Workin for the Weekend

Happy Saturday everyone!

I have had a decent week of workouts - I didn't get in a workout yesterday :(. My crew threw me a birthday party Thursday night (happy hour) and I didn't get home until late so I was sleepy Friday morning and didn't get up for my morning workout. And my in-laws came into town early and we all went to dinner at Bonefish. Yippee! But I missed a workout and am planning on making up for it today.

I haven't gotten in as much cardio as I would have liked as well this week but I am just flexing with my schedule and being ok with everything - if it happens, it happens. :) Stressing it out over my workouts it just NOT work it to me.

I did want to share with everything the most awesome lunch bag EVER! I think I have posted a couple of times on lunchboxes/bags and have commented on how awesome and important I think they are to eating success. Well, I have found the best of the best and I can't say enough good things about it. It is called the StaxSystem and it is perfect.

Here is how it works:
It comes with 18 containers - 6 for proteins, 6 for veggies and 6 for carbs. I don't use the containers for the proper foods - I just use them to store my food. They stack on either side of the container and in the CENTER fits a perfect gel ice pack that just slides down directly. And on the top it has space for dressings, spices, condiments, etc. Here is a video that explains it better.



It is a bit pricey and yes, I am sure you could buy the containers and timer, etc. but the way the lunch box is designed with side entry, continers on the top and section for the ice pack in the center - it was designed by a body builder. You can order it here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/triax/stax.html

Anyhoo, I use the timer (I know silly but when i am crazy at work it is awesome for busy days) and LOVE how practical it is. I use to DIG around inside my lunch bag and get aggravated all the time with multiple ice packs, etc. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Did I mention I love it? :)

So I just finished an AWESOME upper body circuit workout (90 minutes) and I am going to do legs tonight followed by some sprints and then a job. Want to do two a days today and tomorrow to make up for missing two days this week. Plus on the weekends I can really get some rest.

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend everyone! More tomorrow. Not sure the countdown to Mexico but it is COMING UP and I can't wait!

Jess

Weekly Recap

What up y'all! :) 

Had a great workout week...summary of workouts below. Planning on another awesome week this week as well. Food is going to be key - which should be a snap since I got a hard boiled egg maker for one of my birthday presents! Yeah! :) 

Anyhoo, we have 3.5 weeks (24 days) until the beaches of Mexico and I am going to look as good as I can....:) Have I said that enough??? 

Plans this week are the same as last week - get in kick ass workouts every day and make sure my eating is ON! Oh yeah. 

Week of September 8th

Monday: Lower Body Circuits - 1 hour AM; 6 mile run PM
Tuesday: Upper Body Circuits - 1 hour AM; 30 minutes HIIT on bike 2 min intervals
Wednesday: Upper Body Circuits, Abs, Core; 30 minutes HIIT on bike - 1 min intervals; 105 minutes
Thursday: 30 minutes interval circuits - 2 minutes at 6.5 MPH, 30 second squat hold, 90 seconds at 10MPG; 20 minute low intensity jog
Friday: OFF

Saturday: AM 30 minute HIIT intervals - 30 seconds 6 min mile (15 seconds ramp up to 30 second sprint); 90 seconds atw 10 minute mile so each set is 2 minutes; 20 minute jog with dog; PM Upper Body Circuits with Core: 75 minutes
Sunday: AM core circuits & drills - 90 minutes including warm up and cool down

Have a great week everyone! 

Jess

35 Years

Hi all! If you have visitied my blog much you know how grateful I am for the things I have in my life and my gratitude increases on holidays or during special events....today is my 35th birthday (WHOA) and I want to share with all of you some (as I am sure I will forget some) of the things I am grateful for and have been during my 35 years. :) 

I am grateful for...

....my husband - my soul mate, the love of my life, my best friend, my all. I found him after 30 years but have never been happier. 

....my family - I have the BEST family - my mom, my dad, my sisters, my brother, my aunts and uncles. And the BEST family in-law - I am so blessed to have the best in-laws in the world - funny, loving, unconditional. 

....my friends - Leanne, Amber, Angie, Maya and more - and my blog friends you guys are so awesome. Without you I wouldn't have the support I have to acheive my dreams. 

....my health. Need I say more? :) 

....my job - I do something I love with people I love and am well compensated for it. 

...achieiving a few of my lifetime goals - competing in a figure compeition and placing first. 

...having the resouces to travel. 

...loving LIFE. Life is wonderful and I love it. 

Anyhoo, the main point here is that if you live in a house with running water and electricity and are healthy enough to exercise every day and can eat healthy food - you are in the minority for people in this world. So be grateful for everything you have...we are all so fortunate. 

So, I had a great week.....and I am mean that in the overall sense. Got in some great workouts - ate pretty good except for yesterday (they brought me a birthday cake from Cold Stone and I was training someone all day and missed two meals :(). We are getting hit with hurricane Ike as a tropical storm tonight and tomorrow so it will be NASTY here. NASTY. Jody's triathlon is probably going to be cancelled. 

I did my first workout of the day - plan on doing leg circuits later and then do some upper body circuits later as well. 

