A Tale Told by an Idiot

[EricK]

Evening run on the treadmill:
30:00, 421 cal, 3.21 mi

[EricK]

If you were thinking, "Man, Eric K is really slacking this week," you wouldn't be wrong...

I've been practicing guitar somewhat loosely but pretty much have Times Like These down (apart from the fact that my lyrics seem offensively off key), and finally had a breakthrough with Sitting On the Dock of the Bay (although I'm still struggling with getting the lyrics of the bridge in rhythm).

I've decided to pivot my physical training a bit because I think I've reached a point where continuing to push my lifting as hard as I have been (especially lower body lifts) while restricting my diet and running more will just get me hurt or stalled. I was planning to make that change this week, but there's a lot going on at work right now.

The former chief engineer retired at the beginning of the year and I applied to the job when it opened up. He had almost 40 years with the company so I have no delusions that I am a functional equivalent but I do believe I'm among a short list of best candidates and it's the next logical step for me professionally.

Apparently the hiring manager felt like the candidates (which included 4 other people besides me) weren't quite qualified, because he withdrew the job listing. Having been on the other side of that, I know that's what you do when you're not satisfied with the applicants you have. I scheduled a meeting with him and basically confirmed that suspicion. He "highly recommend[ed]" that I apply again when they reopen it in about 6 months.

Initially, I was skeptical that 6 months would make a meaningful difference and he was just being polite (or political), but it turns out to coincide with some exciting opportunities that I have direct influence over in that time frame. So, either it's an opportunity for me to demonstrate that and get a more serious look later this year or I'm just gonna end up like all those tropes in movies where the hardworking sucker thinks his great accomplishments will land him that partnership only to find out that the boss is just gonna double his own salary and give himself an award for leading such a productive team. Either way, I think I'll enjoy taking the opportunity I have, which is certainly important, too.

My wife also had a sudden professional opportunity. She's been a classroom teacher for 20 years and, while she still derives a lot of satisfaction from it, she's grown tired of a lot of baggage that comes with managing the classroom and she wants to expand on her specialty, which is teaching reading. The county just opened a position for reading specialist and she jumped at it. They decided to offer her the job at her interview and now this will be her last year as a classroom teacher. We celebrated last night with good Mexican food, walked to the playground so the boys could play and I slept in late this morning. Life is good.

[DCR]

Life is good.

Sounds like it. Happy for you. Interested in where you take your training.

[EricK]

Mon, 3/18/24

204

Treadmill:
35:00, 454 cal, 3.5 mi

Life is good.

Sounds like it. Happy for you. Interested in where you take your training.

It's not anything exciting; I just need to prioritize running and be more consistent with my diet. As a means to prioritize running, if I don't have enough time for a full session, I'll just run (like today), on the days I do lift, I'll just do an upper/lower split style.

[cole]

Life is good.

glad to see you are enjoying the good times. things tend to fall into place when you work hard towards a thing and have some patience for it

[EricK]

Couldn't resist. Snuck in a lunch lift session.

Bench / chin:
W/u - 135 x 15 / BW x 15, 185 x 8 / BW x 12, 225 x 5 / BW x 12
S - 255 (belt) x 3 / BW x 12, 275 (belt) x 2 / BW x 12
H - [ 235 x 8 / BW x 8 ] x 3

LTE / BO Fly:
[ 87 x 12 / 20 (ea.) x 12 ] x 3

My triceps felt like rocks when I was done. I felt like one of those dudes who inject synthol into their arms, ha.

Life is good.

glad to see you are enjoying the good times. things tend to fall into place when you work hard towards a thing and have some patience for it

Thanks, man. I've had some low points over the past couple years,;borderline depression and anxiety, possibly stress induced. I was on the backend of a very low point when I came back to the forum. I feel like getting back into exercise and having some good social interactions here has helped me to step back and appreciate the good things a little more.

[mgil]

Hugs bro

[DCR]

My triceps felt like rocks when I was done. I felt like one of those dudes who inject synthol into their arms, ha.

This is my new training goal.

