54 days to CBBF Fitness Nationals

Wow. Can you believe a week has gone by now? Time flies when you have so much work to do. This week was my last week of school. I had one more exam on Wed, and oodles of marking to do, finalize my marks, enter them, call the students who needed a change of course for next year and do this all before Friday. It has been tough. Tough because my son has been ill all week. He caught a flu from a friend and the friend was sick for exactly 7 days. Instead of 24 hours it was 7 days. Not complete ill, just cranky, high temperature, headache, and lack of appetite. Normally I would stay home, but since this was the end of the year, I had to go to work, and my hubby had to stay home. It is amazing what you can get done when you have only a short period of time to do it. Luckily everything is done. Oh, and it had to be all done on Friday, as on Sunday I am off to a math conference for 3 days. Teacher math conference. The reform and changes in the system are continuing. Oh, and by the way, students now a days, don’t have to pass math to get moved up to the next grade. At least not where I live. I have students who have never passed math. That is a topic I will have to re-visit as it is the most frustrating thing about being a teacher.

Training
I did what I vowed not to. I trained everyday this week. Not sure if it was to get out of the house, or just a way to start my day off right, but I did. And I hate to say that I have not practiced my routine yet. I have done pieces here and there, and know the layout of the routine, but have not had time to go to the dance studio near my house, and spend time on it. Hopefully next week. Oh, not till Thursday as I do have that math conference.

Diet
My diet was much better this week. I really hate the first week of diet transition. I do not start my diet completely as I find I need 1-2 of transition time in order to get my head in the game. Every day that goes by I keep telling myself – one more day, you can do it! Monday is the worst, as Friday – my cheat day – seems so far away. But I manage to keep myself busy, and this week was super busy, so dieting seemed easier. Diet should be ok next week as I will have to bring my food with me. I have done it so many times, that it is not that hard to travel and diet – at least for 2-3 days. Anything greater than 5 days away from a kitchen, and well that becomes hard. My food is good for about 5 days, even the fridge, and well after that things start to smell.

CBBF Invite to the Worlds in Italy
I turned down the invite to the Worlds. I weighed the options of going to Italy in October for numerous personal reasons. Firstly I am teacher. There is no way that I am flying that far to only stay for 4 days. Plus I could never get the time off in the middle of October to go away for 5+ days. I already discussed this with my principal. You really don’t travel that far for only 4 days. You would realistically make a vacation out of it and tour around. I cannot. Other things I considered: a long season for me, (I am competing twice in August); my family and how it would affect them; the expense of the competition; and my goals of competing.
I want to compete as a Pro and per chance got my pro card this August would compete as a pro in September. That is my goal. The Worlds is very prestigious, but the timing is just not right for me. I am sure there will be other opportunities, and hopefully the CBBF will invite another fitness athlete to attend.

Pictures Update

Ok, so I don’t see much different in my shape. However, my arms do feel leaner. It is a top down process right? I am traveling this week, so that is actually a good thing. I brought all my food with me for the next 2 days. I am hoping to see a bigger difference from the end of week one to the end of week three.

Jr. Nationals was this weekend, and 3 fitness pros were crowned. One for each height class. I think that is amazing considering fitness is not as popular as it once was, but continues to be the most entertaining due the performance of the routine. The Fitness Universe was also this weekend. I wanted to watch the shows as they do a live webcast, which was free, and well I missed it. Thinking it was Sat, I logged on to find the show was broadcast on Friday night. I am sure I missed a good show. Miami is such a great time of year, and visiting Next cafe on Lincoln Road was always my favorite part of the event.

It is so nice to live vicariously through others during your time of prep. It keeps me motivated to do better and try harder.

59 days to Nationals

Ok, here we go. It is or was my ‘official’ start to my diet on Sunday. I have been waiting for this moment since I stopped by diet about 3 months ago. I am so excited to be competing again this year at the Nationals in Vancouver. I have been looking forward to competing since last year’s show. I knew that the results would improve last year. I placed 5th in 2007, then 3rd in 2008 and well I am hoping to follow the pattern and move up two more spots to 1st in 2009.

I will post progress pictures on a weekly basis – more if I can. It would be interesting to see pictures on a daily basis and then put them in a video and see the changes from 60 days down to show time in one 60 second video.

How much weight do I need to lose? Probably 10lbs or so. Any more I and I feel I get too skinny and start to lose my shape (this is what the judges don’t like). Coming in fuller is not something I like, as I really like when I get skinny. And I think we all love when our clothes get looser, and well, sometimes skimpier.

I won’t be getting a new suit as I really love the one that I have. However, my costume needs more ‘flash’ and well, I might as well do it myself. I have some ideas, and have no sewed in a while but am looking forward to making my own creation.

My focus for the Nationals is to entertain the crowd. In the past I have tried to entertain the judges, and guess or predict what they want and the funny thing is…. I never did any better. Sometimes I actually did worse. When I focussed solely on me, and what I could achieve is when I did better. External factors, those out of my control at times got me down, and clouded my purpose. This show is not just about getting my pro card, but it is about putting my best product on the floor, and showing that I am a champion even if I do not get first in the judges eyes. There have been moments in my career where I could have done better, and other moments where I did my best and did not win. It happens like that sometimes. But with me I tend to focus on how I did not win, rather than how much I achieved leading up the show. This year I am changing my focus. The focus is not on the outcome but in my performance. I am always trying new things, ideas, costumes, skills – sometimes they impress and sometime they don’t. I do try all the time to improve myself and move forward. I am willing to take risks and am so proud that I can still do this after all these years.

