The weekend in review

Arrived home and found the Telstra package - Yay ! Broadband internet... of sorts! Left it for now and went to the gym. Good workout, Speed bench. Reverse grip bench press at 50kg. John was there to lift of the bar for each set. Nice and strong. Followed up with floor presses 50lb dumbells, tricep presses and over head pully - really working the lats here - pumped. Finished up with supersetting some bicep curls bar & hammer.

Home early enough to install broadband on the lap top - Madi's basketball game was a late one 8:40 and not too far away in Balwyn. Its works - out of the box!! And its fast! Well anything is fast compared to dialup. However I am on a 1gig plan at the moment so will have to watch the up & downloads (yeah Telstra count the uploads too!) Still, its way fast and if I really need to I can upgrade to the 3 gig plan - at a cost of course.

Late-ish night by the time I dropped Madi at Fi's house... Home alone... bed, book, sleep....

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Edit: Deleted section. Served its purpose in purging some uncomfortable feeings which I don't need reminding of.

==============

Off to the movies with Clay in the afternoon. BABEL - very intense movie, 3 stories inter-related - certainly not a feel good movie. Required some concentration and keeping up with the sub-titles but a very interesting movie just the same.

Arrived home and had to take Madi & Fi out to their friends birthday party - stayed up chatting on msn to kill time and went to pick them up about midnight. Sunday so so hot!! Madi had basketball training early and then her and FiMaroondah festival - My 14yo has a better social life than I do - LOL. Too hot to do anything, lay on the bed with the ceiling fan going and just doze......

Jo Turned up around 5.00 - after I had picked up Madi, and dinner was almost ready by when Leah got home at 6.00. D&M's with Jo about the previous day's visit - She wasn't surprised - thinks he's realized just what he has lost. Trouble in paradise for her too, Steve is having trouble finding a job after completing his engineering degree and is taking his frustration out on Jo. She's given him the 'Shape up or Ship out' message and it seems he's taken it and is putting in the effort not the lose her. Good! Jo's a good person, she deserves to be happy after Martin..... Chrissy and Grant are also fighting.....she walked out on him..... lot of this shit going around. This is what I'm not missing.... this is why I am single! and the fact that I have irreparable damage to my LOVE bone.... I cannot physically fall in love, it's officially broken. The LUST bone, on the other hand, I beleive is intact - its just not pointing at anyone - LOL

No run this morning - blisters still not healed sufficiently. Thanks for that coffee Eat'em! Cant chance them rubbing this close to the comp. Starting the taper.... Squatting tonight prolly just 80kg or so for reps, just to keep the legs and hips moving. Tomorrow light benching - practice technique along with the advice from CasuallyMe (pretty much the same advice that Shaz gives me) A massage on Wednesday, Maybe a walk around the botanic gardens Thursday morning or lunchtime (depending on the state of the blisters....)


Updates may be a little less frequent later in the week as I 'hibernate' in preparation for the comp.

Vicki xxx

A valuable lesson

Tried to deadlift in my squat boots. Not good. They tip me forward too much. coped a nasty bruise on the shin as I tried to pull back. Deadlifted in my socks instead. (don't have any pretty pink deadlift slippers )120kg for 3 sets of 4 reps - just for form.

Training went something like this
Drop squats 12 set of 2 rep - 20 sec rest.
Reverse hypers 60kg 3set of 6.
Deadlift 80% 120kg 3 sets of 4
Side deadlift 40kg 3 sets of 6 each side. Should have gone heavier 40kg was too light.
Saxon bends 10lb 3 sets of 10.

Busy evening with Madi having to go down to pony club for C-certificate training. She is being level assessed next month and this is quite a significant level to achieve.Between getting dinner (take out night) and ferrying Madi to and from Pony club I felt like I spent all night in the car.

Trying not to fall into the rose bush ..

Set the alarm for 5.10am to go for my Friday morning run but decided that it wouldn't be wise considering the 2 nasty broken blisters that I acquired yesterday(one on each heel) when I went out to meet one of my coolrunner friends for a latte over at the botanic gardens. Well at least he's taken responsibility for the damage and emailed some suggestions to sort out the blisters.... Might try for a run Monday morning if they've healed but that will definitely be the last opportunity for a run before the comp. Anyway despite lying in bed a little too long pondering run/no run I still ended up in the office at 6.30am thereabouts.... long day!

Speed bench tonight - last 'full' training session. Madi has Basketball at 8.40 so that gives me plenty of time to train. Quiet weekend, the last for a while I think... Seeing Babel with my movie mate Clay tomorrow afternoon at the Jam Factory Europa. Coffee first - of course, however sans popcorn or icecream for the movie.
Joanne coming over for dinner on Sunday night, girly stuff, waxing, gossip etc. Seems the new boyfriend is already becoming a pain in the butt - ahh true love.

Catch you all after the weekend...... Well maybe over the weekend if the new 3G wireless broadband pack arrives today - If it does I'll be installing it over the weekend and saying goodbye to dial-up Internet! YAY.

Vicki xxx

Blah night

Did nothing last night, sat in my recliner and watched TV, only getting up to make a coffee.... how lazy!

Like the Latte Art? Clever aren't I !?!

Back at Definition gym tonight for my speed squat work. Downloaded a box squat doco from elitefts yesterday, should have read it last night but caught up with Hannibal instead for about 15 mins in bed. Lucky it doesn't give me nightmares - looking forward to seeing the movie!

I was going to reply to CasuallyMe via email - but I'll post it here as it relates to my training / competing and that's what this blog is about after all:

Thanks for the tips Tom, I really appreciate your support and I will try to get photo's and videos's at the comp although I tend to get caught up with everything going on and forget.

