TLC: Trust, Love, Consistency

However, if you plan on making a whole week’s omelette’s and you’ve locked your keys in the car, had only 5hrs sleep and bruised up both your shins until they’re purple where in the heck do you go from there!?

Well, you discover that you wouldn’t make a very good car thief but that a change of plans doesn’t mean a change of attitude.

I didn’t get to bed until after 2.30am last night. Not because I’m a wild party animal, I was trying to finish testing a web design in Internet Explorer 6. Cripes! My body still woke up just a little later than the usual time and my brain had dreampt up a mean and nasty plan of a not-cardio workout that it thought might be fun. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up made a lazy breaky, still hungry so an hr later I gave into the "i’m sleep deprived feed me carbs" siren and had a small serve of buckwheat and some rice protien. YAY! no sniffles! No probs I’ll pick up my tray of eggs and vegies and head straight to the super-gym, then back to bed for a nap before cook-off. Green bags; check. Phone; check. Shopping list; check….. erm where’s my handbag, Kev? No, Kev they’re my shoes. Maybe Stephen didn’t spot it last night when I asked him to bring my stuff in….. doh! Handbag in the car, Stephen 40km away on a day long motorbike ride.

Just that second the train the markets goes past. So that’s out too! Change of plans, grab the cobweb riddled pushie, spare key and petty cash. Intentionally don’t brush off cobwebs as I’ve got no way to lock up my bike when I get there so it better look like a wreck. Round the markets in record time. $8 for 30 free range eggs, why would I buy anything else! On the train with my bike and goodies and back home only 1 hour behind schedule. Feeling: relaxed and thankful for the change of pace. Not yet sleepy. Time for round 2.

Watch videos on YouTube on how to break into cars, but I’m no good. Toss up between the tiny gym and the non-airconed gym and choose tiny. 35mins bus ride later (a 12min drive) I’m wondering what my strange idea of fun is. Loaded up a bench with 3×20kg plates and push there and back the length of hte tiny gym. Straight into farmers walks, walking lunges and sprint there and back. Repeat x 5. Urgh maybe some db swings, snatches and abs as a finisher. In and out in 25mins. Another 30 min bus ride back. Get off early at the butchers for meat. Glutes struggle and complain all the walk back but I my mind just can’t be brought down. Even when it starts raining I feel peaceful.

Treat myself to a nice bath with my new Lush porridge soap. Yum!

Not everyday is this upbeat for me but lately I’ve been finding so much more peace in the everyday. It’s been great. It brings me such hope and confidence for later in the year when I’m prepping for comps. Once upon a time I would have curled up in a ball and cried and yelled at the dog for the day.

It’s days like today which remind me why I love being strong.
Had to help the boss shift couches and a board room table out of the office and new ones in. The boss is a former state level football player, mean footy coach … and great guy. Our office is on the first floor of some very steep stairs. I had 3 offers from people in the street to carry my end of the furniture, poor boss didn’t get any. This is the kinda thing I would never have been able to do a few years ago. I didn’t even raise a sweat (though I did change from heels to sneakers). I felt a bit sorry for him as I think he was a little embarrassed.

Food was spot on today. Got an awesome walk in the National park as the sun rose and did extended drop sets for shoulder in the sauna gym. Also knocked off a major project at work.

I love my life

I’ve got 3 what the?’s

Firstly my scales: Erm why is it I lose 4kg over night? It happened on Saturday morning and I thought they were just being weird but I got back from Sydney and got the same number. Not complaining. I’m actually seeing a pattern. It’s called carb-cycling. I switch up my diet, throw in some treats and woosh, down they go. By treats I mean sweet potato, rice, fruit and soylati. These have actually been slip ups, but I’m thinking I’ll see how I go with 2 high, 2 low for a fortnight.

