2 Weeks and Counting!

It has been SUCH a wonderful week - both with competition stuff, and otherwise. I'm just feeling so great about everything and I hope this high can continue to carry me through the next two weeks!

Everything is falling into place for the competition quite nicely. I practiced posing with Meredith yesterday and even though there were a number of things I needed to fix about my positioning, I just left feeling like I really can and am doing this. My posing is coming together nicely, we worked on my wave and walking on and off the stage and then just had a nice talk. I got some things off my chest and she reassured me on so many things. I'm feeling very excited for this competition and know that as long as I keep doing what I've been doing, come the 3rd it's completely beyond my control what happens, and honestly that takes a lot of pressure off.

Today I put on my tanner for the first time on my forearm and holy hell I changed races real quick.

That's one coat. I'll be putting on two. :) I then bought a heap of makeup to match my new skin color - okay not a heap but, yanno, bought makeup. Honestly, that was the first time I've ever bought makeup for myself. What an experience. The MAC lady was super confused when I told her I wanted makeup to match the paint. She eventually caught on and also taught me how to put on eyeshadow. You would think growing up in a house with 4 sisters I would've learned this before, but alas. I practiced tonight after my shower and I think I did pretty well. I'll keep working on it :)

I've also come to love Chai Tea.. from anywhere really.. and have started to make it at home. I act like this has been going on a while. No. This started yesterday. For the last 2 weeks or so I've been getting headaches around 4:30 every day and it's most likely due to my diet. So I've been trying to incorporate some caffeine in around that time to avoid having a headache. Well, little did I know, Chai Tea does not have caffeine, but it's still good. So I'm pretending it helps and then I'm also taking an ibuprofen or something of the sort. Hah whatever, I'm enjoying myself.

2 weeks to go. 14 Days to give it my all and accomplish my goals. Time to get to work :)

3 Weeks: Rock Chalk

3 Weeks from now and I'll already be done with the pre-judging and awaiting show time! I've been working on getting all the small details in place this week - jewelry, tanning, eyelashes, bikini glue, body paint, etc. It is making it so real.. not that it wasn't real before, but there are constant reminders that it is just right around the corner now. I've completed over 20 weeks of training, and with 3 more to go, I'm just now realizing that the end result doesn't really matter. All I want is to enjoy myself when I'm on stage and be thankful for all of the people who have supported me and helped me get there. It really is about the journey, not the destination. Of course I'd love to bring home a trophy, but all along that wasn't my main goal. My goals for this competition were simple: I wanted to train the whole time and not give up, I wanted to prove to myself that I could be 100% committed and dedicated to something and withstand any peer pressure I felt along the way that would deviate me from my goals, and I wanted to challenge my body in a way it hasn't been challenged. So far, I feel like I've done great. I have 20 more days to count my macros and hit my numbers, 20 more opportunities to work on posing and getting a good lat spread and 20 more days of workouts - lifting and/or cardio. I have plenty of opportunities to keep fulfilling my goals and to keep improving. Positive thoughts, only, on this end.

On a non-competition related note, last night was KU's Late Night in the Phog. I was luckily able to stream it online and got to get chills with every other Jayhawk as we watched the "Dream On" intro video that they only show on Late Night

We had fans lined up outside since 9am for it.. doors didn't open until 4:30pm. 2,000 fans were turned away..

Being a Jayhawk is an incredible feeling. I love everything about Kansas. "Last year we said to enjoy the process [of a rebuilding year] ... The process worked out OK last year" -Bill Self. Rock Chalk!

27 Days: Within My Reach

We are on the home stretch. Under 4 weeks to go and I'm feeling good. Nutrition is going well, workouts are going well, and my body is responding well. It's been a nice weekend, not too much to do - no tests to study for - but enough to keep me productive and not feeling bored.

My sister, Mary, was able to find a SUPER cheat flight (seriously, if you are going somewhere check Southwest NOW!) to come down to paint me and she is going to come to my competition. I'm really excited to know someone will be there for me all day and to have her support! Thanks, Mare! I'm also excited to celebrate with her after.

