Bad timing

The initial diagnosis for my dodgy left leg is ITB syndrome, and most likely some issues with my glutes as well. I didn't actually have any physio on those areas yesterday though. Long story, but my neck, shoulder and forearm problems are all overuse injuries related to my desk job, so treatment is being covered by worker's comp. I was in desperate need of some work on my neck yesterday, and there just wasn't time to muck around with my leg as well. Besides, I really can't jam them both into a session that's being paid for under compo.

So I'm ordered to spend the next week getting up close and personal with my foam roller and tennis ball, and we'll see how things are at my next physio visit. If need be, I'll schedule some extra sessions at my own cost - I need this fixed!

Today's workout was a looooong session on the floor with abovementioned torture instruments. I also did some glute activation work and gave my thoracic region a bonus going-over while I was at it. Then I jumped on the spin bike for some cardio. Turns out that I can handle moderate speed and resistance, but as soon as I add some load or pace (or get clever and try to do some one-legged drills), my left knee starts complaining quite loudly. Dammit.

In summary, I can't run or do any high-impact stuff, stairs are out of the question, I'm unable to do anything much in the way of leg training and apparently I can't really cycle either. I guess that leaves me with upper body, walking and some pilates-type activities. Or plodding on the spin bike. I suppose I can always stick a DVD on and grind my way through that.

The timing sucks big ones. I'm on holidays, so have plenty of time to train, and Bike Boy is busy upgrading my road bike, so it'll be extra schmick. *cries* I want to be outdoors on my new and improved ride...

Holidays

Since Bike Boy and I both have this week off, we took the opportunity to pay an overnight visit to some friends on their house boat at Lake Eildon. I was a sloth: snoozed on a sun lounge, read a couple of magazines, played with my camera, drank champagne and just sat around enjoying some excellent company.

The Baby was more active, having a go at a few things he'd never tried before: wake boarding (didn't quite get the hang, but he gave it a good bash before he got too cold), driving the inflatable dinghy, a ride on a jetski, and discovering that it is possible to have a good time without a Playstation.

The weather was perfect, but I was a bit too blase about the sunshine and copped some nasty sunburn on my shoulders and chest. Ouch.

Our taxi service from the shore:



The Baby paddling his own canoe:



And hitching a ride on a jetski:



The men did the cooking. Bike Boy whipped up a Thai curry of mussels, prawns and calamari, among other delights:



Our view:



And looking towards the neighbours at sunset:



That's all the holidays we'll be having for now, although I have plenty more time off. We're planning an excursion a bit further afield later in the year though. Bali's looking good. :)

********

Back home and back to normal...

This morning, I took myself off to the gym. I had planned to train legs, but my left leg is still not right... looks like a job for Peter the Physio. Lucky I'm seeing him this afternoon. So I changed plans and did an upper body workout instead. I dialled things down a notch or two, since it's now been a month since I've done any real training, but I think I'll pull up a bit sore tomorrow. I'll just gradually increase the intensity again - I expect to be back to where I was within a couple of weeks.

I wasn't thrilled by my reflection in the mirror. The pants I chose to wear have a very snug waistband, resulting in the Christmas bloat showing up as a couple of extra rolls above and below. Nice. But I know that will disappear quickly over the next week or two, so whatever... Meanwhile, those pants won't be coming out of the drawer for a little while.

To distract myself from the mirror's image, I spent the time between sets looking around the gym, and found that the view was very, very nice today. I like holidays...

Christmas in brief

8:00am wake up, home-smoked ham on toast for breakfast, gift-opening, early drinks with the in-laws, lunch with my family, home and relaxing by 5:00pm.













I was spoiled, with lots of lovely gifts. A new camera bag, Gold Class vouchers, DVDs, and more. But the one that I was most thrilled with? A cellophane bag of peanut butter Lindor Balls. I often complain that Bike Boy doesn't listen to me, but he proved me wrong, hunting down the elusive treats at the Lindt shop (who knew there even was such a thing??) and surprising me with them.

Now it's onto Boxing Day - some shopping, a BBQ with friends, cricket on TV and the holidays stretching ahead of me.

