White Flag

It's about time that I fess up and let you all know what is going on competition-wise. Well, I have finally surrendered to the idea of a figure competition. Too much stress, and too many uncertainties in the life department to feel like poop while job hunting and interviewing. I also think I've been listening to too much Far East Movement, from whom I got the inspiration for this blog title. But seriously, love this song while running:

Of course there's no music video, but the lyrics are pretty good and it has a nice beat.

Back to the competition news--so does this mean that I will not be doing a competition in 2012? Heck no! (Excuse my lack of profanity--it's the first day of Lent, and in the efforts to be a little more Catholic and to actively try improving myself, I've decided foul language needs to go for a bit hopefully.) I still plan full-well to do a competition at the end of April--Saturday, the 28th to be exact--but I think the bikini division is much more suitable for me at this point.

So now that I have a competition date, a more attainable goal, and heightened determination, what have I changed? Well, I'm back on my prep, though it's slightly less intense than what I went through for figure. By that, I mean that my meal plan will not be changing to scale back carbs further and further...or at least not until the last few weeks. Training is about to be changed up, but only because my upper body progresses much more quickly than my lower body. Since we're not going for as jacked of an appearance, I need to make sure the lower body comes down quickly please! That being said, I'm meeting with Pleasants this weekend, and we will see what changes are in store. He mentioned leg circuit training twice a week instead of my normal 4 day split...

Training: check. Nutrition: check. Any other issues? YES! Unfortunately. These past few days I've been having trouble sleeping, or rather having trouble staying asleep. I'll wake up at the least twice per night for no odd reason. Then I end up tossing and turning until I fall back asleep (which is also the very reason I end up waking up). Great! After a brief conversation with Pleasants yesterday, I realize this is more or less a "side effect" of prep. I'm just confused because this never happened the last two times I got well into prep, but I guess the difference in seasons also has something to do with it. Hot weather does seem to make me more tired (I think). He suggested getting some melatonin or 5-HTP, which I think I'm going to have to do, against my better judgement. I rarely, if ever, use any sort of supplement or medicine to help me fall asleep, but eventually I'm not going to be able to function well without.

All in all, though, I'm incredibly excited for the opportunity to train for my first bikini competition! While it's not what I had originally planned on doing, I'm glad that I had this change of heart, and I think it will be great to see what I can accomplish on stage. My only reservation is that the bikini category is way more objective and is also more sexual, whether I want to admit that or not. And seeing as I don't dress very provocatively, this is going to be slightly out of my comfort zone...

Here goes nothing!