Long Time No Blog!

Goodness, so much has happened since my last update (sorry about that…time really flies when you’re busy! It’s like I just blinked, and here I am!)! I hardly know where to begin, but I’ll start from where I left off!

A few months ago, I thought I would plan my own diet to get ready for the competitions in June (the Oxygen model search in Toronto on June 1 and the Southern Alberta Bodybuilding Competition in Red Deer on June 8). Stupidly, I thought this would be a good time to dabble in intermittent fasting (IF). I had read many online articles about it, and even though the results seemed to be less consistent for women (based on our hormones, which just LOVE to store fat!), I figured I would be OK. Under the IF schedule, I would skip breakfast, work out fasted (with just BCAAs), and eat all my meals within a 10-hour window each day (which meant more food in this limited time frame). I enjoyed eating this way, but my weight wasn’t budging, and I wasn’t seeing the results I should have been, especially as I kept reducing my food intake. Then, I decided to simply use the plan I had initially been on with Layne, but again, I just wasn’t seeing anything happening! At that point (about six weeks ago now), I reached out to Layne to see if he could coach me. Unfortunately, since I came to him so close to my competition, he had to refer me to someone else (he didn’t want to rush diet me for a competition in such a short time). I contacted Brooke Erickson, who was FANTASTIC! She managed to get me bikini ready in record time, and my carbs were relatively high the whole time!

The Toronto show was a bit of a disaster! The day before the show, I had THE photo shoot with Paul Buceta (dream come true!), which was incredible, but when I went to the “official” spray tanners for the show, the nightmare started! First, my appointment wasn’t until 11:20 PM the night before. I showed up early and decided to wait for an opening. Finally, there was one, and I was able to get sprayed at about 10:30. So, I was brought into this room with five portable spray-tanning booths set up, and naked tanned women walking around everywhere waiting for their tans to dry. I was spray tanned, which was fine, but then I had to wait for it to dry. And wait. And wait. And wait. Standing in front of a fan blowing cold air at my naked body. Finally, at almost 1 AM, they told me to go home, and they’d fix it in the morning (my tan never dried for some reason! Other girls were in and out in 10 minutes!). My poor hubby was stuck in downtown Toronto waiting for me, and I couldn’t have felt more terrible! The next morning, I went to get hair and makeup done by the same “official” people. As I sat down in the hair and makeup lady’s chair, she asked what kind of look I wanted: “Porn star or natural?” I said I wanted a natural look, but what I ended up with was the farthest thing from natural I’ve ever seen!!! So I did the show and then left with my hubby. The expo was really small (but maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the Olympia), and we wanted to actually enjoy some time together in Toronto! After that, we met my brother for dinner, and the next day, it was on to visit another friend in Ontario. The model search had just been intended as a warmup for my show on June 8 anyway, and since I felt fine on stage, I figured that was enough!

Stage shot from the model search

Comparisons at the model search

Oh-so natural (NOT!)

Fast forward a week, and I was on stage again, this time in Red Deer! I had a BEAUTIFUL suit made by Vizion Couture, and I was ready to get on stage! Never before have I felt that confident on stage, and it was a moment I’ll never forget! However, backstage after prejudging, I was informed that the bottoms to my bikini (which had been APPROVED the night before at the athletes’ meeting!) were too small and that I would have to change before the evening show (thank goodness I had the red bikini from last year with me!!!). Canada’s bikini rules require that suits cover at least 50% of the glutes, and even though I knew my suit was pushing it a bit, other girls had much smaller suits (and mine had been approved!)! Anyway, after prejudging, I brought my red bikini to the judges to make sure it was appropriate. They had me change into it and show them to make sure it was OK. But they were STILL unconvinced, and had me bend over while one of the judges pulled the suit over my glutes to see what it would look like with Bikini Bite (a glue that all competitors use to stick their suits to their bodies and prevent any unwanted slipping or shifting!). Finally, they agreed that I could wear it, but I could not have been more humiliated! I spent the afternoon with my former sister-in-law and my nephew, having a great time catching up, but with lingering worry about my suit fiasco! During the morning “prejudging” show (this is actually where almost all of the judging takes place; the night show is mostly there for entertainment and to hand out awards), I was in the second and third groups for comparison. At a show, they call groups of about 5 to stand next to each other for comparisons (each group is referred to as a callout). They generally switch the positions of certain girls (the closer a girl is to the middle of the lineup, the higher she usually places) so they can see who looks best in comparison with the other girls. Since our height class had 11 girls, they did three callouts, and some of us went up with the third group as well. I felt I had done the best I could, even though I wasn’t called with the first group (the first callout is usually the top 5), so I still had high hopes for placing. At the night show, I found out I had received fifth place, which qualified me for Provincials, taking place on June 15 in Edmonton! So with that, I was in competition mode yet again!

