we closed on forty more acres of the Lodge. This time the blow was not so hard, the loss not really a loss just a change.

The buyers, the Danos from the coast, were ecstatic at being new land owners. That helped. To see the smiles on their faces and know that someone would love the land and enjoy it, use it, made this strange event for me have just a touch of joy. I was happy for them and maybe the mourning I did over the first ninety-three acres we sold had partly exhausted my sorrow. Maybe I have by now accepted the new normal.

Now we have forty more acres to sell. Then that change will be complete, final, done for ever. I actually look forward to the last sell. For one thing, I am tired of showing land. I am tired of having a monkey wrench thrown into my day and messing up my training. I guess that reveals where my current priorities are. I don't hunt anymore. I don't fish anymore. I don't camp anymore. I train. I compete. I dream and exercise and sign up for events and plan and plot and do them. The land is now a memory, a link to my past, my boyhood, good memories of past experiences. 

Things change. As simple and as obvious as that statement is, to be able to accept change is one of life's great lessons. I suppose it is a sign of maturity of being grown up, of being an adult. I am sixty-three years old. I guess I am just now growing up. But even that is a matter of opinion. My wife says I am still a boy. Maybe I always will be. But in some ways things have changed, and I have accepted them. Maybe everybody else thinks I'm still a kid. Maybe they are right. But I'm proud of myself for now being able to life looking forward not backwards.

Thank you, Jesus.

SB Day Six

I had things planned. I was going to swim and run and lift, especially lift. Saturday is usually my second leg day of the week and strongman day I do farmer's walk, duck walk, log press, and I usually hit the body parts that I feel have not had enough work.

I slept in and studied for Sunday. Then I went to Joe Nanny's funeral. The Bible says, "Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not." He was my dad's friend. Not only that, but I taught his daughter and granddaughter. 

After the 1:00 o'clock funeral which lasted until after 2:00, I had an appointment to show the final forty acres we are selling. That took some time. He wanted to walk the whole thing and we did. While I was doing that, Penny was at her dad's cleaning. When I finished with the showing and picked up Penny, we went to Acy's a bought supper. They have the best short-order cooking within two hundred miles so if you have never had anything from there, drive out and enjoy. By the time we got home and ate, it was late, I was tired, and all motivation had left town. I took a bath and ease for the rest of the evening.

So it was a Saturday of stuff but not one of training. I did a lot of walking. I should have worn my Garmin, but I didn't. Maybe we did two miles up and down steep hills. Maybe we did more.

Thank you, Jesus.

SB Day Five

I fell off the wagon on day five of my break. I was at the pool early where I was supposed to meet John at 4:00 a.m. I was in the water before then. He was late. What else is new? With my new watch, I saved the swim before I wrote it down, and I was not able to access the splits after that. I swam 

4,100 yards

The swim included a 1,200 warm up, a couple of sets of 50s about, a 1,200 yard backstroke set, some 25/25 free/back, and one set of 75/25 free/back. It was a good practice considering I swam 8,800 yards the day before.

My knee was feeling gimpy so I decided to take the day off from running. I did, however, plan to and want to go to Plate City. But the monsoons have not yet ended. I am really growing tired of all this rain, rain almost every day. I try to enjoy it. Really I try. But I have about enjoyed all I can stand.

Penny was off work and wanted to go to Grenada to a Christian bookstore there. We left about 3:00 o'clock but first we went by Century Funeral Home. Russel B-- that is all I knew him by-- had died, and Penny was upset. I never knew the man, but she spoke of him often and was very fond of him. After that, we drove to Grenada and found the store, Cornerstone Christian Book Store. I went in but was out within minutes. These stores rarely interest me. One reason is that I own over 3,000 volumes. Another reason is I have also been in some good stores. This one is only a fraction of what I have at home. As a pastor, I always go to the reference section to see if there are any interesting commentaries that might aid me in my sermon preparation. All they had was a few volumes of J Vernon McGee.

Penny, however, seemed to enjoy herself. She was in there a long time while I listened to country music on the radio in the parking lot. When she finally finished, we went to Jake and Rips for supper. We had a nice meal and then went to Spencer's for ice-cream. It was a pleasant day, a better night, and we even got home in time for me to watch Gold Rush.

Praise the name of Jesus.

Closed

The world is getting crazy. Quite simply the world, planet earth, is closed for an indefinite period of time. 

I don't have a strong opinion on this. It is just strange to me that so many institutions have closed. All colleges and universities, including the one I work for. Many sporting events, almost all of the NCAA conference basketball championship tournaments have been cancelled. In fact ALL NCAA championships are cancelled. All of them. I'm not sure what all that includes, but I am thinking swimming, gymnastics, track and field, baseball, softball, and basketball. 

I read that last one on Instagram so it might not be true. If it is true, that means March Madness is maddeningly gone.

