Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

90% of 1RM and 75% for the backoff set.

Squat: 227 1-1-1-1-1. 184-5 for a backoff set.

Music: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Up Around the Bend, Darth Vader March, Kashmir, Rock You Like a Hurricane, Ring of Fire, Maniac, Another One Bites the Dust, Haul Away Joe, Whip It, I Will Survive, Everybody's Working for the Weekend, Who Do You Love.

Average HR of 128 bpm @ 85% of MHR for 51 minutes.

My hips and knees were very tight this morning and I don't know if I made depth more than once or twice. Next time more warming up.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Back teaching Jujitsu after an overblown weather alert last week had me cancel. Ken and Gita showed and she continues to pick up the techniques quite well. Ken and I alternated teaching her, and to be fair to Ken I had them alternated techniques on each other. Gita learning the basics as white belt and Ken getting a chance to practice and refine his purple belt 1st degree techniques.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Continuing to change things up a wee bit for conditioning. My plan was an easy day after waking up to some really sore lower body again from squats. It turned out to be more intense than intended. Rounds of Jacob's Ladder, speed bag, weighted crunches, medicine ball side throw, heavy bag, elliptical.

Average HR of 154 bpm @ 103% of MHR for 30 minutes.

[Mark E. Hurling]

90% of 1RM and 75% for the backoff set.

Bench Press: 206 1-1-1-1-1. 170-5 for a backoff set.

Dumbbell Press: 30-35-40, sets of 5.

Hammer Row: 320 1-1-1-1-1. 270-5 for a backoff set.

Music: Ride of the Valkyries, When the Bullet Hits the Bone, Locomotive Breath, Start Me Up, San Quentin Blues, Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher, Tuff Enuff, Round and Round, My Sharona, 16 Tons, Slow Ride, It's a Long Way to the Top of Rock and Roll, Here I Go Again.

Average HR of 127 bpm @ 85% of MHR for 56 minutes.

Age and arthritis seems to have snuck up on me all at once. Actually, I consider myself lucky it didn't hit sooner and worse. I've been on notice since my 40's that x-rays showed growing signs of it in my joints. My lateral collateral ligaments in my knees have turned standing up from sitting and sitting down into a test of fortitude. Not to mention my right leg feeling a touch unstable when walking.

Then my left hip is acting up again. I went to a nearby clinic for an x-ray and was out again in 15 minutes. Like an Indy pit crew there at Southern Illinois Health. Results showed no degeneration of the joint but DID show moderate arthritis. Sigh.

The final straw was a check of IPL World records showing some dang rooskie broke the bench press record with a lift of 242 lbs. With any luck, I thought I might get 230-235 in that lift this coming November, but I don't know that I can hit 242. I guess I'll have to be content with the national record in the bench press and world record in the deadlift I have. For now anyway.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Feeling low, beat up, and whacked out today. It could be I have dug myself into a deep hole of overtraining, and it may be time to put down the shovel for a bit. The LCLs are cooling off a little, but still let me know who's in charge whenever I bend my knee(s) under even a load at bodyweight. As in stepping up on something, or sitting down on something, or getting up from sitting on something. The real fear inducing get ups are when I get out of bed. Sometimes it feels like the knee is gonna cave.

So I ordered some knee sleeves yesterday. Inzer wasn't my first or even my 3rd choice, but apparently the supply chain has affected knee sleeve availability too. I have resisted these things out of pride in lifting raw. It's no deep secret that they add some weight to your squat and I wasn't going to resort to that unless my knees started demanding sleeves. Well, now they are and it's either quit doing squats or sleeves. It's not out of the realm of possibility that even sleeves won't help, but I'll wait and see.

The fatigue has clubbed me over the head too. It could be I have been training at 90% too much and was too close or past the edge of my envelope. Maybe some respite from lifting is the answer along with a reduced and greater variability with intensity. A 5-3-1 routing just might be in order, I'll think it over a bit.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Trying to take it "easier" by not lifting for a week or so. Today was some rounds of SciFit, speed bag, rower, elliptical, and crunches.

Average HR of 135 bpm @ 90% of MHR for 30 minutes. Obviously this was a little more intense than I intended, so I need to back off a little more. Maybe just walking, maybe doing nothing.

Reading through PPST for any advice on overtraining over the weekend indicated I was right there. Pages 18-20 have it plain as day, fatigue, sleep disruptions, chronic pain, depression, etc. Got all those listed without a doubt. I worked up a 5-3-1 spreadsheet for my next lifting program.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Jujitsu was something of a trial to get through tonight. What with the joint creaks and fatigue. But I have an obligation (giri) to my students. Ken showed but Gita was elsewhere. We worked on the four gooseneck wristlock techniques, over half a dozen finger bars with take controls and takedowns, a neck and head pin to the ground, an arm bar and body hammer lock on ground control, a reverse arm bar and takedown, and an arm over arm bar.

Recovering and getting ready for bed and Special Olympics Spring Games tomorrow.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Special Olympics Spring Games began at 0500 for DB and I when the alarm went off. We had double duty as part of the planning committee for this as well as coaching for Team Ohana.

After getting to the Herrin track as a glorious sunrise began to spread shadows from the treetops across from the field, I got my yellow vest for parking control and DB got her ducks in a row (so to speak) for souvenir sales. Once Team Ohana began to arrive I got relieved and joined the athletes and other coaches. We circled up for our team warmups and got amped up for the events.

I coached the shotputters; first the women, Lena and Leslie, and then the men, Jacob, Jereth, and Johnnie. They all medaled from 1st through 3rd in their divisions with some really great throws. One of the things I've found that relaxes and motivates the people I have taught in Jujitsu and coached in Special Olympics is humor. Sometimes making fun of myself, sometimes a little mild teasing of the athletes, and sometimes some plain silly remarks that just crack people up. You want a fire and brimstone coach? I ain't that guy. Not only did it make the athletes grin, the judges and volunteers measuring even chuckled. A little.

One of the judges said she had never done this before with the shot put, so I asked if she wanted some tips on what to look for. She did, so I explained what foot fouls were and what out of bounds throws were. I figgered I'd better explain to the high school students measuring the throws were supposed to look for at the first point of impact of the shot.

DB and I had a great time. But a great time at our age comes with a price tag of tired and sore. She's napping as I post this, and I am sore from the lumbars to the soles of my feet. But happy for the athletes who get to test themselves and show what they can do against all odds and expectations.

[Mark E. Hurling]

The R&R goes on for one more week. The inflammation plaguing my knees and ligaments is diminishing little by little and I am confident next Monday will see me fully recovered.

BUT:

Special Olympics remains, and training the athletes for the upcoming Summer Games and powerlifting continues. This was the weeks for sets of 5, and the lifters did a rep or so better on the last top set. They were used to lower reps so 5's have been challenging for them to adapt to, but they are rising to it and getting there with their grit and determination to get better and stronger.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Ken and Gita made it tonight for Jujitsu. I alternated white belt and purple belt 1st degree techniques teaching them. Gita continues to learn the basics quickly. The fixing and polishing of her application of the techniques will likely go quickly as well. Ken's work on his techniques is in the polishing stages and it never ceases to surprise me how this form of Jujitsu is a matter of fixing and adjusting the small movements that make the final application so effective. An arm bar can be nothing or agonizing in a matter of changing the fulcrum point by very small degrees. Then all the other person wants to do is tap out or grit out mate(!), or stop in Japanese.