I'll put stickem on my shopping list. I bench in my running shoes - its ok at Doherty's the flooring is good, but at Shazza's studio my feet slip badly, but I'll try the squat boots and see if they make a difference to keeping my butt down. At the bench comp last year Bazza was yelling at me every time "get your butt on the bench" "get your butt down" You know... its big enough - it should be still touching the bench! LOL

Third point: bending the bar..... I'm having a hard time getting this. I don't know how it should feel when I'm bending, where my elbows should be etc. Shaz says to let the bar sink (when I'm shirted) when I pull the bar down my shoulders round forward off the bench.

SLOW bencher -this makes Shaz really really mad at me! Tuesday night she got mad and threatened to slap me "In POWERlifting the operative word is POWER and you are not using any POWER - Get MAD, get ANGRY. Its YOUR bar, YOUR lift - POWER it up!" So "explosive" is something I need to work on - big time! AND I need SPEED!

Yes, we have to wait for the press call - like an eternity! and wait for a rack call. Same for the Squat - wait for the signal to squat and also wait for rack call, and for deadlift just have to wait for signal to put the weight down. We are also not allowed onto the podium until the call "bar is loaded" and then you have 1 minute to set up for what ever lift it is.

I find that benching is the hardest of the 3 lifts, technique has to be spot on. I've made massive improvements in the past 12 months with my deadlift and squat. Here is my score sheet results from last years masters comp. My first comp ever.

Squat 65.0 75.0 85.0 (85kg=187lb)
Bench 55.0 65.0 70.0 (Failed) (65=143lb)
Deadlift 100.0 115.0 125.0 (Failed) (115=253lb)

My I rep max on these are now squat 130kg (286lb) bench 77.5kg (170.5lb) deadlift 135kg (297lb). You can see how much my squat and deadlift have increased and my bench has not much improved.

Shaz is wonderful, she really believes in me, that I have it in me to be a big bencher, I just have to get it right. The first week I benched with the shirt, I 'felt' that I had it in the groove. but the past two attempts have just fallen to pieces.

Cheers
Vicki xxx

I'm in Lurve....

Tripped into the city yesterday, ducked down an arcade to indulge in some Haighs and took a different route out to Little Collins street..... and there on the corner, the most magnificent, gorgeous, extravagant shoe shop ever!!!! My heart a flutter! They had boots to die for.... and heels.... ohhhhh I didn't dare look at the price. I just stood there mesmerized... until I was rudely jolted back into reality by someone calling my name. OMG, Nick! I haven't seen Nick in.... ah must be 15 years - how on earth did he recognized me....?? Exchanged some current gossip, who of our old group were still married - none it seems. Even Nick has remarried - showed me pics of the lovely lady in his life. Man, its a small world!

Not happy Jan! Another bad bench session, my technique is just POOR! I cannot bring the bar down without collapsing my arch, my shoulders are coming off the bench and my should blades are spreading across the bench like hot butter. F...! F...! F...! 10 years of benching like a bodybuilder is hard to change - this is going to take a while and I've abandoned any hope of using the shirt in the Master's comp coming up on the 24th. Likely open on 70, 2nd 75 and then PR at 80. Took 120kg over last night and just held it - locked tight for 30 seconds - doesnt sound like very long but when every part of your body is is being squeezed to hold form and you're holding your breath in your belly - it feels like forever! Off to bed last night to do some reading.... put Hannibal down and read Bench Shirt 101

The Squat Boots

Pic of the squat boots as promised - They look great huh? Everything is sore today, my butt, quads, hamies calves... BACK!!! Thankfully a night off - will have to do my "Shazza" homework - rehearsing the bench position until it hurts!!

Cheers
Vicki xxx

It's ok 2P - I'm just having a lend of ya! As CasuallyMe points out Naked Powerlifting would not be a spectator sport! And yes I will go light, PR and all hell (except on bench).

Another PB bites the dust

For 2P's sake I am going to explain to y'all that RAW does not mean 'neked', that when I bench without a shirt I am not topless! and that I do powerlifting not jelly wrestling. hehehehehehe.... hmmmmm?

After some late afternoon stressful phone calls to Ovidio, reception and AussiePost my squat boots were delivered just before I left the office. I'll post a pic of them tomorrow.

Squatted with Webby and the guys again. The boots made me feel much more stable. Worked up to 100kg and then suited up. James very kindly offered to wrap my knees - nice to be waited on - LOL.... Until he started to wrap them - soooo tight, ow ow ow. Quickly try to get under the bar before I lost feeling in my legs, squat and rack! Get the wraps off! Ohhh the rush of blood back to my legs. Then he left and I had to wrap myself again..... Webby suggested wrapping from below the knee and working up - I have always start above the knee.... so gave this a try and wrapped tight as I could myself. This time I managed a PB and unofficially broke the open state record for my weight class of 125kg held by my very own bench coach Shaz by squatting 130kg. Nice lift too, struggled... just. but a confident lift, guess I'll be looking at 135 on the day.

An hour of squatting and I was home in time for Desperate Housewives, dinner already cooked - Children are good for something - LOL. Ahhhh Does it get any better!

Nightmares and bad dreams

Don't know if anyone else suffers from these type of bad dreams but when I was competing in body building I had this recurring bad dream before an event that I would be about to go onstage, with no tan, un-waxed and no routine. Well last night I had my first powerlifting bad dream.... I was at the comp with no gear.... no wraps, no suits, no belt and to top it off Shaz wasn't even there - Beyond RAW! Funny thing tho' even in my dream I knew if was just a dream and even said so to Webby... as I withdrew from the comp - Weird one!


