Mel Def's Journal

You look great!!! Super lean, especially for a girl. Not being sexist but a guy have to be at like 5% BF to look like that. Did anyone tell you that you have a beautiful smile? and the hair is awesome.

Placing 10 out of 13 is tough pill to swallow considering all the time, effort, sweat, and tears. It's not easy but you are competing against the best of the best. How many of those other girls have 2-3 children? On top of that some of them look like they are in their early 20's. The girl in the red/hot pink bikini have some wicked arms and abs? She probably placed pretty high but she has man-hands whereas yours are very elegant.

It's better to have loved and lost then never loved before. In the same thinking, it's better to have competed and lost then never competed before. Not many folks even have the courage to get on stage much less the physique to place in the top 10's. I hope you feel better. Hey, at least you already have a crazy nice body for the wedding!!!!
 
I didn't compete with all thoe girls in the pic Tic. :) The lady in the red suit is actually a bodybuilder- not figure. She got the top spot. She is someone I train with. The girl standing next to me got the 1st place in my division and she is just turned 30 the day before and no kids. No one else in the pic was in my group. They are all just people I train with. That said, most of the women in the 30+ division were younger and didn't have children.

I will sort through the feelings and figure it all out. I will post pics from the stage when I get some.
I appreciate the support! Thanks all.
 
Ohmygawd. The rebound water is apt to KILL me! I am so bloated and full of water I feel awful. Not sure how to combat but I have scaled the carbs back down. This is likely a several day job ahead. Ugh. I hope it doesn't get worse. Must find something that will reduce the water naturally. I feel so blobby. Super smooth. I must remember that the 2 hour binge after is bad, bad, bad.
 
Tomorrow. Cardio is back on. I think twice a day to get the burn up for these dreadful lovely things I ate for the 24 hours post comp. I am soft bloated and gross. The Tanita is saying I am 67% water! and 10% body fat. It feels like 50% bodyfat they way it puffs about.

Post comp is hard. I need to hang in there, get this water off and regroup. Cardio and keeping the carbs lower is going to help me break away from the messy terrible way I feel.
 
If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Or a Woman as the case may be. This shall carry me through this tumultous time of adjustment. The 13 lbs of weight gain make me feel terrible. I know some of it is from binging but 13 lbs?! My face and skin are puffy, my hands are swollen. It isn't a good feeling. This too shall pass.
 
Stopping by to share some encouragement. Sorry to hear you are feeling the post comp blues. Sounds like a harsh place to be, may you soon feel better.
 
Did 2 rounds of intervals and a bit of cool down on the elliptical today so back in the saddle towards getting this post comp body back in order. My goal is to maintain at 130 or slightly below and given the water weight I am not sure what my "real" weight is right now. I wonder if it could all be fat? Hmmm. I dont' think I ate that much in the binge but with my meatabolism knocked down to starvation mode, it is hard to say what would be possible. All I can do is work on getting things back in order digestion and metabolism wise.

I forgot about this from last time and I don't think it hit quite as hard but I kept the carbs higher, wasn't as lean and didn't have as much muscle. I am being careful with the carbs- keeping them around the workout window and meal 1 and still fairly low but I have had sugar- fruit and some candy but not crazy since Sunday. It is only Tuesday, I just started the cardio back up and I need to be patient. I am working long term now and that is going to take expierimenting and fine tuning. I do want to be shredded for the wedding and I will be. Plan on training for that and dieting down to some degree but perhaps I can get myself in line gadually without drastic measures. We shall see.
 
Wednesday did sprints but nothing yesterday. Work in the way and a pressing need to handle my life. SPoke to Gina yesterday and she reassured me that I could get back to normal, and that much of the weight was water retention and would come down which it started to this AM. My goal is 130 for maintenance unless I pack on so much muscle when I return to training that I look stringy and scrawny.

September is the shot for date and whatever needs to happen to get me there, I will find the way. I need to train and disipline my body and self so that I feel grounded. Work is so stressful and ungratifiying right now but it is motivating me to try new things to generate more leads and business. Keep setting goals in every area and all will be fine.
 
Have a good weekend and it's time to de-load / restore your body and MIND. Just like lifting, rest is when you grow and restore both your mind and body; don't forget that. Then there is your heart and soul which is your family.
 
Balance. Is that a myth? Sure feels like it.

OK, so I enjoyed my absolute week of bad behavior with my fiancee. Eating whatever and exercising not enough. So here it is Monday and I need to get myself back in order. Ugh. I feel like I did a great deal of damage, deconditioning and good habit breaking so it is time to go back to the things I know get me in order.

