Me and the beautiful Mrs Broeren :) Love this pic.
Here we all are, the 'fitness girls'.

Resurfacing...

I have been a stranger to blogging of late – just haven’t had the time nor energy! Actually, I did spend a bit of time posting a few days ago, only to have it wiped on me. Very frustrating!

So, thanks to everyone who emailed and said they missed my posts! Nice to know someone takes an interest! I am definitely feeling much more relaxed since making the decision not to compete. I have started a new strength training program with Adam, which is great, definitely different – I don’t even feel I’ve really worked that hard when I am done. It’s just a different way of training. Today I did chest and biceps – I said to Adam that my goal for chest is to lift my body weight for at least 1 rep. Today, my first go, I was only 10lbs off doing that. Did legs on Monday, and I squatted a PB of 72.5kg for 5 reps (159.5lb) and equaled a previous PB for leg press, 500lb for 4 reps. Oh boy, was I sore. I got that pinched nerve in my upper right quad happening again on the leg press – always when I go really heavy. I was pretty happy with those lifts. We are going over 12 weeks, and doing this program fortnightly. I will do my bodybuilding stuff on the alternate weeks.

Looking forward to still going down to watch the Nationals, and cheer Sam on. Staying with Sam and her friend Kristy, and Ali. Kimmy and Margie and co will also be there, so it will be another fun weekend.

Now, to the house!! Well, we are all moved in! It’s just lovely, now it’s all settled down a bit – thought I am still sitting on a deck chair in my office J I have to get my proper chair from mum’s. I have my fax and printer at the old house, as they aren’t connecting us up here until tomorrow. Was without the internet for 3 days from Saturday so that was a bit difficult for business. We are living out of boxes and will be for a while – at least until settlement goes through for the old house. That’s next week. Have had to arrange plumbers, curtain fixers, curtain cleaners, house cleaners, etc and going between here and there to meet them and arrange everything. There is no way I could be competing in 10 days time! The days we moved my legs were aching and feet were sore by the end of the day. Seemed to have so much stuff! But, we have tons of cupboard space here so it’s all good.

Rexy has been funny. He was quite intrigued when we first brought him over. Checking out every nook and cranny he could find. I do believe he has had a bit of a mishap on the stairs already – I didn’t see it, but I found scratches and a piece of fur in a very strange place. Looks like he went over the landing balcony, and either fell down to the floor below, or, held on for dear life while scratching like crazy with his back legs to try and get back up. It would have been so funny to see. When I thought about it, I did hear a couple of loudish noises at one stage that I thought must have been him being naughty. Another time I found him lying sprawled out on a section of the balcony that you can only get to through the balustrading.

Going to Melbourne in 2 weeks to the IFBB show, will see big Ronnie Coleman in action. Looking forward to a bit of a weekend away.

Jodie and I are getting together for a cardio session every week. We had a good one on Saturday, some plyos made it tough, and made us both very sore! We also did some walking lunges, Jenn H style, down the very looooooooooong passage way.

I decided to get myself into a routine at the new place. Get up, turn on computer and download mail while making coffee. While it's brewing, get dressed for cardio, then drink coffee watching 8am news. Off for 45 mins of cardio, back, shower and get stuck into some work. Training has been moved to 2.45pm to fit in nicely with my schedule. Then home, protein shake, and a bit more work before switching off no later than 7pm.

Making my protein shake today, I was tipping in some white choc pudding, usually I do quarter of a box - well, it slipped out of my hand and the whole packet, paper and all, went in!! Stopped it as soon as I could but not before I had munched up paper, and a full box of pudding in my shake!!! What next? I don't have much luck with blenders - I have lots of hard luck blender stories, don't I Jode? :)

Have started another NEW YOU Challenge on my website – open to all clients who sign up for a full program from 1st October. Details are on the site.

I posted some pics of Di’s wedding on my last post that I lost, so will try again this time.

Well, let's hope I don't lose this post!

Hi from rainy Qld!

This post is a few days old now, will update soon!

Here I am in ‘sunny’ Noosa!! Today was Di and Gerard’s wedding, and it was a beautiful wedding, but it had to have been the pretty close to the worst weather you have ever seen on the lovely Sunshine Coast! Rained and blew a gale all day. Still, Di looked amazing, a true princess, and we all had a great time. The weather is meant to stay the same for the next 3 days at least!!! Good book reading weather!

I’ve been very quiet on my blog of late, I have been through some pretty stressful times and things have gotten very overwhelming for me – with selling the house, the move, my business, and training for comp. Since the July show, my health has taken a bit of a turn for the worse. I’ve got lots of niggling injuries that are not getting any better. I hurt when I walk, even my knees are starting to complain! But, mostly, my adrenal problems are starting to resurface. I’ve weighed everything up and have decided not to do any more shows this year. I just can't keep up the pace. Now that I have made the decision I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I am still taking the time off that I planned to – I need it – physically and mentally – and I need it to move into our new home and get my office set up. At the wedding, Cheryl and Lorraine tried to talk me into still doing the Nationals, saying to have a week off and then get back into it – but I just don’t have the energy or the inclination at this point. Rachel was also there, it was wonderful to see her – she looks fantastic and is only 6 weeks away from giving birth.

So, our first 2 days in Noosa were just amazing. The weather was perfect and we did a big 7km walk around the Park the first morning – I also went for a walk on the beach that afternoon. The morning after Jodie arrived, we went for a long walk/run on the beach followed by a huge stair climb – twice, followed by some lunges on the stairs. Today our calves are hurting! We also trained yesterday. Tomorrow Hils is coming up for a drive from Brissy, and we’ll be coffeeing, and then training legs :) We went to the Farmer’s market yesterday and scored this amazing Greek Yoghurt – better than any yoghurt or for that matter ice cream I have ever had. We also got these HUGE tubs of strawberries for $5 each.

More later...