Last week was a rough one, at the end after carb loading on Friday I woke up Saturday with little definition. I was bummed, had hardly any energy and honestly just wanted to cry.
Instead of sitting on my butt and crying Kyle and I headed to the gym. It was a TOUGH workout. I was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. Amazing how much this can take out of you when you have a big moment of frustration. Seeing myself at they gym in the mirrors frustrated me, sure I got more pumped once I began lifting but what happened????
Kyle pushed me through the workout, I went down in weight on almost everything but I did do clapping push ups on the ground rather than at an angle off of a bench, so there was some progress :)
I certainly am not the "cookie cutter" type of competitor, I have a very strange body, which we knew. In the end we've decided that I can't carb load, I was so very defined Thursday night after minimal carbs Sunday-Wednesday and no carbs on Thursday. Running on minimal carbs for competitions here on out is going to be tough, but really that final week is tough regardless even with carb loading at the end. From Friday afternoon through Saturday evening everything is somewhat of a blur. I will get minimal sleep that Friday night and will be running off of adrenaline all day Saturday.
Granted I won't be continuing my normal workouts during the real peak week and that will help energy wise. We did the water cutting and that didn't seem to do much for me either, so I should be able to keep more water in and that should help a little bit with my energy level.
Saturday afternoon I had my posing session with Dawn. She teaches hot yoga at a studio here and that was where we did the practice. OH MY, it was HOT in that room and I looked like I was showering there was so much sweat pouring off of me. Dawn taught me a LOT. She gave me such great encouragement and advice. I found out that she also can not carb load before competitions, how funny is that? It was so nice to talk to her about the nutrition and know that I am on the right path, it just takes time to figure yourself out and get the right combination of carbs/protein/fat down. I had considered getting a nutrition coach but as Dawn said, they would need time to get to know me and body type anyway so it really wouldn't be super beneficial right now. I'm not doing badly with my nutrition planning, it just takes a lot of time and can be so tricky. I am going to lower my initial carb intake except for the days of my long runs, on those days I will keep the carbs higher.
From Dawn I learned how to really "pop" my butt. Oh man, my lower back is really feeling it today from Saturday and yesterday, that means I'm doing it right :) She was not afraid to come up behind me and push my hips forward, it is insane the difference in my poses. I had thought my back pose was my worst, but nope, she said my back is nice and wide and on that pose I can take some moments to get good breaths in while I'm not facing the judges. My side pose is so hard, I twist to the left way better than to the right. I'm beginning yoga at home to get more in tune with my body, get more flexible and it will help me to breath through the poses. I was thrilled that I don't have any "smileys" under my butt cheeks, YAY!!!!
Dawn is amazing, I can't thank her enough for her help on Saturday, she is so uplifting and genuinely kind. I have lots of homework to do before I see her again in Des Moines :)
Yesterday I lifted arms with David, I had a little more energy for my lifts which made me feel better. I also had my long run yesterday, it was cloudy, 60 degrees and pretty windy but I ran 6 miles. My pace was slow, my legs were so tight I couldn't possibly go any faster, 11:22 per mile. It really was a nice, enjoyable run :)
Today I am feeling determined, happy to know my body a little better after this past week. Ready to come up with some yummy recipes for my real peak week. Last night I made some ground turkey with chopped up mushrooms, added in rice vinegar, chopped cilantro and shredded carrots at the end. Weighed out my portions, one package of ground turkey makes enough for me to get three meals out of it. I put the mixture for last nights dinner in two big lettuce leaves, wrapped them up and chowed down, it was so yummy!
David took some pictures yesterday while I did my posing so here we go:
The biggest change is definitely in my butt, my waist is already the size it was for the October competition. I really think my waist will measure smaller this time around and that I might weigh a little more than I did in October, but that would be because of the muscle I've gained :) We'll see, I am very happy with my progress and am looking forward to really cutting down the body fat. In the final stretch!
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