Woke up feeling a lot better, and after apprehensively getting on the scales and finding my weight has gone back down I felt good. I decided to take the morning easy and not rush off to do fasted cardio, in fact the whole day turned out to be quite relaxed and I did not follow my usual routine at all which would normally cause me to panic. But not today. So my morning started with a shower, breakfast and a big coffee, some researching and eBay purchases, a second meal and then off to see Mags for my sports massage. My calves and hamstrings are really tight due to the amount of cardio I am doing daily.

After being bent, stretched and pummelled within an inch of my life I felt fabulous. I decided to do a bit of shopping and I completely avoided all food shops, although I did nearly give in once so had to get in my car and drive off quickl. A quick check on the horse and off to the gym in the afternoon. I completed an hour on the treadmill, a chest workout and 30 minutes on the stairway to heaven. Back off to the stables to put the horse out for a bit and to muck out.

Had a great chat with my coach over the phone. She is pleased with my progress this week, I am however under no illusion with regards to my weak parts on my body and we discussed this and how we will target them with training after I compete. Next week I will follow the same diet and same training plan but will drop my weights and make the movements more slow and concentrated to avoid any injury. We briefly discussed the week leading up to comp and that my carbs will go up slightly and that I will be able to eat on the day before I compete. This was a shock to me as I thought I would be nil by mouth until after I had been on stage. I feel good about this as it means I will have the energy to pose and concentrate rather than wander on stage like a dolly day dream and not have the strength to hold my poses. I also asked about my diet straight after comp as I am worried that I might be tempted to go wild and want the control of a diet. I will have a couple of days off to enjoy myself and then go on to a clean but relaxed diet for two weeks to allow my hormones, emotions and body to get over what I have just been through. I feel comfortable with this and am glad that I have asked Sandi as I have been worrying ab0ut it. She then mentioned that she might be coming to Mr Pennine which would be amazing. I would feel so much better having her there, guiding me through the day and keeping me calm (although I don’t want her to see how quickly I can eat the donuts afterwards and I am not sharing).

Finished the day off in bed watching a film and feeling pretty starving so had a protein shake and some green beans to fill me up. Not on my plan but I thought it was better eating that than going without and waking up in the morning and eating all my housemates cornflakes. Was going to go for a final walk before bed but I am actually naturally sleepy, so am going to leave it. Tomorrow will be pretty full on so I best save my energy. I have bought an item which will assist me and those around me in understanding my current mood – its quite funny and cute. A picture of said item will be included in tomorrow’s blog.