Pro Card here I come - 10 weeks out.

(Yes, I cut my head off on purpose) - and this is considered 'off season' for me.

This week marks the 10 week point from the CBBF Fitness & Figure Nationals to be held in Vancouver BC, on August 9th 2008. Over this period of time I will be sharing various thoughts, photos, and some training and diet info leading up to the show.

Bottom line - I am competing for the CBBF now, and want to be an IFBB Fitness professional this year, so that I hit the Arnold stage as a pro in 2009. I am not getting any younger.

Some might be thinking wow - 10 weeks out - that is so late. I usually only diet for 6-8 weeks before a show. Fitness is just my hobby and I work full time as a math teacher at the local English high school. I am also a mom of a 2 year old, and do have to spend time with my husband now and again.....so I am pretty busy. Or a better translation of that word 'busy' is that I am on my feet all the time, and moving around my classroom a lot. Expending calories is my job, and having my food ready to go is essential as the day is so compact. Once I arrive at work, it is go-go-go from 7:30 am to 4pm.

I am choosing to start a bit earlier as I am not sure how busy I will be in the summer leading up to the show. I would rather be ready a bit early for the show, and just coast into the show, than to have to make up the lack of weight loss with more cardio near the end.

My day starts at 4:20am, and I am at the gym by around 4:45am - 5am. I do my workout for one hour and then I am back home to shower, eat, and get ready for the day and be at work by 7:45am.

Luckily, I competed in March so my routine is finished, and needs to be practiced. However, it is 2 mins long and in the CBBF - the routines are 1 min, 30 seconds long - so I have to shorten the music and the choreography before I can start practicing it full out. I am expecting to have the music to be done by the end of June. Whenever I have time to sit down and re-edit my music is when it is going to get done.

Next week is the last week of classes for my students and then they are in exams. So I am not officially finished, but I am officially finished teaching. Just some marking of tests, end of year meetings, and wrap up before the end of the school year. I am very glad to see this year coming to a close. But I will get into that later in the summer.

I would like to be posting at least once a week, but we will see. My main goal for doing this is to show you can prepare for a show, and have a good diet that does not drive you or those around you crazy. Also I want my pro card, and if things do not happen to work out in my favor at least I have something to look back and, re-evaluate and see where I could improve and make changes.

Till next time,
A.