Exhausted tonight! After two weeks of almost total bed rest, today I travelled in a friends car for almost an hour to go the physiotherapists!

At the Physio she:

1. Got me to TRY and engage my VMO!

2. Assisted me to get to an approx 70 degree bend in my knee

3. Helped with ankle pumping exercises to help with swelling

4. Worked on the patellar movement

5. Massaged my hamstring!

I have to wear my brace for another 4 weeks at least and stay on the crutches with limited weight bearing for another 2 weeks minimum!

Next appointment is on Saturday :-)

2 weeks post op

Today the light at the end of the tunnel got a little bit brighter!!!!!

I had my stitches out today, I managed to travel with a friend to take Master 7 to school for the last day of term, I managed to go to the local coffee shop for a quick coffee with some mums from school, and tonight after all that I needed only Panadeine forte instead of tramadol to manage the pain!

I'm saying my prayers that I don't wake up with today's pain, tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the start of the long journey called 'rehab' with the physiotherapist!!!!

I'll keep you all updated! Thank you for the messages of support x

Tibial Tubercle Transfer, Lateral Release and Chondroplasty

Hi all,

I know it has been a VERY long time between posts!

It's a busy time if year for everyone and I've had a few challenges along the way that makes it all a little more difficult!

I flew to Perth on the 29th November and went it to hospital and had the three procedures listed above on my left knee! It's basically a patellar reconstruction ( released a tendon on the outside of my kneecap, cleaned off the back of my kneecap, and then broke the top of my tibia and moved it sideways and forward and reattached with 2 screws!

I'm in a straight leg splint, on crutches with very little weight bearing and I'm in the worst pain you could ever imagine - makes a c section and Brest augmentation seem like a total breeze!

I think what makes it a little harder is that I can't sleep and I am pretty much bound to bed all the time! Rather frustrating for someone who is used to running around rather than staying very still!!!

Our weekend in EXMOUTH!

This is the resort where we are staying - it is BEAUTIFUL...... here is the link if you want to check it out! This was an approx. 6 hour drive from where we live!



The hotel is partially built of rammed earth - very effective in this location! We are ideally located right opposite the pool, so the boys and I have spent lots of time swimming!



The food is delicious............ (Seafood risotto with local seafood)



....... and I have enjoyed many short blacks!



I even managed to ride one of these for 10 mins!!!!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend like us!

Favourites

Following on from Shar's lead I am going to tell you about some of my favourites


Favourite Workout - Outdoor running

Favourite Food - Roast chicken and lollies

Favourite Clothing - European Fashion, closely followed by lululemon gym gear, + gym shoes!

Favourite Day - like Shar - Saturdays and Sunday because we are all together

Favourite Month - this was a hard one for me - I need to pick December too because it is also the month of my wedding anniversary! I also love January, JUly, August and October because that is where our birthdays fall!

Favourite Place - Tasmania - its where I was born, its where my parents are buried and I am proud to say its a beautiful state!

Favourite Colour - Pink!!!



PS............ My current knee situation is not allowing me to add ay more miles to my dailymile widget on the side - am finding this VERY frustrating! To Perth on MOnday for the tell all scan!

How lucky I am

I am currently watching Four Corners on ABC.

It is on babies born at 23 weeks!

I feel very blessed to have had one full term baby and one born at 36 weeks, but reasonably healthy!

My weekend!

I posted earlier today about how I had an awesome weekend and that I would be back to tell you more about it later..... well here I am!

Why was it good........

1. I had my husband home - he had been away for the past two weekends overseas with work
2. I only did two workouts - two walks at the beach with my three boys (not that I don't like training, but it was nice taking a step back)
3. Our pool water is now a nice enough temperature so we were in and out of the pool approx 3 times each day
4. I cooked with my eldest son - he quite enjoys time in the kitchen with me
5. I spent time on the couch working on my cross stitch - this is what I am stitching and she is 80% finished



6. We watched a couple of movies - including one from the 1950's 'The old man and his boat'
7. We didn't drive to karratha (a 100km round trip) - a trip we make nearly every weekend and during the week as well
8. We helped our very excited nearly Master 7 deliver his party invites
9. And i am sure there are many other things that don't spring to mind right now.

