Walking The Dog

Tough training day yesterday. After doing absolutely zero, zilch, nada on Saturday (when I'd had a walk scheduled with Natalie and piked because I was too tired), I actually felt pretty good. I put on one of my yoga DVDs in the morning and did a little posing and then after a midday nap, I took Bubbles for a walk. For a whole hour!! It's a little pathetic when my weekend run would normally be up around the two hour mark but I gotta do what I gotta do.

Iven and Nelson came for the first part of the walk with us but Nelson's 14 year old almost non-existent hip joints stop him from doing more than about 20 minutes now and that has to be done very conservatively. We walked through the bush at the back of the school next door then crossed the road to the park. It's all very pretty and we're so lucky to have such an expanse of green right near our door and only about 5k from the city. And when you're walking you really get to appreciate it, seeing as you're actually able to see it instead of zooming right by.

It was a pleasant summer's afternoon and both the school oval and the park were being well used. There were games of touch football, Frisbee, kids riding bikes, kids on the playground equipment and people out walking dogs. There was one woman in particular walking her dog and she was just a little ahead of us on the footpath - I was keeping my eye on her because our dogs are not the friendliest while out on their walks. Nelson isn't friendly because he's been attacked quite viciously when he was young. We don't really know Bubbles history - she was a stray who stayed.

When Bubbles first arrived at our house she was a scared, shy little thing. She weighs about 4 kgs dripping wet and has some miniature fox terrier in her and that's about all I know. Sam said she followed him. I tend to think there was some coaxing involved. She spent the first week at our house with her tail between her legs, cowering a lot while I spent the first week trying to find her real home and then our home became her real home and her tail came out into the wagging position and the rest is a six year history. We have no idea how long she was lost when we found her and no idea what happened to her while she was out in the big, bad world. But we do know that she doesn't like being approached while out on her walks.

Anyway, back to the lady in front of us with the black poodle that I was keeping my eye on. She had the dog on one of those extendible leads that I hate. I hate them because the owners her use them often wander unaware of what their dog is up to. They let them extend across the path of pedestrians, runners and walkers - the perfect tripping hazard. And they let their dog stop and sniff whatever and whoever they want - including other dogs that don't want to be sniffed. Bubbles made it quite clear that she was in this category - she snarled and her hackles went up - but the poodle was kinda dumb and so was its owner. She stood with a silly aren't-they-cute smile on her face and let that poodle wander over in our direction, with Bubbles snarling and barking and me trying to pull her away. And then I did something awful - I turned into a nasty old lady who says exactly what she thinks. I told her that our dogs weren't very friendly (I would have thought that was fairly obvious) and she'd do well to keep her dog restrained. And then I muttered Stupid Cow under my breath. At least I'm hoping it was under my breath but I'm not sure because I was so stunned with this woman's lack of common sense.

I'm turning into a shrew! But for the moment I'm blaming my inability to run. And I'm praying desperately that as I return to running I will become a nicer person.

But lack of running has given me ample baking time. Three batches of cupcakes over the weekend, I've got another birthday on Tuesday and had to get a cake done for Fi yesterday cause I start work today. I wanted to do her the cookie dough cake because my kids have deemed it 'kinda awesome.' But I do the birthday cakes in a four inch tin and didn't know how I could put in the cookie dough. Until my totally-inept-in-the-kitchen-but-can-make-a-pretty-good-cup-of-tea husband gave me inspiration. He asked if I couldn't put a layer of cookie dough under the icing. Well no, that was just plain stupid BUT I could cut the cake in half and put the dough between the layers. So I rolled out the dough and cut it with a big cookie cutter. 

It turned out better than I'd hoped for.


Have you ever let your mouth have free reign and tell off a stranger?

More on Overtraining and Cupcakes.

The reality of not being able to run is starting to set in. Saturday just doesn't feel like a Saturday without a few hours of hot, sweaty socializing with your running peeps. (I think I've been watching too much TV - peeps? seriously?!!) I slept in till 7 am. But luckily we were having a running breakfast so I could get my GaleForce fix for the weekend. Thank you Paul for having a birthday and leaving the country. (I'm not thanking you for leaving the country I'm thanking you for giving us a reason to celebrate. But really, celebrate is probably the wrong word too - we will miss you. And I'll stop now before I put a third foot into my mouth.)