2ndly: While in Sydney I trained at Market St FF and again experienced an annoying phenomenon. All the dumbells where just randomly scattered around the gym. The 5kg spot had a 22 and a 12 in it. The ez-curls and straight bars were all mixed up. No one seemed to care, and I got weird looks when I started to tidy up. The same thing happened when I trained at Melbourne Central FF late last year. I don’t know how you East Coast people do it! All 3 FF’s here in Adelaide are spotless in comparison. I do however, love that I can train anywhere in Australia.

What was the 3rd thing again?
Blah, I’m tired and have over done the carbs tonight so my brain is loopy.

Did an awesome leg workout tonight. I forgot to bring the program I’m working on with me so I winged it. Best lower body effort in ages.

Modified Fit-tribe warmup/activation- added clams for my glutes and scapula pushups for my wing
SS seated hams/seated curls 2×12
Front-squat (really ATG- how low can you go?): bar x 16, 27kg x 12 x2, 32kg x 6 x 2, rest 90 secs with hanging spinal rotations
Standing bb single leg DL- 15kg x 8 x 2 rest 90 secs
BB Walking Lunges: 20kg x 12, 20kg x 10 rest 90 secs
Forward thrusting jump swats (for calves) the length of the gym x 2, rest 60secs(curl up and die and do it again)
Cable fitball crunches + 12 burpees x2
Seated calves (40kg) + standing calves(90kg) + 10 burpees x 2

A HEEEEUGE Malaysian meal afterwords. Tomorrow is R&R and lean mean and green.

I’ve actually had a big learning and thinking couple of days and will hopefully get fingers to keys and get it all down tomorrow.

I’ve been hiding from my blog a little and just posting over in LindyOlsen land instead but I thought I should drop in and get things back on track around here .

I’ve had a few curve balls thrown at me in the last week and I’m sure glad that my goal setting was done the way it was, as it looks like things might not turn out the way I’ve planned (and it’s only January).

Consequentially my training was thrown out of whack for a few days and then a few family events totally jumped in….. and guess who didn’t have a plan!?

To fix the upset in training I’ve switched to full body workouts. I thought I’d hate it but I really find it refreshing. I’m working through another PN members program. This time by my hero, Krista. Her website was what really got me training hard so I’m excited to be doing her Next Level program. I really do recommend the CT program too and will go back to it at some point as I’ve seen massive results.

As for my food, I’ve decided to stop giving myself an inch and running a mile. I’m hitting it mean and green. Eats are gonna look something like:
AM sups: Vital Greens, xtend, green tea, calcium, chromium, glutamine, creatine
M1: Salmon/beef/3 eggs + greens + 1 ts nut butter, fish oil
M2: roo/fish greens, walnuts, fish oil
M3: chicken/tuna salad with ginger, lemon, olive oil, walnuts and red capsicum, 3 fish oil
M4: PN mixed nut bar/shake (pea protien, almond milk, hemp seed, vital greens), zucchini/cucumber, 3 fish oil
In-weights: Xtend, 20g Malto
Post-weights: Whey, 20g malto
HIIT: Xtend- during and after.
M5: beef/lamb/chicken, vegies (rice/sweet pt if weights day), 3 fish oil
M6: 100g quark, walnut butter, plum, licorice & peppermint tea
Bed: ZMA

Friday M5+M6: freebie

Training:
Tues: Weights, 25mins LI-SS cardio
Wed: HIIT
Thurs: Rest-stretching, dog wrangling
Friday: Weights, 25 mins LI-SS cardio
Saturday: Rest- epsom bath, foam rolling, beach
Sunday: Weights, HIIT, sauna

Water: 3L plus training.

Recovery: Sauna, epsom salts bath, stretching/pilates.

I’ve been working on kicking my own butt back into gear and decided that it was time for new desktop wallpapers. Rae and Tank are gone (sorry ladies)

These are images my lovely sister took of me the day before my the state titles last year. I love them so much. They are going to keep me motivated to be even better this September.

I’ve been reading a lot about CNS recovery so I thought this was particularly interesting.

