Runnin' for Love, Blog Changes and Weekly Recap

Happy Sunday all! What a great day to give some gratitude for all we have in our lives, eh? I am so thankful to be feeling better. Truly, this is the longest stretch I have felt this good. I feel like my body has been replaced by a new, improved version.

Today my hubby wanted to us to run together and let me tell you - it was less than ideal conditions. Some of those were personal for me and the others were the fact that it is 36 degrees and VERY windy and I had REALLY wanted to workout with Amber. But, as I posted yesterday, it was really important for me to get some running in with my DH. It is important to him and ultimately brings us closer. To make it worse, after we had gotten much too far from home to turn around, I realized I left my trail shoes. So all I had to run the 7 miles in mud from all the rain we have gotten lately was my Merrell Primo Chill's (the BEST shoe on the planet - if you don't have yet, you MUST get: Merrell Primo Chill or Chill Encore Shoes) or my black Nike gym shoes that are built more for fashion and I guarantee in a pinch maybe they THOUGHT they could be used from running but definitely not trail running. Anyway, I did it anyway. :) Black shoes and all. Seven miles of glorious running with my hubby. It was tough but I got through it. Hamstrings were screaming from yesterday.

Couple things on blog updates:

• On the far right, I have a tip of the week. I may try to do tip of the day but also would rather under promise and over deliver. :)
• ALL the way at the bottom I have a shake of the week.
  
• Also, I have labels not all on my posts and their categories are on the right hand menu so you can look through and pull up all of my recipe posts, all my Debbie/Amber workouts, you get the idea. :)

And finally, I weighed in at 125.6 this morning so since a couple weeks ago I am down 2lbs but overall from about a month ago, I am down 3lbs (weighed in at 128.7 one day). If you notice my tip of the week at the right, it says not to weigh yourself for am month and focus on the image in the mirror and body comp so that is what I am going to do. No weighing, no handheld body fat monitor. Just me and my faith. :)

Below is my weekly recap...and let me just say, my workout yesterday was brutal. I may do bi's tris tonight but might also just take the day off from lifting. I am NOT going to post average calories and macros b/c of the food poisoning episode. I had a couple of 500 calorie days because of not keeping anything down or in me :) but My Fit Day log is up to date.

Monday:
Off (I had FOF syndrome - fear of farting from the food poisoning - I will let you guess why I was fearful) LOL
Tuesday:
Off - Continued FOF
Wednesday:
Shoulders
Press
Lat raise
Front raise
Reverse flye
Thursday:
Turbulence Training Hybrid (two workouts together)
Seated underhand row (3x6) ss w/
Incline dumbbell press (3x12)
Barbell row (3x8) ss w/
Standing shoulder press (3x10)
Snatch grip deadlift (3x8) ss w/
Sideplank - each side 30 seconds x 5
Good mornings (3x8) ss w/
Forward lunge (3x10) ss/
Bicep curls (3x8 alternating)
Intervals - 20 minutes
Friday:
Chest
Flat bench 3x10
Incline 3x10
Flye 3x12
Saturday:
AM: Shoulders + Cardio
Arnold Presses 4x12 @20lb db SS w/Lateral Raises 4x15 @15lb db
Upright Row 4x12 @70lbs bb SS w/Front Raise 4x15 @30lb bb
30 minutes low intensity cardio on bike
PM: MET/Cardio - KILLER WORKOUT!
6 Rounds of the Following:
2 minute run @ 8 min mile
20 squats smith machine w/70lbs
Kettle Bell swings - 1minute
Crunches
1 minute rest
6 rounds of the Following:
12 Romanian deadlifts - 70lb barbell
20 Push ups
Sunday:
7 mile trail run

Have a great night everyone and I did write down my plan of action yesterday (down to my diet - which I never spend enough time planning) and will share with you guys in a VLOG soon. :)
Jess

Doc Results & Lost 1.5lbs

Happy Monday everyone!

Got my doc results today and good news....everything checked out normal! The only thing that was off was my white blood cell count and they said that was normal as I was fighting strep throat. They DO want me to come in next month and get the CBC again just to check the white blood cells and make sure they have dropped back to normal levels.

I am pumped to know that there isn't anything medically wrong so now my 8 times in 6 months could be a few things:
1. Mold in my house or at my office.
2. Bad immune system.

