YAY!

Woo-hoo! I'm back from Ottawa from my first competition. It was an awesome experience and I ended up (much to my surprise) placing second in both categories I competed in (sports athletic model and figure) I am working on a whole article about my experience this past weekend so I won't blab on too much here yet. But, I did learn a few things from this weekend... one of the big things was that I really need to work on my walking and posing (and knowing what different shows expect you to do, as they're all a little different) I had been practising my walk and my quarter turns in one way and then they were different for this association! Plus, I always think my big problem is going to be my actual body, but I think my main weakness at this show wasn't my body, but more about my posing and walking! That's something that can be fixed easily by practise! I took it easy and ate really sinfully for the past 2 days and now I feel totally ready to go back at it strong to get ready for my next competition on July 11th (less than 2 weeks away!)

Monday, June 22, 2009 - ONLY 5 DAYS TO GO UNTIL COMPETITION!!!

YES, 5 days until my first competition!!! I had some major diet blunders at the end of last week due to going a little too low carb and ending up maniacally binging on any white carb I could get my hands on late at night two days in a row! So, Saturday I added a real whole grain carb in my mid-day meal (instead of just limited vegetables as carbs all day) and yesterday I was at my mom's for brunch so I allowed myself a slice of quiche with all it's carb-o-licious crust (but that was as bad as I went all weekend) and it really showed on the scale this morning - I had lost 2 pounds (after having no change whatsoever on the scale all week!) So, because of all my diet mishaps Thursday and Friday and my carb-bloated belly Saturday as a result of those bad days I was feeling a little depressed thinking 'how will I ever be ready for this show in less than a week?' which was a new feeling for me as up to that point I had been SO excited and didn't even worry very seriously about looking bad and embarrassing up on the fitness stage. But this morning I feel like a new woman ready to compete on Saturday!!! Soooo, this week I am cutting all salt out of my diet, upping my cardio time and intensity (even more if that's possible!), changing up my weight routine a bit to be even more sweaty circuit training style than it already is, working on my figure poses and routine, putting the final touches on my bikini and costumes, and... the fun part... getting beautiful!!! I've got beauty appointments booked all week (finally some relaxation payback for all this work) - hair, waxing, mani/pedi, massage, tan, etc. YAY! I've been down for my early morning cardio this morning (think I really need to stop reading fitness magazines while stair climbing or biking and kick the intensity up a notch - god I'm obsessed with fitness mags and have to buy every one as soon as they hit the stands including heavy-duty men's ones like Musclemag and Flex! I tell myself, soon I will be in them!) I'll be working back, biceps, and abs in a bit, plus a little more cardio. Then running to the studio with Zak in the jog stroller, practising posing, routine, etc. with my girls at the studio, and maybe running home (depending on if hubby picks me up at the end of the night, or not). I love Mondays - WOO-HOO!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

OK, so I just officially registered online for the competition I'm doing in two weeks from this Saturday in Ottawa (OMG!) I made the decision to compete in Figure instead of Fitness as well as the Athletic Model category. I was having a lot of difficulty with my fitness routine (cause I'm so not a gymnast) and even though I don't usually like being too realistic, but I was trying to tap into some sort of rational thinking the other day after I worked on my routine and realized I only have 2 weeks left to polish it... The Neutron Figure category requires you to do a figure routine (which is a little less acrobatic and more free than the fitness routine) which means I'll still get to do a routine, but maybe I won't look like a total geek. So today I will be re-working my routine to include less acrobats and more poses. I feel so excited about my new decision - I have renewed energy as I feel I have a shot at this now! In addition to the quarter turns in the physique round of this Figure competition I'm going to have to do 5 mandatory bodybuilding type poses which I know nothing about so I've definitely got my work cut out for me! On the physique front, I have been trying a high protein and way lower carb diet and it has been going really well! I got to 146 pounds this week, with my goal for tomorrow being 145 - so we'll see if I make that! My upper body is responding really well to my strict diet and heavy workouts, but I really need my lower belly and thighs to catch up now!!! I'm thinking positive about it and think I might be seeing a tiny bit of progress in my upper legs now that I'm doing low/almost no carbs - yay!