Pain-free again!!!!

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Classic Sprint	Pull ups	Start time
10 Dec	Rruga Vilat Gjermane	35 seconds			16:50

          The careful observer of this blog will notice that rather than a 20-45 minute bit of exercise, as usual, I ran only 35 seconds today. I didn’t actually do a workout because last night, when I tried to lay down to sleep, no matter what position I tried, I could not get comfortable.

swimming with the boy

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	One lap	Start time
4 Dec	Nobis Pool	32 min	52.11	06:30

          Joined the swim team in the pool again today.  It was great to swim beside Maxim. He really swims strongly. I had to push it in order to keep up with him.  I was greatly tired. I say ‘greatly’ because of the super exhilaration that comes from making yourself physically tired. 

Pool, bike, run What does that sound like?

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Dips	Classic Sprint	Pull ups	Start time
30 Nov	Stela Pool Tirana	19 min				17:15
2 Dec	Park	22 min	5	56.67	5, 11	11:55

          On the 30th, I joined Maxim and his teammates at the pool.  The unfortunate part was riding my bike 45 minutes out to the pool and back. It wasn’t physically demanding, but it took a long time, and it was dangerous.  By the time I came back, it was full-on darkness.  The lights on my bike made it less dangerous, but I’m not sure if it is

Cross-fit

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	One lap	Classic Sprint	Pull ups	Start time
20 Nov	Pool in Tirana	28 min	49.32			07:02
21 Nov	Ridge Gym	40 min				10:15
28 Nov	Park	22 min		1:02.23	5,11,5	11:45

          Friday, 20 November, I swam in the morning.  I went to the pool in conjunction with the high school swim team so the coach could have another pair of eyes on the swimmers. I may try to be with them often and be sort of a coach. 

cross-fit kicks my butt

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	One lap	Start time
20 Nov	Pool in Tirana	28 min	49.32	07:02
21 Nov	Ridge Gym	40 min		10:15

          Friday, 20 November, I swam in the morning.  I went to the pool in conjunction with the high school swim team so the coach could have another pair of eyes on the swimmers. I may try to be with them often and be sort of a coach. 

muscle pain, statin trouble

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Classic Sprint	Pull-ups	Start time
17 Nov	Tirana	18 min	1:04.81	5,6,5	09:04

             At the start of the camp on the 5th of November, the thought came into my head that the cholesterol medicine I began to take in July might be the reason I have so much pain.  There is established evidence that the statins may cause severe muscle pain.

Swimming before the kids appear

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Swim Sprint	Start time
6 Nov	Kashirski Rodnichki	25 min	54.08 sec	15:13
7 Nov	Kashirski Rodnichki	23 min	48.50 sec	15:09
8 Nov	Kashirski Rodnichki	22 min	47.72 sec	08:02

          These swims were at a health sanatorium located about 100 km south of Moscow.  The ‘Swim Sprint’ was down and back, the length of the pool.  I’m not sure of the distance, but it seemed to be nearly that same as the Ridge pool and other. 

arthritis

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Classic Sprint	Start time
18 Oct	Park	30 min	1:02.84	08:40
25 Oct	Park	18 min	1:02.81	08:27

          So, I had some meetings with a physical therapist. We talked mainly about my shoulder and she gave me some exercises which I have been doing.  The shoulder is nearly well, but not quite.  During our last meeting, I asked about my legs.  I asked if my pain could be caused by arthritis.  She gave me a very diplomatic answer:  “Well you are a couple days over 20.”

Running machine

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Running machine	Start time
11 Oct	Gym at Ridge	30 min	16 min	08:45

I went into the Ridge today to exercise in the gym.  There are heaps of machines and weights on poles and pulleys.  Oskar and I went over.  He likes to look around at stuff and do little bits of exercise. His favorite is the rowing machine.  He, like all of us, likes to see the numbers accumulate on the computer readout.  It gives you an estimate of the distance, the calories burned, the kilojoules, the fat lost, and the number of bears you have outrun.