 What is a runner when she can't run?? A ner?! That's only half a description and it makes me feel like only half the person I usually am. I wore one of my squad singlets when I went for a walk the other day and felt like a fraud so I've been compelled to make temporary alterations.

They're temporary because I know I'll be running again - just don't know when. I tried doing my strength session yesterday but it's probably a little soon because it left me on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. (Thank goodness that the tennis is on and I'm still on holidays and I've got a good book to read)

For all who don't know Overtraining Syndrome happens when you place your body under constant high levels of stress for a long period of time. It doesn't have to just be training stress. It can be work stress and relationship stress. And the stressors are cumulative. If you're training hard plus have stress in other areas of your life then you're in the danger zone. I've had some major life stressors in the last 4 or 5 years - one is resolved only to have its place taken by another. And I'll admit to using running as a coping mechanism. My first bout of overtraining syndrome happened three years ago and I've been walking along the precipice of it on occasions since.

My symptoms are worsening performance in training, poor sleeping patterns, digestive problems, nausea after training which will last for the rest of the day, a high heart rate and grinding fatigue. But I know for each person the symptoms can be different. The last time this happened I didn't take much time out but I was very careful not to push too hard once I started running after two weeks off - short distances run really slowly with my heart rate kept at a very low rate. This time I am going to take off as much time as I need. I'm expecting it to be up to 8 weeks but I haven't talked to the doctor yet so that number's a little ethereal.

But sometimes the symptoms are subtle and can be confused for other things. I'm not a great sleeper so not sleeping well is not a surprise and if my HR is a little higher in the morning then it's probably because I didn't sleep well and it's hot at the moment. And I didn't run well at training because I didn't sleep well and it's hot. And sometimes the heat makes me nauseated. It's quite an insidious condition.

But enough about me. Let's talk about cupcakes! My new cupcake book is still providing me with inspiration. But some of the cakes can cause quite surprising reactions.

I tried another recipe yesterday (because of Paul's birthday/going away celebration/man -we're-going-to-miss-your-happy-smiley-face breakfast) Everyone gets to be a guinea pig so I can test out these new recipes. I made the Chocolate Fudge Brownie cupcake and used a chocolate cream cheese frosting. The frosting was so delicious that I'm going to post it here.

Ingredients - 60g butter (room temp)
                    225g cream cheese (room temp)
                    85g melted chocolate
                    pinch of salt
                    3 1/2C icing sugar
                    1 tsp vanilla
Method  -  Make sure you melt the chocolate first so it can cool. I melted it for 1 min in the microwave. Beat up the butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer until well combined. Add in the melted chocolate, vanilla and salt and mix well. Then add the icing (confectioners) sugar in batches and mix well.

It was so delicious that I had to have a little out of the piping bag once I'd finished icing the cakes. And then a little turned out to be a lot. And then I felt sick. When will I learn!!!

What is your downfall food - you know the one that you find it hard to stop at a reasonable sized portion??

The Plan

Guess the decade!

If you've guessed the 80s, you'd be right. Look at the beautiful big puffy sleeves and the pretty taffeta. And the white suit. (That's a dead giveaway.) And the amount of hair that Iven still has on his head.

It was 26 years ago yesterday. As I wrote on Facebook, 26 years and we haven't killed each other yet - it must be love! Time flies when you're having fun and paying off a mortgage and raising kids.

So we celebrated by going to the movies (boy, do we know how to live it up). We saw The Descendants which is probably not the best all-time anniversary movie. It deals with switching off life-support, infidelity and other heavy issues and it had Iven sniffing just half an hour into it. He's such a softy! I, however, only cry when there are deep advertisements like the Gold Lotto ad or when someone's dog dies or if the team finally wins the championship against all odds.

But I'm not going to harp on about eternal love and happily ever after when there are real-life issues to be dealt with. I have an interim plan! Having an exercise physiologist for a son can be a real bonus for a runner. I would definitely recommend that all you mothers out there encourage your children into runner-friendly professions like EP, Sports Medicine, Massage Therapy or Physiotherapy. The fact that Sam is now studying to be a Physio is an added bonus. (And having to volunteer to help him with his massage pracs - well it's only what any good mother would do, isn't it?!)