You may see that there is a pattern amongst all of these items and they revolved around FAMILY! I think far too often we forget to appreciate those simple things in life. I appreciated all the simple things in life on my weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it!

On another note...... tonight my knee is VERY unhappy! As you might see at the side this morning it felt good so I took a run, and tonight I am paying the price! It's REALLY sore. I visited my physio today who taped my knee and it doesnt look dissimilar to this (just heavier taping)....



My knee feels very supported in this state, and feels like it is functioning as a 'knee' should - this thought scares me slightly (wish it was the insides providing this support and not sports tape on the outside). On a lighter note though I need to be grateful that i still have a leg and that I can still function as an able bodied person - Im sue there would be some one somewhere MUCH worse off than me!

Have a great night! xx

Running.....

Well.......

I still have a sore knee but I woke up feeling good so I took the chance and hit the pavement for a run! It was a good thing to do something I love! Not that my training lately has not been fun - I am LOVING it all and the VARIETY!

As an update on the knee I am having a CT arthrogam on friday - this should provide us with some answers to what is going on in there! Today I am visiting my trusted physio to be guided on how I can tape my knee to provide some support while we wait to see what is happening.

I will be back later with a weekend update - Had such a good weekend, its worth sharing!

xx

Dodgy knees

The brakes have been applied!!!!

I went to a physio appointment yesterday afternoon, expecting a quick solution, but also half expecting what I did hear!

I have ANOTHER suspected medial meniscus tear! This is my third one and all the symptoms are the same as the last two! DAMN IT!!!!

I am off to a doctors appointment in an hour to get a referral to a surgeon, but i am HOPING like mad that the symptoms might just vanish!

I am feeling a little disappointed - but what do you do - its there, so i just need to fix it!!!!

11.09.40 - 11.10.09

Its hard to believe that it has been two years since we said goodbye to my beautiful Dad!

Love you Dad xxx

Relaxation time

its time for me to go and have some 'chill' time on the pool chair (as pictured above) in my pool - good book, some water and my big hat! Nothing like a relaxing hour after running around all morning.

Oats!

Really glad top be back on track! Yummy oats and protein powder for breakfast!

The boys woke early so we went for a walk with the dogs to start the day, have done some weeding in the garden, made beds, put washing away and cleaned our table ........ its only 9.05am - what a great start to the day!

Enjoy your sunday everyone!

Time with friends

Today I invited friends over for a swim! They arrived late afternoon with a bottle of champagne - normally I would not have had a drink because I was prepping for a competition and before that I had little babies to get up to in the night and the combo didn't work!

Well I had none of those factors to worry about so I enjoyed a glass with my friends. The afternoon swim dragged on and they ended up staying for dinner - we made home made pizza's on wraps and I ate those too and thoroughly enjoyed them, I even indulged in some cake for dessert!

Why am I blogging about this you may ask - it all sounds pretty normal?

This was initially tricky for me - the wine, the pizza and dessert (when I had already had some cake at the coffee shop with my boys earlier today) - I would normally have watched everyone else have this and eat my pre prepared meal! Today I did what most people would do when friends come over - I enjoyed myself. In fact I realise now I was very anti social in comp prep because I found it all too hard, but I recognise now that I missed those social occasions like I had today! No, I would not want to indulge or eat like this every day but today I did enjoy myself and I am not giving myself a huge punishing talk about 'bad choices'

Yes I will have a run on the treadmill tomorrow because I will feel better of I do, but its not a guilt workout like it might have been in the past!

I see that what I did tonight is normal' life' behaviour and that what I am enjoying about this journey I am now on!

WINNING!!!!

....... in more ways than one! I used to have a big HATE relationship with the scales, however with a new trainer has come some new approaches and i now LOVE the scales. Yes my love affair may be supported by all the nice drops I have had over the past 10 days, but I also associate it with a whole new 'training' and 'fitness' mindset!!! I am going to keep doing as prescribed, because I am winning with the results! The results are more than just in the number - I have more energy, feel healthier and am FITTER!