[EricK]

Tue, 3/19/24

200.9

Guitar:
1:00
-Nothing Else Matters; I'm gonna go for a run at this song. It's considerably more complex than the other ones I've learned to play but today's attempt was more promising than I expected and most of the guitar complexity happens with no lyrics. I think I can get it, but there's not a good tutorial video for it (playing it as a solo thing), so I'll have to study other solo performers and put pieces of various tutorials together.

Squat:
W/u - 135 x 8, 225 x 5, 275 x 5
S - 315 x 5 x 3

Warnups were unpleasant. I didn't feel weak, but my left IT-band seemed angry about something. Work sets also didn't feel too heavy but some of the later reps weren't as clean as I'd like.

Treadmill:
32:00, 424 cal, 3.29 mi

I might be able to superset squat with knee to elbow or something. It feels weird only doing one thing.

Hugs bro

My triceps felt like rocks when I was done. I felt like one of those dudes who inject synthol into their arms, ha.

This is my new training goal.

Would recommend. It's basically like the original full quote that inspired your log title.

[alek]

Glad to hear the good news about your wife's job, and good luck with yours. I hope your new training plan is a great success!

[EricK]

Wed, 3/20/24

199.5

Guitar:
2:00
-Nothing Else Matters; working on the instrumental bridge section. Really fun to play. I figure I'll work on the various parts then work on stitching them together and try to play along to the video I'm trying to emulate.

Oh yeah, lifting:

Press / BB row:
135 x [ 8, 12 ]
155 x [ 5, 12 ] x 5

Chin / Dip:
BW x [ 12, 20 ], [ 12, 15 ], [ 10, 12 ] x 2

Glad to hear the good news about your wife's job, and good luck with yours. I hope your new training plan is a great success!

Thanks! Glad you got your elbow figured out. Now take care of your thumb!

[EricK]

Thu, 3/21/24

200.5 (sad panda...)

Guitar:
2:00+ (?) - today was a meeting marathon; virtual meetings where I had almost no speaking part and almost as little interest. When one calls in from home and puts it on mute one can get a lot of guitar practice in...
-Nothing Else Matters; really enjoying learning this one. Continued working on the instrumental bridge section, specifically practicing a slap/flick strum. I don't know the "official" name but it's a move with the strumming hand that does 2 things at once: slapping the base string with the thumb to make a percussive sound and flicking one or more of the higher strings without muting them so they ring out. Seems to be going well and it's really fun.

Deadlift:
W/u - 225 x 8, 315 x 5 (DOH, no belt)
S - 405 x 1, 345 x 5 x 2

Felt much better than last time.

RDL:
285 x 8 x 3 (DOH first set, straps after that)

Treadmill:
45:00, 610 cal, 4.71 mi

It's a little intimidating to think how much further 16 miles is...ha. I don't expect to run at that pace though... The first leg is all up hill, then down the other side followed by several miles of flat. I still think it will be a good time.

[platypus]

Treadmill:
45:00, 610 cal, 4.71 mi

It's a little intimidating to think how much further 16 miles is...ha. I don't expect to run at that pace though... The first leg is all up hill, then down the other side followed by several miles of flat. I still think it will be a good time.

You and I may have very different understandings of what constitutes a good time, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

I'm glad to hear things are going well for you!

[EricK]

Treadmill:
45:00, 610 cal, 4.71 mi

It's a little intimidating to think how much further 16 miles is...ha. I don't expect to run at that pace though... The first leg is all up hill, then down the other side followed by several miles of flat. I still think it will be a good time.

You and I may have very different understandings of what constitutes a good time, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

I'm glad to hear things are going well for you!

Thanks! The scenery is quite nice around that part of the trail and I'm not going to kill myself trying to complete it quickly (and I'm not too proud to walk if it gets tough). There was a time when 16 miles wouldn't have been all that special, but that was a different time...ha. I still think I'll be fine, though.

