I love it when famous people remain real people and act as such

Day 15 Ironman Prep

I was having a bit of a little bit of a downer day today. I was tired when I woke up this morning and only did 25 minutes of cardio instead of my usual 30. After class I wanted to go sleep, but I went to the gym instead. When I walked in I saw Laura was working so that was a happy thing. Sometimes talking to someone who knows can really help. Most people just think you’re nuts with the diet and training, but Laura has five bikini competitions (the training for bikini is VERY similar to that for figure) behind her so she knows. She’s also used the same nutritionist I’m now using before and it was a relief to hear that she was also tired all the time on this plan; I’d been starting to wonder if there was something wrong with me.

Lately, I seem to forget something every day. A few days ago I got to the gym only to realize I hadn’t packed a sports bra. After I got creatively dressed I promptly realized I’d walked out of class leaving my favorite water bottle behind so I’d jogged back to that building and up to the third floor to retrieve it. Today I almost walked out of the house without my iPod, thankfully remembered, but forgot to pack RedLine. I bought some at The Rec. I used to be anti-supplement, but now that my nutrition is the figure norm I need them. I’ll stick to RedLine and then when it starts to lose effectiveness I’ll replace it with a different pre-workout supplement.

Awhile back I ordered Nicole Wilkins' DVD, In Pursuit of a Dream, from her website. It came in the mail today and I was shocked to find it in an everyday manila bubble mailer hand addressed to me. The DVD case was also signed by Nicole and matched the handwriting on the package. Her and Erin Stern are the biggest names, the top champions, in the Pro Figure world so I had been expecting it to ship in a barcoded package from a warehouse somewhere. Nope!

It’s a little thing, but I thought it was really great. I love it when famous people remain real people and act as such. The DVD itself is really good. I’d ordered it so I can put the portion on posing on repeat and emulate a zillion times with a full length mirror next to my TV. Posing is my biggest weakness, so imitating an expert at home for the next few months can only help me. I was also surprised to see footage of an F&M Hers article I read some months back. Nicole and her trainer, Kim Oddo, had a body transformation challenge competition. I distinctly recall the article because the winner, Shannon, was actually a single mom who did almost all of her workouts at home while her shorty slept. In the DVD when they’re talking Nicole compliments her for pulling it off as a single mom, committing to getting organized to eat right and be regimented with the workouts. Of course that struck a chord for me. Someone should do a study to see how many extra calories daily responsibility for a small child causes a parent to burn! Kidding (sort of, haha). All I know is every time I give Charlie a piggyback ride (he thinks it’s more fun when I run) I start getting goofy ideas about using him at a track for some sort of weighted sprint plyometric theme….you know the whole sprints with a weighted backpack or parachute thing … just with 30 lbs of 4-year-old instead ;)

It was really interesting to hear what Nicole eats. No foods I haven’t already used in my diet. The most encouraging thing I heard in the DVD was that Nicole has a tendency to hold a lot of muscle in her thighs. That’s me! Her trainer combats that with track workouts among other things and Nicole demonstrates one in the DVD. She is huge on cross-training: traditional gym/weights stuff, 1-2x week track workouts, 1x week gymnastic workouts, yoga. I’d like to try the hand stand step-ups from her gymnastics workout sometime; they work both your core and shoulders. If you’re at all curious about what Figure really is, what the lifestyle is, how it all comes together, I’d highly recommend watching this DVD. It’s pretty inspiring; I know, I was having a shitty day and it made me feel better ;)