The Right Thing to Do…and other topics

Workout notes
Weights: I took is slowly (some minor rest between sets)
This is how I usually do my weight workouts, though I took a bit “off today”

Circuit one: rotator cuff (pulley; 4 exercises), Rows (Hammer Machine), curls (pulley), lat pull downs:
the rows: 10 x 180, 8 x 230 8 x 230
curls: 10 x 42, 10 x 47.5, 10 x 47.5
pull downs: 10 x 140, 7 x 160, 7 x 160

Circuit two: dumbbell rotator cuff dumbbell, bench press, sit ups:
Bench: 10 x 135, 4 x 170, 4 x 170 (Olympic bar); these felt easier than normal
sit ups: 20 at the highest incline; made myself touch my head with my hands for the whole movement
this gave me 3 sets of sit ups and three sets of three different rotator cuff exercises.

Circuit three: pull ups, sit ups
pull ups: 7, 7 (knuckles facing me), 6, 6 (shoulder friendly grip; palms of the hands facing each other and the knuckles facing out.
sit ups (4 sets of 20)

Circuit four: incline bench press, sit ups:
Incline bench (Olympic bar) 7 x 135, 7 x 135
sit ups in between; that gave me one more set of sit ups.

Circuit Five: stretches, dumbbell bench press:
2 sets of stretches on the stretching machine (the one you sit on),
2 sets of 15 x 40 lb. dumbbell presses. On each rep I extended fully; I went deep enough for my elbows to be parallel with my shoulders; no deeper. I sat on a bench with a low back support.

I always do my weights in circuits like this though I sometimes mix in lower body exercises instead of so many sets of sit ups.

Running:
Here is where I lost my mind just a bit. I decided to do my run on the university track; it was just me and a few young women (different ones came off and on the track during my work out). One was doing mile repeats (8′ish pace) and one was running at about a 7:30 pace; a few were going much slower than that.

My run:
First .5 miles (800 m) : 5:02; just fine. Felt better. Mile 1: 9:34. Ok…just a light strain. Mile 2: 8:54…breathing harder but…feeling ok…sort of…Mile 3 8:36, 1:02 for the last 200 meters for 28:08 for 5K. The time for my final two miles was 17:32.

When I finished my immediate reaction was “oh *hit…what did I do?” I had a minor headache (sinus area) and was coughing all over the place. I flopped down on the mats for about a minute. Gradually I felt better and the cough went away after about an hour. This was fine for a tempo effort…WHEN I AM HEALTHY but I only got my antibiotics a couple of days ago. I’ve got to keep my ego in check, especially when I am running with younger people.

I feel fine now.

Then, after tending to my wife (who got the same crud I had) I became very virtuous. I ate some oatmeal:

Note: Wilford Brimley was born in 1934 and made this commercial in 1988. This means that he was between 53 and 54 years old when he made this. I am 52. I look like THIS???? (yes, I know; he is far wealthier and more successful in his profession than I am in mine…but do I look like THIS????) No wonder this little 5K just about killed me….

Speaking of “doing the right thing”: Joe Paterno died. So out came “what is his legacy” columns.

Frankly, it was mixed, IMHO.
One one hand, he was a successful coach who coached many undefeated teams, national champions, etc. He also encouraged and made it possible for his players to get their degrees and he commanded the respect of many of his former players. He also gave generously to others and to his school.

On the other hand, when things got tough, he appeared to act in a way that preserved his reputation and legacy instead of doing the right thing for the victims (turning that coach into the police…right away)

That is unforgivable, even with all of the good that he did.

Advertisement