Ha! I was wrong...

Sunday was not, I repeat not, better ! Pager was going off all afternoon and into the evening. Even had to pass up a date for dip down at the beach - had to settle for an ice-cream in front of the computer which Leah bought home after work.

Did go for a little run in the morning - a little later than I would have liked and it was already starting to get hot and the air again filled wtih smoke coming down from the bushfires. Very hard to breath and ended up with bit of a sore throat as a result. Took this photo today from my office - doesnt really do justice to the haze thats hanging over the city again today from the bushfires and I'm also pasting in my run graph from my Polar s625x HRM- just to see if I can. If its unreadable... errr sorry!




Went to the Gym Monday night, Not able to train much but still managed to do a few things that I havent done in a long while like leg extentions and leg press - someone left the leg press loaded with 200kg so that was handy for me. 5 sets of 6-8reps. Hamstring curls (boring), hypers with no weight, set of 25 reps fast and abs: leg raises, incline board situps and include twists. Sat on the bike for 10 mins - stationary bike is not my thing. Didnt feel like I'd trained all that well but better than nothing. At least I was starting for feel sore by Tuesday afternoon - those leg press's really got into my glutes and quads! Ouch!

Up at the crack on Tuesday morning, wanted to get a 'gentle' jog in before going to see the physio at 7:40 am. Was at the Tan just before 6am - at least the air was clear. Told Joe that my toes was getting worse, seemed more aggravated by the massage.... he didnt ask if I'd been running, so I didnt have to 'fib' about it - good stuff!. Anyway - no more massage but he still wants me to do the 'traction' thingy... ha ha errr 'pull my toe' stuff. Keeping up the calf stretches and ankle work. See him again next week on Tuesday - when I'm on leave. Same day that I see Ben, convenient! - can get both done in the one trip. Hmmmm if I plan this right I can come in for a run, shower and change at work, call in somewhere for brekky and then see the two docs,. They're both at Melbourne Sports Medical centre..... Dawdle around the city, Myers, Adidas, Rebel sport, NikeTown, Haighs..... Have lunch and head home before the peak hour hits.


Caught up with Dirk last night for a planning session for my next Westside cycle. Chains!!!! Will be using chains (and my shirt) probably in the 2nd week as part of my bench work, how exciting!! We were going to use the chains on the box squat on the Max Squat day but since I havent done any heavy squatting since August Dirk thought it might be better to leave them off for now. Have some more really 'challenging' things to do like jumping kneeling squats - that is on your knees, bum to heel, then jump up onto your feet in a squat position and press up. My first attempt saw me lnad on my knee's - ouch! That floor is damn hard - all the more reason not to miss. Got it eventually but really hard - need to work on this - the goal is to be able to do this with a loaded bar on your back!!! The purpose - leg drive and speed for deadlifting. More.... weighted hypers with a loaded bar - will need someone to help me load and unload the bar of my shoulders. Anyway lots of new and exciting stuff Cant wait to get started!!

Mentioned to Dirk that I'm doing a bit of running, just a few k's 3 times a week. I explained that when I was doing the good morning squats I was getting out of breath before I was fatiguing the muscles, so I need some cardio conditioning. Not good, engaging the wrong fibres, he would prefer that if I 'have' to run... that it was short fast sprints with walking recovery - but with my toe joint the way it is that's out of the question for now. Dirk would prefer that I did more traditional powerlifting conditioning - like pushing a loaded wheel barrow, dragging a sled or flipping tractor tyres..... he even suggested pulling a car - up hill. He has the harness for it! ha ha ha errrrrr.... I think he was being serious !!

Stay tuned ....

Vicki xxx

Trashed...

Its 8:15 pm Saturday night and here I am in front of this bloody computer. Should I rename the blog? something along the lines of Life and times of a Computer Nerd ? On pager this weekend and so far have been paged 4 times. Yippee, what exciting bugs will come along tomorrow?

I should have been at the deadlift comp today - dont even know how it went. Spoke to Shaz earlier in the day.... wonder if she ended up going? Hopefully we'll all get an update email from Webby later in the week.

Picked up my Metal bench shirt from Marty's gym in Footscray. Arrived sooner than expected. Cant even try it on tho' my arm is still quite sore from the cortisone shot and the last thing I want is to get my arm stuck in the shirt sleeve (they're very tight). I'll post a pic of the shirt tomorrow.

Trashed myself last night.... would have made an interesting blog update except that I couldnt see well enough to type...... Started out at the Curve Bar for our social club Christmas drinks. Not that I had much to drink there, concious of the fact that I had to drive 'the Beast' home (the Maverick 4WD)- and not wanting to plow anyone down.... but just enough to put me in the mood to polish off a bottle of Dulcet when I got home, which I must say was sickly sweet after the Sav Blanc earlier and got stuck into the potato wedges and sour cream. Oh yeah I was on a roll last night! Anyway, feeling a little sad and sorry for myself. Woe is me, single, unable to train, not allowed to run, new bench shirt that I cant play with, single... oh I said that already..... So, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Fell asleep in the recliner for a bit, much to the amusement of Leah and Madi.... Dragged myself up the stairs to bed around 11pm and passed out. Woke at 6am - dehydrated, got up to get a drink of water and then promptly fell back into the bed, eventually rising at about 9am. Have had a nagging headache all day and as I mentioned the pager nagging me as well!

Tomorrow will be better - the power of positive thinking!! Have been doing the calf stretches throughout the day and massaged my toe - how disgusting, I need some slave to do this for me... kids are useless. Anyway, I'm thinking I might still go for a little run tomorrow morning... just a little one - I promise.....

Vicki xxx

Totally sidelined

Went in to see another physio, Joe, about my big toe which has seized.... After a long discussion about when I first started noticing the pain and lack of movement etc he has determined that my ankle and calves are the culprits. Calves are so tight that they lack the flexability I need to squat or support myself in good mornings.... and with my ankle being unstable this has put undue pressure on my big toe for balance - and its just had enough.... another form of overuse!

