windsrprk’s BodyBlog

Not much going on here show-wise. I have settled into the offseason, deciding not to compete for the remainder of the year. I will look at doing an INBF show in the late spring or early summer, depending on what is out there. The biggest news is Patrick and I got married! We went to Florida from August 17-24th and got married on the beach on August 19, 2008. Tropical Storm Fay didn’t bother us at all. There was off and on rain on Monday and Tuesday, then beautiful blue skies for the rest of the week. We enjoyed some sightseeing and shopping in South Beach and honeymooned in Key West. I’m not sure what gave us away as out-of-towners but every shop we walked into, we’d get asked the question "Where are you from?" Florida is so pretty and we’ll definitely go back there for another vacation. We have our sights set on attending the Arnold Classic in 2009. Can’t wait!

My dad and one of my best friends, Diane, joined my fiance and I for dinner. It was so much fun! It felt sooo good to enjoy a burger and steak fries after the show. The hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream and two Coronas was great too! Slept like a hibernating bear and then we came home this morning. Relaxed by going to see a movie and then went to my favorite place, Whataburger, for lunch. I’m still full! Eating will be back on track come Monday.

The show was a great learning experience. As a kid I was so shy and the thought of doing an oral book report in front of the class used to make me get shaky and feel like I was going to cry. Since then I have lost that shyness and found it easy to walk out on stage. Watching myself on video I can see that my posing still needs work. I have a habit of dropping my right shoulder during the back pose and wow, that looked really bad! I suffered an ankle injury during a cardio session weeks before the show. Unfortunately, it did not heal completely by the time the show arrived and it flared up when I wore my heels. I did my best to hide the discomfort although my stride still looked a bit choppy.

I would’ve liked to get some feedback from the judges to help my presentation for next time around. This is where I had a huge moment of disappointment. Upon inquiring about feedback, I got passed from one judge to the next without receiving one single comment. They chatted amongst themselves and gave me the impression they were "too busy" to offer one to two minutes of their time. I can guess that I would’ve been told I came in too lean. It would be nice if I could’ve confirmed this and received a couple other tips as well.

My fiance’s parents came to watch the show. They have never been to a bodybuilding/figure show and his mom made the most priceless comment. "I can see its all about the face and tits." OMG! I would like to think that figure is not based on this and yet she picked EVERY class winner based on these aspects. I have seen the whole fake breasts issue on several forums so it is a concern for those interested in competing in figure. I personally will not go that route so its fake inserts or nothing!

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the show was the spectators. The attendance started off fairly strong and quickly waned. Wow is all I can say. As each class ended there were several people that would get up and leave. It got so bad that the MC finally said something about it. There were scattered spectators here and there by the end of the evening. To me, that speaks volumes about the show itself and its not saying anything good.

Even though my wrap-up doesn’t sound sunny cheery I can say I absolutely loved wearing the pretty suits, getting dolled up, and most especially seeing my body in such fantastic condition. My fiance loved the glamorous look! hehe I will take the remainder of the year off since the rest of my vacation time is allotted to us going to Florida to get married. Woohoo!

Well let’s start off with how the morning went. I have a tendency to sweat at night while sleeping and last night was no different. I woke up with some funny looking tan runs on my abdomen and the back of my arms. Luckily, fixing the problem was no sweat (haha, how punny!) and the tan was evened out pretty quickly. Did a short cardio session (15 minute walk on a treadmill in the hotel gym), a quick upper body workout (10 minutes), ate breakfast, got hair and makeup on, and made it to the competitor check-in a few minutes early.

At the expeditor’s table I got my competitor number but failed to find out which figure class I was in. Some of this is my fault (I should have asked but I’m a noob at this) and some of this was the expeditor’s fault (she should have told me which class I was in as a double-check for their records). After asking around backstage I learned that I was in Figure Class B.

I kept myself covered up until the last minute because it was so cold in the building. Upon looking at the other competitors I thought Uh Oh…I’m the hardest one here! I had heard that the NPC was going for a softer look and today it bordered on bikini model. I suddenly felt like I was in the wrong division! I made the most of it, presenting myself to the best of my abilities on stage. No surprise, I did not make the first callout. Shoot, the experience itself taught me a lot, especially that holding a pose on the side of the stage is very hard! I wound up in the second callout (of two) and I have no idea where I placed. I believe there were 13 girls in my class.

