From meathead to egghead

So Sunday was a day of photo shoots for most of the female bodybuilders. We were all prancing around in skimpy outfits by the pool at the host hotel and chatting as we hurriedly changed clothes in the bathrooms. I’m finally learning to come more prepared and had a huge bag of new outfits, most of which I’ll probably never wear again. I actually didn’t even have that many shoots lined up but should still have plenty of content to keep my site running for a while. On Sunday and Monday, I had shoots with Physique Art, MuscleAngels, TomNine, Awefilms, and HerBiceps. Hmm, sure seems like it was a lot more. While I was there, I arranged to shoot with Bill Dobbins in LA on Tuesday so I had to take Monday afternoon off to shop for something appropriate (or inappropriate) to wear before I left Miami. I didn’t get home from the airport until around midnight Monday night.
So Tuesday I had the photo shoot which took most of the day (but I think we got some really good shots) and then spent the rest of the day unpacking and packing for my San Francisco trip on Wednesday. I was even cooking a bunch of food to take. I had worked on my slides for the presentation while in Miami but of course, my professor had some comments to go over with me. So I met with her on Wednesday at 6am before our flight and basically ended up reworking the entire talk at the hotel on Wednesday. My labmate Stephanie was doing the same thing so it didn’t seem so bad. I actually went to the gym that evening just because I was about to lose my mind. I stayed up late and woke up early to practice my talk and was pretty nervous knowing how scatterbrained and sleep deprived I had been. Somehow I got through it and the feedback I got was very positive. Then I could finally relax! I hung out with Gene a little that afternoon and later we did a photo shoot in his studio. Then Friday I went to a few talks before Steph’s presentation late that afternoon (one of the last ones of the conference). She of course did a great job! It was funny because we realized that we are now more like biologists than engineers (it was the American Institute of Chemical Engineers conference). Everything was very technical and math-oriented—a LOT of modeling, even if they are studying a biological system. I just have to wonder how useful all of that really is. Most of the time they have to fit the model to experimental data anyway so what are you really gaining from it? Once it is established, you can vary parameters to try to gain insight into the system or optimize production of a given metabolite but it’s not clear how robust or comprehensive any model will be under all conditions. In other words, you always have to do the experiment(s) if you really want to know the answer.
We flew into Burbank Friday night and it was pretty late by the time we got home. I had driven to the airport and after I crossed an intersection here in Pasadena, I saw a flash. Yep, I had been caught (barely) running a red light. A few days later, I got a picture of myself and my car in the mail and a ticket for $361! Don’t even get me started! It was a fitting ending to a crazy week.

Nationals wrap-up (better late than never)

Sorry I still haven’t been keeping up with my journal. It’s hard to even know where to start. The past couple of weeks have been spent trying to get back to “normal” since the nationals.
I will try to comment a little on my contest prep first. It’s pretty well known by now that I worked with Ed and Betty Pariso for the show and I just couldn’t be happier with how smoothly everything went for our first time working together. It was totally different from anything I have done in the past (I normally do a no carb diet all the way through), yet my body responded instantly to any changes that we made. We started working together ~20 weeks out. Although I made a lot of improvements from the very beginning, I stayed pretty heavy (>155 lbs) up until the Olympia which was 6 weeks out. Then I dropped dramatically over the next 3 weeks and was pretty much ready at ~140lbs. This was the most difficult time (obviously). There were days where I could barely move and felt like I had the flu yet I would still manage to train and do up to 2.5 hours of cardio a day. Not to mention working my crazy hours in the lab! Somehow I survived and was actually able to eat more the last couple of weeks and back off the cardio a little. This was such a luxury and also allowed me to get more experiments done because at the same time, I was getting some very promising results in the lab.
Before I knew it, it was time to leave for Miami. I took the red-eye flight Wednesday night and, thankfully, was able to check into my hotel and sleep a little more when I arrived. My mom joined me later that afternoon and we picked up a few groceries and started painting my Pro-Tan on before weigh-ins. I weighed in at 136.5 lbs which is just a little more than last year (135 lbs) but my conditioning was greatly improved. I was still a little nervous because you can never really access yourself those last few days, so Gene was nice enough to take a few pics to send to Ed and Betty who assured me that I didn’t look worse than when I left Pasadena! Everything went according to plan and I think I came in at my absolute best for prejudging on Saturday morning. I did have a slight tanning disaster though--my Pro-Tan took on a greenish tint but Nicki really saved me backstage with a finishing color. Make sure if you buy Pro-Tan online, that it is new product and hasn’t been sitting in a warehouse for months/years!
At prejudging, the first call-out was Debi, me, and Elena and they really made us work. They moved us all around and brought us out a second time after they had finished judging the rest of the class. I was excited just to know I was in the top 3 and to be compared in that group (because last year I was in the 2nd call out).
After prejudging, I had just enough time to fix my tan, practice my routine a couple of times, and get my make-up and hair touched up (I was disappointed that Gina Davis couldn’t be there to make me glamorous but Elaine Goodlad did a fantastic job!) before the competitors’ meeting. At the night show, my routine and everything went ok and the crowd went nuts when I turned around because of my conditioning. My glutes were the talk of Miami! In the end, I was announced in 3rd. Honestly, I had gotten my hopes up to be even higher but I was extremely happy for Debi who has been deserving of a pro card for years and of course Elena is always a tough competitor.
We stayed to watch the heavyweights and overall and then I went to dinner with my mom, Holly Geersen, her trainer Robin Parker and her husband Barry. I do have to say that Holly should have been in the top 5. She got good call-outs, has a great structure, and was in shape so I’m not sure what happened?! Holly has been a good friend for years, and from the start of our preps, I felt like we both had a good shot at placing. Anyway, we stuffed our faces with burgers and a few desserts, although for once, I didn’t save enough room! After that, I was dead from being up since 4:30am (which is 1:30am CA time). So I went to bed to finally get some sleep before a day of photo shoots on Sunday. I have to say, this is the first year I didn’t watch the men’s bodybuilding at all. I normally go to prejudging and stay till the end of the finals, but I just wasn’t into it this year for some reason. I will write more about the rest of my trip and the last couple of weeks shortly!

Back in action!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted since 3 weeks before the nationals. My life has been hectic to say the least! First of all, my experience at the Nationals was absolutely spectacular. I placed 3rd in the lightheavyweight class and was definitely at my absolute best. I have to thank Ed and Betty Pariso who did a tremendous job with my prep (and myself for being smart enough to listen). I could write a novel about the weeks leading up to the competition and the days since but I will have to save that for later. I am in San Francisco right now and just finished presenting a talk titled "The total microbial synthesis of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae" at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) conference. Between photo shoots and preparing my slides, I literally have only gotten a few hours of sleep since the show. So I'm going to relax a little now that I finally can. I just wanted to pop in and say that I will have more to write and will be updating my website shortly (on a timescale of days though, not hours).
Here's a pic Gene took of me working on my presentation yesterday!