Chapter 1

Comp Prep Wrap-Up and Photo Shoot

This will be a few installments so I may as well start at the beginning!!

So I prepped myself this time, basing it on what I learnt from last year. As I've mentioned heaps of times previously, Lyndsay and Shannon were my life-lines and I'm sure they don't realise how much their support got me through my 'dark' times.

There weren't too many of those though! I had this comp goal since stepping off stage last July - to come back in 2010 leaner and better! I was so focused, I was on auto-pilot. I had only a few psycho moments, but when you're in them, it's hard to see the bright light. It was always external stressors which triggered them, so as long as I kept it controlled and BREATHED, I seemed to be OK.

I love love LOVED my early morning walks and walk/jogs. I live 20mins jog from the beach so would run or power walk there, spend 20 mins on the beach as the sun rose and then travelled the 20mins back! I loved this cardio and I always mixed it up so it stayed enjoyable. There's not one day I missed my morning cardio once I'd set myself to do it. Wake-up texts either from or to Shan to keep us accountable helped heaps!

I had my skins done weekly and a weekly PT Session with the owner of the gym I train at up here. He just hurts me. In the final 2 weeks, I just didn't have the mental strength to keep it up... I burst into tears in a session with him as I was just so tired, and OVER it. I found that when the finish line was closing in, it got tougher and tougher mentally to stay in the game... when it should have been the opposite - excited and pumped that it was finally here!

My weekly skin measurements was the big thing that kept me motivated. Each week (bar one where some went up?!?) they all dropped, some minor, some major. I'll list them out in a separate post at some point.

Last year the feedback I received was: come in approximately 2kgs leaner and build up the upper body as my legs are overpowering. My progress pics in comparison to last year showed that I did both of those. I'll post comparisons up one day too (if you're really keen to see, keep bugging me - I'm a slack blogger!).

A few days prior to comp, I weighed in 2kgs lighter than last year's lowest weight. WOOP! Goal achieved! I know scales aren't the 'everything' but that's MY way of knowing I'm headed in the right direction. Progress pics show my lil bubby shoulders did grow a bit! So I was stoked that I'd bettered myself from last year and that was all that mattered :) The show now was my opportunity to strut my stuff and celebrate all I'd achieved.

Two weeks prior to comp, I did a studio photo shoot with a photographer I used for a shoot in 2006. Had heaps of fun, as you do!

Sooooo pics to come.... :)