20 Days To Go!

Twenty days out and I am feeling good!  Had a great posing session this morning and finally stopped comparing my physique to that of other competitors.  This is MY body and I know I worked my BUTT off for this.  I need to be proud of where I am and MY best physique.  I have been worried this whole prep about how others have more rounded shoulders or bigger glutes or a wider lat spread.  Today I looked in the mirror and actually saw that this is the hardest I have ever worked for something.  And I am proud of that.  I can't wait to get on stage and have friends and family there cheering me on. 

Our spring break trip to Florida was great.  I pretty much stayed on track with diet and exercise, though it was challenging at times to keep the lifting as intense with the limited equipment available.  I got creative enough that it worked.  :) 

I had a wonderful time visiting my in-laws and they were so great with encouraging me all week!  Here are a few photos from the trip:

Early Morning Run through the Neighborhood

At Fisherman's Village

Getting some Sun

This past week has been crazy with school work and hiring new group exercise leaders at work.  We also opened up a new position and are looking for another Graduate Assistant to work with me next year so interviews have been taking place for that as well.  I expect these next 20 days to fly by and I am looking forward to seeing some of my closest friends at the show on April 14th.  So excited they are traveling here to see me compete!  

Time to get back to homework but I will definitely be writing more as I am preparing for the show these next couple of weeks!  God bless!

Fit Weekend

What a weekend! Needless to say, I am still pooped from The Arnold Sports festival and Midwest Fit Fest this past weekend. But, my motivation is definitely up! Quick recap of the weekend:

Left Bloomington bright and early Friday morning around 6:30am with two of my friends/coworkers to get to the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH by noon to catch prejudging for the Ms. International, Fitness International and Figure International prejudging at the EXPO. Parking was frustrating but we got there pretty much right on time to catch all three categories. If you aren't familiar with the world of figure, you may not realize that Nicole Wilkins has taken 1st place at the Arnold Sports Festival for the past two years and the runner up has been Erin Stern. Both of these ladies are two of my favorite Figure competitors and a huge inspiration to me. I was closest to the side of the stage where Erin was so most of my photos are of her.


Erin Stern
2012 Arnold Classic
International Figure










Nicole Wilkins was across the stage


Here's a photo of the first side line up (first 8 competitors out)




After watching this event, we went along the EXPO to try different supplement samples and check out all the booths. Although I really wanted a photo with Jamie Eason, the line at Bodybuilding.com to get a photo with her was extremely long so I decided to wait until later at which point she was gone. Too bad.  :(

I did, however, find Monica Brant. AND she pointed out how awesome my quads were even though I was wearing jeans so that felt pretty amazing. She let me know that she will be in Bloomington next week but I'll be out of town for Spring Break so I'll unfortunately be missing her.








We then went over to check out the Crossfit events going on throughout the day. Kelsey ended up deciding to compete in an event and won a free T-shirt as well as mad props from everyone present when she smoked a big dude at a two-minute deadlift competition. (Video should be uploaded to facebook soon if you'd like to check it out!)







That night we stayed in a luxurious Motel 6 that was located pretty much directly on top of a set of frequently used train tracks.

The next morning around 6:30am we headed out again, this time to Dayton to meet up with some of my employees and a few other RecSport workers to hit up the annual Midwest Fit Fest conference. This conference is basically a 2 day conference with continuing education lectures and presentations as well as a ton of workouts for those involved in Personal Training, Group Exercise, or other Fitness activities in the Midwest. I got some great new ideas for the TRX system and apparently my Group Ex leaders came away with many new ideas for their aqua sessions. I also filled some of my continuing education requirements for my Personal Training and Group Exercise certifications (thank goodness) and had a lot of fun. We stuffed 7 people into our hotel room that night and returned Sunday evening - completely exhausted.  Unfortunately, I did not get any group photos of our group at Fit Fest.

 

 

 I am VERY happy to be home and back on schedule. Carb cycling started two days ago and my competition suit is supposed to be finished by the end of the week! I am looking forward to getting it so I can really start focusing on posing in it.


I am also very excited to take a trip with my husband to visit my in-laws in Florida this coming weekend for Spring Break! They have continued to be extremely supportive and I can't wait to see them!

Here are a couple of photos from my first EVER visit to see them at their Florida home in 2009.

Weren't we cute? :)

God bless, everyone!  Have a wonderful week!