His take on my current 'injury' (I'm going with injury because it's a lot less complicated to explain to people who haven't spent hours on-line educating themselves on overtraining syndrome) is that I am allowed to exercise but it has to be at a very low intensity. None of this getting your heart rate up to that 180 region. Low and slow is the motto until I see the sports med doctor. I can do my yoga. I can walk. And I can even do my strength training but less reps and more rest between exercises. And all his recommendations gel with what I've read on line.

My biggest issue with NOT being able to run is NOT having that social time a few times a week. But there's nothing to stop me from heading over to the speed session on Tuesdays and walking while they're running. And this will mean that no one will have their birthday missed. So I'm happy that I've got a little bit of direction.

I actually did do my yoga yesterday before I had Sam's permission. And this time I managed to get most of it done without distractions. It was only the last 4 poses that I had company for. Josh sat down on the couch with his breakfast and watched me complete the session. And he did it without laughing. At one stage he sneezed and apologised for sneezing on me. I hadn't felt a thing so I told him he'd missed. But when I'd finished and was rolling up my towel I found a blob of peanut butter. The towel had been under me when he'd sneezed so I'm incredibly impressed with his accuracy.

I want to yell, scream and shout, kick my heels on the floor in frustration and throw a major tantrum. Ever since I had my ultrasound I've been really struggling with my running. I had to walk after 11k on my Saturday long run and even though we were only travelling at 6 min/k my heart rate was over 170. Today's speed session had my heart rate up that high just in the warm up. The session was mile reps and I managed a whole one and it was awful. Six minute pace and a heart rate of up to 183. I stopped after the one rep - it was pretty pointless continuing and just felt sick. Didn't know if I was going to throw up, have diarrhoea or faint.

So today I'm calling a sports med doctor. I won't be going back to the one I saw last year - wasn't totally happy with him. I've been recommended one by three different sources so I'm hoping he has time to fit me in in the not-to-distant future. I need answers and I need a plan. I'm not ready to be a walker yet!

Anyway, that's enough for the whining portion of today's post. I've been baking again. My sister and Mum found me the most amazing cupcake cookbook and I've been inspired. I've also had a few birthdays at the squad. One of the girls has Coeliac's Disease so the challenge was to make a gluten-free cake. I'd just seen a recipe, chocolate and lime flourless cake, so Jenni got to be my guinea pig. I'm not sure that I got the timing right, getting it out of the oven - it sank a bit. But a little extra icing can hide a multitude of sins.

 Then the weekend came and the lure of the new cookbook was too great. Cookie dough cupcakes anyone? It was a three step recipe. First make the cookie dough (mmm, choc chip). Then make the cakes and let them cool. Then gouge a hole in the cakes and fill them with cookie dough and then make and pipe on the icing. The icing was something really different - it had flour and salt in it and, yes, it did taste a bit like cookie dough.

Then finally, I needed another couple of birthday cakes for today's session. I was feeling a little lazy so I went with my usual caramel mud recipe. But it was the decorations that really made the cake. A little tower of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a drizzle of chocolate.

Drizzling the chocolate can be a messy business so it's just as well I always have some willing helpers to help with the cleaning up.

Has anyone else had issues with overtraining syndrome? I'd love to hear other people's stories!

Finding My Zen

This year is becoming the year of cross-training. Of course running will still be my number one love, but in respect of my ever-increasing age, I'm trying to find other things that will enhance my running experience. So many runners do yoga or pilates, I decided to get on the band wagon. I'm not prepared to go to a class but I am prepared to buy a few DVDs so I can fit the workouts in whenever I have time. And at the moment I'm on holidays so time is not an issue. Yesterday I decided to put on my DVD at around 3pm and this is how I went trying to find my Zen. (This is an insight into the strange place that is my head and my home)

First clear the lounge of all impediments. That means removing the coffee table - a workout in itself, shifting the dogs' bed and the dogs, finding the source of that unimaginable smell (Nelson suffers from a little incontinence and sometimes leaves gifts on his bed). Next change into comfortable workout clothes - an old sports bra that has weird stains on it and a pair of running shorts. Try to avoid looking in the mirror and if it can't be avoided pull stomach in and pretend there's no cellulite on the legs, it's just the bad lighting in the bathroom. Pray to the gods of kindness that there will be no unexpected visitors, no delivery men and especially no clients that turn up  in the next hour.

