As the title states of this post "Heavy sigh....." I am trying to recover from a very crazy month or so. I have traveled about 4000+ miles (by car) within the last 4 weeks and it has taken quite the toll on my physical and mental state. Don't get me wrong, all of the traveling I have done has been for great reason; a baby was born and a lovely couple was wed. I have one more long trip this weekend coming up, the shortest of all the trips at about 5.5 hours each direction, to participate in a 7K obstacle race on Titus Mountain in Malone NY with my husband, father and brother. So again this trip is for great fun as well. However, when one is trying to obtain this structures eating and exercise routine it is put to the test when you are out of your norm and spending many hours in a car. I would say that I scored a D on this test.
In complete honesty, I have not stuck to any specific diet or exercise routine within the last 4 weeks or so. And there is no good reason or excuse that can justify that so I'm not even going to make something up. I have made attempts at eating the better choices when possible and finding ways to exercise no matter where I am, even if they are nowhere close to what I am used to being able to do for my workouts. I had some hopes of participating in my first competition the 9th of November. Not going to happen, and that may be for the best.
Based on the research and comments I obtained from competitors and fitness articles, I needed to give myself a solid 12 weeks or so to diet down for a competition once I had reached my desired muscle mass. Prior to my traveling I had done a few weeks of successful carb cycling. I got down to a pretty lean physique that I was happy with the progression, but came to the realization that I did not have as much muscle mass as I thought I had. I was torn between doing my first competition and competing in the figure category without the muscle most competitors had (I wouldn't feel prepared which I thought might turn me away from competing), or competing in the bikini level which doesn't require as much muscle mass and I could probably swing that with the physique I had. Now most people would say "just do it for the experience, you can always switch categories" but the two different categories are quite different as far as what type of outfit you need to wear, what type of poses you need to perform and what specific physique you should have and I didn't want to get into one and then have to spend more time later on switching my physique and outfits and learning new poses (especially since the outfits run upwards of $150+) I am hesitant in going into the bikini level due to (what I think) more challenging poses and a physique that I didn't personally want.
So, what to do next? I have said all along this has been a learning process, i'm figuring it out as I go. I've found that most people take a full year to prepare for their first competition. I thought I could cut the time in a third and essentially gave myself about 4 months to get ready. But with all the trial and error in diet and exercise I was trying I didn't really have enough of a grasp to build the physique and practice the poses within those 4 months. I definitely have learned an enormous amount about competing and have decided that I am going to put all my effort into building my figure physique by first adding muscle. My plan is that once I return from the race this weekend, I will continue to lift heavy weights (maybe start recording specific weights for each lift so I can track progress in multiple ways) and maintain a solid diet of a higher calorie count to aid in the muscle development. I will give carb cycling another go and finish the full 3 weeks (I only did about 1.5-2 weeks before). I have a couple other techniques I would like to try out before I need to use them when I actually am a few weeks out from a competition.
New competition goal: March 2014. One huge factor that makes this goal a little easier to achieve, I have a partner in crime. I have a friend who will be joining me in preparing for her first competition in March 2014 as well. Having someone experience the same lifestyle change and physical changes will make the process a little more appealing, especially when we get to the last few weeks prior to the show!!!