Treatment: massage of the joint (painful!) exercises to strengthen the ankle and lots of stretching for the calves - thats all ok - I can handle that. Now the frustrating part..... no squating, good morings etc that need me to balance and NO RUNNING. For the next couple of weeks at least. I'm gonna have terrific abs by the end of this 'cos that's about all I have left to work on. I can bike he said.... great! I dont have a bike! Stationary bike at the gym - how bloody boring!

Vicki xxx

Sidelined

Have had the past week and a bit off the gym and getting lots of massage from Gordon at the Melbourne Sports Medical Centre for my left elbow problem, but its just getting worse so he referred me to Ben Baressi the sports doc. Went in this morning at 10am.... Came away having had a cortisone injection into the elbow. Its now 2pm and the local anesthetic is starting to wear off and boy-oh-boy is it ever aching!! No training for the next 2 weeks. Back to see Ben on Dec 19 for a review. Will try to get into the gym and do some leg work, but even that will be difficult as I cannot go picking up the 20kg plates to load the bar... will have to rely on pin loaded machines. :-( Well it gives me time to concentrate on my running, which is by the way, coming along nicely. Did a time trial at the weekend at the Tan and ran the 4k course (non-stop - including Anderson st hill) in 27.22

Sunday, Madi had her Christmas Gymkhana down at the Pony club. Floated Mojo down, the Maverick handled it well!! :-) Arrived bright and early to get Mojo looking beautiful, plaited his mane, braided his tail, and clipped around his feet. Nice and shiny horse.... get into the warmup ring and.... he's lame. Limping badly.... what the....???? Fortunately (???) Chris, the vet, was already on-site looking at another horse so when he was finished he came to look at Mojo. Possible abscess or deep bruising to the hoof. He removed the shoe and poked around unable to find anything specific, but the limping was very pronounced! Gave him a shot of anti inflamms and dressed hi hoof with a hot poultice to try and draw out any abscess... Got some Bute to put in his feed and put him back on the float to head home again. Drove up to Saddle up in Chirnside to get an 'Easy Boot' to go over his hoof to protect the dressing. Vet will be back out again on Wed to check the progress....

Later that afternoon we down to Jells park to the CR Christmas BBQ, got there a little late so missed quite a few of the CR's. My first CR outing! Everyone was very welcoming, but with ay I was having I wished I'd taken something stronger than the Chili cordial to drink!

Quick catch up with Russell down Brunswick st who I haven’t seen for a little while. Had hoped that Cafe Atomica would be open as I was out of coffee beans for home.... sadly it wasn’t, so we wandered down the road and settled in at another cafe for a class of red. Looks like the training pgm that Shaz has him on is doing good!!

Monday morning.. Big day for Madi (and me...) Into hospital to have her tonsils out! I can report that all went well and was over with rather quickly. She stayed overnight at the hospital, they gave her some morphine to help her sleep and I took her home on Tuesday morning. Very painful procedure, I think a lot of people under estimate just how serious the operation is. She's on a lot of painkillers and has to eat, of all things, crunchy food!! No ice cream and jelly.... toast, chips, apples etc anything that will help scrape any muck out from the back of her throat. Will take her up to 10 days to recover and she's confined to home for the first week.

Well, I'm about to take to my arm with the butcher’s knife..... Better stop typing now...

CYA

Vicki xxx

Land of the long white cloud

Arrived in Christchurch at 11pm, James picked me up and took me back to his new abode... on the way showing me the sites of the city by night.... Interesting, street prostitution is legal there - thanks James for taking me down that part of town. LOL. Chatted until the wee hours of the morning polishing off a bottle of Sav Blanc. Slept quite late the next day - then again there is the time difference so it wasn't that late by my body clock. Somewhere around lunchtime we made it out to start taking in the sites. First up to the Sign of Takahe where I finally met my knight in shining armour.....

Drove a little further up the Hill and went on the Harry Ell walk.... (Bloody 'ell... to those of us not used to walking up hilly tracks.....) Smart arse James runs this track of course.... Which lead us to another restaurant/cafe called the Sign of the Kiwi..... bit of a common naming thing here.... Spectacular views as we went a bit further up behind the restaurant.Walked back down again and went for a little drive around checking out the scenery. The intention was to get back in time to go training but somehow got caught up site seeing and got back a little late. Yummy dinner courtesy of "James the chef " and a nice bottle of Cab Sav.

Sunday morning up a little earlier and after some breakfast James took me to Hagley Park to go for a run. Ever so helpful is James, trying to get me into a rhythm with my breathing and pace, which I found very difficult - terribly un-co ! After a while I think I was getting the hang of it - concentrating hard and then James starts trying to put music to the rhythm and counting a beat and throws me completely off track again... LOL I just want to hit him! Anyway at the end of the run I don't feel quite so exhausted having kept my breathing under reasonable control - Thank you James! Energetic as puppy dog James is off on monkey bars and doing steps - while I just watched and contemplated the re-blistering of the arch of my right foot! the chef... and opened a bottle of red.....

After lunch we headed to Hamner Hot Springs - about and hour and a bit away. Relaxing in the hot pools which ranged from 36c to 41c. Mind you the hotter ones were really stinky - like rotten eggs! As we lazed about in the 37c pool it started to rain and we could see the steam rising off the water while we faces felt the cooling drops of water. What a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. When we got back into Christchurch it was getting late already, picked up some Thai take out for dinner and back to James' cool bachelor's pad to eat drink a little more of the red wine that we opened on Saturday night ! Off to bed around 1am I think.... as we had to get up at 4 am to go to the airport for my 6.15 am flight back to Melbourne. So sweet of James to put me up for the the weekend - and put up with me.... falling asleep in the car driving to Hamner Springs.... not having any interest in the cricket and constantly getting him to change the music in the car - so damn hard to please wasn't I James. A big big thank you to you tho'. Enjoy your trip home to the UK next week, All the best for your European adventure.... and make sure you look after Lisa when you two meet up in Germany!!