Sporty Weekend.

Friday night training, Donned the squat suit to see if if would help with my deadlift at all. Had planned just to do 3's but Dirk suggested I try for a 1 rep max as I wont be deadlifting heavy again before the comp. 130kg for 2 (could have done more but ate late before training so ended up with reflux - nothing like chucking up a bit of stomach acid into your mouth - yuck) 140kg (my competition record) 142.5kg..... 145kg!!!! Not sure if it was legal tho' stopped 3/4 of the way up - don't think it went back down at all and eventually I locked it out - Hard Yakka! Dirk thinks I should should attempt 150 maybe even 155. I think I can ask for a 4th attempt if challenging a record. I currently hold the Vic Masters record at 115kg

Completed half my supplemental work and had to take off..... get Madi to her basketball game. What a great game the girls played. Their first win and convincingly too. 39 - 17. It really came together for them - played like a team, very little dribbling, lots of good passes. Madi scored 5 points, 1 off a foul shot but missed her 3 other foul shots.

Up early at the paddock Sat morning, rode down to the pony club. The Level assesor failed to show, we waited until almost 11am before setting off in teams for the Navigation ride to the Stonehouse restaurant. My team, The Three Amigos: myself, Kerry and Virginia were 3rd to set out with an unknown optimumum time to complete the course and answer all the cryptic quesitons along the way. We arrived 2nd at our destination about 12:30pm, Mojo was pretty tired, dragging his nose along the ground almost. A slight mishap for one of the other teams with Sue coming off her mount, Gus, but otherwise we all arrived safely. Times registered and sheets handed in. First place to...... The Three Amigo's.... Whoo-hoo my first blue ribbon. LOL. After lunch the the skies opened, bucketing down rain, of course just as I was leaving to ride back.... Ugghhh Wet saddle,. like sitting in a puddle. Mojo was not happy in the rain, dancing around, trying to get away from it. Walked him past the road and down onto the track before mounting and took off home. Hot spa bath was the order of the evening, turned on the jets and ooopppss too much bubble bath.... almost overflowing the tub.

Sunday, up early again to get Madi to basketball training at 8.30am, bit stiff and sore.... lower back, inner thighs.. ouch ouch... Left training a little early to be back up at the paddock by 9.45 and tack up Mojo again - don't think he was too impressed at having to work 2 days in a row. Madi and Jess rode down to Pony club together. At the end of the day, hooked up the float and went to pick then both up. Such a good boy, walked straight onto the float, probably happy to be getting a ride home instead of walking.... or was it the bucket of feed Leah was holding in the float?? LOL.

Madi picked up a bunch of entry forms for events over the next couple of months:

Wyena Horse and Pony Club Hickstead and Show Jumping 10 & 11 Mar 07
Metropolitan Show jumping Series 3 Mar 07, 17 Mar 07, 31 Mar 07, 14 Apr 07,


Looks like the weekends are going to be booked up for the next little while!

After such a busy few days I'm glad to be at work to have a rest!


The week ahead:

Tonight - squatting with Webby and the guys again at Doherty's, still waiting for the squat boots. Fingers crossed and praying hard that they turn up today.
Tues - Early morning run at the Tan. Benching with Shaz at Doherty's, Madi's basketball training.
Wed - Rest - This time I will book a massage
Thurs - speed squat at Definition
Fri - Early morning run at the Tan. Speed bench at Definition. Madi's basketball match. George's 50th bash (owner of Definition)

How do I feel right now? : tired

Parcel arrived

Whoo-hoo Suit slippers and Groove briefs.



The groove briefs, what can I say, Bridget Jones eat your heart out. These are really going to win the boys over. ROFL. The leg hole opening is only big enough for my arm to fit in, damn sure my legs were bigger than my arms last time I looked. Okay, now you're all saying 'What the....' putting your arm in the leg hole... does this woman know how to put on briefs? Hmmm gonna need the suit slippers AND a couple of helpers just to get my undies on!!!


Fingers crossed the squat boots will come in later this afternoon.

Pretty average training session last night. In the gym later than I needed to be..... bugger.

Drop squats 12 sets of 2 reps
Reverse Hypers 60kg 3 sets of 6reps
Deadlifts 80kg 3 sets of 4 (quite light - fast reps)

Had to leave it at that.... Madi was out riding and I was meant to pick her up at the paddock at 7.15pm....

Feeding time at the zoo....

Last nights dinner - take away. Piece of grilled fish
9.30pm coffee
11pm - Bed finally 15mins reading, 2 haighs truffles.......mmmmmmm

Up at the sparrows fart again - really tired, bit slow moving and left home late at 5:50am. At the Tan for my run at 6.15 Added an extra interval to the run today, which saw me run all the way back to Government House drive and then it was a slight decline trot back to the car. Thought it was about time to put a bit of extra effort in.... 4km's on the dot 31 mins. Pace average for the first 3 intervals was 6.40, slowed even more on the last 2 intervals..... All things considered, not too bad a run. 5min run /1 min walk. Cant really push myself any harder with the Masters comp looming. Will get out again next Tuesday and Friday.... after that nothing for the week leading into the comp - except Monday, I'll do some light squats and I think Shaz wants to get in an final bench session. So in that last week it will be just stretching, massage and watching telly.



Feeding continued....

