Heather's Training Journal

Friday, August 5, 2005

Hey Everyone~TGIF!!!

Well the USA's are over....What a crazy show it was...I wanted to let the whirlwind settle a bit before I posted here.

Here are the results...
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Overall:
Amanda Dunbar*

Lightweights
1) Barbara Fletcher2) Pam Shealey3) Tricia Travis4) Deborah Barnes5) Rebecca Greaig6) Alina Eddins7) Ann Dana8) Glenda Bozett9) Lori Ruggeria10) Tamar Fidelman11) Ann Venenciano

Middleweights
1) Britt Miller2) Tina Chandler3) Janet Kaufmann4) Denise Fischer5) Nancy Sims6) Tracy Mason7) Margaret Taylor8) Susan Kodaira9) Doreen Hicks

Light Heavyweights
1) Amanda Dunbar*2) Elena Seiple3) Angie Salgavno4) Star Blaylock5) Nicole Berg6) Christine Sabo7) Norma Nieves8) Debbie Bramwell9) Beverly DiRenzo10) Melissa Dettwiller11) Amy Neil12) Yvette Bova13) Cindy Johnson14) Holly Nicholson15) Marlene Churchill Wolverton16 tie) Jennifer Gutierrez16 tie) Kate Cooper16 tie) KC Inlow16 tie) Kate Baird16 tie) Charlotte Campbell

Heavyweights
1) Heather Policky2) Sherrie Smith3) Tina Zampa4) Gerri Deach5) Jayne Trycka6) Anne Sheehan7) Mary Hobbs8) Deniz Odar9) Yvonne Edmunds10) Dianne Solomons11) Holly Geersen12) Becky West13) Christina Sondgroth14) Shawna Walker15) Dana Capobianco

* earns IFBB pro card
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How do I feel about the show and Elena's placing???
I will tell you what I said on Genex and FTVideo...

"My only comment on the situation in regards to Elena is that she spoke to the judges last year after her 2nd place finish at the Nationals. They told her to bring better legs and come in harder and she would have 1st. She did. They gave her the same place she took last year...Now where is she to go with her game plan. What does she do at her next show. Try to un-do what the judges told her to do? So they can put her back in second????I have alot of opinions about the inconsistancy in the judging~from class to class as well as year to year(Taking nothing away from any of the girls who took their classes or were top 5~it isn't their fault~it is the judges. ALL these women worked very hard for what they accomplished and should be proud of what they achieved).I had many of the placings differently though. How Christine Sabo and Debbie Bramwell placed as low as they did is beyond me. If you wanted a smaller softer more streamlined look why was Elena in the top 5? I could make more sense out of this all if she was much lower. That would send a message. But the lineup was so confusing.

But hey, thats pretty much par for the course lately for the NPC judging, right?It leaves a lot of room for specuation as a competitor. And my heart goes out to Elena for the hand delt to her this weekend."

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Vegas, otherwise, was a great time. A very very looong weekend, but lots of fun.We flew out Friday morning, and had shoots all day long. Just you wait till you see some of the new video clips and pics that I will have! To give you an idea....I squatted 100 reps with a girl on my back!!! Yes, 100 reps with a 110 pound girl sitting on me!! I was sooo sore after that, but you think I was done? Nope!!! I then proceeded to leg press..a couch, for 5 reps. Then came the people sitting on the couch. First one for 5 reps, then 2....3...4....5....6....six people. I ran out of people so onto reps. We figured out that it was about 1200 plus pounds. And I did it for 30 reps!!! Wanna talk about sore??!!!??? It was a pretty good feeling of accomplishment there...Ya' know what? I broke the couch too, LOL!!! Put my foot right thru it! Yeah, thats right, poor couch!I shot from 2 'till 10:30 that night ( Bianca even shot too!!!), then we went back to our room, got cleaned up, and headed out to eat.

We ended up at the Mandalay at the House of Blues. Then we walked around taking goofy pics and headed off to bed about 2ish.Saturday morning was the show. I was so convinced that Elena had it. We all went to eat and then she rested up and me and Bianca headed to the pool and had some margaritas. Yummy!!

Saturday night...the show. Which I don't really want to comment on more then I have. So we leave it at that.But don't worry, we took her out and got her LOADED~but not without taking her to a great buffet~~~We took Elena to the Rio to the buffet there which was really pretty damn good. There are some awesome buffets in Vegas, some really suck. This was one of the better ones! Elena's husband got us 2 big ole' yards of Margaritas....strawberry, of course!!! So good! And exactly what she wanted post show....we managed to stuff ourselves and get Big E a lil' drunk, hah!!! Then off to indulge in Vegas!