I miss training with Roc and Gina. The good news is I now have a Nike +, a treadmill at home and some new wonderful running shoes thanks to my sweetheart! Hooray! I am so excited and I have been using my treadmill and set up new goals for the Nike + to track. THe bad news is that in this game of life, the shoots and ladders version, I have gone down a big ole shoot and forgotten my focus and feel good methodology for fitness and replaced it with the comfort of eating whatever and being lazy. This must stop. OK, so I a running and twice a day some days but it isn't enough to just run and for some reason I feel incapable of going to the gym by myself and training independently.

Here's what I learned. When I do go back to Gina and Roc in September, I need to also do stuff at the gym to keep my confidence there. I lost it somehow and that is causing problems now. If I am not training with them, I feel I don't know what to do!

All sorts of very stressful life stuff is happening with the kids, my job and so forth and I am tired and feeling overwhelmed. How does one balance all of it? Can I find the happy medium of training and keeping up with the kid's school stuff, work stuff and planning the wedding? I have to time block or I won't be able to get it all done. So tonight that is my number one job. Going to look up how to do that and then begin a goal sheet and a list of things that must be done and how to do them. Each goal shall have a set of needed activities that I will add to and mark off as they become complete.

Setting up appointment with Gina and Roc for the consultation tonight. Going to have tangible measurable ways to account for my reaching each thing on my list. Also going to write down the habits that support the outcome as a reminder. It will be fine and I will get there!
 
hey doll-
yer a lil bit nuts

how is your carb load? are you starving? water? electrolyutes?

I read your deal all the time an you seem to be climaxing...

back to basics.

water-nutrients-carbs-protein- and sweat!

FF
 
hey doll-
yer a lil bit nuts

how is your carb load? are you starving? water? electrolyutes?

I read your deal all the time an you seem to be climaxing...

back to basics.

water-nutrients-carbs-protein- and sweat!

FF

I am definitely NOT starving. :) I have scaled back the carbs again and will assess but keeping fairly rigid seems to be a good idea. I am not a person who can keep a jar of peanut butter around the house or just have one piece of whatever and leave alone so I just keep the crap out of reach. Coming off comp breeds the hoarding and starving mindset and I know this. Just like Ranger training or any sort of extreme, it just takes adjustment.

I have some goals set up on the Nike site with the sensor- I like this! However, the sensor calibration and my treadmill are very different and I get annoyed that the sensor tracks me moving like a snail and so much less miles. Bah. .5 miles LESS than I am getting on the mill! My fiancee says to take the run outside and go by that and I will soon. May go to the track and see what that does.

Easing back to a plan and arranging my meeting with Roc. It will be fine. Atleast I keep telling myself that. No really, it will be.
 
2 miles this morning according to the Nike plus... 2.5 according to the treadmill. I comfort myself by saying this is bound to make me faster since I get aggravated with running 6-8 mile hr pace and only eeking out 2 miles in 24 minutes. :(

Nevermind. So I decided to follow along to the intermediate Nike plan for 5k training. Has me running some long miles some days. I don't know squat about running so I shouldn't judge but I didn't think youd have to run 6 and 8 miles to train for a 3 mile race. What do I know?

My goal is to have 2 cardio sessions most days but that hasn't happened lately. I do the morning and the evening I am all about excuses. Must stop. I could run another 2 miles tonight. Make that 2.5 miles that I will only get 2 mile credit. Ha.
 
Good run this AM taking it to 7 for the week! I have relaxed my eating for the remainder of the month but my weight has stayed steady with the cardio done. I aim to keep it at 130 for maintenance ongoing but for the wedding I would like to shred at 125 or so... if I get more weight because of muscle density then so be it.

Tired right now. Not sure if I will do any treadmill work tonight but if I don't I will do high intensity intervals in the AM.
 
For your run training for the 5k you are thinking about... running 2x a day will actually hurt your run time, imo. I just got done with one, as you know.

Alwyn Cosgrove's website has the best information about how I trained for my run/race, and I knocked off 1.5 minutes from my best 5k cross country time AND I'm four years older now.. plus I used my bands for my legs in the gym, and my prototype for cardio/run training.

Run ONLY 2x week, but do it this way: break up the 5k training into one mile repeats, and 3/4 mile repeats. Do each interval (1 mile or 3/4 mile) as hard as you can.. rest about 1/2 the time it took you to do it.. then do that hard interval again... rest, etc. DO THE 3 MILES EACH WORKOUT - NOT six miles, or eight, etc. Either three intervals (1 mile each) or four intervals (3/4 mile intervals). Each week try to decrease the rest between intervals to build up your endurance... NOT by running for longer time periods or more miles. That only reinforces running slowly, not as fast as you're able for the distance you're trying to run or race.

This will give you better quality training sessions, burn fat, and you won't be able to run the other five days a week, due to being tired... and you'll have more time for LIFE.
 
