Ummmmm...Road Trip???

When I think of Road Trips, a few fun items come to mind:

1. Rocking out to hours of great music.
2. Napping
3. Chatting with the husband about life's many mysteries
4. Iphone games
5. Car games
6. JUNK FOOD!!!

We recently took a trip to visit my parents, who live a mere 8 hours from our house. Ugh. It's a looooooooooong drive. I look forward to the trips to my parents' house for a few reasons:



1. Two giant Golden Retrievers - Murphy and Shannon, respectively
2. Lots of relaxation
3. Swimming a the local gym with dad
4. Hitting the fruit orchards in their little rural town
5. Spending time with mom and dad
6. MOM'S COOKING!!!

I'm a pretty healthy eater in real-life, but road trips are like a hall pass from reality, right? They are a brief escape from life's responsibilities and a GREAT excuse for burgers and fries, right? Those neatly packaged, uniformly proportioned, dripping-in-grease meals call my name while on road trips. I usually look forward to chowing down on a nice Big Mac, Fries and a Coke as the wind flows through my hair and Prince songs leave my mouth at high volumes.

However, training for a Bikini Fitness Contest is not real-life. End of Story.

In preparation for the trip, I had to accomplish the following tasks:

1. Let Mom know that I will not be eating her elaborate, Thanksgiving-ish meals.
2. Cook, weigh and pack meals for 4 days.
3. Apologize to mom.
4. Arrange everything in the car so I can eat every 2-3 hours.
5. Pack tons of water.
6. Use my Starbucks App along the way to find non-grody restrooms (thanks water).
7. Apologize to mom, again.

I woke up early with Dad to cook my own breakfast, politely declined the constant offer of fresh fruits and other goodies and packed Protein Shakes in my purse in case we were away from the house for a prolonged period of time.

Yes, it took A LOT of planning. Yes, it was slightly annoying. Yes, I wanted to eat the McDonald's that my hubby had the way there AND the way back. And yes, I REALLY wanted to eat mom's yummy dinners. But, there is a method to the madness and that madness ends on:

DECEMBER 4th, 2010!!

Elevators please!

Week one of Fitness Comp training can be classified as "OUCH"! Muscle soreness is a wonderful thing because it proves to your brain and your body that you have been working very hard, and are making a valiant effort to remove the bootie from the couch. During the first week of training, I was given my diet (eating 6 times a day), told to drink 1 gallon of water per day and participated in 3 small group resistance training classes and cardio sessions. Needless to say, my muscles were confused and made my daily tasks pretty interesting.

I arrived at work the day after my first legs class and found it difficult to do simple things like walk up the stairs to get some water. I will blame it on countless sets of lunges, squats and leg lifts. I was a little sore and tried stretching at home and drinking lots of water to get the toxins out. Co-workers who were now aware of my new adventure teased me about my slow pace as I avoided leaving my office unecessarily. I sat comfortably in my chair, listening to my Ipod and drinking my water as instructed. BIG MISTAKE!! Did you know that sitting for long periods of time to "rest" only makes the soreness worse when you get up? Let's face it...drinking that much water during the day will result in more than one trip to the restroom, which meant that I could not spend all day in my comfy, lunge-free office. Did I mention that the restrooms are upstairs? I campaigned for the installation of an elevator to accomodate my temporary disability to no avail. All I got were snickers and funny nicknames.



Did I also mention that I have stairs in my house? My husband laughed a little as I contemplated sleeping on the couch downstairs for a night or two. As much as it hurt to go up and down the stairs, I had to do it. I also had to get in and out of the car and I also had to go up and down curbs. All of these were a big of a struggle, but they were also a huge reminder of the adventure I had embarked on and how these 12 weeks would challenge me in ways I had never imagined.

Bikini Fitness Competition or Bust!!

Fitness contest??

Abs. We all have them. They assist in lifting, supporting the back and keeping the pelvis aligned. I have sported an impressive 4 pack for most of my life. I would like to take this time to thank genetics and my abnormal aversion to doughnuts for my beginner ab-attack. Metabolism slows significantly at 30, so age definitely isn't aiding me in my "sit on my keister and stay skinny" idea. I think about a solution from time to time, and it's pictures like these that really get my attention.

One day as I was perusing Facebook, I saw pics from a local trainer who trains girls for Bikini competitions. The before and after pics were uber impressive and the girls were tight and toned without the giant quads and man-pecs that I usually see in female fitness competitors. Still, I thought that people who compete in fitness contests are crazy! Right?? Could I spend 3 months avoiding refined sugar, fats, carbs and fun? Could I spend 3 months doing 6 AM cardio sessions PLUS evening weight classes PLUS try not to drown in the required 1 gallon of water a day? No flippin' way!! Or could I?

I'm definitely not the fitness competition kinda girl. I'm not a trainer, a hardcore athlete or a gym rat. I'm the girl who runs a couple times a month when I'm feeling chubby, plays soccer once a week (sometimes goalie), and walks 10 miles only with the promise of a Nacho mountain at the end (Freebirds anyone??). I'm a healthy eater, but an evening of dancing, cocktails and 2AM pizza gets me every now and then. I save Fast Food for road trips and wine for fancy restaurants, but then there are those days when I just can't resist the call of Mexican Food (my fave).

Could I really ramp workouts WAY up, cut out all the Happy Hours, burritos AND Tempura Shrimp sushi? Could I keep up with the the endless pile of sweaty gym clothes? Could I wash the giant stack of dishes and weigh and prepack all the meals? More importantly, could I endure the sore muscles, avoid injury AND resurrect the abs of the old days??

HELL YES!!