No sleep

Very bad night last night - woke up just after 1 am with my right jaw aching. This pain kept me awake most of the night. I've had this the past few nights but not as severe as last night. During the day I don’t have much pain and so didn’t give it a lot of thought, but last night - whoa!! Tried taking some painkillers but not much was helping. Seemed to get worse when I slept on my side - either side. Ended up trying to sleep sitting up in bed propped up by pillows. Well I've made an appointment at the dentist for tomorrow to see what this pain is all about. Just have to get through tonight!

At the weekend, Saturday morning, I managed to get graded at Donvale Adult Riding Club (DARC) Finally have my grade 5 level assessment (bottom grade! lol) Even managed to make it thru the show jumping lesson without falling off! Go me! Then was ambushed on Sunday to enter the Doncaster BMW 5 Star show jumping series. I want sure if I could make it as I have a power lifting meeting at 2pm on Sunday to discuss next years Nats as we are hosting it here in Melbourne. Yesterday I received an email from the club president with my times for the show jumping... at this point I hadnt actually comiited but its seems everyone wanted me to have a go. Looks like I'll be giving my apologies for not attending the powerlifting meeting.

Madi and Mojo did very well at the Pony Club combined training day on the Sunday - taking first place in her class - even though Madi felt that her dressage was not up to scratch. Well done to both of them. Mojo looked a treat after having a 'sleepover' at Erica's house where both her and Madi washed and groomed both of the horses on the Saturday evening prior to the event.

Tried out box squats for the first time this week - they’ll take a little getting used to and I certainly pulled up sore enough the next day. Performing sets of 3 at 60kg (just about half my max) and really powering up out of the bottom off the squat - speed work! Last night was bench night. Worked on technique and again speed - so just 55kg on the bar for 3 reps per set. Some sets performed with a wide grip - some with a narrow grip. Then onto floor work with dumbbells - pressing up fast hitting the triceps followed up with skull crushers (EZ bar down to the forehead and back up). Finished up with some delt work - side lateral raises and front bar raises. Surprisingly I'm not sore today - although my legs still have some residual soreness from a) last weeks good mornings b) box squats and c) horse riding (inner thigh) - Mojo is going to have to go on a diet - cant wrap my legs around his fat belly! LOL

Been doing lots of reading about westside training techniques - think I understand the overall idea now and Dirk, one of the personal trainers at Definition where I train, has offered to help me understand how to put it all together as a training routine. He's very well versed with their techniques. Of course I'll still be looking to Shaz to teach me the correct technique for benching and how to use the bench shirt. And maybe Titania will be able to help me with my deadlifting technique. So many great teachers - I'm very lucky to have such good friends.

Final note for today
What a small world we live in.... I have had a few quick chats with one of the guys at the gym, Paul I think his name is, I haven't really spoken to him much before. Anyway he's getting ready to compete in his first comp soon too.... Funny enough he mentioned that his cousin holds world records in powerlifting. So of course I asked who that was.... haha... none other than Ange Galati. Small world!

Love Vicki
xxx