Wow! What a Weekend!

(photos courtesy KRISTIN GLEESON)


Where do I begin?!
I guess first off-I ended up with a 5th place trophy out of a line-up of 10 master figure gals; all in great condition who obviously worked hard. I did come in leaner than last week-so I'm happy about that; yes, was hoping for a slightly higher place-but am just glad to have placed in the top 5 in such a huge show!

The pics above are all from the night show; I'm hoping to have some stuff from the pre-judging (before I nibbled on a few yummies and consumed some liquids) by the end of the week.

So, aside from that...let's see; Our trip to the Gold Coast was nice and smooth from the beginning. Good drive down, good flight (I highly recommend the Townsville airport & the Gold Coast airport as well as Virgin Blue-all very efficient and organised!) Our apartment was just fine and sooooo close to the venue and shops-literally 2 blocks from the RSL; Loved that!

The show itself was HUGE! About 200 competitors in all. And it was bloody long! There were about 40 sports model gals alone-and the general consensus was that they need there own show-as a courtesy to them as well as the bodybuilding and figure gals. It just makes the show way too long-and with 40 gals in one division-I don't feel they get the attention they deserve for their hard work...I know I was antsy and not really paying attention by about 1/2 way through their routine portion and I felt bad-but damn I was tired and hungry!

But aside from all of that-It was fantastic to catch up with gals from internet land! Woohoo!

During pre-judging, John & I hung out with Di from Fabulous Figures, who btw is looking freakin' HOT! You are going to kick ass this coming weekend hon! She's so sweet & quite helpful in handing out advice to me and John; Thanks hon!

Met for the first time Cath (48, Fit, Strong, Fabulous), Michaela, Shannon (Congrads on your overall babe-You looked fab!), Selina (Selina's stuff) all very sweet gals. Then finally at the night show caught up with a few gals...briefly caught up with Lauren (my amazing adventure),Hanni (With or without my Mojo), Leanne (One fit mumma) and Kristin & Leisl. Kristin not only baked the most fabulous banana bread muffins for us gals, she also spent the morning after the show putting pictures on a disk for me and she & Leisl then were kind enough to take John and me to the airport! How sweet is that?! I highly recommend those muffins; pure heaven after the comp-especially with the drizzle of cream cheese frosting on top! YUM! I do believe we have a tradition in the making here-those will be expected at all future shows hon! :-) Can't wait to catch up with you in a few weeks too!

So, the downside? Well, as I mentioned, the show was just so bloody long! My division was 3rd to last and even though we left right after my division that night, we still did not get to bed until midnight! And apparently the show went on untill 12:30! That is just too long.
2nd-I pulled my hamstring a bit; not completely, but it does really hurt today (Monday) and it will take a few days to heal-I just pushed through my splitz to hard and fast-felt it tweak straight away-OW!

What are my plans now? Well, my immediate plans are to unpack and catch up on 2 weeks of house cleaning and laundry...LOL; my house is a disaster right now. Other than that-well in between training clients this week and filling the fridge with something besides chicken and beans, I will be giving my body a well deserved rest. After 2 weeks in a row of hardcore diet, pumping up, sugar loading, water loading, dehydration etc.-my body is just screaming for a rest. So, I'm actually taking this whole week off from training. Will just be doing a bit of work on the garden and organising the house and baking; generally thinking about anything but figure comp for a change! LOL!

I think that's it for now. Will have more pics from the show (so many gals took some great pics-too many to share all at once and blogger is not cooperating!) and things to share later in the week.
Ciao for now!

SEE YOU AT THE A-PAC!

BE SURE TO SAY HI IF YOU SEE ME WALK BY!

http://www.anb.com.au/AsiaPacific.aspx

Looking Back; "FIGURING" it out...

CORAL COAST CLASSIC, FIGURE MASTERS LINEUP





So, now that I'm looking at the picture from the weekend, keeping in mind how awful the lighting was, I see I really was not lean enough. Part of the reason for this, not all of course, but at least part was that I was definitely holding too much water. I know exactly what I did wrong regarding that, and bet you dollars to doughnuts (mmmmmm doughnuts...hehe) I will not be making that same mistake this weekend!

The gal on my right (to the left looking at the picture) took first place, I took second...and I honestly do not know who took third..my bad! I think it was the very next girl over.

I'm pleased with the outside pics-they turned out cute!
So, there you have it...on the Asia Pacific....and getting that water out...LOL!

