A Series of Notable Accomplishments

The other evening I had a good chuckle at myself after reviewing the week in my productivity journal and comparing it to the week prior when I was smack dab in the middle of my slump. A quick overview: there are 13 weekly planning pages with 13 weekly review pages on the opposite side; one of the sections for the review asks you to review your goals and assess your progress, then explain how you'll improve next week.

Yesterday evening, Thursday, I was reviewing this week and answering that prompt. I'll describe more in detail below, but essentially, my main focus for the week was working out. That was it. Even if I had other priorities laid out on specific days as well, the # 1 priority was exercising, which was unintentional. I'd go on walks or jogs the same day I had a Built With Science workout planned. If I had plans in the afternoon to chat with my sister, then I'd work out in the morning.

Normally I don't backtrack to previous weeks at all while filling out those pages, but I decided to take a peek at my slump week just to see what I'd written. "It's almost always around this time I really lose steam on accomplishing my goals. Maybe I should try taking a week to switch gears completely & let my mind rest..."

I'd...honestly forgotten I'd written that. Didn't even cross my mind throughout the week. But hey! Mission accomplished! On accident. The result? Well, let's get into that.

Fitness

• Tuesday: Straightforward day for fitness

  • Morning: Couch to 5k Week 2 Day 2 + long walk to reach 10k+ steps.

  • Afternoon: Built With Science Lower Body 2 workout.

• Wednesday:

  • Morning: Long walk to reach 10k+ step goal & BWS Upper Body 1 workout

• Thursday: Here's where it gets fun

  • Morning: C25K Week 2 Day 3 + 10k+ steps

    • I was not feeling it that morning; it was humid outside despite the cooler temps, and I just...ugh. But I still went because the next few days the temps are going to be abysmal

    • Days 1, 2, & 3 shared mostly the same times with a .01 marginal difference in jogging pace between 2 & 3

• Afternoon: Built With Science

  • I'm subscribed to the Built With Science e-mailing list. The e-mail I received yesterday linked to an article detailing how to burn more calories while lifting. Just reasoning through it, it makes sense that resistance training (aka: lifting weights) + cardio + diet yields the best results, but it was the suggestion to use lighter weights and aim for between 15-30 reps per exercise that piqued my interest.

  • So, I decided to give it a try. After having jogged that day. And it was a Lower Body 1 day. Oh, buddy.

  • My legs were jelly afterward, and that extends to today as well.

  • However! What I really enjoy about this larger goal range is that I feel I have more room to push myself to my limits. I really want to reach that 30, but even with a decrease in plate size, that just might not be feasible. I might reach 20 reps max by really pushing myself, at which point I can see how far away the upper margin is and that it'll take at least one if not more tries. On the flip side, when doing Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts on normal days, the set might call for 8-10 reps max, which is too narrow of a margin for me personally to determine if I'm really pushing myself appropriately or borderline about to injure myself because of weight increases. I'm not that advanced of a lifter yet, so the wider margin has allowed me to gauge my limits more accurately.

  • To put it in perspective, we'll compare a normal Lower Body 1 day to this new method:

Normal Reached max reps for all	Lower Weight, Higher Reps 15-30 reps
Bulgarian Split Squat: 2.5 lb plates Set 1: 10, difficult Set 2: 10, difficult Set 3: 10, difficult	Bulgarian Split Squat: 1.25 lb plates Set 1: 20, difficult Set 2: 18, difficult Set 3: 15, difficult
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift: 5 & 2.5 lb plates Set 1: 10, difficult Set 2: 10, difficult Set 3: 10, difficult	Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift: 5 lb plates Set 1: 30, medium Set 2: 30, difficult Set 3: 30, difficult
Heel Elevated Goblet Squat: 5 & 2.5 lb plates Set 1: 15, difficult Set 2: 15, difficult Set 3: 15, difficult; lower back aching mildly	Heel Elevated Goblet Squat: 5 lb plates Set 1: 30, difficult Set 2: 30, difficult; upper back aching Set 3: 30, difficult
Front Foot Elevated Reverse Lunges:  Purple Weights (~11 lbs) Set 1: 10, difficult Set 2: 10, difficult Set 3: 10, difficult	Front Foot Elevated Reverse Lunges:  Purple Weights (~11 lbs) Set 1: 15, difficult Set 2: 15, difficult Set 3: 15, difficult
Calf Raises: 5 & 2.5 lb plates Set 1: 15, medium Set 2: 15, medium Set 3: 15, medium	Calf Raises: 5 lb plates Set 1: 30, easy Set 2: 30, easy Set 3: 30, easy (I've always been proud of my calves)

