Ye Olde Blogge Ramble

I've been quiet on the blog front of late, because I've been thinking. Plus I have discovered that when I take on several things I do them, but not very well! In fact, I barely keep my head above water! I've been quietly discarding the superfluous from my life, mostly physical stuff as we prepare to move and realizing that at the end of the day, we don't need much to be truly happy.

To do something really well, one needs to prioritize. This is why Olympic athletes live their whole lives around their training - it's impossible to achieve that standard with everything else humming away in the background. It's what makes Figure Competitions so appealing to many - it's what got me competing in the first place - 20 weeks to focus on me, me, me!

I've been searching for that priority in my fitness life lately. I make a start, and feel like I get waylaid by injuries, class fills, and other minutiae I'd rather do without. Last Friday I blogged about my RPM Assessment with Maka which was an incredible learning experience - was a bit overwhelmed with the feedback but was able to take some of it into my class today and it really rocked - felt so strong, so powerful on the bike and alive! I really put the intensity on and toughed it out, even though there were some points where I just wanted to fade badly.

Inspired by this, I've signed up for an Advanced Instructor Module for RPM with Les Mills in February, exactly one month away. My goal and my intention is to really nail this module both with fitness and my presentation. Soooooo, I'm putting my first goal out there for the year. The module is locked in and I'd be doing myself a great disservice by turning up as less than the best version of myself. A month isn't too long to focus, the kids are going back to school and I'm not doing any pharmacy work. Me, me, me and RPM sounds rather nice! The aim of this being to have another crack at LMA auditions in May. I feel funny writing about this - I've had thoughts of "what if I don't succeed and I've got to blog about it again?" It's the same feeling I had when I came dead last in Figure Intermediate all those years ago - but I look back on that comp with pride - I did the best I could and arrived in the best condition I've achieved. So, if I don't make it, I'm going to look at it as a wonderful learning experience and I can only become a better coach and teacher for making the effort.

The plan involves doing what I can in the gym - mostly at this stage, very specific strength work and Pilates, indoor and outdoor cycling.

Nutrition wise, I do best on a good balance of foods - deprivation is not a term that I care to have in my vocabulary. Self care by honouring myself with the best nutrition that works for me is what I do best.

Katie has written a couple of thought provoking posts in the last few days. The one I've linked to, I could have written word for word. When I moved to the middle of nowhere and knew nobody, I felt exactly the same. Even though I'm a tried and true introvert, the importance of connection cannot be underestimated. That is how I got into blogging and found "my tribe" - all the other girls around competing in Figure in 2006.

The last six months or so has seen an evolution of the tribe I want to hang out with in the blogosphere. I've retained some excellent internet and real life friendships and others in my tribe have moved away from my circle as our lives and interests have diverged. This has puzzled me and saddened me at times, but I think there is an element of "nature" in it. I have evolved as well and cannot expect that the same people who thought I was cool back then to may be think I'm crash hot now I've had four years or so blogging about my neuroses. Though I must also say, I've met some pretty cool bloggers in the past few months whose blogs I love to read and comment on (waving!).

I too, feel happiest when I have a deep sense of connection with people too - Katie is an example of someone who I started with in a completely different context to where we are now. Same with many of my others like Shelley, Shan, Kerryn , Nicole and Kirst (if I've left anyone out, it's because I'll run out of room mentioning how fantastic you all are). True friendships grow - and embrace changes.

Meanwhile, I have still got one foot strongly leveraged in the Figure camp with girls who are prepping for various shows during the year. We're even going Fitness for the All Females in July - different training focus - just love the challenge of bringing in a smashing hot body that is going to spin some fantastic moves as well as look sensational - can't wait. All the other girls are doing really well, training hard and not turning into carb depleted lunatics. I'm so proud of 'em!

Circular Thinking

I remember having a chat with Jo Rogers ages ago about how when someone competes, usually something major is happening - for her I remember "something always died" and the first time I competed the house got flooded and we had to move into a hotel with very limited facilities the week prior - think my emotions were on a knife edge then and thinking about it is a good reminder of how important it is to stay level and keep a good perspective about everything.

At the beginning of the week I was having a circular argument with myself as to whether you could call bodybuilding a sport - after all it's not a test of power, strength, speed or endurance (though on this point I could beg to differ!) - you're simply judged on 'how you look' and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be uniform across all federations or even within the same federation which makes it all rather confusing. Part of my brain tells me that I shouldn't consider it a sport - but then I think of the hard training we put in and think that I would be doing bodybuilders and figure gals a huge disservice by suggesting that in doing this activity that they're not athletes. I think of the likes of some of the girls around me who have really dedicated them who have really dedicated themselves to whacking on the muscle and decide that how could they not be athletes given the intensity and focus of their training? So as you can see, prepping for a show has the ability to mess with your mind!

Kek wrote a great post about "Fit to Travel" and I have to say I agree with her. I started off by taking some pre prepped meals but eventually I ended up eating out with every meal - my strategy was to keep carbs low if fats were high (ie had salmon and vegetables a lot!) and vice versa. I walked everywhere and arrived home lighter than before I left. I had the choice whilst away of "stress out about your eating and send cortisol levels through the roof " or "take a chill pill, be moderate and level". Option B works better for this little black duck.

Today's training - got some chest and biceps in (yeah!) and a good hard run where I dug out a nice little niche just under anaerobic threshold and went for it for 20 minutes. Have added a 30 minute relaxed walk to most days as well which is helping to keep my mind clear (apart from when I'm engaging in planned gas release at airports and circular athletic arguments).