So next steps are to get the house checked out just in case. We had a HUGE water leak in the attic/roof when we first moved in last year so the mold thing is a possibility and can affect your health. I know, sounds WACKY but my good friend Angela (who is an environmental inspector) told me these are very real problems.

I lost 1.5 lbs but not for the reason you think! Got food poisoning (mild but still not fun) on Saturday night and have been struggling with tummy issues the last two days. So, as Cynthia said - "you pooped 1.5 lbs" :) I ate a little bit today and hopefully will feel like working out tomorrow. Had no energy today.

I will vlog tomorrow so check back! :) Video camera is charged and ready to go!
Jess

Failed Experiment and Sphere of Influence

My 100% Turbulence Training experiment is officially over. Aw come on, I gave it a good 24 hours! :) I am not giving up on my April experiment, just modifying it slightly. :) And it isn't for the reason you think - and technically I am still a petri dish.

First off, I took measurements yesterday and before pictures and I am going to try really hard (C, this is thanks to you) to use positive self talk in this post because I had an epiphany of sorts last night. That said - here is the one negative thing I will say: the pictures I took last night were the most motivating thing I could have done - I was shocked and disgusted with how far I have let my body go during this last five to six months. WOW, talk about eye opening. and although they are terrible (too terrible to post) - I just didn't really think things were as bad as they are...even after looking at my stats and knowing those were high - the pics did me in. I promise I will post the entire before pics at the end of my 30 day experiment. For now, I am just posting my belly button. :) I could always tell I was losing weight based on how my belly button ring fit.
June 07 (left) vs. April 08 (right)


As you can see, there is a HUGE difference.

The good news is I made a decision last night: I am getting to 16% body fat. I know how hard I will have to work - I have done it before. I know what I must do. Something clicked last night and now, it's on.

My DH knows that when I set my mind to something - watch out. Here is an example: when I told him I was going to compete in December of 06, he literally laughed - he didn't mean it mean, he just knows people who have competed before and knows the will power and dilligence required and was skeptical I would do it. But I did. I looked back in my fit day log and here is how my weight decreased after setting my goal:

12/18/06: 127
1/2/06: 124.5
1/15/07: 123.5
3/12/07: 122

So over four months I dropped 5 lb but more than that I changed my body comp significantly going from 23% to 17% so my lean mass increased too. Looking back over my weight log last night gave me lots of confidence that I know what to do to make this happen.

And my attitude is the first thing that has to change. I have to love my body and appreciate it while doing everything in my sphere of influence to change it.

As for Turbulence Training, I am going to continue to do the program however I am going to add in a few more cardio interval sessions and perhaps even some regular 30minute post weight training workouts. I may even add in a shoulder workout and a straight leg workout a couple days a week. See last nights workout for more info on how I modify.

Here are my stats as of 4/3/08:
Weight: 127.8
BF: 21.6% (based on hand held)
Lean body mass: 100.2
Fat lbs: 27.6
Waist: 27
Hips: 37.5
Bicep: 10.75
Thigh: 22

30 days from Thursday will be my goal date and review. I think in 30 days I can lose 4-5 lbs however that won't get me to goal so I look for the month of May to be the completion of that goal. It will take lots of hard work but I am up for it! And I will be tracking my good in my online journal.

In this month's Women's Health there is an article called: "Head Strong" and it is all about your mind and its power when you workout. C-this is for you from your out of body experiment post:

"When you work out harder than you're used to, your brain thinks, We have no data on whether an extra set of deadlifts will damage her body. I better make her pretty uncomfortable by reducing electrical output to the muscles so she'll quit this nonsense....But you can recalibrate your brain to chill - whether you're strength training or trying to shave a few minutes off your half-marathon pace. The key is to train it to think 'been there, done that'. "

Pretty interesting stuff eh??

Have a great weekend guys!
Jess
P.S. I had my company meeting on Friday morning (8 to 12) and the doc called to talk results when I was in the meeting and their office closes at noon on Friday so I will have to wait till Monday.
P.P.S. Look for a VLOG this weekend - our video camera arrived yesterday.

Weekend Recap and Plan for the Week

First off, I just want to give a shout out to my girl Krissa who wrote down some serious goals for herself and I LOVE IT. They are real, measurable and achievable.

My goal is to achieve 17% body fat by April 30th which gives me 7 or so weeks and approximately 6 lbs to lose. Sounds easy but we all know what goes into that. And yes C, ultimately I just want to look better and feel better about myself but I also know that feeling better about myself means knowing I can reach a goal and get into my clothes and feel good about it.

