Writing about memories from warmer days is definitely ideal at the moment! I am not a fan of the cold, so while reading this, think about hot Australian weather – hopefully it will make your reading just a little bit better.

Following on from my last blog, I’ll give you guys an insight to my last few days before the competition. I’m always looking forward to peaking, because who doesn’t love a decrease in lifting load! Just to not confuse anyone – the weights stay heavy, but I lift them less, so instead of say, a set of three, I’ll just do one lift.

Resting becomes priority around this time of a programme. Even though the food hall was about a 600m walk, I would catch the bus there for every meal, apart from when I was able to get my coach or a team mate to bring the food to me. Cutting weight and trying to rest was pretty hard for me. This was my third competition where I had cut and no way was I used to being lower in energy than usual. Training was going well and I was hitting all the right numbers. I was still having physio quite regularly, similar to what I would have been doing in New Zealand. The plan is to change as little as possible. That way, things will hopefully continue to run smoothly.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee are an awesome group of people who really do everything they can to help us athletes do our best. I mentioned in an earlier blog that at the Rio Olympics, they bought over a whole gym. There were weightlifting platforms, dumbbells, kettlebells, squat racks and so much more – it was amazing! A similar gym was bought over to the Commonwealth Games as well. Having learnt from Rio Olympics, the gym had been improved here and there to make it that much better and efficient. I was able to do my last two trainings in our gym, instead of having to travel 20 minutes to train at the official venue.

I’m going to be quite honest here. The two days before I lifted, I pretty much spent off my legs watching the New Zealand Team compete on TV.  If I wasn’t stretching or training, I was on a bean bag or on the couch watching hockey or athletics or swimming….there was always a kiwi competing at some point. Even though it was super-hot, I stayed away from the pool as that would have zapped my energy. The last few days can be quite boring and exciting. I was on track with my cutting, so was very happy to not have to use laxatives, as I had previously done in other competitions. I was even able to eat a proper dinner the night before. That was ideal as I was able to sleep without a grumbly tummy.

The night before the competition, I packed my bag, messaged my friends and family, spoke to Adam (my old coach) and then went through my final visualisation process. I was ready, the body was as ready as it could be and, well, I slept like a rock…nervous about weigh in, but I always am!

Read next month’s blog for a full run down of my last-ever international comp and find out what I was feeling when I took my boots off for the very last time.

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