We decided to rock the Rio since we were already there~pretty much all giggles all the way. From goofing on the Chippendale signs to window shopping for photo ops, we managed to draw quite a crowd and really amuse ourselves. We ran into Anne Sheehan, who had a dissapointing finish in the HW class too. She was also pretty vocal on the chat she had with the judges after the pre-judging. They sounded like they really didn't know what they were saying to her.
We headed out the the MGM, where we finished up the night at the Centrifuge Bar, which was a pretty cool place! We chatted with Gina Davis~New Pro from last years Nats! She is amazing, and so sweet!!! She is just bouncing back from a torn bicep...we got some pics but they were pretty blurry. Oh well! I tried!!!

After that home to the Luxor and sweet sleep!!!!!!!

Sunday morning I had my first appearence on the FTV Wild Webcam Show 12. I was scheduled to be on from 11 to 12...Well 10:35, I left my hotel, right on time. The place was 5 minutes down the road. Well I guess 3/4 of the hotel was checking out, so I ended up waiting for an elevator for over 20 minutes. I finally squeezed into one, and had to ride it up to the top, then stop on every floor on the way down just to get down. I couldn't take the stairs cause me and Bianca had all of our luggage too. Then we got a cab driver who had no clue where he was going...for the second time that weekend. When we were trying to get to the show on Saturday, the 1st cab we got was really nasty and we ended up getting out when he expected us to give him directions. Then the 2nd guy dropped us off, telling us where we needed to go was just around the corner, and didn't have enough change so I overtipped him. We walk around the corner, no building in sight, and ended up walking for 20 minutes in Vegas heat in heeled shoes. UGH! I wanted to strangle him. We almost missed the show~walked in toward the 2nd half of the MW class. Anyway, back to Sunday...so I got to the webcam 30 minutes late, but James Cook of FTV is one of the nicest most gracious people I have met in this sport. I was a cancellation 2 years ago after the USAs and this year I was 30 minutes late on a 1 hour scheduled show. Yet he still smiled, still payed me the full one hour rate, no questions asked. An amazingly nice fellow!! And guess what? I am going to give the webcam a try, so you can check it out soon! Stay tuned for details!

So then after that I shot with Andy of Andys Muscle Goddesses for a bit! Another great guy! He does so much for the sport!!! So it was nice finally getting to work with him...

Then onto VEGAS baby!!!!! We did the WHOLE strip that day!! Every hotel, every cool thing to see on the strip....we did it! Me and Bianca had a blast!!!!!We managed to be out from that morning till almost 9 that night, till we had to get to the airport! And we had so much fun!!! We were being tourists to the max!!!

Midnight our plane flew out and 8 am the next morning I was home!! Ahh! Home sweet home!

A few notes...I got to shoot with so many great people between the 3 days I was there.
Mike from HerBiceps, Tre of Femflex, Tom of TK's Femuscle, Kip, George, Andy, James of FTVideo ... I only missed one shoot due to a phone number loss and that was Juan Carlos Lopez. My sincere apologies to him!!! I especially had to thank Mike and Tre~You guys were great motivation for my couch presses and the 100 rep Stacy squat, LOL!!! Stacy, you were awesome and so funny!

Anne Sheehan, it was so nice getting to really chat with you this weekend. You looked great! Your improvements in the last few years are so evident! Maybe the judges will see it that way soon too!!!!! Debbie Bramwell...You were robbed. Too hard my ass!?!?!? They judges are blind, you looked great. As did Christine Sabo.

Heather Policky, I am impressed with how you looked this year! Glad to see you finally taking your class!!! Pro-card soon!!!!! And Sherry Smith. I haven't really spoken to you, but your conditioning was outstanding!! It could have gone to you or Heather, you both were winners. We need what the figure girls have...top 2 in each class turning pro.

Jess Roham, it was nice finally meeting you!!! Next year is your year in fitness!!

Gina Davis and Colette, it was nice seeing you both and chatting for a bit!!!

To all the fans I met, thank you all so much for your support! Now onto Atlanta for me!!!

And finally...To my best friend Elena, you were the winner in my mind, as well as the minds of so many more. You were beyond outstanding onstage. You nailed your prep, your conditioning, and your legs were just as outstanding as the rest of you! You had the first place trophy girl!!! Next show is so yours. I luv ya!!!!!!!

So now all the pics below!!!
And be sure to check out the Vegas gallery added in the Out and About & Snapshots ares in the members section! There are 283 pics!!

'Till next time,
Keep pumpin' hard!!!
XOXO
Heather Lee