So this is how it feels to be a world champion! Well guys, I gotta say this feeling is something else! I actually couldn’t sleep last night. Whether it was the adrenaline rush or just the extra carbs that kept me awake, I don’t know. I had about 2-3 hours sleep, then I was up to have my first proper breakfast for 18 weeks! Eggs, sausage, ham, butter, baguette, cheese, 3 white coffees and some cake and fruits…. Oh dear, I feel like I need to walk it off! I still feel dehydrated, just keep drinking now. Yesterday I tried to be cautious with water after dehydrating but today I should be alright!

Last night everything happened so fast I just couldn’t catch up! The prejudging was yesterday morning, we were on stage around 12pm. At the prejudging everyone  just does the quarter turns and the compulsory poses, and the callouts if there’s any. We went on stage, did the quarter turns, did the poses once and then we were done. I thought: wow, that was very short and sweet, it must have been really obvious who wins because they didn’t swap us over or anything.

The evening show started at 5 pm. I was gutted to learn that the webcast was not working! I’m really sorry about you guys, who wanted to watch it and couldn’t! Everything went very quick. The classes went on stage, did the compulsory poses again, then the top 6 were sent off, the medals were given for the rest and then the top 6 did the routine. After that they announced the results and the next class went on stage. No complications, no dragging of time. But don’t forget, we are in Russia, so everything is happening in Russian and sometimes in English so it’s very difficult to follow. There is a guy on stage who guides everyone as the announcer says the numbers in russian, he tells/shows them what to do. And then the announcer started throwing out the numbers and names, 5th, 4th, 3rd etc, and I’m trying to follow because I used to speak Russian about 20 years ago, but I just can’t catch up with it. The guy points out all the athletes around me and then all of a sudden i’m the only one standing in the back, waiting for my name to be called! I just couldn’t believe it, it’s still a bit unbelievable to me now. It was a one of a kind experience for me, my 4th ever competition on international stage and WIN it! Wow!

Big congratulations to Louise Beard who finished a brilliant 3rd! She’s going to the Nabba Worlds in 2 weeks’ time, I’m sure she’ll do very well there!

I’m gonna go out now for a bit of a sightseeing, and then probably visit the gym in the afternoon to utilise all this extra carbs I’ve been eating 🙂

So here I am, in Kazan finally, after a long flight from London Heathrow where I was asked by security what I class myself, a man or a woman 🙂 I’m just laughing at it now, but thank you for all those messages and comments you guys sent me regarding that.

The flight itself is not too long though, London – Moscow is only under 4 hours, but I had a 4 hours layover in Moscow, that made this journey even longer, and then another 1 hour 10 mins from Moscow to Kazan. At the airport in Moscow not many people speak English therefore I was actually glad that I didn’t have to rush to catch the other flight to Kazan and I could just take my time finding out where to check in etc.

I didn’t get any sleep on the flight and strangely enough I didn’t feel very tired when I arrived either. At the airport in Kazan I was greeted by the main organizer of the NAC World Championships, he picked me up from the airport and took me to the hotel. I thought it was very impressive. I definitely look forward to meeting the judges on Saturday because all the people within this federation seem to be so friendly and approachable.

I’m staying at Hotel Ibis, which I thought a good sign, although the rooms don’t have a fridge or coffee making facilities which is a bit annoying because my vegetables already started going off today, but no worries, I have no veggies for tomorrow, yay! 🙂

When I arrived at the hotel I tried to rest a bit, but after about 2 hours I just got up and got ready to go out and find a shop where I could buy water and a gym – although I thought the hotel has a gym, I checked it on their website, but it doesn’t. However the receptionist pointed me to a gym just around the corner from the hotel, and I gotta say I was very impressed. It’s an expensive gym, the daily rates are from £8 – £12 depending on what time of the day you want to visit the gym, but when I went in I understood why. It is a huge gym with so many machines that some of them I have never even seen in my life. 3 big rooms, 1 for legs and abs and cv, then another for upper body: arms, shoulders and chest and then a 3rd room with some other machines as well and more cardio and stretching area.