7.00am 1/cup rolled oats, dried fruit, almonds, 2 eggwhites, sprinkle raw sugar. Coffee
8.30am coffee
9.30am apple muffin & coffee
12:30 Chicken Pasta (down St Kilda for out regular Friday lunch)
3pm Banana & Peach & coffee

(YAY - 3pm - turn off the pager!!!)

Tonight, Although its speed bench, I'll be doing some heavy deadlifting, work up to a 3 rep max and I'll see how I go doing this with my squat suit on. At least now I have the suit slippers to get it on with. Not sure if I'll try the groove briefs tonight.... maybe over the weekend if I get a chance - just to try them on.

DARC Navigation ride tomorrow, It'll take a little over an hour to get to the Stonehouse, so we should arrive nicely in time for lunch just after 12pm. Looking forward to it....

Catch you all after the weekend

Vicki xxx

And the week drags on............

Couple of emails in this morning, first one from Donvale Adult Riding Club, hereafter referred to as DARC:

Dear Members & Friends,

Our first rally back is this Saturday the 10th of March. We usually begin with an informal ride to ease us in to the New Year, and 2007 will be no different. We have a couple of things planned for Saturday and would love to see as many riders in attendance as possible. Friends, relatives, children, significant others, parole officers, personal gurus, astral bodies, all welcome!

SATURDAY 10th FEBRUARY

10.00am Level Assessment
If you have not yet been level assessed as a new member or with a new horse, here's your chance.Please bring your cards, and logs if applicable, and $10.00 for the level assessor... more if you want to bribe yourself in to a lower level.

10.30am Informal Navigation Ride
We plan to have pairs (three's, more?) of riders set off from the club at 10 minute intervals and head off for the Stonehouse in Warrandyte for lunch. The ride is intended to be taken at a walk, with occasional trotting, or maybe a canter in especially good spots, but slowly overall.........


2nd significant email is from UPS. I just love getting parcels..... especially UPS delivered parcels, I love UPS (except when they log a P1 bug and it gets assigned to me....) but overall I lurve UPS. Currently my 'Groovy Baby' Briefs and suit slippers are in Honolulu.... I want to be in Honolulu..... My lucky parcel gets to joy ride around the States, bloody thing should send me a postcard at least.



Tracking Detail

Tracking Number: 1Z 780 517 66 6629 549 4
Type: Package
Status: In Transit
Shipped to: MELBOURNE, AU
Shipped or Billed on: 06/02/2007
Service Type: EXPRESS
Weight: .50 Lb

Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
HONOLULU,
HI, US 07/02/2007 8:40 ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 07/02/2007 4:37 DEPARTURE SCAN
07/02/2007 4:00 DEPARTURE SCAN
07/02/2007 0:52 ARRIVAL SCAN
LITTLE ROCK,
AR, US 06/02/2007 22:31 DEPARTURE SCAN
06/02/2007 21:53 ARRIVAL SCAN
SHREVEPORT,
LA, US 06/02/2007 21:08 DEPARTURE SCAN
06/02/2007 20:26 ARRIVAL SCAN
LONGVIEW,
TX, US 06/02/2007 19:30 DEPARTURE SCAN
06/02/2007 19:25 ORIGIN SCAN
US 06/02/2007 19:14 BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Tracking results provided by UPS: 07/02/2007 15:12 Eastern Time (EST)/New York Time (USA)

Called Ovidio late in he afternoon to see if my boots were on their way yet.... Ready for posting. Asked if there was any chance they could be send express post.... He doesn't think they'll arrive any quicker so he will try to get them in today's post to arrive by Friday... Monday at the latest. Since they are being shipped to my work address I should have them in time for the squat session even if the arrive on Monday.

No idea about the Titan order - when it will arrive.... but got confirmation of the order. Ordered some Chalk off a website in Brisbane. Locally, Australian Barbell Company sells chalk - but has none in stock at present


Benched at Doherty's under Shazza's instruction. Not happy. Only managed 2 decent benches for the session - out of an hour of benching! 1x80kg raw and 1x100kg partial shirted. The rest were crap form. Of the 4 attempts at 80 only the last one I managed to press without assistance - go figure, the previous 3 I couldn't budge off my chest. My shirted attempts - just pathetic. In hindsight I don't think I was carrying the bar over far enough. In any case, my shoulders were coming off the bench, I wasn't tight enough. Shaz said not to worry about it, that I still did good, but it messes with my head. Will I use the shirt in comp? what if I miss all 3 lifts - I'll be disqualified. Ready to head home... but Shaz insisted that I complete all my supplemental work and set homework for me. Every night lay on the floor and practice bench position, arched, back tight and press.

Supplemental work
Floor Pin Press - close 45kg 3 x10
Benchers lying tricep 10kg dumbbell 3x10
Chest supported row - neutral grip 60kg 3x8
Reverse grip bar raises 15kg 3x10
Dumbbell curl & overhead press 10kg dumbbell 3x12


Feeding time at the zoo....
7.00am 1/cup rolled oats, dried fruit, almonds, 2 eggwhites, sprinkle raw sugar. Coffee
8.30am coffee
9.15am coffee
10.00am 1 banana and a treat sized crunchie bar.... yeah I know...... :-(
12:30 - will have some pasta (leftovers from last night...)
3pm will attempt to drink a low cal protein shake (Yuck)

Oh email asking what supplements I take.... currently 3 fish oil, 2x1500mg glucosamine/Chondroitin tabs and my slow release Naprosyn. I would ususally have a Max's recovery protein drink after heavy training but have cut that out (too high in cals at the moment)

Cheers
Vicki xxx

Mini update & response to comments

I wrestled the secret of how to embed the map from maymyrun.com out of coolrunner Gronk - ahhh.... he gave it up so easily! hehehehe......