Celebrating

It may be Christmas Eve, but in our family there's one important event left to celebrate before we move onto tomorrow's festivities. Today is The Baby's birthday.

He was almost born on Christmas Day. Labour was stop-start, and by the time things really got going, it was getting close to 11:00pm. I had one eye on the clock the whole time - no WAY was this kid being born on the 25th! With some superhuman effort, I pushed him out at 11:07pm. Fifty-three minutes to spare, phew.

So tonight there will be cake and candles, and phone calls and visits from family. And one very happy "little" boy.

Catch up

The past week has gone by in a bit of a blur... too much to do and not enough sleep, unfortunately. I'm just hanging out for Friday, when I'll be freed from the office grind for a lovely long five weeks. Here's my quick roundup of recent events:

I wasn't happy when I woke up yesterday with a nasty sore throat - AGAIN. What the hell, universe? I've had my quota of suffering for this year. *grumble* Luckily it's better today, so I'm optimistic that I'll be feeling fine and full of the Christmas spirit by the end of the week. And not the kind that comes in a bottle, either.

This morning I'm heading off early and taking a detour on my way to work to spend some birthday loot on one of these:



I'm very excited about this purchase. I've owned a series of Canon SLRs since 1994, but have never been able to justify the cost of a genuine Canon flash. Thanks to some lovely friends at work who gave me a shopping voucher to spend at Knifepoint, plus some cash from family, I have the funds to splurge on one to go with my spanking new 500D.

The Baby's birthday is on Friday and he's been doing a countdown since the calendar ticked over to December. We'll all be glad when the day finally arrives. Must remember to get a cake - I always make an extra effort to give the kid a special birthday, so it doesn't just blend into Christmas. Apparently I've been remiss with my other kids though - The Middle Child pointed out when I ordered the cake for his 18th this year that he's never had a cake before. Not quite true, but I may have overlooked it more than once... Hey, it's my birthday too - someone else should be doing cake duty.

I'll be back after Christmas with some more health and fitness-related posts. Right now, I'm way too tired to think clearly...

Have a merry one, lovely blog people!

Not going to plan

After the past few activity (and illness) filled weeks, this week was the one where I was supposed to catch up on a few things and get back into my normal training routine. I should know better than to make plans...

Sleep is still being elusive, the washing machine has decided to break down, and Bike Boy discovered the driver's side mirror on his car smashed to smithereens when he arrived at the railway station car park tonight. Aargh! I now need to fit urgent hand washing into my evening routine until the repair guy comes on Wednesday, plus play taxi tomorrow while the mechanic has the car to fit a new mirror. I also have a hairdresser appointment tomorrow night at 6:00, which I can't cancel because I'm beginning to look like Cousin It. I'm scaring myself every time I look in the mirror.

Thanks to the lack of sleep, my tolerance level for anything remotely inconvenient is at an all-time low. BUT... in between washing, ironing and dealing with eBay transactions, I managed to squeeze in a walk tonight. That may not quite be up there with the RPM class I had planned for the morning, but it's better than nothing. Especially when it includes scrambling up and down steep river embankments.

I learned long ago that when things go really pear-shaped, you just have to do the best you can and not waste any time feeling guilty about what isn't getting done. RPM will still be there next week.

Tonight I'll be taking every sleep remedy I can find and going to bed early in my quest for a decent night's sleep. I'm also switching my one coffee a day to decaf. *cringe* I know coffee isn't the problem, but cutting it out can't hurt, can it?

Vegemite etiquette

I fancied a muffin with butter and Vegemite for breakfast this morning, just for a change. I unscrewed the lid of the jar and discovered this:



Apparently, my children need lessons in how to use a jar of Vegemite.

1. Dip your knife into the lovely black goo and take just a little bit.
2. Spread on your toast.
3. If the Vegemite isn't thick enough, repeat steps 1 & 2.

That's it. Nowhere do these instructions say: Stick your knife in and take a HUGE glob, spread half of it on your toast and then return the buttery, crumb-filled mess to the inside of the jar, thus causing the next user of the salty spread to gag.

Are you paying attention, family?

Hanging in there

No, I haven't been hungover since Saturday; just busy.