23 days to Mexico! :) 

Jess

P.S. Have an AWESOME weekend everyone! 

P.P.S. I stole my friend Kelly's idea of having a bad ass fitness picture on every post (when she isn't posting a Jason Statham video clip :)) - love this! 

Keep On Rockin!

Happy hump day everyone!

One of my favorite bodybuilders....Anja Langer...classic lines and beautiful to boot but definitely OLD SCHOOL! :)

I have had a great start to the week! Double workouts both Monday and Tuesday (see side bar on right side of screen for details). The pole to my lamp in the bedroom was blocking my clock this morning and I didn't hear my alarm so I got up at 6:30 instead of 530 so I missed my workout this am. Rats! Oh well, I got in an awesome almost 2 hour workout tonight (about 105 minutes) I did upper body circuits with abs and core and then did half hour of HIIT sprints on the bike.

Feeling great - 27 days to go until I am laying on the beach in a bikini! Woo hoo! Diet has also been spot on...even brought my own food to a lunch meeting where I knew there would be pizza. And at the end of the meeting when my turkey burger and bell pepper hadn't filled me all the way up, I went over to the pizza and actually reached into the box and then walked away. That also felt good. :)

Favorite part of my day though is always the time with my hubby. We have been in the habit of getting into the hot tub at night when I get home from work....we sit in there for about 30 minutes and talk about our days. So relaxing and peaceful. And spending time with him is really what it is all about. Life is good.

Hope everyone is having a great week!
Jess

Hiatus Over - Thanks to Visionquester!!

Well, I couldn't let my girl Cynthia get her pro card and stay in hiatus. Just couldn't do it!!!

HUGE props to her for getting 1st in her class at the NY Team Universe show and getting her PRO CARD!! So incredibly awesome! You are an inspiration and mentor for us all!


Can you say....WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!

But I also am ready to come out from my hiatus - I missed you guys! Work is getting much more manageable and I am getting back into my workouts. Things have also leveled out personally and I feel like I was able to be there for my hubby when he needed me. He is a good man, I can't tell you all how fortunate I am to have him.

Anyhoo....we leave for Mexico in exactly 30 days. Yes, 30 days until I am on the beach in a bikini having my first vacation since my ski trip. I am so looking forward to it and I want to look good. Not great (not possible in 30 days) but good. Shoulders popping, biceps pretty ripped. Butt and abs as small as they can be.

Started out today with my lower body Ultimate Figure Program which is basically an hour long high intensity leg workout - sweating my rear off! Then ran 6 miles with the hubby tonight and gonna go back and do a German Volume Training set on my shoulders. And my eats were ON!

I also realized I have to make a decision about competing again. Or at least set another type of goal. Fitness IS a lifestyle - it isn't temporary. The people around me that I know and respect have fitness a part of their life like brushing their teeth. It isn't temporary. That was what it was like for me - temporary b/c I was determined to do another show. I want to have another goal but have it be a part of my fitness lifestyle. It shouldn't be so hard...I should enjoy this. I got kind of down on myself about three months ago and made a lot of negative comments about my body. So much so that my hubby got really upset with me and I promised from that day forward not to do that anymore. Why beat myself up? Why not ENJOY life. Enjoy my health. And that is what I have done. I am fully aware that I became burn out on my training program and religious dieting. So for the last year, I have been rebelling mentally and also dealing with new work demands. Accept it, deal with it, enjoy life, move on.

So what do I have for it? A promotion and some quality time off. :)

I am back. Check back often. I will be here. Thanks for coming back. Over and over. :) Love you guys.

Jess

Hiatus

Hey guys....

I am going to go on a brief Blog hiatus....don't know how long but have some stuff going on personally and also work is burying me and just want to let you guys know I will be MIA for awhile. I love all you guys and will be back soon!

Promise.

Cynthia - I will be cheering so hard for you! WOO HOO!

Jess

Still Alive....But Barely & HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LOVE

Hey guys....well, I guess they are getting their money's worth out of me with this new promotion. :)

But before I jump into that....HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the love of my life. On Monday we celebrated our first year together!!!! And you wanna know what is funny...we were talking about what we could do that would be special and because we are so in love every day and truly appreciate our relationship - every DAY feels like an anniversary! It is good stuff.

This week has been brutal. It was my hardest week at the agency in my 1.5 years there and dare I say one of my hardest weeks for work ever. Lots of deadlines and very demanding client requests.

All I have for you on the fitness front is a 5 mile run on Tuesday morning and another 5 miler Thursday. And ran 5-6 this morning with Amber at the lake which was awesome - forgot how much I love the trail! I have been eating good (not enough but good). I put in 16 hours a day this week.....tough stuff...leaves very little time for workouts. None in fact....I think I just barely fought off getting sick. Only 5 hours a sleep for four nights will do that but got 7 hours on Thursday night and 9 last night so I caught up on my sleep before it bit me in the butt.

I am managing three businesses right now - should just be managing one so time is scarce. My goal this weekend is to get so organized that when Monday hits I can sit down with each of the teams and get help - delegate, delegate, delegate. And depending on how that works, I need to reassess with management how much I have on my plate. No one should have to juggle this much, you know??? :)

Em, thank you so much for continuing to stop by and leave me notes, you have no idea how much that means to me! You are awesome!