On Facebook, I am reading every day of some running race, a triathlon, or a cycling event getting axed. I just opened my personal email account to find that the opening ceremonies to the Mississippi State Senior Olympics has been postponed until further notice. I have been training like a madman for some swimming events there in May. Will I get to compete? I don't know. No one knows. How little we control in life.

This has never happened before, not in my lifetime at least. I am sixty-three years old and have lived through swine flu, AIDS, Eboli, West Nile, and many other disease invasions. I have never seen a country freak the way we are freaking. The President closed all traffic to and from Europe. If he has done this anywhere else, I am not aware of it. Why isn't the opposition party calling him a racist for this? That puzzles me most of all. What an opportunity they are letting pass them by.

Over the last couple of days, I've seen notice of some strongman contests cancelled, the recent Arnold was held but without spectators, heck, the NBA suspended its season. What!?!?!?!? Major league baseball is shutdown. What is next? What can be next? Church? The presidential election? Walmart? The grocery store?

The only reason I am typing this is that I am trying to make some sense of it. I understand the logic, but what places this disease with a mortality rate of 3.5 percent, in a unique category, one that no other disease in history has had. And what is with this run on toilet paper? Help me out with that one because I draw a blank when I try to reason out that one.

At least we don't have to worry about an invasion from outer space. They can't do anything to us. Not for a while at least, because the world we live in, planet earth, is closed, cancelled, suspended, postponed, not open for business.

Thank you, Jesus.

SB Day Four

I hit another big three on the fourth day of Spring Break. Thursday is my long swim day so I am forced to do it later in the day. At 6:00 a.m., three swimmers come in to the Twin Rivers pool. I am not getting up any earlier than I already am. I went in at 1:30 and swam for 2:41:42. The distance was 8,800 yards. My pace was a little slower than last week, but I knew that the weekly decline could not continue.

After Penny came home from work, we chatted a bit and then I went out for an "old man shuffle." That is what Brett Freeman called it when he saw me waddling up the Boulevard. We chatted some, he in his truck driving south and me shuffling on the medium. It was nice to talk to him. I did a super slow 5.48 miles bringing me up to over twenty for the week. 

It was dark by the time I got to Plate City. I put on some baggy sweat pants and a thick hoodie. Why all the clothes? Because West Nile is more frightening to me than Covid 19. Is that what they call it? It was push day, so I did

Incline dumbbell bench press

20 X 30

11 X 36

Bench press

15 X 95

12 X 105

10 X 115

Log press

8 X 52

9 X 52

11 X 52

I also did some cable work and face pulls. I love that new machine. Thank you, Jesus.

SB Day Three

I said I was going to do Randy Beetsdown training my whole vacation, and three days in that is what I have done. For Day Three, I hit three workouts for the third day in a row. Not only that, but I put together, mounted, and worked out with a new machine from Titan. More about that later.

First I started (drum roll, what do you think?) with a swim. I went in early. John was supposed to meet me but he was a no show. I could have been sleeping. Instead, I swam

brick
25 back
1,000 22:16
500 10:40
1,100 back 27:10 (new Association of Sports Swimmers world record)
400 small paddles
50 back for time :57 (new Association of Sports Swimmers world record)
250 medium paddles
25
brick kick
200 small paddles 5:02
300 Redneck IM 6:41 (new Association of Sports Swimmers world record)
total: 3,850 yards - 3,518 meters

That was a pretty good practice with three new world records. The the volume, though, was not as high as I would have liked nor was the intensity where it needed to be. But I was up early and I was alone and it was the day after a ten-mile run. The long runs always leave me a little flat in the pool the next day.

Before noon came I was on the road for 4.11 miles. This is one of the advantages of swimming early-- it is easier to get a lot of stuff in because you get some of it done before the world wakes up. They were slow miles, but I was out there working for my road races as well as my swimming. To me, running is in part cross-training for swimming now. That is how I view it and that view helps keep me motivated when I shuffle along at an embarrassingly slow pace.

After lunch, I went to Plate City to work on the cable machine and to work out. I finished putting the machine together (it came in yesterday), got in mounted, and used it some. Despite Wednesday being leg day, I did some cable work for my rear delts and some facepulls. I am going to love this piece of equipment, and it should be great for my shoulder health. I work my rotator cuffs a lot, but the rear delts are difficult to target and thus get skipped. Plus, they play a major role in keeping the shoulders balanced and stabilized. All the pressing (both horizontal and vertical), plus the swimming overdevelop the muscles on the front side of the chest and the shoulders. This pulls the shoulder joint out of alignment and leads to impingement, and other maladies. A swimmer with unhappy shoulders is a dangerous person. I was once dangerous for eighteen months straight. Eighteen months straight!

So there you have it. Another day of Beetsdown training, more fun, more fitness. Not only that, but another advancement in Plate City Gym. Thank you, Jesus.