Love Vicki xxx

PS. James took some wonderful pics which I'll publish here soon once I've gone through them all, some will be for Andy's website and some for Musclefemme subscribers section..... Here a little preview:

Up up and away

Funny isnt it, the competition is over and I slack off with the posting. Guess I'm just more relaxed now and back to my regular routine.

Ran again on Thursday morning - didnt cheat, parked in the same spot - again ran 12 walked 3 ran 6 walked 3 and then a final 6 min run (put some extra effort here) and back to the car in 30.20. Think I shaved about 30 seconds off the Tuesday time... flyin' LOL. Aquired a nice blister when I ran on Tuesday, in the arch of my right foot. Added another - on top of the existing one - Nice!! (not). Few digs from a couple of the managers at work because I was getting around the office without shoes - showed them the blisters expecting some sympathy with them both being runners... but no... "you shouldnt have stopped running in the first place...." Sheesh thanks guys! Next run will be on sunday - over in NZ. Will have to scope out a place to run on Saturday. James does a bit of running so I'm sure he'll have somewhere in mind to go.

Training has gone well this week tho' pulling up a little sore in the legs and back, even tho I havent put the weights up from the previous week.... One more week in this cycle and then I'll take a week break. Book in with Dirk during the week off to plan out the next 4 week cycle. Should have the 'Metal' bench shirt just before Christmas. So I'll start training bench in the shirt in mid January and also start squatting in my suit as well. Next week instead of doing deadlift 1 rep max I'll be testing my RAW 1 rep max for squat - tho I probably will use the knee wraps. I'm really keen to do this test, since my deadlift has increased 10kg since the nationals cant wait to see where my squat is at. Have to keep in mind that my squat at the Nationals was not RAW.

What else this week.... hmmm... took myself off to the physio to get my elbows looks at. "Elbows ?" Asked Gordon when I got into the consulting room - yes plural! He just rolled his eyes. Left elbow, upper forearm where the muscle and tendons attach into the elbow.... Gordon got in and massaged (hard) and I have a some remedial excercise to do after training. Cortisone will be considered if this doesnt right itself pretty quickly. Right elbow, underneath where the tricep and tendons attach - very difficult to pinpoint, seem to be right on the bone, however this does stop hurting somewhat after the joint has warmed up - again some massage and a promise of complete rest during the week off that's coming up. I'll try to tailor the next cycle with Dirk to reduce the strain on these joints, but I think it''l be near impossible to eliminate this work.

Well that's about it.... Luch today with the boys as usual down in St Kilda and leaving the office early tonight to fly out to Christchurch. Mosey around the duty free, get some perfume, nice bottle of red for James for putting me up for the weekend. Catch you all on Monday!

Love
Vicki xxx

68.5 and rising....

Body weight is coming back up from the low point or 66.9. Of course re-hydrating has a lot to do with that. Feeling pretty dam good and very content! lol

Set out for my run as I said I would on Sunday morning.... Errrr... drove down the street to the car park, then a slow run down the creek to Reynolds rd. Walk and run up the hill to Andersons Creek rd get the paper and and jogged slowly back down the hill to the creek again and walked and ran back to the car. Felt good and not overly taxed - especially after Saturday's effort. So glad not to have to walk up my drive way tho. Its a killer!!

Sunday night, met up with Tracey at work and we made our way down St Kilda rd. stopped in at Transport at Federation Square for a couple of drinks. Much to my amusement a few of the guys seemed fascinated by my muscles and wanted to compare biceps and ask how much I could bench... LOL Most interesting pick up line of the night was from one young guy who had a massive scrape up his shin which he was pointing out to me and looking for a little sympathy, but also informed me that even tho his shin was hurting, his groin was still working ok! ROFL. Shortly after Tracey and I left to get some dinner before the big event.

Telstra Dome was jam packed and what an awesome concert. U2 Rock!! They came on stage around 9pm and played a selection of their past hits right up to their current single which they've recorded with Greenday! The concert finished around 11:20pm after they'd come back for a couple of encores - absolutely worth the money!! What weekend!!! and I'd do it again!


Stumbled thru Monday a bit bleary eyed.... Trained per usual but skipped the Dead lifts and went straight into the good morning squats. Good effort but I was pretty tired. Up early at 5:30 this morning so that I could get a run in before work, its gonna be a hot one today, so better to do this in the morning. Had all my gear set up from the night before so that made it a bit easier. Arrived at the Tan around 6:10 and set off. Ran 12 mins - which saw me get half way up Anderson street hill (Perhaps I should have parked a little further around and finished the 12 mins BEFORE I got to the hill..... ahhh its probably better to do a little bit of the hill) then waked for 3mins, ran another 6 mins back to walking for 3 and then a 6 min run and I was back to the car. Drove to the office , just opposite the gardens where I had just run, showered and at my desk eating brekky by 7am. Feeling pretty good, wonder if it'll hit me this afternoon. Anyway, up for it again on Thursday morning.

Oh.. In other news... I became the proud owner of a silver 1991 Ford Maverick on the weekend. Brought by proxy... ha ha ha. My brother, Mark , sent me a text to let me know that I now own a 'tow car' which he's brought on my behalf. Its a LWB , manual transmisison and is on Gas. Once Mark has finished tinkering with it I'll go and get it - needs to be roadworthyed first! But he said it drives really well.


That's all my news for now, back to the grind stone and set some goals for the March & April State Comps!

Love
Vicki xxxx

Its over....