One of the best and easiest ways to see if your nervous system is primed for a top-notch performance is to perform a vertical jump prior to every workout.

Start by testing yourself in a normal, well-rested state, ideally three to five days after CNS-intensive training. This will be your base value.

Test yourself prior to every workout, and if your test goes up two or more inches all of a sudden, your CNS is ready to rock. This day is a good time to include a lot of heavy lifting (even going for a one or three-rep max) or explosive training.

If your test goes down two to four inches, then it’s best to lower the amount of CNS-intensive training, opting for less draining methods.

If your test goes down more than four inches, go home and forget about the gym for a few days.

If your test score is within one or two inches of your regular score, proceed with your regular workout.

read full article

I haven’t blogged much this week but let’s just say there’s been some tough, tired and emotional days. I was never prepared for how exhausted I’d be and it’s been a real struggle. Most days ended or contained tears.
and then…
I woke up Friday morning without my alarm at 6.15 and I knew it was the day to get things straight. Gobbled down my eggs and greens and had a fantastic hour walk in the national park with the hound. I had all my food packed and ready and made it to work 20 minutes early (unheard of). Went for a walk on my lunch break to get some sun and a short black (ended up with a tiny little sun-dress from miss gladys too).

The coffee had me set. I was going to make it to my workout and have a good one. It felt so good to get in the gym again. I was working my shoulders in tri-sets, my favourite. I realsed I hadn’t done a workout like this in maybe 5 months. I have full control over my muscles, brain and shoulders were actually working together. Vague memories of this sensation linger from before I was injured, which was the last time I took time off. I was really working my  muscles hard, but mentally I was clear and focused and could control every bit of every movement. This feeling is priceless. This is how I want to train in the off season, no fighting for control, no negativity.

I was in an extra good mood too, as ‘Friday night rules’ had been re-invoked. S and I pick a nice, vibrant but upmarket restaurant and take several hours to indulge ourselves in delicious food paid for by our week’s toils. Anything goes. I provided a short-list of restaurants to S when he asked me where I might like to go, mainly Italian, his fave. He surprised me and pick Beunos Aires, an Argentinian place on Hutt st. It’s PN paradise, I was actually wondering if I’d find my PWO carbs! The serves are massive and we ate ourselves silly on chicken, seafood and steak, along with the crispiest (fat laden) potatoes and stir fried vegies. I joked to S that the desert menu was a myth and that they really didn’t serve deserts. After a little while of letting my main sit I spotted the specials board. Lemon Cheesecake. Oh baby! This was the one thing I really really wanted to have post-comp, not a cheap supermarket kind, a baked one. I have pretty high standards but this didn’t disappoint. S said he didn’t want desert and ended up eating more than me , it was that good. I woke up this morning, still a little full, remembered the cheesecake and felt so happy I’d ate it. Won’t need another piece for months.

This morning we were back into our Saturday morning routine of dog rambling on at Brighton followed by breaky. The Friday-Saturday combo used to be a bit of a slipping point for me so I had planned ahead a bit. I’d pre-cooked a pile of kangaroo snags and packed one incase I couldn’t find some good lean protein. Ended up eating at a different cafe and ordering an omlete with spinach, asparagus and mushrooms, amazingly fluffy and not at all greasy. Fed the buttery toast to Kevin (thanks mum!) and added in my kanga-banga and was full and happy. I was really feeling like the off season me I wanted to be.

Debated about training 2 days in a row, but S had chores to run on the motorbike, leaving me the car and a free hour so I got my gear together. Ate a small bowl of protein ice-cream (I love off-season) and punished my legs furiously. My squats felt so good. I powered through my walking lunges (yuck), threw in romainian split-squats (just for fun) and finished with tri-sets of ham-curl, leg-extention and calf machine. Listened to my body for rest breaks and felt like a new person.

I had chicken, green beans and sweet potatoe waiting when I got home. As I ate it, I thought how lucky I was to be healthy and fit and eating such delicious food.