I asked my hubby to help me with the math on how much I needed to lose to get to to 17% BF and he gave me the "I don't know the math on that stuff babe, I just go out and do it. If I want to run a 20 min 5k, I just go run and know I will be better." This is a point of irritation for him (always has been :) peetie, I love you - you know I do!). So I said to him: "Yeah, but you are still going to look at the time to see if you can run faster at the end of a race - how else would you know if you finished faster?" And BAM - I got him. He smiled, nodded his head and conceded.

I am not 100% sure of my lean body mass at the moment but my guess is it is around 100-1o3lbs and I currently weigh 126-127. I am not sure on lean body mass because I do think I added some muscle this fall but lost some with my lack of activity last few months. At 21-22% body fat, I need to lose about 6-7lbs to hit 17%. I am shooting for 7lbs or 1lb of fat loss per week. Doable and reasonable.

How will I get there?

Cardio: 5 cardio sessions a week, empty stomach workouts - 4 HIIT sessions and 1 LSD cardio. My HIIT sessions will last about 30 minutes and LSD will be around 45-50.
Weights: 5-6x per week focusing on high reps and lower weights. 2x per week, cardio after weights.
Diet: Clean during the week and then two cheat meals on the weekend.

I am excited. I feel this is a very doable plan. After I get there, I will focus on gaining lean muscle tissue. I read that JL has 114lbs of lean muscle. WOW. That's 11+ more than me. Crazy.

Oh, and by the way - I also made a decision that IF, just IF, I can't get to the gym during the day for a workout over lunch I will workout at home - no matter what. Period. Even if it is just a half hour.

Today I had a great workout at the park - burned 850 calories in about 90 minutes at the park. Amber and I brought the EZ Bar and a bunch of plates, kettlebells, a medicine ball, etc. Rode the lake and then did a leg/ab workout.

Saturday we went to the gym and had a great upper body/ab workout. 720 calories in 80 minutes.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Krissa I do think you are right - this is going to be a great year for all of us! We are all having the same epiphanies!!!
Jess

Here is the previous week's workouts copied from the right hand side of my blog - I will do this weekly to summarize and track workouts:
Monday:
Intervals
Upper body workout
Tuesday-Thursday:
Off (did a few small 20 minute workouts here and there)
Friday:
Bicep/tricep workout at home
Saturday:
Amber and Jessica workout reunion!
Chest press supersetted w/overhead press
Kettlebell squats
Tricep presses supersetted w/shoulder raises
Kettlebell lunges
Forward moving kettlebell walk (w/20lb KB)
Abs
Sunday:
5.5 Mountain Bike - 40 minutes (450 calories)
4 supersets of walking lunges with 20lb kettlebells each hand w/four = one lunges and squats to 16
4 supersets of deadlifts w/100lbs to 12 w/straight legged deadlifts to 20
Medicine ball toss
1 minute planks

42 Week Plan - Part 1

Ok...I've been talking about it...you've been waiting for it...you have been checking back to see it...and here it is:

Currently, I am at 125lbs and around 18% BF (I know, I know - not good). That means that at 125 I have 22.5lbs fat. Ultimately, I want to get to 16% BF during my off season so I don't have so far to go. When I read about the pros, they all stay around 14-16% off season. And I need to add a lot of lean muscle - 8lbs min/10lbs max to be exact. Disclaimer: I know this is UBER aggressive. Gonna take a lot of hard work but I will do it. So plan is: reduce fat and add muscle.

Specific Goals:

1. Get to 16% off season body fat (I need to lose about 3lbs fat)

2. Gain 8-10lbs of muscle (in 42 weeks = .20-.40 lbs a week) - off season weight should be around 131-133.

3. Going to trade between gaining/conditioning cycles: 4 weeks conditioning (starting Monday)/12 weeks mass building/4 weeks conditioning/12 weeks MASS/10 weeks diet down. I will be comfortable with a shorter diet down if I am at 16% bf and I can actually start dieting at 12 weeks out even if 2 of those weeks are still in mass building. The last 10 weeks will be exclusively conditioning while I diet down.