Trust me Louise - there was NO self control involved. There was only 4 choc almonds left! :-(
BTW.... I have a little sign on my computer screen.... No coffee No workee... and in my employment contact: No payee No weekend workee..... :-)

Casually me.... Tom, Thanks for the link. I checked out the site - whoo-hoo they have deadlift slippers in PINK! Awesome! LOL I haven't done really low box squats yet.... just on parallel. What are pause squats? They sound painful and I like that. ;-) Jason squatted with his straps down - I didnt ask why, I should have asked why... so why??? Are you going to set up a new Blog? I miss reading your old one! Impressive stats... I notice your squat is better than your deadlift, I love squatting but my deadlift is so far stronger. I guess I'm a bit panicked about my 1 rep max since I haven't done comp squats for such a long time and I want to know where I'm at and if I've improved.

PS. I like the analogies to running and powerlifting in your previous comment. ROFL. But that's me... Unconventional !!

Squat session

Monday evening arrived at Doherty's about 6.45pm which gave me time to set up and get a few warm-ups in. Feeling very tight and sore thru the hips, really need a massage which I haven't booked. James, who remembered seeing me at the Raw Push Pull last year was first to introduce himself and Jason, quite a young guy who has recently switched from IPF to CAPO. Webby arrived and another guy Ash? With James and Ash squatting due to injury it was just the 3 of us. Webby and Jason used the monolift and I was already set up in another rack. Squatted up to 90kg raw. Jason suited up and had these neat suit slippers which he lent me to get my suit on. They are brilliant! So much so that I was able to get my suit on myself - without help! Webby was surprised.... 'You need a smaller suit' he commented. Reality is I should not be able to get it on by myself.

Suited, wrapped (broke a nail, grrrr) and belted.... Webby spotted me thru the heavier sets and James checked my depth - managed 3 - 4 reps at 100kg, 110kg, 2 at 115kg. All borderline depth Attempted a single at 120kg - went down but couldn't power up - well and truly wasted had nothing left in me. Will be back next week to go heavier without doing so many warmup sets.

So what did I learn, tips, hints suggestions?

My knees are rolling in

• - need to do more abductor work
• - squatting in runners = NO. Need a solid base, wedge heel (hopefully the squat boots will arrive soon)
• - stance is quite wide (however this is comfortable for me)

Bar rolling down my back

• - Try wearing a T-shirt over my crop top
• - Webby noted every time I get out of the rack I re-adjust my left hand grip - must get grip right before I come out of the rack.

Get longer knee wraps 2.5m.

Try warming up on the bike and do less warmup sets

Home knackered by 8.45pm. Slump in the chair to watch Desperate Housewives and have my last meal of the day - Chicken schnitzel. Treat myself to 4 choc almonds while reading in bed later.....

Tuesday

Up at the sparrows fart..... 5.20 am get dressed for my run, bags packed for work and off.... Legs are not too bad - pretty stiff and swollen behind the knees from the wraps. At the tan around 6.10am. Same route as usual, 25 mins. 3k, 5min run/1min walk intervals. I've plotted it on maymyrun.com just need to figure out how to imbed in here. Might have to ask coolrunner Gronk since he's been able to do it in his blog. Here's the link anyway. rivertanrun

Crap day in the office constantly paged. Had to postpone my bench session with Shaz as I had 3 P1 bugs and one of them was just not going to go away by 3pm which I would have needed to leave by to get the bench session in. Finally managed to set the bug back in the customers court by about 4.30pm.

Chalk shortage
Tried various places on the net looking for chalk in block form - plenty of climbing places have it in sock like things but I want a block..... Cannot get one for love nor money..... If anyone knows of a reliable supplier let me know... please!

Ordered a pair of suit slippers from Inzer along with a pair of groove briefs - Groovy Baby! LOL
Longer knee wraps and wrist wraps from Titan. Why? Because I liked the blue stripe of the Titan ones better than the red stripe in Inzer ones.

Wish list:
Squat suit. Inzer z-suit size 30 or even better Inzer Hardcore size 30
Deadlift suit Inzer Max DL size 30
Chalk

Anyone wishing to help out a poor struggling powerlifter can order any of the above items off the Inzer website and ship to:
Level 7, 324 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne, Australia 3000

Ohhhh just dreaming........... I need a sponsor


Food Glorious Food......

7.15am 1/cup rolled oats, dried fruit, almonds, 2 eggwhites, sprinkle raw sugar. Coffee
9.00am coffee
10.45am 1 chicken breast & 1 cup cooked rice
12:45pm coffee
2.00pm chicken schnitzel, avocado, tomato
3.00pm coffee
5.30pm Le rice
8pm chicken parma & pasta
9pm coffee

10pm bed, read for 15 mins, 2 haighs truffles.... yummm

Cheers
Vicki xxx

PS. Interesting piece in 'The Age' newspaper. Sex Spies.

Time to get serious

MASTERS/JUNIORS AND NOVICE COMP

MIKE’S GYM, Dandenong
45 Brighton Rd, Dandenong. (Melways Map 90, B8)

WHEN: Saturday 24th February 2007
START: 1pm
WEIGH-IN: From 11am on the day
CONTACT: Ian Webb Mob: 0417 361 088
SECTIONS:

• Masters (Over 40yo)
• Junior (20-23)
• Teenage (up to and including 19yo)
• Novice and Bench Press Improvement

ENTRY FEE: $20 Members and $40 Non-Members
ENTRIES CLOSE: Friday 16th February.