2nd Place

Hi guys! Well, this is going to be a fairly quick post-I'm flat out with cleaning up from last weekend, training clients and prepping for this next weekend.

So, as the title says-I got second place in the Figure Masters at the Coral Coast Classic comp in Townsville QLD over the weekend. I placed higher than last time, and it was a good practice run for the A-Pacs this weekend. Figured out a couple of things I won't be doing next weekend, like my back walk over from the knees...just way too slippery-nearly broke my neck! I hope to have some video of the routine before I leave for the Gold Coast. Should have some pics soon too!

Other than that-it was great to meet fellow blogger LAUREN as brief as it was-though she and hubby were able to have a nice chat whilst I was in back pumping and biting my nails...LOL! We are both looking forward to catching up with you next weekend hon!

Also caught up quickly with Jude from LINDY'S FORUM. And was super lovely to meet a gal who's read my blog; Don't know if you want me mentioning your name hon, but you know who you are! Thank again for the support-looking forward to catching up when you guys hit Tully! You can e-mail me direct through my profile page. :-)

The only other point about our weekend (which was a very low point) was our super crappy hotel (Don't ever stay at the Leisure Inn Plaza Hotel in Townsville!), which we stayed in the first night, but were fortunate enough to get a room at Jupiter's for the night of the comp (which is where the comp was at)-for only $20 more! Beautiful sea view, king size bed, clean, roomy-super lovely to just take the elevator upstairs that night.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell; moving forward now! I will definitely have pics of me to share...a good friend was kind enough to do an impromptu photo shoot at the pool at Jupiter's-we think we got some fab shots! And he did some video of the show as well. He took pics at the show-but the lighting was horrendous! Everyone was washed out-so we'll see!

Thanks again to the gals who came up and said hi! Looking forward to seeing those of going to A-Pacs this weekend!

Off to cook...LOL!

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Yep-the next few days are flat out....as usual right before a comp! So this will probably be my final post until after this weekends comp.

Clients to train, food to cook, nails to polish, arms to wax, body to tan, final posing practice to do...it's all happenin'! Did my final tabata sesh yesterday, and a final full body light workout circuit today. I am not nearly as tired and loopy as I had been over the previous weeks; I think knowing that this weekend it's happening-I've got some extra energy, thankfully! It will be interesting to see how I go next week since I have to basically get straight back into the no carbs on Tuesday.

So have a great weekend! See ya' next week!

TASTY TUESDAY!-Chipotle Chilli

Hey guys! Well, I thought I'd go ahead and post today..even though I have not been posting regularly during this stage of comp prep. I will get back into regular Tasty Tuesday's after the comps. But I was so excited to have found this Chipotle Chilli Powder -I just had to share! Over the last few weeks of perusing new recipes I have seen the ingredient of Chipotle Chilli Powder a number of times-usually in American recipes. So, I went to the local shops and health food stores in search of this powder to no avail. I then decided to do a search online and lo and behold I found it!

Now, you are probably wondering what is the big deal about some chilli powder-it's really not a huge thing...I just kept seeing it in so many recipes I HAD to find it-and I'm really glad I did-it's super yummy! Chipotle Chilli is a smoked jalapeno pepper...and then ground up into a powder-and when I added it to this recipe this weekend (which is not one that calls specifically for Chipotle)...it was divine! It gives it a nice heat with a smoky bbq flavour. LOVED IT! Can't wait to use it in more recipes.

So, I highly recommend trying this out...you can find it at THISwebsite.

That's about it! I'm five days out from comp one of two...and pretty happy with the mirror...hehe! Busy week! Have a good one!

The Countdown...

Well, it's almost here...I've been talking and thinking about these upcoming 2 weeks for like 8 months! By my last post (day 2 of a no carb cycle)-you probably get an idea of how up and down this whole journey has been. Today is a carb up day-so I'm not going to be such a Debbie Downer...LOL!

Today I am 6 days away from the first comp; I feel I'm in a decent spot body wise. Skin folds are still a tad higher than I was hoping for-I could still get them below 50 by the AP though-right now they are at around 53 over 7 sites. I am bloated a bit today-which I fully expected knowing that Aunt Flo is visiting-I'm so glad the timing worked out to be just before the comps rather than during or just after; this way I know that by Friday my tummy will be "flat as" since it's not even THAT bad with the bloat ATM.

