Discouragement’s Real Name – a Waste of Time
One of the many things that I have learned in my training, whether for racing or a show, is having faith in whatever process you have chosen to reach your goals. In my blogs from earlier I write about recognizing where I have fallen short and why I might not have achieved my goals, I write about knowing what needs to be changed and how to do it, and I finally write about focusing to get it done. Well now I am focused! However, sometimes when you are focused and things don’t always go as planned, it is easy to get discouraged and think that you won’t make it.
I have learned that I must avoid this feeling at all times!
These few minutes of discouragement seem harmless at first, but add them all up and it wreaks havoc on your goals. Take for example, the mornings when I weigh or take photos of myself (for benchmarking purposes). I send them to my trainer, he/she tells me I am ok, but deep inside I feel like I am not doing enough. I say my muscles are not big enough, by legs are too fat, and where the f*#% are my abs. In the past I might have done one (or all)of these things:
1. run extra to burn more calories (like 400)
2. eliminate carbs in my meals to consume fewer calories
3. eat cheesecake and say screw it!
But, even then I knew that none of those things were really the right way to go about winning. By being overly self-critical and not trusting that things would progress if I stayed on track, I sabotaged myself and actually caused myself failure.
I won’t do that this time! I am going to identify with power! Just like one of my favorites from Tao te ching says,
So today when I weighed myself and it was more than I anticipated, when I looked in the mirror and made a mean face at myself, instead of being frustrated and irritated and letting bad energy associated with failure creep into my day, I just laughed at my mean face and followed protocol: 1/4 cup oatmeal, 3 egg whites and a scoop of protein, 350 calories on the stairmill and my training at the gym as planned! I trust in this process and the results will speak for it in exactly 8 weeks!
Time to Get Focused!
Well, it has been two weeks since my last long run at the NYC half marathon. Check out my last blog post for a recap if you are curious as to how it went! 6 Minutes Shy? Cool! That Means I Get to Try Again! I think the title pretty much says it all, that even though I did not make my qualifying time that I will try again. However, that will not happen within the next ten weeks. Today marks the day that begins my ten week preparation for the NPC Southern California Bodybuilding/Bikini Championships. Actually, it is said often that the training and nutrition is a way of life, but the ten week countdown starts today – so time to get focused!
For me, as an NPC bikini competitor, being focused means weight training five to six days per week along with cardio, measuring out all my meals, drinking LOTS of water, only one can of diet coke a day (anyone that knows me closely knows I am addicted and have forever been trying to cut back!), and NO cheating. This means no milk in my coffee, no BBQ sauce on my chicken, no bananas in my cereal, and NO extra scoops of peanut butter (actually I have no constraint when it comes to peanut butter or almonds, so I have eliminated both from my diet and will eat some other kind of healthy fat instead!) In the past, my cardio has varied from 350 – 1500+ calories because I was usually always training for a marathon. This time however, I am eliminating ALL running (except a mile or two here and there with some sprints when I just cannot take it anymore! ) and have replaced it with the stair mill. That is the plan anyway…for ten weeks…
Ten weeks seems like a long time to me. In the past, the “time to get focused!” might have only lasted six to eight weeks. Perhaps that is why the best I ever placed was 2nd…
I know that this time will be different though. If I, as an avid runner that has completed ten marathons in the course of less than four years, have been told by my trainer not to run for the next ten weeks, it will not be for anything short of my goals! my goal? To present my best physique ever, thus far, at this next show.
So this post is short, simple, and to the point….time to get focused!!
Me pictured below, at what I feel was my best physique ever approximately one year ago at the NPC San Diego Championships…that is the person to beat ten weeks from now!!
paulinacarla 