My next goal is to eat clean and PN until my next training session, Tuesday. It’s going to be hard not to train until then and keep my head up but I know I can do it.

I drove all the way to Whyalla and all I got was this trophy

Actually I got 2 trophies. First place figure novice, 2nd place Ms Whyalla.
It was a bit of a talladega nights situation (if you aint first, you’re last). Also got 2 tubs of Vital Strength define/slim whey in choc and strawberry (ick, never likes strawberry), if they’re no good I’ll make bars and ‘cheese-cake’ out of them.

Sadly this might be the extent of the photos I’ve got as our camera decided to ‘chew’ the card. My Dad’s doing his best to recover the files for us.

This week I was much happier with how full I came in and managed to get a decent pump before going on stage. I was still a bit rushed when I got out on stage and the poses were called very quickly which left me a bit shakey. I tried my best to remember everything Terri taught me. I felt a little like I’d jipped myself when I can off stage and decided that I absolutely HAD TO get my routine right. I totally messed my routine up last weekend but this week I was raring to go and get some serious posing done. I slowed down and focused and my timing was perfect. I almost jumped up and down on stage I was so happy.

By the time the overall Miss Whyalla was to be judged I’d totally forgotten that I’d have to pose again and frantically re-pump. All was good and I posed much better than in the novice round, but still had wobbles (no wobbles last week-grr). I was up against Helen, who did novice last week but entered intermediate this week. It was a very tight result apparently, but I came second. Uno later told me I wasn’t quite lean enough in my lower body.I thought this was the case but had hoped my muscularity would win out.

This is Helen last week doing her routine. She is such a friendly and enthusiastic person. I hope to see her again next season.

Well done, girl!

All this means I achieved my goal of qualifying for the Australian Titles in the Gold Coast next weekend. However, I’ve looked at flights and done the maths and it’s going to cost about $1000 all up. Plus, I’ve already asked so much from my new bosses and I’d need Friday off to make registration in time so unless they are really, really encouraging tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll be going. With this decision in mind I’ve started rolling out my clean eating for massive muscle plan. This week I’m increasing my fish oil intake to 2g with each meal and allowing back in a wider range of vegies and protein source, most exciting for me is the return of chickpeas to my big salad. So tasty.

Eats yesterday were the usual crappy contest day food of jelly snakes and chocolate (wow- lindt dark with coffee flavour is the best in the world!). I had my obligitory post contest pizza (aimed for 2 slices, stopped at 4). This time it was from the Trat pizza bar and had ricotta, italian sausage and artichoke and was possibly the greasiest thing I’ve eaten in months. This morning we went down the beach with Kevin and I did my best to keep it PN at breaky with scrambled eggs, mushies, spinach tomato, bacon and pesto- no toast). The no toast thing wasn’t so strict as I always steal a bit of S’s turkish bread. Drank bucket loads of water and had my fish oil. The meal was way too much and quite late so I skipped meal 2 (not cool PN I know). For lunch I had some chicken left over and made my usual ‘big salad’ with bonus treats of sundried and regular tomatoes and chick peas and drizzled on some tasty local olive oil but may have over done it  a bit. We also did some food shopping. I resisted the fresh ricotta, mangos and bananas but S snuck in some chocolate and ice-cream which I’ll now have to ignore. I caved at the frozen blueberries, but even Scivation’s cut diet allows them! I still bought my kilo of spinach and kilo of broc and tonight it’s a nice juicy rump steak on the webber with corn on the cob and salad. I’ve got more cooked chicken to chow on in between. I’m thinking a good old-fashioned Sunday leg workout is in order now, might follow it up with a bit of cardio, just in case.

I’m all depleted and starting to load. Mmmm the warm fuzzy feeling of carb loading. 2 more sleeps and I’m on stage in Whyalla. Looking at the results from last year, it could be a walk in the park, there was only 1 female competitor last time. I know at least one girl from the SA titles will be there this year. I’d rather a decent competition, but want to get to the nationals just for the experience and to meet the other girls and JD (in person).