I had a winning run on the treadmill this morning - it was a pyramid run and there was the option to walk between some of the speeds. Today I was able to run the whole way with no walk breaks! I suspect this means when this is prescribed next as a workout that the speeds might be a little quicker!!!!!

Another new benefit is that I am training LESS than I was before eating MORE than I did before and LOSING more than I did before = winning formula. I am enjoying doing some other things during my day other than prepare lots of food and train. Today I spent time floating on the lilo in our pool, having lunch with friends and shopping with my children (the shopping bit was not so great because they were both way too tired - silly idea)

I am off to bed to start to read one of my two new books!

Night xx

Sports Shoes

I have just admitted and come out of the closet about my love of sports shoes over at Last Chance Training!!!!!!!

I currently rotate through approx 8, yes i said 8 pairs of shoes. Each pair has a 'specific' purpose, and I wear some shoes for some workout and a different pair for another session. I generally always wear Nike Free when I am on a cross trainer - I like the movement I have through my feet and toes when I am on that machine. In comparison I wear w=either Brooks Trance or Asics Kayano for a wights workout!

If I am running it is generally the Brooks Trance!

I also wear orthotics and these are put in all my different shoes. My knees tell me in no uncertain terms if I have trained without my orthotics!

there is currently a ban on me bringing any more sports shoes into this house!!!!

xx

BOX BIKE RUN

...... this was the name of the class I did at the gym today. 20 mins of boxing, 20 mins on the bike (4 tracks) and then a run to finish.

I did this class two weeks ago - I had to have a couple of catch my breath moments during the boxing, I got cramp and barely sweated in the cycle component and only managed to run 25% of the running leg.

Today....... i didn't pause once in the boxing, I added lots more dial and that = lots more sweat and hard work in the cycle leg and I ran the WHOLE way. I was so chuffed! What an awesome fitness improvement! That was even following 2 exercises supersetted for 3 sets and then a different two exercises supersetted for 3 sets in the gym!

It is hard to put exactly into words right now - but i am in LOVE! In LOVE with how this is all coming together after only 1 WEEK!!!!

Today........

LIFE must have started for me today..........

I pushed really hard in RPM this morning and had an awesome class! The music was great the atmosphere was great and i rode HARD!!!! I then followed it up with a short circuit in the gym! I am LOVING gym time again!

It was a great feeling collecting my two beautiful boys from the creche at 11.30 knowing i was going to have the rest of the day with them. Our supermarket shop was relaxing and then we had an easy drive home from town!

Calmness is caching you know!

xx

Nature right on our door step

Approx. a week ago my nearly Mr 7 came running inside to tell me he had found 2 birds eggs on top of our clothes line. I went back out with and explained that we needed to not touch them(he hadn't touched but you never know what they might be thinking) and then said we will watch the eggs each day and see what happens.

He has watched these eggs for 5 days straight and then forgot yesterday when he got home from school. Tp his delight when he went outside this afternoon to have a look he found no other than two baby birds in the nest! he was VERY excited! We then had to have a new 'chat' about leaving the birds just where they were and we can 'watch' and see what happens!

This is nature right before our very eyes! I just hope we don't have to explain the whole life cycle if something happens (mind you he has had a few experiences with a whole life cycle with the death of my two parents in the last two years - I can't say he fully understands but he has the basics)

Tomorrow we are going to do have a trip to the skate park, take rubbish to the tip and go to the Community Street Party in Karratha (i think Thirsty Merc are playing)

:-)

Hi all,

Well here I am - a new looking blog and new update!

It has been a LONG time since i was here, but now that I have my mojo back I decided it was time to start blogging again!

I have had an 'interesting 4 months since I was on here last......

I had a lovely family holiday in New Zealand

I have had two trips to the Gold Coast

My little man turned 2 - he is my last baby and is growing up way too fast!

