Thursday, April 30, 2009



Overall...we are the First place winners of each category. The girl on the far right beat me in the Masters class and also took the Overall.



2nd place - Masters (over 35). This was a big class...13 people I believe.



My best buddy Jared & I



Team O'Brien Girls minus Lucy ( Lucy competed in Body Building). This is Nancy who placed 2nd in the short class and our wonderful trainer Mindi O'Brien!



Mindi O and I!



Me with my 1st place trophy :) Woooohooooo!!!!!



First Place - Medium Height Class!



Getting all pretty for the night show! Thanks Kara!



Dresing room shot.



The Glam Squad :)



My Lil bro and I :)





2 piece round, Masters division.







2 piece round. Masters division.



Holding the 'model' pose at the back of the stage while the others do thier thing.

Some shots from the BIG DAY!





A shot from the dressing room. Not nervous at all - ya right!



Kara and I.
Kara is one half of the GLAM SQUAD and responsible for hair and make-up!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Guest Post from Adena...

Guest post by the road crew. Tawnya started out as my trainer in Jan '08 but I'm now happy to call her a friend. Some might even call me more than a friend based on experiences (the tanner, the tanner) these last few months but more on that later.


Sometime in Oct or Nov '08 she announced that she might try out for a figure competition. Actually she didn't 'announce it', more like tossed it out casually during discussions, 'yeah I was thinking about trying a figure competition this year'. You see Tawnya's not the 'announcing type', she's too modest for that. Tawnya has been a marathon runner for years but I think the thought of cold morning runs, especially the really long ones on her own wasn't that appealing this year so why not try something different. She doesn't do anything half way, nope, not Tawnya. So she chatted about it casually in circles and got down to the business of getting herself a trainer, and a nutritionist and started the journey. We exited 2007 with a fabulous steak dinner and a couple of bottles of wine proclaiming 'no more drinking or bad food or fun!'. Little did we know we'd end up spending Friday nights in roasting veggie and cooking marathons, BUT we did have some laughs, quite alot actually. I'm not only a road crew member, remember I'm a client so I decided I'd give up the booze as well and get to some serious working out and dieting myself, but that is a story for my own blog.


Things started out well, with lots of workouts, I think they call that a 5 day splits and lots and lots and lots of cardio. At the beginning time passed without much notice, weekly pictures and countdowns. She somehow made it to the 8 week (halfway) mark without cheating on the diet and never missed a workout despite working full time, being a mom to two amazing kids and being a great friend. This girl had NO time. I remember specifically the texts and MSNs as her new workouts and diet would arrive "Oh my gosh you won't won't believe this!!" I had barely gotten over the fact that she had to eat asparagus everyday, 12 spears no less, no more when they took it down to 10 and somewhere around the same time the stepmill was becoming her best friend. Oops did I say best friend? Yeah, not so much but it was appearing more and more in her workouts. I REALLY enjoyed hearing all about her plyo sessions with Mindi O'Brien, the 300's.. "She made you do 50 burpees!?!?!??!" and I'd laugh and laugh as Tawnya waddled away from me. Yup waddled cause her legs were done.


Of course those sessions were funny til I started seeing some things showing up in MY program. Quick excerpt from my blog Feb 12, 2009 titled "My trainer is a mean B*&^" "Now even though she is KILLING me with these workouts each time I stop to breath during a set she adds one more rep. I can't even tell you how many fucking pop squats I ended up doing." Yeah so who had the last laugh? Tawnya of course!


As we got closer the countdown became more exciting, 4 weeks to go, 3 weeks to go, 2 weeks to go. By now she was up to 2 45 minute session on the stepmill and what seemed like 2 hour workout sessions, actually I think alot of them WERE 2 hour sessions. Tawnya held up though, there was only that one infamous 'walnut' incident' but I won't give any details here, she already confessed to that one. The changes in her body were amazing and I even saw a glimmer of excitement as she saw the progress herself. She started posing practice and from the beginning she posed like a champ (move your arm, move the hand, stand up straight, belly in, push your quads together, squeeze that butt oy!) and she only got better as the time to the show closed in. My favourite were the pictures of her in her hooker heels and baseball cap, nice look T! By the last week it was a frenzy of getting ready, groceries and cooking and nails and waxing (oh the waxing) and arranging makeup and hair, the glam squad ROCKED by the way!