I had a great whole body pump up training session, I really enjoyed it, especially because they let me train for free because I’m competing on Saturday 🙂

Here you can see the posters for this competition everywhere on the streets, radio adverts, it is presented very well. Apparently the venue can hold about 1200 people, 600 have already purchased their tickets but apparently most people buy their tickets on the day and the organizers reckon it’s gonna be full house.

At the Dynamite Gym in Kazan

After the very last workout I came back to the hotel and finally felt knackered so went to bed to get some rest, legs up, just relaxing. When I got up it was around 9 pm here but felt a bit better although still not fully rested. I have started putting the tan on, one coat is on now, thought if I could stay up for another 2 hours until midnight then I might put another coat on tonight.

Tomorrow is the registration and the weigh-ins for the classes. Apparently there are 18 nations representing themselves at this event – for some reason not too many, said the organizer, because most of the athletes prepare for the autumn, for the universe. Probably the fact that the athletes had to obtain a visa to come to Russia didn’t really help the case.

Well that’s all for today in a nutshell. I’ll be back tomorrow again. I will take some pictures of the sights as well, it is an interesting country, feels like time stands still here – but not in a bad way but almost like as if I was time travelling 🙂

Check back tomorrow for more news!

xx

Well the last few days have finally arrived. Busy days indeed. Yesterday I had my last back workout, today is my last shoulder workout and then a body pump up tomorrow and on Thursday when I get to Kazan.

I have just received my meal plan for the last few days as well, so I will start cooking as soon as I get back from the gym.

Today I will have to do my very last shopping for the trip, exchange money, get the plastic containers for the food and then all I have to do is cook my meals 🙂

To be honest I don’t look forward to the trip, it’s gonna be long and overnight. I don’t mind the trip back though, once everything is done and over I can relax on the flight, eat and drink without restrictions 🙂

I also want to give a call to the hotel to check if everything is ok with the booking and what facilities they have there. I will also have to check the flight with the airline and how much the luggage allowance is – not that i’m gonna bring my wardrobe with me, but it’s better to know.

Ok, I better go now, I’ve got a lot to do today, but I will probably be back tonight or tomorrow with another update so check back in!

What a beautiful day again! I can’t even believe it that it’s been so nice in the last few days! Kind of feeling the last week now, my mood is up and down but this weather definitely helps. I would be a lot grumpier if it was raining 🙂

Training legs today, last leg training until the competition. I will try and not go crazy on it because I want to be able to walk over the weekend.

The last few days are definitely coming and I’m happy for it now. It’s been a long 17 weeks and it’s time to celebrate my birthday as well when I’m back – I didn’t get a chance to do that because of the dieting. Not sure where to go though, what do you guys think? Beefeater, TGI Fridays or any other ideas?

Had my last day at work yesterday. It’s gonna be so much easier to focus on the prep now, with no other distractions.

I really look forward to these last few days. In some weird ways these are my favourite days, the ‘best’ part of the prep. You know that it’s gonna be over soon and you enjoy the way you look: lean and dry. Although it’ll be nice to train with more energy once it’s over, and push the weights because I can, not because I have to. I guess there are positives and negatives in all situations, you just have to find the positives in this one. And that is the way I look – that keeps me motivated.

Anyway, I better go now and get ready for today! Beautiful day, I look forward to the drive to the gym. Have a great day everyone! Keep checking back for updates in the last few days of my prep and after! Pictures will come soon, too!

And just to emphasize it again: guys, who purchase any of my pictures from my current picture gallery, you support me in my training and my trip to Russia for the Worlds Championship – so please don’t be shy! The pictures are printed and signed for you, I only need your address to send it to. Thanks for the inquiries so far! 

Wow, I have had so much fun in the last few days! I went to the BodyPower Expo on Sunday. It wasn’t as busy as I expected, but probably because I’ve only been to the Expo on Saturdays, and probably Saturday is the busiest day. I had a great time, very tiring though but I enjoyed meeting new people. Unfortunately I didn’t queue up to meet Phil Heath or Kai Greene although I would’ve loved to, but the queue was endless. I went to see Phil and Branch in the theatre though, they’re were funny and very inspiring.