4. Diet for conditioning weeks will be 1500-1800; 3 days low carb, 1 day high carb (refuel and shock metabolism); 1 cheat day; diet for mass building will be approx 1800-2000 calories w/ carb cycling 1 day low/2 days med/2 days high – repeat – additional protein/additional fat. Then 12 week diet is low calories 1200-1500 w/3 low car/1 high carb.

Part 2 of the plan will be to detail out my workouts....I am going to use my Outlook calendar to actually map it out. While I know 42 weeks is a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, I need to transform my frame. Change my body. Slap a pound on each shoulder, a pound on each arm, a pound and a half on each leg/glute and the rest on my back. I will do this.

Week 1 of 4 week conditioning starts Monday. Woo hoo!

Can you tell I am feeling better???? OH YEAH! :)
Jess

Goals and Ode to Jenny Lynn

Over the last few weeks - oh heck, I mean since my competition (in June) - I have struggled with body fat, adding mass, etc, etc. My good friend Jason (the Fikenator) has to constantly remind me that my goals are to add body mass and lean out in such a way that I keep my hard earned muscle. Duh. Still tough to do. Sometimes it feels like there is an echo in here! :)

So, as I was struggling with the whole muffin top issue and kicking myself for taking time off from clean eating and consistent workouts and I really started thinking about stepping on that national stage. For those of you who don't know about it....go to www.musculardevelopment.com and click on Contest Pics for all kinds of great pics from NPC and IFBB shows. When I look at the girls from past national contests who have received their pro cards, I know that is where to set the bar.

So I looked back at a couple of Jenny Lynn thoughts to get motivated..........

On her weight/body fat off and on season:
"Off season I generally run around at about 135-138lbs at about 15-16% body fat. For a contest I'm around 122lbs at roughly 7%. About half way through my contest prep my period stops and it comes right back the month after my contest. I'd like to see you add 5-6 pounds of muscle during these 12 weeks. It takes time, patience and consistency to add muscle mass."

Then I also found the email she had sent me in response to my first contest pics....and this is what she said (I deleted the stuff she said about my suit, hair and make up for the purposes of this blog):

"OK, had a chance to check out your pictures. 1st show...great work! You have beautiful structure so it's just a matter of adding some muscle and leaning out more.

OK, here are the changes I'd like to see you make not necessarily immediately but in time:

· Posing needs some improvement...really practice is key here. Do it 30 minutes every night! Be able to pull lats out better, relax hands and look more comfortable.

· Muscle Development: back, hamstrings, calves, abs. Your shoulders look good!

· Conditioning: Overall need to be leaner…If you were 14% here I’d say 10-11% would be good. Probably about 6-7 pounds. Definitely need to bring your glutes in tighter but if you get leaner it will happen. Track workouts are the best way for me to get my lower body in shape. I carry much more weight on my lower body too…we all do as women..lucky us! Also for the immediate future I’d go to super sets and giant sets for your legs to help get them leaner. After this contest split your quads and hams.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions..let me know. And if I can help you in the future, let me know.

Love,
Jenny"

A) How sweet is she? Providing so many great comments while also giving me specifics about what needs to be changed.

2) HOLY CRAP! 6-7lbs of fat. Yeah, she is right. :(

In talking with Fikenator (you like how I bring it all back together??? You know you do!) we came up with the following:

Jenny Lynn is about 1.91 lbs of lean muscle (no fat) per inch while her weight fluctuates due to fat pre/post contest. Amazing. So, that means I have a lot of muscle to add - like 10 lbs or more really. I will have to wait till tomorrow to post Fikenator's exact mathal (new word, learn it - love it) equation...but basically, I need to pack on the lbs. I should be around 130 in my off season at 16% BF.

And my ode to Cynthia....I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog/vlog today on focusing the daily activities that you know will get you to your result instead of your result. Now that I know what I want the result to be, I just have to make decisions and choices every day to get the RESULT I want.

This is going to be fun times. Jody and I are doing pics in the AM (he is asleep already (yes, I know it is 9:45) AND I will also give you guys an update on the week last week.

Keep squeezing to get the juice - it is worth it!
Jessica

My Halloween Trick of Treat

Trick: I weighed myself today and while I had lost about 1 lb from the week previously I went back up a pound today. This happened during the beginning of my last contest prep and although VERY frustrating I know that it is because I am lifting super hard and there is the balance in time between fat loss and increased mass. Good news is I am still 100% on track - no off days.