I competed in the ANB Newcastle classic and placed 4th

I lost and have since refound my fitness mojo!

I am loving training again (I thought I was loving training before but realised that that was not the case in this past week)

I am loving a variety of foods and a different menu EVERY day of the week

I am loving family time and cherish the time I have with my sons and husband!

I am in a good place right now. I am loving feeling healthy and I even looked in the mirror when I was doing RPM this morning and thought 'I LOOK GOOD FOR 37 AND A MUM OF TWO' -

It is the weekend, the sun is shining, I am home with my two boys, and it is the start of the school holidays. Unlike lots of mums I love the extra time I get to have my with beautiful boy in the holidays.

I promise now it will not be so long between posts!!!!

Studio and the bike finally arrives!

After waiting for 6 weeks my spin bike finally arrived this week! I was really starting to get pretty wild about all the drama in getting it here! I know i live in a remote place but its not the end of the earth! Its called a 'body bike' and I love it!

The other picture I have added is of my home studio - including treadmill and cross trainer. This is where I do all my morning cardio, music on, TV on mute and in my own little world.

Things are going great here - people who I see randomly are starting to ask questions about what I am up to because they can see noticeable differences in terms of leanness! YAY!

Today (thursday) is my home day - I've done washing, cooked biscuits for the boys, cooked some of my meals and general other house duties! I must say I am VERY lucky and have an ironing lady and a house cleaner. While I am not in paid employment, I keep everything organised for my husband and our two children and those are two less things I need to be concerned with.

I dont have a cook and its time for me to start preparing dinner - roasted salmon with sea salt and spices with mash

xxx

ANOTHER super day

I have had another great day.......

Great time with both my children
A great chat to my hubby on the phone - he is away :(
A good diet day (one little slip but thats not going to sink the boat)
A great cardio session this morning and a great back calves and cardio workout tonight
A productive day around the house

Who else had a great day?????

As you can see lots of 'great' things happening here. I even took the time tonight and had a soak in an epsom salt bath. I have weekly massage and bi weekly dry needling appointments. Well this week my massage therapist is away on holiday (why do supportive therapies people need to take holidays.... LOL) and I had to promise to her that I would take at least 1 epsom salt bath this week as a replacement to her work.

Yesterday I had my dry needling appointment. At the same time my therapist gave me an upper body assessment and identified strong and weak points. I made a few hand position changes in my workout tonight following her recommendation and it made a HUGE difference.

Its 8.30 and I am going to enjoy reading my book in bed and have a bit extra zzzzz's

Hi all,

well I am going to try really hard to try and post at least a couple of times a week from now on!

I've got an exciting 16 weeks ahead of me - I am going to give it my best shot to get back on stage again!!! YES I am very excited and YES I will come in, in the best shape of my life!

I'm training SMART not hard! So far so good I am coping just fine with comp prep combined with:

Living in a remote location
Having two small children (1 child under 2), and
A husband who travels lots for work

I do all my morning cardio at home - I have a studio in our yard and I have converted this into a 'home' gym with a treadmill, cross trainer and an exercise bike. I then train weights at the local gym here in town 5 afternoons a week.

My boys WILL not suffer or miss out because of my comp prep - I make sure that my two little boys and my very special man always come first, and I manage this by 'organisation' in the household!

Stay with me blog gang and enjoyt the journey - the focus is still on fit for life, but with a goal of a competition thrown in there as well!

xxx

New X Trainer arrives

Well today I received my new x trainer - to go with my treadmill! Pictures above.

I was determined to assemble the whole thing myself and i did! I actually enjoyed the whole process.

Heading out to do morning cardio is not always possible with Mikes work schedule so we decided upon adding to the existing treadmill by purchasing the x trainer. We are thinking we might even add a third item - a spin bike. I have ridden the "body bike" many times before and love the feel and stability of these bikes.

Both pieces are made by Life Fitness - I have the T7 treadmill and the X7 x trainer. Both models are semi commercial and are a breeze to use - well as much as cardio gear can be a breeze - easy controls, and very user friendly.