At the end of the school years I always do a back tuck for each of my classes, to celebrate the last minute of their school year. They are always so excited to see that – so I do it twice. I am 32 years old and can still standing tuck. That is pretty cool. I was just hoping to be able to do that when I am 30, but I have surpassed that goal.

This summer I have quite a bit of travel planned. In two weeks I am on a family vacation, then back home for 2 weeks, then off for the weekend, then away for 2 more weeks, then back home for final weeks prep for Nationals, then Nationals, then family vacation, then back home, then another week of travel…then school starts. So, in other words I have to be very disciplined with my food. I have vowed not to workout every day leading up the show like I have in the past. I will make my gym workouts more efficient, and keep my diet cleaner. 3 days weights, 2 days routine, and 2 days of rest. Right now I am dieting for 2 weeks, then off for a family vacation. I will still be ‘on diet mode’, but if I feel I need to cheat — I will. After I return from vacation I will still have 42 days or so of dieting, and for me that is more than enough time. (did you follow that?)

This week is my last week of school. I have another exam, some marking, organizational things for next year, and then off to math conference the following week. This year has been much less stressful than last. I am so grateful to be able to work as much as I do and try to maintain a fitness/family balance. I agree it is not easy. And honestly, never realized how tough it is to maintain a certain amount of balance between the two.

In other news I have been invited to attend the World Championships in Como, Italy with the Canadian Bodybuilding Federation. That would be cool to compete in Italy as I have never been there before. I will have to think this over as the event is in October of 2009 and would require me taking a week off of school. Teaching has many benefits, but unfortunately I cannot take days off in the middle of the week, so going to this event, might not be in the cards for me.
But it was nice to be invited to go.

Here are some pictures from today. Yes, there is work to be done. 59 days and counting.

74 days to Nationals

Training
Training continues to go really well. Everyone always asks about my shows, and when is the next one. They say, ‘hey didn’t you just have a show’. But they never can tell with regular clothes on what stage of prep I am in. I, on the other hand, feel really big right now and cannot wait until the diet phase starts, as well as routine practice. I am done my ‘back and shoulder’ assult, and now Erik will put me on a program to help me grow. I am hopeful that this size I am putting on will serve me well, not only to get a pro card, but also when I get to the pros. I am not a big girl by nature, and this kind of muscle does look a bit freakish, but I know it is only temporary. Temporary – meaning – when I am 50 years old I probably won’t look this way….or will I? I am sure the muscle mass that I carry will serve me well from a health perspective when I am older.

Diet
I am starting to clean up my diet. This week has been really good. I am cutting back on the treats, like, ice cream & different breads, and cheese. To me bread is a treat. I would rather have a garlic loaf, than a piece of cheesecake. I guess this way I am not normal. I have begun to see changes even in just a week – I am down to around 132lbs now. So this weekend I allowed myself some slack. However, back on Monday or maybe even today I am back to eating clean. I feel so much better physically when I do.

School
Whew. School is almost done. It is not that I don’t enjoy my job – I do. But there are times when you do need a break. Being a teacher is a full time job, one that comes home with you at night. Not just with marking and prepping work for the next day, but also emotionally if there are moment when things do not go well in class. I will be on my last week of teaching – this week, and then my students are in exams for 2 weeks. Which means, more marking and more planning if not for this year, in September when school starts again. I plan now (at the end of June) for those things in September, as my mind is more in the game now, than it will be after 6 weeks of vacation.

Summer holidays start around the 23rd of June for me. I have a family vacation planned, another trip or 2 in July and then August will roll around with the Nationals on August 15th, and then North Americans two weeks later. School starts for me on the Monday before North Americans. Although holidays have not begun yet, I have so much planned that it might as well be September as the time is flying really quickly this year.

Family
My little guy is 3 years old now. He is a very active kid, one who needs to be constantly moving. Terrible twos – nah…I think it more like the terrible threes. He has his moments of impulsiveness and I am dealing with it on a week to week basis – one week he is super polite, and conscientious; and the next week, he is like a tornado in the room.

I can see why women who have competed and then have babies tend to take a break from competing. It is not only the time away from them, but once you start to mess with your calories and carbs – your mood tends to be a little less patient when you child acts ‘out of sorts’. I feel the lack of patience in myself sometimes when I am dieting, and well, I really don’t like that feeling. But anytime I do feel overwhelmed I definitely count to 10 in my head, and check myself. During my time of prep, I always get more sleep than I need (just like my son), and make sure my meals are on time. As I am writing I am seeing a small resemblance to myself and my 3 year old during contest prep.

I am realizing when my little guy is most likely to have a meltdown, and try to avoid being to far away from the house. For instance, if he is hungry or sleepy. It is worse when he is tired.

Other than that he keeps me on my toes, and keeps me busy which is going to be good when I am dieting. I look forward to being on a regime that keeps me on the straight and narrow. No deciding on what to eat. You just go to the fridge, and eat to fill the void and then keep going. Eat, sleep, train, repeat. I guess my son follow the same pattern – eat, sleep, play, repeat.

A.