The big goof came when I MISSED the Masters Figure class. I never did hear them call for the Masters class so I was in the midst of changing into my two-piece while unbeknownst to me the class was going on stage. My dad and fiance both said I would’ve taken that class. Aww…they are so supportive! Given my rather hard look I’m not sure how I would’ve fared and since I messed up I will never know. I will learn from that mistake!

The evening show is still ahead and even though I’m out of the running I will still give my best. My coach suggested I switch to a natural organization and I am definitely going to look into this. I told him the girls today were pretty soft and that I like the harder look myself. Since my look doesn’t seem to suit the NPC I will find an organization that is more suitable because I would like to go on stage again in the future!

Well, I have three coats of Jan Tana on now and I look like a different nationality! hehe It’s amazing how this stuff gets you so dark so fast. I had a little base tan going before using Jan Tana so that probably helped. My fiance laughed when he noticed that it looks like my teeth are glowing against this color. Haha! I had my nails painted this morning and the white tips look super white with my tan hands. I had read before online that one should not put too much color on the hands because they darken easily. This is so true! While my body has three coats my hands have only one and they already match.

I’m glad I bought extra sponges (the round microfiber kind you use to wax a car) because the one that came with the Jan Tana eventually got so saturated it was hard to get new color on. Sounds odd, right? Once the first sponge got so damp it seemed it wanted to remove color as opposed to apply new color. Changed to a fresh sponge and voila! Solved that problem and was able to continue applying new coats. I also found that after the initial coat, it works better to press the color on instead of wiping it on. Use gloves! We got nitrile ones from Walmart since they fit looser and are easier to get in/out of and reuse. Also, nitrile gloves are good for people with latex allergies.

I learned a valuable lesson regarding competition tan and going to the bathroom. Ladies, this one is for you! Pee in a cup as it will prevent splashing and spotting your tan. Patrick helped me fix the spots that occurred. What an asset he is to my life…I love you babe! Managed to avoid any other mishaps by using one of the hotel’s disposable coffee cups to take a leak. No splashing, no goofs to fix!

Patrick and I are lounging in the hotel room before going out for the registration/competitor’s meeting. There are other competitors staying here so the excitement has already begun!

With the competition this weekend, I opted to take a couple of days off from work. It feels good to have only one thing to think about (the show) instead of two (work and show). Got up without the alarm and still found myself getting up before 8am! Did some cardio, ate breakfast, and relaxed. Right now I just finished my third stage makeup practice and am pleased with the results. I made some tweaks to what the MAC girl showed me and it finally looks good without being clownish. Whew!

I have practiced posing in both suits and again, am pleased with what I see. Girls, if you need a suit designer please feel free to contact Jodie at fitweardesigns.com. She did a great job on my suits and allowed me to do the stone work to save $$. I’ll post up pics of the suits as soon as the show is complete. They turned out really pretty!

Peak week is going extremely well and I am looking forward to the show. My office has taken a poll and thinks I will finish in the top 5. Here’s hoping I do not let them down!

Had an appointment today at MAC to learn how to do makeup for the competition. I’m no makeup expert so I figured I better let someone with experience handle this! A nice gal named Mira worked with me. With the tan that has to be applied I was pretty sure day to day makeup would not work for stage. Sure enough, there were a LOT of steps involved (way more so than my daily routine for work) and the steps involved a lot of products I did not have. Luckily, I had a MAC eyeshadow that she loved and said would work great for the show (I brought all my makeup with me so she could see what I had). She talked me through the whole process, explaining why she was doing each step. This was extremely helpful! When it was all said and done she took my picture (I brought my camera) and she helped me choose the most important products so I wouldn’t blow my budget. With that, I still spent $230! I am going to practice doing my face at least twice before the show so I am comfortable with the process. Hopefully come show day I’ll get good comments from the judges regarding my makeup! 

I had an appointment at a salon today to get highlights. Funny how at the age of 38, I have never in my life gotten highlights. I wanted my hair to look nice for the upcoming figure competition so I thought I would splurge a little. The gal who did my hair, Carmen, she did a great job! She gave me some choices and made suggestions as to what she thought would look best. She did the color and then we looked at a hairstyle book to get a feel for what I liked as far as cuts. I have very fine, thin hair so my options are limited. This didn’t faze Carmen at all as she got right to work giving me a fantastic cut. I left the salon with a huge grin on my face and an appointment for late July to touch up the highlights. I’ll be keeping this look! I will unveil the new hair on my Bodyspace page once I have pics from the contest. Next Saturday will find me at the MAC store getting a tutorial in stage makeup. I should be able to pick up my suits from Jodie before heading over to MAC so they can choose flattering colors to compliment the suits.