• Any of the moves where I reached 30 reps, I feel much more comfortable upping the weight by a plate; for the rest, I have a definitive goal to work toward

• Friday:

  • Early Afternoon: Long walk despite it being miserable outside

  • Mid-Afternoon: BWS Upper 2 following the same guidelines as yesterday

    • Today's workout was also brutal, to the point where even the easiest exercise, one I've never had an issue with because it's less about weight and more about control, I struggled to reach 30 reps all 3 sets.

    • Getting to 15 reps on the banded pull-ups and chin-ups was almost impossible; in fact, I failed the 3rd set for the chin-ups by doing 12 instead of 15. Under the normal routine, 12 would have been at the max range.

    • I can't wait to see how jelly-like my arms feel tomorrow.

    • I think my only complaint about lowering the weight and upping the rep count is that the workouts take longer now, but the trade off is worth it, I think.

Skies Over Aefala

• Until today, the only task I completed for the campaign was transcribe session 93 on Tuesday. I wasn't going to touch anything else until next week, but here we are.

• Today, I decided to give writing Cael's journal for the 26th of Uros a go, a journal I'd been struggling to write for roughly 2 months now. Lo' and behold my good ol' folks, I've finally written it. Now, I just need to edit it.

Year 5, Day 40
Wealday the 26th of Uros: Night

Valen, why is it that those who hold positions of power radiate such intimidating auras? Well, maybe not intimidating so much as demanding respect. I know. I’ve grown accustomed to that quizzical expression when I ask a question that should have an obvious answer. I can even hear the answer: “Well, in most cases, it’s because those who hold such positions have either earned or inherited them, and so they feel entitled to others’ respect.” Indeed, the three Shipton Families, Queen Niyamiya, King Urgron Cragspine, just to name a few, share this peculiar quality where they view themselves or their respective ‘close ones’ above others simply because they’ve accrued significant wealth or act as the decision maker for the realm. It makes me wonder if Matra holds herself in similar regard, too, as the High Court of Shadow’s adviser.

I disagree with that prospect. Just because someone holds command over others and makes the decisions that will impact how people live they do not automatically deserve the respect of outsiders or even their own people. Yes, outsiders should naturally show deference to those extending hospitality, but that is different than treating a King as your own simply because they are the King of a neighboring city or country. In terms of hospitality, I would treat a King the same as a farmstead who is barely scraping by if they opened their door for me to rest there for the evening.

Is King Urgron a good king? That has yet to truly be seen, and I grow more suspicious by the hour.

It’s true he granted us leave to enjoy the hot springs within the castle, but in hindsight, I suspect it may have been to placate us and to test us. If we felt self-important enough, we might have insisted that we meet with him then and there when we first arrived outside his door, causing a ruckus and further cementing the belief that outsiders just cause problems. Yet, I cannot help but wonder what sort of meeting we missed, and I regret not following my instincts before to spy in on the chamber, given what we learned later from both Fifrim—the Gear Master of Themfaruhm—and the miners.

Ha, my time adventuring as Efial has awakened a shrewder side, hasn’t it, Valen? I never was the type to eavesdrop or spy, but that’s because I never had to worry about the stakes until my decision to wrench Maryn out of power. It seems I still hold a general distrust of those who do wield such power, but I’d like to think of that more as a healthy dose of caution.