Cue DVD. Two fit girls are on yoga mats on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. There's the peaceful sound of waves crashing on the shore and gentle music playing in the background. Both girls are in crop tops and tights and have abs to die for.

We start  doing some gentle warm ups. A little Vinyasa yoga where we concentrate on breathing with the movement. What's that smell? I thought I got rid of it all but there's still a smell. Can't I breathe in through my mouth? They're on the top of a dog-turd-free cliff with just the smell of the ocean - of course THEY can breathe through their noses.


The movements become more challenging - meaning she (the pretty blond instructor with abs of steel) tells me to lie on my left. Which is left again? I pretend I'm holding a pencil and in the meanwhile she's completed four repetitions and I have to play catch up. Finally I'm on my left side and she's now swapped to her right. I remember the remote control, try and rewind but manage to press skip instead of scan and all of a sudden we're at the beginning of the DVD again. Damned stupid thing.


I press forward very carefully and manage to find my spot again. Press pause do a quick tutorial on right and left then press play. And we're off.


There's a lot of instruction on correct technique . Stretching out your spine long. Keeping the quadriceps tight. Pointing the toe. Ouch! Cramp!! Cramp!! I stop and stretch my foot and massage out the cramp.


There's lots of Downward Dogs and a lovely flowing sequence that I soon get the hang of. My own downward dog decides to pay me a visit. No problems, Nel. I'm feeling pretty mellow I can open my heart and share this patch of universe with you. We roll onto our left side again and all of a sudden I see the source of the smell. Pause!! Find a tissue. Off to the toilet and a quick flush. Good to go again.

At this point Iven arrives home. He's clearly fascinated by the strange things I'm doing on the carpet and by the voice of the instructor.

"Is that an Asian girl?

I look at the blonde girl on the screen and shake my head - trying not to interrupt my breathing and concentration. Damn, which is my left again? Too bad - she can't see if I'm right or left so I'll just do this side and then I'll do the next.


"It sounds like she's Asian"

"No, hon she's definitely a blonde with an Australian accent"

"Doesn't sound Australian to me"

In the meanwhile the girls on the cliff have moved on and I have no idea what they're doing. I press rewind again.

My mobile goes off. Fat bottomed Girls by Queen which means that it's either Josh or Coach Chris (Coach Chris used to be No Air by the cast of Glee but for some reason I can't get it to upload on my new phone). I press pause and answer it. Coach Chris.

Twenty minutes later I've stiffened up but I press start again. We're on to hip stretches and it's just what my rusty runner's hips need. I'm sitting cross-legged, arms stretched out as far as I can in front and head almost on the floor. Unfortunately I can see my exposed abdomen. Man, that's gross. Look at your tummy then look at theirs. Where's the six-pack? And six rolls doesn't count as a six-pack.  I try to forgive my rolls - after all I've had three kids and I'm 48 and the girls on the screen might total that if we add up their ages. We stretch around to the right and hold it for six breaths then we stretch to the left. My head ends up on Nelson's butt and I regret my previous at-one-with-the-universe decision to let him stay. Please don't fart. Please don't fart. Please don't fart.


Luke comes into the room and asks which car he should take to work. I let Iven answer but Luke NEEDS my input.

"Take whichever one you want. I don't care!!" Breathe in, breathe out. Let the tension go.


"And could you BOTH BE QUIET?!!"

Luke leaves. Iven leaves. And Nelson leaves. Finally I'm alone with the sound of the waves and the gentle music and the two girls who could break rocks on their abs. And finally the DVD is coming to an end. We're doing some restorative poses which are a lot like stretches that I've been doing for years. The last one is my favourite. I lie flat on my back. I wiggle my toes to relieve any tension in my feet then I wiggle my fingers and immediately Bubbles, who's been watching the whole thing from the couch, jumps down and flings herself on my hand. Apparently finger-wiggling is doggy code for 'come have a pat'.

And despite all that when the DVD ends I feel surprisingly good. But next time I'm doing it when no one is home.

My First Ever Product Review.

Thank goodness our little heat wave has past. I've been positively floored by the heat and haven't done much at all - especially not much running. In fact, I've done absolutely no running this week. I'm not training for anything. I haven't had much sleep. And I'm not stupid enough to go out when the weather is so vile. One of my squad friends went out for a little 10k run this week and managed to lose 5kilos in the process. This is not running weather.