The too-small (but beautiful!) blue suit

My backup (also beautiful) red suit

The Top 5

I asked one of the judges after the evening show for some feedback. The judge I managed to talk to (one of the head judges) gave me some advice with my posing, and said that unfortunately, my first suit choice cost me some points. But she actually had me ranked as first place! (The final placing takes the average of all the judges.) Had I not qualified for provincials, I probably would have simply asked for feedback via email, but since I had only one week to prepare for provincials, I figured I needed advice ASAP!

This brings us to last weekend. (My apologies if this post has been kind of confusing. Trying to condense all this excitement into a few paragraphs is quite challenging!) To make it to the PROVINCIAL championships was a HUGE accomplishment for me (especially having placed dead last in my first competition last October), so I was just excited to be there! My mom and my best friend were in the audience for the prejudging show, and I didn’t want to disappoint them! Wearing my red bikini (I had also rush ordered new, even more conservative bottoms for the show!), I went on stage and felt…NERVOUS! I was so angry with myself for feeling nervous on stage after feeling so relaxed and confident the previous weekend that I know my presentation was not all that it could have been (although I felt it couldn’t have been terrible). Since there were only 8 girls in my height class, we were called in one group for comparisons, and the judges immediately moved me closer to the middle of the line! I wasn’t moved around for the rest of the comparisons (although they were moving the girls on the other side around a lot), so I wasn’t quite sure how I’d placed, but I figured the move toward the middle was a good sign. The two girls on the other side of me (toward the ends) were girls who had beaten me before—one girl had placed fourth at the competition in October, and the other girl placed second at the competition the week before!—so as much as it wasn’t about winning for me, it did feel kind of nice to know that I had improved! I was able to hang out with my mom and my friend for most of the afternoon (and enjoy some delicious sweet potato fries!), and after waiting around for a looong time in the evening, it was time to find out the results. The competitor numbers in my category went from 150 to 157, and I was 156. They called the numbers of the top 5 to the front: “150, 151, 152, 153…” and at this point, I was starting to worry (there were already four girls up there!). But then they called ME! I ended up getting fifth place again!!! That means I qualified for the NATIONAL championships, which take place August 17 in Vancouver! (Since I didn’t get third place or higher, I have to compete in nationals this year or requalify next year.) At Nationals, there’s the opportunity to earn an IFBB Pro Card!!!

The Top 5

My lovely medal from Provincials!

I’ve already booked Layne to coach me for Nationals (8 weeks out as of this coming Saturday!), and I’ve asked my suit designer (of the blue suit that I love so much!) to make me larger bottoms, so I’ll be allowed to wear it in August. My hotel is booked, I’m trying to book a spray tan (I’m not going to try to tan myself for Nationals—it’s kind of a big deal, and I don’t want to have to worry about anything!), and I’m going to book my flight soon using my Aeroplan points. Everything is falling into place, and I just have to get my mind focused properly. I think that was one of the reasons I was a bit nervous last weekend. Up until my competition on the 8^th, I had spent the last few weeks convincing myself that I would win the competition and envisioning a win. Although I didn’t win, I think that played a huge role in the confidence I felt on stage. And since I had just a week of positive self-talk before provincials, I wasn’t as “on” as I had been the week before. That’s my theory at least, so I’m working on training my mind for August!

Anyway, sorry that this has been such a monster post, but I’m going to start posting more regularly as I now embark on Operation Pro Card! Wish me luck!!!