Beer battered shrimp and fried calamari filled the television screen while I huffed and puffed through my first cardio session today. Why had I decided to watch the Food Channel? This is the true meaning of torture. Tantalizing images of sizzling food appeared right before my eyes, and all I could do was run...and run...and run...and run. For forty five minutes, this went on. Well, technically, it was 60 minutes, since I spent 15 extra minutes walking on the treadmill. The only thing missing from this scene was the scent of the food.

The apartment complex has changed cable companies, choosing to switch to Comcast, and now the movie channels are no longer available in the fitness center. So I was forced to watch the Food Channel. They made me do it! Okay, I stood on my tiptoes, stretched up high to reach the channel changer on the television (why, oh why do normal sized people continue to put things just out of my reach? Don't they know short people use things too?), and I made the decision to watch people cook food, smell food, eat food.

Speaking of which, I'm about to go off onto two tangents, so be prepared. I thought of a new recipe that I'll add to the site next week. It's a little twist on the lettuce wraps you might have had at P.F. Chang's or The Cheesecake Factory (if you haven't ventured into one of these restaurants, ohhhh you're missing something!). That's all I'll say for now. The other tangent is that I watched the hot dog eating contest last night on ESPN. I'm not quite sure which bothered me more: the fact that people stuffing anywhere from 20 to 50 hot dogs into their intestines gets more coverage than the bodybuilding industry or the sight of the food itself. And then I had another thought while watching the program. If people who are homeless or starving could see this, what would they think? I mean, here's enough food to feed 200 people or more, and about 20 people are gulping down hot dog after hot dog, not even savoring the taste, and not for any other purpose than pure gluttony and shock value. Odd...American television. Very odd. And these contests aren't just for hot dogs. There are doughnut duals, ice cream battles, jalapeno wars; even hard boiled eggs make it into the mix (ewww! Even I'm wrinkling my nose at that one!).

All in all, I actually felt better about my cheat day on Sunday. The several pieces of English chocolate that I continued to reach for before I even left for the movies and the ice cream, cheeseburger, and fries that eventually upset my stomach were small fries (excuse the poor pun) compared to this hot dog eating contest!

Part of me wishes I didn't cheat on Sunday. My back workout suffered due to me not feeling well. I got through it, but I had to drop the weight a bit on each exercise and just up the reps instead. I was disappointed, and at one point after a lat pulldown set, I started to get angry and let the cable fly up. Yep, a slight temper tantrum in the gym. I just hate not being able to throw around the weight that I originally intended to use, and it throws a wrench into my ability to remain in the zone of concentration. I fought through it, though, and did a complete back workout that has left me quite sore today, and I managed to accomplish two cardio sessions as well.

I am cutting carbs this week and then carb loading on Friday and Saturday before dropping carbs once again and then repeating the carb loading process for Jon's shoot. I want to drop about three pounds between now and next Friday, and it shouldn't be difficult to do, as long as my little fingers don't start reaching for the chocolate again. I'm trying a few new things out:

1) When I lower the carbs, I'm increasing the protein by just a bit.
2) When the carbs are really low, but I'm needing to keep my energy high for the workouts, I'm not just increasing the protein but also adding in a bit more fat, i.e., avocado and peanut butter or flaxseed oil.
3) When I increase the carbs and do a proper carb load, then I drop the fat almost altogether, bring the protein back to normal or even a little less than I'm used to, and drop the cardio down to one session instead of two so that I don't use up all the carbs.

The point of carb depletion and carb loading is to allow the muscles to become flat and to force the body to use what is currently stored in it rather than the food that is being taken in. Then, the carb loading allows the muscles to fill back up and the cuts begin to get a little deeper when the water retention is kept at a minimum. I'm keeping my sodium levels up, will increase them right before carb loading, and then drop them to less than I'm used to within 24 hours before the shoot. I'm not going to play with water levels too much because I don't want to rebound badly before going to New York.

Anyway, I'm seeing a bit of quad separation. My legs, believe it or not, are still reminding me that I had a tough leg workout last week, but the running went well, and I can't wait until tomorrow's leg workout! I've packed it full of really good, really tough supersets! Tonight is shoulders, and I should be able to capture a clip of this workout and mail it to JT (the clip files are waaaay too big to just e-mail...frustrating!).

I read a highly interesting passage in Dandelion Wine during my adventure on the bike last night (it's amazing...I ride and ride and ride and still get nowhere). I've decided to use it to create the next news update for the main site. Very thought provoking and very appropos for my current situation in the competitive world.

I'll be talking with Nicole Berg this evening; she and I will be examining pros and cons of me looking into bodybuilding. There are many, and I'll be weighing this option for the entire off season. My training really doesn't need to be any different for the off season because ultimately, I'm designing my body the way I want it. I plan to add a good five pounds of muscle in the next eight months, most of it in my upper body, and it'll be the cutting phase that will require a decision of which stage to stand upon and whether heels or bare feet will be required.

I'm a tiny girl. I like being small, but I like having the muscles pop out when I flex, so don't fret...the muscles will always be there, the conditioning will be better next year, and the desire to do my best will stay alive!

Jodi