Today, is just a cardio day for my workout. 40 minutes on the treadmill and I'll be done. I'll also probably do a little yoga because my body is very tight and sore from this last week of workouts. The workouts were still brutal this week with the 30s rests, but weight has improved. I realized its much easier for me to suck it up and push heavy after 30s with my legs then it is with my upper body. I'll curse and scream (not really on the screaming.. I'm not one of those lifters, but cursing is fair game in my opinion) with each rep, but I'll still get it done. Probably why my legs are 1000x more sore than anything else. I also like hitting them twice a week. They've been split up into quad emphasis one day and glute/ham emphasis the other. My upper body I'm still lifting heavy, but I can't force myself to get the weight up if my body is exhausted - too much sacrifice of form and compensation by other muscles.

Well, that's all I've got for today. I'm going to redo my meals for this week to add some variety and try some new recipes from the Everyday Paleo cookbook Mary got me. I'll let you know if I find anything healthy easy and delicious! Have a great week.

Birthday Cramps!

Happy happy birthday to my first roommate and one of my greatest sisters, Joan! I'm so lucky to have her in my life and to have such a wonderful family and support system. They are the greatest!

I love that it's October. I love fall. I am ready for snow though. Might have to spend some time this winter up north to get my fix, last year was a disappointment. I think it snowed one night, but it didn't stick. Extremely lame.

I have spent all of today so far finding new recipes and organizing my recipe notebook. I can't wait to start cooking different things. I found a number of delicious chicken recipes I will knock out these next few weeks and then I'm going to go on a cooking streak. They are all healthy too, which is wonderful.

Besides that, all I've done today is workout (oh and I worked this morning at 6 but that's not important.. besides the income it gives me so that I can pay to compete/train/eat.. maybe it's a little important :) ) and pose. My workout was great (awful). I think I cursed Meredith's name a couple time during the legs. I love it though. I kicked my ass. When I went to walk upstairs to the group fitness rooms to pose, I was waddling. Seriously. I could hardly get off the weight floor. It was ridiculous and awesome at the same time.  But then! when I finally got my heels on (yes that left one is still tricky) and stood up, I got a MASSIVE cramp in my left calf. I sat down immediately and tried to rub it out. No such luck. It stayed contracted - hard as a rock - for about 5 minutes while I just sat there holding it, cursing. You could see the tendon even. It was pretty awesome though, the muscle looked great, just painful. The rest of my posing was great except for the occasional (minor) calf cramps but now I feel like they are both knotted up and they are hurting. I guess I'll have to give myself a nice little massage tonight after cardio.

5 Weeks and It's Official

Five weeks from Saturday, I will be back stage getting ready for the show. I'm excited. You probably think I'm living on an emotional roller coaster given my last post to now me being excited, and honestly, I probably am. On bad days I second guess myself, on good days I'm ready to tackle this thing head on. Whatever.

I have officially (finally) registered for the competition. Quincy Robert's Elite Muscle Classic.

I'm excited. Have I said that yet? It seems so real now. I also start tanning this week. I can't even remember the last time I was in a tanning bed. Only going a few times this week and next and then I get painted. This makes it seem ridiculously real and way too ridiculously close. Can hardly handle it. My posing is coming along nicely. I am no longer feeling completely off balance when I lean forward --already 5" up on my toes and I'm supposed to lean forward.. that's fun -- and my arches haven't been cramping up as much either. All good.

Last week, we switched up my workouts to doing more isolation movements and decreasing rest from 2 minutes between sets to ~30s. I used to always do 30s rests.. or no rest. I'd just superset or active rest my whole workout. But now dropping down to 30s. Holy crap. It hits me like a ton of bricks to the face when that 30s is up. I had chest and biceps today, finished it up with a little core and cardio, then went back for posing. Going to a gym 3x a day is not what I think is ideal.. but with my schedule, whatever I can do to get it in has to work.

Well, folks, tomorrow is a new day. I have lots to do, lots to work on, and lots of planning for the next few weeks. I'm happy and staying positive. 32 Days. It's on! Happy October!