I had agreed to help her apply the tanning stuff she needed cause apparently you need to be black for the competition, I was thinking more along the lines of sun tan application, you know, the back, the arms, touching up places she couldn't see but the Thursday before the show she texted me while I was in a work meeting no less and told me I'd be 'painting all of her',


my response 'what?',
Tawnya, 'yeah ALL of me'
me 'what'
Tawnya 'yeah'
me 'I'm going to need some drinks first, and I really think you should buy me dinner or something'


People, have you seen these competition suits? Even then I had no idea what I was in for. At any rate she came over, we cooked, she stripped, I put on latex gloves and we got down to the business of applying the Jan Tana. I tell ya, there's nothing like seeing your good friend BUCK nekkid in your kitchen next to a pot of boiling asparagus. It didn't take long for the jokes to fly and the laughing was epic but we got it done. I wasn't very good at it that first time but boy the the 5th application at 6am on Saturday morning I was applying it like a German estitician, all clinical, lifting boobs and butt cheeks, standing back making her move around to check the eveness in the light. I still think she owes me dinner. ;-)


Then on show day we were up and out, I only got us slightly lost near the end, sadly it was me driving around trying to figure out where we were with only 15 minutes until they closed registration!! THANK GOD we made it on time!! Tawnya registered while I met up with the Glam Squad and met her in the change room. The change room was a sea of naked buff women getting ready who were for the most part really nice. Kara, one half of the glam squad was being watched very carefully by everyone cause as she progressed through hair and makeup Tawnya just kept looking better and better. Ever the relaxed girl though she was cool as a cucumber through the whole thing. We raced to the bleachers at show time for the morning pre-judging and our girl came out to hoots and hollers from us and I have to say we can make alot of noise. She looked fantastic! It was clear she had the best figure and her walk and posing were the MOST polished of all the women. She kept getting called back up first and moved to the middle area which I had heard was 'really good', with us screaming all the while, COME ON TAWNYA, GO 52, SHOW EM THAT BACK, WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU GO TAWNYA! She rocked the two piece round, AND the one piece round. In the masters round she didn't get called back up first, WTF people, but they did end up calling her up front yet again. We just KNEW it was going to be a good night.


After pre-judging we went to sit along the river and relax for a while, until the rain came. We barely made it back inside the school before the rain and huge hail came down in buckets. Had she been caught in the rain the impact on the tan would have been epic, thank god for timing and thank god for Michelle! (Michelle is the other half of the glam squad).


Evening arrived and Tawnya's friends and fans started flowing into the gymnasium to line the bleachers and the up front seats. They hadn't seen her yet but me and the glam squad, we knew.. haha Her son and parents were in the audience somewhere as well, it was a packed show!! We sat through bodybuilding and fitness cheering on alot of the competitors that we liked but then I saw her backstage, waiting her turn. Jesus christ she didn't even look nervous! She claimed she was but she didn't show it. She came out for her round, I heard her son said "HOLY SHIT" in front of grandma even! She did the best turns and the best posing and took first place!! The screaming and crying as we watched her get her trophy and pose for her winner photo, she looked amazing! She took 2nd in the masters round, none of us could figure that one out but who cares really, first and second, in your first show is an amazing accomplishment!!


It was an amazing day, we were all so very proud of her and she was even proud of herself. Way to go Girl, I don't know anyone that worked harder for that win or deserved it more!
Love the Road Crew

The Big Day!



The big day finally arrived after months of grueling workouts and truckloads of asparagus and this is how it went....1st place medium (height class)and 2nd place Masters (over 35)!!!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Back Shot - 2 Weeks Out

Progress Pics - 2 Weeks Out!!

2 Weeks


I sit here with my coffee thankful to have finally gotten a decent nights sleep (thank you nytol). I'm not sure what the cause is but from what I am hearing it is quite common to have disrupted sleep as you get closer to the competition. Anyone in my life knows that I don't do tired well...some people I know can get through their day on little sleep and be pleasant and look perky. Not I...I am a bear (my children can vouch for that), white as a sheet & get these enormous bags under my eyes. Not a good look at all! Another problem is that normally when I am sleep deprived I tend to make poor food choices.Being as focused as I am at this time I will NEVER eat something that is not on my diet, however...I have been known to have a problem with the nuts that are part of my diet. So...what do I do Friday night when I can't sleep?? Well...I get my butt out of bed, come downstairs and while I surf the net manage to eat what was left in the walnut container!!!!!I am scared to think about how many I consumed but I would bet that it was more then a cup. Aaaarrrgghhh! That is 710 calories and 68 grams of fat and that's only if I only consumed a cup!!! I am so mad at myself and even tempted to do the stepmill today (my rest day) in order to get an extra calorie burn.

