More Upgrades

Here of late, I have been making almost weekly upgrades to Plate City. This short video tell the story of the latest, the addition of a new weight tree. A few weeks back, I started an inventory of the gym. I didn't finish and the stock has increased since then At the time, Plate City boasted somewhere around 1.800 pounds of one inch plates, and 1,600 of Olympic Plates. That is plates, not dumbbells, bars, or welded barbells. Both collections have grown since then and it looks like tomorrow I will be picking up some more plates.

I need to to a video of the full gym and a total inventory. That is coming.

3/4 - 3/10

The week before Spring Break was my biggest training cycle of the year thus far. It started with a three workout day Monday. I ran 2.35 miles, lifted weights, and swam 3,290 meters.

Tuesday I lifted weights and swam 3,930 meters.

Wednesday was another three workout day beginning with a 2.45 mile run, followed by a weight session at Plate City, then concluding with a 4,204 meter swim.

Thursday the fun continued with more weights and swimming. In the pool, I hit 3,381 meters.

Friday is endurance day and I started it off with my longest run of the year at 2.63 miles. I hope to get back to real long runs one day but for right now, that is my record run for 2019. In the pool, I felt worn out, but I lasted for 7,850 yards of straight swimming. I wanted to lift but ran out of time.

Saturday I made it back to the pool for 2,742 meter. I also met someone there, Kyle Thornhill. He seems like a nice man, and of course, he knows our son, Forrest. Everybody knows Forrest. I wanted to lift, but the rain caught me before I had a chance so I ended up with only four lifting sessions. For the week, I

ran 7.43 miles (a record for the year),
swam 24,383 meters (a record for the year), 
cycled three minutes on the stationary bicycle, and 
lifted four times.

That is a pretty solid week, but I need better before Chicot VIII. Ahead of Chicot, however, is the Senior Olympics. I am very much looking forward to that. Thank you, Jesus, for good health and inspiring goals. Life is good.

Endurance Day

That's what Fridays have become, my endurance days. Still facing vehicle problems, my plan was for Penny to go to work in mine while I drank coffee, then boosted hers, drove it to the shop, and then ran home. But the best laid plans of mice and men . . . I forgot how that saying ends. Well, the truck would not boost so I called the mechanic to come get it. He sent a wrecker. Lovely, now I get to add that to my bill. 

So I drank coffee, hung out with CC, and then headed out for a shuffle. For the first time this year, I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts for my run. This time, instead of running around the neighborhood like I've been doing, I headed for the Boulevard, then north, over the bridge and out Money Road. When I say "out Money Road," I mean I went out two telephone poles and then turned around. A few years back I may have run all the way to Money and home again. I hope to get that back. But Friday I shuffled only 2.63 miles. That is my longest run of the year. For now, that is a long run, an endurance workout. 

Penny came home for lunch then I took her back to work so I could have the truck for the afternoon. I picked up some weights I found advertised on Facebook Market Place (I can't say no), paid my utility bill, and went to the pool. What kind of sets did I do? If you read this blog, you know that on Friday I usually do a straight swim, endurance simplified.

There were babies in the water when I arrived at the pool, mothers on the deck, and a swim teacher in the water, but I got in and started swimming at 1:30 pm. When I finished two hours and twenty-seven minutes later, the pool was mine, everyone had gone. I was alone, tired, and satisfied. I make 7,850 yards, a little disappointing because my pace was so slow (1:52) but I had lifted four days in a row and swum four days in a row before Friday. When I started, my shoulders felt stiff and my muscles felt tired. For most of those two plus hours I wondered where I would tap out. But I didn't tap but just kept swimming one stroke at a time. The long swim put me over 21,000 meters for the week. Pretty good if I only sleep for the rest of the weekend.

I also did some stuff to Plate City. I'll shoot a short video and post it here.

Thank you, Jesus, for a nice run and swim. Help me, Lord, to get that truck fixed.

Double Trouble

Spring Break started with trouble. I'll tell you about that later, first the training.

I hit Plate City after first leaving work and going to Home Depot to pick up a few blocks and some Quikrete. I have been working on setting another post at Plate City for I don't know how long. Rain and lack of a vehicle has slowed my progress. I had a vehicle Thursday, after getting Penny's truck out of the shop Wednesday, and there was no rain in the forecast. The new post will hold plates for the squat station. 

Once home, I unloaded the supplies, changed clothes, and hit the back yard with an eagerness I rarely feel. The dogs were happy and so was I. I mixed the Quikrete, set the post, and yearned for it to be dry so I could get the squat plates off the ground. Then I lifted: bench presses, squats, and rotator cuff work. 

At 5:00, I had to go to Penny's work to boost her truck off. Yeah, after spending $637 on that thing, I had to jump her off. At home, the truck would not recrank and as I type the key is stuck in the ignition. No, it is not the alternator nor the battery. Trust me, I know this. Something supernatural or electrical, or some demon spirit is inhabiting this vehicle. Now I need to boost it, take it to the shop, and ambulate home. 

Sigh.

Back to the training. I went to the pool about 6:00 pm. I swam

2,400
5 X 100 @ 1:54
500 small paddles
4 X 50 @ 1:06
100 easy
total: 3,700 yards = 3,381 meters.