Friday morning still at 67.9 kgs, starving and dehydrating..... Since I was working from home I was checking my weight at frequent intervals, probably too frequently but I couldnt help it, by lunchtime it hadn't changed. Time for some drastic action. During my lunch break I headed down to the aquatic centre and sat in the steam room for 45 mins... actually half an hour and then cooled off, had a spa and then back in the steam room again for another 15 mins. Back home and showered and on the scales.... that did the trick... 66.7 kg. Over to Webby's about 5:30ish and weighed in officially at 66.90 600grams under the cut off. Downed 600ml of water while driving home.....

Picked up Madi and headed out to Mornington for her basketball match..... bloody long way, took us an hour to get there and we arrived just on time. With a stand-in coach this week, Penny, they did quite well although they lost 28 - 33. I think they learned a lot, pity we can't have Penny as our coach permanently!

Finally the big day arrived. Picked up Titania to give her a lift to the comp. She brought along her new super camera to get some pics. I'll post some here once she uploads them. Both her and Maria weighed into the next weight class up from me, at 72.x and 71.x, putting them in the 75kg class. Anyway I'm over the moon to say that I did PB's in both the bench and deadlift.

My original plan was to bench 75, 77.5 and then attempt 80 but nerves got the better of me and I dropped my opener to 70kg which I benched easily although one red light from the centre ref, Cameron Lindley, for not holding the bar still on my chest before the press call. Still a good confidence builder. 2nd attempt was at 77.5, Luke lifted the bar off for me, and it was a clean lift - 3 white lights. Last attempt at 80, Luke was nowhere to be seen so one of the spotters lifted the bar off... unfortunelty he dumped the bar on me and I lost my air and missed the lift. Luke apologised profusely, he saw the guy dump the bar and he felt real bad for me.... but honestly I dont think I would have made the lift anyway. Titania managed a 85kg bench and missed her 90kg attempt and Maria got all her lifts with her top bench being 82.5kg.

Deadlift was next, I'd been feeling pretty confident all week since I nailed 137.5kg in the gym the week earlier. Opened on 135kg. No joke it felt like someone had glued the bar to the floor. I was so desperate to get this opening lift, I could hear everyone yelling at me to get it up and I swear sheer stubborness and determination made me pull it up. Shook me a little. 2nd attempt was 137.5 and I had to remind myself that I'd done this in the gym so no reason not to get it today.... and actually it came up a little easier. Final attempt came around, bar loaded to 140, now this was a test, had never even attempted this weight before. Set it up beautifully, big breath in and lift, it flew up! I was over the moon and if anything I felt like I had more in me.... maybe 142.5. Well next year we'll see how far I can go. Titania, deadlift is her pet lift... set the bar to 185 for her 2nd attempt and nailed easy. 3rd attempt at 200kg, but missed.... she'll have it in the bag next month at the Postal Deadlift comp tho!!! Maria wasnt feeling too confident with her lifts and wanted to put in some low attempts, 110, 120, 130 but we both know she lifted 130 at the nationals. She's missed 130 the last 2 times in the gym, but I convinced her to go 115, 125 and 132.5 and she got them all!! Way to go Maria.

Overall result was that Titania took first place, I came in 2nd and Maria 3rd.

Thanks to every one that supported me and wished me luck, thru emails, sms and posting comments here! It really meant a lot to me and gave me the added fire to pull those big lifts!

Still on a high.... girls are both out tonight so I'm home alone, bouncing off the walls. LOL. Grabbed a DVD for tonight. Mission Impossible 3. I'll set myself down shortly with a nice freshly brewed latte, some home made fruit salad and of course the compulsory Haigh's chocolates! he he he....

Tomorow's resolution... to pick up my running. Heading out first thing in the morning before breakfast. 5k round trip to get the Sunday paper. I'll take it easy tho' !! Gently thru Mullum Mullum Creek track..... up Reynolds road (Hill) which I'll probably walk mostly then walk and run back again.

U2 tomorrow night!! whoo-hoo!!!

Catch you all soon,
Love
Vicki xxx

68 and 3 days to go

Half a kilo to go... Will have my last hard meal Thursday lunchtime with a laxative chaser and then stop taking in any fluid that night after a final low carb protein drink.... with the exception of a couple of short blacks on Friday morning I should be right for the weigh in. I need the caffeine to prevent any withdrawl headaches - yes I'm an addict and I know it. Could be worse after tho'... I dont smoke and only have the occasional glass of red wine, which is good for you anyway! Organized with Webby to weigh in around 5:30 pm on Friday at his place.

Added a link at the side for the CAPO site. Council of Australian Powerlifting Organizations. For anyone wanting information about powerlifting, competing, sponsors etc. This weekend is not only the RAW push/pull but also a novice 3 lift, so for any newbies that want to have a go this is a great opportunity or just come along and find out what its all about. The flyers are on the CAPO website.

Ordered a soft suit from Power Supply in Tasmania http://www.burlz.com/Index.html a few weeks back for the comp.... Tony sent out the order to have it made, but still no sign of it yet. I'll see if I can borrow Shazza's one again, otherwize it might be a new meaning for RAW at the raw push/pull this weekend. hahahaha.

Hung out in the Haighs shop yesterday, taking in the smell of fine chocolate. Heaven! http://haighschocolates.com.au/index.html They have all their Christmas fare on display. Stocked up for the post weigh in gorging..... 3 latte truffles, 1 passionfruit creme, 1 mandarin creme, and 200g mixed choc nuts. :-)

Been lurking around another website too - a running website - http://www.coolrunning.com.au/index.shtml Picking up some hints for my next effort in the attempt to become a recreational runner - and hopefully keep my bodyfat down whilst simultaneously increasing the quantity of Haighs chocolates that I ingest.... Actually its vanity.... Summer is coming and I want to look good in very little clothing. LOL With the added benefit of being able to stay in the 67.5 weight class but still put on size and strength! That's my theory anyway....