You know where you will find me tomorrow morning - on my x-trainer, overlooking the pool with palms and frangipani tree in the background - sounds like a good view in paradise for me! Team it with my Bose sound dock for good tunes and early morning cardio will be GREAT!

The number 100!

I'm feeling a little sore tomorrow and dread what tomorrow might bring. You may ask why?

For the first time EVER I did 100kg for dead lifts last night! My back is a strong body part and i use this to my advantage!

My training is still going GREAT and more importantly so is my diet!

I am heading back to Qld soon to do another 10 days of training with my AMAZING trainer - Kristy

Just a quick post - I am looking forward to a quick cat nap while my little man is asleep - we have had unsettled nights. He has a viral infection.

xx

What a SUPERB week

I have just had what I would cll a SUPERB week

Every meal was to plan......
I gave every workout 150%............
I took all my vitamins and supplements..........
I took time for rest and relaxation (a challenge for me).............
I had LOTS of quality time with my loved ones.........
We put a painting from my mum and dads house on the wall...........
I helped out some special people and contributed towards them reaching their goals...........
I have had a big cooking session today and have a fridge shelf full of meals ready for the week..........

what more can I say!

Congratulations to all those people who competed on the weekend!!!

I am planning on an encore of last week.

xxx

The ABC's and an update

I'm sitting here at the hairdressers getting hair extensions today so I thought what better time to sit here and use my time wisely and update my blog.

Last week I had to take a week off training! I was sick - hack hack cough, cold sores on my lip and just felt YUCK! Well after almost a week away from the gym I feel so much better and ready again to hit my training hard. My diet was pretty good - a few little slips but I am not giving myself a hard time!

I went and did cardio this morning and it felt great to get the exercise high happening again!

A few other bloggers have been doing the ABC game so im going to join in.........

Age: 37

Bed: queen - would rather king. MY husband is 6'4 and it is a bit of a squash

Chores you hate: washing the floors (have a big house with lots of tiles and I feel like I never get to the end)

Dogs: two Siberian Husky's Kista (nearly 11yrs old ) and Magga (9 1/2 yrs old) (named after antarctic ships)

Essential start to your day: cardio!!!! Its how I wake up!

Favourite Colour: Pink!

Gold or silver: Gold but I do have Tiffany's silver

Height: 175cm

Instrument you play: Piano (but not for a long time)

Job title: mum, student, PT, wife, sister....... get the picture?

Kids: 2 boys 6 and 1

Live: Wickham in WA

Mums name: Margaret (she passed away last year in May)

Nicknames: MA, my dad used to call me Lucy Lou

Overnight hospital stays: too many to count

Pet Peeve: people who stare, frown or scowl at me when I train! Government regulations in relation to the protection of children, slow drivers on the road, children in cars not wearing seat belts....... i could go on but better stop!

Quote from a movie: run forrest run - thats what springs to mind!

Righty or Lefty: righty

Siblings: two brothers 43 and 40

Time you wake up: 5.15am get out of bed at 5.20

Underwear: always a G

Vegetables you dislike: brussel sprouts

what makes you run late: been disorganised (HATE running late so it doesn't happen too often)

x-rays you have had: quite a few - knees, toes, wrists......

Yummy food I make: vanilla cupcakes, baked salmon,

Zoo animal favourites: I actually find it hard to see animals trapped in a zoo, but if I had to say a favourite I would say a Tassie Devil (because they are breading them in captivity so they can eradicate the facial tumors).

xxx

STOP the scowls and frowns

Today I've had a great day and achieved lots:

cleaned out two kitchen drawers and consolidated it down to 1 drawer

washed, hung to dry, folded, ironed and put away lots of clothes

put out two bags of old clothes for the mission

baked vanilla cupcakes

went grocery shopping

tidied the spare bedroom

........ it feels good to achieve so many things around the house.

