Sh!t Happens....

There have been so many times over the past few weeks where I've wanted to come in here and update you on what's going on but I can't seem to find the time. Scratch that, I couldn't seem to MAKE the time to do it. So, the Worst Blogger of November award goes to me! #bloggerfail  I apologize and will be making more of a conscious effort to schedule time to keep this thing alive, breathing, and exciting! :)

Let's start with some fun stuff that isn't workout-training-improvement season related, shall we??

Guess who is such a big boy now?!?! That's right, my nephew Jaxon turned one a couple of weeks ago! Oh my goodness, y'all. That was a fast year. He is standing up on his own, trying to talk, and Uncle Tommy taught him how to climb up stairs...lol...watch out!

Aunt T & Uncle Tommy - grown monsters :)

She's such a goober!

My sister calls him a "drool monster" so his birthday party was monster-themed and it was a lot of fun as you can tell by looking at the pictures :)

A couple of months ago, I met a female member of the my gym (shout out to Desert Sports & Fitness, the best gyms in T-town!) who was prepping for her first fitness competition. Her name is Savannah and I am envious of her abs! Anyway, she and I met a few times to work on posing and stuff. It's nice to have someone to talk to (in person) about competing, prep, hunger pains, and all that good stuff :)

I was able to go to Phoenix and watch the finals of the NPC Western Regionals in Phoenix. Funny story, this was the first time, in three years, that I was at a show as a spectator not a competitor. (#kindastrange) Savannah looked ridiculously amazing & she won her class! It was so fun to cheer her on and I'm really excited to follow her journey next competition season!

While we were in Phoenix, I took Tom to see the BYB Fitness studio. He hasn't had a chance to meet Randy in person yet or watch one of our training sessions (I'm trying to keep this from happening as long as possible! just kidding...sort of...lol) but I wanted him to see my new "home away from home".

Training wise, last month was quite the busy month! In an effort to tighten dat ass improve my weaker areas, I have been hitting the track for sprints a couple times a week. Sprints, to me, are a lot of fun and if it might help me get a booty like Carmelita Jeter....well...count me in!

I posted this pic on my Instagram...sometimes the workout sucks...

I made the trip to Phoenix to train with El Jefe a couple of times and let me tell you, I'm going through an adjustment period! There are many times during our training sessions that I feel weak and honestly, I just want to throw up my hands and walk away. It's not because El Jefe is a mean, evil coach who is trying to break me. It's because, as he has said, I've been working out not training. These are two completely different things and this is, at times, a hard lesson for me to learn. My job is to continue training on my own, hit the track a couple of times a week, and try not to break down & cry when he and I train together. I'm doing well on a couple of those and not so well on the other ;)

Lots of changes have been taking place, not only physically but mentally as well. He said the first month would be bumpy and he wasn't lying but you know what, good things things come to those who bust their ass and work for them!

Victory loves preparation

The Time Has Come

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you  in my Revitalized post that I would be making some decisions about what the next steps in my competition journey would be. Well, decisions were made a couple of days after I published that post but I wanted to wait until November started to share what those decisions were.

Since 2010, I have competed in 10 figure competitions. I have placed in the top 5 in 7 of those shows and in my most recent show, I won my class. 2013 was the year I stepped on the national stage for the first time and while I did not do as well as I would have liked to, I discovered that I loved competing at the national level.

After Junior Nationals and the AZ Open in July, I began thinking seriously about what my next steps would/should be.How seriously did I want to compete at the national level?  Was I hungry for a pro card? Should I continue doing figure or contemplate switching to physique? 10 shows - was that number I needed to stop at?

When I met with Randy  a few weeks ago and we sat down to talk about my future & goals, he said something that really stuck with me. He said that he's seen me on stage in good shape not great shape and that I can't walk away from competing without showing up to a show in great shape and seeing how I do. I knew that there were shows that I could have used more time to train/lean out/etc but to hear someone else say it was completely different.

I walked away from my time with Randy knowing that if I was going to continue competing, I would have to make some serious changes. I went home and talked to Tom because these changes would affect not only me but him as well. I spoke from my heart and told my husband that I wanted to put myself in someone else's hands. Honestly, I was scared. Tom has been my trainer since this all started and now I was, in a way, walking away from him. I was surprised to find out that Tom felt the same way I did and agreed that it was time to let someone else take over.

November 1st, I became an official member of the BYB Fitness family and hired Randy as my new trainer/coach. The next few months are going to be spent reshaping parts of my physique and helping me get into the best off-season shape I can. This will mean traveling to & from Phoenix to train one-on-one with Randy in addition to training on my own. We've talked about the shows I would love to do next year but no concrete plans have been made. El Jefe (the nickname I've given him) has told me that I have the potential to do big things and his excitement is contagious. I'm even more excited for the remainder of this off-season and can't wait to see what I look like when I step on stage next year!

I'm ready to put in the work and make things happen!