Right, the reason behind my growing suspicion of the monarchy. From our sources, we learned that the miners have been delving into the heart of the mountain to acquire more resources for trade. The city has been stocking up on supplies to sustain their isolation from the rest of the Ezhiltean continent. As a side note, if the Rifts do worsen and the external world is decimated, then the Dwarves are going to be facing a battle of attrition, and I doubt they last longer than a couple centuries, max. Regardless, their decision to cower isn’t my primary concern, though it sours the supposed respect I am supposed to feel toward King Cragspine. No, the problem is that the miners have been falling victim to some unknown plague, and the King is covering up the fiasco from the public. The surface level reason for the hush is to prevent panic, and that really could be all it is, but Fifrim suspects it goes deeper than that, and I’m inclined to agree with him, not because I fully trust him—I did use Nim to spy on his office after our departure after all—but because the miners’ bearing hinted at a greater nefariousness.

The King wants them quiet, and anyone who speaks out of turn is sent to the quarantine as if they themselves had contracted the illness. They are under oath to keep silent, and if I know anything about Dwarves, they take their oaths seriously. 

Well, fortunately for them, my companions and I are here, and unlike the populace, we needn’t respect an authority that cares more about reputation than lives.

How I’m feeling: Somewhat guilty Father Ambien surrendered the pickaxe to the appraiser so that I could keep these vases. They’re really nice vases, and I was wanting to give them to you as a souvenir, Valen! But I admit that I was childish in my obstinacy. Maybe after we’ve done what we could in the mines, I’ll return to him and request a trade.

Hot springs!!!! Valen, are you jealous? Are you jealous? We visited the King’s personal hot springs. Well, I don’t know if they were his personal ones, but they were within the castle! Gods, I’ve missed bathing, let alone spoiling myself with a long soak in a bathhouse. The ones in Zhilta were nice, but they pale in comparison with these natural springs. It was Nim’s first time experiencing a hot spring for herself, too! We swam around as otters, which I think she enjoyed. Oh, and we noticed Brod’s poorly drawn tattoo of Estelle that he got during his escapade the previous evening. Thankfully, it wasn’t permanent.

Grateful to King Cragspine, all things considered, for extending our stay up to a week as a reward for handling the Ankhrav Queen. I’m not sure of the political situation here in Themfaruhm or the ulterior motives of Fifrim, the King, and the rest of his Council, but for now I can appreciate the small gestures, and, one way or another, we’ll get to the bottom of this illness.

Days since last Zoning: 2

Other Notable Accomplishments:

• Wednesday:

  • Did a lot of research on investing & different brokers thanks to a Wheezy Waiter video I watched.

• Thursday:

  • Oman, what a day. 10 sticky notes slapped onto that page for the day, 4 of which are related to the Fitness section above.

  • I did my meal planning for next week, which is something I usually do on Fridays.

  • Same with reviewing the week & planning the next.

  • I finally decided on what brokerage account I wanted to open.

  • Balanced some budgets.

  • Separated the To-Do section of my board into three sections: Month, Week, Day

    • Working backwards, Day tasks are those I feel I should be able to accomplish either during the current day or within a single day on top of my normal routine

      • For example, today is a normal blog & workout day

      • On top of that, I wrote Cael's journal for the 26th of Uros

    • Week tasks are those I want to accomplish within the next week, and as I finish Day tasks, I'll move Week tasks over to fill the Day slot

      • Ditto for the Month tasks, moving from Month → Week → Day

    • I did this to provide more structure and a soft deadline for tasks, that way they're not all floating together in a disorganized mess, which makes it difficult for me to choose what I should work on next and thus resulting in inevitable procrastination as I complete easier tasks and put off the others that'll require more focus

  • Yesterday was a good day.

    
    

Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:

• On what projects are you currently beating your head against a brick wall, and is it possible for you to shove them off the proverbial desk for the time being, to shift your attention elsewhere for the week?

  • If the answer is yes, what hobby, project, etc... that's been on the back burner could you cultivate this week

• Have you been getting enough sleep or sunlight or water or exercise?

  • If not, what happens if you focus on increasing one of those activities for the next week?

This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Mura