Love yaz all.....

Vicki xxx

68.6 and 5 days....

Quiet weekend from what I can remember. Lack of chocolate makes me very vague..... Grabbed the Fairlane off my brother to tow the float, rear left break light still not working... Must get down and check that its not the bulb. At least the indicators are working. About to head off tot he paddock when I realized I've left the paddock keys in my car - with my brother. Drive down to Doncaster to get the keys.... Back up the paddock and loaded Mojo. Started off for Eltham and realized we didn't have Madi's grading card, so back home again to pick that up (told you I was getting vague...) Mojo was being a right poo the whole time and the dressage test was over in 10 minutes.... All that effort and back home again. Mojo still being a right shit decided he didn't want to wait until the chain was undone on the float and backed out of the float wildly and broke the chain.... Another thing I have to fix... grrrr....

Stayed in Sat night, not feeling the best, damn diet messing with my stomach. Once this comp is over I'm gonna work a little more on my general fitness. Get back into the running. If I can manage to keep my bodyfat level down from the outset I should be able to compete next year in this same weight class without too much stress about dieting, just taper the running at the same time I taper the lifting. Anyway after this - no comp until March / April so this should give me time to get myself into a routine or running a few times a week.



Sunday morning was going to head of for a walk to get the paper, usually I would attempt to run this track, 5k down thru mullum mullum creek and up Reynolds road and back again. Looked out the window - it was pouring down. Well we need the rain, but no way I'm going out in that. Feel crap enough without being a drowned rat too. Cleared up a bit by the afternoon - long enough for me to get a couple of pics. Most of which I've just sent to Andy to post on the AMG-Lite website. Along with a short clip. So I guess he'll have these up in a week or so. The link is over on the right. I've included a couple of samples in today's blog. A couple of cropped pics - the pull ones will be on AMG along with one that almost has a wardrobe malfunction ala Janet Jackson. LOL.

Training light for the next 2 days - just working on technique and no accessory work - that is going to kill me. I'm not going to feel like I've trained at all. That's it for now. Enjoy the pics.

Cheers
Vicki xxxx

1 week to go

This dieting is still not going well. 69.1kg this morning and have to be under 67.5 by this time next week......

Madi is booked in to have her tonsils whipped out on Dec 4th. "Grubby" is how the specialist described them... haha.

Bloody dishwasher packed it in last night.... it wasnt even doing anyting.... Suddenly, around 10pm. the power went out in the house. I looked to see if it was the whole street... nah just my place. Checked the safety switch and there is was - tripped. Tried to reset it but it wouldnt stay on. Worked out on the power board that it was a power switch that was causing the fault - I could get the lights on, but none of the appliances. Had to sort this out 'cos the fridge was off and I didnt want all the food to spoil.... So through a process of elimination, found that when the dishwashwer is switched on at the wall it trips the safety switch. Called Fisher and Paykel and they'll have someone out next Friday... Hmmm paper plates and plastic knives and forks until then.... Well since I have to work from home I got onto the electrician to re-fix the dimmer switch that I had replaced a couple of weeks ago, which subsequestly shit itself again.... Arrghhh

Will be a good opportunity for me to get into the stream room Friday to try and make weight before heading over to Webby's for the official weigh-in.

Booked at little weekend away for the weekend after the raw push/pull. Over to New Zealand to visit James who has just become a proud home owner (and endebted to the bank for life). I'll be checking out the new place and all the new furniture etc..... and having a well deserved break I think.

Off to Eltham tomorrow, Madi and Mojo are appearing in a dressage instructors video. Will try to get some new photo's over the weekend so you can see how I'm looking at 69 kg.

Love Vicki xxxx

10 days to the raw push/pull

It would seem that the westside training is already paying off. Monday : Deadlifted 137.5 kg (302.5lb). Attempted an 80kg (176lb) bench last night but unfortunatly it wasnt to be. 75kg went up pretty smooth and I'm still happy with the 77.5kg from last week. So that's it now, no more heavy lifts prior to the comp. Speed work on Thursday and Friday and then next week will just do 60% for sets of 3 and concentrate on technique just for Monday and Tuesday, then have the rest of the week off to rest and recover.

With only 10 days to go to the comp I'm struggling to get the weight off. I may have to resort to laxatives :-( Went to the steam room at Aquarena in Doncaster, near where I live. In an hour I was able to drop 1 kg, so I know that if I really need to I can drop an extra kg of fluid on the day of the weigh in. At least the fluid is easily replaced and I should not suffer any loss of strength so long as I rehydrate well.

In other news..... my brother, Mark, has fixed the wiring on the horse float so now I can indicate with confidence that others will know where the hell I'm going! LOL. Went to the movies with Leah the other night and saw 'Devil wears Prada' Very entertaining - not much of a story but great shoes and bags! LOL

Well not much else.... just cardio-ing my butt off and dieting. Becoming a real bore now.... no chocolate... ho hum

catch you all soon...

Vicki xxx

The new training cycle

Started the new training cycle this week. Monday was a killer. Managed a 130kg deadlift as my 1 rm. This is the same as I did at the August Nationals but it came up a little cleaner. Could not manage any more after that – nervous system was shot. Then good morning squats for the first time – wow they take it out of you – I am sooo unfit. At 60kg I could only manage 8 reps. Didn’t help that it was quite warm in the gym and I was sweating profusely so the bar kept slipping down my back – had to chalk up for every set. Barbell rollouts were another killer, sweat running down my face, getting in my eyes, and stinging. I was wiped out by the end. Still sore today – 2 days later. Lower back (erectors), abs and hamstrings are all stiff and sore. Had trouble just rolling over in bed…. Last night’s workout wasn’t quite so taxing, and I managed a PB for bench - 77.5 kg. Just so long as I can hit that again at the raw push/pull I’ll be happy. Tried to help out a couple of young guys that were doing such poor form with skull crushers, then another guy tried to help them too…. I think they were a little embarrassed that they had to drop back the weight in order to perform correctly… perhaps I should just mind my own business….