69kg - Tighten the belt, trim the fat, clean up my act, suck it in, suck it up, cut it out......


Confessions of chronic over-eater........

......aka food diary.

6.45am 1/cup rolled oats, dried fruit, almonds, 2 eggwhites, sprinkle raw sugar. Coffee
8.00am coffee
9.00am coffee
10.20am 1 chicken breast & 1 cup cooked rice
1.00pm steak and veggies
2.30pm coffee
3.30pm Le-rice (ricesnack) Mango flavored. Mmmmmm


Nothing else to eat until after training - late training tonight too. 7pm start. Will have to tape Desperate Housewives!!

Ahh the weekend....

Friday night training - Speed squat.... finally managed to master the drop squat after many failed attempts. The bar kept falling in front of me which was a bit nasty on the shoulders and elbows catching it and preventing a complete drop of the bar. Need to get my chest massaged (loosened) and work harder at getting my shoulders back. Increased the deadlifts to 85kg for 3 sets of 4 reps (fast). Rest of the training was pretty average. 60kg on the reverse hypers (which I hate) felt like the frame was going to tip over every time I kicked out. Side deadlifts up by 10kg, saxon bends same as last week.

Basketball - Madi's team lost - again. Stinking hot in the stadium, no cooling and they wouldnt even open the doors to let a breeze thru - ohhh someone might sneak in without paying.... shucks that's 2 bucks you'll really miss!

Skip forward to Sat afternoon. The party, pony rides (should have brought Mojo!), jumping castle and lots and lots of food.

Who said the jumping castle is only for kids??
Auntie Robyn (left) and Leah (right) with Jessica.

Myself, my two older sisters, Peggy (left) and Maureen (right) and our Dad.

After hard day partying.......

Arrived home around 6pm just in time to get paged! :-( Worked until 9:30pm trying to figure out exactly which fixes this customer needed - rather than all the ones that support were requesting - it was a mess of labels, merges and bullshit and to top it off our internal system was playing up - ugghhh. Finally got it sorted and filed the necessary merges and called the poor bastard in India that then had to build the new labels and patches - well I tried to make it as simple and least amount of work possible for him. Attempted to unwind... grabbed my new book 'Hannibal Rising', some dinner,coffee and some chocolate.... scoffed the food, chugged down the coffee (didnt even taste it) and couldnt get interested in the book - bloody work!

Had the worst night.... woke up around midnight thinking it was later, checked the mobile, no messages from Leah - ohh bit early yet. 1.30 am the mobile wakes me... DDR India, there's some problem with the label being built.... right-o - emails sent.... sleep.... wake at 3am no message from Leah.... 4 am - txt message - Leah and her friends are all back at Danni's now... good - back to sleep. 7am - alarm - time to get up for Madi's basketball training. Who needs sleep? Ahhhh... no run this morning :-( Next run: Tuesday morning 6am Yarra 'n' Tan again- hmmm after the big squat session Monday night... that'll be interesting.

Skip forward to Sunday afternoon and here I am now, having been paged again a few hours ago. Just finished working on another P1 issue for another USA customer. Roll on 8pm tonight when the pager shuts off until tomorrow - Yeah I copped a beauty - 7 days of pager. Roll on 3pm Friday! At least I have some company when I'm working from home.




Bugger.... just been paged again...... and again....... they like to fire them off in rapid sucession...... better run

Vicki xxx

Not going to get stood up again!

The 'Cad' sent a txt message asking if I was free to go to the movies last night or tonight. Like I enjoyed being stood up last time - NOT. Anyway, too busy training. Well its true.... I even had to back out of going to see Babel with my friend Clay this weekend... Mostly 'cos I'm carrying the pager for work on the weekend and my nieces girls' birthday's Brooke (2) and Jessie (4) over in Sunbury in the afternoon.

Called Webby last night and left a message checking that its ok for me to come and train with him on Monday and received a txt reply this morning confirming that its ok and he'll be a Doherty's around 7pm. I'll get there little earlier and warm up beforehand so I'll only need help with a) getting my squat suit on (how embarrassing) and b) doing some HEAVY squats.

Training:

Reverse grip bench press - 50kg 3 sets of 10. Felt great - possible could have done heavier but this is already an increase of 5kg over last week at which time I could NOT press the 50kg - I know - I tried!
Dumbbell floor press - 50lb dumbbells 10, 7, 7 (kinda expected that after the big reverse grip - all triceps)
Single cable tri ext - 50lb 3 sets of 12
Cable bent rows - 150lb 2 sets of 10 (really hard going on this for some reason)
V-press seated dumbbells - 20lb dumbbells 3 sets of 10 (Right front delt pain while doing this)
Superset: barbell curls @ 40lb (light) and bar hammer curls @ 10kg - 15/15, 15/7, 15/9 (even after adjusting the weights from last week still could not get the reps on the bar hammer curls except for the first set - how frustrating!!)

Kept to my New Years resolution by doing some stretching from 8.20 to 8.40pm while waiting for Law&Order to start on the box.

Training tonight - speed squat. Need to get in and out of the gym early as Madi has a 6.50 basketball game - thankfully its a local game at the Donvale sports stadium. Carrying the pager all weekend - Blah!!! Heading for a hot one Sunday, will have to get out early if I'm gonna do my 'run for the paper' in the morning.

Aveagoodweekend everyone

Vicki xxxx

Maybe the Coolrunning hat would have been better!

Happy New Year! - Take 2

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Yes, I'm starting the year again complete with new list of New Years resolutions and this time round - NO drama's and NO getting sick!