OR

Treat: I entered a contest at my gym to win personal training with this totally awesome bad ass trainer - like seriously, she is the definition of a personal trainer - and she is also super sweet - anyhoo, the contest had three places: 1st = $500 session with her, 2nd = $250 session and 3rd = $125 session with her. Well, I WON 1st AND 2nd place! So, I am so totally excited!!!!! I almost screamed out loud when I heard the news! PUMPED!

Happy Halloween everyone and you can bet your bootay this muffin top is staying away from the Halloween candy...especially now that I know Debbie is going to be kicking my ass. :)
Jess

The Weekend & Contract with Myself

I think one of the hardest things about the weekend is that we are truly out of our routine. I slept until 9am today (flat tire has been filled) and cleaned most of the afternoon. I had a killer back and bicep workout - did about 8 sets of pull ups (slight assist) super setted with seated cable rows and single arm cable lat row. Then did isolated bicep curls on the swiss ball and corkscrew biceps curls and finished off with 10x10s of olympic straight bar bicep curls. Smoked I am. I ate perfect too...and will hit the stationary bike for at least 45 minutes tonight. Sa weet!!

I have been thinking a lot about the long term challenges of competition. And I started thinking about this more after reading Visionquester's blog comment from yesterday about feeling sorry for herself :(. I think the cyclical nature of competing makes for a challenging long term commitment and the psychology of being a figure competitor. Jody has recently been trying to get me to concentrate on triathlons and endurance sports and quite frankly, I don't like the bodies of endurance athletes. They are too skinny and not well defined enough for my tastes (yes Jody, I know Desiree Ficker is a hottie). On the other hand, I also struggle with the ups and the downs of competing. Don't get me wrong, I am in it to win it for nationals, but I also know without a doubt that I will not be rebounding the same way after this next show.

I am a little bummed that I didn't keep better track of my weight and my progress during contest prep because it would be great to reference as I start my road back. But this is why I have a blog! Thanks Visionquester for getting me off my butt. :)

My contract with myself is that I will not allow myself to get above 18% BF or around 122lbs ever again (unless I get knocked up). Again, I use this body fat percentage as a marker but the net is that I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the way I feel right now. My clothes don't fit right, I don't feel good when I look in the mirror, heck I don't even want to go out as much because I have to think about what I am going to wear. Arghhh. It's just not worth it. Now, when I add the muscle I plan to add, I will be ok with my weight being higher but right now, 18% is the absolute top of the BF scale I want to be at...but ultimately 16% will be my goal and what I will be at for all of 2008.

From one of my favorite movies, "Never give up, never surrender!".
Jess

De Plan, De Plan!!

Ladies and Gentlemen.....let's get ready to RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE! (Insert jock jams tune here).

I had to start out my blog with that line after my UFC fight weekend in Cinci. My hubby and I left on Saturday morning (early) drove 9 hours...got out of car and blew up shoulders and legs (kind of light on both but still a workout) at the 13,000 square foot gym before walking to an absolutely wonderful dinner and then another walk to the US Bank arena for one of the most amazing events EVER! UFC 77 with Rich Franklin fighting Silva for the title match. While my boy Rich lost, the whole event was amazing. We were five (yes, 5!) rows back from the Octagon. Amazing. Then we stumbled back to the hotel room, slept for 6 hours and got up and drove home. While it was a lot of car time, it was perfect! I cheated at my meal - fillet and lobster and bread - and also had a martini and a few more cocktails. Totally worth the cheat.

Anyhoo,....why this is all Seinfeld related...is because on the way back Sunday, Jody and I mapped out our goals. I am a BIG believer in goal setting - be specific and set short term and long term goals. My BF and weight are definitely higher than I would like - 21% - which totally sucks. I had a really hard time with learning that however I also know it is a necessary evil and having knowledge is what I needed in order to jump start my motivation again. Well, trust me, I am VERY motivated.

Ultimately I have no one to blame buy myself - my intensity has been crap - in both my lifting and my cardio workouts. I think the two back to back shows I did was a kick in the a** in terms of falling off AFTER – I was completely burnt out. And yes, add a wedding, a honeymoon, the return of asthma due to cats and a metabolism that has slowed way down from dieting and you have a recipe for fatty.

I am WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY motivated after my BF test. Again, I am not totally stoked about what my weight is or my body fat, it is great to KNOW what it is and then move forward to addressing it. Again, terribly disappointed but am not surprised really.