[EricK]

Fri, 3/22/24

197.9 (#falseflag, #fakenews, #psyop)

Guitar:
1:30
-Nothing Else Matters
-Came across the live performance of Crawling by Chester from Linkin Park where he's only accompanied by a simple piano melody and fell in love with it. Turns out it's really simple to learn and the lyrics are very well aligned with the beat. I just have to practice the chord progressions and come up with a good way to strum or flat pick it.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 10, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - [ 275 x 8 / BW x 12 ] x 3

Bench / chin: 135 x 20 / BW x 15

Bench / curl:
H - [ 185 x 12 / 87 x 12 ] x 3, 205 x 12 / 87 x 15

I originally wanted to do 205 for 12s, but 185 felt like 12s would be hard even at that weight. I think it was probably because of the (fatigued) max set of chinups right before. Obviously I realize that using a weight that's too light will make all my gainzzZz fall off and I might go blind. Ce la vie.

Treadmill:
35:00, 472, 3.64 mi

[DCR]

-Nothing Else Matters

How does a real guitarist such as yourself pick up a song? I learned this from tablature years and years ago, which I understand to be cheating.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 10, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - [ 275 x 8 / BW x 12 ] x 3

Bench / chin: 135 x 20 / BW x 15

Bench / curl:
H - [ 185 x 12 / 87 x 12 ] x 3, 205 x 12 / 87 x 15

I originally wanted to do 205 for 12s, but 185 felt like 12s would be hard even at that weight. I think it was probably because of the (fatigued) max set of chinups right before. Obviously I realize that using a weight that's too light will make all my gainzzZz fall off and I might go blind. Ce la vie.

Thoughts and prayers.

[EricK]

-Nothing Else Matters

How does a real guitarist such as yourself pick up a song? I learned this from tablature years and years ago, which I understand to be cheating.

Haha, if that's cheating then I'm Bernie Madoff. I live on tutorial videos that not only tell you the chords but break down the songs for convenient learning. Occasionally I can watch someone playing a song and recognize the chords, and I can pick up the gist of a song much quicker than when I started but I'm still no musician.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 10, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - [ 275 x 8 / BW x 12 ] x 3

Bench / chin: 135 x 20 / BW x 15

Bench / curl:
H - [ 185 x 12 / 87 x 12 ] x 3, 205 x 12 / 87 x 15

I originally wanted to do 205 for 12s, but 185 felt like 12s would be hard even at that weight. I think it was probably because of the (fatigued) max set of chinups right before. Obviously I realize that using a weight that's too light will make all my gainzzZz fall off and I might go blind. Ce la vie.

Thoughts and prayers.

Namaste.

[EricK]

Mon, 3/25/24

201.1 (RIP, #goodluckwithyourtraining)

Bench / chin:
W/u - 135 x 15 / BW x 10, 185 x 12 / BW x 12, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
S (belt) - 265 x 2 / BW x 12, 295 x 1 / BW x 12
H (belt) - [ 245 x 8 / BW x 12 ] x 2, 225 x 8 / BW x 8, 225 x 6 / BW x 8

LTE / BO Flye:
[ 87 x 12 / 20 (ea.) x 12 ] x 3

Gonna go up to 22.5 on BOF.

Treadmill:
45:00, 610 cal, 4.62 mi

Not sure how I burned the same calories but didn't run as far in the same time as Thursday. Probably a recording error...

[EricK]

Tue, 3/26/24

199.5

Squat:
W/u - 135 x 10, 225 x 8, 275 x 5
S - 315 x 5 x 2, 295 x 5 x 2

Treadmill:
33:00, 446 cal, 3.43 mi

[EricK]

Wed, 3/27/24

200.4

Press / BB row:
135 x [ 8, 12 ], 145 x [ 8, 12 ] x 2, [ 6, 12 ], [ 4, 12 ]

Chin / dip:
BW x [ 12, 15 ], +25 x [ 5, 12 ] x 3, BW x [ 15, 15 ]

Curl:
87 x 12 x 4

Devil's Tricycle:
W/u - 2 min
0:20 / 1:40 x 6
2:40 cool down
15 min, 3.26 mi, 119 cal