Putin Trump

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Pull-ups	Classic sprint	Start time
03 Oct	Park	29 min	3,5,5,5,5	1:07.52	07:11

            As I began the run today, I thought I was feeling better. My legs didn’t have as much soreness in them and I thought I could manipulate those legs more easily. I felt this way all though the early run, right through the time when I stopped to pet a beautiful, friendly little kitten. I was listening to a couple 60 Minutes interviews with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. 

yoga

Date	Place of exercise	Duration	Pull-ups	Classic sprint	Start time
27 Sep	Park	29 min	3,3,5,5,5	1:06.14	8:31

            This was the first prolonged run since August in Russia at I-Camp.            http://runner12345.blogspot.al/2015/09/i-camp-russia.html
  I have been swimming and doing yoga.  I did yoga this morning and then got went for a run. My body was tight. Though I had already stretched during the yoga exercises, my body would not really move quickly.

racing Maxim

Date	Place of exercise	50 m free style	50 m breaststroke	5 laps, free style 250 m	Start time
18 Sep	Ridge Pool	47.74, 47.99	1:14.70		17:45
19 Sep	Ridge Pool	45.57		4:43.44	11:30

These days were certainly the last at the Ridge pool because they are closing it to family swimming today. Adults can still come to do laps, as I understand it. On the 18^th, I took Maxim there after he returned from school.  We raced a few times. 

15 seconds off the Univ steps

Date	Place of exercise	Duration (min)	Classic sprint	Steps at University	Start time
13 Sep	Run thru park		50.77; bike—49.88	1:09	11:30

I need to say something about this run.  Oskar and I were biking around town doing some errands.  We fixed my bike after I ran into the back of a car on Friday (It was a student driver—they are everywhere—and he stopped suddenly, as student drivers will do, but I was in fact, driving too close), we bought a new frying pan so I could make decent pancakes,

slacking? No...yoga

Date	Place of exercise	Duration (min)	½ lap breast stroke, ½ armless backstroke	Classic sprint	Steps at University	Start time
12 Sep	Ridge Pool	33	1 lap; 1:39.25 5 laps; 8:52.16			8:50
13 Sep	Run thru park			50.77; bike—49.88	1:09	8:05
15 Sep	Ridge Pool	18	5 laps; 7:52.86*	Sprint crawl, lap 1: 51; lap 2: 1:38		17:51

So it looks like I’ve been slacking off.  Not really.  I do some kind of exercise every day.  Oftentimes, I do yoga.  I think my problem with my shoulder may stem largely from the fact that I was doing push-ups and pull-ups almost exclusively.  I wasn’t doing enough stretching and limbering.  I wasn’t working my muscles to their extremities.  I was simply building up muscle. 

gasp, and a surprise

Date	Place of exercise	Duration (min)	½ lap breast stroke, ½ armless backstroke	Start time
3 Sep	Ridge Pool	32	5 laps; 10:40.82 5 laps; 10:08.48	7:50
4 Sep	Ridge Pool	35		8:05
5 Sep	Ridge Pool	38	5 laps; 9:48.79 5 laps; 9:37.81	7:51

On the 5^th I had an interesting experience.  As usual when I begin a new bit of timed exercise, I begin with a comfortable pace to set myself a goal that is attainable, and not outlandishly difficult. So the goal for the “½ lap breast stroke, ½ armless backstroke” was set at 2 minutes.  Obviously, 5 laps at this pace would be 10 minutes. 

i-camp, Russia

Date	Place of exercise	Duration (min)	Description	½ lap breast stroke, ½ armless backstroke	Start time
21 Aug	Kashirski Rodnichki, Russia	25	Dancing/aerobics		8:05
22 Aug		28	Run stairs		8:10
23 Aug		38	Run and walking		7:34
25 Aug	Tirana	35	Swimming	9:28  2 laps=3:43.06	7:50

All through the summer, my muscles and joints were tough.  I also learned about a couple people who have stopped their running regimes because of the damage it was, or might be, doing to their bodies.  Therefore, on the last a camp in Russia, I sprinkled in some walking during the run.  The problem is that I cannot really build up enough energy and sweat when I am walking.