Today is my carb day then for the next 3 & 1/2 days it's no carbs..besides veg of course and tons of water. I've been slowly increasing my water intake...but man I am really getting sick of having to use the bathroom every 20 minutes! I can't imagine if I had an office job-how do you guys do it? hehehe

I am glad it's just about over. I have learned heaps about my body this time around, so I'm glad about that. But, as I said in my last post-I'm tired of scrutinising my body...I just want to be healthy and fit-and not worry about trying to get below 10% body fat-which is not particularly healthy anyway; at least not for any length of time. Yes, I am very much looking forward to just being fit and healthy again.

That's it from me for now!

Have a great week!

Still Kickin'

Hey all! Well, it's been ages since I've posted-and you haven't missed much...I haven't had much to say.
As you may or may not notice on my side board-I am a week away from the first of 2 comps I'm competing in this year (as of tomorrow-Sunday). This comp prep has really been enlightening-or I guess I should say has been a big reminder as to why I was never going to compete again after the last comp. It is just so hard on the body and mind-not to mention those around you. It truly can take it's toll on relationships! Fortunately for me, John understands that this diet and harder training really can do a number on the body and head; though he hasn't been overly thrilled with some of my mood swings during comp prep, he has learned to take a step back knowing that it will be over soon. I know I'm not alone in my moodiness during comp prep-we read it all the time on these figure blogs-I just read Jehanne's today which sort of prompted me to post today.

Besides putting relationships to the test, as I mentioned above comp prep really puts the body and the mind through the wringer. My sacro-illiac and shoulder issues have really flared these last couple of weeks and I am really sick of looking at every inch of my body and scrutinizing it! I never did that before-and won't be doing it any more after these comps. It's not healthy for me or John...hehe.

What do I look forward to after the comp?
-Well, naturally, as most competitors, being able to just eat for starters. We have a generally well balanced diet regularly-with the occasional sweets or treats here and there-and that is what I look forward to, getting back to balance.
-Second, training just to train; I usually enjoy my training-but these last few weeks it has become a real chore. Plus, not doing so much darn cardio!
-Not thinking constantly about the comp; I have just been obsessed with it-watching vids, reading blogs, looking at comp pics, picking my body apart; I'm over it.

I've got gardening to do, clients to train, recipes to cook, and some travel plans on the horizon. And I am looking forward to doing it all without thinking about figure competitions.

Having said that, I will say I have put in some good effort for these 2 comps coming up..I think I put on a teensy weensy bit of muscle from last comp, & I think I will come in a teeny weeny bit harder as well...we'll know on the day! I have had a few moments of binging-I can't lie...that's something else I don't normally do either-but when on such a strict diet, my body just starts craving things-or maybe it's my head...
But, other than a few bits here and there-I have trained and dieted pretty hard.

I am really looking forward to catching up with a few internet gals at the comps-and putting my best foot forward on the day.

That's it from here!

Awesome Book

I just finished the most fabulous book, and I highly recommend it to anyone that eats food-so that means you...LOL!
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. This book will really make you think twice about the food we eat...whether it's from an industrial farm or even an organic grower; and the amazing fact that corn is in just about everything in the kitchen pantry-and that is quite possibly the major factor in the obesity crisis.

Here is a blurb off of Amazon:
From Publishers Weekly
[Signature]Reviewed by Pamela KaufmanPollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. "[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly."Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of "big organic"; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virginia farm; and assembles a feast from things he's foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn't preachy: he's too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He's also funny and adventurous. He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow's-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I'm not convinced I'd want to go hunting with Pollan, but I'm sure I'd enjoy having dinner with him. Just as long as we could eat at a table, not in a Toyota. (Apr.)Pamela Kaufman is executive editor at Food & Wine magazine.

I absolutely loved this book...though the last section did get a bit long and drawn out for my taste...the first two sections are so informative and entertaining-I cannot say enough positive stuff about it.

Time to DIG IN!

With less than 3 weeks to go, need to be 100% spot on with food and cardio now. In less than 3 weeks I'll be on stage in a little tiny bikini w\lights glaring down and with other gals who have given 100% as well...no messing up now.
I'm tired, and I'm hungry-but so are they! Yeah, it's just a figure show; I'm not battling a war or saving the world- but I'm in it so got to give it my all.

I'm down 5 mil from last week-so moving in the right direction!
Have a great week!