On Monday I had a photoshoot for Beware Clothing at Physique Warehouse, what a day! I was working with Sam and James, both of them are great athletes. The photographer was Max Ellis, whose work is very remarkable! It was a real pleasure to work with all of them! Special thanks to Luke Adams and Brad Davies to have me onboard! I really look forward to seeing more designs and the women’s line, too that is coming soon!

Beware/Max Ellis Photoshoot with Sam and James

…and it’s almost weekend again!

Wednesdays are always long days, travelling down to Crawley to see the Big Man. But I’m always fired up on the way back. He is so motivating and encouraging that keeps me going! For those of you who don’t know who he is, here’s a picture:

With IFBB Pro Harold Marillier in front of Forest gym, Crawley

16 days to go, which don’t seem to be that long now, but I know time will drag in the last few days. Sunday I will be at the BodyPower Expo, another long and tiring day, but can’t wait to meet Phil Heath and Kai Greene!

Monday morning I will have a photoshoot for one of my friends, who is a very talented designer and he’s just about to launch his own Muscle T-shirt designs. Check him out on Facebook: Beware Clothing  and please ‘like’ his page. I will upload pictures as soon as I get them.

Next Saturday I will have another photoshoot with my other friend at  7 D Photography. He has done my previous photoshoots so I look forward to seeing his work again! Stay tuned for the pictures!

Comments are welcome, let me know what you think of the website, of my blog, the pictures etc.

Have a good day everyone, don’t forget to check back for updates! xx

3 weeks tonight to be on stage with the big girls from all over Europe, I can’t wait.

Had a great shoulder workout in the Castle gym, then practised my routine in the studio with my friend Mark whose input is much appreciated. We’ve created my best routine ever, I just need to practice it now to nail it on the day – and make sure that I come top 6 because only then I get to do my routine in the evening show.

Had a lovely steak with my friend John, it really filled me up. Love these high carb days but I will pay the price tomorrow, I’m always more hungry after high carb days.

Vascularity after carbs

Hello all!
Finally my website is up and running! I’ve been wanting to do this for months and this long Easter Weekend finally gave me the necessary time and the final push to finish it off and publish it.
Some of you might know that I used to have a blog before but I thought once I have my own website it’s better to do the blogging on that, instead of having a separate blog. If you want to read the old blogs you can find them here: Tamara’s blog.

Well, the other good news is that I’m 13 days out of my next competition, the NAC South Qualifier! You can find the details on the Events page, I’ve put up the poster for the Event. Everyone is welcome to come along to support me!
The last few weeks have been quite tiring and challenging both mentally and physically but nowadays every now and again I get a day when I don’t feel particularly tired or exhausted and I even feel happy inside! I’m doing another prep and it is going very well. My coach, IFBB Pro Harold Marillier is happy with my progress so I guess I have no reason not to be happy with it myself.
My workouts have been quite intense lately, although I can get very tired in the middle of it, but still push it through to the end, then practice posing and do my cardio – all is good!
My diet has been much more stable than for the previous competitions last year. Harold got it right so much that we haven’t changed it since I started the prep 10 weeks ago. I’m still losing weight without depleting or going down to 0 carbs and I’m not doing a lot of cv either, only 45 mins in the morning and 30 mins after training. That is nothing compared to the cv I used to do when prepping for the Welsh and the Brits last year. I really look forward to seeing my physique on the day – and it’s not long now!
Anyway, you’re more than welcome to leave me a reply to my blog posts, or share it or like it on Facebook! Please spread the word about my website so that more and more people will visit it.

This blog will be updated regularly, just like the website with the events or even which competitions I will visit, so if you want to meet me you know where I will turn up – but you can always contact me through the Contact Page.
And finally here is a picture of me 4 weeks out of my next competition, hope you’ll like it!

xx

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