Since I had a week off work sick and I'm disappearing for five weeks from Christmas, I have a bit of a backlog of things to get finished before my holidays. That time is shortened by the work Christmas lunches - which tend to last all afternoon. This year I'm invited to three. I may skip one...

At home my time has been consumed by party clean-up (small), washing catch-up (huge), running kids around, getting the Christmas decorations up, organising next year's booklist, selling this year's textbooks on eBay, and running a million last-minute errands that I keep discovering I need to do before you-know-when. Plus there was a disaster averted earlier this week, when once again, a university proved how utterly incompetent they are at C.O.M.M.U.N.I.C.A.T.I.O.N. It was a stupid, stupid slip-up that almost cost The Middle Child his chance at a place in his dream course. Thanks to Bike Boy doing some of what he's good at (communicating, by a karmic coincidence), the kid got his interview yesterday. So even if he doesn't make the grade, at least he's had a fair go at it.

Phew. On top of all that, my sleep is spasmodic again. *sigh* So I'm just hanging out for 12:00 noon on December 24th. Bring it on, Santa - I need a break!

The party was fabulous, by the way.

Celebrations continue

Thanks for the lovely birthday wishes, all. :) I had a very busy day, only managing a few glasses of bubbly last night in the midst of being a semi-responsible parent.

Yesterday was all about The Middle Child, it being not only my fiftieth, but his eighteenth birthday. We put on a small party for him - about 25 of his friends showed up and Bike Boy BBQ-ed up a storm.

OF COURSE, since he had finally reached the legal age for consuming alcohol, the birthday boy overdid it and I got to spend the latter part of my birthday holding my boy's head over a bucket. I doubt he even remembers everyone singing Happy Birthday to him... and his girlfriend had to blow out the candles for him. Poor baby. I suspect he won't repeat the experience in a big rush.

To top it off, his rotten little brother was running around snapping photos of him looking the worse for wear and then posting them on Facebook. There may be bloodshed today.

********

I plan a slightly more civilised evening for my own celebrations tonight. I shall be keeping myself nice, at least until after the speeches. I'm also quite confident that no bucket will be required.

Halfway to a telegram from the queen

On the momentous occasion of clocking up half a century, I feel as though I ought to be making some profound observations on life. But frankly, I feel about half my age and I hardly ever act my age, so I'd probably come out with a fart joke or something equally immature. It's best if I spare you....

Fifty seemed so old when I was twenty. Actually, fifty WAS old when I was twenty. Back then, fifty-year-old women were grey and slow-moving, and always complaining of some ache or pain. They sat around knitting or swapping recipes, and they dressed like old ladies.

I hear people say that "Fifty is the new forty" and I think Bugger that! In my case, fifty is the new THIRTY. I don't plan to give up my jeans and t-shirts in favour of elastic-waisted granny-pants in some shiny stretchy synthetic fabric. And I won't be shopping for a new wardrobe of tops and dresses with sleeves that cover my upper arms, because "ladies past a certain age" can't help being a bit flabby and floppy.

As for knitting, maybe I'll take it up when I'm eighty.

Meanwhile, if you want me, I'll be over at the park, swinging on the monkey bars.

Not with a bang, but a whimper...

My Nailing November challenge was going along just fine until the universe decided that my body would be the perfect incubator for some truly disgusting microbial life-forms. *gag*

There's nothing I could have done to prevent getting sick, so I won't be wasting any time feeling like a failure. Instead, I'm giving myself a pat on the back for the positive steps I took, and for what I managed to achieve up until I succumbed to the dreaded lurgy.

I made a big effort to eat my veggies when at home for lunch, and succeeded 95% of the time. I gave my cardio efforts an enormous shove in the right direction, really surprising myself by pulling out some top performances. And I did manage to get to bed at a decent hour ...although there wasn't much actual sleeping happening a lot of the time.

I'm calling it a success anyway. :)

Moving right along to December.... Considering how sick I've been, I'm allowing myself the weekend to recuperate fully before getting back on the horse. On Monday morning I shall be up and at 'em, working towards my little fitness and strength goals once more.

But first, I have some celebrating to do. ;)

Psst!

It's safe to come back... the Bleurgh is gone.

Looks like the antibiotics are finally working.