My official placing for last weekend was 6th, but then everyone else got 6th too. I was initially very dissapointed with the result but I had such a good time and unleashed the show-pony inside of me that I couldn’t be upset for too long. It was too much fun. I think it’s so awesome that Kim, the promoter, gave little trophies to everyone who competed. I feel so proud everytime I pass mine.

In the last week I’ve concentrated on my posing and trying to get a little leaner (cardio, cardio, cardio). I’m very excited that tonight I’ve finally got a session with Terry Roberts to go over my posing. We’ve been eyeballing each other not sure who each other was all week in the gym so it made for a funny phone call today when she returned my enquiry. She also said that I was looking much better in the gym yesterday than I was on stage (grr), so hopefully, between her and JD’s worrying I can come in a lot better on Saturday.

I am getting more and more excited about off-season training and eating. I don’t mean eating crap. I mean getting some good food in, to get some good size on. I’m still figuring out the best way to set measurable goals for my off-season plan to build massive shoulders (with glutes to match). I’ll be discussing my goals with JD as soon as all this comp malarky is over. I feel so feircely determined to build a better body, must be my stubborn streak.

In the meantime here are my quads (tara inspired):

I can’t wait. Some day’s I’m excited and can’t wait, other days I’m sick of it all and can’t wait.
The weekend fell into the latter category. My joints have been achey and stiff for about a week now. The problem started in my knees but has progressed to my wrist and fingers. In the morning’s I can’t trust myself to carry my tea cup with one hand. Luckily, by the time I’ve gotten to work and my fingers are a bit more functional but in the meantime getting ready is a slow process. I’ve added a bucket load of glucosamine to my supps in the hope that this problem will get better and I’m starting to notice improvements in my knees.

This morning was true test of my commitment. I spent 20 minutes looking for my keys and was ready to give up on the whole morning walk, but Kevin insisted. About 10 minutes into my walk I remarked to Kev that the sky was looking pretty dark and that we might be in for some rain, in addition to the gale we were already battling. Within seconds a flash of lightning lit up the sky and, to my astonishment, sheets of hail came raining down. At this point, Kevin grabbed the lead firmly in his mouth and decided it was home-time. I told him ‘not a chance, we’ve got 20 more days of this; rain, HAIL or shine’, so on we walked. The hail lasted for about 5 more minutes and there was only a hint more lightning. The roads became pretty icey and I had to do some serious bargaining with Kev to get him to not send me sliding. In the end we managed 45 minutes of our planned hour walk, I cut it short not due to weather but due to my key incident and time. I ended up with the same calorie burn as my usual 1 hour walk as I’d intentionally upped the pace.

Saturday I went to the local NABBA show. I was impressed with the physiques but not the number of entrants. I could have got up there and won a trophy and I’m at least 1 week from being anywhere near ready. Most classes had only 3 entrants! The girl who took out the novice WFF, who I’ll be competing against in INBA had a great upper body but her lower body still needed leaning out. I was most annoyed though as we appear to both have very similar suits!

Speaking of suits, I made the long drive yesterday to SuziQ to do my suit fitting, only to find out she’d forgot to change my bottoms from g-string to brazillian brief. Luckily she had an extra bit of material and I’ll have both to choose from. I also got to get her to change the scoop at the front as  didn’t like the depth. THe whole time I had my suit on I felt very mutton dressed as lamb. The lighting there was dingey and I felt anything but a figure-gal. I’m hoping when I get it in the post on Wednesday I’ll be feeling a bit differently.

I haven’t practiced my posing quite as much as Nick suggested but it’s surely coming along well. The changes he suggested have made the world of difference.

In housekeeping duties I wish to say a belated happy birthday to Liz and to my boy Kevin. I can’t believe he’s all grown up.
To make you all go gooey, here’s Kev on the day we got him (3 months).