Now onto the post 'title'

I go to the gym to TRAIN - should not come as a surprise. I have friends outside of the gym so it does not need to be a social event for me. This seems very different for some!!!! This is not the real issue - I will be honest and say I am pretty strong and this seems to give reason to other females and males in the gym to scowl and frown at me while i train and i am going to bereally honest and say I AM OVER IT BIG TIME!

Yes i ignore them and just get on with it but i know its happening and i find it quite FRUSTRATING!

Anyway now I've got that off my chest, we are off to Perth tomorrow afternoon for 2 nights. We are going to the opening night of the Perth International Arts Festival.

Have a super weekend and love life! xxx

Holiday snaps and massage

Tucker and I with a python at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary 26th January 2011



Lunch at Riverside Restaurant Ballina



Moi!



Coke Zero - no calories, no hangover!



Essie and I at Dreamworld


As i promised here are some more holiday photos from our trip in January.

On monday I found out that a new massage therapist had arrived in Karratha (50km drive away from me), with lots of experience. I decided with the amount of training that I am doing that frequent visits might all assist in the process. I went for my first session yesterday and she was AWESOME! She did full body yesterday and around 10 mins into the 1 hr session when I realised how talented she was I made arrangements to have a weekly appointment with her. Now you may find this a little over the top but I am giving this 100% and nothing less and if it all helps I say why not!!!! Each week she will either focus on lower body or upper body and covering which ever area she doesn't focus on for 10 mins of the time so it does not miss out all together.

I felt a bit sluggish in training yesterday and even sent my trainer a text asking for a foot up the bum - she must have been busy because i didnt hear from her - at that point I had two choices - continue to grizzle and tell myself I needed a lift or turn the music up, harden up and just get on with it - I took option two and had a super workout.

I think some other people at the gym where I train struggle with my training style and weight selection! I get so many scowls, frowns and shakes of the head at me while I am training, combine that with guys asking dumb questions - I suspect trying to pick up (sorry buddy i'm taken lol) - and my fuse is starting to run a little short with patience!!!!!

I need to remember to turn the music up on my ipod, tilt the hat down and just show them why i look like I do!!!!!

Have a super day - a friend is about to arrive for a coffee - me long black!!!

XXX

I'm back!

Well hi!!! You must have thought I had disappeared into thin air! The last time I posted on here was when I was in Tasmania. Well, that was a very busy and emotional time. packing up your mum and dads house is not an easy task, but we made it in the end and have also just had news that the house has sold.

I want to get onto some good things so lets go:

1. I went to Queensland after Tasmania and I had the best time. I had the opportunity to do 10 face to face sessions with my online trainer. She taught me so much in such a short period of time, and pushed me to my limits and further! I never realised how strong I really was and how determined I am for great things in 2011. We had a super family holiday as well with LOTS of quality time together spent doing lots of fun and exciting things!

2. I have come home and training hard has taken on a whole new meaning! I thought i used to train hard but it is nothing on what I can do now! I have never felt muscle soreness like I have felt over the last couple of weeks - and as sad as it might sound I love every minute of the pain!

3. I had started studying at the end of last year because I thought it would be a breeze and that I would enjoy it! WellI have found that its not a breeze, and I didn't enjoy it - in fact I found it very frustrating and I would constantly put off needing to sit down and do what I needed to do. I was studying for purely pleasure and as it was not pleasurable I have given it away. Day one study free today feels AWESOME!

4. I loved the time I had with Tucker over the school holidays. By the time it was time to go back to school he was ready to be with his friends again and I think he actually enjoys the routine of been at school. WE have had a couple of mornings where he has been a little sad saying goodbye to me but it has not been too bad.

5. I celebrated a birthday while we were on holiday. I am proud to say that I am now 37 - and I have never looked as good or felt as good as I feel now!

6. Essie is now walking! He is so proud of himself and laughs when he walks across the room. I am sure he will be running soon!

7. I am so fortunate to be blessed with so many wonderful opportunities, experiences, people, things, and good health in my life!

The photo above is taken by my husband with a Leica M9 on Main Beach on the Gold Coast 2 weeks ago. Back soon with some more photos from my holiday. xxx