19 days till IFBB comp

So somehow I haven’t had a spare minute to update everyone on my comp prep. It’s crazy how little time I have atm. So right now I’m 19 days away from my IFBB comp and I must say my whole prep so far has been great. This will be my 2^nd time competing and I feel much better about it. I feel like my mind is stronger this time round, I know what to expect, I have a team of girls going through this with me and I’m even closer to my trainer and nutritionist so am opening up a lot more.. Therefore this prep has been great as I’ve felt so happy and healthy and found more of a balance then my last. Not to say it’s been perfect or easier it’s just been better - as my mind and body feels healthier and not under as much stress. With my first comp it’s very nerve wracking - all the worrying and making sure you’re doing it right and making sure your where you’re supposed to be. The first time is a lot of worry and stress as you’ve never experienced it before so you don’t know what to expect. Whereas now I know what’s normal so I don’t worry as much.

In saying all this I have just had a hard week and yesterday I was so close to breaking. I’m lucky I have an amazing support network to help me through this as it could turn quite bad quite quickly if I didn’t have them. I knew these next few weeks were going to be hard on my body and I tried really hard to make sure I didn’t give in to all the stresses and take it a day at a time. I have controlled my stress very well and still in the process of staying calm to get through these next few weeks.

When you’re so close to comp you start second guessing everything.. Am I eating the right food in this point of time? Is my training right? Should I do extra? Am I lean enough? Anything that anyone says will get to you. So I had this problem yesterday I was so tired I was walking on the treadmill thinking to myself I wonder if I could sleep and walk and the same time, so I was closing my eyes as I walked as I was so tired, I was just so out of it. I was also getting a twitch on my lip and one of my eyes was swollen – I get this from stress.. gahh!! So because I was so tired I start stressing about all the things I need to do after my workout, my week ahead and then I just started to think about my food. Maybe I need more carbs because I’m so tired.. so I wonder if I should alter my food? I almost cried I was just overwhelmed with everything. Last prep I would have cried about a gazillion times.. This prep I haven’t cried surprisingly and I didn’t want to start. So I thought before I get myself all upset to talk with my trainer and my nutritionist. Of course they put it all in perspective for me. Sometimes I just need that reassurance to get me through and to talk it out instead of creating scenarios in my head. And of course I had my fitsister Emma by my side helping me through, encouraging me and keeping me focused. My little angels. I think at the end of prep it’s very easy to lose focus as we are so exhausted from months and months of training and eating so clean.. but we need to just hang in there and keep pushing on. We will make it. we all are in it together and I’ve found the body building community is where the best support and best friends are found.

I had a big week of work last week in which has caused my exhaustion. I would be able to get through a week like that normally but because my hours have got upped so they’re not my normal hours and I’m in depletion my body wasn’t happy using extra energy that I didn’t really have so I felt so tired and exhausted. My week last week consisted of me waking up at 4.30am and getting home on some days at 8pm so would need to cook my dinner then go straight to bed. Talk about no time for social life or my fiancé. So of course I work weekends so my next day off isn’t until tomorrow but I have training in the morning and appointments all day then food prep so does that really count as a day off.? Then I finally get this Saturday off although I should be at work.. But I thought I won’t push my body to do it because I’m clearly not coping as it is and I need to get some energy back as I’ve got another 9 days of work in a row to come after Sunday that I need to prepare for and do that week all over again.  So you can see my mind works ahead of time and I start stressing about the lack of time I have.

What I must remember is this is only temporary.. I’m only doing these hours at the moment because there isn’t anyone else on counter, my training is upped because I’m close to comp and I have to have my meals prepped as there is no room to stuff this up so close to comp. So it’s only for what 19days I can do this!!! I have taken 4 days off before comp too as I know I won’t be much help those last few days at work as I’ll be quite depleted by then so have taken annual leave to relax and enjoy the last week of comp.

 
I have been coping with stress a lot better than I ever have.. I took up yoga a few weeks back and my god now I know what all the hype was about. It helps my mind relax as I think my mind goes a mile a minute and never calms down haha so yoga has been great for that and of course to stretch my muscles from all my heavy training.  It really relaxes your mind and body for a complete rest. Us who compete, or are mums or anyone in general you don’t realise how important “you time” really is.. you know you need your own time when you think oh my god I just want to shut the door and be by myself but in order to get complete mind and body relaxation this is when yoga is perfect so I highly recommend it.

At the end of the day I have had a great prep, I’m happy, healthy of course a little tired and exhausted but this is on my part for taking on so much work – I love my job and don’t want to let anyone down so I’m just trying to do the best I can and when I feel like it definitely is too much then I will do something about it but for now I feel I can push on. Just want my family, friends and of course my amazing fiancé to know to hang in there. I won’t be this time-poor forever, this grumpy, this tired, this anti-social and the list goes on for too much longer so I say just hang in there for me. Their support I’ll be forever grateful for because although I’m doing the comp it’s as though they all are as well.. They go through all this with me and affects them so much too in good ways and bad ways but it’s only these last couple of weeks that will be the struggle so support and motivation is definitely what’s needed.

Cannot wait to be reunited with everyone involved in IFBB and meet all the girls who are competing going to be one hell of a comp!!!