Monday, February 15, 2010

I'm back - and then some!

So it’s a New Year and I’m ready to take this blogging to a new level. I’m continuing to rehab my elbows. It’s such slow/ go but I can tell I’m getting better. I had four weeks of physical therapy, then a week on my own and now I’m back for three more sessions. I think that’ll be it for awhile. I’ll continue to do my PT exercises at home and ice once per day. Although I still have pain when I lift, I can tell I’m getting better. I’ve been able to increase weights in my workouts to about 70% of my max so that’s pretty good, plus my elbows recover faster from workouts now.

My knees are also doing well. I laid off the hack squat for awhile and lightened up on all leg exercises that put pressure on my knees. I did the hack squat with 90 pounds today and my knees didn’t hurt at all! That’s about half of the usual weight, but hey – I’ll take it!

Mostly I’ve been having a bit of an internal struggle. I’m such a goal oriented person that it’s really hard for me to not be working toward something (translation: toward a show). I just love the whole process of prepping for competition – the training, the nutrition, the supplementation and yes, even the cardio. Even though there are times during comp prep where I’m tired – and hungry – I really love how I feel during those 12 weeks – mentally and physically strong, energized, ready to take on the world.

Although I really wanted to do the Emerald Cup this year, after a ton of soul searching and listing the pros/cons, I came to realize that the real goal for 2010 is Masters Nationals and that if I try to compete too soon, I may blow my chance at doing Nationals if I get hurt again. So I sat down with my trainer and brainstormed a new plan. We decided that I’ll compete at the Greater Gulf States NPC competition in New Orleans the end of June. That’ll accomplish a few things: First, it’ll give me an extra couple of months to heal up my elbows since I won’t begin prep until the end of March. Second, since the New Orleans show is only four weeks before Masters Nationals, it’ll be fairly easy to keep my body in comp readiness, as opposed to doing a show in March (Emerald Cup) and then trying to keep stage ready til July. Third, it’ll qualify me for 2011, as long as I place well, that is! So, that’s it. That’s the new plan.

It’s amazing that having a plan is all it takes for a transformation to take place in my heart and mind. I’m finding myself getting excited as the days tick by and I’m getting closer to beginning contest prep. I’m taking it easy at the gym so that I give my elbows plenty of time to heal, yet I’m able to slowly increase weights so that makes me happy.