Cynthia - you are gonna rock it in two weeks girl! I can't wait to see that new suit! :)

Kelly - your unwavering dedication to your blog is amazing to me and thank you for all the funny videos.

Here is my favorite parody of an advertising agency/client EVER and let me tell you this is exactly what I went through this week. Good, good times. I peed my pants watching this on Friday.


Now you know what I deal with - seriously.

Love you guys! Have a great weekend!
Jess

Fallin Asleep During Workout - Ah YEAH!

Can you tell I am feeling SPUNKY??!! Well, mostly it is because I am sleep deprived but also because I have had a couple great workouts so far this week - 70 minutes of legs on Monday am followed by 10 minutes of sprints and 20 minute doggie jog. :) and then today I ran 5 miles.

Funny story from my workout this morning - I have been working like a crazy woman (as you know) and over the weekend we ran a 5k on Saturday morning (so got like 6 hours or less of sleep cause we went rock n bowling Friday night) and then Sunday hubby did a tri so I got 6 hours sleep Sat night too and Sunday night and Monday night...SOOOOOO I am sleep deprived.
Anyhoo, woke up at 5:15 am this morning - had to drag myself out of bed - and went back to the workout room and started my super sets. Got through my first two super sets and the during the third super set, I sat down on incline bench and leaned my head back and thought - wow, this is comfy. Next thing I know, I woke up 20 minutes later. So, I realized I was exhausted and slept for 20 minutes more on the couch and then got hubby up and ran 5 miles with him.

WHOA!!

My eats are pretty good right now - just looking forward to really dialing things in more each day as I get closer to my Mexico vacation. :) Its gonna be fun!

Will keep you posted on workouts and eats! Prepped my food on Sunday night - made my turkey burgers and taco meat so that always helps a ton! :)

Have a happy hump day!
Jess

The Reason

Hey y'all! I have VERY excited news today! Remember that promotion I have been telling you all about - the one that has been pulling me away from my workouts so much??? Remember??

Well, I got the PROMOTION! Woo hoo!

On Wednesday they told me and on Friday they announced it. :) So I am now a Director! What does this mean? The thing I am MOST excited about it having an opportunity to give input at the leadership level. I have big plans for the leadership of our organization and I can't wait to start making changes! :)

Cynthia told me in an email or comment on my blog a LOOOOOONG time ago when I was complaining about having no time and/or energy to workout because I was working so much that opportunities for promotions may not come along that often but I can always get my body back in shape. :) She told me to do what I could do for workouts and focus on getting the promo. Smart girl she is....;) and so last week I was rewarded for all my hard work. Now, my hope is that I will get some support and be able to find more of a work life balance. Anyway, wanted to update you guys!

Thanks to all of you guys for ALL your support and your patience with me being somewhat missing in action in both my workouts and my blog posts! You guys are so awesome and I consider all of you my family!!! And to my friends and family - many thanks to you guys for me being more out of touch than normal. I have been working my BOOTAY off and I know it has affected my communication with you cats. I will DEFINITELY keep you posted as I get back to my workouts. I have a little under 9 weeks to get in great shape for my vacation in October! ;)

Oh, and remember the race Jody and I did last year on our wedding day??? We ran it again today - I wore the same veil and Jody wore his bow tie and we ran it in honor or our 1 year anniversary that is fast approaching. Here are the pics from that day and the article they ran in the paper for those of you who missed it. :)



Which speaking of, I have to give HUGE thanks to my wonderful hubby who is so awesome and is my biggest fan. He believed in me and makes me feel like I can do anything and he puts up with me working at all hours of the day. I love you baby! Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Jess

Baby Stepping, I'm Doin the Work

Finally getting caught up from being in KC last week and spending some QT with the hubby. He is the best - puts up with all my craziness.

Anyway, went for a couple runs over the weekend and then lifted yesterday morning (Monday) - Yeeeeeeeyyyyaaaaaa! :) Took today off because I had an early breakfast meeting and then we at the office until 7:30 tonight. Argh. But I am perfectly fine with taking the day off.

See, the hubby and I had a long talk on Sunday during one of my bad body image attacks (BBIA). I was basically having one of my moments that results in me getting down on myself and being too unrealistic of my athleticism and expectations of my body. And during this BBIA the DH explained to me the difference (in his mind) between working out and being fit. Working out is something people worry about and obsess over whereas being fit is just a part of your life so that you always make the time and are ok when you can't. Make sense? I love this attitude. Because then it isn't about being guilty or being mad at yourself, it is just knowing that it is a part of your life. I like this. It is BBIA repellent.

Will get a great workout in the morning and possibly even another tomorrow night. Woo hoo.

I do have a BAD story to tell y'all about my neighbor. It is a really long story but the hubby almost got into a fist fight with our neighbor over our dog. NOT cool. More on this later...promise.

Until then, I am hitting the RACK. Sleepykins.

Have a great rest of the week!
Jess