Woke up last night, 12:16 am to be precise – the time is burned into my eyes…. My mobile phone ringing – American Idiot – so I know it’s a work call…. Why are they ringing me at this time of the night? Tried to explain that I’m not on call… I’m in bed… but the guy just persisted in wanting to know about some bug…. Decided it would be easier to answer his questions and get rid of him….. Then had trouble getting back to sleep….

No training tonight – need to recover from the past 2 days

Love Vicki
xxx

3 Weeks out from the Raw Push/Pull

Met an interesting young guy on Monday night at the gym. Started chatting while I was waiting for him to finish in the squat rack so that I could start my heavy good mornings – which, by the way, I managed to top at 77.5kg this week – go me!! Anyway, Michael (he introduced himself properly before he left) is studying sport science at RMIT (one of our universities here. Somehow we started chatting about the bruises on my arm from the massage I had last week… the big yellow bruise was a good sign – apparently. I think I understood about 50% of what he said to me over the course of my training that night – very knowledgeable guy, but you know, I’m no dummy but still he left me feeling like one of the grunters in the gym – “I just lift heavy things….” LOL He was very polite and I think he liked having someone listen. Sweet kid.

Apart from the chatting – which I don’t normally do, I had a great work out. Lifting went well, as I mentioned I managed a max of 77.5 kg for 3 reps doing good mornings. Tuesday night was a different matter….. Main exercise, barbell floor press, I couldn’t match my previous weeks best effort – missed it by 2.5 kg. I seemed to be a bit ‘off key’ that night. Elbows still giving me grief and so frustrating because I can feel that my right tricep is not being fatigued but the sheer pain is stopping me from going heavy, whereas the left tricep is fatiguing at the same weight! Maybe I need to ask Michael his opinion about this next time he’s in the gym.

Wed night, Appointment with Dirk to discuss the next phase in my westside program and he’s shown me some really interesting new exercises, so I’m really looking forward to starting on it next week

Day1 Max Squat
Main (to max 1 rep) Comp Deadlift test
Supps (3x10-12 ) GM squats

(stop short of Romanian deadlifts

failure for all Barbell rollouts

of these) Decline russian twist
Accessory (3x20-25) Reverse hypers

Day2 Max Bench
Main (to max 1 rep) CompBench Press test
Supps (3x10-12) Single arm pushdown

(stop short of Elbow out press

failure for all Incl dbell bench row

of these) Cuban press (3x15)
Accessory (3x12) EZ bar curls
Day 3 Speed Squat
Main (12x2) Box squat (60% 1rm)
Supps (3x10) High pulls

Kneeling squats

cable woodchops

Crab lift
Accessory (3x15) Reverse hypers

Day4 Speed Bench
Main (8x3) Normal Bench (60%1rm)
Supps Rev grip bench (3x6-8)

Pushdowns (3x12-15)

Bar upright rows (3x8)

Single cable rows (3x8)
Accessory (3x12-15) Dbell preacher curls

This is what I’ll follow until a week before the Raw Push/Pull on Nov 18. In that last week I’ll just drop right back and do some light benching and deadlifts in the fist 2 days and then rest for the remaining days leading up to the comp.

Dirk has a lot of faith in my strength too, as does Shazza. He thinks I’ll have my squat up to 150kg by the State titles in March/April and bench around 100kg once I get a shirt! With Dirk overseeing my westside program, Shaz coaching me for technique and the awesome support I get from Titania I’m gonna be BIG at the comps next year! I’m so pumped! Bring it on!!

Big weekend ahead again! Today, Oct 27^th is Leah’s 19^th birthday, She’s out to dinner tonight with a girlfriend while Madi and I head out for her basketball match. Tomorrow is Adult riding club, where I’ll have a show jumping lesson with Ross and get my confidence back up. Late afternoon I’m heading out to watch Maria and Sam compete in the National titles for ANB bodybuilding. Maria is the reigning Ms Olympia (figure division) and she has fantastic bod for a lightweight – you would not guess that she’s so light and yet so muscular. If she could put on some size on her legs she could surely compete in the physique division. She’s hoping not to be penalized for being ‘too muscular’ - is there such a thing? LOL - well I guess for figure there is. Shax will be judging at the comp, I spoke to her the other day as I need to book in some time soon to work on my bench technique with her. Caught her while she was on the treadmill at Fitness First. She somehow managed to drop her protien drink and it went everywhere. Would have loved to have been there to see that! Sunday, borrowing my brothers car again – he must be getting sick of this by now…. Hehehehe… and Madi, Mojo and I will head out for horse trials out at Nillumbuk – Madi is riding this time!

Cheers
Vicki xxxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH !

The weekend..... the aftermath.....

Speed bench on Friday night, getting the reps out pretty fast. Worked up to my 60% or 1 rep max and then belted out 8 sets of 3 reps – one breath, no pause. Followed up with dumbbell floor press with 50lb dumbbells, 3 sets of 6 reps. Keeping the pressure on the triceps I next perform close grip bench, again working up to my max at 60kg and then 3 sets of 6 reps. Left it at that for the night – no extra work which would have been dumbbell rows and front raises as my left elbow was still very tender from the deep massage and I don’t want to aggravate it any further.

Madi’s first basketball match for tryouts was a 9:40 pm (late game) and if this game is indicative of the season to come – Madi wont be staying. Extremely poor coaching! I was sitting on the bench as the team manager for the night, so I know exactly what was going on. 5 on 5 off subs every 5 minutes, no game play given to the girls and then they’re being yelled at for not scoring! Madi scored the first 2 points 12 minutes into the game, by then the opposition was already way ahead. Not many parents were happy with the coaching. The girls lost 11 to 34.