So what have I been doing instead? Sleeping in seemed like it would be the obvious answer but it's been so hot that there's not much sleeping happening at either end of the day. Staying at the air-conditioned shops much longer than is necessary. Eating water ice blocks to keep cool. NOT baking (who wants the kitchen 4 degrees hotter than hell?) Watching lots of tennis (because that's as good as exercising yourself, isn't it?). And yesterday when the temperature maxed out, I totally played chicken and went to the movies.

But I haven't been totally slothful. I've managed two yoga sessions and a strength session. Yay me! And even if I haven't actually run a step, I've thought a lot about it and in particular I've been thinking about great running products and wanting to do a review on one. This particular product was introduced to me by my son Josh. In fact it was invented by him and I think there is some genius on display here. He's come up with a new and unique way of managing those pesky earplug cords for your portable music. It's the Nipple Ring.

Personally, I haven't actually used this product but Josh reports that it's effective and safe. For the female of the species I think that he'll have to sort out a few issues as topless running is not particularly safe in terms of sun protection, boob saggage and for local car traffic. But I could come up with a line of running tops with a conveniently placed hole and Josh and I could go into business together. (Donald Trump you'd better watch yourself)

I can also foresee that there may be issues for those of you who live in colder climes. But if we can somehow manage to electrify the cord it would keep those nipples toasty warm and prevent frostbite and nipple droppage.

The other problem it may have would be on trail runs. Running too close to extended branches could result in a snag and a potentially nasty injury but in all cases it's a matter of Caveat Emptor (probably the only Latin I know and I learnt it off the Brady Bunch) - let the buyer beware.

So what do you think - genius? How long till we can both retire? 

No Running But Lots Of Progress

Okay, let's start with the weather. Blech! We're talking sauna conditions here. I had been lulled into thinking we were going to have such a mild Summer and bam, it hits with a fury. Last night it didn't go below 24.6C/76F. And it had a 'feels like' temp of 29.8/85.6 which makes for a very uncomfortable night's sleep. I did NOT run this morning. After bonking on Saturday's run it would have been beyond stupid. And it's better to have and extra couple of days off now than to have to have weeks off to recover. I've learnt the hard way.

Yesterday was the start of the working year for Josh. For new readers to my blog, Josh is my middle son, who's had some issues with depression since breaking up with his girlfriend. He managed to complete his degree, although it was tough at times, and get his bachelor in electrical engineering (with honours - I'm a proud Mum) and last year started a job in embedded software engineering (don't worry if you don't know what that is - I'm not 100% sure myself)



It's been tough for him because he's lost any sense of self-esteem that he had and he's really tough on his performance. But his employers seem to like him because they made him permanent after a six month trial. But he still lacks a lot of confidence and I was a little worried about how he was going to be going back to work. I shouldn't have been. He's implementing all the things we've been working on in the last year and I'm so proud of him.

We've talked long and hard about management strategies of different situations. His biggest issue is letting little annoyances go and not mull over them for the rest of the day. I shared with him the things that I use to cope when I'm feeling a bit down - running, socialising, music (singing loudly and badly along to my favourites), blogging and baking. I've tried to embed things in my week so they just happen without having to make any effort - having breakfast with a friend on Tuesday, walking with another on Saturday, at least two group running sessions a week - all of these are so important to keep me sane.

Thursday he had a bad day. He couldn't say exactly why he felt bad - he just did. So instead of just sitting mulling and listening to heavy music in his room, he rang up a friend and got them over to watch movies together. And it really helped.

Yesterday, his first at work, he got up early and worked out what he needed to do for the day so he could get into work and not feel overwhelmed. Then during the day he contacted a friend and organised a run for the evening which turned into a run and a swim and a bit of socialising. I'm so excited to see him taking responsibility for his emotions and learning to deal with them effectively and positively.

I'll leave you with a little video of what we were doing last night to entertain ourselves.



I'm trying to convince myself that this is totally normal and most families conduct experiments on willing but hapless parents in the guise of the furtherance of their education. But all I can think of is that Sam would work well in certain branches of the CIA.

It is normal, isn't it?!!