54 days to CBBF Fitness Nationals

Wow. Can you believe a week has gone by now? Time flies when you have so much work to do. This week was my last week of school. I had one more exam on Wed, and oodles of marking to do, finalize my marks, enter them, call the students who needed a change of course for next year and do this all before Friday. It has been tough. Tough because my son has been ill all week. He caught a flu from a friend and the friend was sick for exactly 7 days. Instead of 24 hours it was 7 days. Not complete ill, just cranky, high temperature, headache, and lack of appetite. Normally I would stay home, but since this was the end of the year, I had to go to work, and my hubby had to stay home. It is amazing what you can get done when you have only a short period of time to do it. Luckily everything is done. Oh, and it had to be all done on Friday, as on Sunday I am off to a math conference for 3 days. Teacher math conference. The reform and changes in the system are continuing. Oh, and by the way, students now a days, don't have to pass math to get moved up to the next grade. At least not where I live. I have students who have never passed math. That is a topic I will have to re-visit as it is the most frustrating thing about being a teacher.

Training
I did what I vowed not to. I trained everyday this week. Not sure if it was to get out of the house, or just a way to start my day off right, but I did. And I hate to say that I have not practiced my routine yet. I have done pieces here and there, and know the layout of the routine, but have not had time to go to the dance studio near my house, and spend time on it. Hopefully next week. Oh, not till Thursday as I do have that math conference.

Diet
My diet was much better this week. I really hate the first week of diet transition. I do not start my diet completely as I find I need 1-2 of transition time in order to get my head in the game. Every day that goes by I keep telling myself - one more day, you can do it! Monday is the worst, as Friday - my cheat day - seems so far away. But I manage to keep myself busy, and this week was super busy, so dieting seemed easier. Diet should be ok next week as I will have to bring my food with me. I have done it so many times, that it is not that hard to travel and diet - at least for 2-3 days. Anything greater than 5 days away from a kitchen, and well that becomes hard. My food is good for about 5 days, even the fridge, and well after that things start to smell.

CBBF Invite to the Worlds in Italy
I turned down the invite to the Worlds. I weighed the options of going to Italy in October for numerous personal reasons. Firstly I am teacher. There is no way that I am flying that far to only stay for 4 days. Plus I could never get the time off in the middle of October to go away for 5+ days. I already discussed this with my principal. You really don't travel that far for only 4 days. You would realistically make a vacation out of it and tour around. I cannot. Other things I considered: a long season for me, (I am competing twice in August); my family and how it would affect them; the expense of the competition; and my goals of competing.
I want to compete as a Pro and per chance got my pro card this August would compete as a pro in September. That is my goal. The Worlds is very prestigious, but the timing is just not right for me. I am sure there will be other opportunities, and hopefully the CBBF will invite another fitness athlete to attend.

Pictures Update




Ok, so I don't see much different in my shape. However, my arms do feel leaner. It is a top down process right? I am traveling this week, so that is actually a good thing. I brought all my food with me for the next 2 days. I am hoping to see a bigger difference from the end of week one to the end of week three.

Jr. Nationals was this weekend, and 3 fitness pros were crowned. One for each height class. I think that is amazing considering fitness is not as popular as it once was, but continues to be the most entertaining due the performance of the routine. The Fitness Universe was also this weekend. I wanted to watch the shows as they do a live webcast, which was free, and well I missed it. Thinking it was Sat, I logged on to find the show was broadcast on Friday night. I am sure I missed a good show. Miami is such a great time of year, and visiting Next cafe on Lincoln Road was always my favorite part of the event.

It is so nice to live vicariously through others during your time of prep. It keeps me motivated to do better and try harder.