Having a plan in place is the most key. My focus is on my major body parts as stand alone: Back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, legs.

Here it is:

Short Term: Get body fat to 16% by end of year. This translates losing about 8.7-9lbs of fat in 10 weeks or a little under a lb of fat a week. Ultimately I would like to also gain 3lbs of muscle which would net me out at about 121lbs. You can do the math to figure out how fat I am. :)

Long Term - 2008:
Top 3 Placement at a National Show
Sub 21 Minute 5k
BF less than 16% all year
Sub 1hr 25 min Sprint Triathlon

I won't go through all of my milestones to achieve all of those goals - only those associated with body fat and my national show.

Please note that all associations with Body Fat (BF) are not an obsession with BF per say but rather a percentage that equates to the way I feel in my skin, with my own self image and the way my clothing fits which are all important for me in terms of continuing my forward progress.

But the most important question - how will I accomplish this goal???

1. Minimum of 30 to 45 minutes cardio in the morning on an empty stomach five (5) days a week - preferrably all of those sessions will be HIIT sessions.
2. Light leg workout two (2) days per week - plyometrics and light weights.
3. Cardio 30 minutes after workout session three (3) days per week in afternoon.
4. Weight lifting on a three days on, one day off schedule as follows:
Mon - Back supersetting with abs over lunch, biceps at night.
Tues - Light chest supersetting with calves over lunch, triceps and light legs at night.
Wed - Off
Thurs - Shoulders over lunch supersetting abs, rear delts and light legs at night.
Fri - Back SS w/abs lunch, biceps at night.
Sat - Light chest SS with calves, triceps and light legs at night.
Sun- Shoulders and HEAVY legs.

Overall, this is an aggressive plan but one I feel good about acheiving. Less than a lb a week is VERY reasonable and doable and so I am ready to attack!! After this 10 weeks I will focus the following 13-16 weeks on gaining mass while keeping body fat reasonable and then being to diet down the last 12 weeks.

Come with me on this journey won't you?
Jess

A++++++++++++++ and a Gold Star

Today was an absolutely perfect day!

AM: 45 Minutes on bike with intervals on an empty stomach
Lunch: Heavy back workout with calves and abs superset
PM: Biceps - Preacher curls followed by hammer curls followed by 10x10s with straight bar AND 25 minutes on bike
Food: Clean - BAM!

Supplements spot on - water spot on.

Great, great day! I am back in action kids!
Jessinator

Fikenator

My good friend Jason Fike - who I refer to as the Fikenator - and you would know why I call him by said nick name if you saw how humongous he is (like 325 lbs of muscle and benches around 500 give or take) - sent me an email yesterday giving me props (thank you Jason) for my blog but also pushing me answer the tough questions (double thanks). Here are his questions along with my answers:

Q1:

Between your first season and now your coming up second season, what differences do you notice now that you were oblivious to the first go around?
How big my hips and butt are...and I mean that in the nicest way possible to me. My hips measure around 35.5 inches during competition however for most professional girls, their hips range around 34 inches. In case you are bad at math, that is a 1.5 inch difference - significant! Jenny Lynn (the baddest figure girl around) measures 33.5 about a month out from competition....that is somewhat daunting but at the same time I know what I need to do. In terms of differences I know I have a LOT more time this time to get big upstairs while getting smaller in my lower half. Track workouts and running will be key to this as will be consistent leg lifts. Jenny's measurements go a little bit like this:Waist: 24.5; Hips: 33.5; Arm: 12; Quad 21; Shoulder circumference: 43. She is 5'5". She weighs 138 off season and 125 contest day.

Q2:

Motivation, You have analyzed your metal game is not where you would like it to be. So what do you need to do get this set straight. I didn't see anything to correct this currently on your BLOG. You mention physical attributes causing a stress mentally. Also you have other stressors... How do you focus for that 1.5 hour period, also set your mind straight to do this daily. Do you need a short term coach?
One of the things that helps me TREMENDOUSLY is setting weekly goals and then parlaying those goals into my daily to-do list. This also needs to take place on my workouts. And I need to get my cardio in (on days I am doing cardio) as early as possible so it doesn't take a back seat. This BLOG will be my short term coach and between you, Jody, Cynthia and this BLOG - I have a great accountability team!

All that being said, I am in the process as I type this of doing my workout schedule for week and for remainder of month. :)

Now, off me Fikenator!