Hey Mel,

Glad to see that you are doing well. I was reading some articles on another respected site and ran across Steady state training vs HIIT's... It's rather interesting and would love to see / hear you input on what he wrote:

part one is here:

part 2 =

It's just that, you where on a low carb diet, doing Met (high sets / reps) workout, and HIITs as well. He did not recommended this but I am curious what your thoughts were? Did you lose lots of muslce along with the bodyfat and it might have explained why you were super drained, physically and mentally -- trying to do inhuman stuff. Just curious Mel, enjoy your weekend gal.
 
For your run training for the 5k you are thinking about... running 2x a day will actually hurt your run time, imo. I just got done with one, as you know.

Alwyn Cosgrove's website has the best information about how I trained for my run/race, and I knocked off 1.5 minutes from my best 5k cross country time AND I'm four years older now.. plus I used my bands for my legs in the gym, and my prototype for cardio/run training.

Run ONLY 2x week, but do it this way: break up the 5k training into one mile repeats, and 3/4 mile repeats. Do each interval (1 mile or 3/4 mile) as hard as you can.. rest about 1/2 the time it took you to do it.. then do that hard interval again... rest, etc. DO THE 3 MILES EACH WORKOUT - NOT six miles, or eight, etc. Either three intervals (1 mile each) or four intervals (3/4 mile intervals). Each week try to decrease the rest between intervals to build up your endurance... NOT by running for longer time periods or more miles. That only reinforces running slowly, not as fast as you're able for the distance you're trying to run or race.

This will give you better quality training sessions, burn fat, and you won't be able to run the other five days a week, due to being tired... and you'll have more time for LIFE.



2 times a week? Really? Hmmm. Interesting. I will read over Cosgrove's site and see if I get the training protocol for sure but it is intriquing.How long did it take you to cut the time down so much?

I really run 2x a day to burn fat and drive up my metabolism twice a day. Hard to argue that it does that but I don't do 2x a day every day. 2 x a week 2x a day for now.

Tic,

I think that it is much more difficult to "burn muscle" then we are led to believe. Sure if I was some shredded up long distance runner I would have a hard time but my training sessions with high reps and high intensity protocol is only 3 times a week and the diet is essential for short term competiton plans but you would screw yourself up if you did it all the time. That is just a short window of time.

My training is going to take on a new spin this time around. When I spoke to Roc last week he talked about getting me to a point of consistency instead of stark contrast "on" and "off". I like this but it will take some doing. We are focusing on bringing some balance to my physique and just overall improvement in muscle density. I am stoked. Of course there is the goal of looking great in my wedding gown for the short term but I am especially happy to be on the path to making myself steady and developed and not on season and off season.

I am good about keeping my weight in check. I don't go above 135 and I would like to lower that to 130 for the future until I can gauge if I have more muscle and therefore should be unworried about the scale. For now, it is still the indicator along with how my clothes look.

Ran a 5k this weekend in just under 28 minutes. I am still shooting for 25 minutes and think it's doable but my foot is hurting so I am being careful for now.

Wednesday I am back to training. :) So happy! Scared about how I will hang with everyone after the hiatus but I will be OK.

I am enjoying the Nike Plus but again it really seems to cheat me of the real distance! It put the 5k distance at 2.42 and that is a pretty big gap. Might need to recalibrate that sucker.
 
Yesterday I went back to training. It wasn't so bad in action, I kept up and didn't fall apart or fel deathly exhasted BUT today I am sore. That's understatment but no point focusing on that. It will get easier.

I almost have all the crap food out of the house... so that is good. NOW for the important part, setting a date for the goal. My fiancee's deployment was delayed and the dates we had in mind for the wedding won't be possible. I need something to work towards- maybe a date to get photos done so I will talk to Joey or Mary Jane about that. 27 days to 40. No one will be here to celebrate with me- fiancee overseas, my mother in Prague but the kids will be and we shall rent a convertible and ride around and celebrate life and how lucky I feel to have made it to the milestone! Hooray! Better at 40 than I was at 20 or 30 and a whole lifetime ahead to improve and grow more. I am getting there bit by bit. Not being gutted when plans change is a good thing.

The top of my foot still hurts. Everytime I run it is painful afterward. Not good. I think I will try the other pair of shoes and see if that is the problem. I got a pair of those dumpy running shorts that look diaperish. haha. But one thing is for sure, they are super comfortable! They look a little bleh but they feel great! And besides, they seem to be popular so I look fashionably dumpy.

I feel tired and not so great today but optimistic. I just need new goals and to remember that I have success under my belt and more to come.
 
:) i am better at 40 than i was at 20 also!

you sound good in this post. Sorry to hear things aint rolling out, date wise, just as you want, but hey-- a lil elasticity in the livjng experience is good too.

break a sweat.

maybe try running in grass, or on a treadmill, with no shoes for 20 minutes. see if you bones open up some, it may feel really good.
 
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