Previous New Years resolutions - 2007

* Learn to swim (yep that’s back on the list / still on the list… )
* Keep meeting people.
* Get out there – be social.
* Accept help when its offered (aka – stop being so damn stubborn and independent) that’s gonna be hard!
* Ask for help when its not offered. Whoa… even harder!
* Be more financially responsible. (2006 - the year of spending) Apart from my squat boots – that’s it for 2007!
* Be nice to the support analysts at work…. Be more approachable. (I think this was on my performance review – ouch)

New Years resolutions - 2007

* .......

Okay, lets be realistic - none of the original list was ever going to happen..... especially not the swimming. Alright, try again...

New Years resolutions - 2007

* Be more financially responsible - no choice after losing the Maverick.
* Be nice to the support analysts at work…. (yeah well I want that promotion....)
* Run - minimum twice a week - even in winter!!
* Stretch for 15 mins after every training session (can be done at home before settling into the recliner)


Alarm went off at 5:15 am, contemplated staying in bed and not going for a run, but thats NOT the way to start the New Year. At the Tan 6.05 am. Give this newly modified orthotic a chance to show how good it can be. Set off across to the river 5min run/ 1 minute walk, over Swan street bridge and up towards Morell bridge. More joggers and bikers out this morning and I seemed to be running against the flow - typical... swimming against the tide. Over Morell bridge back to the Tan track and head back towards the car. Ha! Who should I see, or rather she spotted me... One of my physio's (I have team of them - LOL) Naomi - the inflicter of enormous pain massaging my ITB and admirer of my underwear (private joke - sorry). quick 1 min chat and off I set again to the car. All up 25 mins, 3.2k, about a 7min pace average (mucho slowo). Orthotic evaluation: no pain from the big toe, arch cramping and show rubbing on the outer part of the foot near the little toes, like where the laces seam is on the shoe - Brookes Vapour. Wore my Thorlos socks for extra padding as I had noticed the rubbing yesterday while wearing thin Nike socks. Still, the nice thing is no pain fromt he big toe, I'm sure Chris will sort out the other issues.

Cheers
Vicki xxx

Max Squat Day

In the gym around 5:30.

Good mornings - bar 20 reps, 30kg/12reps, 40/12, 50/10, 60/4, 70/3, 80/2 (but poor form) put on the belt and 80kg for 3 reps.Could have gone heavier with the belt but that's not the purpose here.
Normal Squats - 60/6 attempted 90 only 4 reps, 2nd attempt at 90kg with wraps, still only 4 reps. Back to 80, 3 sets of 7 reps. Hip very tight - extra stretching between sets.
Stiff leg deadlift - 80kg 6, 8, 8 Fatiguing early :-( and hammy attachment into the glute was very tight and sore.
Barbell rollouts - 9,10,8
Fitball cable crunch - 100lb 3 sets of 10
Dumbbell Windmill - 15lb dumbbell 3 sets of 12 reps.

Left the gym at 7.30pm very stiff and sore - need to book in for a remedial massage. The good mornings and squats took most of the training time. By the time I finished with the barbell rollouts I told Dirk that I felt like that bar had my name on it. "well you're probably the only one making good use of it" he replied.

Slept well but woke at 5am. Ughh 15 mins and the alarm will go off. Had everything ready to go for a run. Rolled over to enjoy the last 15mins snooze and didn't wake until 5:50. Shit! Had set the alarm for 5.15 pm by mistake. Too late to go for a run now..... Got up and headed into work.



Podiatrist appointment at 11.20 - Chris took out my orthotics and padded them up and voila I can walk without pain. Amazing stuff. He's padded the orthotic to angle my toe downwards so that when I walk the toe doesn't need to bend back so far. Doesn't fix the problem, but allows me to walk pain free. Have to try this out for the next and report back to him. If its all good he will make something a little more permanent. I asked Chris about wearing heels..... "Oh stop being such a girl" Gosh, insulted twice this week with the "Girl' comment - LOL He conceded to see what he could do about making something that I could wear - in low heels. There goes my stiletto days! Will head out for a run tomorrow morning before work along the yarra , so long as I don't sleep in that is! Only problem I've noticed so far today is the shoe seems to rub on the other side of my foot now. The run will be the real test.


Shaz spoke to Webby - he's quite ok with me joining in when his group squats. They squat on Monday evenings at Doherty's so I'll have to reschedule my bench session with Shaz for Tuesday around Madi's Basketball training or on Wednesday. Although Tuesday if preferable for Shaz. In any case I'll give Webby a call tonight to sort out what time to be there on Monday.



Night off tonight - yay! TV shows are getting back in swing - Prison Break
tonight!! Grabbed a couple of little Haigh's treats while I was in the city - ahhh I'll run them off tomorrow!


See ya!

Vicki xxx

NEWSFLASH: Updated Pics on AMG-lite

A treat for the Physique fans, Andy has updated my page on Andy's Muscle Goddesses with some new pics taken over in New Zealand late last year. The site meter is spinning!! LOL. Hope you enjoy them and I'll keep posting regular pics and training progress here as well.

I've got my weight up to 68.5 kg (151 lb) now. So time to reign in the chocolate consumption! No more doing 'lines' at night watching TV - ha ha ha. A little closer to the comp I'll start keeping a food diary here - just to keep me honest?