Other then that incident the only other thing that is causing me a little anxiety is posing. I feel like a have a pretty good handle on the quarter turns but def need work on my walk and model turns.Somehow I need to be able to walk (in 5 inch heels), keep my gut sucked in, smile, breath and show 'attitude' all at once :S I am going to see Mindi on Tuesday for some extra practice so hopefully this will help to put my mind at ease.

I should be getting a new diet this week and am excited to see what it entails...last week I lost my oatmeal and pb to asparagus & egg whites which actually wasn't as bad as I expected. I expect some big cut backs this week but that's okay, as long as I still away from the nuts I should be fine. Only 2 weeks to go...I CAN DO THIS! I WILL rock that stage :)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Asparagus and Stepmills...

These are 2 things that have become a big part of my life over the last several months.

Since beginning my 'diet' back in November I have ate 10,then 8 spears of asparagus EVERY day for dinner! Thats about 1000 spears! Actually, as I type this at 6:22 am I am cooking more asparagus. So after anxiously awaiting my my diet revisions on Sunday I was shocked to discover that not only do I continue to eat it for dinner but now....I get to have it for breakfast too! That's right, I say goodbye to my 1/4 cup of oatmeal & 1/4 tbsp of natural peanut butter which I have come to enjoy immensely and hello to asparagus and egg whites...yum yum! What is it about asparagus anyway? I know that it is a diuretic and supposed to release toxins but does anyone know why else it would be so important to eat in such quantities? Just wondering...

Now for the stepmill. I have spent more time with that damn thing over the last few months then I have with my children! Thats's right, about 8.5 hours a week I step , step, step away on that lovely machine. As my trainer puts it "its a love/hate realationship" you develop with it because truth be told I feel it has been a big part of the butt shrinking process. And butt shrinking has been a major focus in this journey! I have to say that over the last week or so it has been more of a 'love' relationship thanks to 'cute hockey boy' who happens to be stepping at the same time as me most evenings :) He has decided to take it upon himself to make me work harder because he wants me to do well. This involves challenging me to step faster & even stays on his stepper for an extra 30 minutes sometimes to make sure I accomplish this! When we're done he wipes my machine down for me and lets me know when he'll be back on there again just in case I want another push :) I will keep you posted on this one but right now if it makes stepping easier and 'almost' something to look forward to I will take it!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Random Things about Me...

1. There is a 'w' in my name because my Dad was afraid I would get called Tanya. Although it makes sense the spelling seems to cause a lot of confusion.

2. My middle name is Lee which is especially funny since I married someone with the last name Gee.

3. Although my life turned out to be a lot different then I would have thought I have absolutely no regrets & am probably happier then ever.

4. I have ran a marathon every year for the past 4 years.

5. I LOVE to travel & have been to Europe every year for the past 3 years.

6. I value my friendships and regret not keeping some up over the years. If there is one thing I have learned it is that all relationships take effort & compromise, being friendships or otherwise.

7. I have one younger brother who I have gotten to know a lot better over the past couple of years since we have both been single.

8. I love my job! I can make my own hours and have the best clients and co-workers ever!

9. I don't make New Years resolutions but set one education goal and one fitness goal each year. This year I will compete in a Figure competition and get Can- Fit- Pro certified in Pre and Post-Natal Fitness.

10. I have ate 10 asparagus spears for dinner every day since Jan. 1!

11. My favourite food is white chocolate macadamia nut cookies ( preferably from Subway) and since dieting have had many dreams about them. I awake very relieved to discover I didn't mess up my diet!

12. I have recently discovered that brussel sprouts actually aren't that bad after all. Thanks Adena ;)

13. I spend most of my time in Lululemon clothing...putting on jeans is now considered 'dressing up' to me!

14. I have a weird thing about doing cardio in 15 minute intervals. Ask any of my running friends...if we run over 30 we are going to 45 and so on...

15. My greatest fear is losing a child.

16. I love the beach and am most content when there with the children.

17. I am a terrible deicsion maker. I blame it on the fact that I am a Libra and need to weigh the pro's & cons of everything. I am always afraid of making the wrong one. This applies to everything from buying a pair of shoes to ending a marriage!

18. I love banana flavoured anything...pudding, milkshakes, popsicles, etc...

19.I have mother issues but am trying very hard to understand her and pray that Taryn and I have a better relationship.

20. I think my son is one of the funniest people I know!

21. I sit very close to the steering wheel when I drive and like to have the heat blasting!

22. My best friend is a boy that is 12 years younger then me! Strange but it works ;)

23. I suffer from 'mother guilt' and wonder every day if I am making the right choices.

24. I have a tonne of curly hair & can only manage it with the help of a flat iron. You should see it in the morning