Crap!!! Only 7.5 Weeks To Go!!!

How the hell did that happen? How did I look up and find there’s only 7.5 weeks left until competition day?!!!! Isn’t prep supposed to drag by? Aren’t you supposed to wish every day would end and that the pain of depletion and denial would be over? Not this time – no bloody time at all!! I'm praying that it will all slow down a little!! I'm not READYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

While this sound monotonously familiar, I seem to have bitten off a big chunk of protein cookie at this crucial time. I won't say I've bitten off more than I can chew because I'm chewing quite fine. It's just taking a little time to digest. But I accept that I work way better in life if I'm chocka with things To Do.

To summarise what’s going on;

-        My new training regime (as of 9 days ago) is brutal. There is no other word for it. It gets my forehead vein popping and my heart pounding out of my skin. And it’s weights training … well so she says! I don’t believe her (‘her’ being my all-time favourite pain prescriber – Ingrid). It’s pure cardio masked badly behind some dumbbells, med balls, cables and barbells. I love and it and truly, truly hate it all in one. I dread it and welcome the change it’s bringing. It is timed the whole way through so there’s no time for sneaky FB posts, email updates, text conversations or gym chats. It takes right on one hour to complete and that’s about 15mins more than I’m used to. The volume of reps is slightly sadistic and the constant beating of body parts is gruelling. I’m seriously exhausted.

-        My food is just fine. I don’t think about it to be honest. I just prep, pack it in the fridge and eat it as prescribed. It still involves fish, chicken, roo, eggs, vegies galore and a bit of fruit here and there. Do I get hungry? Yes I do. I would like a home-made cheese burger some days. Other days I’d like a scoop of protein powder straight out of the bucket – dry in my mouth. And I’d savour that creamy sweetness and spend hours licking it off my teeth. Even better if it was one part protein, one part peanut butter - then it would take all day to consume!!! But I won’t. This goal is all too real and NOTHING will stop me achieving it. I may be a lot of things but I aint no quitter!!!

-        My family are absolutely amazing. Rob has taken to joining me on the odd workout.. well, only one full session so far. He had an adverse reaction in the quadriceps department so his second session was minus-the-legs-part. He hates the current workouts too. Not sure he sees the good side of them like I do. And he’s got more guts than me – he actually tells Ingrid how much the workouts suck.

-        My children are completely used to Mum eating out of a Tupperware and I find I can keep them contented if I ensure they have lovely meals and the odd treat while I take that time to chew a little sugar-free gum and try to disengage my nasal passages. On top of that, I try to organise family outings and little holidays wherever I can. Let's be clear - because I organise them, I make darn sure they are scheduled around my workouts and line up with my Rest Days, but the kids are oblivious to this so they just enjoy it for the little family getaway it is.

-        Work is ticking along nicely. I enjoy what I do, have thrown in a uni course for fun and am preparing for a month long course in Darwin. Never a dull moment and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh yeah – I also get plenty of unexpected overtime just to add another factor in. Generally I have no idea that the OT is coming until about 30mins before the end of my shift – oh what a difference a triple 0 call can make to my scheduled gym sessions!! But if I have to workout at 10pm in the garage, so be it. Too close to muck around now.

-        Mmm what else – oh yeah, posing. I pose and pose and pose and pose and it just doesn’t seem to get any easier. It hurts and makes the sweat drip off me. I throw that smile on from start to finish and practise pushing my tongue against my teeth – makes the smile stay longer without hurting my cheek muscles. On top of posing I practise my routine again and again and again. I tweak and fix and change little hand movements and the way my foot points. I’m not a dancer and I really don’t have much rhythm but I’m determined that my routine will, at the very least, look like I spent the time needed to do it with a certain amount of polish. I have been practising since May so I would bloody well hope so!!

Not much else to report. Wait a minute – how’s the fat-loss going? Pretty good actually – thanks for asking. I still have a way to go and I have a weigh in tomorrow after 9 solid days on the program-from-hell. I perceive I still have a good 5-6 kgs to go and only 7.5 weeks but I’m confident as I can be.

Now it's times for a little study before work at 2pm.