Benched last night at Doherty's in Brunswick wtih Shaz. Warmed up to 60kg or 70kg raw - I have no idea because part of Shazza's tactics in training me is not to let me know how much I am pushing - so I cant do my head in thinking about it if its more than I think I can do. Anyway, Shirted up and worked on partials again, but this time we DID GO HEAVY. Sets of 4 reps at 100kg (220lb) - This time she did tell me how much was on the bar - as with this big a jump it becomes a safety issue. Decided to go for broke - 110kg (242lb) Only managed two reps. The first rep was good - only about 2 cm (less than 1 inch) off the chest before pressing. Second rep was crap - went up sideways LOL. No chance of a third rep - my whole body was wasted!! Gave me a head rush - couldnt get off the bench, tried to stand up and just dropped back down, felt like I'd popped a blood vessel in my eye - sight was a bit blurry - but nothing as good as that. Recovered for a short while and then went on to do my regular accessory work while Shaz went out to do cardio.

Accessory:
Floor pin press - close grip - 50kg 3 sets of 8 (amazingly hard after heavy benching)
Benchers lying tricep press - 10kg dumbbells - 3 sets of 10
Chest supported row - neutral grip - 60kg 3 sets of 8
Reverse grip bar front raise - 33lb 3 sets of 10
Dumbbell hammer & o/head press - 10kg dumbbells 3 sets 10, 8, 10 (dunno what happened in set 2......)

Shaz is confident that I have the 110kg bench press in me with the shirt. We'll aim for that in the Master comp next month, but in any case the masters is just going to be a bench mark for all my lifts to see what I will be able to do in the state open in March. She also wants me to squat with Webby, actually Shaz would prefer that I have a training partner but this is not something I'm keen on - on a permanent basis that is. I agree tho' I need someone on my max effort days. Hopefully Shaz saw Webby at Doherty's last night after I left. I check with her shortly and if not I'll drop Webby an line and see if I can come and squat with him and his guys a couple of times before the comp.

Well thats about it for today, catch you all again soon.

Love
Vicki xxx

Australia Day - Long weekend

Sorry for the lack of updates.... been a little busy running around. Australia Day long weekend always involves a basketball tournament for the Ringwood Hawks - the team Madi plays for. Two games Friday and three games today with finals on Sunday, which our girls wont be participating in having lost both games Friday, and the first and third game today and drawing for the second game. We've had some 'issues' with coaching and looks now like we have an experience coach - albeit still one of the parents!

Start of the basketball season also means I will have to juggle my training around. The girls train twice a week, Tuesday night and Sunday morning and games are played on Friday night. So I will have to train around Madi's basketball times - somehow.

I've had two training sessions since I last blogged:

Thursday night: Speed bench - I am not a lazy wench Louise!! LOL. (To clarify, I was invited to have a go at Street Orienteering which was being held in my area, but I had to train)

Reverse Grip bench press - 45kg 3 sets of 10 (awkward movement and needed someone to lift off each time)
Dumbbell floor press - 45lb dumbbells 3 sets of 10 (initially needed someone to pass them, then balanced them on my quads between sets.
Single cable tricep ext. - 50lb 3 sets of 12 (Danny and John joined with this for something different)
Cable bent row pull - 150lb 1 set of 10 and 2 sets of 12 (hard to keep my balance.....)
V-press seated dumbbell - 20lb dumbbells 3 sets of 10
Superset: barbell curls @ 30lb (light) and bar hammer curls @ 15kg, 15/10 15/8 15/7


While we were doing the single tricep extensions, George, the owner of the gym was doing some tricep work using some hanging chains, kneeling on a bench and lowering himself holding the chains and pressing up again using triceps. Danny and John both gave it a go and found it very difficult but were able to get a couple of reps out.... I kept quiet and just went on with my tricep work until challenged by the boys to give it go. With my triceps already spent from doing reverse grip benches, floor presses and cable extn's I knew I had little chance of getting any reps out. However I was given no choice and pushed into doing it.... How incredibly hard!!! 1 rep..... 2 reps.... 3 reps (with assistance) no way I was doing any more. And what did I get??? Teasing!!! 'Oh... you're such a girl!' LOL and I copped if for the rest of the session..... Here I am pulling 150 on the cable for bent over cable pulls and Danny comes out with... '.....training that girly back now?' Grrrrrr!



Friday morning:
Short run: 25 mins probably about 3 ks - not sure as I found my foot pod battery had died when I got to Mullum Mullum track. Couple of guys pulled up in the car park just before me who were also going for a run and I heard them discussing the Maroondah Damn run - hope they didn't notice I was driving in from the street across from the car park. Hmmm maybe the 'Lazy wench' statement applies here..... he he he...... Anyway, waited in the car, fiddling with the foot pod until they were well and truly gone and then set out - still doing 5/1 intervals.

Really feeling the change in training.... triceps are very very sore... hamstrings still a little tight from Tuesday, but still its all good. Back/lats sore.... I know at least that the exercises are hitting the right spots and I'm getting results....

Girly back - My arse!!

Friday training: Speed squat.

Drop Squat (20 sec rest) Pressing the bar from behind the neck. 12 sets of 2 reps. Couldn't quite get the hang of this so for this week only Dirk suggested I do the drop squats while holding the bar over head and next week add in the press movement.
Reverse Hypers - 40kg 3 sets of 6
Deadlift @ 80% - 80kg 3 sets of 4
Side deadlifts - 40kg 3 sets of 6 (each side)
Saxon Bends - 10lb 3 sets (each side) - 7 6 6 (ouch)


Present time - Saturday evening.... Leah and Madi have gone out to dinner with their Dad before he drives back to Armidale in NSW. I'm about the settle in front of the box again and relax. Will get out for another short run tomorrow morning - Sunday paper run - LOL. Wont be pushing it tho' - just want to take it easy leading up to the comp. Will stick mainly to the 3 k runs (intervals) for now.