Victories of Tomorrow

The difficulties and struggles of today are what we must pay for the victories of tomorrow.Exactly the words I read as I walked out of the gym today. They came right after the word Commitment that rested right above the sprinter with his head down on the framed poster. Not only had my glutamine failed my overly sore back, but my motivation was more than in the dumps. I tried to talk myself into a rest day the whole drive over, but opted to get in my 60 minute cardio anyway. I headed to the same familiar eliptical that I always use so that I see the faces of everyone as they come into the gym. I turned on my MP3 to hear my familiar tunes that always drag me through my grueling hour. Only today was different, my body just wasn't responding, it was just begging for a day off. I think my MP3 was in on the plan as well, because today of all the days that it could fail me, it refused to work. So I started my overly quiet cardio journey once again. I usually try to think of cardio in ten minute increments and then I only need to make it through six of them; but today, I only survived 2 and a half of those increments. The hamstrings that I apparantly thought could be fixed in a day's workout were refusing to cooperate any longer. The demands that I had put on them two days before were just too apparant as I tried to make it past twenty five minutes. So, I stepped off my machine, and called it a day. I can say today is one of two things, it's either time to listen to my body, or reevaluate where my heart is. When we get to this point it can be hard to differentiate between the two. I decided when I ended my cardio that maybe it was my heart that just wasn't there and maybe it really was time to walk away. However, as I made it to the exit door and saw that sprinter with his head down, I realized that maybe I was mistaken. Maybe even the best athletes are just people, and we just expect too much of ourselves sometimes. We start to believe that our body doesn't require rest like the average person; that maybe we are a failure if we give in to some much needed rest. So today I was the sprinter with his head down, but tomorrow; I will be again, a well rested figure girl in search of the victories of tommorrow.

Don't feel like eating days

So today was one of those, I just don't feel like eating days. This is where it gets tricky; for most of the female population that wants to achieve that skinny, almost anorexic size zero look; this is quite convenient. However, when you are an upcoming competitor looking forward to that stage you have to prance across in "too high heels", this is not an option. The only thing that you are going to gain by skipping your, not so appetizing meal plan, is body fat; that's right the same thing we are busting sweat to get rid of every day. So I opt to measure the six ounces of chicken and cup of broccoli that I am scheduled for once again. I think how appetizing it would be with some ketsup but glance at the 4 grams of sugar and sit to enjoy my dry chicken and overly crunchy broccoli. I've been here many times before making the wise choice to eat my unsalted, unappetizing entre. I turn on the tv in hopes that a little entertainment will help the taste. I walk to the fridge and give in to a half a cup of diet soda and swear to myself I won't do it again for at least 14 weeks. I allow myself to temporarily fall for the deal that I have made with myself and have to admit it did lift my spirits a bit. It's amazing the big part that our minds play in the preparation for a show. No matter the caliber of the competitor, we all have that moment when we just want to eat something that we are not supposed to eat for our 16 week journey. The truth of the matter is, it's not that we really want that piece of chocolate that bad, it's just that we can't have it, and we as human beings have fought for what we couldn't have since the beginning of time. If we aren't supposed to have it, we will always want it more. Human nature is not a friend during figure preparation. There is no other time in my life that I would even think of wanting chocolate at 8 am in the morning unless I'm getting ready for a show. I think of my chocolate protein shake that I am supposed to have in 2.5 hours and decide to make a protein brownie out of it instead. I win again in my defeat against the sugar beast. He creeps up on me often when I am in the middle of show prep, but little does he know that Beverly Nutrition Protein has a taste almost equal to Betty Crocker herself; and what figure girl can complain when she gets to enjoy the taste of Betty Crocker? So, my fellow competitors, another day ending in victory; surely we are on our way to a more than second place trophy.

Throw in the towel days

So today was one of those days; the throw in the towel days, I think is the right way to describe it. I decided not to do the show in March. Of course, this probably the first of a hundred more times that I will say that before the show is here. It was a leg day and a stress day all rolled into one; and by the time I made it to cardio; I wasn't even going to the show anymore. This is of course, just one of my stages that I go through. I looked at my scheduled diet and had a protein shake, took a long shower, and tried to call my best friend for a much needed pep talk. Of course, my very best friend is not a personal trainer that gets to hang out at the gym all day and didn't have the time I needed allocated for some much needed motivation. See that's another stage of what we go through as competitors, we become selfish, and start to think that the world should revolve around us and our chicken and broccoli. So this where I catch myself and try to remember that competing is something that I do for myself and it shouldn't have a negative effect on those around us. So, as I always do, I regroup and think of my goals and realize that the lack of sleep is probably why I am feeling so down. I make a note to skip any further caffeine and try to get more sleep tonight. Almost as important as the workout itself is our recovery time; we can't recover without proper rest. It's challenging enough preparing for a show when we are at 100%, it's hard to expect a great performance from an exhausted body. So I checked the box for this day and say problem resolved and look forward to a better day tomorrow. I walk by the mirror, hold my head up high and applaud the muscles looking back at me waiting for their upcoming performance.