Travelling Foolosophy

After my "trundling" post yesterday, I was thinking about how to keep the focus alive to see it through to the end and the thought occurred to me in the middle of teaching RPM - focus on discrete areas of performance and the rest will follow. Here I was at 7am sprouting some "foolosophy" on the class. It is not enough to want to come in and "look better", though "looking better" is an undeniable and valid reason for wanting to join a gym, but in the context of my RPM class, riding for "better legs" doesn't really give you a lot to grasp on in terms of performance. However, increasing resistance to improve your climbing, working on your cadence and your transitions are all concrete goals that actually lead you to naturally looking better anyway and you didn't have to *think* too much about it. It's the same with nutrition, focus on your meals with intent, rather than just say "I want to eat, so I lose body fat" - focusing on improving aspects of your eating eg more vegetables, less processed crap leads to the same effect as the concrete athletic goals - looking better.

Psychologically speaking, if you take the time to look after yourself - eg "I will go to sleep at 9pm" rather than "I'll try to get to bed earlier"...same result will happen.

This applies really well to comp prep - today I focused on teaching decent Bodystep and RPM classes , I made a semi paleo curry (semi because it has dried fruit in it), I ate my planned meals. I learned new Bodystep for tomorrow. I can rest easy knowing that my work is done for the day - and that I'll be improving never the less - you know, DO, not think.

I know I said I was busy...

I know I said I was busy, but I'm taking a break from being the House Cleaning Gnome to write about my latest news. We're building a house! It's been a long time coming as we originally purchased our land to build on in 2006, just before we got shipped off to Woop Woop - it's a lovely big block with views of the city - even if the city is a little further away than we'd like. It has been 'touch and go' as to whether we would ever build with the exploding real estate market and cost of building and then the subsequent crash. My hubby works for a mining company that recently laid off 20% of its workforce - so we had to wait and see whether we would be lucky and stay employed, or be made redundant - we were incredibly fortunate that his old job was made redundant, but that he was offered another position within the company so we are OK. It has been incredibly stressful and my heart goes out to those who haven't been as fortunate with employment as we have.

Anyway, we finally (after a false start) decided on a builder - IDH, or Individually Designed Homes - they have been tremendously helpful thus far. We have designed our own home and have been having fun choosing various things like appliances, flooring and carpet. We have decided to go with Miele appliances, expensive but we've never had any of our Miele stuff in our other houses kick the bucket - I'm rather looking forward to cooking with fantastic appliances again. The gas cooktop we've chosen even has a rather nifty wok burner which is going to get some good workouts I am sure! Hmm what else - we're going to invest in solid timber floors (another dream of mine ) - can't wait. I guess I will have to start a house blog shortly once the council plans for house and pool (yes, we're doing the pool now too because there will be limited access later) are approved.

Thank you to everyone who posted comments about my photos - as I said in my earlier posts, I didn't know if I wanted to compete or even mention it on my blog - but the support and encouragement I have received has been gratefully received at this end. It really helps to know that when you're not feeling willing, you can write a blog and somebody will be along to give you a kick in the pants.

Have had a pretty good training session today and did what I call a post shoulder PB on the bench press this morning (did 3 x10 @ 35kg) - I cannot believe that six months ago I couldn't even trace the movement with my hands!

Am looking forward to salmon and asparagus for lunch - may do both on the BBQ - this sort of food may sound plain to some, but it is simple and delicious.

Anyway, back to work - life is good!

A date gives you incentive..

I'm off to train my legs this morning. Those of you that know me well would have heard me complain about how much I dislike leg DOMS - however, I have a date with a bikini now, so I'm going to forge ahead with the job regardless. It's funny how I can handle (and actually don't mind) upper body DOMS but lower body...not so much fun for me.

Today I am grateful for some inner peace that has been a long time coming. I feel at one with the world and connected to my higher purpose. I know who I am and the role that I play so well and I am grateful for all of the clients who put their trust in me in their journeys to get lean, get strong and to love their lives as well.

Interestingly enough I think my peace has not come from some magic psychological revelation but from eliminating gluten and its close relatives from my diet. Over the weekend I have been researching food allergies as they relate to weight loss and it seems to be consistent that those who have wild spikes in scale weight may have allergies and intolerances to certain foods. It's not the first time I have had trouble with gluten - I was hospitalized in 2004 for suspected inflammatory bowel disease and as soon as I took out the gluten (not even consciously - I just gravitated towards more vegetables), my tummy improved dramatically. Now with the swelling and fluid retention I have been having lately, I've noticed a positive correlation between my Paleo meanderings and lack of swelling and retention. The one serve of grains I have are gluten free. It's all rather interesting - another thing that was discussed was allergies affecting the brain as a site and therefore having an effect on mood. This has been the most interesting aspect of the whole shebang as I feel that a light fog has been lifted from my brain.

That is not to say that I'm never going to be a Dirty Diana - quite the opposite. I always did well with any treat meal that doesn't contain processed flour etc - for example the chocolate flourless cake I had at Freestyle with the girls did not affect me one iota - neither does icecream. However at the moment, I will keep embracing my Paleo lifestyle until the swelling is completely gone - it's a lot of vegetables, but it's really not a chore or bad news when the results it gives you makes you feel sensational! And, yes, I've even had a nice little scale drop over the weekend which is an added bonus!