Didn’t fair too well at the Show jumping either. Mojo was over excited and with my confidence already in a hole from the previous weekends lousy jumping lesson, we just didn’t make a great pair. Mojo wasn’t keen to go over the practice jumps, was far more interested in what was going on around him. Finally got him over and ready to go. First round was Top Score, with each jumped labeled with a value. Top jump is worth 100 points but if you know it down - you lose 100 points. Jump in any order, any direction but each jump can only be jumped twice. Well we knocked down the 100 points!

Second round was the AM2, 10 jumps, pretty tight, must be jumped in order and you have to work out the quickest path around the course. Memorizing where all the jumps are is not easy and you need to walk the course several times (this is done without the horse!!). Made it thru that round much better only knocking down one jump that Mojo didn’t fancy. Last round at 4pm was the AM7. This is a much bigger course, again 10 jumps that must be jumped in order (more memorizing…) but much more spread out and then if you complete the round within the specified time you do a timed jump off with a certain no of jumps. In this case the jump off was jumps 1,2, 6, 7,3a & 3b and 10. We didn’t make it to the jump off - Mojo was going sideways at the jumps and in trying to settle him we lost time and then he decided that we would just do a 360. So eliminated out that round. Never mind its all experience.

Sunday morning - basketball training for Madi. Home – boring old domestic duties and a bit of time spent relaxing in the sun. Took the girls out to the movies for being such great strappers at the show jumping. Very funny movie… Little Miss Sunshine…. We’re not such a mad family after all…. We’re just like them….! LOL

Love Vicki xxx

Ouch!

Chris, the vet from Warrandyte North Veterinary Clinic came out Monday night to have a look at Mojo’s injury. Pretty nasty cut, which will bruise and be quite sore for the next few days. Luckily Mojo already had his tetanus shot back in April when he cut his back leg in the paddock. However a couple of injections are still needed, Penicillin and Anti-inflammatory. The first injection, the needle separated from the syringe and blood came pouring out all over the apprentice vet Laura….. Then we had to get some Potties White Ointment to put on the wound twice daily and some Bute (another anti-inflammatory) to put in his feed each night for the next 4 days. Total cost…. $189.00. Ouch - expensive trail ride….. Hopefully Mojo will be in fine form for the Silver Jubilee show jumping comp at the weekend, Chris thinks he’ll be fine – its all about getting that plaque to put on the back of the float! LOL. It’ll be good for intimidating the competitors at future events! Hahahaha.

After all that drama, went to the gym and trained – heavy legs day. Good mornings now up to a max of 75kg. Love these heavy workouts. Now 75kg may not sound like a lot, but try putting that across your shoulders and bending forward so you are parallel with the floor and coming back up - repeat 3 times! All the lifts for the accessory work have also gone up in weight - feeling pretty good about this training – but finding myself losing some flexibility. My solution…. Yoga. Reg comes in to our workplace every Tuesday and Friday and takes a yoga class at lunchtime – Perfect. So I went along to the class, not quite the stretches that I wanted but still beneficial – only problem was I fell asleep during the final meditation. LOL

Wednesday booked in for a remedial massage. Asked Kelly to massage my right forearm where I’ve been having some trouble with the elbow lately. Yee-ouch ended up with some nasty bruising and swelling. I guess the anti-inflammatory that I’m on, thin the blood and make me more susceptible to bleeding more – thus more bruising. Could not even bear to have anything touch my arm. Madi’s not well again –throat is very sore, so off to the Doctors. Bad case of Tonsillitis – which have become septic. Very shabby looking, badly scared and full of pus (eeeeowww). So we come away with a prescription for some antibiotics and a referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. Looks like Madi may have to have her tonsils removed. Well, with any luck it will cure her snoring too!!!!

Thursday – bought myself a new gadget… a Bluetooth headset. Much easier for those calls in the car, no more wires! Has a really neat USB charger that has a bendable cable…. But is it just me or does it look like a giant black sperm?

Training Thursday night – speed bench. Dirk must not have been busy or had a cancellation ‘cos he spent quite a bit of time watching me do my box squats and correcting how I was doing them and discussing the principals of westside. Lowered the weight - Dirk emphasized that on speed days ‘its not about the weight that ‘s being pushed, but the speed at which the rep is performed’. Dropped the box squat back from 60kg to 40kg (40% of my raw 1 rep max) and Dirk was much happier with the speed of both the drop and power up. This is to develop the ‘elastic band’ effect will help to power up out of the bottom of the squat when its heavy. Also booked in a time next week to work out the next steps in my program – especially leading up to the comp and in particular since I haven’t done any ‘real’ bench pressing or deadlifting. Hmmm that reminds me - must make some time to see Shaz to work on bench technique too before the comp. So much to do and so little spare time.

Swapping cars tonight with my brother and then training – speed bench. Madi has her first Spring season comp for basketball – late game at 9:40. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Love Vicki xxx

hectic yet uneventful

The last week has been hectic yet uneventful – does that make sense? It was a busy week at work - being on call, but not much else has happened.

Continued with my westside program, increased all the weights – at least by a little bit, particularly on my max effort days. A little encouragement - even when I didn’t want it, was in hindsight, a good thing. Pushed me thru a couple of barriers and I think the coming week will be better for it.

Birthday party on Friday night for one of Shazza's friends, didnt stay late, not really my kinda crowd and I'll leave it at that.

Went riding on Saturday morning, wanting a little practice before the show jumping comp coming up on the 21^st. The instructor for the jumping class has totally different approach to jumping to that which I have been taught so I struggled with what he wanted and Mojo was getting confused, as a result Mojo kept refusing to jump and eventually I came off in front of the jump. Not hurt, but my confidence shattered, I got back on and rode him the way I know how and we got over the jumps… Not feeling too good about the upcoming comp… 18 riders in my level, I’ll probably be 18^th - or disqualified if we have two refusals.

