Leadup to the comp

Pics: me in coach Jon's office after first coat of contest colour, our approved water for loading, comp prep supplies!

Ali and I are still on quite a high from Saturday evening :) we expected to be quite tired the next day but instead woke up early with the most amazing sense of freedom!! It was like a cloud had been lifted, suddenly we are able to relax, take our time doing things and let the stress levels come back down!

This is because the final two weeks of comp prep were TOUGH. Got through depletion alright, and had been looking forward to loading- carbs at every meal! I was surprised though being so hungry for each meal which is what happens when you up your carbs and down other macros- digest quicker! 

Everything in the 'peak week' must be done with utter precision, think you were being anal before? (lol!) welcome to a whole new level! The water and sodium load/deplete seemed to get me in particular. The day before comp, I had a water quota I had to fill before a certain time in the day and boy did I struggle. I literally sat on the couch in jon's house for a couple of hours forcing it in while staring at the walls. I felt nausiated and dizzy. This is going to sound stupid (and nerdy) but just picture Dumbledore drinking from the pensieve! (6th book in the Harry Potter series).  Ali was doing better than me at this time so picked up the slack and ran around organising things for us on his own for a couple of hours.

We had a whole list of things we needed to bring ready to eat the night before or morning of the show, just in case! this is such a science! I in particular was looking really flat after depletion, so my carbs just went up and up! it is all SO interesting- its not about your weight, calories any of that, its about what foods are going to act fast in your body to get the desired effect- dry and muscles that are pumped and pushing out against the skin. 

I really enjoyed the presentation (beauty) aspect of competing and was actually glad when I decided to take a simpler approach to some things. We didn't start tanning until Friday morning so the only thing I got waxed was my upper lip (too much info? lol!) because I did not want the dark makeup to cling to any hairs there, shaved my bod including arms. I had my jewellery planned fairly early and was happy with the choice. When it came to hair and nails, I originally had big plans but ended up just relying on a good haircut and my trusty GHD. As for the nails, I had fakies on for the photoshoot but had not bothered to get them refilled so ended up just pulling them off and painting the nails myself. I thought this was more of a touch that would make me 'feel' glamorous' rather than contribute to the look onstage. Unfortunately cost was also very much a factor at the late stage, all this stuff adds up!

Which brings me to the tan- expensive, messy and quite difficult to get right! We had underestimated how much contest colour we would need for the two of us and had to buy additional bottles as we went along. Even though Ali is twice my size I was the culprit in using it up- as coats were sprayed on and attempted to dry we found that the natural oils in my skin instantly rejected the product and it gathered on my skin in patches which was quite frustrating!  Luckily Dream Tan is such a great product for darkening and evening out the final colour, it was slapped on nice and early and touched up right before going on stage. It was all worth it as I was so happy with the final result and agree how important a good tan is to overall presentation. 

Friday night we had anticipated getting very little sleep but we were so exhausted that we ate all our night meals quite closely together just so we could get to bed in an attempt to get as much shut eye as possible, managed a solid 7 hours which was so great for getting us through the big day Saturday!

So after about 14 months total preparation including 20 weeks on a comp prep diet we were finally ready to compete. Next post will be all about how the day unfolded, according to me! :) 

Next post will be all about how Saturday unfolded. 

WE DID IT!!!

Steph: 3rd place Figure Novice

Ali:  1st place Mens Novice

!!!!

To Right: Mens lineup

Below:

Top 5 out of 13 girls

l-R 5th, 4th, 1st, 3rd, 2nd

     

                                                  

Stoked with my result and proud of my baby!! 

Will post more details and pics v soon but for now need some sleep! :) Thanks for all your support xx

Got my kini!!

and.... I LOVE IT! of course ;) Another Style on Stage masterpiece, now just hope my physique does it justice.

2 sleeps to go. Depleting went well, so well I was so tired and flat last night at coaches' that my carbs got bumped up for loading time- nice! What I'll eat on the morning of the show depends of course on how I'm looking. Another reason I'm glad we have someone looking out for us there.

have about a million things to do today while constantly eating/drinking, we are staying in Southport overnight with Ali's family before the show and have to leave home super early in the morning!

I am to-ing and fro-ing between excited and nervous- if I remember its a competition the nerves kick in straight away so that thought is banished. Just hope everyone backstage prior plays nice! (worrywart, aren't i? lol)

SO this is likely to be my last post in relation to my 'journey to the stage'..  Thanks so much for reading and I will be back asap to post pics and a report of how the day panned out. Listening to stories from last weekend taught me that no matter how prepared you think you are, its going to be an interesting day!

See you on the other side!

..woohoo! 

Congrats to INBA competitors

What a great show! Big congrats to my good friend Hanna for placing third in the novice figure short class; having kept in contact with her during our prep I know just how hard this girl worked and getting to see her overcome nerves and pose so gracefully onstage was fabulous. My throat was a lil hoarse from the yelling, hehe!

I also got to meet the lovely bloggers Kristin (pic above) and Tiarna for the first time, who competed in the novice tall class and was lucky to get a quick hello with Tara by chance (outside ladies loos of course heehee!) who competed in open figure. All amazing, beautiful girls who really stood out onstage :) 

At first watching the show gave me butterflies thinking about mine on Saturday but as the day went on I got more and more excited about it. I wish I had my bikini cos at the moment its impossible to even picture myself up there but I understand how busy poor Jo is! 

