coachcinzia2009 Junior Nationals – 3 Weeks Out
Last weekend I traveled up north to judge the NPC Heart of Alaska Figure, Fitness, Bikini and Body Building Championships. Before leaving on that Friday, with only 3 weeks left in my preparation for Junior Nationals, I had some planning to do when it came to training and dieting while on the road. Even as an experienced traveling competitor I still anticipated the event with a little nervousness. That is a good sign no matter how many competitions under your belt one might have. Competing is a very important part of my life and it dictates the lifestyle I conduct every day of the year, whether I am off season or in contest prep.
I have clear and well established reasons for competing and I will soon dedicate a whole entry to that. Those rooted motivations lead me through my journey with the serene state of mind, unquestioned planned training, meaningful sacrifices that will stay a part of me even after the competition is over, independant of the judges scoring. The journey is mine, the trophy is the promoters gift to me and, as such, it is not expected! With that in my heart, I continue the journey no matter where I am or who I am with.
My diet as of now still includes different choices of protein, even this close to competing: turkey, chicken, eggs, orange roughy, tuna, tilapia, to list a few. As far as carbohydrates are concerned I am now limited to dark leafy veggies like broccoli, green beens and asparagus. For fat, I can still have almonds and avocado aside from my Wild Alaska Salmon Oil Capsules and CLA capsules. So, last Friday, I decided to stick with the easiest to cook, to pack, to measure, separate, and…to eat without stinking everyone around! I think you might already have an idea, yes, chicken indeed! For veggies, though, I couldn’t resist! I love broccoli and I didn’t care about the smell when opening the container. So, Iwent ahead and cooked a whole bag of frozen chicken from Costco on an electric griddle and steamed a whole bag of frozen broccoli. I divided the chicken in 4 oz. pieces and placed them in a large Ziploc container. I placed all of the broccoli in another. I packed my favorite whey protein powder, casein, 3 gallons of water, splenda packets, some slices of fat free cheese, a large container of fresh spinach, and some dry rosted almonds. In addition, I made sure to bring couple of Sugar Free Rockstars and a shaker for my protein powder.
For training, I made sure I completed my workout split for the week before Friday’s departure and planned my morning and evening cardio at the local gym close to the hotel we stayed at while in Fairbanks (Anytime Fitness, they were very accomodating). I knew I would have not have the chance to practice my routine for the weekend so I trained an extra day during the week and right away when I got back on Moday. In fact, on Memorial Day I had the chance to have plenty of time to practice since it was Memorial Day and our studio was closed for the holiday. Memorable practice I have to say! LOL It went very well and we made a lot of progress and maybe it was due to the fact that I hadn’t practice during the weekend, and looked forward to it! See, sometimes a little break can be beneficial!
The drive up to Fairbanks took about 7 hours. We had to stop many times because of all of the bathrooms breaks I had to take! Normally when drinking at least a gallon of water in a day I have to go almost every hour. Well, it gave us the chance to stop and enjoy some beautiful panoramic sites. Mt. McKinley was visible because there were no clouds in the sky; the weather was gorgeous and the temperature reached almost the 90’s! My food lasted until Saturday. As soon as I got to Fairbanks, I headed to the gym for my evening cardio. On Saturday morning I did am cardio before prejudging started and between prejudging and the evening show I headed to the gym again to make sure I would get my glute workout and to anticipate the pm cardio to make sure I got it in in case the evening show went too late and I was glad I did because I was in no shape to do cardio once the show was over! My son was starving and the only thing we found open was Denny’s so we ended up eating there. I, however, brought in my own chicken and ordered a diet Pepsi.
The drive back was nice. We left late after spending all day in Pioneer Park. We took out time, even though we left pretty late and even stopped for a nice meal at the Denali Princess Lodge. I asked to speak to the chef so I could explain my special dietary need. Everyone there was very accomodating and they made my meal precisely as I requested it.
While in Fairbanks, I got to see my good friends, Jack and Vicky Phipps at the show. They have been so supportive of me from my very first competition. That is precisely what they were doing there – helping people out back stage! I would have liked to have spent more time with them.