Madi has decided that she’d like to play another season of representatvie basketball with the Hawks, so off we went to tryouts on Sunday morning. Most likely she’ll be in the bottom team again because of our 'lack of commitment' to training, unfortunately it clashes with Pony club on every 2^nd and 4^th Sunday. Hopefully they’ll have some extra training practice during the week that she can attend. This will mean juggling my training around to accommodate the extra training and games on Friday nights, but that’s just what we have to do.

The rest of Sunday was spent logged on to the computer as I was oncall for work and was frequently paged.

Beautiful day here and so I went out for a jog/walk - need to ease back into running. Heavy leg night tonight and think I'll join the lunchtime yoga class at work to stretch out - as a recovery fromthe leg training. Must book a maasage for wednesday and then Thursday hope to get out for another run before training legs again that night (speed work)

Great (not), just got a call from Leah, she was out riding Mojo - for the first time in about a year – and he’s had an accident and cut his leg… she came off too but is ok. So I’d better wrap this up ‘cos I need to get up to the paddock, the vet is on the way to check out Mojo’s cut leg.

Vicki xxx

ANB - Bodybuilding show

Went out to a bodybuilding show at the weekend. # guys from the gym where I train were competing so I went along to support them. Not a very big line up, but a pretty hard one. Pulled out my camera to take some pics only to discover that Madi has ‘borrowed’ the batteries….. Grrrr. Only 4 girls in the figue line up - one was a masters competitior and was probably the best on stage. Two fitness competiors… hmmm ok… not sure about that category and then 2 physique girls, 1 under 52 and 1 over. A little small for my liking, very lean but not much size over what you have to hold yourself together – if you get what I mean. I like to see some thickness in the muscle…. I could only stay for the pre-judging, so I'm yet to find out how our guys went, but they all looked pretty awesome!

Anyway I was sitting there watching the show and then this voice behind me says… “Is that The Vicki O’Brien” ?? Who should be being me but Vicki, the gym manager that runs Spartan’s gym where I used to train years ago when I was competing in bodybuilding. We got to talking,she asked what I was doing now, so I told her about the Powerlifing etc… and she told me about the bodybuilding comps she’s been running. Check out the website: www.hardcoremusclepromotions.com.au A great comp!! Vicki asked if I’d be interested in judging some of the comps, so of course I’m happy to help out, having judged a couple of times for IFBB back when I was competing. So Vicki is looking for ex competitors to do the judging, having had the whole experience to give some extra perspective as well. Also she’s looking to have another female judge available – suits me to a tee. This should be fun and I’m happy to be on the ‘other’ side for a bit. Her comps looks like great quality show’s – you never know I might even make my come back at one of these shows in a couple of years – once I have this powerlifting thing licked!! LOL

That’s it for now.

Vicki xxxx

Feeling better at last

Thanks Jim for your comments, I am feeling better now, although still have an anoying cough every now and then. This cold certainly took its toll on me, training only once in two weeks. but back into hard training again now..

Camp was laods of fun. Hitched up the float around 12 noon. Up at the paddock Madi put on Mojo's new float boots while I fiddles with the tails lights again which were not working properly - with no success :-( Thankfully we didnt need to trun right anywhere ont he trip, well, wiotht he exception of turing into the camp grounds, but at least there was no one behind us then. The trip to Golden Valleys was not withous incident, Mojo stomped and pawed at the floor of the float, ripping up the flooring and got himself into quite a state. We pulled over and Madi removed his boots and we continued on our way with a somewhat happier horse!

The kids on camp went on plenty of trail rides and early morning beach rides while us adults downed plenty of wine and cheated our way thru games of trivial pursuit in the evenings. I even managed a couple of rides, a trail ride thru some bush tracks and a ride back from the pub where we all had lunch. A far less stressful trip home on sunday, Mojo without his boots and with a hay net in the float to keep him occupied. Madi slept most of the way home!

Back into the gym on Monday night with my "approved" westside program - Dirk only mad a couple of changes to the no of reps for some of the supplementary excercises, but otherwise it was all good. Started with Max squat session - that is training for a max squat - so first up was wide stance good mornings working up to a 3 rep max which was 70kg. Then the supplementary exercises: Pull thru's (pulling a cable thru the lgs from a 45degree bent position to upright) 3 sets of 12, single leg squats 3x12 again. Abs: rope pulldowns and weighted decline situps and then finshed off with weighted hypers - 3 sets of 20. My hammies were sore the next day!

Tuesday night was Max bench, started off with floor presses using a bar working up to a one rep max which I managed to get to 72.5kg. This is followed by tricep work, dumbbell skullcrushers and reverse pushdowns, then side raises for shoulders and finshed up with a bit of bicep work, hammer curls and forearm curls.

Wed night off to recover and tonight (thurs) back in for some Speed squat - hammering out box squats at 60% of my 1 rep max for 12 set of 2 reps - dropping fast onto the box and powering back up again with speed. followed by more hamstring work and ab work. Tomorrow night - Speed bench. again at 60% of my 1 rep max and working up to doing 8 sets of 3 reps - fast. The reps to be completed in under 2 seconds - in one breath and with good form. Followed up with more tricep work, dumbell floor press and close grip bench. Then some back work - barbell rows and front raises for shoulders.

With this program I keep to these routine for the next 3 weeks and then change the excercises, selecting from a specific set for the main exercise and a different set for the supplementals.... I'm keen to see how much more I can lift in the coming months by training with this technique.

Well have to get back to class now - still on the RAC on Windows internal training here at work..... Catch you all soon.


Love
Vicki xxx


PS. Will add some photo's soon.