Saw coach this morning and got great news- dropped 3ml this week and half of that was from my quad at last! My triceps were STILL unchanged and are only 0.5ml off what my quad is... which just boggles the mind! strangely though i don't mind my tricep pose, so remembering they are only numbers at the end of the day! 

Got my deplete/load plan and all the info for the days leading up to saturday, not too scary at all but bring on carb up thats for sure!

Looking back I could not have worked any harder so I am happy, coach is happy.... Finally feel ready :)

1 week out

Ahhh starting to relax now that I have completed my last day of work pre- comp; going to take a couple of days after next weekend off too to recover.. and scrub off the tan as best I can! The mild in comparison spray tans we got 3 weeks ago for our photoshoot stuck like glue to me and my dry skin! :S I have been scrubbing and moisturising like a good girl religiously, since.

I think the pain of this week's diet is finally starting to pay off, feeling leaner this week so hopefully a good result when we see coach again on Monday. Then its a case of the final drop in skinfolds due to the water deplete which for us girls esp I think can be quite significant!

I am so excited about heading to Chandler tomorrow morning to see the INBA show. I'll be looking out for friends and bloggers Hanna, Kristin,  Tiarna as well as my friend from CBJ's Renee,  in the novice class as well as Tara and another friend from gym, Michelle in either tall or open classes... (not sure which but Im sure I won't miss it!)

I am hoping to see a fantastic turnout and a lot of support, encouragement and fun going on up there on stage- work it girls! Be confident, stay switched on, work hard but make it look easy ;) Can someone please give me this same advice next weekend? Thanks x

7 sleeps

Lord give me strength!

This week’s meal plan has been TOUGH, full of ups and downs and having to take each day (hour, meal, training session) as it comes. I did get my small serve of oats back for brekkie (thank goodness- I almost go into zen like state when I eat them) however the fun certainly ends there each day L I am counting down not only to the show next Saturday but to the day next when I get to start carbing up!

I’m grateful that I don’t have to endure this ‘final stretch’ of the diet any longer than I do because ive been wondering at what point of this diet would I really start overthinking/dreaming/becoming a little obsessed with food eg what I’m going to ho into next Saturday night and Sunday after the show! All in all, I am happy with the decision not to come in any leaner than I will be especially for my first show, as I may have just traded my marbles for a few more ml! :S

These thoughts can be a little frightening, especially when they come out of nowhere but its not at all surprising when the diet is this restrictive and unbalanced. Its interesting when you think about it, my head is longing for foods that will give me the quick fix and rush of a happy hormones release (serotonin, dopamine etc) which happen to be simple carbs (SUGAR) and fat whereas, I know that more importantly, my body is crying out for healthy fats and lower GI carbs. When I look in the mirror and wistfully think I could maintain this shape I stop and think of these physical symptoms- My memory and concentration are poor, skin and hair are dry, joints are clicking, cracks in my tongue etc etc. Not that I have been thinking this everyday of course, remember the mind plays tricks- I’ve lost 16kg all up and every second day is still a ‘fat day’ which can drive you nuts if you let it too.. Glamorous hey?

Being very aware of my thoughts and feelings helps immensely. Understanding that they are stemming from a physical response to nutritional deficiency helps me observe my thoughts rather than let them take over.

So that’s my wrap up of what appears to be a ‘2 week out low’ I must endure before at just one week out I presume (hope) that BANG you turn another corner and there’s that light at the end of the tunnel. Cue nerves and excitement…. Right now is a perfect time to remind myself how much I have learned about self-discipline and restraint..

Day in the (current) life

A (Working and Training) day in the life of Steph since about 4-6 weeks out

5:15-6:15 1 hour cardio on treadmill, usually pass the time with morning news programs and a magazine

6:15-7:15 madly get ready for work, prep and eat breakfast

7:15-8:30 commute to work, do makeup in the car!

8:30-4:30 work- I eat four meals during this time, space 1.5-3hrs apart. Drink about 4L of water, heaps of green tea and 1-2 black coffees.

4:30-5:30 leave work, commute to gym, take pre-workout supps and change

5:30-6:30 weights workout

6:30-6:50pm post weights cardio

6:50-7:20pm travel home.

7:20-9:20pm another mad rush to: shower, feed cats, cook dinner + 4 meals for next day and try to clean up. I usually have the meat pre cooked and frozen into portions however, like to cook the vegies fresh for each day- 300g x 4 = 1.2kg!

9:30pm try to be in bed by this time, otherwise risking insufficient sleep (already under ideal 8 hours) before arising to do it all again!

Repeat 4/5 weekdays + one training session on weekends. 

Extra cardio on 2 non training days.

No time to scratch oneself, really! LOL. You can see how as fun and exciting as the process is, you have days where you are simply over the routine, the lack of time, pressure to go go go and the closer you get the harder it gets energy-wise.  The successful competitors are those who can push through these times and not let anything (particularly themselves) compromise their conditioning in those final weeks. 

I can also see how you get so over it all that as dedicated as one is to the fitness lifestyle, all the 'balls' could be dropped at once for a while post comp. While I fully intend to take some well deserved time off training to recover, I know I will need to stay active and keep eating a lot of clean food so as not to shock the bod into a violent reaction! Because this is one of the key things I have learnt- gradual changes. I did not begin this diet eating so much fish and broccoli and so little else, I wouldn't have lasted 2 weeks!