I have a pretty good week going. So far I have lifted four times, run twice, and swum four times. I hope to get two or three more workouts done today. If only that truck would get fixed, I would be as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.

Praise the Lord anyway.

Another Big Three

Wednesdays are turning into a golden day for me. I got in another three-workout day and it was real, it was good, and it was real good. My workouts started with Plate City after school. I had Penny's truck in the shop so I didn't know if to run there first or lift. When I called and they didn't answer, that made the decision for me. I worked shoulders, traps, biceps, and low back with dead lifts. I am still being very cautious on the dead lift. A few years age, I hurt my lower back after doing a long buildup and a good warm up. It turned out to only be a muscle pull, but that fright has not left me. I pulled 140 pounds for two reps. Part of me wants to shoot it on up, but when I get hurt, I have a long memory.

The shop called while I was lifting and said the truck was ready so I left Plate City shuffling in a circuitous route to Spain's Auto. I wanted to get at least 2.4 miles. I zigged and zagged and wound up there with 2.45 slow, old-man miles. That was workout number two.

What do you think workout three was? No brainer, huh? I started with 2,300 straight and then started some 150s at cruise speed. Right now, cruise speed is what I call easy speed, the fastest I can swim and still remain mostly comfortable. That equals for me about a 1:35 per 100 yard pace. At 1:30 I am hurting. At 1:35 I am pushing a little but in no pain. I did 12 150s at that pace before cooling down with 600 while wearing the small paddles. So I did what I wanted: I had a relatively easy swim with a bit of quality and some volume as well. Monday was about speed. Tuesday was stamina day. Wednesday was easy but voluminous with 4,650 yards. Tonight will be more speed. Friday will be pure endurance. Saturday will be make-it-up-as-I-go day. I'll kick, do other strokes, and bust it hard IF and only IF I feel like it.

Thank you, Jesus, for good health and a good workout day. Let me find that sweetness again this afternoon and night.

Tough Tuesday

Tuesday was another good day of training, not a three-peat, but a strong double. I hit Plate City alone in the early afternoon after first eating the largest hamburger in North America. Well, the largest one in Sunflower County at least. We had an English Department meeting on the Moorhead campus, a lunch meeting. A menu from a local eatery had been emailed to us all since we were meeting at lunch, giving us the opportunity to place an order. I ordered something called the Q Super Burger.

Trust me, the picture does not do it justice. Here is another shot of it after I had been biting on it some.

Anyway, I got it down and my fellow teachers were so amazed that they gave me a medal and certificate for my achievement.

So I hit Plate City with vigor to work some off those calories. I did five sets of lat pull downs, five sets of T-bar rowing, a bunch of rotator cuff stuff, some pullups, and four sets of Swim Pull. Then I took nutrition and rested.

I hit the pool a little after 6:00 and the babies were still there along with a swimmer. I swam

2,000 36:30

10 X 200 as

  1 - cruise 3:12

  2 - 1st 50 fast 3:15

  3 - 2nd 50 3:15

  4 - 3rd 50 3:18 

  5 - 4th 50 3:14

  6 - 1st and last 25 3:14

  7 - middle 50 3:15

  8 - 1st 75 3:12

  9 - every other 25 3:14

  10 - cruise 3:21

300 small paddles

200 kick with fins

total: 4,300 yards = 3,930

After that, I hung out with CC and watched TV. Life is good. So is God. Thank you, Lord.

Three-peat

I did it again, three workouts in one day. The first started early in the morning while the sun was still resting. As usual, I felt sluggish and old mannish as I shuffled along in the dark. For the last two Monday mornings of February, the temperature had been 36 degrees each morning. I thought at that time that from now on the morning lows would rise and I would not see sub 40 again. Wrong. I'm good at being wrong. It was 31 for the first Monday morning of March, a full four degrees higher than predicted. I am not a cold weather man, but at least from now on . . . I don't dare say it or I will most likely see 20s next week. I did 2.35 miles to set the stage for my three-peat day.

Workout two was hard to get in because we had an English Department meeting at the Moorhead campus. That meant I had to leave Greenwood, drive to Moorhead and then try to get home in time to slam out number two and rest up for number three At Plate City, I benched

20 X 45
8 X 95
8 X 105
7 X 115
5 X 140
3 X 145
2 X 150

On the decline bench I pressed

4 X 140
4 X 140

And then on the incline it was

10 X 96
8 X 100

I also did squats and 40 X 22.5 on the triceps push down. 

I then had to pick Penny up from work because her truck is in the shop. Also I had to take her to pick up some medication. Then at home I took a nap and headed to the pool for number three. Penny suggested I swim at night since there have been some changes at Plate City and in the daytime I don't feel comfortable doing sprints with the babies in the water. At the pool, I swam

650
650
4 X 50 @ :55
300 small paddles
5 X 50 @ :59
350 small paddles
6 X 50 @ 1:03
400 small paddles
6 X 50 @ 1:09
200 small paddles
total: 3,600 yards = 3,290 meters.

That is 21 50s which is approaching what I need to be doing to get faster. My paces, however, were not that good. I wasn't sucking a lot of air like I used to after each one, but I didn't seem to have that little extra umph to bust them out really fast. Maybe it is because I lifted first. I always liked to swim before lifting.

All in all, it was a good day, a tiring one, but a full and productive one that left me ready for bed. Thank you, Jesus.