My fiance is out of town visiting a friend so he won’t see the new hair until Sunday. We have already exchanged text messages and I told him I am very pleased! It was $$$ well spent. I also found out that my friend Diane will definitely be coming to the show and I’m super excited about this! We haven’t seen each other in about two years and it will be great to see her. I invited her to come to our after-show dinner outing and she said she would love to come. Woohoo! With Diane, my fiance Patrick, my dad, and Patrick’s parents coming that makes a cheering section of five people. Awesome!

Well, my spirits are up thanks to three things: I got a really nice message from a fellow competitor regarding my rant from Friday, I got an e-mail from my trainer that had me feeling better too, and Aunt Flo came a few days early! I am not one of those women that knows exactly to the day when Flo will visit. I can approximate, and I figured she would come knocking on the door the middle of this week. Since she showed up late Friday afternoon this definitely explains the water retention! I’m actually quite happy about this because there is a chance she will pack her bags and leave before the contest next month, or at the very least, be on her way out. That means water retention won’t be a problem come show day. YAY!

Now that my mood is up I can assess my progress without being too down on myself. I’ve been working on building my calves and they are coming along nicely. The right calf is still a bit smaller than the left although it is catching up. I feel I need more hamstring work and not having a power rack or GHR apparatus is partially holding me back. I do what I can with what I have (lying leg curls and SLDL’s) and will press on until I have the funds to get more equipment. Shoulders used to be a weak point and are looking fuller and more rounded. I especially had a problem with rear delts (or, lack thereof) and have been hitting those with a vengence. Now when I strike a side pose I can see the rear delt pop!

I have a short torso. I have to stretch myself upward as hard as I can when I am doing my front pose to elongate my upper body as much as possible. I asked my suit designer to cut the bottom half of my two-piece a little lower when she makes my suits. I will see her soon for a second measuring since I’m leaner now than when I first met her. Anyway, when I stretch up tall it makes my abs disappear but boy do my lats flare during this pose! Hopefully as I get leaner my abs will look more defined. If not, the overall pose still has me feeling pretty satisfied with what I see in the mirror.

Well, its time for the next meal so off I go. Thanks for reading!

Here I am, five weeks out from my contest. I’m feeling pissed and frustrated and am wondering why I’m doing this! Judging by my progress pics, I’m not making any progress. I look the same as I did three weeks ago. ARGH!! My macros were 150p/150c/30f. When I was dropping and getting tighter, we raised the carbs to 200 grams per day. The end result of that was a steady increase in the scale and a whole shitload of water retention. I wound up extremely unhappy. Ok, so the carbs were dropped back to 150 grams per day and after a couple of days the excess water wound up getting flushed down the toilet. After that, nothing! Weight is stuck at 109lbs and water retention is once again a problem in my midsection and thighs. I bumped up the intensity of my cardio sessions, thinking I wasn’t working hard enough. No change. It feels so easy to just throw in the towel now because I don’t see how I’m going to be ready in time if my body isn’t changing. I know I’m not alone in this as many competitors feel this way. Now that I’m personally going through it, it sure isn’t any fun! At this point and time, competition prep sucks bigtime.

With the nice weather this weekend I was able to put the tan-through suit to use. Apparently, the suit material is equal to SPF 6. The first time I used the suit I did not have on any sunblock. I wound up with some very minor lines from where the suit covered me. Oops! I went to Walmart later that day and bought some Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil. It was the only product I could find that was SPF 6 (everything else was 30+). The next day I covered all exposed skin with the oil before going outside. I was able to even out the coloring around the bikini bottom and there are no lines on my back at all. The only disappointment is around the breast area. Despite the suit being tan-through, and me moving the straps around so they don’t block the sun, the actual covered boob region is noticeably whiter than the rest of me. While most (or all) of this will be covered by my contest suits, I was looking for an even tan. I suppose the only way to get a truly even tan is to wear nothing and use a tanning bed. I will continue to move the top around here and there to see if I can even out the color. After all, if it worked for my butt its gotta work for my boobs too!